Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the “The Loudest Actions” an Indie Science Fiction release focusing on Space Opera. The tour is hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media who does the publicity and blog tours for Seventh Star Press and other Indie and/or Self Published authors. I am a regular blog tour host with Tomorrow Comes Media, seeking out new authors and stories within Science Fiction, Fantasy and Cosy Horror wherein my readerly journey takes me inside novellas, short stories and full-length novels.
I was especially appreciative of Ms Koepp for understanding why I needed an ARC print copy to read due to my chronic migraines; truly blessed she understood and I had the opportunity to read this sequel. I received a complimentary ARC copy of “The Loudest Actions” direct from the author Cindy Koepp in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On why jorie loved the first novel of this series:
Any writer who can insert humourous nods of irony involving knitting and sewing get a full clap of wicked sweet joy from me! Being a knitter, I especially loved the riddling but it was hope it was inserted at key moments of punch that delighted me the most! The humour is deliciously quirky and it was such a lovely backdrop to the action! Koepp has a natural capacity for etching in humanistic thematics focusing on family and the life of the stars in balance with one another – wherein you feel pulled into the emotional throes of her characters, even at first meeting! Her characters feel vibrantly real – sincerely honest and particularly human, even the ones who are most decidedly from another world!
Koepp bridges spoken speech and telepathic communication well – you are never guessing what is being exchanged or by which method either! A true joy is watching how her characters interact and express emotion – as their emotion is nearly surmised by their body language and their choice of words, enveloping you in the urgency of the crisis they are facing. Koepp has developed this world quite well – as each character in turn wholly feels fully fleshed together with their individual quirks and trademarks of personality.
– quoted from my review of The Remnant in the Stars
I was thankful to be able to read books one and two in direct sequence on behalf of this lovely series – when I first joined the blog tour, I hadn’t realised they were part of a series, as I thought they were two independent stories without connective threads between them. Finding out there is a third novel coming next is quite exciting as I had a feeling ahead of reading The Loudest Actions, I would want this to keep moving forward!
The reason Sora left such a strong impression on me originally is because his spirituality and approach to life reminded me of the Japanese and the Vulcans; he approached his life with patience with a directed intent of being mindful of his actions, the consequences of his mistakes and the way in which he communicated. There are a lot of layers to this series, not just in finding a connection with characters, but with concepts and first contact meetings of other beings which bring to centre how enlightening it is to traverse outside one’s homeworld and discover who or whom is living amongst the stars.
The Loudest Actions
First contact missions are hard enough, but they get even tougher when the negotiator has an ego the size of a gas giant. Burke Zacharias, a first contact researcher, is chosen to spearhead humanity’s first official contact with Montans, an insect race that has already had a run-in with less friendly humans. Although his words and overtures toward the Montans are cordial enough, the Montans are put off by how he treats the crew of the scout ship that brought him to the world.
With other, less friendly forces trying to establish a foothold on the world, the negotiation must succeed in spite of Burke, or the Montans could be facing extinction.
Places to find the book:
on 27th August, 2016
Pages: 210
Published By: Under the Moon
Available Formats: Softcover and Ebook
Converse on Twitter: #IndieSciFi + #SpaceOpera
About Cindy Koepp
Originally from Michigan, Cindy Koepp has a degree in Wildlife Sciences and teaching certification in Elementary Education from rival universities. After teaching for fourteen years, she pursued a master’s degree in Adult Learning with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement. Cindy has five published science fiction and fantasy novels, a serial published online, short stories in five anthologies, and a few self-published teacher resource books. When she isn’t reading or writing, Cindy spends time whistling with a crazy African Grey. Cindy is currently working as an optician in Iowa and as an editor with PDMI Publishing and Barking Rain Press.
about reading a novel about an insect alien race:
Curiously, I’m not exactly the kind of girl who’d study Entomology but it was the heart of the stories within this series that attracted me to read them. There were moments within the first installment where I almost wondered if the Chief might have been an insect due to how he was describing himself and his community. The one thing I could not quite visualise in my mind was exactly how the characters inside the series look if you were to consider their full dimensions. I found myself connected to them by their personalities and the light within their hearts; they shine in a new dimensional way than traditional characters and for me, their physical attributes were not as pertinent to understand as their internal thought processes and their outward personalities.
