Nebula

Nebula (Working title) is a sci-fi fantasy adventure novel currently in production by fellow troper Akriloth2160. The chapters are being uploaded on his Deviant ART account here.

The novel tells the story of a young orphan called Evan Garrett who lives in a giant dome orbiting the shattered remains of planet earth. In a desperate bid to leave the tedious life of the dome behind him, he joins with the crew of an illegally-modified starship, the Mantis (Which ironically, bears a closer resemblance to a grasshopper) as part of a career of slaying strange monsters composed of pure energy known as "Mass". The converted energy provided by Mass can allow for a greater energy source than before, although the high risk factor has has meant that the government has not taken to harvesting such energy. Evan partakes in a journey across the remains of earth as a supposed spectator to their job, while discovering that there may be more to the crew, and the cause of earth's demise.

Nebula provides examples of:

 * After the End: A reason for the earth being split into shards has already been written, but the author has decided that whether or not to reveal it in an expository prologue would have to be decided later.
 * Author Appeal: The captain was designed from the ground-up to be a representation of the author's eccentric nature. Word of God states that the usual problems with author insert characters are rectified by having the narrative focus on a different person entirely.
 * Blessed With Suck: Scrod giving Evan the day off in fear of him losing his touch...and forgetting to pay him.
 * Captain Ersatz: The setup of the Mantis's' crew draws several comparisons to Firefly. However, Word of God confirms that this is pure coincidence, as he saw Firefly long after he started working on Nebula. The actual inspiration for the Mantis and its crew came from the airship from Stardust.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Mimi. Evan even describes her by this very trope name at one point.
 * Cool Airship / Cool Starship: The Mantis.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Alex.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Mimi.
 * True Art Is Incomprehensible: For unknown  reasons, the captain's battle cry is.