Three science-fiction novellas out of Atalanta’s Worlds: Seven Against Earth, in which the pacifist Belter colony Friendship, terrorized by rogue raiders from Earth, hires seven soldiers of fortune to defend them; The Topless Towers, which is the climax of the Martian Rebellion; and Not Single Spies, in which Karil and Loris are sent by Galilean Security to take down a powerful Terran crime-lord trying to launch a dangerous antimatter-powered warship.
Ali Karil began as an innocent. Just as he softened Loris’s deadly persona somewhat, she hardened him by teaching him to maim and kill. Theirs is an unusual love-story, which was largely inspired by the Modesty Blaise/Willie Garvin comics and action stories of Peter O’Donnell. (One must forget the Monica Vitti/Terence Stamp film in 1966, which was a travesty.) Quentin Tarantino was a devoted Modesty Blaise fan and the 2004 film he produced was well-meant but an unusual failure for him.
Seven Against Earth was inspired by the Seven Samurai film of Akira Kurosawa and the Magnificent Seven westerns it spawned. In Atalanta’s worlds, it was easy to find seven characters of compelling character and yet with deadly fighting skills. Once they were gathered together, they wrote the story. The Topless Towers was inspired by the Iliad .And Not Single Spies is basically an affectionate parody of the James Bond novels and films.