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Salvage Trouble: Mission 1 (Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws) Kindle Edition

by J.S. Morin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,130 ratings
See all formats and editions
The escape pods are long gone.

A distress beacon is still active.

Chase off the pirates and the wreck is all theirs. What was a crime scene moments before just became legitimate salvage, fair game for an opportunistic starship captain.

Carl Ramsey is that opportunist.

His crew of misfits includes his ex-wife as pilot, a drunken mechanic, a predatory bodyguard, and an outcast wizard from the Convocation. On their best days, they’re a well-oiled machine, capable of taking on any challenge.

In theory.

If that ever happened, Carl would be as shocked as anyone.

In the meantime, they're a crew in need of terras, and the galaxy doesn't give those out for free. Jobs come and go, but the cost of fuel is always chasing a ship like its own ion trail. A good captain just keeps his crew from killing one another, getting dusted by pirates, and earning however they can. Nobody pays for easy work, and every job comes with its own surprises—never the good kind.

Welcome to life out in the Black Ocean.

...where you can’t always get what you want. But if you try, sometimes...

You’ll get what you need.

Salvage Trouble is the first mission of Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws, a science fantasy series set in the 26th century. Do you wish there had been a second season of Firefly? Do you love the irreverent fun of Guardians of the Galaxy? Have you ever wondered how Star Wars would have turned out if Luke and Obi-wan had ditched the rebellion to become smugglers with Han and Chewie? Then Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws is the series for you!

Pick up your copy of Salvage Trouble, and aim to misbehave with the crew of the Mobius.
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Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 16
    Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws
  2. Print length
    148 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    October 25, 2014
  6. File size
    1742 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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  17. Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws    16 book series
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From the Publisher

Start your journey into the Black Ocean with the original series

Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws series graphic

Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws

Join a small band of loveable outlaws as they tour the galaxy making ‘easy money’ the hardest way possible. Along the way, they manage to provoke the galaxy’s biggest organizations—on all sides of the law. And no matter how many times they hack the system, their records are only as clean as the last time they got caught.

Already a fan of Galaxy Outlaws? There’s plenty more to explore in the Black Ocean universe!

Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire series graphic

Black Ocean: Astral Prime series graphic

Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem series graphic

Black Ocean: Passage of Time series graphic

Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire

The galaxy’s worst bounty hunter just might be its most relentless hero. She’s a wizard on a mission to make the galaxy a better place, one lost soul at a time.

Black Ocean: Astral Prime

At the very edge of the Milky Way lies a planet that should have stayed forgotten. What begins as one wizard's quest for redemption unearths secrets that threaten all life in the galaxy.

Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem

One is an itinerant comedian and conman. The other is a fugitive wizard. These polar opposites are a magnet for trouble and role models for an aspiring young outlaw.

Black Ocean: Passage of Time

The next generation is here, and trouble is in their DNA. When a magical mishap that wasn’t anyone’s fault (we swear!), strands Jessie and Eric Ramsey 5 years in the future, they find themselves in hostile territory: Mars.

Salvage Trouble ebook cover Wayward Saint ebook cover Shadow Planet ebook cover Know When to Run ebook cover Tempus Fugitive, Black Ocean: Passage of Time mission 1
Salvage Trouble Wayward Saint Shadow Planet Know When to Run Tempus Fugitive
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Customer Reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
1,130
4.2 out of 5 stars
206
4.6 out of 5 stars
68
4.5 out of 5 stars
60
4.6 out of 5 stars
32
Price $0.99 $0.99 $0.99 $0.99 $0.99
First book of... Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire Black Ocean: Astral Prime Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem Black Ocean: Passage of Time
Available missions 16 16 12 8 (and counting!) 4 coming soon
Foul Language Lots A little Some Lots Some
Tone Adventure Do-Goodery Epic Stakes Family Disfunction Freedom
Starship setting ✓ ✓ ✓ Mixed
Space station setting ✓
Wizardly presence Crew Main character Crew Main character Main character
Read your way: ebook, audio, or paperback ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00OWR6IFS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Magical Scrivener Press (October 25, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 25, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1742 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 148 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,130 ratings

About the author

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J.S. Morin

J.S. Morin

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Visit me at jsmorin.com

I am a creator of worlds and a destroyer of words. As a fantasy writer, my works range from traditional epics to futuristic fantasy with starships. I have worked as an unpaid Little League pitcher, a cashier, a student library aide, a factory grunt, a cubicle drone, and an engineer--there is some overlap in the last two.

