Time is collapsing. A robot, a clockmaker, and a pirate must stop a rising cult before reality itself is rewritten. A mind-bending sci-fi adventure.

Book One Recap: Clockwork Constellation: Chrono Chaos

Time is sacred on the planet Gearturn; measured, maintained, and never questioned. But when inventor Millicent Gearwright witnesses time unraveling before her eyes, she suspects something far greater is broken. With the ruling Clockmasters dismissing her warnings, she turns to an unlikely crew: Orin, a poetic stargazer from Vaporshade; Quark, her logic-driven robot companion; and Captain Barnaby Blackwater, a time-stealing pirate who claims to have hidden minutes in his coat and centuries in his smile.

Together, they uncover a conspiracy that spans worlds, fractured timelines, ancient technologies, and a force determined to reset reality itself. But as the crew hurtles deeper into the Cosmic Web, one truth becomes clear: fixing time might destroy everything they love. Chrono Chaos is the beginning of a galaxy-spanning rebellion, powered by friendship, invention, and the ticking certainty that every second counts.

Meet the Crew of the Beck & Sail

Millicent Gearwright

Inventor. Clockmaker. Reluctant revolutionary.
Brilliant and precise, Millicent once believed everything could be fixed with logic and gears. But time is unraveling, and her mind may be changing with it. Haunted by visions, driven by principle, and equipped with a dangerous curiosity, she leads the crew into the heart of the unknown—whether they’re ready or not.

Captain Barnaby Blackwater

Time thief. Pirate legend. Enemy to some, hero to others.
With a coat full of secrets and a ship powered by stolen time, Barnaby is charming, dangerous, and rarely predictable. He knows how to survive the cosmic web—and how to disappear when it matters most. But when past sins come due, even pirates must pick a side.

Gideon Highwire

Rooftop runner. Idealist. Defender of the downtrodden.
Hailing from the city of Gablehaven, Gideon’s heart is as lofty as the spires he climbs. Witty, brave, and grounded by a deep sense of justice, he believes in second chances and impossible odds. He doesn’t just look up—he leaps.

Quark

Artificial Intelligence. Robot companion. Evolving soul.
Created by Millicent, Quark is more than metal and logic. With each decision, each failure, and each act of courage, he grows. But when the line between human and machine begins to blur, Quark must choose who—and what—he is willing to become.

Others Who Shape the Constellation

Queen Maatkara

Immortal. Cursed. Ruler of the Crocodile Cult.
Once a priestess of light, now a queen of shadows, Maatkara commands ancient power and a legion of loyal crocodiles. But her immortality is bound to the soul she betrayed—and breaking that bond may cost her everything.

Kasim-Ra

The face on the back of her head.
Maatkara’s beloved, sacrificed in a bid for power, now haunts her—literally. His presence is both a curse and a key, whispering truths that neither gods nor queens can silence.

Stark Maddox

Captain of the Tern. Strategist. Haunted warrior.
Pragmatic and unshakable, Stark carries the burden of old wars and broken timelines. He sees patterns others miss—and threats they’d rather ignore.

Red (Barnaby Blackwater’s counterpart)

The same man, from a different strand of time.
He’s the what-if. The might-have-been. And he’s not waiting to be asked twice.

You’ll Love Clockwork Constellation If You Like…

• Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  For the wit, absurdity, and cleverness in a collapsing cosmos

• Becky Chambers – The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
  For the found family in space and heart-led sci-fi

• Jeff VanderMeer – Annihilation
  For the surreal, strange transformations and reality bending

• China Miéville – Embassytown
  For linguistic weirdness and philosophical depth in alien contact

• Dan Simmons – Hyperion
  For the grand scale, poetic prose, and fractured time storytelling

• Martha Wells – The Murderbot Diaries
  For a compelling, deeply human AI protagonist

• Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter – The Long Earth
  For parallel worlds, philosophical exploration, and sly humor

• Iain M. Banks – Player of Games
  For a post-scarcity future with moral complexity and galactic stakes

• Neal Asher – The Skinner

  For: Bio-horror in space, mind-bending tech, and wild post-human evolution
  A twisted space opera where transformation is both physical and mental.

• Charles Stross – Saturn’s Children

  For: Rogue AI navigating a post-human galaxy with wit and social critique
  Like Murderbot meets noir, but with even weirder tech and sharper bite.

• Alan Dean Foster – The Tar-Aiym Krang

  For: Swashbuckling space adventure with ancient tech and cosmic mysteries
  Old-school space opera energy with hidden depth and a charismatic rogue.

• Ramez Naam – Nexus

  For: Consciousness hacking, ethical quandaries, and emerging post-human societies
  Explores the cost of neural connectivity and control with real stakes.

• Madeleine Ashby – vN

  For: Artificial intelligence, generational programming, and identity
  A robot girl self-evolves against her code—think Quark with sharper edges.

• Christopher Priest – The Inverted World

  For: Mind-warping world mechanics and distorted perception of time and space
  A novel where reality literally bends beneath your feet—brilliantly unsettling.

• Kameron Hurley – The Stars Are Legion

  For: Living ships, all-female cast, grotesque body horror, and unreliable narration
  Organic weirdness, survival, and mythic undertones inside sentient starcraft.

• Alastair Reynolds – House of Suns

  For: Long-view space travel, clones with diverging identities, and deep philosophical questions
  Explores memory, identity, and legacy over a million-year timeline.

• Sean Williams & Shane Dix – Echoes of Earth

  For: Post-human sleeper agents, alien interference, and high-concept sci-fi mystery
  Alien contact meets psychological espionage and split consciousness.

• Tim Powers – The Anubis Gates

  For: Literary time travel with occult science and historical absurdity
  Not space-bound, but shares Chrono Chaos’ clever temporal weirdness and genre fusion.