My characters in this novel are the most fictional of any novel I’ve written. I’m personally a straight white male, and most of the characters in this book are none of the above.

24 August 2025

The Back Flap

In the 23rd century, spaceships just don’t go missing.

FBI agent Ray Volk is assigned to a task force to investigate a tragic accident: the disappearance of interplanetary passenger liner ValuTrip Cardinal, carrying 500 souls between Mars and Earth on a routine run. What looks like a cut-and-dried case of pressure loss is complicated by the arrival of a Martian Captain. A very cute Martian Captain who keeps sticking his nose in Ray’s investigation.

Martian exchange student Kelly Rack knows the disappearance is no accident. She survived the ships’ hijacking, but learns the former cruise entertainer leading the pirates has plans for the passengers, and they don’t include sightseeing. Kelly has avoided the murderous pirates, except now an off-duty Earth Commander insists on organizing resistance for the passengers. She forces Kelly to climb through service tunnels on sabotage runs, risking capture and death.

Can Ray shake down the right accomplices to capture the good ship ValuTrip Cardinal before its new captain spaces everyone on board? Will Kelly discover the pirates’ hidden plans for their prisoners? The race is on, because One of Our Spaceships is Missing!

About the book

What is the book about?

I like to say that “the title tells you all you need to know.”  Set in the 23rd Century, the piano player on a commercial passenger ship decides to hijack it.  Her girlfriend-of-the-moment, a retired US Navy Commander, is not happy about that, and conflict ensues.  While that’s going on, there’s a joint US – Martian investigation underway on Earth to figure out where the spaceship went.  Like the blurb says “in the 23rd century, spaceships don’t just go missing.”

When did you start writing the book?

I started writing it in 2015, about a year after Malaysia Airlines flight 370 vanished.  At the time, my theory was that the flight disappeared due to a hijacking gone wrong.  Basically I thought that hijackers had gotten into the cockpit, set the auto-pilot, then something went wrong and nobody was able to recover in time.  (I now think that this was a case of a pilot committing suicide and taking his plane with him.)

 How long did it take you to write it?

Which version!  I’m looking at my hard drive and I have nine (9) (!!!) versions of the story!  I think the initial version took about a year and then each revision was probably a couple of months.

 Where did you get the idea from?

As mentioned above, the original idea was based on Malaysia Airlines flight 370.  A second key idea was what I took to calling “Standard Thriller Subplot #3.”  This subplot is where a hunky, honest and not-terribly bright man is paired with sexy, mysterious and smart (oh, and did I say she was sexy?) woman and asked to investigate something.  Whenever the author needs to pad their wordcount, the two characters have hot sex until the requisite wordcount is reached.  There are subvariants of this – #3A is where the female character is really working for the Bad Guys, #3B is where she used to work for them but now is reformed – you get the picture.

I decided to take this subplot and stand it on its head.  I do have a hunky and not-very-bright male investigator – Ray Volk, Special Agent, FBI.  He’s gay, single and a player – he’s wrapping up a one-night-stand when he gets called to start investigating.  He’s paired with a sexy and to-him mysterious man.  Alas, his partner is not into sex with anybody, male or female.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

The beginning was a real challenge.  I kept sending the book out with alternating first chapters.  It wasn’t until I was accepted by a publisher that the beginning jelled.  What I learned is that, for a heist novel (and hijackings are a flavor of heist) you need a chapter or two at the beginning explaining what’s being stolen, why, and who we’re rooting for – the thieves or the cops.

What came easily?

Well, given that I had nine versions, not much at all!

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

My characters in this novel are the most fictional of any novel I’ve written.  I’m personally a straight white male, and most of the characters in this book are none of the above.

Do you have a target reader for this book?

I didn’t (and don’t) have target readers for any of my books.

How was writing this book different from what you’d experienced writing previous books?  What new things did you learn about writing, publishing, and/or yourself while writing and preparing this book for publication?

I really think this book, and all the many drafts of it, are where my process leveled up.  It’s where I went from “okay writer” to “good writer.”

End of Interview:

For more from Chris Gerrib visit his website and follow him on Bluesky, Instagram or Twitter.

Get your copy of One of Our Spaceships is Missing from Amazon US or Amazon UK.