Ready to blast off for some Sci-Fi Summer reading!

With the fast approach of our first big hot weather holiday weekend, the time has come for Seasons of Reading’s Sci-Fi Summer readathon sign-ups to begin!

As hosted by Michelle Miller, this readathon is meant to be science fiction centric with fantasy also included in the mix. Usually, my TBR for this event is mostly fantasy forward but this year, all of my books for this challenge are definitely Category: Science Fiction!

My first pick was a rummage sale find that instantly caught my eye; a Star Wars novel by Dave Wolverton entitled The Courtship of Princess Leia.

This story is set in the aftermath of the original film trilogy where despite achieving a major victory against the Empire, the rebels are still fighting some of the last remnants of the former regime.

Leia has the opportunity to bring a major power player to their side but the Queen Mother of that realm insists that Leia marry her son Prince Isoldar as the price for that bargain.

Before she makes her decision on that, Han talks Leia into a mission on distant planet Dathomir, which is just an excuse for him to win her over romantically. Luke winds up forming an alliance with Isoldar to track them down in the interest of peace and all of this leads to trouble and chaos in more ways than one.

As a Star Wars fan, this just looks like fun and I’ve heard that it’s very entertaining to say the least. I really haven’t gotten into the Star Wars novels(quite the vast universe there) but Princess Leia is my all time favorite character from SW and her romance with scruffy nerf herder Han Solo is one for the ages, so how could I resist?:

Next up is one of my recent Aardvark selections that I decided to save for this occasion. Love Galaxy is a debut novel by Sierra Branham that takes reality romance shows to new intergalactic heights.

Artemis is struggling to keep her mother alive on the trash haul planet they reside on when a chance encounter with royalty gets her an invitation to participate in the title competition to win the heart of Prince Nix.

The money she can receive for taking part in this contest would be more than enough to help her mother and improve their lives yet it’s not the only reason that Artemis is willing to say yes. The prince’s sister Spielan is another serious inducement as well.

As the competition goes on, things become more complicated as the mysterious death of another contestant may have political implications that threatens to endanger all involved. Can Artemis keep her focus on what’s going on or should she get out before her time is prematurely up?

This book is the first in a series that does sound great and I love the genre blending that should make for a tasty sci-fi cocktail with a splash of strawberry storytelling flavor:

To round this reading pile out, I went with another Aardvark book that may require me to do a classic reread for my own personal refresher needs.

K.M. Farjado’s Local Heavens takes The Great Gatsby and sets that table at a cyberpunk party in New York of 2075.

Here, Nick Caraway takes on a corporate espionage job that brings him into the path of his unhappily married cousin Daisy who happens to be the former love interest of his target, mysterious billionaire Jay Gatsby.

Using his skills in cyberspace, Nick becomes heavily invested in reuniting Jay and Daisy, especially with the encouragement given by their new friend Jordan whose interest in body modification goes beyond his professional athlete status. However, the price for such high tech matchmaking is higher than any being ever imagined.

While I’m not the biggest F. Scott Fitzgerald fan, this new spin on his iconic tale of ambition and class is inspiring me to not only to read this book but to take the original novel out for a spin again. 

It may not be necessary to do a Gatsby reread(only read it the once a long time ago)to enjoy Farjado’s debut here yet it just might be a nice background soundtrack for this reimagining indeed:

The Sci-Fi Summer readathon starts on June 1 and there’s a special three day reading event for Juneteenth scheduled (for more details, I have a link to the SOR sign-up section in the first paragraph of this post ) and there’s plenty of time to join in the bookish fun this summer season.

Next week, I’m taking a mini blog break due to Memorial Day weekend so I will see you all in June. Until then, it’s good to remember that despite the increasing chaos out in the wider world-as well as too close for comfort at home-that we do need to take some time out to enjoy a little bit of life as much as we can.

You don’t have to make elaborate plans either; my big holiday expectations are to watch a new comedy special by Josh Johnson and to finally get to watch Maggie  Gyllenhaal’s wild ride with Mary Shelley in The Bride! 

This Frankenstein meets Bonnie & Clyde movie is probably going to be a mixed bag of media delights at best but I suspect there is plenty of freaky fun to be had here. Plus, this mad science romp should be a nice way to get my Sci-Fi Summer off to a roaring start: