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Gripping action, dark humor, and unlikely survival electrify this collection of the acclaimed Faceless cycle: seven previously published tales, and three all-new stories pitting a shapeshifting assassin's will against the most insurmountable challenges deep space has to offer... Throughout the gutters and sanitation systems of the civilized galaxy, amorphous, nameless blobs called Torrhoids digest other species' trash to clean air and water.
The Great Races don't consider Torrhoids intelligent. But when one Torrhoid receives a baffling kindness, its curiosity ignites. The shapeshifter discovers it can mimic its overlords-- not only their voices, but their forms and movements, too.
It can escape the prison planet where it is kept cold, hungry, and fighting for life. It can evade those who would throw it back into the sewers. With ingenuity, quick thinking, and the power of surprise, it can strike down even the oligarchs and influence traders who rule the galaxy. So begins the career of the assassin known only as " Faceless."
Still learning the cultures of the beings it impersonates, testing the limits of its abilities, and evading revulsion for its natural form, Faceless is never far from detection and death. Ethics are a luxury it can ill afford.
But as the stories of this sharp, twisty cyberpunk collection prove, a gutter scavenger's justice may still beat an empire' s.
About the author
Auston Habershaw is the author of over thirty short stories published in a number of venues, including
Analog Science Fiction and Fact,
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, among others. He writes both science fiction and fantasy and sometimes even a mix of the two. He lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts, and he is not, so far as any of you know, a shape-shifting alien. You can find him online at aahabershaw.com.
