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April #3
The Middle of Nowhere
April returns home from her trip down to Earth unhappy with what she accomplished. Papa-san Santos is finishing her rescue of the Lieutenants, Her traitorous brother is dead, and so many things are uncertain.The Chinese and North Americans both continue to give her and Home a hard time. But April, Jeff, and Heather are gathering allies and power. China, trying to steal Singh technology, gets its hand slapped badly by Jeff, and the Patriot Party in America is damaged, but not gone. Their project on the moon is not so easy for North America to shut down, especially with the Russians helping. Heather proves able to defend it forcefully. They really didn't know she owns a cannon. The three have their own bank now, Home is growing, and April is quickly growing up into a formidable young woman, worthy of her partners.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 15, 2013
200 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Mackey Chandler
35 books219 followersMackey (Mac') Chandler is retired to Rochester Michigan from a working life that spanned a large number of occupations. Mold maker, aerospace machinist, plumber, mechanic and dozen more as well as owning several businesses. This life experience and travel show in the depth and variety of his writing.
A life long time reader of Science Fiction, the authors at Baen's Bar and their evening chat room motivated him to try his own hand at writing. His first effort was a short story titled "Common Ground" which sold to the short-lived Jim Baen's Universe.
His personal favorite book is "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Other favorite authors include Michael Z. Williamson and C.J.Cherryh.
A life long time reader of Science Fiction, the authors at Baen's Bar and their evening chat room motivated him to try his own hand at writing. His first effort was a short story titled "Common Ground" which sold to the short-lived Jim Baen's Universe.
His personal favorite book is "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Other favorite authors include Michael Z. Williamson and C.J.Cherryh.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
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January 25, 2022Very good!
July 9, 2019
Another good story in April's universe! We see the USNA's draconian policies again causing an armed conflict, the Chinese finally putting their oar in and discovering that the Singh clan doesn't blink when it comes to reprisals when superpowers commit theft and murder and we see the genemod arc of the setting develop in a potentially disasterous way.
I am definitely looking forward to where the story goes next!
I do have to complain again that the author's punctuation can be pretty darn terrible at times and the grammar frequently has hiccups and burps as well... on to the fourth book and lets see what happens next!
February 12, 2024
While I am quite enjoying this series, I find the libertarian undertones somewhat amusing and unreasonable, although it is interesting that Heather ends up becoming a queen/warlord, which does somewhat go against the libertarian government of Home. I have a hard time buying that the earth countries couldn't and wouldn't prevent all traffic up to Home. Home has such a tech advantage I also find it hard to believe even North American and China wouldn't play nice with them. I do enjoy how delusional most of the politicians are, which certain jives with recent history.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2024
An enjoyable read
Another excellent book in this series. The world building is imaginative and detailed and the characters strong and likeable. I really enjoy the descriptions of day to day life on the space station where technology is making great advances and space colonization is just starting to expand now to the moon. I enjoyed the focus on Heather rather than April in this book and can't wait to see what happens next. Highly recommend.
Another excellent book in this series. The world building is imaginative and detailed and the characters strong and likeable. I really enjoy the descriptions of day to day life on the space station where technology is making great advances and space colonization is just starting to expand now to the moon. I enjoyed the focus on Heather rather than April in this book and can't wait to see what happens next. Highly recommend.
October 17, 2021
Nice, very nice even
Very nice, a bit of action in the beginning, continued from the previous book, a bit of light stuff, then even more action and after it settles a bit more suggestions of interesting things to come. This turns out to be a very good series thay you find very hard to put down.
Very nice, a bit of action in the beginning, continued from the previous book, a bit of light stuff, then even more action and after it settles a bit more suggestions of interesting things to come. This turns out to be a very good series thay you find very hard to put down.
September 21, 2017
Good story
This book ties up some of the poor lines of the first two books. The editing was better in this book and the story still exciting.
This book ties up some of the poor lines of the first two books. The editing was better in this book and the story still exciting.
January 25, 2018
Quality Writing!!
This is a very exciting series. Lots of humor added to a bunch of action. Mackey Chandler is gifted with a prolific mind
This is a very exciting series. Lots of humor added to a bunch of action. Mackey Chandler is gifted with a prolific mind
February 27, 2020
Good story!
I like it, there are three or four stories going at one time, with an occasional call from or to the president. Of course, April is walking, talking, moving golden.
I like it, there are three or four stories going at one time, with an occasional call from or to the president. Of course, April is walking, talking, moving golden.
May 24, 2021
These are good stories!
The different characters, the action. Sometimes I have trouble keeping track of the characters in a novel, but not in this case.
The different characters, the action. Sometimes I have trouble keeping track of the characters in a novel, but not in this case.
September 16, 2024
A little more preaching than the first two books but still fun.
August 8, 2025
April's life procedure ds to the Moon where hostilities continue. Heather also settles down on the royal Moon. Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, read with the Alexa audio assist application.
September 16, 2025
3.5 stars
December 8, 2025
It's still fun but the proportion of the book devoted to extoling the virtues of this Libertarian utopia is increasing. If the lecturing tone continues to increase I'll be moving onto something else.
September 12, 2019
Reading the series along with the Family Law series I'm finding the heroines are constantly blaming themselves for the wrongs that the USNA (US uptight government) is causing. It's kind of a downer in each book as the character does it to herself mentally, be it Alice or Lee.
November 23, 2021
A Linking Book
This is the third book in a continuing series. The previous two books need to be read in order to understand this book. The story ends at a natural break in the narrative but definitely continues. There is another series, Family Law, which is set in the future but also has these characters in. I would read this series first for clarity and to avoid any spoilers, though these are minimal. The reading order across the two series is listed here.
April is back from Earth and taking time to process the result of her brother’s actions. A lot has happened to her in a short space of time and she’s trying to keep up but the assassination attempts aren’t helping.
There are several people on Earth who are beginning to feel the heat of staying on the ‘SlumBall’ and thinking of how they can extricate themselves from gravity and get up to a safer place on Home, especially after Jeff butts heads with another world power.
Heather is working on her ‘little real estate project’ on the moon which becomes a bit more tricky every day. Being on the same piece of rock as some of Earth’s representatives makes her property more easily accessible than Home.
There are lots of people followed in this book as lots of threads of different stories are pulled together. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, in a long series there are often books that don’t reach out and grab you, but they are important to the series as a whole. They give you lots of information that is going to be important to the series as a whole but don’t really make you feel like anything is resolved. You don’t have an opportunity to get into any particular strand because so much is going on and it feels ‘bitty’. This book is one of those. It really needs to be appreciated in context, so I’m not going to dwell on it any more than that. I just want to read the next book so that the context can start clarifying itself!
This is the third book in a continuing series. The previous two books need to be read in order to understand this book. The story ends at a natural break in the narrative but definitely continues. There is another series, Family Law, which is set in the future but also has these characters in. I would read this series first for clarity and to avoid any spoilers, though these are minimal. The reading order across the two series is listed here.
April is back from Earth and taking time to process the result of her brother’s actions. A lot has happened to her in a short space of time and she’s trying to keep up but the assassination attempts aren’t helping.
There are several people on Earth who are beginning to feel the heat of staying on the ‘SlumBall’ and thinking of how they can extricate themselves from gravity and get up to a safer place on Home, especially after Jeff butts heads with another world power.
Heather is working on her ‘little real estate project’ on the moon which becomes a bit more tricky every day. Being on the same piece of rock as some of Earth’s representatives makes her property more easily accessible than Home.
There are lots of people followed in this book as lots of threads of different stories are pulled together. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, in a long series there are often books that don’t reach out and grab you, but they are important to the series as a whole. They give you lots of information that is going to be important to the series as a whole but don’t really make you feel like anything is resolved. You don’t have an opportunity to get into any particular strand because so much is going on and it feels ‘bitty’. This book is one of those. It really needs to be appreciated in context, so I’m not going to dwell on it any more than that. I just want to read the next book so that the context can start clarifying itself!
January 9, 2017
Captivating story with strong characters. The story allows the reader to suspend disbelief while also exploring some interesting concepts about space, economics and society. Recommended
December 23, 2017
Still curious
The "Papa-san"and "Mama-san" sound a lot more appropriate to the owners of a tavern in Okinawa than a well travelled, sophisticated spy and wife. Again "oriental" is for rugs not people. Ruthless decision making is a pleasure to read but privileged power without consequences is scary.
The economic rants are inaccurate but I think he means well. The boom and bust financial cycle is real but has been graphed at about forty years to the cycle. The characters have no solution to the problem other than to be rich. Together with "We don't need government in a capitalist economy", it's weirdly libertarian. Unfortunately, every brand of that strain of thought is only appealing if you're rich or expect to be.
At least you get a look at how Central and Home came to be. I have trouble with that whole cultural racism tendency.
The "Papa-san"and "Mama-san" sound a lot more appropriate to the owners of a tavern in Okinawa than a well travelled, sophisticated spy and wife. Again "oriental" is for rugs not people. Ruthless decision making is a pleasure to read but privileged power without consequences is scary.
The economic rants are inaccurate but I think he means well. The boom and bust financial cycle is real but has been graphed at about forty years to the cycle. The characters have no solution to the problem other than to be rich. Together with "We don't need government in a capitalist economy", it's weirdly libertarian. Unfortunately, every brand of that strain of thought is only appealing if you're rich or expect to be.
At least you get a look at how Central and Home came to be. I have trouble with that whole cultural racism tendency.
December 20, 2015
New and Interesting People
Lunar Realty, Gene Modifications, heavy handed government buttheads and more. You're not going to become bored reading this installment. Hinting of a Beanstalk on Luna, owned by Home Royalty. Thoughts of mining Saturn's rings, on to the next one with great anticipation.
Lunar Realty, Gene Modifications, heavy handed government buttheads and more. You're not going to become bored reading this installment. Hinting of a Beanstalk on Luna, owned by Home Royalty. Thoughts of mining Saturn's rings, on to the next one with great anticipation.
January 9, 2025
Great read
The imagination and link to what might go on in such a case as this is interesting. It feels like stories told by old war hero's. The political's seem a bit extreme but then compare to what we have, maybe it explains a lot.
The imagination and link to what might go on in such a case as this is interesting. It feels like stories told by old war hero's. The political's seem a bit extreme but then compare to what we have, maybe it explains a lot.
October 31, 2015
Generally a good story. Some parts felt overly drawn out, and other parts rushed. Still in dire need of a good copy edit.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews