Tag Archives: SPSFC

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“The Lazarus Key” by Rachel Aukes – An SPSFC4 Review

The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition is near and dear to my heart. This is my fourth year as a judge and third as a team leader in the competition. I am so pleased to be sharing with readers another round of indie science fiction! I’ll be reviewing a bunch of books for the SPSFC so follow along here!

The Lazarus Key by Rachel Aukes

The Lazarus Key is, at its core, a mystery novel about corporate greed writ in a very specific manner–namely, tailoring to the ultra-rich through big game hunting of extinct creatures.

Sam Brodie is investigating a strange discovery: a huge tiger-like creature in the area of Yellowstone National Park. When a gunfight ensues over the discovery, the stakes get higher and higher. Readers get to bounce between Sam’s investigation and a rogue scientist who is developing these creatures, peeling away layer after layer of the mystery as the story goes along. As a (seemingly) standalone novel, it has a satisfying conclusion, too.

I think it would have done better to lean into some of the aspects of the resurrected creatures. I enjoyed the little description we did get, but I thought they could have been turned more into characters in their own right. I thought the action surrounding the big cats was just a little too abrupt, and that I’d have liked to have more in depth scenes about them, along with maybe a bit more discussion of the science behind their development. The novel is, on the surface, a kind of “creature feature x noir” but it doesn’t lean into it. Aukes, the author, doesn’t fully commit to the campy possibilities to cash in on the premise. I think the novel would have been served better to really lean into those features and make it more dramatic with the creatures rather than almost entirely relying on human drama to drive the plot.

I think the author’s sense of humor missed me at times. A few jokes were made about Sam being a woman, despite having a “man’s name” (not the exact quote, but this is the general idea). Maybe it’s just me, but Sam is a pretty common name for women, and I’ve known several men and women named Sam in my life. To have it be a source of anxiety and joking just felt off at times.

The Lazarus Key is a fine mystery read with no small amount of corporate greed layered on it. Fans of thrillers with a little bit of sci-fi layered on should check it out.

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Announcing Team Red Stars SPSFC4 Scout Pile- Links, Book Covers, Blurbs, and Impressions for The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition– What it is is all on the boilerplate. Check out this post to learn about my group’s allocation of books.

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

SDG.

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Team Red Stars SPSFC4: Round 1 Cuts

Every year of the Self Published Science Fiction Competition, our team, Team Red Stars has to narrow down a pool of books to pick semifinalists. Here, we’ll be giving updates on books we’ve cut from our pool along with some background and info about each.

Escape from Otherworld Island by Sage Rooker

Blurb

Danae and Rachel Rugg’s scientific discovery of a brand-new world has been hijacked by their rival, the young evil mastermind Colin Null. The clock is ticking as they try to make their way home and foil his plans before he steals their research for his own and lays claim to the girls’ latest invention–a meteor-powered transportation portal–and the new world to which it leads!

Judge Thoughts

The judges who previewed this thought that it hit more in the middle grade fiction section than not. It had chats based around texting and other aspects that might appeal to young readers interested in an adventure.

Titanic Voyage by Julie Bihn

Blurb

A theme park employee can travel back in time to the Titanic. But can he save a heroic passenger from her tragic fate?

Judge Thoughts

One judge thought that the novel would be better served if it were told in a present tense first person form instead of reading like a journal. The journal made it more difficult to understand the main character’s perspective and feelings for Clara. Another judge wanted more explanation of the mechanics and reasoning for time travel. The time travel seemed, at least in the first parts of the book, to be simply there for the sake of being able to tell a story about The Titanic rather than having a fleshed out feel. Each judge thought the novel would definitely be of interest to enthusiasts of The Titanic, however.

The Man Who Sold the World by Iain Benson

Blurb

James London is having a weird week. One minute, he’s dodging London traffic like a caffeinated squirrel, and the next, he’s knee-deep in Istanbul’s rubble, where a rogue chemistry experiment has gone disastrously right, turning the city into a tourist-free zone. Not that this is a first for him—saving the world is just another bullet point on his CV.

