NOVELLA To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
BLURB: In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves. Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does. Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.
It takes skill to nail the characterisation and pacing in a novella, because there is nowhere to hide and it is a measure of Chambers’ technical ability that she nails it. I loved this one and was very moved by the ending, which left me with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. Whatever you do, please read the Afterword, where you will learn where that strikingly odd title comes from. See my reviews of A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit
9/10
MINI-REVIEW of AUDIOBOOK Starsight – Book 2 of the Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson
BLURB: All her life, Spensa has dreamed of becoming a pilot. Of proving she’s a hero like her father. She made it to the sky, but the truths she learned about her father were crushing. The rumours of his cowardice are true – he deserted his flight during battle against the Krell. Worse, though, he turned against his team and attacked them.
Spensa is sure there’s more to the story. And she’s sure that whatever happened to her father in his starship could happen to her. When she made it outside the protective shell of her planet, she heard the stars – and it was terrifying. What she learned turned her world upside down. Everything Spensa’s been taught is a lie.
But Spensa also learned a few things about herself – and she’ll travel to the end of the galaxy to save humankind if she needs to.
Spensa is a lovely protagonist – full of enthusiasm and determination to save her people. I love the premise that it is humanity, with its bloody history, who are regarded as a major threat to the rest of the Superiority, so are locked away and reviled. Spensa’s desperate mission reveals some really nifty plot twists that worked beautifully. Sophie Aldred’s excellent narration aided the story – I particularly like her characterisations of dear M-Bot, the intelligent ship and the delightfully smarmy Winzek. Overall, a wonderfully crafted sequel to Skyward – and my main grizzle is the cliffhanger ending, with the prospect of having to wait far too long to discover what happens next.
9/10
Anndddd… just a quick reminder that RUNNING OUT OF SPACE is still FREE! Click on the cover below, or on the sidebar to be taken to your nearest Amazon store to claim your copy…
Lizzy Wright has yearned to serve on the space merchant ship Shooting Star for as long as she can remember – until one rash act changes everything…
Lizzy and her friends weren’t looking for trouble – all they’d wanted was to prove that fertile English girls could handle themselves when on shore leave without being accompanied by a sour-faced chaperone and armed guard. Looking back, maybe taking a jaunt off-limits on Space Station Hawking wasn’t the best idea – but no one could have foreseen the outcome. Or that the consequences of that single expedition would change the lives of all four girls, as well as that of the stranger who stepped in to save them.
Now Lizzy has more excitement and danger than she can handle, while confronting lethal shipboard politics, kidnapping, betrayal. And murder.
‘Running Out of Space is an excellent novel, with enough pace and plot to keep you reading, and enough subtext to keep you wondering.’ Mrs Vivienne Tuffnell – 5 stars
We’re still fine. Himself is still driving trains, though not so many. I’m still working on the tweaks to Mantivore Warrior, which are going well, though not particularly fast. Other than that, the days bleed into each other and slide by at a frightening rate… 
The ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade under siege of the powerful Greek army, which continues to wage bloody war over a stolen woman—Helen. In the Greek camp, another woman—Briseis—watches and waits for the war’s outcome. She was queen of one of Troy’s neighboring kingdoms, until Achilles, Greece’s greatest warrior, sacked her city and murdered her husband and brothers. Briseis becomes Achilles’s concubine, a prize of battle, and must adjust quickly in order to survive a radically different life, as one of the many conquered women who serve the Greek army.
an Skies – Book 6 of the Fallen Empire series by Lindsay Buroker
HE’LL GO TO THE ENDS OF THE GALAXY TO SAVE HIS BROTHER AND SISTER.
and newly discovered alien species are invited to join a loose commonwealth of planets that now extends beyond the Orion spur of the Milky Way galaxy. However, not all species are peaceful. A hundred years of war to repel the Xathen invasion turned into an uneasy truce that has lasted for nearly thirty years. Exploration of systems has resumed, with the Zanzibar sent to complete the survey of a planet on the fringes of Xathen space. When the Xathen declared war over a hundred and thirty years ago, contact with the first survey ship was lost, and they never returned home.
empire finds her bank account empty while shopping for expensive shoes, she’s horrified to discover that her own brother has financially stabbed her in the back. To stand a chance of restoring her rightful place in the universe, the honest and rule-following Vivian may have to break a few intergalactic laws.
Lizzy and her friends weren’t looking for trouble – all they’d wanted was to prove that fertile English girls could handle themselves when on shore leave without being accompanied by a sour-faced chaperone and armed guard. Looking back, maybe taking a jaunt off-limits on Space Station Hawking wasn’t the best idea – but no one could have foreseen the outcome. Or that the consequences of that single expedition would change the lives of all four girls, as well as that of the stranger who stepped in to save them.
sit down together and set ourselves targets for the coming year. The theory is that in aiming for the insanely unrealistic, we’ll achieve more than if we were more cautious in our goalsetting. These are the targets I set for 2019.
I am now running three courses a term and also hope to run a three-week Poetry Course and One Day Summer Surgery course this year. I love teaching my wonderful students and really miss them during the holidays – which is so very uncool…
• Rewrite, edit and publish Mantivore Preys and Mantivore Freed
him – he saw you.”
A lethal orbital defense platform.
Brainfluff 