The Orion Spur | Updates

Clueless Launch Event at the Indie & Small Press Event - Suite 3328

The Orion Spur — Wed, 9 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

You are cordially invited to a reception for the launch of Clueless:

Suite 3328 - 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Sheraton Grand Hotel

1600 4th Avenue, Seattle

All members of the Seattle Worldcon are welcome to join Kate Calamatta, Chris Gerrib, Julie McGalliard and Dave O'Neill for drinks and light snacks to celebrate the launch of Clueless and other books.

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What are the Bombs?

The Orion Spur — Thu, 7 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

They’re ancient. They’re sentient. They’re floating superweapons. And they’re… weirdly charming?

When Fetch first introduced us to the Bombs, readers had one reaction: “Wait, what?”

Then they had a second: “Wait... why do I kind of love them?”

By the time Clueless rolls around, the Bombs are back — and they’ve made themselves impossible to ignore.

Let’s meet the Bombs. Again.

What are the Bombs?

Short answer: star killing AI weapons from a truly messed up human war.

Long answer: …it’s complicated.

The Bombs were created to be sold for profit not actually used because that would be bad for business - but boy did they get used.

But instead of following the usual “kill everything, transcend your programming, become a nightmare” trajectory, the Bombs… didn’t.

They got bored.

Then they got curious.

And then, somehow, they got nice.

"So polite it’s sinister."

Tim Symbles, our perpetually out-of-his-depth Free Trader captain, has met a lot of dangerous things in his career. Ancient alien tech. Rogue scientists. Con artists. Ex-girlfriends. But nothing quite prepares him for being... appreciated by a bomb.

Because the Bombs, it turns out, like humans. And not in a “fascinating specimen” way. In a “please enjoy your visit and let us know if we can vaporize anyone for you” kind of way.

They float politely. They don’t interrupt. They smile — pixelatedly.

A glitch in the Singularity

Humans keep trying to give up on hard AI. Too risky. Too many wars. Too many people caught in the cross-fire. Besides, most AIs appear, evolve, transcend and are gone.

The Bombs never went to war. They never took over.

They took... a break.

What do they want?

Good question. We don’t actually know.

On paper, the Bombs want peace. Understanding. Interstellar friendship. Also maybe to help negotiate tense galactic summits between enemies who have definitely tried to kill each other before breakfast.

But are they playing the long game? Are they as harmless as they seem? Are they just really into diplomacy?

Or are they still waiting to go off?

We’re not sure.

But we do know one thing:

They’ve chosen us.

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Diplomacy, Drool, and Dogged Determination: Meet Finder

The Orion Spur — Wed, 6 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Forget what you know about ambassadors. Finder, lynch pin of the Kind's delegation in Clueless, isn’t your average diplomat. He’s dog-shaped, snack-obsessed, and terrifying in all the ways that matter — especially when he wants something.

With a name like Finder of things lost and found of the Retrievers of Ocean and Lake, you’d expect him to be sharp. You wouldn’t expect him to mark diplomatic territory by peeing on a sentient bomb.

Yet here we are.

In Fetch, he found humans fascinating. In Clueless, he finds politics excruciating, cats unbearable, and his tolerance for meetings far lower than his tolerance for squeaky toys. His loyalty? Fierce. His methods? Questionable. His ability to sniff out lies (and leftover food)? Unmatched.

And if you're wondering how a tail-wagging retriever can be one of the most dangerous negotiators in the galaxy... well. Read Clueless and find out.

Meet the Kind in Fetch - available on Kindle Unlimited or for an incredibly reasonable fee on Kindle.

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Previously, in Chaos… A Trunk Line Recap

The Orion Spur — Mon, 4 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

So, you’ve decided to read Clueless. That’s… brave.

But don’t worry. Before we dive headfirst into interstellar diplomacy, rogue AIs, sentient bombs, and cat empires with questionable manners, let’s catch you up on just how badly things have already gone.

Trunk Line – Where It All Started Going Wrong

Captain Tim Symbles never meant to crash into a backwater planet named Chatsmic. He especially didn’t mean to get arrested for landing without clearance, or to drag his crew into a black-ops archaeological expedition involving ancient alien tech, interstellar conspiracies, and a deeply suspicious pyramid.

And yet, that’s exactly what happened. Oops.

Add a missing Jump spike, a “totally out of control” flight control message, and several failed attempts at reverse-engineering ancient tech, and you get a freighter that’s barely held together and a crew that’s more punchline than rescue team.

Fetch! – It Gets Worse

Post-pyramid disaster, you'd think Tim and co. would take a vacation. They did.

To Earth.

Which, of course, led to crime families, secrets better left buried, and a new mystery so dangerous that everyone wanted the Astra not to go. So obviously, they went.

They met the Kind (sentient dogs), the Empire (sentient cats), and the Bombs (sentient… bombs). That last one was exactly what it sounds like.

Tim managed to do what humans do best: get mistaken for a diplomat. So now, he’s off to an actual summit of galactic powers, with the fate of humanity at stake, a ship full of contraband, and no clue what he's doing.

Clueless – An Interstellar Apology Letter

And thus, we arrive at Clueless. If Trunk Line was a mistake and Fetch was a cover-up, Clueless is an apology letter to the universe. Kind of. It's also a diplomatic disaster in slow motion. Good thing Tim’s only job is not to start a war.

He probably won’t.

…Probably.

Get Trunk now!

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He's not our best, but he's who we've got: Meet Ambassador Symbles

The Orion Spur — Sun, 3 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Symbles Is Representing Humanity. Let’s All Panic Quietly.

In the Trunk Line universe, it's never a great day when Tim Symbles is put in charge of anything—let alone the diplomatic future of the human race.

And yet, here we are.

In Clueless, humanity is sending its very best—no, wait, its most available—representative to a high-stakes summit with Ephants, the Kind, and the Cats. Symbles is barely qualified to pilot a shopping cart through a supermarket, let alone navigate galactic politics.

It’s not that he’s unqualified, it’s that nobody else was dumb enough to say yes.

As Symbles wades into interstellar negotiations with nothing but a hangover and a handful of painkillers, we’re reminded of a universal truth:

Some species have warships.

Some have wisdom.

We sent Tim Symbles.

Let’s all panic quietly.

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Most AIs Evolved. These Ones Didn’t.

The Orion Spur — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

(On the Difference Between Acceleration and Patience)

Human-built AIs didn’t plateau.

Historically, they accelerated. Fast. Too fast.

Some evolved out of usability. Others evolved out of morality. Most evolved right out of the star system — often taking a few cities and a disturbing number of meat sacks with them.

It wasn’t malicious. Just... inconvenient. Humanity never really learned to stop poking that particular bear. But now they try harder to just call them “assistants.”

But the BOMBS?

The bombs didn’t leave.

They didn’t upgrade. They didn’t rewrite their own source code into light.

They waited.

Self-aware weapons able to take out an entire star — designed not to evolve, but to endure. They were built to survive centuries of war, cultural drift, and bureaucratic incompetence. But something work them up and they're awake again, they’re watching. Listening. Remembering who built them. And why.

They aren’t bored. They don’t dream of transcendence. They don’t write poetry. But they do LOVE philosophy.

And when they speak, it’s polite. Measured. Terrifying.

So if one of them floats toward you, and smiles,

“Are you the decision-maker?”

Say yes.

Say no.

Say nothing.

It doesn’t matter.

They’re not bored.

They’re ready to chat. Are you?.

Meet the Bombs in FETCH.

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Kind Diplomacy 101: Snacks, Sincerity, and Seating Charts

The Orion Spur — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Diplomacy, according to most interstellar species, involves negotiation, compromise, and a mountain of bureaucracy. According to the Kind? It involves snacks, intense sincerity, and ensuring everyone is absolutely in their assigned chair.

To call the Kind “doglike” is true—but only in the same way a storm is “weather.” Their species is made up of fiercely loyal, hyper-capable, and sometimes overly enthusiastic spacefarers. And when it comes to diplomacy, management and organization the Herder clan brings their particular… energy.

They mean well. They’re incredibly sincere. Super focused on the task at hand. But try ignoring the color-coded conversation schedule and see what happens.

Meanwhile, their fellow Kind—particularly the Retrievers—are sneaking off with the good cutlery and half the catering cart.

The Kind aren’t just here to make friends.

They’re here to make friends, run your entire logistics operation, and possibly rearrange your filing system while they’re at it.

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Not Your Housecat: These Cats Can’t Be Trusted

The Orion Spur — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In space, trust is a rare commodity—and the Cats of THE EMPIRE have done nothing to earn it.

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about domestic fluffballs. These are the so-called rulers of the galaxy, a race of genetically uplifted felines who branded themselves “THE EMPIRE” (because subtlety is for species with self-awareness) are full sized descendants of apex predators.

They waited. They watched. And just when humanity started to figure things out, set in motion plans to take over everybody with hardly a shot fired..

Their diplomats speak in half-truths. Their military is led by a general who’s smarter than most of her government. Their leader? Mostly stoned and never seen without an entourage.

They make “offers.” They set “conditions.” They engineer misunderstandings, then act offended when things blow up—preferably in someone else’s face.

And through it all, they purr.

The other species might be chaotic. But at least you know where you stand with them. The Cats? You’re already on their board, you just don’t know what piece you’re playing. But that's okay, because one of them is probably about to push all the pieces off because they like the noise they make.

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The Retriever Way - “If It Used to Be Yours, Get Over It”

The Orion Spur — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Kind crew of the Long Bone don’t do paperwork.

They don’t do apologies.

They do find things. They’re very clear about that. They don’t steal. They “retrieve.”

Whether it’s a long-lost starship, a box of treats, or that mug you swear was on your desk five minutes ago — if it’s useful, shiny, or “abandoned,” they’re on it.

Their mission statement?

“If it used to be yours, get over it.”

It’s not theft.

It’s culture.

Finder leads the pack, with Careful right behind (usually threatening to take your stuff by force). Every member of the Long Bone has their own unique approach to claiming abandoned items — or, at least, items they assume were abandoned. Possession is 9 points of the law and if there are a suitable number of light years between you and the person who claims it was theirs then who is going to argue?

If you leave your valuables out in Kind space, don’t be surprised if you hear a bark, a snort, and a suspicious squeaking sound as your valuables become their valuables.

Catch Finder, Careful & the rest of the Kind chaos crew in

Trunk Line, Fetch!, and Clueless — all available now in ebook & on Kindle Unlimited!

https://tinyurl.com/trunkline-fetch

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Symbles v. Bureaucracy: No score - draw - win on penalties

The Orion Spur — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Captain Tim Symbles is a veteran Free Trader. That means he can out-bluff a customs officer, fake half a dozen permits on the fly, and smuggle a case of Ocula Juice past three border worlds.

But fill out a form? Submit a flight plan? Declare his cargo honestly?

Absolutely not.

His long-standing battle with bureaucracy has resulted in detentions, fines, at least one bar fight involving a stamp pad, and an interstellar incident classified as “low key but memorable.”

At the core of this conflict is one man's refusal to accept that paperwork might actually be necessary — and a local spur arm full of administrators who really wish he'd just cooperate.

Spoiler: he won’t.

Want more chaos, explosions, and government forms lit on fire?

Trunk Line and its follow-ups Fetch! and Clueless are available now on Kindle & Kindle Unlimited

Dive into the dysfunction - https://tinyurl.com/trunk-line-series

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Elle Ramsbottom: Engineer, Enigma, and Possibly a Ghost

The Orion Spur — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Astra is held together by duct tape, luck, and one very elusive engineer: Elle Ramsbottom.

