#TopTenTuesday XXII: A #SciFiMonth Top Ten : Boldly reading Indie and Small Press Science Fiction & Non-Fiction

#TopTenTuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

There are moments I’ve curated lists rooted in the official topics of this meme as shared by the host whereas at other times, I’ve gone a bit rogue like other book bloggers wherein we curate our own topics to respond to during the weekly share of #TopTenTuesday. I’ve also re-spun this meme to participate in blog tours and/or featured events within the blogosphere which are as follows:

• Top Ten Reasons Why “Pride and Prejudice”
  never fails to win a reader’s heart even as its respun by Elizabeth Adams
• Top Ten Secrets Behind the Tobacconist’s Wife by AnneMarie Brear
• Top Ten Secrets of Surviving in the Verin Empire by William Ray
• A Hauntingly Brilliant #TopTenTuesday during #SpooktasticReads! by A. Lawrence
• The Top Ten Dragon Favourites of Jackie Gamber
• Jorie’s #TopTenTuesday DiverseLit stories
  Jorie felt deeply connected to whilst reading!? (*bookdrive for a library)
• The Top Ten #INSPY #HistRom & #RomSusp Jorie definitely wants to read in [2020]
• Jorie’s #TopTenTuesday Stories
  which I’ve loved reading involving ghosts, spirits and souls
• Jorie’s Favourite #newtomeauthors of 2019!
• For #SciFiMonth: Bending Time and becoming a time traveller

→ Visit my #TopTenTuesday archives

Boldly reading Indie and Small Press Speculative Fiction
during the 10 years of #SciFiMonth or outside of it | Hostess List

The JOY for me as a book blogger has been seeking out
Indie publishers & Press as well as Small Trade:

Ever since I first started blogging my journey into books and stories in [2013], I’ve taken a slightly different route than most book bloggers. My focus was keenly invested into the world of Indie publishers, Small Press and Small Trade whilst also embracing Hybrid authors and Self-Published authors as well. This is why a LOT of my top favourite stories in the Speculative realms have been rooted in this section of publishing and why a lot of my bookish joy originates through the stories being published through these portals of publishing.

It doesn’t mean I don’t read traditionally published stories of Speculative Fiction — it just means odds are in favour I might soak into an Indie story moreso than a mainstream release. I’m quite particularly particular about the stories I read and what I tend to gravitate towards leans itself more on the Indie side of the ledger — at least by what I’ve noticed as I’ve travelled through the Speculative realms these past nine years.

This week I am going to focus on the stories by Indie and Small Press publishers who are wickedly publishing Science Fiction stories I cannot wait to read! Some of the authors I love reading are independently published but they own their own publishing imprint and are in theory Self-Published authors. I will withhold mentioning their stories from this list but if you know me through my blog, you’ll know which of those authors I consistently read and love to follow as they continue to publish stories I devour as soon as I read them.

Top tens for our tenth year

We loved having weekly Favourite Fives for Wyrd & Wonder’s fifth birthday, so it’s only right to go full Top Tens for SciFiMonth’s tenth! But what are those weekly topics?

• Previously, On SciFiMonth: SFnal books / films / shows / games you enjoyed or were introduced to during SciFiMonth in the past
• Turn Back Time: feature tales about time travel or shout about classic SF titles
• To Boldly Go: contribute to RunalongWomble’s (@runalongwomble) excellent #SmallPressBigStories initiative with a top ten focusing on stories published by independent and small presses
• One Small Step: sure we love a sprawling space opera, but this week is for celebrating short stories, novellas and novelettes
• Can’t Stop The Signal: SciFiMonth is all about the community – share your favourite SF blogs we should follow

as it was disclosed via Imyril @ There’s Always Room for One More

Your eyes are not deceiving you – I decided to kick-off the 2024 #SciFiMonth by finishing a post I began in (2022) and had meant to feature it closer to when I released my previous two Sci Fi Top Ten featured posts. For reasons lost to me now a full two years on – I never was able to release it – oh, wait. Two years ago. Suddenly I do remember – two years ago my Dad entered the hospital in November and exited into long term care. Somehow I still find myself at a loss to connect time and space and dates and the gap of hours between then and now. I felt that gap during Wyrd And Wonder this year and again during #SpooktasticReads. Time is fickle and ironic – where I think I’ve started reading a story a short time ago turns out to be *years!* ago and not mere months ago. Okay. Right. Onward and upward, eh? Let’s just say I was so happy to write this post, it feels weird to keep it static in my Drafts and needs to be shared. Towards that end, I did minor edits to this post and left it as a time capsule of my thoughts and words as they were written originally in 2022.

And, yes, I will be reading boldly this year and many of these lovelies will be my #nextreads!

I decided to take a different spin on how I wanted to assemble this Top Ten List for #SciFiMonth this week. As previously I would oft talk about the stories I’ve already read and have loved reading — going back to my roots of focusing on stories I haven’t yet read (or in some instances on this list in particular, stories or series I haven’t yet finished) and choosing to highlight what appealled to me about these stories and why I am still motivated to read them.

These are stories which are on my backlogue and were meant to be reviewed closer to the times they originally arrived through the #bookpost. Except to say, over the years – due to my chronic migraines, life as it evolves forward and/or the medical emergencies or hospitalisations of my parents (including but not limited to my father’s stroke in 2016) — you could say, there were quite a few reasons why I found myself taken away from stories at different intervals of time over the years. I will attempt to chronicle what disengaged me from reading each particular story but I’m unsure if I will remember exactly what took me away from them. Time and memory sometimes can become lost whilst life has moved forward.

This is one reason why I’ve been developing a new feature on Sundays outside of #SciFiMonth called #SciFiSundays which similar in vein to my new feature of #WyrdAndWonder Wednesdays it is to encourage me to re-enter into either Science Fiction or Fantasy stories outside of the two concentrated months I read both annually. For a girl who loves reading different genres sometimes it helps to nudge herself back into the folds of the stories she eagerly awaits to read! Plus, of course, I think we all have issues sometimes deciding which is the best story to read for the mood where currently in and which would best suit us to wait a bit longer to read instead.

Ahead of full reviews, I’m chosen to share snippets of insight about the stories or series I have already started to experience whilst giving new thoughts and impressions on behalf of the stories I haven’t yet begun. Or, more readily do not yield a memory of having read previously and thus, have chosen to feature those stories within the context of my #25PagePreview showcases in-line with this discussional challenge.

Let’s get started and see which Indie and/or Small Press Science Fiction stories
are on my radar and shelves awaiting me to soak into their stories!

NOTE: All the stories featured on this post were received for review consideration with the exception of two: “The Unintentional Time Traveller” and “The Time Key”. The latter because I cannot remember how I received the novel and at this point I’m considering it was either a self-purchase or a gift. Whichever way these stories were received originally – all thoughts and opinions about them are honest and true to my readerly reactions as I am now reading them.

No. 1 | Heaven’s Edge by Jennifer Silverwood
a novella series told in 3 distinct stories tethered together!

→ published by JayHenge Publishing

→ quotation taken from my forthcoming review of Heaven’s Edge

🚀 Authors Site | @JennSilverwood

On my connection to Jennifer Silverwood:

When our paths first crossed, Ms Silverwood and I shared a mutual interest and connection; however, our friendship did not form for awhile afterwards. It was truly after the interview went live and after I noticed I was reading her blog as much as she was reading mine – where I realised we shared a lot of commonalities in our reading lives as well as our writely lives! We decided to stay in touch and it is an honour to find someone who understands the bridge between reader, blogger and writer.

I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Ms Silverwood through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I hosted her Silver Hollow blog tour and privately as well. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time or continuing to read their releases as they are available. This also applies to hosting a guest feature by the author I share a connection.

A few years ago [2019], when I was assembling the stories, I wanted to read and/or listen for #SciFiMonth, I came across this collection of novellas by a writer who is also a dear personal friend. I mentioned to her I wanted to read this collection for the event, and she surprised me by sending me a copy in the post which arrived in time to read but I wasn’t able to finish it that year. It is my intention to re-read through the collection and finish it this November alongside my readings and listenings of E. Chris Garrison’s stories I outlined a bit via #BookishNotBookish.

I did host a #SciFiMonth chat featuring Silverwood (see also Post) and discussed this series. I was grateful to be able to chat about the series even as I was evolving through the stories themselves. I’ve had a particular interest to read stories set on the Rims and/or intergalactically hop through Space and fully explore the Spacer lifestyle or an independent pilot’s life as well. When it comes to generational ships or ships which have long hauls and ultimately have family or children on board – I’m a bit more underread than I would like to be and it’s a continuing Quest of mine to seek more of those kinds of stories out to read.

As I didn’t get too far along with my review on my initial readings, I only have a few thoughts to share with you about how I was finding the story and what I was taking away from the experience:

| Qeya (book one) |

As you peer into Qeya’s world for the first time – you start to see the impressions a fifteen-year-old would have upon journey through Space without a compass pointing towards home. Qeya was cast to space for seven of her young years already – with the promise of a return trip to their home planet but with a growing sense of certainty that this was a fading dream without the hope of truthfulness in its yearning. She was critically aware of the state of the worlds they were encountering – where species were more off-putting than giving them a reason to stay and where the enormity of space could enfold against your own sense of self. She was from a beautiful planet eloquently described by Silverwood with a rounded touch of allure for those who like planets with twinning moons and fragrant fruits (as this is a hint towards how she gained her name) – as she describes her planet – her origins, you can feel the longing she has for the past but also, the will to carve out a future elsewhere than just bumping round the universe in a discourse of random discoveries.

Qeya’s life is heavily controlled and influenced by the parents who took escape from their homeworld to cast themselves into the offworld realms of the deep space realm known as the ‘edge’ or the Rims (as I would reference) – uniquely casting their children into a stasis of sorts, where maturity arose naturally and where they were more or less left to their own devices. It was an interesting prospect from that vantage point because without the outside influence of the miners who worked the ship itself and the parents who would normally be more hands-on in their parenting skills – these children were individually independent at younger ages than the norm. It would curate their own sense of identity and how they viewed the hierarchy of their elders.

I am definitely looking forward to moving forward with this series and stepping back into a story which not only held my attention but was giving me a lot to contemplate as I was reading it! I especially was enjoying how Silverwood handled enveloping us into this particular world and part of Space. She spent a lot of time developing our understanding of the situation we were stepping inside and also emotionally connected us to her characters quite immediately. I loved that sense of feeling rooted in the story even as it was just starting to percolate into view. That kind of tangible connection is keenly important to me and is something I look forward (hunger after!) to whenever I pick up something new to read.

Sidenote: For those who are readers of Fantasy as much as Science Fiction (same as I) you’ll be happy to note this is the same author behind the Borderlands Saga I am dearly attached to reading — of which, my first review of that series was for Silver Hollow and the sequel Blackbriar Cove is still a forthcoming review of mine. I had every intention of reading it this 5th Year of Wyrd And Wonder but ultimately, the time escaped the hourglass and I wasn’t able to soak inside it. I’ve just learnt the third installment of this series was released (Dalriada Valley) and the fourth (Annywn Park) is due to release in May, 2023 during our 6th Wyrd And Wonder! Nope. No pressure at all to sort out a way to re-read Silver Hollow and finish my readings of Blackbriar Cove!

No. 2 | Little Computer People by Galen Surlak-Ramsey

→ published by Tiny Fox Press

→ quotation taken from my forthcoming review of Little Computer People

🚀 Author Site | @GSurlak

What drew me to seek out “Little Computer People”:

It happens to be I am now leaning towards Science Fiction Satire! I was quite surprised as this is a new sub-genre of interest for me and it is a credit to your authors for writing stories which are perking an interest in my readerly heart! I shouldn’t be too surprised though as I do have an Urban Fantasy novelist I enjoy reading who adds in a heap of cheeky humour and wit into the backbone of her Tipsy Fairy Tale series – evenso, this is the first time I found some Sci Fi which has the same flavour of interest!

