First I want to make very clear I have no clue what the author’s political orientation is. I say this for HIS protection. Because there are people so crazy they’ll gang up on you if you are recommended by people whose politics they don’t like.
THIS GUY HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH ME OR ANY OF US. HE DID NOT ASK FOR A RECOMMENDATION. HE DID NOTHING OTHER THAN WRITE GREAT BOOKS AND KEEP ME ENORMOUSLY ENTERTAINED EVEN THROUGH VERY DISRUPTIVE TIMES.
“But Sarah,” you said. “Why can’t you read the books we recommend? Or our books? Or? We’ll give them for free.”
Look, I read what I read. As with what I eat, it’s often not particularly good for me, and it’s “what catches me at the time.” Often even authors I love fail to catch me at a different time.
And I refuse to have my reading become homework, unless I’m researching for something.
Anyway, so let’s talk about this book that grabbed me. (Commission earned from the link below.)
Space Station Noir: Book 1
So, come listen to the adventures of Gunny and Clive. Do you know it took me till book five to figure out what it was hitting off off?
Gunny is human and the stuff heroes are made of. Clive is one of the aliens who invaded us and destroyed the Earth, just not that faction.
The author might never have read Heinlein (I don’t know) but he Heinleins things amazingly and brilliantly. He never describes anything and we learn everything, step by step. He never describes the aliens except as a cockatiel who got drunk and got his freak on with an iguana. Some form of feathered dino, I assume.
So, anyway, this is what happened: I was looking at a book I was waiting to drop. And here we’ll take a moment and talk about Amazon again. First, they have my associates account back on probation, after three days without, and honestly? I still have no clue why. They’re saying I’m putting my code in a bunch of websites, which I obviously am not. The only people who had their code removed for this was Legal Insurrection that I know, and also completely unjustified, so you know, I smell political bullshit.
Anyway, on top of this, Amazon — and we really can’t do much about it. Everyone does business with Amazon for the same reason that everyone does business with Authority, though at the level they’re breaking things, it might maybe change in time — has made it much harder to find things. Particularly in book, your search might have absolutely nothing to do with what you were searching for.
Now this might be because they don’t discipline Chinese scammers who run around listing things in weird categories. But I’m certain sure I shouldn’t get t-shirts under kindle books. And then there’s the fact the sort by date or even by kindle unlimited doesn’t work any too well.
So I’ve resorted to finding a book I liked and then looking at the “We recommend” as a better way to find my next read. Problem is, you never know if they’re latching onto it for the reason I liked.
The reason I liked the last book was science fiction mystery, but then the recommends were all for “space opera with aliens” which is apparently what Amazon thinks that book is.
Space Station Noir came up in the recommends, and I thought just from the title on, it was utter schlock. Plus it had aliens, which are not my fave thing.
And then, promptly (our house acts like we have a slow rotating faraday cage around the outside, so periodically access goes away, inexplicably) I lost internet. I was in the uh…. what my grandfather called the Necessary, so I couldn’t just rush out for better reception in another room.
So I started reading it. And Lord, it grabbed me from page one.
It moves fast, it’s engaging, the characters are fun and interesting, the action is non-stop.
I got so mad — did I say I was rational? No — that I was reading it even though I hadn’t meant to download it, that as soon as I had access I tried to force myself to read something else. Only I couldn’t. And then I realized I was doing it out of spite, and that was stupid, and….
So, I’ve read all 5 books. Took me a very long time, because I’m trying to catch up on a hundred things, but–
Look, this is schlock. Maybe. What is the difference between schlock and really good writing?
It’s mostly action, really fast moving — didn’t grab Dan, not enough romance — but in the same way he never explains anything, he slides a lot of worthy moral and philosophical questions into the crazy action.
Sure, his titles are a crime against literature. A fistful of credits! Thing of beauty, ten out of ten, I approve.
And he has a lot of nods at pulp. But I approve of that too. And at this point that should be considered a basic of the culture.
So, if it is schlock, it’s the schlock I dream of writing, in my dreams of glory.
I’m just upset that having finished book 5, I don’t have book six waiting.
So, can you guys buy them and leave him raving reviews so he’ll write more quickly? If we can manage to let him quit his job so he can write more, it would be even better.
Please, I’m asking for a friend for me. Because I want to read more. And I’m hoping he doesn’t end them like Bonnie and Clide, because no. If he does that, we will have words. My words will be mostly AWWWWGH.
Anyway, buy the book. Read the book. If you’re using SF/F for romance this might not eat the spot, but for everything else, I stand by it.
It’s a gonzo cross of adventure and Space Opera, Noir Caper and interplanetary intrigue. It’s ice cream with chocolate topping. It’s being 13 again and reading just-one-more-page at three am.
I want more.
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