--- title: Cello's Gate, the Self-Published Sky-Pirate Heist Readers Made a Hit, Arrives in Hardback From Simon & Schuster and Hachette description: Cello's Gate began as a self-published sky-pirate heist with 1,000 Goodreads ratings. Now it is in hardback from Simon & Schuster and Hachette. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-11-04T14:00:00.039Z updated: 2026-11-04T14:00:00.060Z canonical: https://richbooksmagazine.com/article/cellos-gate-maurice-africh image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-10728163.webp categories: Fiction content_type: Feature publication: Rich Books schema_type: Article --- Cello's Gate reached readers the long way round. Maurice Africh first published his sky-pirate treasure hunt himself in 2025, and readers did the rest: more than 1,000 of them have rated it on Goodreads, with an average of 4.28 out of 5. On 3rd November, the book arrived in hardback from Simon & Schuster in the United States and Hachette in the UK, as the first book of The Sky Pirates of Imperia. ### Book: Cello's Gate (The Sky Pirates of Imperia Book 1) By Maurice Africh Captain Grey and his crew of sky pirates are hired by Dalia, the immortal daughter of the ArchGovernor, to find the Stones of Indigo, seven legendary stones said to hold godlike power, for one million credits per crew member, per stone. First self-published in 2025. [Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=9781399763073) ## Cello's Gate and the Stones of Indigo Captain Grey and his crew of sky pirates make their living on heists nobody else can pull off. Their new client is Dalia, the immortal daughter of the ArchGovernor, and she wants the Stones of Indigo: seven legendary stones said to hold the power of gods. The pay is one million credits per crew member, per stone, which is enough to let every one of them retire. The catch is that almost everyone in Imperia thinks the stones are a bedtime story, and Grey does not trust immortals. The hunt begins with an ancient map and an uncharted island where the crew's technology stops working, guarded by something nobody can name. From there the book moves through jungles, catacombs and a series of twists that early readers refused to spoil. ## Captain Grey and His Crew The crew is the reason readers kept passing this book on. Grey is a smuggler with a soft heart and a quick mouth, the kind of captain fans of Firefly will recognise at once. Around him are Dot, a Crest Knight; Mars, a former gladiator turned guardian; and Minn and Farlow, whom you first meet as children in a prologue that makes you care about them long before the heist begins. Each of them carries a past, and the mission drags most of those pasts into the open. Reviewers who loved it keep coming back to the same mix: fast action, a lot of banter and a found family that holds the book together. Grimdark Magazine called it playful and emotional at once and recommended it to fans of The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Locked Tomb. ## From Self-Published Debut to Hardback The publishers' own pitch for the new edition compares Cello's Gate to Dungeon Crawler Carl, and the comparison goes further than the jokes. Matt Dinniman first posted Dungeon Crawler Carl online and self-published the first book in 2020. Readers built its audience before Penguin Random House's Ace imprint took over the print editions in 2024. By July 2026, the first eight books had sold more than 14 million copies, and Peacock has ordered a television series. Cello's Gate is following the same road at an earlier stage. Its first readers found it through book bloggers, reviewers and word of mouth, and the big publishers followed. For you as a reader, that history is useful: the first people to champion this book were readers and reviewers, long before any publisher's marketing budget. Africh has also built a real treasure hunt around the launch, with riddles, clues and a treasure box for readers to chase. ## What to Know Before You Read It Cello's Gate is not for everyone, and its reviews say so. It contains gore, violence, murder and sexual content. The story is told in the present tense by a narrator with a voice of their own, which some readers found intimate and others found confusing. Grimdark Magazine felt the main villain was thin next to the crew, and a few reviewers found the prose plainer than the comparisons promise. If you came to Dungeon Crawler Carl for the wit, Red Rising for the action or Gideon the Ninth for the scale, Cello's Gate is worth your weekend. Book 2 is still untitled, so expect to wait. ### Books Cello's Gate Is Compared To - [Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 1)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Dungeon+Crawler+Carl+Matt+Dinniman) by Matt Dinniman - [Red Rising (Red Rising Book 1)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Red+Rising+Pierce+Brown) by Pierce Brown - [Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb Book 1)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Gideon+the+Ninth+Tamsyn+Muir) by Tamsyn Muir - [The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard Book 1)](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=The+Lies+of+Locke+Lamora+Scott+Lynch) by Scott Lynch [Dungeon Crawler Carl on Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Dungeon+Crawler+Carl+Matt+Dinniman) | [on Barnes & Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dungeon-crawler-carl-matt-dinniman/1145437169) | [Red Rising on Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Red+Rising+Pierce+Brown) | [on Barnes & Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/red-rising-pierce-brown/1110614785) | [Gideon the Ninth on Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Gideon+the+Ninth+Tamsyn+Muir) | [on Barnes & Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gideon-the-ninth-tamsyn-muir/1129611071) | [The Lies of Locke Lamora on Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=The+Lies+of+Locke+Lamora+Scott+Lynch) | [on Barnes & Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lies-of-locke-lamora-scott-lynch/1100303080) **Cello's Gate by Maurice Africh** (The Sky Pirates of Imperia, Book 1; Hachette in the UK, Simon & Schuster in the US; hardback published 3rd November 2026) [Amazon](https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=9781399763073) | [Barnes & Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cellos-gate-maurice-africh/1146753302) ## FAQ **Q: What is Cello's Gate about?** Cello's Gate is a science fantasy novel by Maurice Africh and the first book of The Sky Pirates of Imperia. It follows Captain Grey and his crew of sky pirates, hired by an immortal named Dalia to find the Stones of Indigo, seven legendary stones said to hold godlike power, in return for one million credits per crew member for each stone. **Q: Is Cello's Gate good?** Cello's Gate has an average rating of 4.28 out of 5 from more than 1,000 readers on Goodreads, and reviewers praise its fast action, humour and found-family crew. Some readers find its present-tense narration confusing and its villain underdeveloped, and it contains gore, violence and sexual content.