Review: The Family Buisness

BUY HERE

 I was given an advance reader copy. Opinions are my own. I received my copy at Dragon Con last year during a panel with Baen Books. If you are not familiar with Baen, you should be. Their stuff is tremendous. Great authors, great stories. All fun pulp reads. Mostly sci-fi. Haven't had a bad title yet. In fact, I always go to their panels at conventions because they give away free reads. They have a bunch up fornt to select form and offer trivia. They also always ask first responders (me), active service, vets, and police to come up and get one as a thank you. Great company and great products.

VISIT BAEN HERE - TOTALLY WORTH IT!!

Here is my review. It is short and sweet. 

Didn't want to give away some cool twists on the more familiar tropes:

Good story with a great set-up / premise. I know series are all the rage, but I enjoyed the stand alone novel. Fun, action packed once you get fifty or so pages in, and some good twists. It is set not only after the horrible alien invasion but after us earthlings battle back. A world where history changes the possibilities of the present, including new abilities like physical or mental enhancements. People are still people though and Kupari writes them well.

Review: Mandalay Hawk's Dilema

 

"Tom Hawk had come to accept that his daughter - his very smart and very motivated, but extremely unprepared daughter - was going to try to march to Washington without any plan or parental support"

I was given a copy of this book for review. You can find my review and original book image at 

https://www.amazon.com/Mandalay-Hawks-Dilemma-United-Anthropocene/dp/1732077533/

"Tom Hawk had come to accept that his daughter - his very smart and very motivated, but extremely unprepared daughter - was going to try to march to Washington without any plan or parental support"

Mandalay suffers through a hurricane, leading her to the impetuous action of burning a bunch of school property (donated by an electric company). What follows is her journey to activate her generation for climate change. It read much like The Day After Tomorrow watched - singular agenda driven. All characters are defined by the main thrust of the book: environmental issues. From Mandalay's red lipstick message WE READ: "THEY CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING-LIKE ALL POWER COMPANIES USING FOSSIL FUEL!! HOW STUPID CAN WE BE? IF WE DON'T STOP GLOBAL WARMING NOW, IT WILL BE TOO LATE! IT WILL MAKE THE PANDEMIC OF 2020 LOOK LIKE A PICNIC IN THE PARK!!!... ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! THIS CR** HAS TO STOP NOW!!!" It is ALL CAPS, bold face here matching the text in the book.

There is a great scene early on between Mandalay and Gertrude where Gertrude asks, "please tell me how you and your friends plan on saving the world." The response made me chuckle, "Nothing embarrasses a kid more than having their own words or actions shoved right back in their face."

I suppose time will tell if books such as these can help us change collectively in such a way as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle once did for the meat industry. Here, marches, rap songs (I was ill prepared for Mandalay as an eloquent rapper), and rooftop gardens are the proposed solutions, leaving this reader to close the book feeling preached at without any discernable path forward.

I was given a copy for review.

Review: MD Cooper's Outsystem

I met Cooper at a convention this past year. She was pleasant enough and enjoyable to talk about the craft of writing. She writes a very niche genre: Military Sci-Fi with lesbian protagonists. The book is one of her first and stars one of her major characters: Tannis. The author is super prolific with hundreds of books published in the sci-fi world she has created. 

There is actually a pretty cool KDP (Amazon Authors) video interview worth watching if you are interested in how authors can make it through independent publishing. One well respected system is definitely the "Put lots of stuff out there." More notably, I see theories like "20 books to $20,000" or similar titles. Cooper seems to have made it work for her and kudos. 

See her interview HERE

My Review on Amazon:

 A cocky protagonist saves the space colony from a nuclear explosion. What follows is a mystery / conspiracy laden sleuth in space with cyborg body parts, tech and AI. There is some character development but the real reason to get on this rollercoaster is for the non-stop thrills. The author writes excellent action scenes that put you in the moment.