The author who really left a strong impression on me with his novel is Galen Surlak-Ramsey with his “Little Computer People”. I just have a good feeling about this one – as its quirky and unique with its own personality. I have the tendency of enjoying geeky plots and one thing that motivated me towards this title is the fact it deals with AI and self-evolving AI; similar to why I like films like “Smart House” which strike the balance between inventing high technologies and cautionary tales of concern when we give too much credence to our inventions without the consequences of what can happen if the tech advances past our codes and influence.

Although I was also smitten with another release of his “Office Preserves” — I decided to request “Little Computer People” because of how attached I am to the premise. I also wasn’t sure if “Office Preserves” would be considered ‘cosy’ in regards to violence inside the story-line? I’m not really into gritty graphic violence or descriptive details therein – I only read a few stories of Crime Fiction which delve into more details but I tend to gravitate towards the cosier side of mysteries than I do the hard-boiled. That premise was just as insanely quirky as this one but what I was most attracted to is does Pi learn and evolve with a conscience towards goodwill or does she move towards domination or feeling advanced past the point where humanity can co-habitat with AI?

I love those kinds of thought-provoking plots!

I first became introduced to this publisher when I read Repentance wherein I also interviewed the author afterwards. It was one of those keen moments where I was able to contact a publisher I had just discovered and request another title by them. They left it up to me to decide which title/author to request and as I was previewing what had been published, I stumbled across Little Computer People which on arrival by #bookpost became quite the interesting read! It isn’t stylised the same way as other novels are and it has its own tempo of delivery, too. And, yet, that is what made it all the more appealling to read!

Plus, of course, as this dealt with AI, being a seeker of AI tech in Science Fiction and finding myself a bit daunted to find the reads that I can sink my bookish teeth inside – this one felt remarkably well-suited. Except to say, I still oft wonder if I ought to give Cinder a chance to woo me as I had previously attempted to read that particular novel multiple times and then, realised the timing was always wrong for me.

What sets Little Computer People apart is that it is partially inclusive of code and programming references as much as it is not structured the way most novels are written. I liked the challenge of that format as much as I wanted to tuck close to Surlak-Ramsey’s vision for this story and the characters within it. It definitely has a computer personality within its pages in other words and that in of itself is quite wicked.

No. 3 | The Renaissance Club by Rachel Dacus

→ published by Fiery Seas Publishing

→ quotation taken from my forthcoming review of The Renaissance Club

🚀 Author Site | @Rachel_Dacus

Before I could exit the Prologue of this novel, I came across a discussion on #booktwt about Prologues and their erasability from stories. There is a rather new trend to take out Prologues and Epilogues from stories across genres and in this one particular instance, I was defending the right to have them remain inclusive as you can denote from my remarks below about the character of George and how his presence helped me align into the vision Dacus had for this novel.

George is a most fascinating bloke and not to start this story with his entrance seems like a tragedy straight out of Shakespeare! I especially loved how honest he was about how he started to travel through time and how time itself begged for his attention. He wasn’t just slipping through centuries and interacting with those who lived eons ahead of him (ie. think of what Dr Beckett could have accomplished if he could’ve leapt outside his own timeline of years!) but he was purposefully driven and nudged if you will to visit certain moments ‘in time’ itself and where History had a pull of its own demand. From a reader’s stand-point, you could claim the same once you get into the folds of Historical Fiction – one story leads into another and sometimes you find yourself repeatedly visiting the same century as if orchestrated by this fuller game-plan of discovery when in reality it was a rather serendipitous affair!

In many aspects, Dacus has written a new leaf of exploration spun out of our memories of Dr Beckett’s own travels within the universe of Quantum Leap and given us a new hero to champion in George! As George humbly admits his role in certain ‘key’ markers of time and historical significance you start to see how an individual like Dr Beckett or dear George could undertake this mission as their own and devise a way to use it as a tool for the common good. Though a part of me questioned if there was a darker side to this as well – for each good deed, what if someone else was trekking through time without the conscience or ethics to improve but to takeaway? I oft consider that aspect of time travelling because it is a fair point and a dangerous one at the same time.

No, I must admit, if I hadn’t heard of George’s inclinations to travel within the corridors of time and history, I might not have felt as encouraged to read the story because there was something lovingly curious about George and his self-directed purpose in life to guide others even without being asked to do anything at all. Then again, most heroes are humbled souls and wouldn’t consider themselves anything more than ordinary blokes and I had a feeling George walked a similar line in his own life.

I was most disappointed that in latter editions of The Renaissance Club – the entrance into the novel begins after the Prologue. I am going to re-read this novel but as far as if I want to continue into the rest of the installments which follow suit – (as there are four published novels in this series that I know of) – is a question I will have to answer after I’ve concluded the story. I decided to share this bit of insight into the novel as I felt it proved to be such a solid entrance into the story — especially as it capitlised on the heart of why the story was being told and what the story was going to evolve into presenting to us as readers.

However, it begs to ask a larger question – do others dismiss Prologues and Epilogues? I have always felt keenly blessed for their inclusions and yet, now I am dearly curious am I in the minority?

No. 4 | The Time Key by Melanie Bateman

→ published by Cedar Fort Publishing and Media

→ previously featured for Light the World with Books with an interview

🚀 @melabateman via Insta *her website is down

I remember being in touch with the author and truly attempting to read the novel – especially as I had made it a purchase request at my library. What is lost to me is how I have a copy of this novel in my personal library!? Did I purchase it or did the author send it to me? I wish I could remember how I acquired it! I’m sure I have notes about how it came into my possession somewhere – either by email or on my blog on an unpublished draft or something else like it. And yet, after a rudimentary search I came up empty on those particular details! Oyy. However, whatever took me away from this story my curiosity about the novel and its contents has never strayed. I simply was taken out of its eclipse for a bit and I am striving to make my way back towards its orbit.

I should preface this by stating that I have been seriously impressed by the author’s illustrative talent even before I began reading her novel which is inclusive of her artwork. When you first begin reading this story, you’re greeted by a stone bridge by a river (its the Thames) and that sets the tone for the first paragraph which is juttingly juxtaposed against that scene. We peer into a man’s disillusioned soul as he achingly is contemplating suicide as a means to an end. He lost his wife and his daughter in a tragic sequencing of events which had stopped his ability to shift forward and to grieve in way that was both healthy and cathartic. Instead, his soul was hinged to that tragedy in a way which would not provide release from the anguish nor of the memories it stirred into focus.

