science fiction

Hole in the Sky

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Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson

This is a science fiction thriller set in the near future, mostly in Oklahoma. The author wrote The Andromeda Evolution and Robopocalypse, has a Ph.D. in robotics, and is a Cherokee citizen, so you know there’s no coziness expected here. Ancestors, yes. Robotic horrors, definitely.

The story is narrated by five characters, one unnamed. Two are related, and four come together for first contact with alien visitors at the Spiro Mounds complex. The most appealing characters are Jim Hardgray, one year sober, and his estranged teen daughter, Tawny. They belong to the Cherokee nation. Fortunately, Jim listened to some of the lessons that Tawny’s grandmother Elisi taught them. Mikayla works for NASA on the Voyager project and uses AI goggles. Gavin Clark works for the U.S. government on investigating UAPs, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. The novel is dark, but with glimmers of hope, and includes visions of Cherokee ancestors along with predictions of the very near future. Suspenseful, memorable, and unique.

Brenda

Moss’d in Space

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Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne

This was just what I needed; a cozy science fiction book from the author of the Tomes and Tea fantasy series, which begins with Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea.

Two sisters live on Colony 13, a large human space station. Torian has studied solar engineering and worked on a spaceship for Fleet Captain/smuggler Amelia. Once, and only once, they kissed. Torian’s older sister Celise is a medic. The not-so-healthy atmosphere on Colony 13 makes her cough, and the long-term prognosis is not good. Torian save up enough money to buy a very small spaceship covered in moss. The moss turns out to be inside as well, and sentient. Meet Moss, sort of a hybrid entity. Torian and Moss head out on adventures, first to the planet Rhymarra, and then on the mostly abandoned space station Vaesa. Moss is holding a grudge against a long-lived alien who left the ship behind on Colony 13, but Moss finds Torian’s curiosity and loyal recklessness oddly appealing. This is not at all hard science fiction, with a refreshing lack of violence or much danger. I thought this was a fun and charming read. I look forward to the second book, to be published next summer. Fun trivia: the author also works as a flight attendant.

Brenda

Ode to the Half-Broken

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Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer

I enjoyed this optimistic science fiction novel, even though it’s set in post-apocalyptic America. Robots, cyborgs, humans, and drones all co-exist. Once there were four mech, or robot, siblings. They were designed by disturbed genius Milton. Two have died, and the mech later named Be isn’t in touch with the other, Ver. After being offline for a while, Be finds that a leg is missing. Cyborg dog Atticus arrives, and brings help. The help is paid for by sharing a memory and transferring some energy.

Be and Atticus find Murphy, a human mechanic, repair a drone, and go in search of the missing leg. Murphy lives in the charming community of Greenapple. With the help of other humans, drones, and sentient trains, they go on a quest. There is a bit of violence, some memories of being a bodiless mind, a little humor, and lots of found family and hopeful vibes. There is still plenty of beautiful nature for the travelers and the reader to enjoy. This was a memorable read. I haven’t read anything else by Palmer, but plan to. Becky Chamber’s A Psalm for the Wild-Built is a readalike.

Brenda

Magic & Mischief at the Wayside Hotel

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Magic & Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett

Josie LaChiusa is a single mom who works in the financial aid department at a college. Her boss likes to have lots of meetings, and even pre-meetings. Josie’s son Amos is 4 and has had significant health issues in the past. Spoiler: no health issues for Amos in this story! His grandmother Gloria is critical of Josie’s parenting while Grandpa Al is quiet. They both love Amos and miss their son Dan. Josie doesn’t have any other family since her grandmother died.

An apartment opens up near her job, and it’s partly furnished. Building superintendent Pax Nomen interviews Josie after rejecting another prospective resident. The other building employee is Maddy, who loves to make rules for the residents. She always wears a turban, because she’s secretly a Medusan. There are gargoyles, fairy cheerleaders, a grumpy gnome, a handsome vampire and other interesting residents, but they must all pretend to be human for Josie and Amos. The building is Wayside Hotel #5 and it’s been stuck on Earth with an empty fuel tank. The lack of magic on Earth seems to be part of the problem, and the Hotel seems to like Josie and Amos.

