Astropilots

Omni Odysseys #1

by Laura J. Mixon

Andrea Ito has the right stuff. She's an ace pilot, the Top Gun of the toughest space academy in the solar system. Then mysterious Jason Stiletto blasts into her life from Eridani, a distant star system. He's the best cadet she's ever seen. But he has a terrible secret.
Jason doesn't play by the rules. He only has one goal - revenge on the man who tried to kill him. And he only has one friend - the gentle alien Sssrei. That is, until he meets Andrea. But can he trust her with the truth? And how can he stop his enemy's deadly plan?

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

236 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1987

About the author

Laura J. Mixon is a chemical and environmental engineer better known as a science fiction writer. She writes about the impact of technology and environmental changes on personal identity and social structures. Her work has been the focus of academic studies on the intersection of technology, feminism, and gender. She has also experimented with interactive storytelling, in collaboration with renowned game designer Chris Crawford. She is married to SF writer Steven Gould (Jumper), with whom she collaborated on the novel Greenwar. In 2011, she began publishing under the pen name Morgan J. Locke. Under that name, she is one of the writers for the group blog Eat Our Brains.

Reviews

[Damien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so many fond memories of this book from my childhood, well apart from the Title! What feels like many decades of searching I finally remembered enough of the plot and got lucky with a few key words to finally be able to find it.

Well after 3 weeks of waiting it arrived.
Still very much a decent story and I have enjoyed it immensely.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book growing up. I have no idea how it would stack up now...but it was definitely an excellent read back then.

[G.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books I ever read for pleasure and I still enjoy it today!!!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this when I was a kid.

[Ike · Rating 4 out of 5]

One word = fun

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this as a child. It was okay. Nothing to write home about.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

100% recommend reading your girlfriend's childhood favourites while she naps on you.

[Schnuckiputzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know where I got Laura J. Mixon's Omni Astropilots, probably some giant box lot from ebay, but it is extremely strange. It is a Scholastic book, so I'm assuming it's a young adult novel. The plot revolves around an outer space military school, where you graduate at seventeen, and apparently, once you become a senior, you're able to rule over all the other students, even to expelling them. The first few chapters of the book try to introduce you to the "mod" slang of the school: "candies" for candidates, "chilling down" for hanging out, "strip your wires" for going nuts, etc. It's a little ham-fisted and clunky, right down to the Red Dawn ending of the students taking over the school so the megalomanical head master won't destroy the peace conference and bring war to the solar system. It was published in 1987, and some words hint at a British source : "the sun was the size of a half-pound coin"....in 2106, they know what that was???

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember it was a great read when I was kid, but not sure how it compare to sci-fi books today. For me, this book is more nostalgic because it was one of the first sci-fi books I had read and got me interested in the genre.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good as far as science fiction goes. A few little things were annoying but it was still very interesting.