Location: United States
Member Since: July 16, 2014

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S T Xavier

Biography

S T Xavier is a new writer whose desire to combine his favorite things - stories, magic, spaceships, and the voices in his head - has coalesced into his first novels in the sci-fi/fantasy realm. His characters have a story to tell, and he’s obligated to tell it until that contract with the red horned guy expires. He is a practicing computer geek, avid collector of fantasy art, amateur player of decent video games, and voracious devourer of stories. He currently lives in Charleston, SC with his three cats and the numerous voices that occasionally let him sleep.

Smashwords Interview

What are your five favorite books, and why?
David Weber's Honor Harrington series. I don't think better space opera exists anywhere. The strong characters, well-developed universe, deep political intrigue, and glorious space battles are one of my biggest inspirations.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World is fantastic. It's a 'little guy in extraordinary circumstances' story that is just fun to read.
Terry Brooks' Landover series is one of the best fantasy realms I've ever had the chance to live in. His characters are humorous and quirky, even during extraordinary circumstances. I learned how to combine drama and humor into 'normal' characters from these.
The Fables graphic novels by Bill Willingham is wonderful. I love contemporary takes on old fairy tales. Fables does it right.
Finally, Hitchhiker's Guide, because Douglas Adams. What more needs to be said?
What's the story behind your latest book?
I've been writing short stories for a while, but never had an idea for a full-length novel, let alone a series. The Ugly Dirt Box Universe came to be through three words that came out of a conversation with my brother: elves on spaceships. It had never been done, and I suddenly had to do it. Once I started thinking about it, Rylae Westiel popped into my head and started telling me her story. It would have been a disservice to her to fail at writing it down properly.
Read more of this interview.

Where to find S T Xavier online

Website: http://www.uglydirtbox.com
Facebook: Facebook profile
Blog: https://www.goodreads.com/stxavier

Series

The Ugly Dirt Box Universe by
The "Ugly Dirt Box" is the affectionate nickname for magic-powered starships created by the United Corps of Starfield Travelers (UCST). The UCST, based on Terra, uses many Ugly Dirt Boxes to manage message delivery, trade, and diplomatic connections between the many worlds inhabited by elves, dwarves, goblins, and other races. When a ship is docked on-world, it looks a lot like someone built a fifth-century dwarven feasting hall in the middle of a bunch of modern government buildings and warehouses, but with less character than an actual feasting hall. The Ugly Dirt Box Universe is 'modernized fantasy' - a 'magitech' environment created when a standard high-fantasy realm of magic-using creatures reached a technological breakthrough, causing the organic development of magic-based technology to allow them to travel the starfield. After ten thousand years of development, many worlds are inhabited, many different types of technology have been invented, and millions of folk live in individual variants of 'peace and prosperity' (meaning there are still lots of fights).
Rylae's Storm
Price: Free!
Elven Gambit
Price: Free!
Trade Havok
Price: Free!

Books

Trade Havok by
Series: The Ugly Dirt Box Universe, Book 3. Price: Free! Words: 92,950. Language: English. Published: February 28, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » General, Fiction » Science fiction » General
(4.00 from 1 review)
The Corsari's next mission - arbitrating a trade agreement between the dwarven world of Hallowforge and the elven world of Andriennein - is simple enough that Rylae is put in charge of running it. She's looking forward to her time as 'temporary Captain'. When the body count goes up, Rylae realizes the trade meeting isn't as simple as she was prepared for.
Elven Gambit by
Series: The Ugly Dirt Box Universe, Book 2. Price: Free! Words: 90,940. Language: English. Published: September 4, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » General, Fiction » Science fiction » General
(5.00 from 2 reviews)
Rylae's visit to her home world of Tir Tairngire is far from a normal vacation. Strange assassins, risking her life, hiding in trees... to protect her parents, Rylae needs to quickly figure out what trouble her childhood friend brought back home with her, and how to keep it from burning down everything around her.
Rylae's Storm by
Series: The Ugly Dirt Box Universe, Book 1. Price: Free! Words: 95,910. Language: English. Published: August 6, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » General, Fiction » Science fiction » General
(4.85 from 13 reviews)
Book One of the Ugly Dirt Box Universe. Commander Rylae Westiel is the elven Executive officer of the UCST Corsari, an ambassadorial starship. Her mission to a goblin homeworld to prevent a war turns out to be nothing like she expected. Continuing to learn how to become Captain of her own starship, Rylae has to learn one very important point - goblins won't always be goblins.

S T Xavier's tag cloud

adventure fantasy    elves dwarves goblins    magitech    spaceship adventure   

Smashwords book reviews by S T Xavier

  • Digital Divide on Feb. 06, 2015

    I actually purchased this book a second time just to put a review on it. At the time of this post, we're fighting for a ranking spot in the sci-fi section, and it's totally worth it to add this review for it. I read this book shortly after it came out in April 2013. Below is my copy-pasted review from Amazon, which still qualifies: I love stories. I read books for the story. I play video games for the stories. I read comics for the stories. I read webcomics for a different kind of story that updates more often. Digital Divide is proof that good writers and their stories can cross mediums and still tell excellent stories. There aren't many people who can go from sequential-art-based story writing, where each page has to have a purpose and a flow and move the story or set up a punchline, and write an excellent book with a well-thought-through plot line, lots of fantastic events with foreshadowed links to other events, excellent characters, and a good flow. If you like cop drama, you'll love Digital Divide. If you like hyperconnectivity science fiction, you'll love Digital Divide. If you love conspiracy mystery, you'll love Digital Divide. And if you love Digital Divide, you'll also love the webcomic it's based on, A Girl And Her Fed, also by K B Spangler. And vice versa - If you love the comic, pick up the book.
  • Maker Space on Feb. 06, 2015

    I actually purchased this book a second time just to leave a review. I first purchased the book in March of 2014, and didn't know it was on here. K.B. Spangler is a favorite of mine, and Rachel's story is wonderful. It deserves an additional review here. Maker Space is the wonderful 2nd novel about Agent Rachel Peng, a federal agent who can talk to and change technology but is otherwise more human than any of us. For more details on background, read Digital Divide and the webcomic series A Girl And Her Fed, both also by K.B. Spangler and in the same universe. There are three things to say about this book. First, Spangler's creation of her characters is practically flawless. The humanity and personality of every character is always front and center. Sometimes it's overblown in an entirely comedic way. Other times it's subtle and muted as the characters close themselves off from the reader. But most times, the amount of humanity in the characters is deep, rich, and vivid enough that you truly feel for them and understand them. These are people, and that comes across clearly. Next, the plot and mystery is deep, entangled, potent, and well orchestrated. For most of the book, you'll be swept along in the events with the characters, figuring things out as they figure them out. Often, you don't understand exactly why things are happening the way they are... rather like most things that happen in life. But once the dominoes fall, you can see how everything tied together the whole time. It's good police work, and results in a plausible experience. Finally, the amount of detail is amazing. Especially the color. You can follow every thread of color to where it's supposed to be, and it's always right. I find myself swimming in color at the end of the book, and I'm sad that it's over. Pick up both books by K.B. Spangler. Digital Divide is a great book, and Maker Space is an excellent sequel. I can't wait for the third, fourth, and on-till-infinity-th books.