Audible recommended Kitty Cat Kill Sat to me. I was pretty sure it was a blatant attempt to get cat lovers to part with their credits and will be a sycophantic attempt at fan service. But, it was on sale and I decided to give it a go.
I was very pleasantly surprised. The cat antics are mostly kept at a low volume and Argus employs a novel approach to the problems faced by a cat "manning" a space station built for humans, approaching it as an accessibility issue.
Lily is a lonely immortal uplifted cat. As she tackles an unending series of technical issues with her space station, while trying to fight off an endless series of attacks by old tech junk left in orbit and around the solar system, as well as emergent events spewing monsters that threaten what little is left of Earth's population. It's a post apocalyptic tale of constant jerry rigging of old tech in an attempt to survive.
However it is more than that, it is a first person account of Lily's journey to deal with her loneliness and pain, to find companions that will help her get out of the rut of constant trouble shooting and find out the secrets lying at the heart of the disaster that befell the solar system.
It is not a perfect book, there is some repetition and perhaps it could have been shorter. But it was very enjoyable and the long setup pays off very nicely. It is much more than just: Cat in Space.
The seventeenth chapter of my hard sci-fi space opera is released! The crew escapes the glubb-enn crossfire, and enters a system property of the Yectkogg corporate empire. The consequences of seeking help from rabid capitalists ensue.
This really is the last of this spurt of releases. We are going back to weekly releases (on Saturdays). The spam is over. Sorry yall for hammering the hashtags.
MURDERBOT’S BACK, BUT not better than ever. In fact, the semi-human fighting machine is feeling vulnerable—at the worst possible time, as it and the humans it protects are dealing with multiple interplanetary threats. Fast-paced, thoughtful. A MINUS
⭐️ Battle Star Galactica
⭐️ The Expanse
⭐️ Star Trek: The Next Generation
⭐️ Raised by Wolves
⭐️ Foundation
⭐️ Star Wars: The Mandalorian
⭐️ Star Wars: Andor
⭐️ Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
⭐️ Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett
Now onboard:
⭐️ Star Trek: Deep Space 9
⭐️ For all Mankind
The great science fiction writer Leigh Brackett was #BOTD
The “Queen of Space Opera” wrote SF/F for the pulps of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1944 she wrote her first mystery novel, which came to the attention of legendary director Howard Hawks. When Hawks needed help on an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s ‘The Big Sleep’…
But instead of heading to Hollywood after the end of the pulps, Edmond ended his long career at DC Comics. She died from cancer in 1978, but not before turning in the first draft script for what would become “The Empire Strikes Back!” Although her script was rewritten by others, many key elements remain.
...he told his secretary to "get this guy Brackett." She then left for Hollywood, leaving a half-finished tale for Planet Stories 'Lorelei of the Red Mist'. She asked her emerging writer friend to complete it for her, which Ray Bradbury did seamlessly. Her husband was another SF/F writer of the era, Edmond Hamilton.
Gdy za parę tygodni będę podsumowywał mój czytelniczy rok 2023, to czuję, że "Płomień" będzie walczył tam o laury w dwóch kategoriach - fantastyki (lub science-fiction) i zakończenia. Nie dziwię się, że ta powieść dostała najważniejszą polską nagrodę fantastyczną w 2022 roku, bo jest naprawdę dobra, a autorka, niczym wytrawna bokserka, wyczekuje czytelnika, zasypując go różnymi pytaniami w finale. Nie powiem, musiałem się trochę otrząsnąć.
HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD? The characters in Naomi Alderman’s crisp near-future technothriller have a lot of ideas—some of them on a collision course with others. Action and deft satire blend in this high-energy yet thoughtful read. A MINUS
It's the first picture of the new Arboreality in the wild! The new version has a silky matte cover, gold foil title text, and aged and distressed Ursula K Le Guin Prize and Philip K Dick awards medallions + more!
I #read via #audiobook When She’s Ready by Ruby Dixon. The audiobook is both When She’s Ready and When She’s Lonely. Both are very pro-consent post-slavery human-alien #romance. I find these Risdaverse #books entertaining & mostly safe, more so than her other series. (I ❤️Ruby even when it’s scary.) #reading#book#romancelandia@romancebooks
WSReady: https://amzn.to/416lwHF
WSLonely: https://amzn.to/47Dz4g6
I want to add something to this post about the 2nd #book in this #audiobook compilation: When She’s Lonely by Ruby Dixon. The FMC in this story has significant hearing loss that impacts her daily quality of life. If you look for stories of MCs with disabilities, and like or at least accept human-alien #romance & sex, I recommend this. I recommend it anyway, but especially if this is in your areas of interest. #sciencefiction#disability@romancebooks@romancelandia
Small thoughts on the books I've finished during November:
Shadow Prey (John Sandford, 1990): Fun thriller, better than "Rules" in a lot of ways, somewhat problematic in others. The almost "For the Evulz" mentality of the main villain is somewhat underwhelming. Could it be published today? Maybe, with some tweaks, especially regarding Shadow Love.
d. Fast Friend: A tale of loss and coping with it. This time the intermixing of past and present was more effective, in my opinion. What happens to one of the characters made me think of a sci-fi version of dementia.
e. This Tower of Ashes: Another one I didn't really like. The MC is a bit entitled, and the mystery of what actually happened at the end is not really interesting.