Mark A: Garland and Charles G. McGraw: Star Trek: Voyager: Ghost of a Chance

The seventh Star Trek: Voyager book.

Publication year: 1996

Page count: 337

Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment

Format: print

Both Commander Chakotay and Captain Janeway see dreams, or visions, of an unknown alien race that is faced with a catastrophe. The Voyager arrives at a new system that has a dwarf star. The ship is badly damaged. They go on an orbit around a nearby planet but the planet, Drenard Four, is protected by radiation so Voyager’s sensors are diminished. But they can still detect powerful energy readings from the planet, even though the population seems to be pre-industrial. However, the readings fluctuate a lot. Also, powerful planetquakes will probably tear the planet apart.

An alien ship, belonging to a species called the Televek, is orbiting the planet. They claim that they can help rebuild the Voyager and are interested in helping the Drenarians. However, Neelix knows that the Televek are arms merchants known to escalate war so that they can sell arms to all sides. The Televek send three ambassadors to negotiate. The ambassadors appear very charming and convincing.

This was an okay Star Trek book. Janeway is faced with two difficult problems: if she should trust the Televek and how to help the Drenadians.

Chakotay and Janeway are the main POV characters and we get brief POVs from Kim, Paris, and Torres, as well. While we didn’t get much POV from Torres, she had a lot to do and was perhaps best written from the crew. This was written for the first season.

 

Elizabeth Peters: Die For Love

A stand-alone mystery in the Jacqueline Kirby mystery series.

Format: Audio

Length: 9 hours 13 minutes

Publication year: 1984

Narrated by: Grace Colin

Jacqeline Kirby is a librarian from Nebraska. She’s bored with her life and her lover, so she heads to New York City to the annual Historical Romance Writers of the World convention. She hasn’t read many romances but her lover thoughtfully gives her two best-sellers to read during her flight. In NYC, she meets quirky characters, one old friend, and eventually, someone is murdered. Except that the death looks like natural causes so not everyone is convinced that the person was murdered. Jacqueline is on the case.

Peters clearly had a lot of fun writing this one. She wrote romances and she’s clearly been to romance conventions. She created a lot of quirky characters. Among them is a best-selling writer who is very afraid that someone will recognize her because she’s a literature teacher. She believes her academic career would be over. Another is a journalist who is trying to dig up dirt about the writers because romance books promote rape and oppress women. Another is a rare male romance writer who is young and handsome and the fans won’t leave him alone. Of course, there’s also an agent who takes more than her own share from the writers’ earnings and is blackmailing some of them.

This is a cozy mystery, so not fast-paced. The murder happens around halfway through the book. Still, this was an entertaining read even though not as good as the Amelia Peabody books. Jacqueline is an independent woman and doesn’t rely on anyone else. She carries a handbag that seems to contain half the world.

The narrator pronounces Jacqueline’s name the way that an American would, rather than a French. This is the third book in the series but can be read as a stand-alone.

 

Nancy Holder: Queen of the Slayers

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer book set right after the end of the last episode.

Publication year: 2005

Page count: 337

Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment

Format: print

Buffy, her friends, and the surviving young Slayers are on a bus, heading away from Sunnydale which has collapsed because the Hellmouth exploded. Buffy is upset because she just saw Spike die as well as Anya and a dozen of the young Slayers. However, someone runs in front of the bus and when Kennedy tries to dodge her, the bus falls to its side and catches fire. Buffy helps evacuate others from the bus.

The girl who ran in front of the bus is scared and confused and Buffy thinks that she’s a new Slayer. The whole group needs a place to stay and rest. Fortunately, a local sheriff helps them. Unfortunately, during the night Buffy comes face-to-snout with the local hostile supernatural creatures. After a tough fight, she’s victorious.

The group needs to decide where they will go next. There’s still a Hellmouth in Cleveland. Faith, Robin Wood, and some young Slayers head there. Buffy and the rest of the gang will go to England to meet with the Watchers’ Council.

Meanwhile, Hell wants Buffy’s blood. The Hellgod Janus and three other hellish gods team up to bring down not just Buffy but the Earth.

Buffy argues with the head of Watchers’ Council, Sir Nigel. He wants to keep the new Slayers subservient to the Watchers and Buffy disagrees. However, Sir Nigel tells her that there is a big group of new Slayers in France, staying with a mysterious man called the Immortal. Buffy doesn’t like the sound of that so she, Xander, Willow, and a new Slayer called Belle head there while Giles stays with the Council. But one of the Immortal’s sorcerers is scheming against Buffy and the other Slayers.

Meanwhile, the Hellmouth is spewing demons out and Faith has her hands full in Cleveland.

