Found: One Apocalypse

July 27, 2024 Found: One Apocalypse is a 2009 comedy science-fiction novel by Ben Goodridge. The novel is slated for publication by Bad Dog Books. Reader feedback has encouraged Bad Dog Books to push publication of the novel, originally set for January, back a few months.

Found: One Apocalypse was originally conceived as a one-man radio serial called "Apocalyse Then", slated for release as a podcast.

Plot
Iorgi Murrett, an anthropomorphic Polar Bear, is a junk collector who discovers a battleship on a routine recycling run. The ship is a derelict, but carries a fully-functioning, devastating experimental weapon. Rather than sell the ship or melt it down for scrap, Murrett decides to keep it and goes on the run from everyone who wants a piece of it.

Joining him is his business partner Jaz, a Raccoon Anthro, a whiz with numbers and a crack computer programmer; and Rollo Darrin, a Fox Anthro, a small-time con man whose underworld connections will help the crew sell parts of the ship to raise money for its repairs.

In pursuit are the Velincian Irregulars, a down-at-heels human pirate crew desperate for a strike; Emperor Kellin of the Eliak Empire, a despotic and selfish human dictator out to conquer the Galaxy; and Princess Jaelis, Kellin's little sister, who wants to depose her brother in the name of freedom and justice and puppies and all that kind of stuff.

The "Anthros"
The Anthros in the novel are descended from humans voluntarily genetically modified with animal traits for employment in difficult environments. Centuries later, Humans and Anthros consider themselves equals with all other intelligent life in the Galaxy. They've built a vast political union known as the "Charter," a prosperous organization of advanced, peaceful worlds, but more and more Anthros are traveling beyond the Frontier into the region of space known as the "Periphery," in search of high adventure.

Series
Found: One Apocalypse is written as the first volume of a series of several books. The second, "A Pocketful of Planets," is slated for a December 2009 release.