Having said that, the cover art for this second installment in the series left me with quite a bit of pause – as like I said, not the kind of girl who gets giddy over insects. Yet, I was quite curious how first contact stories would play out – as these are some of my most favourite stories in classically spun Space Opera or other Science Fiction worlds wherein you can find yourself hugged close to how communication and first meetings are being engaged between two distinctively different entities. There is a lot of interesting ways these kinds of stories can be written and it’s in that curious nexus of unknowns that I readily like to become invested.
my review of the loudest actions:
What an entry! There is a hull breach which in of itself is a difficult situation to circumvent, but moreso to the point, when your caught on the wrong side of the locked doors of a ship about to purse it’s fiery inferno you could see where the heart could grow faint! Such was the case for Peter who found himself nearly trapped and locked out of an escape route to hurl himself free of fire and smoke – until he re-routed himself through the maze of corridors and even picked up a fellow crew member caught behind like him whilst saving them both in the golden minute ahead of certain death! This is the kind of opener your not quite expecting but felt so connected to Peter and the angst of righting yourself out of that chaotic situation, you could barely pull your eyes forward for fear of ‘will he or will he not’ make it through!?
We instantly flash forward to current day where Peter sustains a head injury that joggles his memory back to the incident in the Prologue; he’s erased 10 years of his life by one injury! Mind you, the narrow escape he and his shipmates had on that mission was quite impressive but I worried about the depth of the loss in his awareness by the head trauma. Shortly after this new entrance into the current timescape, we get the chance to re-visit with Sora – of whom was my favourite character in the debut installment of the series.
Humbly Sora is learning that sometimes what a parent is passionate about the child does not always follow in suit to love; this is the case with his young daughter Pashan, who has a more creative mind than an analytical one. Sora is in high demand for a first contact mission whereas Kirsten is attempting to adjust to living a life outside the military as she no longer qualifies for active duty; due to conditions of her injured arm, she had to sacrifice something in order to gain the arm back through prosthetic. Interestingly enough, her new arm puts some people on edge – as was observed when she was in a spar match against someone calling her for breaking the rules only to turn around and take unethical moves against her to win the match. What gave Kirsten an edge is understanding her own body and using her best offence to his defense.
Kirsten is attempting to teach new pilots how to adjust to situations on the fly – however, the lesson is hard won as they are used to getting their information without thinking of a compromise or a withheld scenario muddling their ability to make quick decisions in the heat of battle. By comparison, Kirsten was trying to teach them to think on their feet and to consider the odds are never quite in their favour despite their best instincts of hoping they would be. She is an asset to the military and I thought it was sad due to a technicality she had to retire.
What was interesting about the mission for first contact is how the Aolanian ambassador was deaf and the species she was attempting to ‘contact’ was non-verbal! This was an interesting approach to show how communication is not limited to speech and how sometimes by finding alternative ways to communicate there is a better chance of a bridge in diplomacy. I enjoyed how this new planet they were visiting was spilt between modified sign language and picture-talk – wherein the other group had to learn how to draw out their communications rather than rely on hand gestures. It was at that point in the story where I felt Pashan had the best gift of all; perhaps one that would give Sora something to think about in regards to natural instincts and talents. They had a complicated relationship right now as Sora was teaching Pashan how to embrace her maturity as an Aolanian but I felt in some ways, it was Pashan teaching Sora; as most children do.