Enter D&D aficionado, Zee, a teenager (maybe) with a knack for shortcuts and a dad who thinks Ambrosia is more than just custard. Together, they’re on a mission to stop a Turkish mobster in a gold lamé tracksuit from turning copper into gold and the global economy into a grim joke. Oh, and there’s the small matter of immortality on the line, because why not?

Judge Thoughts

The judges who sampled this one all felt as though they were thrown into the middle of a series. One wrote that it felt like a side quest for the main series rather than a main plot by its own right. The book did not serve as a satisfying entry point to the series, and attempting to unravel all the characters from different, independent series, became daunting. The book would probably serve those already into each series well, however.

Conclusion

That’s it for the first round of cuts! I plan to have another post up introducing more cuts shortly. I hope you’ll subscribe and read on, and look forward to our quarterfinalist announcements!

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“Starlight” by Chris Desantis- An SPSFC4 Review

The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition is near and dear to my heart. This is my fourth year as a judge and third as a team leader in the competition. I am so pleased to be sharing with readers another round of indie science fiction! I’ll be reviewing a bunch of books for the SPSFC so follow along here!

Starlight by Chris DeSantis

Captain Dash Anderson is looking for work when his path is forcefully crossed with the Sisters Celescia, a group of alien singers who are among the most prominent voices for their people’s resistance to an oppressive government. That government is bent on secession from the Commonwealth, which is a move not just with implications for the people of the Sisters, but also of the Commonwealth more generally, as other members might start to leave, shattering the peace brought by the unified government.

What starts like a potential political space opera thriller ultimately turns more into a space adventure of a motley crew of adventurers out trying to survive against all kinds of stacked odds. For readers who like comparisons, I’d say this is a bit like the Vorkorsigan Saga where the MC is desperately trying to hold everything together and somehow coming out on top more often than not. That’s not to say Dash never has failings–there was at least one scene where I was surprised to see the next part of the journey wasn’t just handed to our characters on a platter.

The introductory chapters also lend themselves to the space opera/spy thriller expectation that doesn’t quite pan out. Instead, you get a troupe of singers resisting their oppressive government by being one step ahead of the oppression at every turn–or at least having Dash and others around to bail them out. It’s a fun yarn, but perhaps dragged out a bit too often (see below). That said, the story continues to give satisfying pay outs along the way for our space adventurers.

The novel probably could have been edited down some. There are a few too many scenes that feel like set pieces for action rather than moving the plot along. At one point about 2/3 of the way through the novel, I realized I had kind of lost the thread for why exactly the characters were going to the next place. Some of these scenes could have been cut fairly easily without losing anything from the plot, and would have made the book move along at a better pace. I also would have liked to see at least some bigger picture conflict potential happening. It was hinted at throughout the book, but never cashed in on. I’d like to see some of this wider conflict and maybe a bit less of the main characters going from A-B-C without much rhyme or reason to it.

The world building was a major strength of the novel. Every time DeSantis brought up the wider world, I was greatly interested in it. It’s clear there’s a great frame in place for huge adventures in the world he’s made. I’d be on board for reading some big picture space opera featuring the Commonwealth. The world-building is only occasionally used in the main story, however, and sometimes distinct locales feel very same-y with little description of either aliens, peoples, or cultural artifacts in the region.

This book was entered in the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, which requires books to be one of: book one in a series, a standalone, or a good enough starting place that readers can make sense of it. The author here said that Starlight was an alternate starting point for the series, so I dove into it without reading the first book in the series, The Z Team. I’d say DeSantis was correct in that I didn’t feel completely lost or anything as I read the book.

Looking over my review, I realize that it might read at times like I didn’t enjoy the book. That’s not correct. I had a lot of fun with Dash Anderson (what a great campy sci-fi captain name, by the way) and crew. It’s a sign of my enjoyment that I wanted more out of the world and universe than we got.

Starlight is a fun space adventure with some good bones under its framing. I would definitely be interested in reading more set in the universe DeSantis set up.

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Announcing Team Red Stars SPSFC4 Scout Pile- Links, Book Covers, Blurbs, and Impressions for The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition– What it is is all on the boilerplate. Check out this post to learn about my group’s allocation of books.

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

SDG.

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“Portal to Nova Roma” by J.R. Mathews- An SPSFC4 review

The Self-Published Science Fiction Contest is near and dear to my heart. This is my fourth year as a judge and third as a team leader in the competition. I am so pleased to be sharing with readers another round of indie science fiction! I’ll be reviewing a bunch of books for the SPSFC so follow along here!

Portal to Nova Roma by J.R. Mathews

Portal to Nova Roma starts off with Alexander, an AI, searching for a world that is better than the one in which he exists, falling apart in AI on human violence that he just isn’t interested in. He expends mountains of energy searching the multiverse for a world to his liking–and with magic, of course! Eventually, he builds himself a body and shoots himself into that magical parallel world. In this slow burn LitRPG, we follow Alexander’s quest to make his own way in the world he discovered.

If that last sentence was incomprehensible, or even if it was, let’s take a step back. LitRPG can be defined as a subgenre of sci-fi and/or fantasy that combines those broader genres with the conventions of tabletop or video role-playing games. Often, they include things like stat tables, classes, and talking about leveling up. It’s the kind of book I wanted to write when I was, like 13, and never thought it would actually turn into a massive (and incredibly popular) subgenre.

Anyway, back to this specific book. The initial parts of the story move along at a snail’s pace. Mathews takes the time to slowly peel back the workings of the world in which Alexander has transported himself. Readers follow Alexander as he first kills some rats, learns about classes, and eventually dives into some dungeons, all in the name of making himself stronger. For me, the pacing of the novel was probably my biggest complaint. I was about 30% into the novel (and 30% of this one is actually longer than some other full-length novels in the SPSFC) before I really felt like the story started to get any legs under it. That first 30% is mostly just Alexander walking around and doing things like figuring out how to make a gun with runes and shooting into a wall, digging out the bullet, and thinking “huh, that was neat!” I’m not exaggerating–that really is a lengthy part of the story at this point. Mathews’s writing is competent enough, though, that even these rather long parts made me want more. Alexander was fun to ride along with as he leveled up, mixed classes, and made weapons.

The main appeal of this story will be to people who like to think about min-maxing stats and classes and combine synergies in role-playing games. If that sentence doesn’t appeal to you, I kind of doubt you’ll have fun with this book. I do enjoy min-maxing and even reading about a fictionalized way of doing a fictional role-playing game was a fun time with that. But I would say that is, again, the bulk of this story’s appeal. While eventually some higher stakes are involved in the world in which Alexander finds himself, it’s really all about him just getting stronger. The side characters definitely feel like side characters; there’s just not a lot of flesh on their bones. Motivations for characters seem somewhat thin, and when the higher stakes start to show up, it is not entirely clear why Alexander should care about them or get involved beyond something like “huh, that’s a cool way to get some more EXP.” As the reader, I had already invested so much time and effort into following Alexander’s stat-buffing journey that I mostly felt like I, too, was only interested in the slow-developing central conflict in a tertiary way–in so far as it made Alexander’s stats go boom. And that’s not… bad, it just means that the book isn’t really for those interested in deep characterization or world-building.

Much like the dungeon-delving RPG concept on which the novel was predicated, Portal to Nova Roma is a slow burn that doles out a steady stream of fairly minor rewards. I found it enjoyable enough and would recommend to fans of the LitRPG subgenre. Last year, I read and reviewed Jake’s Magical Market by Mathews for SPSFC3. I was excited to see Portal to Nova Roma show up in my team’s scout pile, as it was on my TBR list anyway. I’m glad it was. It was a fun, turn-your-brain-off kind of read. If you’re looking for that, and especially if you like LitRPGs, check it out.

