Tag: spsfc2

  • Review: The Last Gifts of the Universe

    Review: The Last Gifts of the Universe

    A little foreword: I read this last July (2022) and only put my review up on Goodreads at the time. Now, The Last Gifts of the Universe is through to the SPSFC2 finals I thought it best to have a copy here too!


     

    It is hard to write a review that is more than just “CAT IN SPAAAAAAAAAACE” for this book. Pumpkin (the cat) is clearly MVP of the story but, as a cat-lover, I might be biased. It’s also brilliant to see a non-binary main character who isn’t an alien. So there’s two reasons to hype this book up.

    The Last Gifts of the Universe is a bit of a slice-of-life sci-fi that follows Scout, their brother Kieran and Pumpkin the space cat, as they scour the universe for caches containing information from civilisations that came before – hoping that one day there will be something on what wiped out everyone and everything else. On one seemingly average mission, they discover a cache that hints at knowing what the big-bad enemy was but they are interrupted in their recovery of it by corporate mercenaries intent on copywriting it all and shoving it behind a paywall. Not being particularly well-equipped to fight off super soldiers Scout and Kieran lose the first cache but get enough from it to pinpoint the next one in the series.

    What follows is a series of mad-dash races to see who gets to each next cache first, as Scout desperately tries to reason with the corpo-goons that this is information that needs to be free. The reason behind the end of all civilisation isn’t something to be hidden away for only the wealthy to access.

    In between these confrontations Scout, Kieran and Pumpkin get on with their jobs aboard their ship, The Waning Crescent, and spend their downtime with video games, TV serials and pizza. In their exploring of what little cache data they saved, Scout finds a recording from Blyreena, who made a last stand against the encroaching darkness hundreds of year before. Will Scout find answers in Blyreena’s last words?

    Besides the cat in adorable space-booties and the exquisite normalising of a non-binary character, The Last Gifts of the Universe presents some excellently thought-out themes that will engage you, while the characters keep you coming back for more. It’s about ends and beginnings, loss and hope, and fighting for what you believe in and those you love. Adeptly balanced with action and cosy vibes, this is a must-read for sci-fi aficionados.

  • SPSFC 2: Semi-Finalists Announcement

    SPSFC 2: Semi-Finalists Announcement

    Over the past few months, team Wayward Stars have been working our way through the books allocated to us at the start of SPSFC. Now we’re at the end of Phase Two where we can announce our Top 3 books – our semi-finalists! Below is each of the books with their blurbs to expand a little on what they’re about.

    Tropical Punch (Bubbles in Space, #1) by S.C. Jensen

    Woman with pink hair and a cybernetic arm half turned towards the viewer

    Strippers, Drugs, and Headless Corpses

    All in a day’s work for Bubbles Marlowe, HoloCity’s only cyborg detective.

    What do an anti-tech cult, a deadly new street drug, and the corrupt Chief of Police have in common?

    It’s a question Bubbles can’t afford to ask. Last time she got curious it cost her job, a limb, and almost her life.

    She vows to stay out of police business. But with a newly minted cybernetic enhancement, a semi-legal P.I. license, and a knack for asking the wrong kind of questions… Vows are made to be broken, right?

    When a seemingly straightforward contract takes a dark turn, heads literally roll. Unless she wants to take the fall for the murders Bubbles needs to cut town on the double. Too bad she’s flat broke.

    And now, she’s being hunted.

    In a world where dreams can be made real for the right kind of dough, nothing is as it seems. One thing is clear, though. The dream is becoming a nightmare.

    As the body count stacks up, Bubbles realizes she’s made a terrible mistake.

    Can she figure out who is behind the murders before she loses her head?

     

    The Clarity of Cold Steel by Kevin Wright

    Steampunk skull with a top hat

    Mortise Locke, the Machine City, last bastion of mankind in all its fallen glory, where the sum total of life is cheaper than in part.

    A poor kid wrung from the city’s dregs has been abducted.

    His family’s lost all hope.

    Enter Detective Singh, gumshoe legend in his own mind and maybe — just maybe — a few others. He’s the bloodhound loosed on the kid’s trail, and it’s clear from the get-go that someone wants this hound put down. And they ain’t shy about it. Killers keep coming.

    And the clock keeps ticking…

    Can Detective Singh navigate the labyrinth of Mortise Locke’s criminal underworld? Can he follow the trail? Can he dodge death in its pantheon of incarnations to finally find the missing kid?

    And if he does find him, will he wish he hadn’t?

     

    Titan Hoppers by Rob J. Hayes

    Long haired person with two swords and armour poses atop a rock

    Courage Iro will shatter the Gates of Power to protect his fleet.

    Born talentless, Iro has all but resigned himself to a life of drudgery, watching his sister hop across to the massive space titan for supplies. But when the titan explodes and his sister is killed, Iro finds a new determination to take her place. He’s not about to let weakness prevent him.

    When the fleet encounters a new titan, filled with powerful monsters, deadly traps, and mysterious cloaked figures, Iro is the first to spontaneously manifest a new talent. Now sent to a different ship, to train with others far beyond his strength, Iro will have to train twice as hard just to catch up.

    To protect his fleet, and to uncover the mysteries of the titans, Iro won’t just open the Gates of Power. He’ll break them.


    Check out our Team Leader, The Shaggy Shepherd’s, announcement post to see a break down of the scores. To keep up to date with the rest of the competition and see more Semi-Finalist announcements, keep an eye on the SPSFC website!

  • SPSFC 2: Intro

    SPSFC 2: Intro

    As I mentioned in my last post, I have joined up with some fellow book bloggers as a judging team for SPSFC 2! What is it though? It is a competition (free to enter) for self-published sci-fi novels, where 300 are whittled down to one winner. It’s the same format as Mark Lawrence’s SPFBO and is run/organised by Hugh Howey and Duncan Swan. There are 10 teams of judges, we each get a selection of books to read and recommend; then we later swap our top 3 with other teams until there’s a group of finalists. For full details, please check out the official site here.

    We are team Wayward Stars and Jamedi put together a post over on his site to introduce the team: https://vueltaspodcast.wordpress.com/2022/08/19/introducing-wayward-stars-spsfc2/ 

    He has also handily put together a Goodreads’ shelf including all of our team’s phase one slush pile: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/179207.SPSFC2_Wayward_Stars

    Before reading officially begins all teams were asked to put forward 10 covers from their allocation for the Cover Contest, which is now open for public votes! Check out the covers and rate them online here: https://pollunit.com/polls/l5bh0v3k1tetxl-4ja0r4a

    That’s all for this quick introduction to the contest – I will be back soon to show you my list of allocations for phase one.

    Take care & keep reading!