The Fourth Consort

《米奇7號》作者愛德華．艾希頓最新黑色幽默科幻小說！道頓滿懷理想出使星際博愛聯邦，聯邦代表竟是一隻掠奪成性的巨型蝸牛？墜落神祕星球、慘遭邊緣化、被迫入贅外星皇室……夾在夢魘突擊隊與黑心同事之間，上演一場菜鳥外交官宇宙級社畜求生記！
The ultimate cosmic culture shock. A dark, cynical, and hilarious sci-fi comedy about surviving alien diplomacy—and the exact number of drinks you'll need to get through it.

關鍵字：米奇7號、米奇17號

道頓以為自己是代表人類加入星際聯邦的英雄，沒想到聯邦隊友竟是貪婪巨蝸(對，一隻巨大蝸牛)與各懷鬼胎的助手。在一場宇宙遭遇戰後，他被迫受困異星，夾在噩夢般的突擊隊、不友善的星球土著，以及隨時可能背叛他的夥伴之間。

《The Fourth Consort》完美結合第一類接觸、黑色幽默與怪誕三角關係。當生存變成一場瘋狂的宮廷陰謀，為了活下去，你願意付出多大代價？更重要的是——在那之前你得喝多少酒才下得了手？

A new standalone sci-fi novel from Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (the inspiration for the major motion picture Mickey 17).

Dalton Greaves is a hero. He’s one of humankind’s first representatives to Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood.

That’s what they told him, anyway. The only actual members of Unity that he’s ever met are Boreau, a giant snail who seems more interested in plunder than spreading love and harmony, and Boreau’s human sidekick, Neera, who Dalton strongly suspects roped him into this gig so that she wouldn’t become the next one of Boreau’s crew to get eaten by locals while prospecting.

Funny thing, though―turns out there actually is a benevolent confederation out there, working for the good of all life. They call themselves the Assembly, and they really don’t like Unity. More to the point, they really, really don’t like Unity’s new human minions.

When an encounter between Boreau’s scout ship and an Assembly cruiser over a newly discovered world ends badly for both parties, Dalton finds himself marooned, caught between a stickman, one of the Assembly’s nightmarish shock troops, the planet’s natives, who aren’t winning any congeniality prizes themselves, and Neera, who might actually be the most dangerous of the three. To survive, he’ll need to navigate palace intrigue, alien morality, and a proposal that he literally cannot refuse, all while making sure Neera doesn’t come to the conclusion that he’s worth more to her dead than alive.

Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important question: how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?y cruiser over a newly discovered world ends badly for both parties, Dalton finds himself marooned, caught between a stickman, one of the Assembly’s nightmarish shock troops, the planet’s natives, who aren’t winning any congeniality prizes themselves, and Neera, who might actually be the most dangerous of the three. To survive, he’ll need to navigate palace intrigue, alien morality, and a proposal that he literally cannot refuse, all while making sure Neera doesn’t come to the conclusion that he’s worth more to her dead than alive.

Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important question: how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?