Tag: SciFi (soft)

Book Review: Series – Central Galactic Concordance (1-3)

Erin Penn

Book Cover from Amazon

Overload Flux (Central Galactic Concordance #1) by Carol Van Natta
Minder Rising (Central Galactic Concordance #2) by Carol Van Natta
Zero Flux (Central Galactic Concordance #2.5) by Carol Van Natta
Pico’s Crush (Central Galactic Concordance #3) by Carol Van Natta

SERIES REVIEW

A rousing combination of science fiction space opera and romance, Central Galactic Concordance has a bit of everything without burying the flavors. In addition, many of the characters have diverse racial and ethnic traits, something Ms. Van Natta strives for. This series is a hidden gem, and should especially appeal to fans of Sharon Lee and Steve Millers Liaden Universe. Each of the books within the series works well as a stand-alone.

 

Book Cover from Amazon

Overload Flux (Central Galactic Concordance #1) by Carol Van Natta

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Two loners fighting to stay alive discover they must now save the galaxy.
The only vaccine for a deadly galaxy-wide pandemic is missing … and the only ones who may be able to find it are a powerful talent on the verge of a meltdown, and a security specialist hiding her extraordinary skills in a menial job.

Brilliant investigator Luka Foxe must act fast if he’s going to save the civilized planets of the Central Galactic Concordance. For as a pandemic sweeps across the galaxy, someone is stealing the vaccine. To make matters worse, Luka’s hidden mental talents are out of control, leaving him barely able to function in the midst of violence and a rising body count. The convoluted trail leads to a corrupt pharma industry and the possibility of an illegal, planet-sized laboratory. In the face of increasing threats, he must rely on an enigmatic, lethal woman who has secrets of her own.

Mairwen Morganthur hides extraordinary skills under the guise of a dull night-shift guard. The last thing she wants is to provide personal security for a nova-hot investigator, or to be plunged into a murky case involving sabotage, treachery, and the military covert operations division that would love to discover she’s still alive. Worse, she knows that two more deaths won’t bother their enemies one bit. Their only hope for survival is to share their darkest secrets. With everything in their universe at stake, can they learn to trust one another?

 

MY REVIEW

A Science Fiction Romance combined with Police Procedural, and the first book of the ongoing Central Galactic Concordance series made up of stand-alone stories, some concentrating on romance and some concentrating on the police procedural. The series is at four manuscripts at this time of this review and growing – three novels and one novella.

The books has a solid mix of the typical well-loved tropes of Sci-Fi and Romance. Two damaged people not looking for love but finding love which may heal them. Bonus – The love interest couple never had a moment of “should I share my feelings” angst or a moment of staged arguing to keep them apart – the circumstances of the book provide enough barriers the author does not go with the very annoying brainless high-school angst in full grown adults. This is not an instant love romance but a slow discovery with the investigation into a murder taking the primary stage. In addition, both of the adults are intelligent but have different forms of intelligence to support each other in the Police Procedural part of the story.

Other tropes include one of the romantic leads having military background, an interstellar conspiracy which will continue to unfold as the series continues, and one of my favorite tropes of psychic powers (with unique worldbuilding in how this universe deals with and uses those blessed/cursed with the powers). About halfway through the book, another beautiful sci-fi trope is added with a trip in a space ship – both the combination of the long boring travel between the stars where the romance has a chance to grow further and then the flaming reentry to the next portion of the dangerous investigation into murders on the new planet.

Ms. Van Natta has taken a lot of the typical stuff we all love about science fiction, romance, and murder mysteries, and blended it well to create a new universe for what is a promising series based on the debut novel.

 

Book Cover from Amazon

Minder Rising (Central Galactic Concordance #2) by Carol Van Natta

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

A covert agent asked to train a prodigy telepath discovers he must first keep the boy and his mother alive in a gleaming city full of danger.

An injured agent on the galactic capital planet must evade whoever is killing off his covert interrogations unit and make an impossible choice–save his own skin, or save an innocent woman and her prodigy son. Can he discover who is subverting the mission of the Citizen Protection Service, before they fulfill their dark plans?

