It’s fair to say I have pretty eclectic tastes. To be a good writer, it’s important to read widely so that that I have a broad range of influences and knowledge to draw from. Just like eating a healthy diet, all of the different genres provide me with the literary vitamins and minerals I need. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t pig out on some comfort food from time to time, and for me that is sci-fi.
Ever since I was a kid I have loved it. My mum had the double album set of War of the Worlds (on vinyl, before it was hipster) and I was a little bit obsessed with it. We would beg our babysitter to put it on for us after school and my sister and I would sit cross-legged on the carpet in front of the speakers and listen with rapt attention. Then we’d go off and act out the story on our own in the garden, or, if we could swipe the key, in the forbidden room with all the landlord’s furniture. Far from being a dark room with a bunch of chairs and tables, it became a distant spaceship and we the intrepid space explorers running from strange creatures who probably wanted to eat us.
As I got older I discovered the greats of sci-fi writing in Douglas Adams, Jules Verne and EM Forster. I also discovered Doctor Who, Star Trek and Star Wars. All of these stories where weird science meets humanity and hangs around to see what happens; they became a place of comfort and a place of safety because in all of these stories there is always one unflinching theme – hope.
Recently, I’ve had the pleasure to wallow in the comfort of some wonderful sci-fi goodness in books one and two of the Odyssey Earth series, written by Rex Burke (Twitter: @SciFiRex). The premise is a familiar one: it is the late 20th century and the earth is doomed to climate disaster so a billionaire sets up a company to build an ark ship to send a few thousand people off to the only other habitable planet in the galaxy. The journey takes 17 years so apart from a small crew everyone else is put into cryo sleep.
In book one, Orphan Planet, we follow the adventures of Jordan Booth, a snarky AI named Reeves (after Keanu), and six ‘accidental’ teens, who were born on the ship after a bit of a contraceptive oopsie. They’re hanging out in one of the shuttles one day when an accident sends them drifting off into space. Luckily there’s another habitable planet nearby. The rest of the book charts their discovery of this new world and the obstacles they must overcome in order to survive. My review of book one is here.
In book two, Twin Landing, which I got to read as an ARC, lucky me, we find out what happened to the mother ship and we meet a whole ensemble of new characters – some naughty, some nice. Juno Washington, captain of the ship, finds herself navigating all sorts of new and irritating political situations as people wake up on a new world. She also has to deal with a stowaway billionaire, who doesn’t really understand chain of command, and a distress call from a far away planet that has everyone making rash decisions. My review of book two can be found here.
I always enjoy a good series, and this one certainly does not disappoint. It’s heartwarming and fun and just a great entertaining read. I’m really looking forward to book three. It’s also inspired me to dust off a sci-fi idea of my own that I pushed to the bottom of the pile a while back. Sometimes, all you need is a good bit of comfort reading to kindle the sparks of inspiration. If only comfort food did the same!
Until next time, happy reading!