SPSFC3: Slush FOMO Part 3- Sci-fi indie books

The SPSFC (aka “Spacefic”) is the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest. In it, we judges sort through slush piles of books to select semifinalists, finalists, and one winner annually. There’s no small amount of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) as a judge, though. What if the next great sci-fi novel is lurking somewhere in another group’s slush? What about that cool cover? What about that subgenre itch you want to scratch? For all of these reasons and more, I’ve selected books from other groups that strike me based on whatever criteria seems to fit at the time. I have some posts showing what books I’m planning to sample from other groups and the whys. I’ll be posting reviews and first impressions as I’m able–this is all on the side of the main judging I’m doing with the contest, so I may not get to everything. I hope you’ll follow here as I continue to highlight indie sci-fi.

The Gottingen Accident by James Mordechai

A supervillain seeks to alter the course of history by using non-Euclidean geometry an if that doesn’t sound super cool we share very little taste in common. Also the cover made me think of a lot of 90s sci-fi, so I liked that a lot.

Three Grams of Elsewhere by Andy Giesler

Giseler wrote The Nothing Within which has a fantastic narrative voice. When I saw another book pop up from him on the SPSFC list I knew I had to try it no matter who got it. This one has empath drones committing murders and the investigation thereof. Sounds cool, and I am excited to check it out!

Three Rivers Plague by Zachary & Joshua Forbes

Another group reviewed this book and said it was like a rock and roll story with zombies. I mean, what’s not to love about that? I also haven’t read a zombie book in a while and kind of have a hankering for it, so for both of those reasons I’m signed up.

Who Built the Humans? by Phillip Carter

Another SPSFC reviewer said this one had a bunch of different writing styles and genre-bending things going on. Sometimes experimental stuff goes well for me, and sometimes it bombs. Hopefully this is the former!

Wixon’s Day by Phil Williams

The choice to include this was 100% based upon the cover. I haven’t even read the blurb, apologies to Williams. But hey, I’m going to sample the book, so there’s that!

Woe to the Victor by Nathan H. Green

Cool title. Cool cover. Blurb has big stakes. I’m signed on.

The Automaton by Ian Young

A bleak future ruled by robots we made to serve us? I’ve heard the story before, but it’s a compelling yarn all the same. Also the cover is simply to die for, and apparently it has some great reviews. All of that totals up to a “toss on the TBR pile” for me.

The Earthen Pioneer by NRB Marcum

Earth has been invaded and apparently lost. What happens when a human goes to the planet of aliens as a last gasp hope for Earth? I don’t know, but I hope the contents are anywhere close to as gorgeous as the cover because that cover has me enthralled.

The Other by Marilyn Peake

The author, Marilyn Peake, has a ton of books on Amazon from all over the SFF spectrum, which made me think it would be cool to check out this look at a not-space-invasion? Idk, it has a cool premise questioning UFOs as mass hysteria, but it makes me wonder if it’s really an invasion. I wanna find out.

Hostile Contact by Nick Snape

Military sci-fi is a go-to subgenre for me, and I saw some other reviewers buzzing about this book as being TV worthy. The author graciously provided me with the audio, so expect a full review.

Icebreaker by Steven William Hannah

“Shamanic science fiction.” Idk, sounds awesome. I also haven’t had enough ice-world stuff in my sci-fi of late, so here’s hoping for some frosty goodness.

In the Slip by F.D. Lee

The author probably doesn’t remember this at all, but I met her at Worldcon in 2022 and thought her fantasy books were totally rad. I didn’t know she’d written a sci-fi novel and when I saw the name pop up on another group’s slush pile, I knew I had to read it. Also it’s about a trans-temporal copyright officer, which sounds hella cool.

Lume by T.M. Ghent

The cover has this Final Fantasy IX x Willy Wonka vibe that has me totally enraptured, and so I just threw it on my TBR list. It sounds a little science fantasy from the blurb, which checks another favorite subgenre on my list. I’m here for it.

Space Junk by Hunter R. Hennigar

The cover says “Freight the Power.” It has unfettered capitalism as a central theme. I mean, I don’t need anything more than that to know I want to give it a try.

Star Nations by James Michael Minard

Galaxy crushing enemies. Huge stakes. Massive, endless empires. Is it a wonder that a judge for a sci-fi contest wants to at least give a big space opera blurb like this a try? I doubt it. Hopefully it’s as cool and massive as the blurb and generically massive name sound.

The Ceph: Reborn by Matthew Poehler

I read this one last year from slush FOMO and was delighted by the story of uplift and first contact. It was a truly special read. Check out my full review.

The Crossing by Laurie Janey

The blurb sounds like a cerebral space opera. The cover has this sense of foreboding exploration to it. For those reasons, I’m going to give it a try.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.

SPSFC3 Book Review: “The Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet” by Mark Weaver

I’m a judge of the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest. This is the third year for the contest, and I’ll be sharing many full reviews of books as I get to them. Check out my group’s slush pile (the books we were assigned) here. Also note that I’ll be reviewing whatever books strike my fancy from other group’s slush piles. These are my opinions only and don’t necessarily reflect the thinking of my group.

The Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet by Mark Weaver

Suppose you are contracted by a for profit company with a primary goal of delivering money to shareholders to go explore new planets in hopes of finding more wealth. Suppose further that some things have gone wrong, perhaps due to cost cutting due to said company. What do you do? Well, you open up your Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet and get to it, that’s what!

The Complete Guide is a tongue-in-cheek space exploration novel that crosses The Martian with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And it does so with some success. When our erstwhile ship crashes on a planet with… various dangers, readers get to follow along as the crew tries to piece together–in some cases literally–the ship and figure out what happened and how to get out of the mess they’ve gotten into.

Any novel that combines genre fiction with humor has a fine line to walk. There’s a reason that some of those that walk the line so well are considered legends. For every Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy there are hundreds or thousands of books that did not combine genre and humor as successfully. Weaver’s entry succeeds at getting laughs. Indeed, I found myself grinning while reading some portions of it. There’s also enough of a serious consequence lurking in the background to drive the plot forward, which sometimes is a struggle for sci-fi/humor. Where the novel struggles, though, is in repeated use of the same joke. The ship’s AI, MAY, is damaged, and this is played for a joke with seemingly rigorous regularity throughout the novel. And the danged thing of it is, this is actually a pretty funny joke, repeatedly. Weaver changes it just enough to land with the right timing so that when the jokes happen, they still get at least a little tingle of “funny” by the end. But at one point I found myself wishing for a different thread of humor. There are others, of course, but some of them are also used time and again, like that person who tells a totally hilarious joke and then replays it a few times for the crowd to increasingly smaller laughs. Yes, it’s still funny, but we want something new.

The situation isn’t helped by the novel’s length, which isn’t massive, but is perhaps too long for a combination of humor/sci-fi as this novel is. According to Amazon it’s nearly 400 pages. It could stand to be chopped by about 100 pages to help tighten up the plot and focus on the genuinely funny moments. I think tighter plotting would do wonders for my overall enjoyment of the novel.

The story is one of survival, punctuated by numerous humorous interludes as the cast struggles to not only explore a strange new world but also navigate the strictures of unfettered capitalism from afar attempting to nickel and dime every effort to survive. It makes for compelling, and at times compulsive reading. The ending provides a satisfying conclusion, as well.

The Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet is a promising novel. It has many enjoyable elements and I had a lot of fun during my time reading it. For readers looking for some humor mixed in their sci-fi, it’s definitely a read worth checking out.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.

The Great Honor Harrington Read-Along: “Changer of Worlds” edited by David Weber

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along is a read along led by me with critical analysis and SPOILER FILLED looks at the Honor Harrington series and related works by David Weber and collaborators. I’ve read the whole main series and the overwhelming majority of the offshoots, but some of these will still be first time reads. However, spoilers will be abundant throughout these posts, including for much later books in the series.

Changer of Worlds edited by David Weber

Changer of Worlds is the third anthology of shorter works in the Honorverse. These stories range across time and space to give a larger picture of the world Weber made. As with other books in the series, I’ll review each story individually.

Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington by David Weber

Ever wanted to know what Honor was like as a snotty? This story lets you find out. It’s honestly a great look to go back in time to a younger Honor Harrington and see her when she wasn’t so omnicompetent. Weber, as always, does a great job building some characters you love and some you love to hate. Not all the crew members are there for good reasons, and Honor must learn more self-confidence before she gets crushed under the heel of some ne’er-do-wells. And, of course, there’s a pretty cool space battle.

Nightfall by David Weber

Here is another story filling in gaps in the novels, as we find out about the coup attempt by McQueen and how it led to Oscar Saint-Just’s ascension to more totalitarian power at the cost of more than a million lives.. The story moves quickly and I found it to be a mostly satisfying read. It shows how quickly power plays can happen, and also the ruthlessness of Saint-Just, not that we needed any more demonstration of the same.

From the Highlands by Eric Flint

Zilwickis, both Helen and Anton! I love these characters, and this story was background I didn’t know about for Crown of Slaves and beyond. It shows how they got involved in fighting Manpower and slavery rings. I loved this story so much.

Changer of Worlds by David Weber

Rounding out the stories-that-fill-in-gaps is this story of Nimitz and Samantha returning home and helping make the decision to, er, change worlds by sending Treecats out to colonize beyond their one planet. It’s a species-level survival decision, and I just love Treecats. The eponymous story in this collection is one of the best in the whole series of short fiction so far.

Changer of Worlds is perhaps the best of these story collections so far. There wasn’t a particularly weak story among them, and we get some great insights into characters we only glimpse at times. I recommend this one for fans of the series.

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The Great Honor Harrington Read Along– Follow along as I read through and review all the books and offshoots in this series!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

SPSFC3 Book Review: “The Rave” by J.R. Traas

I’m a judge of the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest. This is the third year for the contest, and I’ll be sharing many full reviews of books as I get to them. Check out my group’s slush pile (the books we were assigned) here. Also note that I’ll be reviewing whatever books strike my fancy from other group’s slush piles.

The Rave by J.R. Traas

Our group selected The Rave for a full read after several members thought it was an enjoyable experience as we sampled the beginnings of our slush pile books. I restarted it once we selected it for one of our (unofficial) quarterfinalists. I got far more into it on the second go-round. The story starts with Alina K’vich, a teenager who’s lost her parents. She has become an Aelfraver through the direction of her grandfather, who is himself one of her last connections to her family. As she works to pay off debt, it becomes clear the best way to do that might be a Rave–a hunt of a dangerous enemy which is itself hunting nobles in the capital city. Can she illegally go on this Rave and finally get out of debt and launch a life of relative independence?

The setting is the star in much of the novel, with the Aelfravers being a combination of rock star, wizard, and cyberpunk drifter. Early on, the story reads like a mishmash of a ton of ideas and inspirations, and I’m not sure I am aware enough to have gotten all the references. Near about the 20% mark, the story really started to get going for me. I became far more invested in Alina’s relationship with one of the nobility that the Aelf might be hunting. That plotline helped carry the story through the majority of the novel, with Alina meeting new characters, having to show her prowess amongst a large group of Aelfravers gathered for the dangerous hunt, and the occasional action scene that showed up.

The story does tend to meander, though. At points it became difficult to follow mostly because the story seemed to spiral off into side hustles that didn’t advance the plot or action at hand. Some plot twists, especially one very large one near the end, feel as if they were out there dangling, just waiting for the plot to finally catch up to them. A heavy dose of editing to cut down content would improve the novel significantly, in my opinion.

The Rave is a compelling story that readers interested in a different take on cyberpunk or magic will be interested. While it occasionally loses its way, it delivers a largely satisfying experience.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.

SPSFC3 First Impressions: “The Beckoning Void” by Patrick LeClerc and “Freedom Hold” by Romana Drew

The Beckoning Void by Patrick LeClerc

The Beckoning Void combines a motley-crew story–an actress, escaped slave Captain, daughter of an Afghan brigand, and a mercenary with a conscience–with Lovecraftian threats of evil to make a rip-roaring adventure that’s hard not to like. Charles Dickens shows up! There are airships! Pirates! Lovecraftian evils! This is honestly a super fun book.

The main action follows the discovery of a book full of eldritch powers which a secret society in Victorian England is trying to get their hands on. Our motley crew is put on a collision course with said society, and must stop them from tapping into the power of the book before it’s too late for… the world?

The novel wears its inspirations on its sleeve. The characters are wonderful, if slightly trope-y. There are some truly epic character moments mixed in, though, such as when our formerly enslaved captain goes on a monologue about how slavery was also used in the United States as a way for white people to have a perspective of “at least they’re worse off than I am.” It’s a surprisingly deep point made eloquently in the middle of an adventure novel, and somehow it works.

The Beckoning Void is a fun romp to prevent global, Lovecraftian apocalypse. Fans of steampunk will find so much to love here, and those who are looking for a history/sci-fi/fantasy mashup will also be pleased.

Note: I received my audiobook copy courtesy of the author.

Freedom Hold by Romana Drew

CW: Discussion of sexual assault (not explicit)

Kaylee, a native of Cadorie, finds herself thrust in the midst of a possible rebellion. First, she finds herself forced into a decision to marry another Cadorie she strongly dislikes or work in the incredibly hostile conditions of the mines for the rest of her (probably short) life. The Cadorie are considered disposable by the colonizing Langons, so the mines are an effective death sentence. Even as Kaylee tries to figure out how to navigate a life in which she wants choice, she discovers a possible hint at a better life–one in which people are striving for a free Cadorie.

I think the setup and characters in this novel are quite interesting. The world has some clear thought behind it–the way the Cadorie are oppressed and the almost mercantilist-type feel of the economics and society of the Langons are the most notable features. I had some problems with execution on a few things. For one, the Kaylee-Ralaf (her forced betrothal) relationship is alarming. Early on, Ralaf seems to be trying to make things easier on her, but then pivots almost immediately to pawing at her and trying to grope her, saying that he should be allowed to have sex with her or physical touch whenever he wants. Kaylee says no multiple times, clearly upset by the advances. She only stops him by threatening to pull off his chain–a kind of device that marks the Cadorie as being more useful to the Langons than being sentenced to the mines. And after he begs her not to, they just settle into a normal conversation about the television-equivalent. It’s just a really jarring sequence because it makes it all feel normal or expected.

