Next in the GFL series: THE GANGSTER

Quentin, Becca, Choto, and Kimberlin were about to leave Earth orbit when they were instructed to stay to receive a message from Gredok the Splithead, delivered by Messal the Efficient. Quentin doesn’t know what that message might be, but he knows Messal isn’t coming alone.

A news report from a reporter embedded in the Purist Nation is about to tear away a veil of secrecy and reveal Grand Mullah Fann Kuek’s policies’ disastrous results. While in the Hypatia under the protection of a Planetary Union warship, Quentin, Becca, Big Mike, Choto, and Marcus Diablo are about to get some game-changing news of their own.

Gredok received an ultimatum from — of all sentients — Ma Tweedy, who told the Splithead to steer clear of conflicts with Quentin. As if that weren’t problematic enough, Wakhan Reed is about to deliver a report that will cast a veil of suspicion over one of the Leader’s key underlings. Meanwhile, the woman who saved Quentin’s life gave him a hypodermic gun loaded with a strange substance to use against Gredok. What is in that vial, and how far will Quentin go to protect those he loves against the ruthless gangster’s rage?

We wheeled and dealed and got permission to share the first 35 minutes of Beasts Beyond the River, Scott’s intense new horror novel, read by none other than Ray Porter (narrator of PROJECT HAIL MARY, EARTHCORE, MOUNT FITZROY, THE BOBBIVERSE, JOE LEDGER, and more).

After the attempt on his life at Randall Hospital in New York City, Quentin stays safe in his yacht, which is in orbit above Earth and under the protection of a Planetary Union warship. He still doesn’t know the identity of the woman who killed the assassins who wanted him dead. With Choto and Big Mike onboard, Quentin tries to rehab his arm by enduring the grueling workout regimen of Marcus Diablo, former trainer of Intergalactic Heavyweight Champion Chaiyal “the Heretic” North.