Poor Man’s Fight

* Skyscape
* 2015
* 2013

*Poor Man’s War* is the first book in the Poor Man’s Fight series by Elliott Kay.

## Publisher’s summary

"This test completes your compulsory education. Congratulations! You have graduated high school. Your financial obligation is 67,879 credits. Please visit our loan officer as you exit."

Tanner Malone never bought into military myths of honor and glory. He never wanted to wear a uniform or medals. Yet when family upheaval brings his otherwise stellar performance in school to a disastrous end, Tanner's plans for university lie in ruins. Facing homelessness and a mountain of debt, Tanner enlists in his home planet's tiny navy.

It’s a hell of a time to sign up. Vicious pirates stalk the space lanes, claiming to fight an oppressive economic system even as they shed innocent blood. Civil war looms beyond the borders of Tanner’s home star system of Archangel. Corporate security fleets are nowhere to be found when trouble arises.

In response, Archangel begins ambitious military expansion. Basic training becomes six months of daily bare knuckle brawls, demanding cross-training and constant stress. Brutal as it is, Tanner will need the preparation. The pirates grow more audacious with every attack. As if that’s not enough, Tanner is assigned to a small ship whose disgruntled crew has no patience for cerebral new recruits, and they’re on the front lines of all of Archangel’s woes.

Tanner soon learns there is only one way to deal with his bullying comrades, their ruthless foes and the unforgiving void of space, and that’s to get up close and personal.

## Warning

Poor Man’s Fight contains violence, explicit expletives, economic discontent, militarism, space piracy, anarchy, predatory capitalism, ordinary jerks, wrath, assault with common hand tools, breaking and entering, planetary bombardment, murder, attempted murder, mass murder, premeditated murder, kidnapping, punching, kicking, elbowing, grappling, theft, bearers of false witness, consumption of alcohol, destruction of private and public property, immolation, defenestration, abuse of authority, perjury, transnational crime, and PTSD.

