Cary Caffrey
I grew up reading vintage science fiction from the 60’s and 70’s, loving the works of Harry Harrison and Joe Haldeman, Ursula Le Guin, Andre Norton and, of course, Douglas Adams. I still think The Forever War may very well be the best Science Fiction novel ever written (discuss...!).
I love music, I love comic books and historic non-fiction, but science-fiction is my passion. As a kid--and to this day--I was a Trekkie long before there was ever a debate between Trekkies vs. Trekkers. I suppose, technically, I’m a Trekker. I think I’m still a ‘rational’ fan. I mean, hey, yes, I own a classic gold uniform, and, okay, a hand phaser, but when someone stole my communicator out of the car I never got around to replacing it.
As a reader, and then as a writer, I always dreamed of writing good, old-fashioned space adventures--except in mine, it wasn’t Kirk who was beating up the bad guys. In mine it was the Girl who got her man (so to speak). I always knew the stories I would write would be the ones where strong women would crush the wills of men who would stand against them, which is probably why I’ve always been such a Joss Whedon fan.
Merchantman (The Girls from Alcyone)
by Cary Caffrey
MERCHANTMAN (a short story)
Sigrid Novak embarks on an all or nothing mission to secure vital supplies for the girls' homeworld of New Alcyone. But with a price on her head the size of a planet, and pursued across the galaxy by the Council for Trade and Finance, finding a willing trading partner proves a more complicated problem than Sigrid thought. Fortunately, there are always the Merchantmen.