Now part of a series! Check out the sequel!

The year is 2230. Humanity has spread out into space thanks to the invention of FTL and torchdrives. It is a world of science and progress, but not without danger. The overall technological vibe of the setting resembles a mix of post-cyberpunk, biopunk, vaguely retro classic-sci-fi, and contemporary stuff.

Kayden is a human who has a few alien friends and lives on a boring and unremarkable frontier planet. One day, he scrounges up enough money for a trip to Earth-- the shining capital of human civilization, and takes his friends (2 aliens) along. Early on, they stumble into a conspiracy and generally hijinks ensue. After that they pick up more travelers. A lot of this book is interpersonal interaction and it's fairly chill as far as modern sci-fi goes.

About the content warnings: the main character swears like a sailor when stressed; and there's a gory scene near the end. The rest is fairly clean. Oh and there are mentions of nonspecific drugs as well as allusions to traumatic experiences but nothing too explicit.

Update: Keep in mind that this was my first-ever novel-length prose, and first-ever published prose. Read it through that lens, and if the jank is too much, start with the latter books.