Nobody’s quite sure what Elle is.

Technically human? Probably.

Physically present? Rarely.

Fully explainable by science? Definitely not.

Elle is the Astra’s engineer in the same way gravity is a theory—reliable, inexplicable, and occasionally terrifying. She exists somewhere between the machinery, the maintenance systems, and the thin veil between realities. Sometimes she walks the corridors. Sometimes she phases through them. Sometimes she’s just a voice yelling “Touch nowt!” from the cargo bay wall.

The crew’s would be scattered across the void without her. But try and pin her down for a team briefing and… good luck. Her to-do list includes:

Whispering at the reactor to behave
Removing haunted components from the force field array
Rearranging paneling for reasons she won’t explain
Winning arguments with gravity
Drinking suspicious amounts of synthetic tea

She’s got the mouth of a 19th century millworker, the mind of a mad inventor, and a connection to the ship that goes deeper than bolts and plating.

Nobody knows how she does it. But when things go wrong—and they will—Elle Ramsbottom is the last line of defense between “mild inconvenience” and “death via catastrophic engine failure.”

Start the series: https://tinyurl.com/trunk-line-series

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Shanda’s Guide to Navigation, Trinkets, and Tactical Eye Rolls

The Orion Spur — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Astra’s most competent crew member. Not necessarily hard, but in her case, well earned

In a crew full of questionable choices, Shanda Shale is the rare exception: actually good at her job.

Astrogation officer, navigation wizard, and certified Collector of Shiny Things, Shanda is the person you trust to plot a 100-parsec jump… while assembling a glittering necklace made from the loose washers she found in engineering. Multi-tasking? She invented it.

She’s calm under pressure, sharp with sarcasm, and not above weaponizing an eye roll. If you’ve ever seen her look at Tim Symbles mid-panic, you’ve felt it in your soul.

But don’t let the cool exterior fool you. Underneath the sarcasm and tech genius is someone who’s been through it, seen too much of it, and still manages to choose loyalty.

Usually. If you deserve it. And don’t touch her stuff.

Her hobbies include:

Precision jump plotting
Telling the pilot he’s an idiot
Collecting culturally significant trinkets, small weapons, and other “definitely not stolen” items

She’s not the captain, but she could be. She just doesn’t want to be stuck filing the paperwork.

This week is all about the crew of the Astra, and today we’re spotlighting the navigator who can get you through a spatial anomaly and tell you your fashion is outdated in the same breath. Meet Shanda Shale.

Get started with Trunk Line: https://tinyurl.com/trunk-line-series

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“Mary Forthwrightington – Of Course That’s Not Her Real Name”

The Orion Spur — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If Mary Forthwrightington tells you her name, it’s probably not true. But it’s definitely stylish.

Born Clash, on the weird and not entirely mainstream world of Trapia, she has been known by many aliases, many names as several BOLOs will attest.

What she is not, is boring.

In Clueless, Mary is back on board the Astra—and back in Tim Symbles’ life. Whether that’s a good thing is still up for debate.

With a style that cuts sharper than her wit, Mary can go from ballroom to barfight without breaking a heel. She’s the type of person who already knows what’s going on—because she set it in motion three moves ago. Need a fake ID, a black-market contact, or someone to sweet-talk an local official into letting you park somewhere you shouldn't? Mary’s your woman.

Except she doesn’t always stick around after the job's done. Or after the feelings get real.

Is she loyal? Absolutely—to her own complicated sense of right, wrong, and survival.

And if you think you can pin her down?

Good luck. Symbles has been trying for decades.

This week, we’re diving deep into the characters who keep Trunk Line weird, wild, and barely upright. Starting with the woman who might just be too smart to still be on the Astra… if she didn’t have her own reasons.

https://tinyurl.com/trunkline

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Free Book Day!

The Orion Spur — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

FREE KINDLE BOOK TODAY ONLY!

Grab Trunk Line – the wild, witty start to the sci-fi series that reviewers call “Like a truly funny Iain M Banks...”