A millennium into the future, the Citizen Protection Service tests all children for minder talents, and recruits the best. Injured agent Lièrén Sòng is recovering from a near-fatal crash in Spires, the gleaming capital city of the galaxy. He should be preparing to return to interrogating criminals for the Citizen Protection Service, but he’s made unexpected friends with a woman and her son. The boy has strong telepathic talents similar to Lièrén’s, and his attractive mother makes Lièrén long for the stability of family.

Imara Sesay works hard as a road crew chief in Spires and part-time bartender to provide for her son Derrit. For him, she even breaks her ironclad rule never to get close to a customer, when she trusts Lièrén to teach her son how to control his growing telepathic talents.

However, new fatalities in his covert unit make Lièrén suspect he isn’t a lucky survivor, he’s a loose end. He should pull away from Imara and Derrit to keep them safe. But when the local CPS Testing Center shows a more than usual interest in the boy, Lièrén must make an impossible choice–protect the boy, or run for his own life. Can he stay alive long enough to save Imara and her prodigy son?

 

MY REVIEW

A science fiction romance with political thriller mix in. The romance takes time to develop (no Instalove here) – the hero is recovering from a major injury and is staying at a hotel until he recovers enough for his next assignment, and the heroine does not do transients for love interests because of her son. It takes forever for their first kiss, but the wait of this sweet romance is worth it.

While waiting for the romance to develop, the political thriller sci-fi plot holds center stage. The second book of the Central Galactic Concordance, Minder Rising works great as a stand-alone. With very little overlap with the first book, Overload Flux, the story introduces an entirely new group of characters giving a reader a new place to stand while looking at the political issues within the Concordance universe.

I really love and identify with the hero Lieren because of his naivety and trust. He believes the best about the universe and it has bit him. I hope we see more of him as he recovers from having the blinders removed from his eyes. He is a hero worth meeting.

And the heroine is awesome as a single mother working two jobs – one at a hotel bar and the second as a construction gang leader. The description of the see-through walkways and roads for the crystal capital city (tourist attraction) which she works on as part of the road construction crew set this firmly in the sci-fi area while also grounding the fantastic with a dose of reality.

Diversification – Hero is Asian descent and Heroine is African descent (sci-fi situation).

 

Book Cover from Amazon

Zero Flux (Central Galactic Concordance #2.5) by Carol Van Natta

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

A couple investigating murder on a cold planet discovers their first challenge is staying alive. Forensic investigator Luka Foxe has begun a new life with Mairwen Morganthur (Overload Flux), and left his troubled past far behind. Only a plea from his old friend and mentor can lure him back to investigate a violent crime scene frozen in an ice cave. Unfortunately, Luka’s old friend knows far more than he’s telling, which could get them all killed, even with security specialist Mairwen on their side.

An unexpected ice fall reveals a hidden lab buried deep in a mountain and the find of a lifetime. Now someone is trying to make sure those secrets stay frozen in time, even if it means more deaths …

Hang on for a space opera murder mystery in the far reaches of deep space.

 

MY REVIEW

The novelette, Zero Flux, from the Central Galactic Concordance series revisits the characters introduced in Overload Flux. I think the novelette works as a stand-alone, but since I read this book the day after I finished Overload Flux I can’t really judge.

A science fiction police procedural with some action-adventure on the side and a breath of romance (our main characters are still deeply in love).

This time the murder mystery centers around a cold case – literally and figuratively – the murder happened over 20 years ago and has been frozen in-situ thanks to the ice planet. Several red herrings keep the reader guessing as the story unfolds, combine nicely with the danger of working in the ice and snow. Winter doesn’t like its frozen vignette being investigated and dumps several additional challenges on our hero and heroine; the cold is only the beginning.

Ms. Van Natta is doing a good job of slowly introducing readers to the Concordance universe; the worldbuilding is getting better each manuscript.

 

Book Cover from Amazon

Pico’s Crush (Central Galactic Concordance #3) by Carol Van Natta

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Trouble comes to paradise when a serial killer chooses a galaxy-famous college campus for his hunting ground. A galactic security specialist expects a quiet vacation visit to his daughter’s college campus. Instead he finds himself in battling for the safety of the students, with old friends and an ex-military squad-mate fighting at his side. Can they find a cunning serial killer before he finds his next target?