This was a fun continuation of the TV show. However, it feels a little disjointed when the group splits up in different directions. In fact, it feels like a plot arch for a season with two main bad-guy groups. I enjoyed the Hellgods but I loved the two other main big bads (I won’t spoil them here) and the short snippets about their history. Unfortunately, most of the villain chapters are from the POV of their servant whom I didn’t like. Sometimes months go past between chapters. That adds to the fell of a seasonal arch. Also, a lot of young Slayers die so the story felt more bloodthristy than a usual Buffy story.

Kennedy and Willow break up at the beginning which was a disappointment for me. Otherwise, the characters felt a lot like themselves. We also get a lot of new characters.

The final chapters felt quite rushed and the ending left some big questions unanswered.

 

Dean Wesley Smith: Ball of Confusion

An Earth Protection League stand-alone SF novella.

Publisher: WMG Publishing

Publishing year: 2021

Format: ebook

Wordcount from Amazon: 112

Friday ”Disco” Franks is 86 years old. He used to be a businessman but a couple of years ago he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed. He lives in an old folk home. He has his eye on Emma Dakota who is just a couple of years younger but a volunteer at the home. They talk and hit it off. Emma is attracted to Friday, as well.

However, Friday has a secret: he’s a starship captain in the EPL. Very few people on Earth know about the ELP and they want to keep it that way. But Friday is convinced that Emma, a former pilot and a smart woman, would make a great recruit. It’s hard to convince modern people that Earth has a spacefaring protection league so it’s just easier to show. Friday asks Emma if he can take her with him and she agrees but later has almost decided not to go. However, when two young military women appear at Emma’s door, she hesitates. But in the end, she’s curious enough to agree to go with them.

In a moment she’s aboard a spaceship and the women explain to her what is going on. Essentially, when humans travel faster than light speed, their bodies become younger so EPL recruits only old people for missions away from Earth. The people’s minds and experiences remain the same. They also return within 15 minutes of leaving. But if they die in space, the EPL will leave a duplicate body in their stead.

This mission takes Friday and Emma to the edge of EPL space. A spaceship shaped like a big metal ball is heading toward Earth and it will reach Earth in a year. Based on its trajectory, it has come from outside our galaxy. It’s the size of Jupiter. Friday and Emma must investigate.

This was a fun exploration SF novella. It also has a mind kind of romance. Friday and Emma get together early in the story and then work together happily to solve the mysteries! Yes! No misunderstandings, no jealousy, no other romantic interests. We meet a couple of Friday’s crew and they’re also highly trained professionals who are doing their jobs.

I really enjoyed reading this and I will read others in the series. However, it seems that the others have other main characters. It’s a shame because I would have liked to read the further adventures of Friday and Emma.

 

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith: Crimes Collide vol. 1

This collection has twenty crime/mystery short stories from the two authors.

Publisher: WMG Publishing

Publishing year: 2022

Format: ebook

Wordcount from Amazon: 380

These stories have the theme of light or cozy crime. Four stories are fantasy and one SF but most don’t have any SFF elements.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Stomping Mad: Among the SF fans, Spade is known as a man who solves mysteries and crimes. But now in the First Annual Jurassic Parkathon, he is faced with perhaps the strangest case of his unofficial career. A woman has been murdered in one of the con suits. She was not well-liked so there are a lot of suspects. But if Spade can’t solve the case, the first Dinocon will be the last.

Murder, She Workshopped: The main character (whose name we don’t get to know) kills magical creatures for a living. The creatures are evil and impersonate humans. This time, the MC is going after a writer, Margarite. Whenever Margarite comes to a writing workshop, someone dies and Margarite makes a bestselling book out of the tragedy. The MC’s client thinks that Margarite kills the unfortunate person so the MC is going to kill whatever creature Margarite really is. The MC poses as a writer.

Eating it, too: Sophie is an excellent cook and her husband Harold never misses a meal. Then Sophie finds out something very disturbing.

Second Fiddle: Detective Ned Zalenski is very good at catching criminals. So, when his boss decides to bring in an outside consultant to the newest case, Ned resents that. The consultant in question is Sherlock Holmes, brought to the 1990s by a time machine. Ned doesn’t believe that Holmes has anything to contribute because Holmes is so out of touch. When Holmes does notice something Ned didn’t, Ned’s resentment only grows.

Nutball Season: A white-haired old man walks into Officer Nick Mantino’s office and complains that a woman intends to shoot him. The old man must visit the woman’s child because he visits every child on Christmas Eve. Nick, of course, thinks that he’s nuts. However, Nick agrees to meet the woman.

