Friday 56 & #BookBeginnings: Starship Grifters

 For Book Beginnings:

The early thirty-first century was a dark time in the Galaxy, as the oppressive regime known as the Galactic Malarchy threatened to snuff out the last remaining embers of freedom far out on the southern end of the Perseus Arm. Only a ragtag band of rebels stood between the Malarchy and total Galactic domination. These brave heroes risked everything to preserve the dream of a galaxy comprised of an informal association of relatively free planets.
This is not the story of those heroes.

- p. 3

For Friday 56:
I shoved the yoke forward, causing the Flagrante Delicto to plunge dramatically toward the ground. Bad Little Kitty rolled right, dodging a barrage of lazecannon fire. The Flagrante Delicto did the same, with somewhat less grace and a significantly narrower margin of error. Someone banged on the door to the cockpit. “What in Space are you doing?” growled General Issimo’s voice. “You’re making us all sick!”
- p. 56

Synopsis of Starship Grifters by Robert Kroese: A space-faring ne'er-do-well with more bravado than brains, Rex Nihilo plies the known universe in a tireless quest for his own personal gain. But when he fleeces a wealthy weapons dealer in a high-stakes poker game, he ends up winning a worthless planet?and owing an outstanding debt more vast than space itself!

The only way for Rex to escape a lifetime of torture on the prison world Gulagatraz is to score a big payday by pulling off his biggest scam. But getting mixed up in the struggle between the tyrannical Malarchian Empire and the plucky rebels of the Revolting Front and trying to double-cross them both may be his biggest mistake. Luckily for Rex, his frustrated but faithful robot sidekick has the cyber-smarts to deal with buxom bounty hunters, pudgy princesses, overbearing overlords, and interstellar evangelists while still keeping Rex's martini glass filled.