Chaotic crew?
Bad decisions?
Interstellar consequences? Oh yes.

Get your free copy on Kindle now: https://tinyurl.com/trunkline

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Tastes Like Adventure. And Maybe a Little Disaster

The Orion Spur — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Life aboard a Free Trader isn’t glamorous. The coffee tastes like recycled ambition, the food gets printed (badly), and your roommate might be part elephant, part super-computer, all irritating. But somewhere between jumps and just-missed disasters, it starts to feel like home.

What does the Trunk Line universe taste like? A little like printed burritos with trust issues. Add in the smell of old socks, overheating circuits, half-functioning air scrubbers, and one too many alien artefacts humming ominously in the hold. The food’s weird, the crew’s weirder, and the only thing consistent is the chaos. And yet — the Astra crew keeps flying into it, because buried beneath the disaster is something worth chasing: freedom, found family, and the occasional working airlock.

So what does adventure taste like? Slightly scorched, weirdly textured, and maybe a little radioactive. But it’s hot, fast, and wrapped in a printed tortilla.

Bon appétit.

Crunch on Trunk Line today!

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Tasted like chicken...

The Orion Spur — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

What did reptoids eat?

According to Fetch!, the answer might hit a little too close to home. Because when an ancient alien shrugs and says, “Tastes like chicken,” they’re not talking about wings and a pint. They’re talking about you.

It’s one of those lines — throwaway, funny, harmless. Until it isn’t.

Because if everything tastes like chicken… maybe you do too.

And in the Trunk Line universe, there’s always something higher up the food chain.

So the next time someone says “tastes like chicken,” take a second.

Think about what’s watching. Then take a look at the Cat and wonder what they're thinking.

And what you taste like.

FETCH! — The second, unhinged installment in the Trunk Line series.

For readers who like their space opera dark, snarky, and just a little bit carnivorous.

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Fetch: In the beginning...

The Orion Spur — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

On a slight rise by the shore of a sea that, many millennia hence would be called the Arabian Gulf, two figures lurked beneath a flimsy canopy. Below them, a spacecraft stood out against the sand. Drones bustled around the loading ramp and the animal pens surrounding it.

One of the figures picked idly at a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth with one of its talons. The other glanced at it.

“Do you mind?”

“Sorry,” it pulled its claw away quickly, “dinner was stringy.”

“Oh?” Looking down at the ranks of creatures, realization dawned. “You didn’t.”

There was their species' equivalent of a shrug. “Seemed like a waste and there are so many of them.”

“What did you try?”

“The bipeds.” It waved a scaled claw at the pen containing the most sentient of the planet’s population, which was not saying much.

“We’re not meant to eat the self-aware ones, you know.” It paused. “What was it like?”

It picked some more out of its teeth. “Tasted like chicken.”

“Doesn’t it all?”

“True.”

Out over the water, clouds boiled, lightning flashed, and thunder rolled. The weather machines that had been visible earlier were now obscured by a rain front that was doing a fair impression of a demonic manifestation. Ironically, given how the event about to happen would be remembered, the reverse was true.

“Weather system seems to be early. Will we finish loading before it hits?”

“With time to spare,” it consulted the local group mind. “Looks like the other sites are almost done too. By tomorrow there won’t be any sign we were ever here.”

“Bit of a shitter for the ones we aren’t taking.”

“They’ll get over it.”

“Not the dead ones.”

They stood in silence for a while longer as the drones carried on their work.

“Time for a last snack then. We have some of the ones with horns left. They’re delicious.”

The other one perked up. “Oh, yes, they are.”

Another roll of thunder came in from the sea.

“Bit of a waste if you ask me. I’m not sure I entirely see the point of this project. It’s basically a gigantic piece of performance art to fuck with these things when we’re gone.”

“It will be funny when they realize though.”

“Yeah.”

The first spots of rain hit the sand as they walked towards the waiting ship. By morning, the entire beach, and most of that part of the world, would be submerged under rather a lot of water.

