The Zaftans Are Here!

Jan. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- Quense has followed up his Tales From Gundarland with another tale set in that country.  This time the fantasy creatures who inhabit Gundarland have to deal with zaftans, a race of aliens.  Go to http://hankquense.com/ZE-main.html for links to book sellers.

The book blurb accurately describes the novel:  "Tired of reading scifi and fantasy stories that take themselves too seriously?  Zaftan Entrepreneurs is a unique First Contact story; it is part adventure and part corporate and political satire spiced with comic relief. 
Here, you'll find nasty, snarly aliens, fantasy creatures, humans, romance, magic, and -- just like the real world -- incompetent politicians and feuding bureaucracies.  What more could a fantasy or scifi reader ask for?"  

Quense has created a rather unique race of scary aliens: zaftans are a gruesome race.  They stand seven feet tall, weigh over four hundred pounds and stink like fish guts left in the sun.  Resembling giant squids, they have eight tentacles that can be used as arms or legs.  When in a good mood, they are merely hostile.  All zaftans consider treachery and assassination to be social skills and list them on their resumes.  

To summarize the plot: a mining expedition discovers Gundarland, a place inhabited by humans, elves, dwarfs and other races.  Initial scans by the zaftan ship indicates promising places to search for the rare minerals they seek.  Since the planet is inhabited, the zaftans have to deal with the natives, but they plan to negotiate treacherously with the government.
Robotic explorers are deployed and instructed to ignore the natives and disregard private property.  These actions enrage a dwarf miner, MacDrakin, to the point he declares war on the robots and the aliens.  He collects a few warriors and destroys a number of robots.  His actions threaten his budding romance with Higginbottom, the area's only constable, who has orders from the government to protect the robots. When a robot discovers a large mineral find under the area's only town, the ship's captain decides on revenge and orders the town destroyed during the mining process.  Meanwhile, MacDrakin positions his warriors to block the alien attempt.  Who will win, MacDrakin or the aliens?

Four pre-publication reviews are unanimous in praising the novel and all gave it five stars. Some of their comments include, "This story is filled with action, romance, and Quense's trademark unique, satirical wit." and  "Zaftan Entrepreneurs is not your usual science fiction read. Hank has taken the genre to a new level.  Hank Quense adds more than a dab of humor to this book and a great deal of insight into the workings of the bureaucrats." and finally, "Besides adventure with a bit of romance and comic relief thrown in, the story contains a great deal of satire that will resonate with modern readers."

Book 2 of the trilogy, Zaftan MIscreant, is expected to be published in January, 2012 and Book 3, Zaftan Lovers, in January, 2013

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I write humorous and satiric science fiction and fantasy stories along with an occasional non-fiction article