FOGcon 3 Honored Guest Susan R. Matthews has written a new novella set in the universe of her award-winning Jurisdiction series, and will be premiering it at FOGcon 3. The first 250 adults to register for a full or supporting membership to FOGcon 3 will receive a copy of the novella. Go to http://db.fogcon.org/account/ to register. (If you've already registered, relax. Your copy is waiting for you.)
Here's a plot synopsis to whet your appetite:
Andrej Koscuisko is a man between worlds, placed at the nexus of justice and the rule of Law, no longer assigned to the Jurisdiction Fleet Ship Scylla under Captain Irshah Parmin’s relatively benevolent command and yet to report to the JFS Ragnarok to serve as Ship’s Inquisitor under the notoriously aggressive Griers Verigson Lowden.
Bond-involuntary Security slaves are instruments of torture, criminals condemned by the Bench to serve Inquisitors in the institutionalized execution of judicial torture. For men who live under constant threat of hellish discipline administered by an implanted “governor,” trust is a risk of almost unimaginable proportions. Yet the bonds assigned to the Jurisdiction Fleet Ship Ragnarok come to trust Andrej Koscuisko –- even though their introduction took place during the exercise that made Koscuisko’s reputation as the most notorious pain-master in the entire inventory.
How does trust begin, under such circumstances?
And when Koscuisko, suffering in the psychological aftermath of a Tenth Level Command Termination that will become a benchmark of atrocity, has a choice between condemning a guilty prisoner to harsh imprisonment under civil law – or an even worse fate under Jurisdiction -- what will he do?