Meet the Characters: The Shadow of Arcadia
Meet the characters of the upcoming second novel in the Augment Saga, The Shadow of Arcadia.
Captain James Fowler
James has been a test pilot for the International Space Administration for the last two decades under the command of Captain Austin Queen, flying the IXS-17 Aurora: an experimental spaceplane containing the first faster-than-light engine known as the Austinium Drive. But the Aurora is no longer the only such spacecraft in the ISA’s fleet.
Rendered biologically immortal thanks to his brush with alien medical technology aboard the derelict Achelon warship on Mars, he hasn’t aged a day and still looks to be in his early forties. Though, he now wears a full beard as an increasingly poor disguise for his lack of aging. He knows it’s only a matter of time before someone notices. But as the people he loves grow old around him, he feels increasingly disconnected from humanity.
By the start of The Shadow of Arcadia, he is aiding the ISA’s latest off-world construction project: laying the groundwork for future human expansion into space.
Captain Austin Queen
For the last twenty-three years, Austin has been the main supervisor for Project Aurora. Starting out simply as James’s spaceflight communicator, the project soon expanded, and now includes three more Aurora-class spaceplanes: the UNSV Galileo, Magellan, and Newton.
Thanks to the Austinium drive which bears his name, Captain Queen is now among the ranks of the most historic figures in human spaceflight. In his eighties, he has finally receives the honour of going back into space, to take part in the signing of a new international treaty within the city built around the Magnum Opus crew’s original landing site on Mars: Arcadia Landing.
A stout, muscular man with a thick white beard and begrudgingly carrying a cane wherever he goes, he feels distinctly out of place in the Martian city. The treaty signing promises big changes, not all of which Austin is comfortable with. As much as he sees the potential of his Austinium drive to deliver a brighter future for humanity, he also fears that in the wrong hands such technology could prove disastrous.
Captain Nathan Rifkin
Nate is the mission commander for the UNSV Magellan, the designated passenger-craft of Austin’s Aurora-class fleet. He’s African American, hailing from Portland, Oregon and is much taller and younger than Austin. Prim and proper with a reputation for stability, he takes pride in his appearance, sporting a finely trimmed black beard that accentuates his angular jawline, and his hair is styled in a dense, textured high-top with a low fade. However, the attack on Arcadia Landing has him unraveling from within…
The members of Nate’s team aboard the Magellan are:
Commander Damien Vance
Sergeant Petra Milakova
Specialist Bill Watkins
Corporal Marissa de Beek
Captain Erin Pritchard
Erin is the mission commander for the UNSV Galileo, the original faster-than-light supply transport responsible for the speedy construction of the Le Guin Research Facility on the far side of the Moon. She’s Welsh, from Wrexham, bubbly and fiercely devoted to her wife, Cheryl, as well as her crew and friends in Austin’s troupe.
She’s a capable pilot, much to her helmsman’s chagrin, and a formidable combatant, having served formerly in the British Army. Erin has short, messy styled black hair and brown eyes. Even though her pale skin is cool, she radiates warmth.
But there is a darkness inside her, threatening to claw its way to the surface in the wake of the attack.
Erin’s Galileo crew members are:
Major Rhys Jones
Lieutenant Commander Aisling Simmonds
Lieutenant Commander Sai Suresh
Specialist Tom Lando
Captain April Rose-Hartley
April is the captain of the Planet Hunters of the UNSV Newton, a tight-knit crew whose mission is to explore the outer reaches of the solar system, discovering, cataloguing and mapping the hundreds of trans-Neptunian objects of the Kuiper Belt. Originally from Los Angeles, April is an absolute chaotic force of nature—loyal and determined, but mostly just there for the vibes and likes to be where the action is.
She loves classic rock music and punk aesthetic from nearly a century ago and plays the guitar. April wears her hair styled in a pink and white fauxhawk with an undercut and has piercings all over. Initially, she’s reluctant to get involved in the investigation into the attack, fearing she has nothing to offer but covers it with bravado.
April’s fellow Planet Hunters are:
Major Iain Firth
Specialist Leron Barnes
Lieutenant Chris Vanson
Angela Fowler
Now in her eighties like Austin and James, Angela’s health isn’t in the best state. Her formerly flame-red hair has given way to a bright white and she’s now fairly unsteady on her feet. Like Austin, she has a cane, but it’s all James can do to get her to actually use the damn thing despite how much she said she loved it. In her old age, and perhaps because of James’s immortality, she’s become increasingly morbid. However, her mind is still sharp and she uses the research skills she learned over the years as a published crime author to help James investigate the attack on the Martian City.
Elisabeth Schreiber
Elisabeth is the ISA’s administrator as well as the German ambassador to the United Nations. A diplomat through and through, she was appointed by the security council to run the ISA following the retirement of Dr Konstantinu Azzopardi, the Maltese ambassador. Most of her tenure has been uneventful, but the surprise attack on humanity’s first city on Mars will push her to her limits.
Son of Adam
The anonymous figurehead of Sidera Silere, a worldwide terrorist organisation made up of anti-spacers and alien cultists. In the wake of the attack on Mars, this masked leader makes his first broadcast to the world, claiming full responsibility and threatening more with a fearful manifesto. Can James, Nate, Erin and April uncover his identity and stop him before he strikes again?
The Shadow of Arcadia releases 15 July 2024.
Available to pre-order now.