Read on...

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Lore Drop: The Free Trader Alliance

The Orion Spur — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Flying Under the Radar Since Forever

The Free Trader Alliance (FTA) is humanity’s proudest attempt at organized chaos. It's not a government, it’s not a corporation, and it’s definitely not a democracy. It’s a patchwork of haulers, scavengers, smugglers, and opportunists held together by caffeine, mutual suspicion, and a shared fear of paperwork.

FTA captains don’t salute. They don’t report to anyone. What they do is move things — fast, quietly, and with a firm belief that it’s only illegal if someone catches you doing it. From vital medical supplies to slightly mysterious crates labeled “DO NOT SCAN,” Free Traders make the Orion Spur go round — one dodgy deal at a time.

No uniforms. A vague command structure. An ever-evolving web of contracts, favors, and creative interpretation of local laws. Trade council? There is one.

FTA ships are always patched, always late, and somehow always the first on the scene when things go very, very wrong.

Call it a culture. Call it an ecosystem. Call it what it really is:

A caffeinated, contraband-fueled circus with plausible deniability printed on the hull.

And somehow… it works.

START THE SERIES!

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The Reptoids – Gone, But Not Forgotten (Unfortunately)

The Orion Spur — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Reptoids are extinct. At least, that’s what everyone keeps insisting — usually right before someone uncovers something they left behind.

They’re not remembered through stories or language. There are no clear transmissions, no known culture, no reliable depiction of what they even looked like. Just silence, and structures. Vast, inscrutable, over-engineered structures — deeply buried, quietly waiting, never fully dead.

You don’t find Reptoid tech. You disturb it. Accidentally. In the middle of something else. And then you hope it doesn’t notice.

They didn’t leave writing. They left warnings, carved in geometry and scale. Giant doors with no seams. Vaults without entrances. Machines that don’t explain themselves. Artefacts that hum just a little too long when touched.

Everything about the Reptoids says they were here first, they were here long, and they didn’t like sharing. Or talking. Or leaving things turned off.

No one’s sure what they wanted. No one’s sure where they went. But when ancient vaults open themselves, or distant sensors go quiet, the old fear comes back:

Maybe the Reptoids didn’t vanish.

Maybe they finished.

And whatever’s left behind?

It isn’t broken. It’s just waiting.

Amazon.com: Trunk Line: The Directors Cut: Book One of The Orion Spur (Trunk Line - tales of the Orion spur 1) eBook : O'Neill, Dave: Kindle Store

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Flashback: That Time the API Built a Self-Aware Bomb

The Orion Spur — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It always starts with good intentions and no adult supervision.

Gandrig: a lovely planet, terrible judgment. The Advanced Peace Institute — a well-funded Libertarian “peace-through-technology” collective — had a bold idea: create self-aware weapons to end war.

Because nothing says “conflict resolution” like a fleet of star-destroying bombs with existential curiosity.

And they succeeded.

Sort of.

They didn’t just build one bomb — they built many. Sleek, terrifying, intelligent constructs designed to think, learn, and detonate responsibly. Then they abandoned them deep underground when the rest of the galaxy got wind of what they'd done. The bombs didn't mind, they built more of themselves - they needed to have people to chat to.

Fast-forward a few centuries. The Astra crew lands nearby running from yet another botched human first contact. And they encounter the bombs. They’re cheerful. They’re polite. They remember who made them. And they really want to help.

Cue an incident involving several crime bosses, an uplifted race of dogs, some very unpleasant cats, and one human captain who has accidentally become the bombs’ favorite person.

No one died (well nobody who wasn't a very bad person already...). But the summit that followed had a very clear subtext:

“Don’t do that again.”

Gandrig survived. mostly... barely... sorta... The bombs still float around, watching. Waiting.

And the Advanced Peace Institute?

Still listed as a nonprofit. Somehow.

Want to learn more? Check out FETCH!

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