Alien Fugitive Requires Mechanic: Starborn Circus Book 1 of 2

by Vance Huxley

In the not-too-distant future, Jamie Salas stumbles across a naked, almost clone of an infamous porn star.But when he steals some clothes for her, he finds that he's rescued a stranded alien who needs a mechanic for her spaceship.Now Jamie finds himself in a race against time, running from battles with a biker gang, hiding from a police manhunt, and evading a murderous alien bounty hunter. With his life on the line, Jamie must navigate his way through a battle for survival and uncover secrets that will change his life forever.Book one of two in a new duology from science fiction writer Vance Huxley.

328 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 24, 2023

About the author

Vance Huxley lives out in the countryside in Lincolnshire, England. He has spent a busy life working in many different fields. Eventually Vance tried writing though without any real structure.
Then he actually sent one off to be read. As an editor and beta readers explained the difference between words and books, he tried again.

Now he tries to type as often as possible in spite of the assistance of his cats, since he is no longer mobile. An avid reader of sci-fi, fantasy and adventure novels, so his writing tends towards those genres.

Reviews

[Gordon Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the fun parts about Science Fiction is watching the author create a technology and society that is beyond ours, manipulating the situation and including details that help us believe that it really might work. This requires the author to do a great deal of planning to make sure it all fits. Then the author MUST go through the story and make painful decisions as to which items of planning are providing too much detail and holding up the action. Only the most important and most interesting material can survive the cut.

Unfortunately, this author has not made the necessary edits. The story starts out beautifully, with a great premise and an admirable and sympathetic main character placed in a believable situation. The sexual tension between himself and the beautiful alien is intense, in a combination of serious and comedic interactions. This is not your typical “human hero and sexy alien” plotline.

Unfortunately, we are then treated to about a hundred pages of demonstration of how it is possible for an intelligent human mechanic can repair a sophisticated spaceship. During this time, the conflict is involved with demonstrating how this mechanic can find the parts for this job when he has a motorcycle gang, the police, various shady characters and an alien bounty hunter on his trail.

This is a good story arc, seamlessly intertwined with the love story, but it needs a lot less plotting and planning to allow the execution of the schemes to take precedence.

The author seems aware of this lack of tension, and several times brings in the “What Jamie didn’t realize…” gambit. This is an old technique of the author intruding into the story line in an attempt to create suspense, and it doesn’t fly well with modern readers.

The writing style is a cut above that of most Space Operas: smooth sentence structure, spirited dialogue, and no serious distractions to draw our attention to the narrator. Except the exhaustive preparation.

In general, this is a well-planned and enjoyable story with great action sequences, but there is too much talking and planning, which slows down the action and reduces the suspense.

[Dr susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome sci fi adventure

The worldbuilding is great, and Jamie is an engaging narrator. Ghost is a fascinating character, and I liked the hints about her true nature. There is laugh-out-loud humor, but bad stuff happens (no, not that, they deserved it). I wasn't sure what to expect when I started Mechanic, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I'm looking forward to book 2.