Mickey7: A Novel

by Edward Ashton

Overview

"A wildly entertaining mix of action and big ideas peppered with humor and a bizarre love story." —NPR

“A brisk, spirited sci-fi romp…hugely enjoyable.” —Max Barry, author of Providence

*Soon to be the major motion picture Mickey17*

Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living.

Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.

On a routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, his fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they face being recycled into protein to feed a hungry colony. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse, and the native species are growing curious about their new neighbors, which has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7.

That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.

"The fun [in reading Mickey7] is trying to keep up with Mr. Ashton’s twists and turns, and the extra fun is that you never do." —The Wall Street Journal

"Sci-fi readers will be drawn in by the inventive premise and stick around for the plucky narrator." —Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250875280
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Series:	Mickey7 , #1
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	94,570
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Edward Ashton is the author of the novels Three Days in April and The End of Ordinary, as well as of short stories which have appeared in venues ranging from the newsletter of an Italian sausage company to Escape Pod, Analog, and Fireside Fiction. He lives in upstate New York in a cabin in the woods (not that cabin in the woods) with his wife, a variable number of daughters, and an adorably mopey dog named Max. In his free time, he enjoys cancer research, teaching quantum physics to sullen graduate students, and whittling. You can find him on Twitter and visit his website.

Editorial Reviews

10/11/2021

Ashton (The End of Ordinary) crafts a unique hero in amateur historian Mickey Barnes, the breezy narrator of this far-flung, far-future adventure. Fleeing his gambling debts, Mickey literally signs his life away for passage on the colony ship Drakkar. As an “Expendable,” he’s assigned to the ship’s most “dangerous-to-suicidal” jobs. Whenever one of these gigs kills him, he’s regenerated as a new version of himself. When Mickey7, the seventh of these regenerations, falls into a crevasse on icy Niflheim, his aviator friend Berto leaves him to die, prompting the regeneration process to begin. But Mickey7 survives, and now he and Mickey8 coexist, breaking a societal taboo. If the hungry crew discovers there’s two of them, one or both may become food, since the agricultural system is failing and can’t feed extra mouths. Mickey7’s present day attempts to avoid the wrath of the mission commander and defuse an alien threat on Niflheim are interspersed with his memories of previous, mostly failed attempts at colonization. These flashbacks occasionally feel like interruptions to the probing exploration of what happens when one meets oneself, but they successfully broaden Ashton’s imaginative perspective with multiple worlds. Sci-fi readers will be drawn in by the inventive premise and stick around for the plucky narrator. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

*NPR Best Books of 2022*

"Mickey7 is a unique blend of thought-provoking sci-fi concepts, farcical relationship drama and exotic body horror. Edward Ashton keeps it all grounded via a protagonist who experiences the wonders of interstellar travel and alien contact while literally having the worst job in the universe. The result is alternately amusing, intriguing and horrifying, with each chapter seeming to engage a different part of your brain." —Jason Pargin, New York Times Bestselling author

“Mickey7 is a mind-bending and powerful exploration of identity. This is why we read science fiction! Highly recommended.” —Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of Rage and Ink

"I loved Mickey 7—a smart, breezy SF novel that doubles as a pitch-black comedy of errors." —Dexter Palmer, critically acclaimed author of Version Control

"Fun, thoughtful, and immensely personable, Mickey7 is a brisk, spirited sci-fi romp with alien intelligences, extra lives, and a little romance, too. Hugely enjoyable." — Max Barry, author of Providence

"Andy Weir, watch out!" —Stephen Baxter

"Sci-fi readers will be drawn in by the inventive premise and stick around for the plucky narrator." —Publishers Weekly

"Ashton’s novel begins as farce and ends as something considerably deeper; as an Expendable, Mickey7 is able to ask what makes someone human or who has the right to destroy a place in order to occupy it. Highly recommended for readers of colonization SF." -Library Journal, starred

"A multilayered, wildly entertaining story…Ashton is a talented storyteller and MICKEY7 has something for everyone while also putting a fresh spin on the idea of clones." —Locus Magazine

“A sharp speculative work that is both intellectually-oriented and action-packed. [Mickey7] is smart and funny and well-crafted across the board. If you’re a fan of science fiction, you won’t regret meeting Mickey. He's so fine.” —The Maine Edge

"A killer premise, and its mix of social commentary, dark humor, and horrifying surprises makes it ideal for the director of Parasite.” —The Film Stage

"Mickey7 is a smart philosophical satire masquerading as an adventure novel. It draws readers in with flippant black humor and a clever premise, then stabs them in the back with devastating insight into the human talent for suppressing intolerable truths.” —New York Journal of Books

"The fun [in reading Mickey7] is trying to keep up with Mr. Ashton’s twists and turns, and the extra fun is that you never do." —The Wall Street Journal

"A wildly entertaining mix of action and big ideas peppered with humor and a bizarre love story, this novel is proof that, when done right, science fiction can be one of the most entertaining genres out there. Between fighting alien creatures, pondering what it means to be human, and looking at cloning from various perspectives, there is something for everyone here, and Ashton delivers all of it with plenty of wittiness and flair." —NPR

"A fast, action-filled thriller." —Transfer Orbit, favorite books of 2022

From the Publisher

★ 12/01/2021

Ashton's (Three Days in April) new SF thriller contains a dying old world, a strange new world that's not quite in the Goldilocks zone, desperate would-be colonists, and a tin-pot dictator. Mickey7 is an Expendable in a beachhead human colony on an absolute iceball of a planet. His job is to do the many, many things that a human can do better than a drone or a robot, but that a human cannot survive. The plan is that this current Mickey won't survive them either, but his memories will be uploaded into a new body fresh out of the printer so his work, and the colony, can go on. When Mickey7 doesn't die as reported, and Mickey8 is created by accident, the Mickeys have a problem. The existence of two Expendables is grounds for destruction, unless they can manage to hide their secret or leverage it so that it becomes too dangerous to wipe them both out. VERDICT Ashton's novel begins as farce and ends as something considerably deeper; as an Expendable, Mickey7 is able to ask what makes someone human or who has the right to destroy a place in order to occupy it. Highly recommended for readers of colonization SF.—Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA

Library Journal