Kaylee is believably naïve and attempts to contact the resistance group (which she found out about via an interruption of the television service) only to find it as a kind of trap. Things escalate from there, and Kaylee and Ralaf end up going different directions. The start of the story has quite a few compelling elements.

Freedom Hold has some potential as a combination space opera/dystopia. I may continue reading regardless of what my group decides, though I urge some caution about the event I noted.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.

SPSFC 3: Slush FOMO Part 2- Sci-fi contest books I’m sampling

The SPSFC (aka “Spacefic”) is the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest. In it, we judges sort through slush piles of books to select semifinalists, finalists, and one winner annually. There’s no small amount of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) as a judge, though. What if the next great sci-fi novel is lurking somewhere in another group’s slush? What about that cool cover? What about that subgenre itch you want to scratch? For all of these reasons and more, I’ve selected books from other groups that strike me based on whatever criteria seems to fit at the time. I have some posts showing what books I’m planning to sample from other groups and the whys. I’ll be posting reviews and first impressions as I’m able–this is all on the side of the main judging I’m doing with the contest, so I may not get to everything. I hope you’ll follow here as I continue to highlight indie sci-fi.

Richard: Distant Son by Michael W. Hickman

A lost prince on Earth is whisked into the stars for a somewhat comedic adventure in this novel. It checks boxes of coming of age and finding a wider galaxy. The author provided me with the audiobook, so a full review is coming up.

Insiders by Shannon Knight

First part of the blurb- “In a universe of long-haul truckers, parasite-bearing megalomaniacs, asteroid rustlers, and homicidal peace keepers, some people just want to stay alive.” Amen to that. The weird cover had me sold on it anyway.

Kenai by Dave Dobson

I read Dobson’s Daros last year (my review) and thought it was pretty good, so I had this book on my list. The fact that it has space archaeology and a retired space marine is activating my “want to read”-o-meter quite a bit.

Kizuna (Or How to Lose a Spaceship and Still Go Places) by Jamie Watt

Seems like a potentially cozy sci-fi adventure and sometimes I just want that.

Mercury by Lloyd Hall

There’s a weirdly-shaped… thing on the cover. That’s literally what got it added to this list, and I’m not afraid to say it. Sometimes your TBR grows for reasons such as these.

Our Vitreous Womb by Haldane B. Doyle

Everything about this book seems weird as hell. Weird sci-fi is sometimes a lot of fun to me.

Lucid Machines by Marshall Smith

I read and adored Marshall Smith’s There Are No Countries last year (full review). It reminded me of Robert Silverberg’s sci-fi. I immediately added this to my TBR when I saw it.

Of Mycelium and Men by William C. Tracy

William C. Tracy is a phenomenal indie writer and publisher. I read and reviewed this superb book last year. Fans of hard sci-fi, colonization, and diversity in sci-fi should think of it as a must-read.

On Impulse by Heather Texle

I like space mysteries. This is space mystery. It goes on list.

On Lavendar Tides by Travis M. Riddle

It’s a monster collecting novel. Y’know, like Pokémon. I tried to write a Pokémon-esque novel once. I was a teenager, and it was very bad. I’m going to crush this book (in a good way) if it’s any good.

Pop Smoke by Stephen Landry

The ship looks like Firefly, the blurb sounds like… what!? LitFPS, so it’s like LitRPG but first person shooter? I don’t know what the heck is going on but I want to try it.

Red Rock by Kate Kelly

Great, surreal cover. Cool blurb- assassinated aunt in post-climate catastrophic Earth gives the 14-year-old main character a rock to take care of, emphasizing how important it is. I mean, I am intrigued.

Siphon: Power Comes with a Price by Jason Fox

It’s a superhero novel, again, and it has a scorching hot 4.9/5 on Amazon as of this date of writing, so that suggests it might be a good’n. The premie appears to be a kind of superpower that comes at a cost of others or somesuch? I don’t know, sounds cool and I just like superhero stuff, so I’m on board.

Revolution by James Fox

Assassination, military and political intrigue, and a space opera setting make this an intriguing read to me. The author graciously shared an audio copy of this with me, so I’ll have a full review at some point.

Stargun Messenger by Darby Harn

Harn wrote a pretty awesome thread of superhero novels before this book, and I’m super interested in finding out what he does with a space adventure. Plus, it looks like there will be some diversity explicitly included, which is always great to see in SFF novels. Also I may or may not have forgotten he gave me an ARC and I uh… owe a review and apology (sorry Darby- I’ll get to it!).

The Art of War by Peter Cawdron

Cawdron has had a different book in each of the SPSFC contests since the first. I quite enjoyed the other two I’ve read, so I am greatly looking forward to another first contact story, especially since this one is a mashup with insights from the Art of War, which I was definitely obsessed with as a pre-teen and have re-read many times.

The Forsaken Planet by Bryan Wilson

The name has me thinking of the cheese-tastic but totally sincere Forbidden Planet film, and that has me very interested in the story even though the plot blurb is nothing like that film and the name is different. Have I mentioned these lists are totally arbitrary? Taste is a weird thing, so get used to it. I wonder what my sampling of this will lead to.