Bateman also pierced through that emotion by presenting a second perspective – of a narrator of the story to give glimpses of insight into this man we’re just being presented with to understand and of that portal of thought, there is a grounding of sympathy and understanding. Even if the events themselves within that circumstances which took the lives of his family, it is a way of seeing past his own grief and into the reality of how we cannot understand everything as we live as healing takes extensive time and processing to fully resolve.

The other voice in this story is imploringly curious – I presume their the time traveller in the narrative but they are hidden from our view. Their voice and thoughts are tangible and inclusive of what we’re seeing of Stanley’s life at this junction of his journey but how their able to traverse through time and why they are dearly focused on Stanley himself is yet unknown. They are quite fixated on him though which was quite curious indeed.

I actually didn’t quite make it to the twenty-fifth page — by the twenty-first I wasn’t sure if I could continue reading this right now as it is darkly writ and impressively expansive within its theme of exploring the tentacles of time travel. There are shadow creatures who are impressively dark natured but there is also another character, Louis whose motives and purpose are cleverly omitted from our knowledge right now. Stanley for his part is a shell of a man and barely able to function as he can no longer see the Light in the world. Bateman switches gears on the twenty-first page too by nearly breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging us as readers — about our curiosity about what was happening to Stanley on the page before and alerting us that we had to take a pause from following his storyline to opt instead to shift into Louis’s journey.

When I’m able to re-attach into darker stories I’ll re-queue this one to read as I have quite a few darker stories on my shelf but I’ve postponed reading them. I’m just not in the right mindset for darker fiction right now and as stirringly curious as this narrative is having me contemplate the layers of its story, I am taking a firm break from exploring it further.

Content Note:

I was not expecting such a heavy and emotionally charged beginning to this story – as it does discuss suicide and the reasons why a person is contemplating it – it doesn’t actually involve suicide itself. For those who are sensitive to these topics, I can assure you the opening passages of this novel is more in context to his (ie. Stanley’s) emotional and psychological state of mind.

No. 5 | Piercing the Veil series by C.A. Gray

→ published by Wanderlust Publishing

→ previously I read and reviewed: Books One | Two and hosted an interview
* FYI: the interview post has over 150+ comments as I hosted a LIVE Q&A during #RRSciFiMonth

→ quotations taken from my reviews of Intangible (Book One) and Invincible (Book Two)

🚀 Author Site | @AuthorCAGray

Of all the series I regret NOT finishing it would be the Piercing the Veil series! I was so locked into this series in [2014] as a first year book blogger and try as I might to remember something took me out of it. I’ll go on a limb and presume it was a migraine or a clustering of migraines as oft the case would be for me. It could’ve been IRL stress, too. As forementioned on this post, a LOT of different circumstances pulled me out of these books on arrival. And, yet, I never gave up hope of finishing this series — I’ve even tried re-reading the books but I think part of why I failed on that level is because I would give myself too short of a time window to read them. I wanted to binge them during previous years of #SciFiMonth but a month to read 3x chunky Sci-Fi novels? Aye! I was doomed to fail before I ever began apparently!

My new goal is to see if I can read a book a month and process my new thoughts on the series through a series of reviews which focuses on each of the novels and/or I might group the first two together and post a final review for the third which would be a fuller disclosure as it wouldn’t be  re-reading it would be a first read! Whichever way I decide to re-approach this series, it definitely belongs on this list! I should also mention – there is lovely NEW cover art for this series which you can view over here on the author’s book page for it! The trilogy is also now available in audiobook but not available to listen via Scribd as I tried to find it there this month.

I had the pleasure of reading the Prologue for this novel through the author’s Press Kit ahead of reading it inside the novel itself; yet that did not lesson the impact of the words, the images, and the realisation that time although temporal can be tempered and altered simply through a determined spirit to choose one path over another. The Prologue delves into how free will can become a tangible agreement to save lives that otherwise might not have lived by causing certain sub-reactions of an action already in queue to happen. The theory is rooted in quantum physics, and although I have studied theoretical physics off/on throughout my twenties, it has been awhile since I was consumed inside the texts, therefore the exact nature of the theory is elusive to me at the moment. But the incredible conviction of what is plausible to interject into a living reality — now that, is not lost on me! In fact, it is an engaging way to set-up the start of a story on the fringe of being told!

Any story or series which pierces through my love of Quantum Physics and Mechanics is generally going to be a beloved read because I’m going to hunger after the Science within the Fiction! Gray as you can tell by my previous notations has truly crafted a very well-rounded series and has given all of us geeky Sci-Fi readers a heap to chew on whilst we’re reading the trilogy! I am hopeful that as I move into re-reading through the series, I’ll find the same attachment and anchouring I had originally in order to move into the final installment and finally at long last come to the conclusion!

Gray has defined her own niche of Sci-Fantasy novels which barter against what is known and unknown within the expanse of today’s emerging quantum physics; bridging the gap between science fiction and fantasy with an undercurrent of plausible theories cast into her envisioned world as easily as a rainbow reflects a prism. She captures the mind of her readers by giving them a story rife with life lessons and characters who are seeking truth through a pursuit of self-discovery. What I appreciated the most about this installment of the series is how each of her characters from the lead protagonists to the secondary ones, she gives a convincing conviction of their beliefs. Each character is well thought out and their back-stories are written as such to provide further insight into who they are at their core whilst each new chapter reveals more insight into the growing storm between the Watchers and the Shadow Lord.

Even the method of how the Shadow Lord starts to interfere with their lives, there is a pause of thought on the hidden lesson behind what each of the characters must decide for themselves. There is a strong period of growth and contemplation of where their true path is leading them to walk. I particularly love coming of age tales because each of the stories centered around the age of personal enlightenment has something new to give the reader. In this case, the full extension of believing in one’s capabilities against all odds and the pursuit of something greater than what can be expected to be defined by one singular lifetime is a curious story to watch unfold.

Even though my mind flirted with the notions of past stories and characters I have come to belove, the Piercing the Veil series is a wholly original and keenly insightful story levelling the field for a new era of Sci-Fantasy to exceed reader’s expectations. I love the fact such a large amount of known science is etched into the fabric of the story itself; as the forementioned Afterword reveal, even the smaller inclusions have extraordinary depth to where science can give shape and form to an invisible texture of transitioning between worlds.

No. 6 | Tie for Non-Fiction: The Robot in the Next Cubicle by Larry Boyer
AND: The Case for Space by Robert Zubrin

→ published by Prometheus Books

🚀 @robert_zubrin | @LarryBoyer

I would be unwittingly remiss if I didn’t focus on two Non-Fiction titles which have whet a thirst of interest to be read long, long before the Lady Astronaut series came into view for me to read! I’ve long held a deep fascination with Science and especially those branches of the field which dip into the outer realms of our galaxy and/or tap into the newfound fields of technologic advances which are going to re-shape our futures and destinies as humans. I had a chance to be an ARC reader for Prometheus Books several years ago wherein I would find upcoming releases and request an ARC to read and review. All was going well until it wasn’t and I fell too far behind to continue reviewing for them. I simply pulled back contact and before I realised it, the company changed hands and most of the imprints I had reviewed were bought and transferred to another company. Sadly I am not even sure if the person I knew at Prometheus is still involved in the company.

Since then, I haven’t found another publisher who was publishing such a wide variety of topics and subjects I wished to explore and as I still have the ARCs, you’ll be seeing them re-populate on my blog throughout the coming year as it has taken me quite a long while to get back into reading Non-Fiction and that is directly related to my personal health issues and especially due to the clustering of migraines which plagued me from 2018-19. I lost my footing with Non-Fiction and with reading Science topics and subjects overall due how their a completely different wheelhouse from reading Biography, Autobiography and Memoir or Introspective titles which I have the tendency to seek out from Hachette Books.

One of the beauties of The Robot in the Next Cubicle is how it is broken down into different sections which outline different points of interest to us as readers. One part focuses on how technology is set to change our everyday world (which if your perceptive enough, you’re already familiar with how that is happening), another part focuses on the path of the future and third, the final section is a discussion about where humanity will lie in a world of technologic advance wherein there could be an increased population of machines (ie. robots, AI, etc) than there are humans. It is a curious thought to examine and one that has been coming on for quite awhile now as we’ve moved towards a more automated future and cross-relying on AI technologies.

I was positioned to read the first twenty-five pages of this for this post, however after sustaining an ocular migraine after my recent migraine, I elected to mention what I liked about it rather than reading it directly. This has to do mainly with the typography of the ARC and the difficulties I was having transitioning back into reading books in print post-migraine which has been a definitive problem for me over the years and why I generally read print books which have a bit larger print inside them or lean harder on listening to audiobooks whilst I emerge out of the migraine(s) themselves. The turnaround can sometimes be slower than I have patience to wait it out, too.

The main thread I could say is fused into this book is about how lives are fundamentally going to become altered with the further onset and onboarding of AI technologies whilst if we start to shift past doing certain jobs ourselves those jobs in the future will soon be overtaken by robots and automation. Not that that is all bad necessarily, but I think we have to weigh what is right for humanity and to remain vigilant in limiting how much we shift over to technology. I look forward to reading this in order to see what Boyer had to comment on and what his thoughts are on all fronts about this topic.

Whereas The Case for Space, was easier for me to read and settle inside and thereby, I am giving myself a chance to reacquaint myself with its contents for this post. The book is broken down into two different sections of exploration: why it is imperative we explore Space and what it offers and secondly how we’re able to get there and have it part of our future in a more profound way than it is now.

Within the Introduction, we’re giving an lovely recapture of the current state of the Space programme both from NASA and from SpaceX. Comparatively, the former has been shuttled and the latter has giving new measure of rise towards a more plausible future when it comes to space travel, exploration and tourism (though I still think that remains to be seen if coming/going to Space doesn’t curate a negative after effect on its passengers who spend a considerable amount of time in Space rather than a shorter jaunt back/forth as some have already done). What is quite remarkable is that the technology to fuell the continuation of the space programmes and the cost of that kind of technology has been at odds with the budgets and the progress of seeing ourselves moving past the technology we had in the 1960s.

I’ve been fascinated with Space since I was quite young and was even involved in the Young Astronauts programme at my local Science Center. However, as I’ve matured, I’ve developed a more cautious curiosity about the stars and the Cosmos and have tempered my love of Space with the cautionary realism of growing up in the 20th Century and walking through the 21st with the knowledge of finding a balance between technology and humanity and finding a way to bridge the two without sacrificing one or the other. I oft felt there was more to understand about the stars – their presence in our lives have been intriguing people for longer than our own lifetimes and historical records can attest. Yet, they are a mainstay in the sky at night and with their presence comes the questions – are they merely stars sprinkled across our sky or is there more to their story than the twinkling glow they emit?

I was not surprised then to learn in this book that each star itself can have a series of moons or planets connected to it and within those a measure of life can be seen or observed. Zubrin also discloses how much water has been viewed from Space on different moons and planets via different missions which probed their possible locations and how that evidence is leaning towards a plausible future wherein Space can become a place we can venture towards rather than merely observe from our surface and terrestrial presence on Earth.

And, of course it didn’t take long for Zubrin to highlight what is driving us towards Space – moreso than a zest to colonise a planet or a moon with people from Earth who are ready for a different kind of offworld lifestyle but it is what Space can provide us in return for our efforts that is the main driving force behind reducing the cost of space travel and exploration. It is similar to how despite the environmental concerns of harvesting certain materials on Earth, we seem to be throwing caution to the wind when it comes to Space and simply want to go there to harvest other materials which will then re-fuell our presence in Space whilst carting back those resources to Earth. 

Sometimes I do wonder if we will ever learn the cost of progress and will seek a better way forward that doesn’t destroy the environs in which we travel. There needs to be better balance between advancing forward and being more mindful of living ecosystems that have their own constants and structural balances. If we start to harvest material out of Space what is the negative effect on that interstellar ecosystem by that reduction of material? Or am I the only one considering interstellar environmental consequences?!

No. 7 | The Silver Sail by Bridgette Dutta Portman
the second installment of the The Coseema Saga

→ published by Titan1Studios

→ previously I shared a review of The Twin Stars (the first novel in this series)

→ quotation taken from my review of The Twin Stars

→ She mentions on her website the third and final installment to release is :The Word of the Muse

🚀 Author Site | @bdportman

I have oft attempted to reconsider how to classify The Coseema Saga as per which genre of interest it both intersects and lies within as originally, I considered it a Portal Fantasy and part of the umbrella of Fantasy moreso than Science Fiction. However, despite the truth of that classification it also occupies a space offworld and within the Space Opera arm of Science Fiction. Ergo, I’m placing the sequel on this list as this part of the saga evolves through a pursuit of a new planet and has a very interstellar journey to undertake for the main characters. It is also a series which I felt deeply connected to and had a few issues with the first installment in regard to story direction (you’ll have to visit my fuller review to understand this statement better and to see a fuller disclosure of what I shared to convey those thoughts as well) but I held out hope of reconnecting with the sequel The Silver Sail.

Let me share a bit of insight into my musings and thoughts at the end of The Twin Stars:

Portman changed the pace of the novel in the last quarter of the story to reflect a second transition point where Olive, Bel and Jambol go on a bit of an adventure of their own. Bel is the daughter of the woman who provided refuge for Olive, Jambol and Nestra when they had to escape the Musing Moon but it was Bel’s fortitude and courage which helped lead them into the underground where Bel was reunited with her long-lost Aunt. Although I had missed the journey being co-joined with Nestra as I felt a strong connection between Olive and her grandmother with Olive and Nestra, I knew it was important for Olive to branch out on her own – not just to wrestle out some of what was weighing on her mind and heart, but to tackle a challenge that she needed to see through for her own well being. When the teens went off on their own, it helped re-pivot the story and allowed us to learn more about the histories of Lyria, especially in the different regions of the world where even Olive herself knew less than she realised.

There is a lot of symmetry and overlays with the title of the first installment of this series – there are twin stars in Lyria but the concept of twins and of siblings plays out in different ways as you read the story. This affects the perception of how Olive views herself and her own personal identity which is attached to a portion of her life before birth and how she sees herself in the current timeline of the story as well. It also reflects an interesting ying and yang effect – of how to have a measure of Light in a world you also have to reflect on the Darkness as well. I love finding hidden layers with stories as much as I love a wicked wonderful foundation of an evolving series – The Twin Stars happily kept me both entertained and museful of where we’d venture next within the pages of The Silver Sail. As I had a feeling it might be a clue towards how Lyria’s surviving people will have to travel offworld in order to survive in the long-term.

 

The ending of The Twin Stars was emotionally gutting for me and just brutal to experience as the last chapters and sections of the novel took such a stark turning from how most of that previous novel had been written. Or, to be clearer, there didn’t seem to be enough foreshadowing for me to be prepared for the changes or of the realities of what came out of the showdown between Olive and Coseema. I had hoped for better on her behalf and of course, given the nature of what occurred it seemed like there was a spiralling towards a darkness that I wasn’t sure even Olive could overcome or survive. With those memories and thoughts, I dared to re-enter this world and continue my journey into the sage with The Silver Sail.

I had remembered that the destination Olive was seeking was a planet of darkness and ice; her quest to find a long-lost spaceship and to get the survivors to safety was blessedly not lost to the sands of time but Portman blessed us with re-aligning us into those details early-on in the sequel. It was also lovely to see the journal coming back to life and the anxieties of what those revelations were giving to Olive who knew the fuller gravity of their meaning. Coseema was not defeated but she wasn’t the Coseema we all had come to know either. She was a different version of herself and she continued to strengthen in the darkness that now painted her soul.

I knew this was going to take a darker turning — it was evident by how The Twin Stars concluded and despite my willingness to re-enter into this saga, my heart just isn’t into it as I’d prefer it to be right now. I think overall I am finding as I write this post I have to take a definitive break from reading darker Speculative Fiction and re-assess how to read them or if I can read them at a latter point in time. For now, at least, I know a bit about where Olive is now in the story and the further concerns about what lies ahead for her and everyone else as their main adversary continues to grow in strength with a determined fortitude for causing them extended harm. I exited this long before the twenty-fifth page, but it gave me enough for now to chew on and know what is awaiting me when and if I return to it.

No. 8 | Failure to Communicate by Kaia Sonderby
→ SEQUEL: Tone of Voice released in 2019!

→ published by Kraken Collective and Going to Mars

🚀

I participated in #ReviewPit on Twitter a few years ago and that is how I came to find a lovely group of writers who were seeking reviewers for their novels. I had fully intended to feature ALL the authors and their stories that same year, but it has taken me a few extra years to finalise those plans even though I read quite a lot of them already. This particular novel kept getting pushed forward because I couldn’t focus on the story whenever I picked it up to read. It had nothing to do with the novel itself but rather it had to do with what I was living through and/or what I was transitioning out of as migraines were part of the culprit. Whenever I have one of those sledgehammer migraines (ie. 5x days of angst!) – it takes me a considerable amount of time to re-attach back into reading print books and/or to feel secured into reading in general. This is one reason I lean hard on audiobooks during those moments and/or have to take a step back from reading, blogging and being socially engaged on #booktwt.

This year I was aiming to re-queue this novel for #SciFiMonth but part of me wondered if the next installment of the series had released and ooh boy! It was released in [2019] !! Somehow that escaped my attention which is why I’m going to withhold reading this until I can get a copy of Tone of Voice in print and then read both novels together back-to-back! I think that would be the best outcome for me as I was so dearly intrigued by the premise of this one and heard loads of good things about it by other #SciFiMonth participants who read it ahead of me!!

For now, I want to peer into the novel from my preview perspective and eagerly await gathering the sequel in order to continue reading this lovely series.

