Zaftan Entrepreneurs

Tired of reading scifi and fantasy stories that take themselves too seriously. Then this is a novel you'll enjoy. A unique First Contact story, it is part adventure and part political satire spiced with comic relief. Here, you'll find nasty, snarly aliens, fantasy creatures, humans, romance, magic, and--just like the real world--incompetent politicians and feuding bureaucracies. What more could a fantasy/scifi reader ask for? Zaftan Entrepreneurs is quite different from run-of-the-mill...
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Tired of reading scifi and fantasy stories that take themselves too seriously. Then this is a novel you'll enjoy. A unique First Contact story, it is part adventure and part political satire spiced with comic relief. Here, you'll find nasty, snarly aliens, fantasy creatures, humans, romance, magic, and--just like the real world--incompetent politicians and feuding bureaucracies. What more could a fantasy/scifi reader ask for? Zaftan Entrepreneurs is quite different from run-of-the-mill genre stories.Aliens, fantasy creatures and humans? They don't mix very well. Neither do untrustworthy aliens and deceitful government bureaucrats. Zaftans resemble giant squids. They stand over seven feet tall and weigh over four hundred pounds. They believe assassination and treachery are social skills. Besides their nasty personalities, they stink like dead fish guts left out in the hot sun.Synopsis:An alien mining ship from Zaftan 31B discovers Gundarland and orbits the planet. Initial scans show promising mining sites that could yield exotic minerals ladened with rare elements. The zaftan crew launch robotic explorers which do considerable damage to private property and enrage the native population. At the center of the explored territory, Drakin Gemseeker, a dwarf miner, and Leslie Higginbottom, the only constable in the area, are attracted to each other, but the alien incursion comes between them. The politicians have worked a deal with a zatfan negotiator and deal means the constable must protect the robotic explorers, much to Higginbottom's dismay. Meanwhile, MacDrakin's mining property is twice invaded by robots and he destroys both of them. The second one was armed and fired a weapon at him. MacDrakin declares war on the aliens and the robots and vows to destroy them all. With Higginbottom ordered to protect the robots and MacDrakin hunting them down, their budding romance falters and seems doomed. On the space ship, the zaftan captain, Yunta, is furious at the loss of so many expensive robots. When an extensive mineral deposit is discovered underneath the town, Yunta sees an opportunity to avenge the loss of the explorers. She orders the mineral deposit mined without regard to the town or its inhabitants. She dispatches as many crew members as possible to protect the mining machines and remaining robots.MacDrakin, in the meantime, has assembled a small army and intends to defend the town. If he can defeat the zaftans and drive them away, he hopes that will also clear the way for him to resume romancing Higginbottom