When ex-military sniper and current personal security specialist Jerzi Adams visits his daughter Pico’s quiet college on the paradise-like planet of Nila Marbela, he doesn’t expect emergency evacuations and rogue robots. Nor does he expect to renew a friendship with former squad-mate.

Explosions, sabotage, and assaults used to be Andra De Luna’s daily routine, but she gave it up for a professorship at a prestigious university. Now she’s flung back into that world, with an entire floating campus of students to protect.

When the hunt for a cunning serial killer leads Jerzi’s old friends Luka and Mairwen (Overload Flux) to town, there’s trouble in paradise as the body count starts to rise. Either the world of academia has gone from merely cutthroat to downright deadly, or more sinister forces are in conflict, with the campus as a battleground. Without an improvised miracle or two, no one’s going to make it out alive.

 

MY REVIEW

The third novel (with a side trip of a novellette as 2.5) in the Central Galactic Concordance has two romances – one older couple and one younger couple, plus both couples from the previous novels of the series. While this book could work as a standalone, I found the multiple story threads hard enough to follow knowing the complete background.

I think Ms. Van Natta bit off a little more than her present authorship skill set allowed her to work. The battle scene focuses in on each of our various characters at least once – so the battle jumps around between the seven main characters plus one of the villains. Also several minor characters are tracked, though their POV is not used. A very ambitious attempt by Ms. Natta and comes just shy of actually pulling it off seamlessly – the seam definitely shows on this one. It’s still worth buying the story even with the clunky – because she keeps the battle action constantly moving.

On the plus side, the series has had four couples and I love the fact all of the characters are different people. Even with the massive battle scene, each character’s strength and weaknesses are used. Ms. Van Natta uses each character well. Even better, some of the couples have the female be the strong, military member of the couple with the male being the thinker, and other couples have the male being the protector and the woman being the brain. And for every romance in the Concordance Universe, even with the psychic powers, we get to see the romance develop – no Instalove.

Oh and I *love* the practical engineering class and the related projects … plus the real world applications during the battle. This added bit perfectly brings the science fiction to the fantastic forefront while simultaneously grounds the story in reality.

I look forward to reading more of Ms. Van Natta’s Concordance Universe. Each book has been a different emphasis, a different romance, and another slow reveal of the worldbuilding in the Universe.

Flash: Chich-a-whoo Feathers

Erin Penn

Image by saphatthachat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“You know hon, you really should wear pants if you are going to take taxis in this part of town.” The rhino driver commented in conversational tones, when looking over her shoulder as they approached the noble’s stop, hoping not to be heard. “Or, at least, underwear,” she muttered under her breath. She did not need to know what designs the woman trimmed into her short hairs.

“What?” The noble mouthed unheard over the animal’s stamp through the wide streets set aside for transport. She likely stated in the lackadaisical accent they all adopted to imitate the spacers from the far-flung worlds of the Empire.

Saba kneed Mai-mia to a halt. “We are here, Your Eminence.” The driver quickly crawled up the steps, adjusted her skort, a combination of shorts for modesty and skirt as required by Lavinian law, thankful once again for the length exemption granted to drivers. Otherwise, with her caste, she would be covered from head to foot, long-sleeves, scarves, hat, and full undivided-skirts – who wanted to live that restricted?

Helping her client stand on the steady animal, Saba got another eyeful of boobs and butt she could have done without. She helped the Important Person down the primary steps to where the ladder started. In deference to the stature of her passenger, Saba snapped down the secondary when something startled Mai-mia, sending them both stumbling.

Saba held onto the woman’s waist, swinging her around. Using the strength she with which she could control the rhino when Mai-mia got cranky, Saba pulled her back on the animal instead of the woman falling and getting trampled. They both fell forward onto the animal’s head, with Saba spread eagle over the noble.

The weight and touches on the head behind the ear told Mai-mia to move at a trot. “Don’t move!” Saba yelled at the white dressed woman.

Of course, the noble started struggling, trying to free herself. Mai-mia interpreted the movements to run. “Don’t move!” When the woman continued, Saba sat up, straddling the woman at the waist and slugged her several times until she went unconscious.

Keeping the limp body on the rhino took every bit of skill Saba had developed transporting the morning vegetable to all the vendors on Hiss-Hot alley.

“Just like Bindle’s daily bag of melons.” Saba muttered, while touching and maneuvering around Mai-mia’s head until the animal came to a stop. Once still, Saba took in her surroundings. They were nearly to the Markers’ farm, just outside the gates. Taking out her crop, she looped both ends around the rhino’s ears indicating it should remain still, like she should have done the first time. She had gotten lazy; Mai-mia and her had been together a long time.

Once satisfied the rhino would remain in place, Saba carried the woman back to the patron seat and tied her in. Sometime her older clients and the extremely young needed the additional support. And the drunk. Mostly the drunk. Lots of drunk on her runs. Saba looked over the damage. The woman would have a black eye and several bruises across her chin, but no scratches and she shouldn’t have any scars. Most importantly, the woman was still breathing, and not coating the hooves of the rhino.

Climbing down, Saba did an even more through examination of the rhino, finding two darts, with the gray-blue-purple feathers of the Chich-a-whoo bird. The darts smelled of Hurt, the best antiseptic on the planet that lived up to its name during initial administration no matter what method was used in its application and the doctors tried everything: suave, injection, oil. The initial sting was blinding in pain, but two second later, the injury site would be numb and healing. Nearly half of the population passed out from the pain, the other half vomited. A rare individual was immune to the pain, but Saba had never met one.

“I’m so sorry, Mai-mia.” Saba rubbed her rhino’s sensitive horn. Unlike the Earth’s version of the rhino, the horns on Lavin rhino provide them the ability to predict weather, migrate, and communicate over distances. The animal moo’ed and snick’ed back, seeking comfort from its human and asking forgiveness. “I know, I know. It wasn’t your fault. Not your fault.”

Swimming up to the head seat, Saba removed the halt-crop and slid back off the animal to guide Mai-mia to a balboa grove about two hecto outside of town, the one with a pump well her caste could use for their animals. Two dramas, something that looked like a cross between a dromedary camel and a llama from old Earth, were being watered by the four youngest Marker children, between water fights.

When they ran to Mai-mia in greetings, Saba stepped between them and her animal. “Careful, she’s had a fright. Move slowly, like around old Grissizzie.”

“Someone scared Mi-mi?” Dhruv asked, the second youngest, eyes so round they barely fit in the head.

“Scared and hurt her. She needs some water.”

“We can help.” Prisha gathered her younger siblings around the pump and they all quickly went to work, as only farmer children could when things were serious. The lever swung high enough to pull the youngest two from the ground, but the combined might of the four children too young to attend school, at least for their caste, had water gushing before Mai-mia had settled enough to drink.

Climbing up her animal, Saba set the halt-crop between the ears once again, then went to inspect her passenger. Wiping the blood and grime from the noble’s face using a cloth she had wet before climbing up brought the woman around. Her eyes tracked quickly and the only reason the noble didn’t attack Saba were the restraints.

“How dare you, you banthie?!? I will have you killed for this! Do you know who I am?”

“Not a clue, Your Eminence, but next time you are on a taxi’s head and the driver say ‘Don’t move,’ I would recommend not moving.” At this point, Saba was sure she was dead, in fact, she had accepted the outcome while she was pulling the woman back to the rhino, but she hoped she could save Mai-mia to be sold to another owner and not be put down.

“You kidnapped me.” The woman pulled on her restraints.

“I did no such thing, Eminence.” Saba studied the woman’s face, neck, and exposed skin – so much exposed skin, even for the highest of castes, the woman had to be a slit-slip – for bruises; all the ones she thought would develop were developing, plus one on the arm where she vaguely remembered grabbing the woman, and one on the leg which matched the one Saba could feel on her knee where the driver had landed on the split-slip when they both tumbled onto Mai-mia’s head.

“Then, what did you do banthie?” She spat.

“Saved your life, Your Eminence.” Saba pulled the darts from where she tucked them into her belt and opened her hand so the fetching would be visible. “Might this lowly Bane of Lavin ask why the blessed creature we are on was injured in your service.”

