This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Ari Marmell, author of Dust, Obelisks, Book One. About Dust, Obelisks, Book One: For Flight Engineer Cynthia Han and her fellow astronauts aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 81 has proved as mundane as space travel ever gets. Yes, this would be Cynthia’s final NASA mission, for reasons she’s so far kept from the rest of the crew; and yes, the latest billionaire “space tourist” has managed to irritate everyone on board. Still, none of them could have asked for a smoother experience. Until the morning they wake up to silence. All communication with Earth, gone. From half a dozen different agencies with multiple installations and redundancies across the globe, there is simply… nothing. And through the viewports of the ISS, only the thick veil of churning, lightning-veined dust to suggest the Earth remains at all. Now, without ground control, without the proper telemetries or calculations or even reliable visuals, Cynthia and the rest of Expedition 81 must make their way home. For most, it will be the most fraught and the most frightening task of their lives. But it will be nothing compared to the world that now awaits them beyond the dust. About Ari Marmell: When Ari Marmell has free time left over between feeding cats and posting on social media, he writes a little bit. His work includes scripts, novels, short stories, role-playing games, and video games, all of which he enjoyed in lieu of school work when growing up. He’s the author of the Obelisks sci-fi horror duology, the Widdershins YA fantasy series, The Goblin Corps, and many others, with publishers such as Del Rey, Pyr Books, Wizards of the Coast, Crossroad Press, and Titan Books. Ari currently resides in Austin, Texas. He lives in a clutter that has a moderate amount of apartment in it, along with George—his wife—and the aforementioned cats, who probably want something. This week’s picks: * Ari: Empire of Exiles by Erin M Evans * Tracy: Calamityware * Patrick 1: Renegade Nell * Patrick 2: Star Wars: The Bad Batch * Patrick 3: Tales of the Empire Links: * Ari Marmell on Facebook * Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter * Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2024 Patrick Hester