The Darkness Calling by Joe Coates

So I read a series about a Hitman with a stamp collecting habit a few years back (conveniently, the first book is called Hit Man and it’s really quite good) and have been chasing that same feel for a while. Hopefully this book that has a sci-fi Hitman can give me a hit of that same cozy mystery feel.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.

SPSFC3 First Impressions “The Great Migration” by Steve Ramirez, “Fog of War” by Forest Wells, and “The Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet” by Mark Weaver

I’m a judge for the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC or “Spacefic”) and I’ll be writing first impressions for every single book in our slush pile. To refresh the reader, the slush pile is the randomly assigned set of books each group gets from which they’ll select semifinalists. I have book covers, blurbs, links, and initial thoughts for our entire slush pile here. My group chose the judging method for our slush pile in which we each read 10-20% (minimum) of every book in our slush pile, then vote on whether we want it to advance to our next round in which we read them entirely and then choose semifinalists. These impressions, then, will not necessarily be based upon the whole book, but will be enough of the book to give at least a fair idea of whether I want to continue or not. In some cases I may have read the whole thing, and will likely make note of about how far I got in each book.

NOTE: These first impressions are only MY OWN and do not reflect the entire group’s consensus.

The Great Migration by Steve Ramirez

An arid landscape greets readers in The Great Migration as the Zuni people herd previous extinct elephantine creatures across the meager plains. Amidst from hyper-massive hyena descedents, we meet Bellona, who is seeking her place in society as she works to guard the herd and her people from many threats.

After a major attack and returning home, political plays sideline one of Bellona’s friends. Will they be able to earn recognition in their community after all, especially when threats from the shadowy s’orne emerge?

I thought the setting and characters were stars of this novel. I don’t know if it is post-apocalyptic or if it’s even set on Earth. The fact that there are Zuni people and that the creatures they’re hearding have long been extinct today suggests an interesting future. I also enjoyed the interplay of dynamics within the Zuni people and how they reacted to Bellona (and others’) actions regarding an attack on the herd.

The Great Migration has the makings of an intriguing post-apocalyptic story. What has happened here? Is it post-apocalyptic, or is there some other sci-fi stuff being factored in? The questions and characters have drawn me in.

Fog of War by Forest Wells

Wing Commander vibes are found throughout this book’s first portions, whether it’s the cover or the plot. The story follows the crew of the Gold 1 as they seek to navigate war-torn locales. When they face a new threat, they have to find out whether to fight and what’s worth fighting for.

Many of the characters here are Holdren, a kind of fox-people. I wish we’d gotten in the early stages some explanation for the anthropomorphic animals. Furries in fiction is something I often enjoy (such as the Redwall series, some of my favorites), but given the setting here I would love some explanation of why there are these animal-people. Why are they so similar in every way to humans, while just happening to have foxlike features? It just seems like they’re tacked on because they look cool, without a coherent reason for why they’re so much like Earth foxes.

The story suggests the characters have been involved in a decades-long war, but there remains some uncertainty about what to do in potentially lethal situations. I found it to be dramatic, but occasionally with a manufactured drama that felt unrealistic given the background of the characters. The naming system also felt fairly generic (eg. the “United Systems Republic,” though to be fair this is more of a nitpick given how standard in sci-fi this kind of naming is).

Fog of War has some interesting moments and potential with characters. I though the main plot and names of everything felt a bit too generic for my taste. Fans of Wing Commander will likely want to immediately check it out.

The Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet by Mark Weaver

When Hattie’s ship crash lands on a planet in such a way as the AI gets damaged, she must work with a snarky and confused AI to try to re-gather the crew and repair the ship, all while being guided by The Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet. But, it turns out the Guide isn’t all that complete after all, an AI that has lost a bunch of files is a bit less useful than one might think, and that messages from home are plagued with advertising. Hattie’s got to save the day–but can she?

Honestly, I loved the intro to this book, especially when there was a humorous exchange about whether it was snowing outside or just dusty. It’s funny in the book, and delivered quite well by an AI protagonist who’s both snarky and a bit broken. What surprised me with the book is how it is actually, at times, a serious space exploration sci-fi novel. The author, Mark Weaver, brings together the humor of some of the better sci-fi romps with a somewhat serious and threatening environment. And it works… mostly.

Where it doesn’t work is when I’ve found myself (now at 50% in) occasionally wishing we’d stop getting a few of the same jokes re-trod by the AI. It’s almost endearing in a way, but can get a little grating. Like, can we make some progress, please? But overall, the book’s tone hits just the right notes to stay serious while being pretty funny. I especially enjoy the not-so-subtle attack on unfettered capitalism here as it’s clear the corporate bigshots would rather play golf than communicate with an errant exploration ship.

The Complete Guide to Exploring Your New Planet walks a fine line between serious science fiction and comedy. It mostly succeeds, and for that reason I’ve kept going. I would recommend for those who want The Martian but with more people and snark.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.

My Read-Through of the Hugos: 1993

I’m a huge science fiction fan, and, having read a list of what are alleged to be the top 200 science fiction novels, I decided to next tackle a read-through of all the Hugo Award winners and nominees for best novel. Let me know your thoughts and favorites. I’ve marked the winner as well as my own choice for which novel would win, had I the choice among the nominees. At the end I have a brief summary comment on the year’s nominees.

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (Co-Winner, My Winner) Grade: A
The main plot is a first contact story, largely, between some dog like species (the Tines) who exist as kind of individual pack hive minds and humans. Dancing around this core plot is a much, much bigger plot involving, you know, the fate of the galaxy. A malevolent AI, issues of traveling through space and what that might mean for the capacities of species at different parts in the galaxy, and inter-species conflict abound. Questions about what it means to be an individual, to be intelligent, and more come up as the story goes on. It’s a simply phenomenal read that demands additional read-throughs just to be sure one catches more details. It is definitely space opera on a high level, but it’s also managed to be a fairly personal space adventure type story that is deeply intimate. It’s the kind of book that every fan of science fiction should at least give a try once to see if they like it. Also I really wish that that awesome illustration on the cover had some bearing somewhere on the contents, because a manta ray space city thing would be a ridiculously over the top and awesome story bit.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Co-Winner)- Grade: B
Doomsday Book is a beautiful tale of someone traveling back in time to the Black Death only to be caught there and try to do the best she can with the technology at hand–which is to say she can’t do very much. It’s a heart-rending tale that I remember even years after first reading it as one I enjoyed enormously. The biggest issue with the book is that basically every “modern” scene is an absolute slog. I hate to do this to you, dear reader, but I’ll share something I wish I hadn’t thought of or heard at some point about Willis’s writings. She’s incredibly gifted, but she’s utterly obsessed with telephony and I don’t know why. I can’t unsee it. Several of her books have multiple scenes of people just missing someone else based on a land line phone, or talking about phones, or being on the phone, and it’s compounded here by some of the most frequent and annoying scenes of missed phone calls I’ve ever read. Like… can someone please pick up the damned phones!? And that’s basically the most memorable part of the book that isn’t the Black Death side of the story. That’s unfortunate, because the Black death side of the story is one of the first stories that made me cry as an adult reading a novel. It’s just so good. But wow, points lost for the phone-obsessed present era. I don’t want to visit it again.

Doomsday Book ends up as a mixed bag with a solidly superb past plot combined with a pretty forgettable and even annoying modern plot. 

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson- Grade: C+
A short summary of my opinion of this book would be: “cool science, boring plot.” I’m willing to accept I’m in the extreme minority here–the book got Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, and Arthur C. Clarke Award nominations/wins so it is clearly an accepted classic across the board. For me, though, the people making up the core of the story were bland. It’s difficult to make up for that, as I found myself caring little for the action and even intense sequences in the plot. The characters simply did not grab me. And that’s a shame, because the science ideas in this novel are so cool. Robinson delves deeply into the technology and speculative science behind what could drive colonization of a world like Mars. Exhaustive sequences describing some of this going on make for, in my opinion, some of the most interesting reading of the whole book. I enjoyed these sections very much. But the human element was not enough to sustain the book, especially for such a lengthy reading. I honestly prefer Ben Bova’s Mars and following books to these by Robinson.

China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh- Grade: C
I don’t know what to think about this enigmatic work. It has some big ideas in it–the United States also experienced a communist revolution; the future is dominated by communism; etc.–but those big ideas never translate to anything on the page. Is it an exercise in making something that should be fascinating boring? Or is it a masterful play on science fiction expectations, basically giving readers a ho-hum look at a different world? I lean a bit towards the latter, but I have read the book twice now and haven’t experienced any stunning moments of insight or revelatory “getting it” that I have had with other novels that I’ve enjoyed more. Maybe I still don’t “get it,” but I don’t think I’ll give the book another try. If you really enjoyed it, I’d love to read about what struck a cord with you in the comments.

Steel Beach by John Varley Grade: B-
Varley’s skill as a satirist is on full display in this novel that perhaps best serves as a way to convey that dark sense of humor throughout. The central plot is narrated by a decidedly unreliable Hildy Johnson, who vascillates between wishing for suicide and delighting in whatever life throws at him. The whole story is wonky–a word that sounds just as strange as it ought to for the description of the book. Examining the plot too closely reveals many holes, and Varley himself has a rather funny afterward (at least in the addition I read) in which he tells readers not to bother sending him letters about how things should have or didn’t work because he doesn’t care. That’s very clear. This isn’t meant to be on the science side of science fiction, but rather leans heavily into the fictional side, utilizing readers’ suspension of disbelief to poke at assumptions about gender, capitalism, and more. I’m not sure where Varley lines up on most of these topics, but having read this book I bet he’d be pretty interesting to talk to. 

