The Fourth Consort

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In this standalone sci-fi novel by Edward Ashton, Dalton Greaves is among the first humans to represent Unity, a confederation aiming to unite all sentient life. However, his experience with Unity is disillusioning, as he only interacts with Boreau, a greedy giant snail, and Neera, Boreau's human accomplice, who seems to have ulterior motives for involving Dalton. Unexpectedly, Dalton discovers that a genuine benevolent organization, the Assembly, opposes Unity and its human representatives. When a disastrous encounter occurs between Boreau’s ship and an Assembly cruiser over a newly discovered planet, Dalton finds himself stranded. He is caught in a perilous situation involving a stickman, a terrifying soldier of the Assembly, hostile native inhabitants, and Neera, who may be the most dangerous of all. To survive, Dalton must navigate complex palace intrigue, grapple with alien ethics, and confront a life-altering proposal, all while ensuring that Neera doesn’t decide he’s more valuable to her dead than alive. This story blends first contact with dark comedy and a bizarre love triangle, raising the question of how far one would go to survive—and how many drinks it would take to get there.