Tight Beam Volume 18 June 2025
!Special Edition!
Good News Everyone, ALTAR of SCALES is available as E-Book Everywhere!
The moment has arrived. The highly anticipated release of Altar of Scales, a second edition of Book One in the Descendant Saga, is finally here.
Written by indie sci-fi author Chace Randolph, Altar of Scales is the start of The Descendant Saga, a brutal, beautiful blend of military science fiction, character-driven space opera, and post-apocalyptic survival. After years of development, this second edition of The Descendant returns with nearly 20% more content, expanded lore, and a deeper dive into the mysterious war-torn future with our beloved protagonist ZostaMax and the cunning Lizardman antagonist Tarko—also known by the Slavic word for dragon: Balaur.
Bad News is, it’s not available as a paperback. Yet.
The proof copy of the paperback from our wide-ranging distributor has been delayed, in the mail and hence, can’t be approved yet. Also, it’s still under review by Amazon, but will be available as both E-Book and Paperback from Amazon in addition to the thirteen other places it’s already available at, as soon as the review is finished. The Audiobook is also complete and needs only mastering and uploaded, so it’ll be available soon too. More announcements to follow! Stay tuned!
🌌 Why You Need This Book On Your Shelf (Or Device)
- ✅ Available as an E-Book on all major platforms
- ✅ A gripping sci-fi adventure for adults and teens alike
- ✅ Featuring immersive world building, and cinematic storytelling with 6 more books in the series are already written, more is coming soon.
- ✅ A unique mix of tactical sci-fi, fantasy survival with deep emotional arcs
- ✅ From the creative mind of our author, who’s worked on things like 747s and missiles, his technical expertise perfect for this semi-hard Sci-Fi The Descendant saga.
Whether you’re into Tom Clancy’s technical grit or Orson Scott Card’s emotional complexity, Altar of Scales and The Descendant Saga deliver a thrilling blend of both.
📘 About the Book:
ZostaMax has been cast out—exiled to a savage land beyond the only society he’s ever known. Meanwhile, the ruthless Tarko rises to power through bloodshed and cunning, determined to reclaim his parents’ legacy.
Two lives.
One fall.
One rise.
Altar of Scales is a bold coming-of-age sci-fi novel set in a fractured world of desert warfare, magical technology, and survival.
This is not just a book—this is the next cult classic in independent science fiction.
🛒 Grab Your Copy Now:
📖 The book is available as 💻 E-Book from:
- Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, Everand, Fable, Borrow Box, Vivlio, Tolino and Odilo. The full list of links where it’s available is on the Book’s official page, go check out the list!
- And there’s new themed merch at Nerd Smith’s Official Store on Etsy!
🔥 If you have questions about The Descendant Saga, and Altar of Scales…
Q: Are these sci-fi books any good for adults?
A: Absolutely. Altar of Scales dives deep into mature themes of power, morality, and survival, with layered characters and intense emotional stakes—perfect for adult readers who crave serious, grounded science fiction.
Q: Are these sci-fi books good for teens, aren’t they cheesy?
A: Yes. Altar of Scales strikes a balance between action, introspection, and world building, making it ideal for teens who want intelligent storytelling without being talked down to. It’s a great read for young adults stepping into mature narratives. (Also Cheese is fantastic)
Q:What is “Clarke Tech”?
A: Named after Arther C. Clarke, Clarke tech is a term used to refer to technology so advanced, it is indistinguishable from magic. This concept weights heavily in Altar of Scales.
Q: What is Uplifting?
A: Uplifting is a common concept in science fiction, where an advanced space faring civilization through either education and the sharing of technology, or genetic modification and manipulation of a pre-space flight species or civilization artificiality advances that species or civilization, and makes them a space faring species. I the case of The Descendant Saga, the European Federation has used genetic manipulation to modify the physiology of the Large North Pacific Octopus. The Octopus is already a very intelligent and complex creature, and with some genetic therapy, they can survive outside of water and communicate with humans.
Our author has given us a little lore drop about these uplifted Octopi that occur later in The Descendant Saga.
“The Octopi uplifted by the European Federation (EF) are exclusively female, and all work aboard space ships and treated as second-class citizens. Their Oceanic Origins make them extremely good at living and working in the three dimensional weightless environment, they have been modified genetically, so they now grow a human like lung inside their mantle and lips on one of their, what would naturally be a water jet, before being implanted with a 3D printed voice box, allowing them to speak. Because of this, their un-natural voices, all sound the same, making it difficult to distinguish between individuals. There moist color shifting skin and penchant for approach to life, means they don’t typically give themselves names, and their shorter four to seven year lifespans, and huge reproductive rate, females typically laying 100,000 eggs or more, each, and being raised in ‘captivity’ they have an over 70% survival rate after hatching, they are instead identified only with numbers like 426, or 113. Names are too human of a concept for an Octo’s liking, anyway.
They think in tides, cycles, world arks, things like names were too trivial. Leading to them being often ignored, and relegated to unwanted duties, segregated from human crew. It also takes about a year for an Octopus to grow to maturity and with a life span of only four to seven years, then an individual will have, at best, 6 years in the military before death. It’s hard to get to any significant rank in the military in only three to six years, especially when the humans you work with don’t know your serial number, and don’t care enough to promote you. Still, the engineers of the EF love the Octo crew. They’re smaller, often weighting fifteen to twenty kilos, despite their three to 4 meter length from tip to tip. Meaning they consume fewer calories, use less air, excrete less waste and don’t need as large of quarters as their human counterparts aboard ship. They also don’t need as large of passages for access between the decks and sections of the ship. Allowing the newest generation of EF naval ships to be designed for a human staff, but to be operated exclusively by the growing population of Octo personnel. Allowing for more compact space craft that can operate for longer periods of time without resupply, for the same level of performance.
Ultimately, this makes everything cheaper and easier than if operated by a human only crew. On an individual level the make excellent technicians and maintenance personnel, they’re ability to use tools and thing through and around problems makes their proficiency to troubleshoot problems and repair machinery, to get inside it and access things that humans would have to disassemble the machine just to access the problem, meaning they can often work on problems while the equipment is still operating, or fix issues before they become problems. Like changing your car’s oil while you’re driving to work, without having to stop the car and put it on a lift. These new ship designs are great, but it seems awfully brave of them to build the next generation of combat ships around the physiology of a crew, that may or may not be willing to do what they’re told, and have no recourse about it, if they don’t. They’re good techs when they work, but it’s also a concern that when they slip into a tiny gap, and disappear inside the bowels of the ship, that they’re not actually in there to work, they’re just, taking some cozy time to themselves, to sleep or something, who knows. A human has no way to get in there and check.“
📣 Help Us Spread the Word:
If you’ve supported Altar of Scales, please consider leaving a review. Reader feedback is one of the most powerful tools we have to reach new audiences. Share your thoughts on Amazon, Goodreads, or your favorite platform.
And don’t forget to check out our limited-edition merch line, inspired by characters like ThulVox and Tarko, only available from Nerd Smith Consolidated.
📡 Join the Uprising.
This isn’t just a book. It’s the start of a movement. Bringing Classic 20th century sci-fi into the 21st century.
One author. One story. One saga.
Be part of it.
The Descendant Saga 