1993- 1993 is a very ’90s feeling year at the Hugos. Varley is probably the best example of this, with a sardonic plot that absolutely captures the spirit of the time. China Mountain Zhang is one I see a lot of people listing as a favorite book, and I’ve read it twice now and I struggle. Red Mars is emblematic of 90s sci-fi, with a strong hard sci-fi bent and light on characterization. I also have already talked about phones enough so we’re going to skip one of these. Okay, fine Doomsday Book is another I’ve read multiple times, but I can’t unsee the issues with it. If it were just the Black Death portion, it’d be an A+ from me. Finally, Vinge’s offer is a fantastic book that I think has something for most fans of sci-fi, though some will be put off by the length and the sometimes stilted prose.

Links

My Read-Through of the Hugos– Read more posts in this series and follow me on the journey! Let me know your own thoughts on the books.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

SPSFC3: Slush FOMO Part 1- Sci-Fi indie books I’m sampling from other groups

The SPSFC (aka “Spacefic”) is the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest. In it, we judges sort through slush piles of books to select semifinalists, finalists, and one winner annually. There’s no small amount of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) as a judge, though. What if the next great sci-fi novel is lurking somewhere in another group’s slush? What about that cool cover? What about that subgenre itch you want to scratch? For all of these reasons and more, I’ve selected books from other groups that strike me based on whatever criteria seems to fit at the time. I have some posts showing what books I’m planning to sample from other groups and the whys. I’ll be posting reviews and first impressions as I’m able–this is all on the side of the main judging I’m doing with the contest, so I may not get to everything. I hope you’ll follow here as I continue to highlight indie sci-fi.

Bel Breaker by Chris Cardenas

The reason I picked this to sample from another group’s list is simple: I see a mech, I want the mech. Apparently this has some water world with anime-like mechs tearing crap up. Idk, I love the cover and I like mechs, let’s go.

Down Below Beyond by T.A. Bruno

Bruno was a finalist back in our first SPSFC contest, and that alone was enough to get him on this list. This go-round his entry appears to be about an unlucky salvager who dug up a whole mess when they found The Wrong Thing. Cool premise, which has me on board. He also generously shared a copy of the audiobook with me, so look forward to a full review in the future.

/Grace by Creighton Hoke

AI is an obviously hot topic right now, and Hoke’s book cashes in on that premise with a mega-corporation inventing an AI that is smarter than it ought to be and not quite knowing what to do with it. Mix in some heady themes about what it means to be a “self” and you’ve got a poignant story ready to roll. The author generously shared an audiobook, so I’ll have a full review at some point.

Our Lady of the Artilects by Andrew Gillsmith

I already read this one and reviewed it and because I loved it, I had to make sure it was on this list. Anything that plays at the intersection of science fiction and religion is something I’m interested in by default. Check out my full review here.

The Castle of 1000 Doors by Kenny Gould

An athlete condemned to a dungeon in a progression fantasy with a sci-fi looking space bird? I love the premise. Also is he holding a… crazed potato? Anyway, I’m curious to know what this is about.

Angel from the Rust by Jason Link

I’ll take “hella cool cover sold me no matter what the blurb said” for $1000, Alex! Okay, the blurb is pretty cool, too. It talks about some science fantasy Earth in the future after an apocalypse. I’m here for it. But mostly for the rust dragon.

After Moses by Michael F. Kane

Space. Cowboy. Thing. Space westerns have been a favorite since I watched Trigun way back in the day. Also that cover is pretty legit.

Cloudthinker by Andrew McGlinchey

I just love everything about the blurb. Ancient mathematics unlocking the mind vs. AI tech taking over jobs? I don’t know, sounds totally plausible and cyberpunk and I love it.

Corona by David Arrowsmith

Did I pick this entirely based upon its cover reminding me of The World Inside by Robert Silverberg? Yes. I regret nothing.

Cydonia Rising by Dave Walsh

Walsh wrote Broken Ascension, which was an entry in the OG SPSFC that I enjoyed quite a bit (my review). I figured another book by him is likely to impress as well, plus what’s not to love about spaceships and a planet blowing up on a cover?

Dali by E.M. Hamill

A genderfluid main character as a peacekeeper? I thought this was a cool premise from the start. The author graciously provided an audiobook, so I’ll be listening to this one.

Dark Theory by Wick Welker

I was a fan of Welker’s book from SPSFC1, and am curious to know how this space fantasy-esque looking story goes. Also what is the giant decaying egg construct? We’ll find out.

God of Small Affairs by Olga Werby

I love the title of this one, it has me thinking of a kind of cozy, weird sci-fi. The premise sounds super cool, too, starting off as it does with some philosophizing about humans as being gods of small affairs… until we’re not. Plus a mystery in a Midwestern town. I don’t know how this’ll go, but I’m very interested.