Doubting Thomas: When Thomas was a little boy, he saw three Santas break into his neighbor’s house. Neither his parents nor the police believed him. Ever since then, he has been convinced that Santa is actually a criminal organization that has managed a very clever ploy. This year, he’s going to prove it.

An Incursion of Mice: Longhaired Wall T, who used to be a show cat, now runs a tight household with two human servants and four other cats. When some of the other cats tell him about mice incursion, he must investigate. But he’s not going to like what he will find.

The Poop Thief: Portia runs a shop that sells familiars to magical people. Familiars are an important part of being able to do effective magic. However, Portia finds out something disturbing.

Scheduling Conflict: A woman calls Detective Riley Scott claiming that she has robbed a bank. Most likely it’s a hoax, but the police can’t just ignore the call. So Riley and his partner Dan head to the bank. Nobody has robbed it. Riley is frustrated but he can’t get her sexy voice from his mind. Then she calls again.

The Perfect Man: After moving to San Francisco, Paige has been lonely. She has a couple of female friends but it’s been a couple of years since her last date. Ironically, as a romance writer she writes about ideal men all the time. Now, she’s heading for a blind date. However, she quickly realizes that her date knows her books and is an obsessive fan. She leaves as soon as possible but he won’t leave her alone.

Dean Wesley Smith

Sprinkle on a Memory: Jason decorates cookies with his wife and daughter. The red sprinkles bring to mind how he murdered his first wife decades ago. But he also has memories of living with his first wife for decades.

Miss Smallwood’s Goodies: Someone brought a lifelike, naked, blue statue of a woman into one of Orgeon’s parks. The city asks Pilgrim Hugh to find out who did it.

The Remarkable Way She Died: Retired detectives Debra Pickett and Sarge Carson are looking into a cold case. Connie died in the middle of a street, standing up. There were no marks on her body.

A Life in Whoopees: Ben is 72 years old and he has had five whopee moments in his life. Some people don’t get even one. He tells us about the five moments.

A Bad Day for the Dream: Thirty years ago Becky went on a date and wasn’t seen since. Now, her body has turned up in the desert. The Cold Poker Gang are on the case.

Mated from the Morgue: Debbie is in the morgue. She can’t move and has been declared dead. However, she’s alive and conscious.

I Killed the Clockwork Key: An eerie Bryant Street story.

Half a Clue: Vicki was a lawyer and she vanished without a trace from her house 15 years ago. Now retired detectives Debra Pickett and Sarge Carson are looking into her case again.

The Case of the Man Who Saw: Pilgrim Hugh is again called to solve a strange case. A man claims that he was trying to help an accident victim but nobody else saw the victim on the road and there’s no blood.

Under the Skin of Death: Retired detectives Debra and Sarge are looking into another cold case. This time a woman’s mummified and burned body is found from the ruins of Moulin Rouge.

These stories show the difference between Rusch and Smith’s writing styles. Rusch writes longer stories and they sometimes have a melancholy air. Her ten stories take up 67% of the collection. Smith writes shorter, funnier, sexier, and punchier stories.

This collection has four stories from his Cold Poker Gang series where a group of retired police detectives solve cold cases in Las Vegas. I’ve read the first book in that series and it was quite entertaining.

Personally, I prefer Rusch’s style and stories but I also liked Smith’s stories. My favorites were Murder, She Workshopped, Poop Thief, and Second Fiddle

 

Crystal Sarakas and Rhondi Salsitz ed.: Shattering the Glass Slipper

Fifteen short stories that reimagine fairy tales in fantasy and science fiction settings.

Publisher: Zombies Need Brains LLC

Publishing year: 2022

Format: ebook

Wordcount from GoodReads: 324

Marie Brennan: Two for the Path: The main character, a former queen, finds a message in a bottle that asks for help. Even though the message is from her stepdaughter who lives with cruel men in a forest, the main character is determined to help her. This was a wonderfully strange take on Snow White.

Lucia Iglesias: A Bracelet of Blood and Hair: The main character is an exceptional sorceress and she makes dresses and suits for her siblings. When the Queen announces that her son has to marry, the MC walks to the Queenwood for inspiration for a gown that will dazzle the Prince. She gets that but she also sees the Prince dancing with a strange woman by lake. The next day, that woman is betrothed to the Prince. However, the woman is far from happy and the main character is moved to help her.

Alyse Winters: Not the Youngest, Nor the Prettiest, But Someone Else: Else is the middle girl out of three; her elder sister is the practical one and her younger sister is the prettiest. When a white bear, who is of course an enchanted prince, comes to court Else’s youngest sister, the family is aghast. But they’re also poor.

Rebecca A. Demarest: #BeYourSelfie: Leigh has taken care of her sister ever since their parents died. Hannah is scatterbrained but kind. However, Leigh is almost out of money, so when the owner of the OmniFairest makes an offer of employment, she can’t refuse. And the owner wants to send her new tech mirror/app to Leigh and Hannah to experiment. And the owner won’t take no for an answer.

R.J. Blain: The Twenty-fifth Bean: Jack has done twenty-four missions for a giant. The missions have ranged from dangerous to life-threatening. However, the giant has kept his part of the bargain and Jack and his parents are now very wealthy. But now it’s time for the last, twenty-fifth mission. Jack plants the bean, watches it grow, and hopes he will survive. The story has a great whimsical tone.

Miyuki Jane Pinckard: The Crane: The main character’s natural form is a crane but she can turn into a human. She’s caught in a net and captured by a round-eyed man who steals her feathered cloak so that she can’t turn into a crane again. She offers to make him a cloak that will be just as beautiful if he lets her go. He agrees but after she makes the cloak, he keeps her in captivity, weaving more cloaks out of her feathers and blood.

Rachel Swirsky: Time is a Secret Door: The main character sits underneath the Space Needle. An older, blind man tells him a story about his days working in the Needle. The older man found a secret door.

Angela Rega: Harvest: A couple of months ago, Hedda found a magic wand. Her pension is small, so she started to use it to grant other people’s wishes. She can’t grant her own wishes. However, now the fairy godmother has found her and wants her wand back. But Hedda gets one chance: if she can make magic without the wand, she doesn’t need to go to prison. Hedda has no choice but to try to change the life of a young woman who lives on the nearby farm, taking care of her mother. This was a wonderfully humorus tale.

Alethea Kontis: Dear Auntie Star: Star manages to escape the clutches of an evil wizard and takes with her his teleporting ring and a raven who is an enchanted princess. Star starts two missions: she frees other prisoners with the ring and also answers letters from people who are in trouble. The letters come from various fairy tale characters.

Y.M. Pang: Bride of the Blue Manor: Lady Asha is the new bride of Lord Regeus. She wanted to be the leader of her house and trained for it, too, but the birth of a younger brother took that away from her. Now, she wants to find out what happened to Lord Regeus’s previous three wives. On her wedding night, he attacks her but she manages to defend herself. He overpowers her but offers a bargain: she will pretend to be his wife in public and she will live. Reluctantly, she agrees but only to find out everything she can about her new husband who doesn’t seem to be human.

Patricia Bray: The Goblin King: Hypatia and Tom Miller want to expand their bakery. The only one who agrees to invest in them is the narcissistic and eccentric billionaire Jasper King. However, King wants not just a share in the bakery but also Hypatia’s services as his social media manager. Tom is elated but Hypatia is suspicious: King is known as a shark and not interested in socially conscious companies, such as the bakery. She’s right: he changes the contract after signing.

Cat Rambo: The Six of Them: Anise was one of the best pattern trackers in the army. Now, she has been sacked and she’s destitute. Her best chance is to challenge their grace the king. But she can’t do it alone.

Rhondi Salsitz: The Seven Princesses and Two Dukes: King Abbott’s wife, a war general, has been held prisoner for years. He and his seven daughters have been paying the ransom in installments and are nearly destitute. Then the Fairy offer him a deal: they won’t attack and will even give a lot of money in exchange for the princesses in marriage. The king wants to refuse but his daughters have plans of their own.

R.Z. Held: Ashes of Cinnamon Fire: Cordelia is the youngest of three sisters: her eldest sister Honor is a fighter, while Grace learns from books. Cordelia has excellent skills at running a household but nobody acknowledges that. When their father has a competition between them to see who should inherit the kingdom, Cordelia decides to win it to show them that she shouldn’t be just dismissed.

José Pablo Iriarte: The Tale of Jordan and Atheny: Jordan has been sent to a faraway monastery in the hope that the monks can cure his strange affliction. His twin sister Atheny goes with him. But when they return to their home, a witch has taken over the king and everything is strange.

These were delightful tales. I didn’t recognize all of the original tales but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment. My favorites were Dear Auntie Star, Not the Youngest, not the Fairest but Somebody Else, and Seven Princesses and Two Dukes.

 

2024 Mount TBR Challenge

Once again, I’m trying to lower my many TBR piles and I’m joining Mount TBR challenge. My goal is 12 books or Peake’s Peak.

Mount TBR 2024 challenge post.

Books read

1, Crystal Sarakas and Rhondi Salsitz ed.: Shattering the Glass Slipper

2, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith: Crimes Collide vol. 1

3, Dean Wesley Smith: Ball of Confusion

4, Nancy Holder: Queen of the Slayers

5, Elizabeth Peters: Die For Love

6,