The apartment is great, and the other residents study up at the public library to learn about children’s books and Spider-Man, while the fairies love Taylor Swift’s music. Pax and Josie have awkward yet charming encounters, and the residents are peaceful, at least for a while. Maddy over organizes a garden committee after it’s decided that Amos needs somewhere to play. A snowball fight is cute, a magical accident nearby is colorful, and Josie and even Pax become a little worried for Amos’s safety, and also begin a sweet romance. Amos is always happy at the Wayside Hotel and feels safe, even though this cozy fantasy can be a little bit scary. The cozy vibe, cute kid, outspoken residents and found family theme remind me of The House in the Cerulean Sea, even though the residents and plot are not that similar.

Brenda

Project Hail Mary and Artemis II

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Three weeks ago, I saw the movie Project Hail Mary in an IMAX theater. I started rereading the book by Andy Weir before watching the movie, and finished the book last week. During that time, I also spent many hours watching the Artemis II launch, voyage around the moon, and splashdown, with the NASA YouTube channel on my television.

It’s been a challenging month for news in general, but the news about Artemis II was awesome. Sometimes we need something big to watch, to hope, to cheer for. In a different way, and on a much smaller scale, Project Hail Mary, in both book and movie formats, has had a bit of the same effect on movie fans and science fiction readers. I was rereading the book to see what I remembered and what was changed in the movie. There have been many movie reviews and I won’t detail the differences from the book; but my experience was that both are thrilling, entertaining, moving, and inspiring. The lack of violence is also refreshing, and I wish more movies were like that. I have recently heard that Andy Weir’s second book, Artemis, set on a moon colony, is being adapted for film, as was the hugely popular The Martian. Project Hail Mary is the improbable story about Ryland Grace, a science teacher turned astronaut on an interstellar voyage to save the Earth when the Sun and all but one other star in our area start dimming.

I don’t have memories of earlier voyages to the moon, but I have watched movies and documentaries, and read memoirs and other books about the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. It was wonderful to be able to track the four astronauts in real time on their journey, and I look forward to seeing many more of their photos and videos.

Brenda

Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur

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Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur by Ian McDonald

Sometimes you can tell a book by its cover. This science fiction/western novella is set in the future, after the Chaos. It’s dystopian, and absolutely fascinating. Latif Tamim, or Tif, wants to work with dinosaurs in a circus. There is a time portal in the southwest where the present connects to various times in the Mesozoic era, including the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. Dinosaurs can come through the portal, for a while.

Orphaned Tif finds his home with a small circus, bringing an old carnotaur with him. A Silver Clown, a mysterious buckaroo named Prince, a vet/dinosaur wrangler, and the manager run the circus, along with a couple of self-driving trailer trucks. This is a wild, adventurous story, full of loss, longing, and hope, set in a largely nomadic society. Wrangler Matilda goes on a road trip with Tif to Montana so that he can reconnect with a fellow orphan. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi is close to a readalike, though it has more humor, and no actual dinosaurs. A short, memorable read.

Brenda

The Shattering Peace

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The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi

It’s been way too long since I reviewed a fun science fiction novel, but the wait is now over. This is space opera at its snarkiest and most enjoyable. I enjoy many, but not all, of Scalzi’s books. This is set in The Old Man’s War series, and as it’s been ten years since the last one my memory of the series is rather hazy. It doesn’t matter, and you can just jump, or skip, right into The Shattering Peace without having read the previous books.

Gretchen Trujillo is a diplomat with a fairly unimportant job. At least her occasional orientation session for Colonial Union Diplomatic Security Force recruits is entertaining. And her assistant, Ran, an Obin who can turn off its consciousness, makes a great sidekick.