The noble prostitute examined the damning fletching, used exclusively by the Unclassed Guild, her rare blue eyes shining with intelligence and consideration. A careful frown, one which would not add wrinkles, turned down the edges of her painted lips.

(Words 1228; First published 12/22/2019)

Flash: Dissolve

Erin Penn

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I am actually one of the people who saw someone dissolve in November ten years ago. Just out of high school, I was working a big retailer, the one with the blue words and the yellow asterisk, putting together the salt and shovel display right near the door when I saw this woman walking out. It was late at night about two weeks before Thanksgiving and the Black Friday sales so it was just me, Billy, and the store greeter.

I remember her. Normally I wouldn’t. Thousands of customer walk by me every day. Normally I wouldn’t have even been looking at her pushing the cart out the door, but the salt bags were heavy and I stood a moment to take a breather. The woman had stopped near the doors, but just short of activating them to automatically open. Outside the winter chill was conspiring with the breeze to steal people breaths. I had done cart wrangling earlier and agreed with her decision to stop and pull on her gloves. The vibrant red coat, jeans, and boots weren’t going to be enough. In fact, she should had been wearing a hat, but no one really starts wearing those until it actually snows.

I remember her because as I watched, her image unraveled. About three cart lengths from me, she dissolved into nothing, leaving behind a cart full of gifts and groceries. Her purse had been tucked under her arm, so that disappeared with her leaving us no way to trace who she was and let people know she wasn’t coming home ever again.

I gasped as had the greeter. I looked over at the old lady, and she stared back at me.

“Did you see…”

I don’t remember which one of us asked, but both of us nodded before turning to look toward the doors.

Billy looked up about then and noticed the overflowing abandoned cart and sighed. “Jeez, I hope she doesn’t expect us to load the car after she brings it around. It’s fuckin’ cold out.”

I shuttered, staring at where a human being used to exist.

The old lady proved experience sometimes is more useful than muscle. “Do you think it was caught on camera?”

“Yeah, maybe.” I replied still unable to move my eyes from the new void.

“Go get the manager Dave.”

I still couldn’t move.

“Now. Go get the manager, Dave,” she repeated. “I can’t walk that far.”

The store night manager was in the back of the store helping accounting prep tomorrow’s payday. I blinked before turning my head back to the greeter.

“Now, please,” she said firmly, nodding toward pickup and technology.

I shuffled a couple of steps, walked the next few, and before I knew it I was running faster than my gym coach had ever made me run to the back of the store away from the impossibility. The horrific impossible impossibility.

It had been caught on camera. One of the few, so you might have seen it in the internet newsreels.

Just under half a million people worldwide, according to the statisticians, disappeared in a two-hour window. That sounds like a lot until you realize 7.5 billion people lived on the planet at the time. Less than a tenth of one percent had dissolved. Less than 1 in 1,000.

So we had a bunch of conspiracy theories from the kook-branch of humanity. These people never existed, these people were abducted by aliens, the people had been picked up by the government, just to name the saner versions. My personal favorite is we went through a giant amoeba’ space fart and had a mass hallucination. The Christians, especially the Mormons, thought the Rapture had happened and wondered why they had been left behind. The Mormons settled down when the count went over 100,000 and the rest of the Protestants were willing to listen to the scientists for once.

The scientists looked to find commonality, but didn’t find any among the people they could prove were missing because of the dissolving. Statistically they were spread across the planet, for example only 16,000 people were missing from the good U. S. of A. To put that in perspective only about 400 people were missing from New York City. More people died during those two hours than disappeared. Skin color, religion, age, wealth, health, gender, location, locomotion – nothing was what the scientists called “statistically significant”.

Actually, there was one bit. No one was touching the people who disappeared. In fact, no one was within two feet of the Dissolvees. This likely saved a lot of passenger on buses and in cars, but a few people traveling solo left cars driverless. Accidents worldwide were attributed to the Dissolving.

For the first year, once the scientist figured out about the closeness rule, people held hands … a lot. And a lot of babies were born the second year because people stopped sleeping alone. Things have calmed down a bit from the extreme closeness, but I think the breaking down of the personal space barriers created by modern technology is the best unexpected benefit we had. That and the wedding business still is booming which helps the insurance business.