I love feeling as if I’ve travelled into a wholly different world and universe and that is exactly what I felt when I disappeared into Failure to Communicate. As Sonderby tucks you close to the life Xandri is living so wickedly immersive to the brink you feel exactly what she’s going through as she dealing with her crew members. Sonderby quickly introduces us to the fact Xandri is autistic and how in her world this is a condition that was erased from the human experience centuries ago as they became to streamline DNA coding and genetics to effectively remove whatever they felt was not necessary anymore to a person’s genome. This speaks highly of a line being crossed between medicine, science, politics and religion, too. I oft heard they were trying to do this with dyslexia as well – and it never sat well with me that one day children wouldn’t be dyslexic either like I am myself. There is a beauty in our differences and the differences themselves are gifts but not a lot of people see it that way sadly.

I appreciated how Sonderby also introduced us to the sensory overloads and how Xandri found ways to compensate for them. It is a very profound story in that regard – how you can educate readers but also humbly express the everydayness of life in Space in quite an extraordinary part of Space. I was captured by Xandri’s job, too, how she was trying to put the pieces together by the information the other crew members were gathering for her to root through and find understanding out of what they did not yet understand. This is also a novel about ‘communication’ in all its forms – including how the crew reacts around Xandri and how Xandri talks to the crew, too. They’re not all agreeable in that regard as some it feels like will always put people in their place even when they have no right to feel like they need to do that. The opening scene was brilliant in that respect as it showed someone else defending Xandri and it was a person apparently on this crew most would not have considered would have taken that moment to voice their support.

I especially enjoyed seeing the different types of sapient species in the storyline, too! Especially the Pilot (Aki) who had six legs (oh, boy!) and of course, there were other kinds of persons on board, too! This is one aspect of reading Space Opera I love – getting to see all the lovely aliens who populate starships and worlds and tucking close to their lives and experiences. It is such a treat of joy for me to see how each writer visualises Space differently and how their interpretation of species evolves the genre forward.

I was not quite prepared for the battle which happened too quickly on the planet she dubbed ‘Stillness’ as it was in reference to the Stills (a species they knew so little about but who were very tall and furry). It was aggressively violent and quick-actioned and for me, a little too heavy on explicit words to express the situations, too. I appreciated the more creative words used in the opening rather than the blunter ones used in battle. It was almost enough to turn me off reading the story because it was just a bit overkill. What stood out to me though was Sifah – one of the Stills who had befriended Xandri. They were communicating with each other in a way that shouldn’t have been possible, but they were each willing to make the connection.

You could feel the ache in Xandri’s heart and spirit when she was told they had to go offworld and away from Stillness. Orders had come down and they were needed elsewhere – but of course, that meant she couldn’t continue to teach Sifah their language and in return, Sifah couldn’t continue to communicate with Xandri more about her planet. The two had made a quick friendship and you could see how duty and obligations to her job were weighing on Xan’s mind.

I felt pulled into the plot – despite the language wrinkles of annoyance (ie. the explicit words) – felt anchoured to Xan herself and was curious what would happen next which is always a good sign! I had a feeling the story was going to dimensional expand soon and I was game for it.

No. 9 | The Unintentional Time Traveller by Everett Maroon

→ published by Lethe Press | *this was a self-purchased title

🚀 Author Site | @EverettMaroon

As you might have noticed, this is the ONLY self-purchased title on this list as the others were received for review consideration. I was trying to recollect which #SciFiMonth I decided to purchase this novel as it was a gift to myself to start to find Indie and/or Self-Published authors who are writing Science Fiction and of whom I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of discovering elsewhere. When I realised I had to backtrack when I purchased it instead. The year was [2016] and of course, finding that out I realised what derailed my ability to read it — that was the ill-fated November when my Dad had his stroke and was in the hospital for eight very long days. I have a bit of a memory gap from that year and what I refer to as the honeymoon year post-stroke which was [2017].

This title came across my purview and as soon as I read the premise of it — I instantly felt I NEED to read this novel! It has been languishing on my shelf for Science Fiction #nextreads ever since I purchased it and I am grateful I can finally share a bit of insight about the story and how it begins!

Jack has Epilepsy and his mother is striving to find something that will ease his issues with seizures as she has the condition herself, but it is maintained by medicine which leaves her seizure-free. As we enter into his life – he’s a fifteen-year-old going to Catholic high school and his best friend is Sanjay who is constantly bullied because he’s Indian. This wasn’t explained in many details just that their classmates aren’t very accepting of different cultures and persons. The issues I had with getting invested in the story was how it was being told. For whichever reason, it felt very choppy to me and disjointed. As Jack is part of a research study about Epilepsy and that in of itself was alright but the time travelling part is inclusive of that research and the scope of his travelling isn’t fully explained in the opening parts of the novel.

Only that he feels he’s having hallucinations and not travelling at all. And, then there are the doctors who I suspected were doing things they weren’t explaining to Jack or his Mum. Things that might be triggering the time travel and I wish part of that had been better explored, too. I simply couldn’t connect to Jack or his mother – it felt like this kind of time travel was similar to Somewhere in Time (a film starring Christopher Reeve) – wherein, you’re not entirely ‘travelling’ per se but you are inside your mind.

I just couldn’t get the kind of traction or interest in the plot or the character of Jack as I had hoped I would and that felt disappointing on a lot of levels. Part of me thinks I need to give this story more time to develop and to get into the moments where Jack transforms into a different person and life – as part of this story is told from Jacqueline’s perspective and the life she’s living, too. On the other hand right now, it just isn’t my cuppa tea because I just didn’t feel that initial reaction and connection I look for in a story.

No. 10 | And, my 10th selection is one I’ve already read by an author I love reading who truly gave me a wicked wonderful Space Opera read within a series writ through three expansively intriguing novellas:

Commanding the Red Lotus by R.J. Sullivan

Also, visit the lovely interview I featured, too!

→ published by Seventh Star Press but will be republished by Hydra Publications

SIDENOTE: Nearly all the authors I read via Seventh Star Press have left this publisher and have either chosen to self-publish their collective works under their own imprint(s) and/or publishing companies or they have decided to take that route as well as seek out publication elsewhere, too. As I still love their stories as much as I did whilst they were with Seventh Star Press, I am on a journey towards continuing to acquire their releases (as their available) and continue to read the stories I enjoy the most to read. Mr Sullivan is one of those authors and it is pleasure to re-highlight this series! Similar to how I am curating a collection of Ms Chris’s stories, I want to focus on gathering new releases by Mr Sullivan in the New Year, 2023.

🚀Author Website | @rj.sullivanfiction Insta

Sayuri Arai, intrepid explorer who dared to write her stars:

Sayuri had her first taste of being a Spacer when she encouraged the skeleton crew left behind for the Red Lotus (amidst an urgent job search that had disrupted the lives of everyone on board) to take her out for a test run around Pandora, the station where the ship was docked. It was hard to recognise ahead of time how pivotal this request would become to determining Sayuri’s path as a Spacer, as a disgruntled ex-employee of her father’s chose to put lives in jeopardy rather than except the fate of a new beginning after years of dedicated service. It was during that eclipse of life & death reality where Sayuri truly started to feel alive – she saw a small vision of how she could change her stars simply by owning a path that filled a niche of her soul.

When I first received Commanding the Red Lotus, I didn’t know what I would find inside this lovely anthology of stories set around a ship! The style of the series is wicked brilliant too, as it is told through a series of novellas rather than novels. It was the first introduction I’ve had with this method of a series, and it was one that stood out to me by how convicting the series became as you read one novella into the next! It also opened the door for me to seek out other novella series by other authors as it became a method of delivery I truly loved to read! And, without the Red Lotus, I might not have fallen in sync with Heaven’s Edge as much as I had either by Silverwood.

Coming from a joy of reading his other stories – which were more Urban Fantasy or Cosy Horror than Science Fiction, this was also the first experience I had with Sullivan’s Space Opera narrative, and I was definitely hooked! As you can tell by these excerpts I’m sharing from my review of the anthology – there is a LOT to love about the series and part of me had hoped over the years there would be a new installment of stories and more adventures in this world he’s created behind the Red Lotus, too. If and when he chooses to expand this universe of stories, I am definitely going to be ordering a copy on a pre-order!

Straight from the moment you first enter into the universe of the Red Lotus, you gather a sense about where you are and how the setting affects the characters’ lives. There is something quite addictive to imagining how we’d live in the cosmos; as most of my generation grew-up with space dramas & series devouted to theory about how we’d live, conquer new worlds & explore with diplomatic inclinations towards those we had not yet met. It’s a startling wide range of where Speculative Fiction can take you visually, and thus, each writer in turn creates his or her own image of what that life might be for all of us in the near-future.

Sullivan also broaches the consequences of all actions and choices whilst in command; how mercy can boomerang back a harder choice later and how the lines between what is ethically right and what is morally right are hard lines to broker when facts are not as all-encompassing as they should be. Commanding a ship is harder than one might imagine because sometimes you have to act with limited knowledge and sometimes you have to make choices against your own mindset on different issues. The best way to command is to opt to make the choices that matter in the moment and hopefully not upset the apple cart down the road but life is not lived with foreknowledge which makes everything much more complicated to understand.

This is a well-thought out coming-of age story that grants us licence to understand how Sayuri rose in her strengths, yielded through her weaknesses and grew into the role she wanted most to have confidence to embody. Each step of the way, Sullivan is giving his readers something to consider, something to ponder and a greater scope of the greater good to be understood. This is thought-provoking science fiction and it’s a wicked good adventure, too!

If you are looking for short form fiction in Science Fiction, definitely consider picking up a copy of Commanding the Red Lotus – as you will find the same joys I did whilst you’re reading the stories. I’ll let my words speak for themselves, but I do encourage you to try this anthology if you’re a reader like me who’s giddy over Space Opera and Spacer lifestyles.

This marks my first post participation on behalf of:

You might have noticed I included works of Non-Fiction & Fiction together on this list and that is because I’ve always been curiously drawn into works of Non-Fiction which delve into the topics & subjects I most love to explore in Science Fiction. Part of my readerly musings and inclinations have been anchoured to Non-Fiction since I was exploring Science & Non-Fiction topical research ideas in my twenties and thirties and the tradition has carried into my fourth decade.

Over the past years since [2018] I have noticed a considerable decrease in being able to read and focus on Non-Fiction and it is a trend I am hoping to eliminate in [2024/5] as I desire to re-anchour myself into those kinds of reads on a regular basis. For now, I’m including two titles which I felt highlight my interests in reading about both advancements in technology and the continuing pursuit of our exploration of Space.

The rest of the selections speak for themselves, and I am hopeful by sharing my initial #25PagePreview notations of insight with you, perhaps one of these stories might interest you as well. For the ones I’ve started in the past and have quoted a bit about on this post, by the time I re-examine those stories, my thoughts might change, or they might continue to hold true as I’ve stated them. Only time shall tell.

One of the joys this #SciFiMonth is being able to curate different discussion posts and to have the ability to walk back through what I’ve discovered, what I hope to read and what I have already felt especially grateful for having read and experienced. I am hoping others who are embarking on the journey this November are having similar takeaways on their own adventure.

I look forward to hearing if you’ve read one of these stories and/or if I’ve encouraged you to pick one of these novels to explore yourself! I am relying on the Mission Logs (provided by Lisa & Imyril) to visit with everyone this November however, if you comment I’ll bump my visit to your blog(s) to the top of the travel list! I would love to know if you are using the prompts & challenges this year, too on your blog?!

{SOURCES: Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission. Official #SciFiMonth graphics (ie. the badge, the banner and the Top Ten Prompts graphic) were provided by the event host Imyril (all artwork credit is by the amazingly talented Simon Fetscher) and are used with permission. 2024 Official Sci Fi Month banner and badge created by Imyril and is used with permission. (artwork credit is Sxwx) Emojis provided by Emojipedia.org. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #SciFiMonth 2022 banner, #TopTenTuesday banner, #SciFiMonth #25PagePreview banner as well as the Comment box banner.}

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