Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday article, I take a look at an intriguing science fiction novel set for release later this year, Gallowglass by S. J. Morden.

Morden is one of those authors who I have had my eye on for a while and I have been meaning to read some of his books for a couple of years now.  I first became aware of his work back in 2018 when I saw his book, One Way, in the local book shop.  I really liked the sound of One Way’s premise, which featured a fun science fiction murder mystery premise, as a team of convict labourer astronauts who are attempting to settle Mars are picked off one by one on the planet’s surface.  Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to read One Way and I decided against reading the sequel, No Way, out of order.  But Morden has remained on my radar, and I was intrigued when I heard about the new book he had coming out, Gallowglass, especially as it should prove to be a good opportunity for me to finally read something from him.

Gallowglass, which is currently set for release on 8 December 2020, is a rather interesting-sounding science fiction novel that focuses on a ship full of desperate individuals as they race to lay claim to a resource rich asteroid.  This book has a very compelling plot synopsis behind it, and I am really looking forward to finding out how this story turns out.  I personally think that it has some potential and I am confident that I will end up enjoying it.
Synopsis (Hachette Australia website):

The year is 2069, and the earth is in flux. Whole nations are being wiped off the map by climate change. Desperate for new resources, the space race has exploded back into life.

Corporations seek ever greater profits off-world. They offer immense rewards to anyone who can claim space’s resources in their name. The bounty on a single asteroid rivals the GDP of entire countries, so every trick, legal or not, is used to win.

Jack, the scion of a shipping magnate, is desperate to escape earth and joins a team chasing down an asteroid. But the ship he’s on is full of desperate people – each one needing the riches claiming the asteroid will bring them, and they’re willing to do anything if it means getting there first.

 Because in Space, there are no prizes for coming second. It’s all or nothing: riches beyond measure, or dying alone in the dark.