Watching Pashan grow into her scales in this story was most enjoyable – as the crew themselves had to learn a few harder lessons about how negotiating an alliance with an insect species is not as easy as one would hope it to be once communication could be restored. The hard bits involved trying to prove intentions and to prove non-hostility or any act that would be viewed as taking away from the native species themselves. Meanwhile, Peter had to come to grip with the fact that his nightmares and symptoms of PTSD were something that needed to be addressed rather than hidden from sight or view of his shipmates.
Koepp inserts life lessons into the background of her space adventures – whilst owning to the fact sometimes the pursuit of diplomacy in this instance is complicated. I enjoyed seeing the conflicting feelings and thoughts on behalf of the native species and how they worked out who they should trust by way of their space visitors. The story was interesting to see how everyone worked out their differences and kept trying to figure out a way where diplomacy and speaking to each other would win out over declaring war.
on the galactic writing style of cindy koepp:
Koepp found a way to bring sign language and non-verbal communication into the story-line – giving a new layer of understanding towards language and communication perceptions. Koepp keeps her stories grounded inside character driven story arcs whilst giving you just enough of an adventure to keep you poised for what is going to happen next. In this installment of her series, Koepp is showing the difference between diplomacy and impulsive actions which can lend the wrong impressions. How she conceived of the idea to augment a community of non-speaking individuals who use ultraviolet signs to explain the different sections of their world is quite interesting.
Koepp shifts her focus from the ships to the ground – where you get to see the situation from the planning and execution stages straight through to the ambassadors who are sent on field assignments to directly communicate their intentions to the alien race. This is a lengthy process as both species are unfamiliar with each other and therefore, overly cautious, too. Somehow Koepp made it sound believable there would be mistaken interpretations along the way but also, how each of the species wanted to communicate even if they did not always chose the best course to do so.
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This post is part of Jorie’s participation within the blogosphere event:
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.
#FridayReads | #RRSciFiMonth 🚀 Reading the sequel to Remnant in the Stars (The Loudest Actions) by @CCKoepp #SpaceOpera #ScienceFiction 📚🌟
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) November 18, 2016
💬Q for you #RRSciFiMonth:
What do you love the most about first contact stories in #sciencefiction?
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) November 18, 2016
#BookReview📖 The Loudest Actions
by @CCKoepp #SpaceOpera
First Contact involving alt. communication#RRSciFiMonth🚀 https://t.co/9PBpWgw8F0 pic.twitter.com/09I6uO8AXT— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) November 18, 2016
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- SFN Bingo 2016
Thanks for the great review!
You’re most welcome, Ms Koepp,
Per my last comment on the first book in this series I reviewed, my return comments have been a bit delayed these past few months whilst I’ve been re-adjusting to life after my father’s stroke. I am most eager to know about the next installment in this series! Hoping I catch your updates when you start to share them! I loved being on your blog tour, that’s for sure!
Part 3 of the series is in planning stages. I have the basic ideas nailed down. I just need to finish the planning and plotting then set to the writing.
The best place to keep up with me is on Facebook. I’m looking to get back into Twitter after I clear the flotsam out of my Follow(er) lists, but for right now, that’s totally automated.
Thanks for hosting!
Ooh, dear. The one place I rarely visit are author’s Facebook pages – mostly, as I am a tweeter; I can only see the top posts anyway, as FB blocks us from reading the whole feeds nowadays (sad but true!). I’ll do my best to return every so often to see if I can spy some writerly updates! Of course, if your closer to your 3rd release and want to nudge me on Twitter after you’ve returned, that would rock, too! :) I definitely understand what you mean about overhauling Twitter – I need to pair down my Lists, re-examine who I follow and be a bit more engaged than I have in the past half year or so. All in due time! lol So happy to hear Part III is being fleshed out! Happy writing, to you!!
Unfortunately, My Twitter feed is packed with “Buy my stuff” and “By my five favorite friends’ stuff” posts. A pal advised me to dump my list and start over, policing who gets to join very carefully. I’m going to work on that soonish.
I’ll try to ping you as I have updates.
(: