New Beginnings (Vitalis) [Kindle Edition]

Jason Halstead (Author)

Book Description

Part 1 in the Vitalis series

Mysterious blackouts left Kira with precious few memories of events in her life, nevermind those worth sharing.  Somewhere in those blank spots, she aquired skills, skills she was hard pressed to explain. But those skills got her a job as the new navigator for the Rented Mule, a transport ship that plied the Rim Systems at the very edge of human civilization.

When their ship is set upon by pirates and damaged beyond repair, Kira's fears of surviving the attack pale in comparison to her fear of the secrets relating to the dark spots in her past.  As each layer of truth peels back, Kira discovers a new talent, and with it comes the dread of finding out who she really is.

If you like New Beginnings, look for the Vitalis Omnibus, which contains Vitalis parts 1 through 7!

Continue the Vitalis series with Vitalis: Resurrection or look for these other Vitalis episodes:
Episode 1: New Beginnings
Episode 2: The Colony
Episode 3: Parasites
Episode 4: Screamer
Episode 5: Squatter's Rights
Episode 6: Evolution
Episode 7: Matriarch
Book 1: Vitalis Omnibus (episodes 1- 7)
Book 2: Vitalis - Resurrection (a full length novel)

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

There seems to be a lot of vitriol in the reviews about the length of this and other Vitalis books. My intention with this series was to provide a fun and quick read, and I priced them accordingly at only $.99. Well now New Beginnings, the first one, is FREE and shall remain that way indefinitely.

I did this because I want people to sample it first and, if you like it, go and buy the 400+ page omnibus which includes all of the first 7 parts. I'm continuing the Vitalis series indefinitely with full length novels, the next following the Vitalis Omnibus will be Vitalis: Resurrection (coming soon)

From the Back Cover

Humans have advanced to span multiple solar systems, diminish the effects of aging, and conquer the human genome, yet their cruelty towards their own kind binds them to the stone age. The rim worlds are the outer solar systems for human civilization. Men and women earn their living with their wits and talents, although treachery often nets a bonus.
 
The Rented Mule is a ship with a crew seeking to earn an honest living in a realm of dishonesty. No stranger to trouble, they know the unwritten rules of the trade and have avoided being claimed as "salvage" for many years.
 
On a routine transport mission the Mule has to struggle with not only the usual dangers of traveling through rim systems, but also a new navigator with a troubled past and a romantic interest in the ship's engineer.
 
Plagued by threats from without and within, the crew's only hope when the Mule suffers catastrophic damage may be an uncharted planet. The fate of the Rented Mule and crew is in the hands of the neophyte navigator.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 287 KB
• Print Length: 92 pages
• Publisher: Novel Concept Publishing LLC (August 31, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005KKEC8G
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,934 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Greedy marketing and aimed at 14 year old boys that don't have internet May 12, 2012

By Snaz

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

There are some things to like about these books however . . .

I bought and read up through Evolution which is priced at 1.99 rather than .99 and what this means is I have now paid seven bucks for about a third of a normal length paperpack. You are welcome Jason Halstead. Your writing is passable, keep at it, it does seem to be improving, but yes, in my view the Amazon business model is being abused. Even were they as greedy, uncaring, and rapacious as they are sometimes reputed to be, real publishers wouldn't attempt to pass off a few chapters as a whole book.

Also, the characters, all hunks and hotties and ranging from very-good-looking to magnificent gods and godesses, seem to spend an awful lot of time naked, looking at each others privates, making mental comments about them, and thinking about them later. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is in the beginning of the first "book" of the series. Piling it on that early and that obviously is somewhat insulting to the reader; it seems to almost assume we are all voyeurs (and even if it were necessary from a story perspective it could have been a lot less, hmm, meatier). Forever afterwards we are forced to think of the protagonist's main squeeze as the-short-guy-who's-a-big-guy-where-it-counts. Newsflash, fourteen year old boys don't really need all this text sex and voyeurism anymore; they have the internet.

Also, an enormous amount of the writing seems to be blow by blow descriptions of every single physical motion that any character makes, plus grunts and bruises, detail is nice to a point but when you take it too far, it's just eating into story advancement. Reminds me of how kids in school, when told to write a paper of a certain number of pages, will expand the margins, triple space the lines, and use a really big font. Then too, if a plotting element dictates that a combat hardened marine in power armor is supposed to step back and trip on grass in a open plain and fall down, they will. In fact, except for the main action girl, this is a remarkably clutzy group of elite gymnastic trained killers (and even the action girl can be trusted to simultaneously destroy both her spear and her bow if the next fight calls for her to be unarmed).

Finally, it's not huge but there are a LOT of words that made it through the spell-checker but are NOT the right words.
Need more on the length complaint? POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Book 1: Cargo ship is attacked by pirates and crases on the mysterious planet.
Book 2: The pirates crash as well and are rescued by the first survivors.
Book 3: Another expedition comes and is wiped out except for a few that are rescued by the first survivors.
Book 4: A marine comes, fights through three or four obstacles, is rescued by a first survivor (I'm noticing a trend here), then gets drugged by a native toxin that forces the survivor to strip her ripe nubile body naked, toss her over his massive shoulder that ripples with muscle, and carry her off.
Book 5: Oh no! One of the local life forms is apparently much like the critters in Aliens. Good thing we have all these marines we rescued -- wait, why are their chests exploding?
Book 6: Ah, now we are getting human-alien hybrids just like in Alien 4. All of these are male and they want our women! The whole "book" however is really just about some people making a quick force march through the jungle to hunt aliens.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars it's a good read but... May 24, 2012

By Jodi Wiese

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

for $.99 this is a great little book to read before bed...the key word is little. All the books in this series should be in one big book with different parts, not 6 different $.99 books at this point. I enjoyed these because I'm a girl and there is a kick butt female lead in the books Kira, and she is the reason I continue to read them.

So Mr. Halstead if you're reading your Amazon reviews, put these together as one book and don't charge more than $6.99 for it once you get part 7 finished because I'm sure you're about done with that!

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read February 6, 2012

By Sparta

Format:Kindle Edition

I took the chance on an unknown author and broke my normal rule of thumb to only buy books with lots of positive reviews. The price point flipped my normal parameters and I am very please to tell you its a wonderful story. I just purchased the second in the series.
The setting is a small commerical spacecraft with just a few crew, a little mystery about the central character and her past. Pirates come calling and things get interesting and the plot engages your reading pleasure.

More About the Author

Short version: Jason Halstead is a science fiction and fantasy author who spends his free time with his wife and two children, writing, and powerlifting.

Long version: Jason's always wanted to write, but making a living at it seemed unobtainable. So instead of writing fiction, he turned to writing code. That paid the rent and let him dabble in fiction.

The common theme shared by almost every great writer is perseverance. Refusing to accept denial by traditional publishing and agents, Jason was finally accepted at a publisher that was harnessing the cresting wave of ebooks. That ride, although bumpy, gave him the experience and knowledge necessary to strike out and improve his craft.

Jason now has multiple books out and regularly helps out other budding authors struggling to makes sense of the industry. He's a stickler on editing and professionalism, but also believes wholeheartedly that his readers aren't just customers, they're his friends. He wants to know them and encourages them to visit his website (http://www.booksbyjason.com), his blog (http://booksbyjason.wordpress.com), and even more to email him ([e-mail]) so he can interact with them. His books come from his imagination and from his heart, and more than one of his friends has inspired him and shown up for at least a cameo appearance in one of his titles.