### Characters

* Casey
* Sheng Hong, spacer
* Darren Mills
* Lauren Williams, pirate
* Carl, pirate
* Takashi, pirate
* Turtle, pirate
* Jerry, pirate
* Wilson, pirate
* Tanner Malone
* Nathan Spencer
* Heather Verde, a pupil
* Sharon Hayden-Malone, Tanner’s step-mother
* Stephen Malone, Tanner’s father
* Madelyn Carter
* Gabriel Aguirre, president of Archangel
* Andrea Bennett
* Herman Deng, a journalist
* Victor Hickman, Aguirre’s chief of staff
* Meiling Yeoh, admiral
* Frank Andrews, NorthStar representative
* David Kiribati, spymaster
* Abdul Shadid, minister of finance
* Oscar Company
	+ Bill Everett, chief boatswain’s mate
	+ Michelle Janeka, gunnery sergeant
	+ Gomez
	+ Eickenberry, (alias Einstein)
	+ Ed Matuskey
	+ Martin Ravenell
	+ Ahmed
	+ Gonzalez
	+ Huang
	+ Espinoza
	+ Perelli
	+ Whittier
	+ Other Gomez
	+ Ramos
	+ Alicia Wong
	+ Hyun Jun
	+ Chris Baljashanpreet
	+ Antonio Rivera
	+ Avery Sinclair
	+ Andrews
	+ Bruning
	+ Smalls
	+ Abdul Mohamed
	+ Quinto
	+ Kalodner
	+ Michaels
	+ Waikowski
	+ Palmotti
	+ Macias (mentioned only)
	+ Vega (mentioned only)
	+ Fuller (mentioned only)
	+ Garrison (mentioned only)
	+ Madison (mentioned only)
	+ McAlister (mentioned only)
* Marcos, passenger attendant (flashback)
* Murray, pirate
* Yuan, pirate (flashback)
* Joey Chang, pirate
* Tenzing, arms dealer
* Vanessa Rios (alias Vanessa Ramirez)
* Gina Ramos (alias Carla)
* Jiang, pirate
* Haywood, pirate
* Butler, pirate
* Doctor Hsu
* Miguel Duran, lieutenant
* Lynette Kelly
* Cavalli, engineer
* Sutton, commander
* Walter Lowney, journalist
* Parker, pirate
* Wei, pirate captain of *Monkeywrench*
* Krietmeyer, pirate captain of *Liberty Rose*
* Hannah Black, pirate captain of *Guillotine*
* Ming, pirate captain of *Yaomo*
* Ranjan, pirate
* Li, pirate
* Samir Majid Madani, Hashemite officer
	+ Fatima, his daughter (mentioned only)
	+ Abdul, his son (mentioned only)
* Khalil, Hashemite prince
* Crew on *St. Jude*
	+ Flores, storekeeper
	+ Ben Freeman, BM1
	+ John Gagne, XO
	+ Harper, ops specialist
	+ Heifer, spacer
	+ Leone, engineer
	+ Miller, gunner
	+ Morales, BM2
	+ O’Malley, engineer
	+ Bill Reed, ops specialist
	+ Stevens, CO
	+ Stumpy, spacer
	+ Wells, engineer
* Rasim, refugee
* Usman, refugee
* Mike, a journalist
* Robert Kilpatrick, Archangel Defense Minister
* *Yaomo*
	+ Orion, pirate
	+ Kiyoshi, pirate
	+ Hari, pirate
	+ Tully, pirate
	+ Sam, pirate
	+ Alfie, pirate
	+ Ngoc, pirate
	+ Ron, pirate
	+ Mansoor, pirate
* Corleissen, chaplain
* Sarah Woo
* Aaron Kennedy
* Bert
* Tammy, Union Fleet midshipman
* Rick, Union Fleet midshipman
* Elizabeth, a girl on *NSS Pride of Polaris*
* Hank Bruning, pirate
* Lance, pirate
* Sharma, Union lieutenant
* Catherine Leigh
* Ted, pirate
* Sarah, pirate
* Mike, pirate
* Fuentes, pirate
* Bell, pirate
* Lonnie, pirate
* Trinh, commander, *UFS Fletcher*
* Takashi, pirate
* Murray, pirate
* Frank, pirate
* Dennis, pirate
* Kyoshi, pirate (also spelled Kiyoshi)
* Travis, pirate
* Chad, pirate
* Markinson, prison guard
* Lambert, opposition leader (mentioned only)
* Waikowski, opposition leader (mentioned only)
* Wally, pirate (mentioned only)
* Hangnail, pirate (mentioned only)
* Flexner, pirate (mentioned only)
* Murtada, Hashemite prince (mentioned only)
* Kaseem, Hashemite prince (mentioned only)
* Chopra, pirate (mentioned only)
* Paco, pirate (mentioned only)
* Castillo, pirate (mentioned only)
* Singh, pirate (mentioned only)
* Shango, pirate (mentioned only)
* Hector, pirate (mentioned only)
* Harrison, pirate (mentioned only)
* Sankersingh, pirate (mentioned only)
* Metcalf, pirate (mentioned only)
* Kading, Union marine (mentioned only)
* Radwell, pirate (mentioned only)
* Ron, pirate (mentioned only)
* Boren, officer on *Pride of Polaris* (mentioned only)
* Doris McArtle, passenger on *Pride of Polaris* (mentioned only)

### Locations & organizations

* Archangel system
	+ Michael
	+ Raphael
	+ Augustine
	+ Archangel Navy
	+ Ministry of Intelligence
	+ Ophanim (mentioned only)
	+ Apostle’s Station (mentioned only)
* Paradise
	+ The Palace, a brothel/hotel
	+ The Harem
	+ Friendly Shores, hotel/brothel
* Union Fleet
* NorthStar
* CDC
* Lai Wa

### Vessels

* *Aphrodite*
* *Vengeance*, pirate
* *St. George*, corvette
* *Joan of Arc*, corvette
* *Guillotine*, pirate
* *Yaomo*, pirate
* *Liberty Rose*, pirate
* *Monkeywrench*, pirate
* *Asad* and *Fahd*, Hashemite navy
* *St. Martin*, corvette
* *St. Patrick*, corvette
* *St. Jude*, corvette
* *Aurora*
* Abdullah-19
* *Norfolk*, CDC destroyer
* *Pride of Polaris*
* *Fletcher*
* *Resolute*, destroyer (mentioned only)

## Publication history

*Poor Man’s Fight* was self-published as an ebook in 2013. A paperback release with a new cover by Lee Moyer was published in March 2014. It was re-published as an ebook and paperback by Skyscape on June 16, 2015.

The Skyscape edition of *Poor Man’s Fight* renamed Allison Carter to Madelyn Carter, due to the high number of women in the books with names starting with an ‘A’.

An audiobook was published by Audible on May 12, 2015, narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.

## References

1. ↑ Elliott Kay’s blog, March 10, 2014
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Elliott Kay’s blog, June 16 2015