The Kindle title is not currently available for purchase

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Steven D. Fisher

+ Follow

More books from this author

The First Misadventure of Fragger Sparks: A Ranger Leads the Way Kindle Edition

by Steven Fisher (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 4 ratings

See all formats and editions

Sergeant First Class Jonathan "Fragger" Sparks is a proud, tough, resilient U.S. Army Ranger combat veteran. The problem is, he's no longer on present-day Earth. He's been revived in the future, and the future considers him scum from the past fit only for menial tasks. But Earthcorp and the Ricers suspect he has some very coveted military abilities, and each power would rather kill Fragger than see him in the hands of their enemy.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

EXCERPT: Fragger shook his head, trying to remember what had happened next, but nothing specific came, only a vague recollection of some `special' project. The inability to recall any details made him angry so he snapped, "Stop calling me `Fragger'! My correct name is Jonathan." Fragger forced his eyes open as he made the demand. His voice sounded harsh and grating as if his vocal cords were vibrating in gravel not air. It also seemed detached from his body as if it were floating around the bright lights on the ceiling. He squinted through gummy lids trying to get a better look at Leery and laughed at what he saw. The Revival Technician wasn't a squirrel. He was a man, a sweaty little pile of crap who looked squirrel-like but a man nonetheless and wearing a strange uniform. "On your feet, soldier!" the order came again. Fragger attempted to get up to brace the little bastard right up against the wall, but either he didn't have any feet or he couldn't feel them. Dream terror surged. "A mine?" he asked, forcing his body upright and discovering he was naked. He hated being naked, even in dreams. "Did I step on a mine?" "What? No," Leery answered. The Revival Technician couldn't decide where to place his focus. He alternated between gawking at Fragger as if he were some exotic beast and glancing anxiously at a resumption of the distant explosions while wiping perspiration from a sallow forehead. In the odd logic of the dream, the detonations appeared to come from a wall-sized painting of a bizarre chilly landscape dotted with rust-streaked rocks under a dusty pink sky. "You have all your extremities." Fragger checked his body just to be sure. His feet were still there and all ten toes, but with limited sensation. "What the hell's wrong?" he demanded. "I can't feel much of anything. Am I paralyzed?" "No, no, it's a side effect," Leery reassured him. "It goes away within a few minutes." "Within a few minutes of what?" "Revival, Sergeant." "What on earth are you talking about?" Fragger asked, annoyed by the little man's anxious rubbing at pale skin beneath a twitching eye, apparently a reaction to whatever the hell was going on outside the building. As he waited for an answer, the Ranger decided that while Leery was definitely not an actual squirrel, he was as close to one as a human being could possibly get. The man had puffy cheeks and a slight lower lip which he sucked at with two long front teeth. His black eyes were buttons of fear. Fragger guessed the technician was no taller than five-six. An oversized gray uniform trimmed with red epaulets did little to hide the slumped shoulders and paunchy gut. A big red "EC" insignia was stitched above the left pocket of the shirt. Leery's name was below it in white letters. A holstered pistol the likes of which Fragger had seen only on episodes of Star Trek hung from a wide black belt. Ankle high black boots completed the picture, a picture that made Frag ger think of his son when he was a young boy trying on his father's uniform. Leery was obviously a civilian playing military dress-up or, more likely, had been pressed into service and was not happy about it. Scientist, Fragger guessed. Squirrel-face has got the look of another kind of rodent-a lab rat. Definitely a rear echelon motherfucker. Damn, can't get away from REMFs, even when I'm asleep! "Well?" Fragger barked impatiently when Leery couldn't seem to drag his attention away from the noise. Leery twitched and jerked his gaze from the painting back to the Ranger. "Like I said, man. Revival. You know. Reborn, rebirthed, revived, cloned, good karma in a previous life, cool, that kind of thing, far out. Rock n' roll, booyah, mess up the Mohammeds." Fragger glared at the jittery technician and snapped, "Are you trying to be funny, you damned squirrel?"

A startled expression crossed Leery's face. "No, why? What's a squirrel?" "A little rodent, just like you. You're talking like I'm some damned moron. You're aping my speech. Making fun of me." The crrump! of explosions grew louder. Leery winced at the noise and explained quickly, "I haven't got time to make fun of you, Sergeant, believe me. I just used the speech pattern indicated for your particular part of the Terran Twentieth Century, that's all. Revival Technicians are trained to do such things." Fragger studied the man's face to see if Leery was playing out a practical joke that wasn't particularly funny, but the squirrel eyes showed no humor. They had the look of prey certain that a predator was about to strike. "My particular part of the Twentieth Century?" the Ranger asked. Leery flashed an insincere grin. "Happy Day of Second Birth, Sparks. As of today, you're about six centuries old. I hope you live to celebrate it."

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00110DIVQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ SynergEbooks (November 10, 2004)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 10, 2004
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 680 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 332 pages

Customer Reviews:
4.6 4 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Steven D. Fisher

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

4 global ratings

3 star

0%

2 star

0%

1 star

0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

CP

Military action adventure set in the future

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2019

“That's the trouble with the future. There's always something happening, and I never get a chance to catch up with it.”

An apt quote from the protagonist of Steven D. Fisher’s novel, The First Misadventure of Fragger Sparks. Jonathan “Fragger” Sparks is a rerun, a twenty-sixth century term for reanimated people from the past. While the premise, a man revived hundreds of years in the future, is a Sci-Fi trope, Fisher delivers the tale from a refreshing angle. Fragger’s misadventures hit most of the ‘out-of-his-element’ clichés, but from a unique perspective. This isn’t so much a space opera as it is a sword and sorcery tale complete with monsters, sword-play, and magical technology. Lovers of both genres will enjoy the ride.

Summary
Woken from a dream by a renegade revival technician, Fragger Sparks finds himself naked and defenseless during an attack on a distant planet. Captured as a battle prize, he’s a rerun. Reruns are chattel, the lowest of the low, fit for little more than life-threatening hazardous duty. But there is more to Sparks than a typical rerun, something worth risking intergalactic war over – only he doesn’t know what it is. The trouble is every great empire in the galaxy wants his secret. The only thing more important than learning it is keeping their rivals from getting it. If that means killing Fragger, that’s fine with them. Using skills from his life as a sergeant in the elite US Army Rangers, Fragger races through the galaxy to unlock his secret and save himself. Can he successfully turn himself from a pawn in their game to the master of his own fate?

Rating
The First Misadventure of Fragger Sparks is military adventure for adults. As such there are numerous descriptions of combat and even torture. While none of them are explicitly gory, they are intense. Staying true to the hard-nosed warrior ethos of the characters, there is plenty of foul language. F-bombs, S***, and many other words not found in polite conversation pervade the story. Their use is appropriate for the tale, but not for sensitive ears. In comparison, the references to sex and drugs are minor and primarily used as insults rather than descriptions of acts. With that in mind, if Hollywood turned The First Misadventure of Fragger Sparks into a movie and remained true to the author’s vision, it would receive an R rating. With that qualification, I recommend this action-packed story to anyone interested in a fast-paced swashbuckling space adventure.