Through it all, though, I was always a storyteller. Eventually I started writing books based on the stray stories in my head, and people kept telling me to write more of them. Now, that's all I do for a living.

I enjoy strategy, worldbuilding, and the fantasy author's privilege to make up words. I am a gamer, a joker, and a thinker of sideways thoughts. But I don't dance, can't sing, and my best artistic efforts fall short of your average notebook doodle. When you read my books, you are seeing me at my best.

My ultimate goal is to be both clever and right at the same time. I have it on good authority that I have yet to achieve it.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
1,130 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lisa-Ann Oliver
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun escapism and a good beginning
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2023
Verified Purchase
An entertaining and well written introduction to a new universe of science and magic. Like any space opera, it's a bit simplistic,and the plot moves right along. It's short, barely novel length, so the cast of misfit characters are drawn in broad strokes that will hopefully be filled in in later books, because I'd like to get to know these people.
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jon
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun adventure, Firefly-style
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2023
Verified Purchase
If you are one of the lonely fans feeling abandoned by the cancellation of Firefly, then definitely give Salvage Trouble a read. It hits the ground running, the characters are believeable and well-thought through.
The crew feels like a 'framily' or a family that has come together over time and circumstance. Despite being different species, they have learned to deal with each other-- sometimes snapping at each other like actual siblings. And there are the fun archetypes: big strong muscle element, smug but likeable captain, and the vulnerable but essential personality. And the surprise element, a resident wizard (whuuuutt?)
The dialog is funny without sounding knee-jerk jokey or trying too hard to get a laugh -- a true mark of a seasoned writer, methinks. It is witty and at the same time organic enough to get the point across and keep the story going.
But the real gem is the adventure: Captain gets into trouble, and tries to fix it by getting into bigger and bigger trouble. And the loyal crew is right there to help (read: unintentionally make things worse, or knock some sense into the Cap). I can't tell you everything, but it totally feels like a Firefly episode. The book reads *very* fast, and is hard to put down. This one is a keeper.
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WyoGal
3.0 out of 5 stars Short read, but fun
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2017
Verified Purchase
While the story is enjoyable, it reads more like a television episode than a feature-length movie. The characters are interesting and are worth following. The plot has elements that are likely set-ups for future adventures. So although this seems like an easily resolved storyline, my guess is that loose ends will become major tangles later on. The blend of wizards and space travel certainly warrants further investigation beyond this introductory novel.
3 people found this helpful
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ConsumerAdvocate
4.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction? Fantasy? Space Opera? Yes to All of the Above, and Entertaining too!
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2015
Verified Purchase
It’s always a nice surprise to find indie authors who know how to tell a story and can write well enough to tell it. BLACK OCEAN: A PILOT’S PILOT kept me entertained first page to last.

The first in a series of space opera installments reminiscent of FIREFLY and STAR WARS, the novella introduces the crew of the Mobius, including Captain Carl and their wizard Mort. No, you didn’t misread ‘wizard’—BLACK OCEAN merges traditional soft science fiction space opera with fantasy. If that idea doesn’t appeal to you, go read a different book. If you’re not turned off by the genre mashup, read on to learn why you should buy and read BLACK OCEAN.

At first I wasn’t sure what to think of a fantasy / space opera mashup. Wizards that create gravity fields? That move ships through “Astral Space” as a means of traveling faster than light (FTL)? What the heck is going on? Then it hit me: virtually ALL science fiction involves vigorous “hand waving” to explain how artificial gravity or FTL travel might be possible. In a nutshell: they aren’t. Not without science having near god-like reach, and “world killer” torch ships that that could shred planets and the very fabric of space time.

