Bluebird

by Ciel Pierlot

Overview

**SHORTLISTED for the COMPTON CROOK AWARD, 2023**

Lesbian gunslinger fights spies in space!

Three factions vie for control of the galaxy. Rig, a gunslinging, thieving, rebel with a cause, doesn’t give a damn about them and she hasn’t looked back since abandoning her faction three years ago. 
 
That is, until her former faction sends her a message: return what she stole from them, or they’ll kill her twin sister.
 
Rig embarks on a journey across the galaxy to save her sister – but for once she’s not alone. She has help from her network of resistance contacts, her taser-wielding librarian girlfriend, and a mysterious bounty hunter.
 
If Rig fails and her former faction finds what she stole from them, trillions of lives will be lost—including her sister's. But if she succeeds, she might just pull the whole damn faction system down around their ears. Either way, she’s going to do it with panache and pizzazz.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Independent Women | Robbing Hood | Keep Your Enemies Close | Guns Don’t Kill People ]

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857669667
Publisher:	Watkins Media
Publication date:	02/08/2022
Pages:	444
Sales rank:	208,584
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Ciel Pierlot is a disaster bisexual from the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s also a giant nerd and no, you cannot stop her from bragging about her lightsaber collection. When she’s not writing SFF novels, she’s busy being a digital artist and a hardcore gaymer.

Editorial Reviews

10/18/2021

Pieriot’s action-packed but by-the-numbers sci-fi debut plainly collages Star Wars, Firefly, and Mass Effect with a queer twist—but remains too slight to stand out. Three years ago, weapons developer Rig burned a city to stop Pyrite, the faction that indentured her, from using her research in a genocide against her own race. Now one of the Nightbirds, refugee-rescuers and saboteurs against the three ancient, constantly warring factions, she has her own ship, Bluebird, and a librarian lover, June, who hails from the spiritual Ascetic faction. But when Pyrite abducts the twin sister Rig left behind, Rig and Ginka, a mysterious operative from Ossuary, the megalomaniacal third faction, work together to rescue her. This quest leads them through glittering ballrooms and secret space stations, but everybody wants Rig’s weaponry, and only her tenuous cross-faction alliances will get her out alive. Polished prose keeps the numerous battle scenes and side quests moving, but endless Whedonesque banter leaves most characters indistinguishable. Meanwhile, attempts to tackle more serious refugee issues are mishandled. Firefly devotees may appreciate this well-crafted but lightweight homage, but others can skip it. Agent: Lauren Spieller, TriadaUS (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Pierlot’s novel is an exciting space romp full of suspenseful chases and daring space jumps, action scenes, and rebel groups that lurk behind the scenes… Bluebird is entertaining, with rich world building, and will attract all lovers of queer space stories."
– Booklist

"Read for a lesbian gunslinger fighting spies in space who attracts the best ragamuffins to join her."
– BookRiot

"Bluebird is a stunningly assured debut novel, and a rollicking space adventure with a lot of heart... not to mention panache and pizzazz."
– Tim Pratt, Hugo Award-winning author of The Wrong Stars

"Rebellion, redemption, romance, and cinematic action: Bluebird is an imaginative space opera with a fantastic blend of heart and heroics."
– K. Eason, author of Nightwatch on the Hinterlands

"With the breathless energy of an old fashioned swashbuckler, Bluebird will leave you blue in the face."
– Patrick S. Tomlinson, author of The Children of a Dead Earth series

"Ambitious worldbuilding, spycraft, and the aforementioned gunslinging promises a space romp that’s both thrilling and thoughtful."
– Lit Hub

From the Publisher