Now a decade later, my retail years building to me being an insurance salesman, we still don’t know what happened. Lots of speculation, but no one knows the real answer to the most important of the burning questions: will it happen again?

Which is why I am standing in my old store staring at the space where the woman had dissolved  … her name was Shelby Lowe. We found the receipt she had taken out to show the greeter and had left with her groceries and traced her back on her debit card. She left behind three children and a boyfriend.

Those of us who were Witnesses all do this. Visit and stare. Not often, but my wife knows where to find me when I don’t come home from work on time.

(words 997; first published 12/15/2019)

Flash: Orchid Monks

Erin Penn 2 Comments

Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Worm-hole was nearly complete. Vincent looked longingly at the caffeine pot set to start as soon as the power returned to general colony control. In the meantime, he activated the final exchange, this one directed to their sister colony in the MarkNineZebra sector.

“Oh thank the Grounds it is finally Wednesday. Everest, you got to help us!”

The communication specialist jumped in his chair at the unexpected verbal contact. His hands danced over the control console to activate the microphone. “What is wrong, my friend?”

“We have an infestation of those orchid monks. Already glass structures have been raised. How did you get rid of them?”

“Ah, let me send you the contact information for the extractor we hired.” After calling up the contact IP, Vincent quickly tacked on the databit to the agricultural exchange, marking his addition for immediate unravel.

The wormhole exchange and quantum computers provided instantaneous information transfer. “G-G-Grounds and Air! You hired a dark mercenary.” The woman at the other end sputtered with shock.

“I know, I know. But we tried everything and only this worked” Vincent reassured eyeing the information exchange countdown. Only seconds remained. “Use him, please. Yu’gl and only Yu’gl can prevent florist friars.”

(Words 201; first published 11/17/2019)

Flash: I Am Prophecy – Part 4

Erin Penn

“Hey mom … pops.” Vixen hurried past her parental holograms on the way to the breakfast her mother had programmed. She frowned at the biscuit, soft boiled egg and clumps of tricolor berries. The breakfast hadn’t varied in four days. Past, present, future blinked. The countertop grounded her in the now until her timeline realigned.

Oh, momma, is it really that bad?

“Is that anyway to greet your mother?”

Taking the plate and eating utensils to the table from the nutrition dispenser, Vixen baited the woman on the other side of the world before sitting at the one real chair at the table. “You didn’t complain when Gina did it.”

Foxhole’s premiere female fatale of Length stories, one-shot entertainment video narratives between two and three hours often shown in group situations like the old movies of Earth, pulled out a chair and sat, the hologram program overlay transposing whatever milieu she was in to the kitchen in the personal module where Vixen lived. “Really, Environmental Fail? When did you manage to get past the age protections on that? … And Gina was killed in the next scene for not respecting her parents’ instructions.”

“Mom, it is only restricted from the concrete thinkers. I’ve been rated abstract for over five years.” Vixen shoveled food in, trying to make up for lost time.

Father’s hologram lacked interaction since he was still on circuit. He left a placeholder with a half-eaten plate of food in front of him, distracted from eating by the fan twisted open with whatever news or laws he was reviewing. Not far from how he would be if he was really there, though he would be demanding the half-helm be removed. “People need to see you more than you need to be connected,” he would say. Still, he was one to talk since he was never without a fan, snapping it open and close constantly to study esoteric laws from hundreds of worlds and outposts as his brain danced from one problem to another.

“It’s restricted to parental review for the non-citizen. And I know I have made certain all of the fictional parental review programs are locked, even if you father unlocked all the non-fiction.”

“Yeah mom, you need to talk to him about that. I stumbled over the Coord Outpost Full Recreate yesterday studying for today’s test.” Vixen shuttered dramatically while returning the plate for disposal. “Cannibalism, and other ick. Really didn’t need that in my head in vivid smell and space-time color. What the heck rating did that have? You were in it, so I know you got to know.”

“Citizen only, with verified mental stability of three or above.”  Tamatha sighed. “I am not going to win that argument, and neither are you. Not with your father. Now, let me see.”

Caught with her hand on the door, nearly fully recovered from time lost at the closet, Vixen shoulders slumped and she turned.

(words 488; first published 11/3/2019)