That’s what make the concept a stroke of genius: true science and scientific extrapolation cannot offer FTL ships or artificial gravity. Does that mean we should throw those concepts out as the backdrop for a story? Not at all. What J.S. Morin has done is simple and brilliant: acknowledge the improbability of these concepts and simply call them what they are (whether other science fiction authors would agree or not): MAGIC.

Once you get past that hurdle (if it’s a hurdle at all), the book reads as better than average space opera with your typical iconoclast captain, a loyal crew, dog fights, off ship shenanigans, mercs, pirates, blasters, space scrap, etc… All of it works the same way a Western or a Romance or a Vampire story works (when it does work that is): the ideas themselves are common, making the execution all that counts.

BLACK OCEAN gets the execution very close to perfect. The characters are likable. The story is interesting. The A plot and B plots move along at a nice pace. The scientific details are accurate where they need to be (no sound in a vacuum, ships that can flip around and fire backward while maintain a certain trajectory, etc…) and the Magic (once you buy in) becomes a seamless part of the world.
The only real weakness of the first installment of BLACK OCEAN is that the ending tidies itself up a bit faster and easier than I would have preferred. The story arc is great, but things felt a touch too convenient in the book’s waning pages. Not terribly so, but not quite as compelling as I would have liked.

That said, BLACK OCEAN kept me turning pages. If you’re the sort of reader who enjoys fantasy AND science fiction, this book is a no-brainer. If you’re a hard science fiction fan and hate the concept of magic itself, find a different book to read.
20 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Great cast of characters
Reviewed in Canada on May 11, 2019
Verified Purchase
I liked the mix of fantasy and science - kind of Serenity vs Star Wars.
Looking forward to the next one.
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Jambirge
4.0 out of 5 stars Okay
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2018
Verified Purchase
Easy reading but a bit simple storyline wise and fairly short
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Kindle-klant
4.0 out of 5 stars Echoes of firefly
Reviewed in the Netherlands on May 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
An enjoyable read!, recommended...
A cute combination of technology and the unexplainability of magic that gives the authot a lot of poetic license.
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Lazy Dai
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read for SF fans who don't take their sci-fi too seriously
Reviewed in Australia on November 14, 2017
Verified Purchase
If you’re looking for something light and a bit ‘left-field’ in the SF / Fantasy genre you may enjoy this book which follows the crew of the spaceship Mobius as they try to make a buck or two by legal and not-so-legal means. The nature of the crew gives you an idea what to expect – Captain Carl is an ex-Navy pilot although he leaves most of the normal piloting to his ex-wife Tanny (they’ve been married and divorced three times). In addition there is Mort the magician (Mordecai the Brown to give him part of his official title) who steers them through the Black Ocean outside of normal space using the ship’s Gravity Stone and ETs Roddy and Mriy (a more-or-less tiger-based ET).
The ‘trouble’ in the title arises when the crew are in the middle of scavenging anything salvageable from a wrecked spaceship which they discover by accident and find two people still alive in an escape pod – they soon find themselves pursued by everyone from the Space Navy to mercenaries working for a Galaxy-wide corporation. Good fun for YAs and up which many readers will devour in a single session.
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Andy W Couch
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Space Opera
Reviewed in Germany on January 9, 2015
Verified Purchase
An eclectic group of castoffs and wayward souls traveling the space lanes with only a tin can and a prayer protecting them from the freezing vacuum. This is the base premise of the Space Opera genre. A Pilot's Pilot hits this pretty much spot on, with enough twists to make things interesting.

In the way that Firefly adds bits of the Western Genre, the Black Ocean has a stir of fantasy for spice. I really quite liked the idea of wizards being required for space travel. it makes the SciFi writer's trick of handwaving away the exact science to be literal hand waving in the story. Stuff just works, cause it does. It also means the semi-stereotypical awesomeness of the grumpy wizard with massive powers fit perfectly.

I quite enjoyed reading the book. There are enough plot twists to keep you reading through to the end. The crew all has their distinct personalities and yet there aren't so many characters to get lost. I look forward to more in the series.
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