Then her high-ranking father sends Gretchen and Ran to investigate a missing colony. How thousands of colonists of multiple species inside a large asteroid can go missing is puzzling and alarming. It’s no surprise to the reader when the colony is located, or that Gretchen and Ran end up facing off with some scary smart Consu who don’t really care if the colony, or even Earth itself, is safe. Other than a bar fight, this is a mostly nonviolent science fiction novel, and all the more entertaining for it. I can’t, of course, reveal any more of the plot or where cats or bacon might come into the story. Pure escapist reading is too scarce to spoil any of it. Enjoy!

Brenda

Royal Gambit

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Royal Gambit by Daniel O’Malley

I found it very hard to put down this supernatural thriller. Set in and around London, it features Alix, Lady Mondegreen, a Pawn in the Checquy Group. When Alix was six, she was found to have a unique supernatural power, and began instruction and training with the Checquy, a secret organization that investigates supernatural crimes and disturbances. Unusually, Alix still got to attend a private school with normal children, and became friends with Princess Louise. The British Royal Family in this novel are not the same as in our London.

Alix is stunned when she is named one of four ladies-in-waiting to Princess Louise. This unpaid position, while part-time, is usually permanent, and will make her work with the Checquy more difficult. I enjoyed the unusual combination here of descriptions of royal life, detecting crime, and the incredible stories made up to explain supernatural events, along with some humor, as well as several scenes with an adorable Australian quokka. There is some violence as well. While occasionally getting to wear glamorous gowns and, twice, a tiara, Alix frequently gets summoned from one of her jobs to the other just as she’s about to eat. Often, her very curly hair and clothes are a mess. There are some perks to the lady-in-waiting position, including a gorgeous pair of boots that attracts attention on social media.

If you like an occasionally humorous thriller with supernatural elements, or if you read or saw The Rook, the first Checquy novel, I think you’ll enjoy Royal Gambit.

Brenda

Best of All Worlds

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Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel

This teen science fiction thriller is a compelling read. Xavier, known as Zay, is 13 and is spending the weekend at the family lake cottage with his dad and pregnant stepmom, Nia. His brother Sam has a soccer tournament and didn’t come along. He did put a couple of new albums on Zay’s phone. Zay’s favorite hobby, besides listening to music, is creating Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.

One morning the Oak family wakes to the bleating of goats needing milking. Nearby is a chicken coop, an orchard, and farm fields. The lake has vanished, as has their vehicle. There are lots of tools, some useful books, and soon, a crib for the coming baby. Zay narrates messages to his brother Sam on his phone, until eventually it won’t charge anymore. As no phone means no music, he is very unhappy.

When Zay is 16, new neighbors appear in the night. Their kids are similar ages to Zay and his little sibling. The dad, Riley Jackson, has a good idea about how to get back home, and thinks they are still on Earth. But whoever brought the two families to their new homes clearly wants them to farm, and to cook food from scratch, not eat frozen pizza and junk food. They are clearly not meant to try leaving, as threatening animals appear when they do.

Zay, finally having another teen to connect with, isn’t sure about the escape attempt, and is shocked by some of the beliefs that Riley reveals. This is a fast-paced, memorable story that reminds me just a little of Nation by Terry Pratchett, even though Nation is set on a tropical island. Quite a few years back, I remember enjoying Oppel’s Airborn, a teen steampunk novel set aboard a zeppelin.

Brenda

Murder by Memory

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Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

This delightful science fiction mystery novella is set on the Fairweather, a colony ship. We never go to the bridge, engineering, or anywhere else featuring technology of the future, except for the library. We also never learn where the Fairweather is headed, only that there are 10,000 colonists aboard and their journey is expected to last 1,000 years. The ship left Old Earth 307 years ago.

The ship sounds appealing, with flats, small shops and cafés, a hydroponic garden with trees and a lawn made of moss. Detective Dorothy Gentleman visits her nephew Rutherford, and meets his new partner John, a memory artist who crafts the most amazing cocktails. She communicates with Ferry, the Fairweather’s ship mind. During her latest investigation, Dorothy also visits a yarn shop, a bank, and the previously mentioned library, the scene of a most unusual crime. At only 112 pages, this is a quick yet immersive read.

Brenda