Cello's Gate

By: Maurice Africh

With a wit to rival Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl, action on par with Pierce Brown’s Red Rising, and the scope of Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth, Cello’s Gate is a rollicking, edge-of-your-seat sci-fi fantasy epic about a ragtag crew of rogues on the hunt for mythic treasure. They did not, however, sign up to save the world.

One crew of sky pirates. Seven mythological stones. A race to find them all.

Captain Grey and his crew of sky pirates have a reputation for doing the impossible. From breaking into high-security military research facilities to conning the iCity elite—there isn’t a lock they can’t pick, a safe they can’t break, or a hidden treasure they can’t find. Until now.

Returning from a harrowing heist involving a neon battery and a trash chute, Grey and his crew are approached by Dalia, the immortal daughter of the infamous ArchGovernor—and she has an offer.

The job? Locate and steal the Stones of Indigo—seven fabled rocks invested with godlike power. The search for the first stone is a bona fide treasure hunt, guided by an ancient map to a deadly, uncharted island that’s protected by a mysterious guardian. The score? One million credits per crew member, per stone. The catch? Well, that’s where things get a little complicated.

The stones don’t exist. They’re a myth. A bedtime story told to little pirates to make them believe that power and wealth are attainable if you just work hard enough.

And to make matters infinitely worse, Grey’s never trusted immortals, and Dalia’s definitely hiding something. Something bad. And if they don’t figure out what it is, it might cost them their lives.