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Announcing Team Red Stars SPSFC4 Scout Pile- Links, Book Covers, Blurbs, and Impressions for The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition– What it is is all on the boilerplate. Check out this post to learn about my group’s allocation of books.

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

SDG.

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“Achilles: Origin of Heroes” by Chad Retterath- An SPSFC4 Review

The Self-Published Science Fiction Contest is near and dear to my heart. This is my fourth year as a judge and third as a team leader in the competition. I am so pleased to be sharing with readers another round of indie science fiction! I’ll be reviewing a bunch of books for the SPSFC so follow along here!

Achilles: Origin of Heroes by Chad Retterath

Jimmy Dale, an average middle-aged man, undergoes a life-altering transformation when he participates in an experiment that grants him super strength. Embracing his newfound abilities, he joins the secret government organization known as Olympus. In the Twin Cities, individuals with various powers begin to surface, turning Minneapolis into a focal point for powered criminals.

I selected this book as one of my scouting books for a number of reasons. First, I love superhero novels. Second, I like the Twin Cities. Third, I actually wrote a novel about superheroes in the Twin Cities myself (never even self-published, and it is… not good), so I thought I’d like to see another take.

Achilles: Origin of Heroes starts off with a guy looking for a quick buck between jobs. When Jimmy finds an offer that seems too good to refuse, he… doesn’t refuse and ends up as the subject of an experiment. But things don’t go entirely as expected, and apart from accidentally destroying things he tries to touch, or open, or punch, he also is caught up in the midst of a broader conflict of emerging super powered individuals.

I thought Reterrath tells a fine story here. While it feels largely predictable throughout–except for the magnificently twisty ending–it doesn’t ever feel boring. Stylistically, though, I would have preferred a little more oomph in the narrative. It’s hard to describe, but the prose just feels a little bit bland–like it’s just reporting events rather than diving into them, if that makes sense.

The main thrust of the powered good- and bad-guys also takes quite a while to get going. I think the novel could benefit quite a bit from either editing it down or thrusting characters into more action with higher stakes early on. Character-wise, it felt as though our MC was the main development for anyone, though some surprises came late that gave some more depth to the characters, generally.

The ending of the story really captured me, though. I truly did not expect the twists at the end, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about them. What I will say is that Retterath knows how to deliver an ending that actually had me gasp and say “What!?” out loud while I was reading. I’d read another story in this series.

Achilles: Origin of Heroes is a fine superhero novel. I think fans of the subgenre will enjoy it. It sticks the landing with a great ending and hook for a second novel. On the flip side, I wanted a little bit more from the middle and beginning.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

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Announcing Team Red Stars SPSFC4 Scout Pile- Links, Book Covers, Blurbs, and Impressions for The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition– What it is is all on the boilerplate. Check out this post to learn about my group’s allocation of books.

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

SDG.

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“Hostile Contact” by Nick Snape- An SPSFC3 Review

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.

Hostile Contact by Nick Snape

Aliens have landed and Earth freaks out in Hostile Contact, a surprisingly realistic look at a first contact novel by Nick Snape.

I should note right away that when I say “realistic,” I don’t mean in the sense of hard sciences or invented biological stuff or anything of the sort. I mean it more cynically, that humanity would absolutely suck at conducting first contact, would likely botch it horribly, and would possibly rely on a group of people totally untrained for anything remotely related to it to be our salvation. And that’s basically the summary of what happens in this novel. I appreciated that humans’ first instinct with the first contact in this novel is mostly the fight response side of the flight or fight, because it again felt so much more genuine than the practiced, polished first contact scenarios a lot of books portray. While those make for some intriguing stories, I always have to suspend my disbelief quite a bit to think that humans wouldn’t just immediately crap themselves and start shooting. That is more along the lines of what happens here.

Josh Innerst did a great job on narrating this audiobook, giving enough difference in voices to help with all the changing perspectives that occurred.