Eclipsing the Aurora by Peter J. Foote

Some aliens are using Earth as a retirement home (what, uh… what is their pre-retirement like!?) and suck the main character into a broader universe. Sounds cool, and it has an alluring cover. I’m in.

From the Grave of the Gods by Alan K. Dell

Great title, great retro sci-fi cover. I didn’t really even look at what it was about, I just threw it on the list. Looking at the blurb, something about a failed Mars mission and problems back home. Just put the book in my hands already.

Fid’s Crusade by David H. Reiss

This superhero/villain sci-fi was in my group’s slush pile last year but some in the group aren’t as in to such stories as I am. I am eager to return and give it another try because I found it had a pretty cool opening way back when.

The Hand of God by Yuval Kordov

See the first book I talk about on this post- I see a mech, I gotta have it. Throw some religious flavor into the mix (the blurb mentions “the powerful Revenant Sisterhood, she shepherds humanity from Cathedral, the Last City. Except Cathedral isn’t the last city, and her sisterhood’s power is far from holy”) and I’m almost foaming at the mouth to give it a try.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.

SPSFC3 First Impressions “Psycho Hose Beast from Outer Space” by C.D. Gallant-King and “Crimson Gauntlet” by I.O. Adler

I’m a judge for the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC or “Spacefic”) and I’ll be writing first impressions for every single book in our slush pile. To refresh the reader, the slush pile is the randomly assigned set of books each group gets from which they’ll select semifinalists. I have book covers, blurbs, links, and initial thoughts for our entire slush pile here. My group chose the judging method for our slush pile in which we each read 10-20% (minimum) of every book in our slush pile, then vote on whether we want it to advance to our next round in which we read them entirely and then choose semifinalists. These impressions, then, will not necessarily be based upon the whole book, but will be enough of the book to give at least a fair idea of whether I want to continue or not. In some cases I may have read the whole thing, and will likely make note of about how far I got in each book.

NOTE: These first impressions are only MY OWN and do not reflect the entire group’s consensus.

Psycho Hose Beast from Outer Space by C.D. Gallant-King

The title, the cover, the blurb; this book has personality. It screams a black-and-white sci-fi/horror movie vibe like Creature from the Black Lagoon. The book has that feel, but is transported forward in time from that era to the 90s and it has all of those vibes. Children of the 90s will feel almost cozy in this mystery slash monster sci-fi as they get treated to a constant stream of references, from a discount video store to booting up a game console to play pixelated video games.

Again, I say the book gave me this kind of heaping helping of nostalgia. I did find myself wondering, though, if there would be more to it. In the sample portion I read, I found myself smiling at similar memories while also hoping there’d be something with a little more oomph served up. I tend to dislike books that rely too heavily on lopping a bunch of nostalgia on top of itself for the reader’s enjoyment, and this started to feel a little in that vein. I wanted to have the story get on with it. I may go deeper in, but for now I’m moving on to other samples.

Readers looking for a different take on creaturely sci-fi should check out Psycho Hose Beast from Outer Space.

Crimson Gauntlet by I.O. Adler

While awaiting a hotly anticipated launch of the latest, hottest game, Eddie and his group of gamer friends (and their relations!) have a new world thrust upon them as their town is invaded by a horde of monsters and everything seems to turn into a game world.

I liked this fresh take that didn’t turn into an Isekai adventure or some of the other common LitRPG tropes (eg. I died and awoke in a game world; I went into a game world and suddenly it’s all real, etc.). It did, however, bring a whole horde of questions that aren’t really explored much in the space of the novel (until the very end). Common narrative elements of LitRPG are introduced at a good pace, whether it’s how Eddie and others interact in the world, quests, or leveling up. I found the leveling and skill system to be a bit light on the details for my taste, but other readers might enjoy that aspect as it certainly kept the action and story moving along at a better clip than slowing down to slog through game mechanics might have done.

The aforementioned ending is well done. Adler sticks a great bow on top of the story that isn’t quite a cliffhanger but definitely left me wanting to know where the story would go next.

I listened to this book on Audible. The narrator, Jonathan Waters, did an excellent job, alternating voices for different characters, speaking at a level that felt comfortable listening at 1x, 2x, and [my normal] 2.5x speed. Waters even had a kind of tinny voice for the “game universe” voice whenever stats, leveling, or “on screen” mechanics were happening. It made it very easy as a listener to discern what was happening in universe.

Crimson Gauntlet certainly will appeal to fans of both the LitRPG and apocalyptic subgenres of sci-fi. It sticks the ending and opens up an intriguing world to explore further.

Note: I received my audiobook copy courtesy of the author.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

The Third Annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest Begins– Team Red Stars Slush Pile- I write blurbs, show covers, give links, and share initial thoughts on all the books from our slush pile.

SPSFC– All my posts about the SPSFC can be found here. Just scroll down for more.

SDG.