Nothing escapes our keen eye. Especially when we stumble upon a brand new page on the Hachette books website dedicated to the very first novella set in The Captive’s War series. That was sheer luck, as no one anywhere on the internet, to our knowledge, has ever mentioned that novella. We got lucky, but only partly, because looking for news about The Captive’s War on selected websites is part of our daily activities.
[PAGE UPDATE] Livesuit is now available in ebook and audiobook formats !
90 pages of more background?
James S.A. Corey has taken the (tasteful) habit of publishing novellas in between novels. The Expanse entire project is peppered with novellas and short stories. In our opinion, these texts have been a wonderful read, especially The Churn, which adds not depth, but light to the depth of Amos Burton (both of ‘em).
If the trend continues, we can expect that first novella to add more background to the world of the new series. Thinking more practically about it, the idea is a golden deal. For the reader, there is something more to chew on while the writers punch the letters. For the writer, it is an excellent way to shorten explanations in the actual novels and get some wiggle room to work on the next novel.
That process should be the definition of a win-win situation. Not mentioning the affordability of such a extra read, especially in digital format.
Livesuit: The way of the (new) warrior?
On the Hachette Books website (Hachette Livre is a French company owning Hachette Book Group, owning Orbit) we can find a blurb regarding this new novella. We cannot resist the itch to copy it here:
Humanity’s war is eternal, spread across the galaxy and the ages. Humanity’s best hope to end the endless slaughter is the Livesuit forces. Soldiers meld their bodies to the bleeding edge technology, becoming something more than human for the duration of a war that might never end.
This text is property of James S.A. Corey and Orbit Books, only copied here for informative purposes.
So Livesuit is a kind of exoskeleton/armour/cocoon/thingamajig that enhances and protects the soldier. That bodes well.
2 things we noticed there:
- Humanity’s war has spread across the galaxy: So humanity has indeed spread across the galaxy, meaning cheaty ways to travel faster than light (portals, doubting James S.A. Corey would write about a FTL engine), which indicates some very advanced technology, or some nice luck (winkwink ring gate). Humanity is at war on large scales, that being implied means strong political interactions between humans, but maybe not only. We will elaborate on that at a later time.
- For the duration of a war that might never end: The Livesuit process seems reversible, but, we cannot read that without feeling a huge wave of sarcasm slapping us across the face. Will these suits be permanent when they were supposed to be temporary? That would be fun, thinking of a non disbandable army force after the end of a war. The galaxy could be plagued by armed bands similar to the ones ravaging France during the peace periods of the Hundred Years War.
When is Livesuit coming?
Livesuit is scheduled to be released on the 1st of October 2024. For now, no cover has been revealed, but as soon as it is, we will add it to this page.
It is worth mentioning that with Livesuit, James S.A. Corey is planning a novella longer than any of those published for The Expanse series (longest were The Churn and Gods of Risk with 75 pages). with 90 pages. The short story will also happen quite early in the publishing process, considering it is scheduled to be released about 60 days after The Mercy of Gods. As a comparison, Drive the first short story in The Expanse Universe, was released about 18 months after Leviathan Wakes, and 6 months after Caliban’s War.
James S.A. Corey seems to have taken a liking to these added stories and we can only hope they will remain a trend across the new series.
Note to whom it might be relevant
At the end of this writing we realised that this page on the Hachette Book Group might have been a mistake by a zealous webmaster. If that is the case, and the publishers, authors and the like want to keep the lid on this new novella, please reach out to us, and we will pull back the page you are reading now. Here, at Thecaptiveswar.com, we only want to ramble about your stories, not to be a nuisance.