The novel is part of a fairly lengthy series and has some of that first novel feel. However, I would say it wraps up the story in a satisfying enough way that readers won’t be too mad about the ending.

Hostile Contact is a pithy, quick read that fans of first contact novels should check out.

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

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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.

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“Sunset” by Arshad Ahsanuddin- An SPSFC3 Review

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.

Sunset by Arshad Ahsanuddin

We’ll start this one off with the blurb: “When the terrorist known as Medusa threatens to kill millions with a stolen nuclear bomb, Nick Jameson makes a fateful decision. He reveals himself on global television as a Daywalker – a vampire with a soul. To save Los Angeles, Nick exposes not only his own gifts but three separate cultures based on millennia-old magic… The three metahuman races exist in careful balance, working to maintain a fragile peace. Nick and his fellow Daywalkers successfully master their natural bloodlust. The Sentinels, armed with both magic and steel, repress their warlike instincts. And even some Nightwalkers, normally their natural enemies, have deserted the Court of Shadows to join the triple alliance.”

The worldbuilding behind the scenes is deep here. The main story mostly follows Nick Jameson, who’s set in a love triangle with two other men as they navigate the challenges of the newly exposed triple alliance of metahumans interacting with humanity. There is no small amount of political backlash, military sword-waving, and amorous encounters. The latter are basically entirely fade-to-black sequences, with everything implied rather than described.

The plot itself moves all over, jumping from one revelation to another, even as additional threats are revealed. You can’t have an alliance of a bunch of ancient societies without some intense drama, and that’s all here. You definitely can’t have immortal good and bad guys without even more intense drama, and that’s delivered in spades.

Sunset is a great use of vampire lore to make a near-future science fiction novel that is full of compelling twists and turns. Highly recommended.

The author provided me with an audiobook of this novel, and I thought the narration by Greg Tremblay was well done. He delivered multiple voices and moved the story along at a good pace. I recommend the audiobook.

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.

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“Kenai” by Dave Dobson- An SPSFC3 Finalist Review

I’m a judge of the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest (SPSFC or “SpaceFic”). 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.

Kenai by Dave Dobson- SPSFC3 Finalist

Kenai… there is so much I want to say about this novel, but feel I cannot. Part of that is because the central mystery is so compelling and has so many amazing reveals that I am loathe to even hint at them for fear of spoiling the reading experience for others. But the other part is that I fear superlatives are not enough for this astonishing story.

Kenai is the name of a planet on which Jess, our main character and point of view, finds herself. She’s the hired gun to defend an archaeologist doing a dig on an alien site. One archaeologist is enough because he can use nanobots to dig as directed and his knowledge to analyze as they go. But things start to get… weird. A bird falls from the sky, dead in an unexplained way. Jess thinks it’s a hostile contact, but nothing from the orbiting ship indicates that. More and more things start going oddly, such as the discovery there are other teams on the ground and Jess is very much part of the B team. But what is the A team doing, and why didn’t she even know about it? And then Jess meets a tree, and things get really weird.

The main plot is only just getting going at that point, but I found it riveting all the way through. There’s also a B-plot (sorry Jess) that also involves Jess (not sorry) in the past and showing how she ended up where she is. It fills in some background details of the setting and future, along with some honestly really excellent character pieces.

Dobson does a phenomenal job keeping the plot moving. I found the book compulsive reading all the way through, even as the tone of it shifted from one subgenre to another. There are a lot of balls in the air, and Dobson does an admirable job keeping them all going in a way that is both delightful and compelling. I will give a small warning here, readers will need a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief for some aspects of the science in the book, but if they can handle that, I think almost any reader should find something to like in the novel.

Another great thing: it’s a standalone. Sure, I could envision more adventures with Jess and some others, but I’m also totally satisfied with how the story ended.

When writing about Kenai, I feel kind of like the grandpa in The Princess Bride: “Are you kidding? It’s got shootouts, mystery, science, insane science, aliens, ancient tech, space archaeology, and more!” It really does, and it really all works, and I love it so much. I highly recommend Kenai, to you, dear readers. It’s going on as a favorite for me.

Kenai is a finalist for the third Self-Published Science Fiction Contest, and for good reason. See all the finalists here.

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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.

Announcing the Finalists for the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest– Links, blurbs, covers, and initial thoughts on each finalist.

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

SDG.

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“Dali” by E.M. Hamill- An SPSFC3 Review

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.

Dali by E.M. Hamill

Dali is a thought provoking sci-fi thriller disguised as a fun romp. In the future, humanity now has a third gender, itself a product of genetic mutations possibly with a deeper meaning. A movement known as the New Puritans has arisen preaching the need for humanity to survive by eliminating or setting aside those with a third gender.

Enter Dali, a third gendered human who uncovers an insidious plot that somehow both threatens humanity and appeals to fans of the New Puritanism. A lot of hijinks–sexual or fighting-based–later and we’ve got Dali with a pirate lord and in a whole heaping load of trouble.

The book nails the tone needed for a novel like this. It doesn’t get preachy about the ideals it’s confronting, nor does it shy away from the awfulness of bigotry. Yet it also introduces enough action scenes to keep the plot moving and enough jokes–many of them based on The Princess Bride, a favorite of mine–to engage the reader and not drag the feelings down too greatly.

I was provided with an audiobook of this novel by the author and I thought it was very well narrated by Justin Gibson. There was life breathed into the characters and world.

Dali is a great read for fans of science fiction that pushes boundaries and introduces new ideas. Recommended.

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.

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“Three Grams of Elsewhere” by Andy Giesler- A thoughtful sci-fi novel: An SPSFC3 Review

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. For all my posts for the SPSFC3, follow here (scroll for more).

Three Grams of Elsewhere by Andy Giesler

Fifty years ago (but in our future) civil war fractured the United States. When a seemingly impossible assassination takes place, there is possibly only one person in the U.S. who might be able to help solve the whodunnit, but Bibi doesn’t really want to do so. He’d prefer to live his life away from the rest of humankind, shielding himself from the strong empathic feedback he gets through his abilities.

There are elements of a kaleidoscopic novel here, though the central narrative is much stronger than in most novels I’d consider kaleidoscopic. The kaleidoscope here is basically a “now” thread in which we’re hearing the story of Bibi, the past in which Bibi is figuring more about his empathic abilities, a few other timelines, and some other threads here and there like excerpts from an invented textbook, Three Grams of Elsewhere. The latter is greatly important because it fills readers in with, yes, info-dump type textbook style, but it does so in a charming way. I don’t know, I guess I didn’t get enough schooling despite having a graduate degree, but I can’t get enough of a good textbook! Anyway, Elsewhere is the kind of extra dimension in which empathic abilities lie and empaths exist. Is it spiritual, is it scientific? It’s not clear. But it’s a fascinating and central aspect of the novel, in which empathic abilities were weaponized by factions in the civil war that has left a fractured States.

Bibi himself is a great character, a crotchety octogenarian–an age we rarely see represented in any speculative fiction–who has a superb narrative voice. There’s an extended scene at one point in which Bibi is on a bike trail and talks about the “petty cortex”–a name he’s made for the part of the brain that triggers dopamine highs for having bad things happen to people we think deserve it. As someone who loves biking and brain science I found this completely absorbing. Scenes like this happen frequently throughout the book–truly character developing sections that often take place just within one character’s head.

The story drives along pretty well, but the setup described above makes it sound more action packed than it is. This is much more a character drama than it is an action novel. I found myself occasionally feeling a tad lost in the kaleidoscopic nature of it, as well.

Three Grams of Elsewhere is a fantastic, cerebral read that fans of literary sci-fi should consider a must-read. I hugely enjoyed it, and suspect I’ll be re-reading it at some point in the near future.

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.