Dave O'Neill

Finder retrieves things, in fact, even by the standards of the Kind, he's a genius at it... that the things may not actually be lost to start with is an interesting consideration that he prefers to leave up to others, ideally from some distance - maybe several light-years - to decide. However, when he and his crew find an alien wreck they kick off a chain of events that could restart an ancient war.Elsewhere, Tim Symbles and the crew of the haunted freighter Astra are having some downtime, but when they're made an offer they can't refuse they become embroiled in a plot that takes them to the Liberty Cluster. A backwater of the galaxy where life is cheap, but toilet paper isn't.Lurking there, in the dark, is an ancient secret and a crazed priesthood of freedom lovers looking for revenge.Comedy SF in the vein of Harry Harrison, Red Dwarf, and Discworld."Like a truly funny Iain M Banks"

It's the dawn of the second millennia of space flight. Humanity has survived numerous wars, a couple of hard singularities, several religious events and first contact with a vastly superior alien species and, despite all that, for better or worse it remains resolutely and bloody mindedly human. People have spread across a thousand star systems in a very loose federation of entirely disinterested worlds. Commerce flows thanks to kind of person who live, thanks to the vague nature of time in FTL travel, permanently out of step with the rest of humanity and trade in exotic wares; bringing unique experiences to the jaded populations of the inner systems and making a living, of sorts. One them is a about to have a really bad day. The kind of once in a lifetime, why didn't karma just kill you and bring you back as an ant, kind of day. Tim Symbles. Captain. Ship owner. Alcoholic. Barely solvent. Is about to be made an offer he can't refuse and escort a team of crack alien commando archaeologists to retrieve something. The trouble is everybody else in the galaxy seems to want it too and, if necessary, over the dead bodies of Symbles and his crew. The payday could be fantastic. If he can just keep everybody alive long enough to collect it.Truck Line - a comedy, space adventure in the tradition of Douglas Adams and Harry Harrison.