This Sci-Fi Summer was a buttery popcorn bucket of reads

 

So, for the first time in my participation in Seasons of Reading’s Sci-Fi Summer readathon, all of my books were science fiction (I’m more of a fantasy fan) and it was quite the rocket ship ride indeed.

First up was a Star Wars novel by Dave Wolverton, The Courtship of Princess Leia. Set in the aftermath of the original trilogy, Leia is an ambassador seeking allies to help fight off the last remaining enemies from the former Empire and a very powerful star system ruled by a Queen is willing to make a deal.

Trouble is, one of the conditions is for Leia to marry her son, Prince Isolder, and eventually become queen herself as this is a matriarchal society. While it’s a tempting offer in more ways than one, Han Solo naturally has his own ideas about that arrangement.

This all leads to Han grabbing Leia and flying off to a remote planet that he just won in a poker game. As luck would have it, Luke Skywalker is also interested in this particular planet due to reports of “Jedi witches” living there and he joins Prince Isolder in going after them.

Now, I have to say that since this book was written in the mid 1990s, it’s not considered part of the official Star Wars  literary canon , which doesn’t mean that it’s not entertaining. On the contrary, if you don’t take SW lore too seriously, that will increase your enjoyment all the more.

It’s more like a “What if” kind of story, which allows for some wild moments as Luke getting captured by one of the Jedi witches (who develops a serious crush on him) and C-3PO being the wingman for Han in his pursuit of Leia(who is rightly annoyed at him for most of the book).

 C-3PO even goes so far as to compose a love song extolling Han’s good points and actually sings it, with the backup chorus sounding an awful lot like Leia!! Too funny for words, I swear!

If you ever come across this book and just need some sweet sci-fi relief, The Courtship of Princess Leia is funky fine old school fun that you should treat yourself to:

For something completely different, I joined in the Juneteenth event for Sci-Fi Summer that highlighted Black authors.

Since I had recently bought a copy of Octavia Butler’s modern classic, Parable of the Sower, this seemed to be perfect timing. 

Published in 1993, the future America that our lead character is in stretches from 2024 to 2027. Lauren lives in a closely protected community that struggles with just as much anxiety over the limited resources of their world as those living outside of the surrounding wall do. 

Facing food shortages, the high prices for water and dwindling utilities, Lauren wants to help her neighbors out and keep their homes safe but she can also see ahead and begin to prepare for the worst to come.

When the walls of her gated community do come tumbling down, Lauren has to strike out on her own and join the many others taking to the road in search of a better life. The one thing that helps her keep on going is the faith that she created, Earthseed. 

Those beliefs are small enough, words in a journal that she keeps but perhaps they’re strong enough to start a new chapter in the book of life for her and other folks that she’s met along the way. 

This is one of those books that has you saying “Why did I wait so long to read this?!” It’s a captivating look at finding hope in a hopeless world and Butler certainly had some serious insights into what our country would become if certain things were left unchecked (truly eerily accurate at times).

I do plan to read the follow-up book, Parable of the Talents, at some point and it’s a shame that the planned third book, Parable of the Trickster, wasn’t completed due to Butler’s passing in 2006. Nevertheless, this novel was one of the best reads I’ve had this year and will no doubt be more appreciated as time goes on:

And finally, my third read was a debut novel by Sierra Branham called Love Galaxy.

The title refers to an intergalactic dating show broadcast through the Expan Empire that marries off royalty. Artemis aka Temmi, has no interest in this show as she’s too busy struggling to keep her family from being tossed out into the streets. Her homeworld is literally toxic and her job as trash collector barely covers what essentials they have.

On her route, she runs into a regal couple stealing a smoke near the bins she’s supposed to collect and that less than friendly encounter leads Temmi to being a contender on Love Galaxy. The couple in question are this year’s main players, the twin siblings of the Emperor with one of them set to inherit the throne.

At first, she refuses but a secret offer of money and aid for her family has Temmi reluctantly signing on for the show. While she is meant to be courting the prince, her attraction to his feisty sister is becoming hard to ignore but are those feelings mutual and even so, a good strategy for the ultimate win?

There’s more than romantic intrigue going on as a string of strange deaths among the other contestants is being kept under wraps and some political secrets and plots to boot. Branham intends for this book to be the first in a series and it’s certainly an excellent start. 

Clever writing and engaging character development are key ingredients in this sci-fi stew but the slow burn of the central romance is the fire that simmers this story towards perfection:

My thanks to Michelle Miller for hosting another great readathon and I look forward to High Summer reading later this season.

I’m taking a week or two off from blogging since things will be pretty calm on the bookish front. I do plan to return before the end of July so please watch this space!

Before I take my mini-break, I have a few words to say about the new Supergirl movie. Yes, I saw it on opening weekend and despite what you may have heard, it’s not a bad film at all.

Rather, it’s part rollicking space adventure and part emotional journey into grief and rage.  The basic plot line here is as Kara copes with the loss of her world in a reckless pub crawl manner, she encounters Ruthye, whose family was murdered by vicious Brigands and is seeking revenge.

Kara defends Ruthye at a local bar but declines on taking up a revenge quest. Only when her beloved dog and fellow survivor Krypto(and as a cat person, I adore this pupper!)is poisoned by one of the worst of the Brigands, is she willing to hunt them down.

I didn’t read the graphic novel series that this was based on but while some of the adaptation changes are causing some grumbling, that’s not the main cause for complaint here.

Many find fault with the script and some insist that the main villain, Krem, is not dynamic enough. Without getting into spoilers, I think the script and the style of the movie is a lot like Kara herself; brash, funny, emotionally intelligent and kickass when needed to be. 

Not every single motivation needs to be trotted out and over explained; even a sci-fi superhero story can allow for an element of mystery towards the characters there. 

As for Krem, he’s mainly a catalyst for the plot and a rather nasty piece of work that you want to see defeated, so his job was well done as far as I’m concerned. There’s direct parallels to human trafficking that might make some look to recent headlines and squirm but art often times is a reflection of our shared reality and it’s not always a pretty picture.

An impactful message that this movie delivers to women and girls is that being good is far more important than being nice. You can be tough when you need to and rude if necessary but being a good person is the best. That’s something too many people don’t want to hear or others to learn but it’s the right message for these times and beyond.

Also, Lobo was fun(Jason Momoa was a great casting choice) and Milly Alcock gives an excellent performance as does Eve Ridley(Ruthye). A great standalone film that deserves more praise than censure, in my opinion.

This movie does have a different vibe than last year’s Superman and it’s supposed to! Kara’s life experiences are very much different than Clark’s and that makes for more interesting storytelling not less. Kara says it herself; “Clark sees the good in everyone and I see the truth.”

If you get the opportunity to see this in theaters, it’s very much worth your time and hard earned money. I suspect that even with the low numbers at the box office on opening weekend, Supergirl will slowly yet surely gain a wider audience from positive word of mouth and fans going back for more viewings. Give it a fair chance, that’s all I ask and you might be pleasantly surprised indeed: