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No Stress Space Express #1
No Stress Space Express: A Cozy, Low-Stakes, Slice-of-Life Scifi Adventure
Buckle up, it's gonna be a smooth ride.
Howdy, friend. I'm Rusty, and so is my big-rig's engine. When the old girl finally gave up the ghost in the middle of nowhere, I wasn't expecting to get a tow from an alien mothership. But the next thing I knew, me and my buddy Mike were halfway across the galaxy in an oversized hubcap full of the weirdest space creatures you ever did see.
Turns out aliens are mighty friendly folks, but they can't fix their tech to save their lives. Didn't take long for us to put our know-how to good use, fix a bunch of gizmos, and make a load of friends, but I was still eagerly countin' the days 'til they'd drop us back in sweet home Alabama. That is until I met Piper Skyflare—a pretty little green-skinned lieutenant in the Martian Sky Force, with knockout curves and a right hook to match.
With Piper to hold my hand and Mike to hold my beer, I'm making the most of this cosmic road trip. It's a wild ride, but one thing's for sure—a sense of humor and a roll of duct tape can get you through darn near anything. That and coffee. Lots of coffee.
No Stress Space Express is a story about finding your true family, told with the common-sense wisdom of Jerry Boyd's Bob and Nikki series (Bob's Saucer Repair), and the low-stakes world building of Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes. Join Rusty and his crew for a heart-warming, laugh-out-loud adventure with no tension, and no drama. Just good clean fun, great friendships, and a little romance too.
Howdy, friend. I'm Rusty, and so is my big-rig's engine. When the old girl finally gave up the ghost in the middle of nowhere, I wasn't expecting to get a tow from an alien mothership. But the next thing I knew, me and my buddy Mike were halfway across the galaxy in an oversized hubcap full of the weirdest space creatures you ever did see.
Turns out aliens are mighty friendly folks, but they can't fix their tech to save their lives. Didn't take long for us to put our know-how to good use, fix a bunch of gizmos, and make a load of friends, but I was still eagerly countin' the days 'til they'd drop us back in sweet home Alabama. That is until I met Piper Skyflare—a pretty little green-skinned lieutenant in the Martian Sky Force, with knockout curves and a right hook to match.
With Piper to hold my hand and Mike to hold my beer, I'm making the most of this cosmic road trip. It's a wild ride, but one thing's for sure—a sense of humor and a roll of duct tape can get you through darn near anything. That and coffee. Lots of coffee.
No Stress Space Express is a story about finding your true family, told with the common-sense wisdom of Jerry Boyd's Bob and Nikki series (Bob's Saucer Repair), and the low-stakes world building of Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes. Join Rusty and his crew for a heart-warming, laugh-out-loud adventure with no tension, and no drama. Just good clean fun, great friendships, and a little romance too.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
363 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2025
629 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Jack Bodett
10 books17 followersJack Bodett lives at the corner of duct tape and destiny. His humorous science-fiction tales are populated by folks who are equally good at building spaceships and building friendships. He believes that with a good sense of humor, a willingness to help others, and a well-stocked tool belt, anyone can bang together their own happy ending.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
October 13, 2025
This isn't really SF. It's a gentle comedy with some SF set dressing for atmosphere. Kind of what you'd get if Douglas Adams had grown up in the southern US instead of England, only less so. Like its main character, it's kind of dumb, but so amiable that you don't care too much.
Two truckers break down by the side of the highway, and get accidentally abducted by aliens, who have ordered the load of whoopee cushions they are hauling in order to use them in a religious ceremony. On the alien ship, they meet a hot green Martian woman who was the victim of a similar misunderstanding, and ally with her to start a repair business for alien tech, which somehow they're able to figure out. Later on, another Martian woman joins the group. None of the characters ever get a lot of depth, even the narrator, who has the most. Mike's whole personality is "sidekick," for example.
The worldbuilding is often rudimentary; space is like the 21st-century USA a lot of the time, except when it's conforming to a well-worn sci-fi trope. Many people speak a language that's independently evolved on multiple planets that's almost indistinguishable from contemporary English except for a couple of amusing quirks, there's coffee, and it's served at a diner, where the robot waitress is very much like a stereotypical southern US diner waitress. Spaceship engines are also almost indistinguishable from truck engines; they have room-temperature liquid fuel in lines which can be bled without special precautions, you can idle them, and they roar. There's a bit at the beginning where the alien written language (or, at least, an alien written language) is incomprehensible, but later on, the alphabets for the English-equivalent languages have apparently evolved to be the same as ours as well, because Rusty, the narrator, has no issues reading a manual for a spaceship engine. (This isn't the only instance of something apparently being contradicted by something else later. The initial abduction is performed by the city-sized mothership, but all subsequent visits to planets involve smaller ships leaving the mothership and coming back to it.)
Funnily enough, I recently read an early work of SF ( A Honeymoon in Space by George Chetwynd Griffith) in which there was also a Martian who spoke a language that had evolved to be exactly like English, only Griffith, being Griffith, managed to make it racist, or at least chauvinist; English, being the best language (as proved by how many people on Earth had adopted it), would naturally be the language that a hyperrational and optimised society would evolve, he says.
Having studied the process by which English came into being, I can tell you that it couldn't happen twice - once was unlikely enough (and if a hyperrational society evolved an optimised language, English would definitely not be it). But in this book, it's just a workaround to remove issues of communication between the characters, and it's in the context of a humourous setting that doesn't take its worldbuilding remotely seriously, so I'll let it slide with just a healthy dose of side-eye. To be fair, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everyone in space speaks English and nobody even remarks on it.
The editing is surprisingly good for this kind of book. Yes, there are too many hyphens (between an adjective and its noun sometimes, and in numbers that aren't between 21 and 99), and sometimes missing hyphens where only the first two words of a three-word adjectival phrase are hyphenated. Yes, there are a few too many commas between adjectives, but there are very few authors, even good ones, who don't make that mistake. It needs another scan for missing punctuation, like closing quotation marks. Otherwise, it's much cleaner than I'm used to. By sticking to his own vocabulary, the author has managed not to commit any vocab errors, for example, apart from "hear, hear" being spelled "here, here."
Apart from the almost aggressively undercooked worldbuilding, its big fault, from my point of view, is that it has no chapters - or rather, it has just one long chapter which rolls on from incident to incident without pausing. This isn't ideal when you don't have time to read it all in one sitting. It does finish up with some significant events that change the situation of the characters, ready for the next book in the series, so it isn't one of those serial stories that just arbitrarily stops at a word count.
The humour lies mostly in folksy imagery ("tugged in more directions than a dog walker at a squirrel convention") and good-natured banter. It manages to be funny without trying too hard, which is always a risk in humourous writing. All the aliens the characters meet are nice and helpful and generous, and it's exactly what the subtitle says it is: a cozy, low-stakes slice-of-life adventure (the subtitle also has a comma it doesn't require). It's clean; all the swearing is in alien, and while the Martian woman Piper flirts with Rusty and shares his bunk for pragmatic reasons, they seemingly don't have sex .
It's a pleasant read, and I wouldn't mind reading more in the series, though it has enough faults that I wouldn't pay full price for them. It's pleasant, but the building of the world is so low-effort and low-imagination that it reduces my desire to spend time there.
Two truckers break down by the side of the highway, and get accidentally abducted by aliens, who have ordered the load of whoopee cushions they are hauling in order to use them in a religious ceremony. On the alien ship, they meet a hot green Martian woman who was the victim of a similar misunderstanding, and ally with her to start a repair business for alien tech, which somehow they're able to figure out. Later on, another Martian woman joins the group. None of the characters ever get a lot of depth, even the narrator, who has the most. Mike's whole personality is "sidekick," for example.
The worldbuilding is often rudimentary; space is like the 21st-century USA a lot of the time, except when it's conforming to a well-worn sci-fi trope. Many people speak a language that's independently evolved on multiple planets that's almost indistinguishable from contemporary English except for a couple of amusing quirks, there's coffee, and it's served at a diner, where the robot waitress is very much like a stereotypical southern US diner waitress. Spaceship engines are also almost indistinguishable from truck engines; they have room-temperature liquid fuel in lines which can be bled without special precautions, you can idle them, and they roar. There's a bit at the beginning where the alien written language (or, at least, an alien written language) is incomprehensible, but later on, the alphabets for the English-equivalent languages have apparently evolved to be the same as ours as well, because Rusty, the narrator, has no issues reading a manual for a spaceship engine. (This isn't the only instance of something apparently being contradicted by something else later. The initial abduction is performed by the city-sized mothership, but all subsequent visits to planets involve smaller ships leaving the mothership and coming back to it.)
Funnily enough, I recently read an early work of SF ( A Honeymoon in Space by George Chetwynd Griffith) in which there was also a Martian who spoke a language that had evolved to be exactly like English, only Griffith, being Griffith, managed to make it racist, or at least chauvinist; English, being the best language (as proved by how many people on Earth had adopted it), would naturally be the language that a hyperrational and optimised society would evolve, he says.
Having studied the process by which English came into being, I can tell you that it couldn't happen twice - once was unlikely enough (and if a hyperrational society evolved an optimised language, English would definitely not be it). But in this book, it's just a workaround to remove issues of communication between the characters, and it's in the context of a humourous setting that doesn't take its worldbuilding remotely seriously, so I'll let it slide with just a healthy dose of side-eye. To be fair, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everyone in space speaks English and nobody even remarks on it.
The editing is surprisingly good for this kind of book. Yes, there are too many hyphens (between an adjective and its noun sometimes, and in numbers that aren't between 21 and 99), and sometimes missing hyphens where only the first two words of a three-word adjectival phrase are hyphenated. Yes, there are a few too many commas between adjectives, but there are very few authors, even good ones, who don't make that mistake. It needs another scan for missing punctuation, like closing quotation marks. Otherwise, it's much cleaner than I'm used to. By sticking to his own vocabulary, the author has managed not to commit any vocab errors, for example, apart from "hear, hear" being spelled "here, here."
Apart from the almost aggressively undercooked worldbuilding, its big fault, from my point of view, is that it has no chapters - or rather, it has just one long chapter which rolls on from incident to incident without pausing. This isn't ideal when you don't have time to read it all in one sitting. It does finish up with some significant events that change the situation of the characters, ready for the next book in the series, so it isn't one of those serial stories that just arbitrarily stops at a word count.
The humour lies mostly in folksy imagery ("tugged in more directions than a dog walker at a squirrel convention") and good-natured banter. It manages to be funny without trying too hard, which is always a risk in humourous writing. All the aliens the characters meet are nice and helpful and generous, and it's exactly what the subtitle says it is: a cozy, low-stakes slice-of-life adventure (the subtitle also has a comma it doesn't require). It's clean; all the swearing is in alien, and while the Martian woman Piper flirts with Rusty and shares his bunk for pragmatic reasons, they seemingly don't have sex .
It's a pleasant read, and I wouldn't mind reading more in the series, though it has enough faults that I wouldn't pay full price for them. It's pleasant, but the building of the world is so low-effort and low-imagination that it reduces my desire to spend time there.
January 12, 2026
Neill Thorne and Rebecca Winder’s narration creates a warm, easy rhythm in this cozy sci-fi adventure. Rusty and Mike are abducted to space, where they meet Martians Piper and Jenna. I really enjoyed how the story emphasizes friendship, found family, and has light-hearted moments. The world-building was relaxed, which was refreshing. I really enjoyed this audiobook. The narration perfectly matched the tone, and the engaging plot made it a comforting escape.
Huge thanks to High Gravity Productions and Jack Bodett for the gifted ALC copy!
Huge thanks to High Gravity Productions and Jack Bodett for the gifted ALC copy!
January 14, 2026
No Stress Space Express is exactly what the title promises: easy, feel-good sci-fi with humor and heart. Rusty’s accidental alien road trip is light, funny, and full of found-family vibes, with just a touch of sweet romance mixed in.
Neil Thorne delivers the folksy humor and common-sense charm effortlessly. Rebecca Winder brings warmth and confidence to Piper, and together their performances make this audiobook especially enjoyable to listen to.
If you’re looking for low-stakes, cozy sci-fi that makes you smile instead of stressing you out, this is a great pick. 🚀☕
Neil Thorne delivers the folksy humor and common-sense charm effortlessly. Rebecca Winder brings warmth and confidence to Piper, and together their performances make this audiobook especially enjoyable to listen to.
If you’re looking for low-stakes, cozy sci-fi that makes you smile instead of stressing you out, this is a great pick. 🚀☕
January 10, 2026
Alright. So if you know somebody who's a long haul truck driver, especially from the south, they're gonna find this funny and absolutely wonderful. It's got puns coming out. It's thrusters.
But it is so sweet. I really do like how it is. It's it's a good book. And this is only book one. I can't wait to see what happens with the rest of them.The narrators did such a fantastic job.Absolutely wonderful
But it is so sweet. I really do like how it is. It's it's a good book. And this is only book one. I can't wait to see what happens with the rest of them.The narrators did such a fantastic job.Absolutely wonderful
August 5, 2025
Frankly, I was leaning toward giving this a 2 star however, the story is technically well written and while bland, did have an interesting concept; that you can glean from the book synopsis before buying or checking it out.
Biggest beef: It was like reading someone's stream of consciousness rough draft. There were no chapter or subchapter breaks. The story just was a continuous text lacking logical breaks to signal moves from one plot piece to another.
The story is ultra-clean, void of profanity, violence, and all but the barest hint of flirtation between characters that ultimately marry. While that is a plus, the author failed to generate an exciting story. Honestly it was a bit on the boring side and I trudged through just so I didn't dump it in the DNF stack.
If this is your thing, great for you. Myself, I think I will pass on the subsequent installments.
Biggest beef: It was like reading someone's stream of consciousness rough draft. There were no chapter or subchapter breaks. The story just was a continuous text lacking logical breaks to signal moves from one plot piece to another.
The story is ultra-clean, void of profanity, violence, and all but the barest hint of flirtation between characters that ultimately marry. While that is a plus, the author failed to generate an exciting story. Honestly it was a bit on the boring side and I trudged through just so I didn't dump it in the DNF stack.
If this is your thing, great for you. Myself, I think I will pass on the subsequent installments.
January 11, 2026
No Stress Space Express by Jack Bodett is a refreshingly fun and entertaining concept for a science fiction novel, and it truly earns its place as one of the best books I’ve read this year. Living up to its subtitle as a cozy, low-stakes, slice-of-life adventure, the story follows Rusty Ray Dixon and Mike Harlan, two unflappable truckers from Alabama.
The journey begins when their broken-down big rig is accidentally sucked into the sky by an alien spacecraft. Rather than panicking, these two "good-old-boys" simply roll with the situation, bringing a sense of calm and common-sense wisdom to the far reaches of the galaxy.
The beauty of this story lies in its "no stress" approach to world-building. While a reader might initially wonder how alien technology could possibly be repaired with Earth-based mechanical theories and a roll of duct tape, the charm of the narrative quickly sweeps those concerns away.
Rusty and Mike find that their "kitbashing" skills make them invaluable on a massive mothership full of aliens who are strangely incapable of fixing their own tech. Alongside their Martian companions—the spirited Piper Skyflare and Jenna Moondrift—the duo thrives in their new extraterrestrial home, turning a cosmic kidnapping into an enjoyable road trip fueled by friendship and plenty of coffee.
What truly sets this book apart is the depth of its characters. Despite the fantastical setting, Rusty, Mike, and the crew feel surprisingly real. They possess backstories and personalities that make you feel like you could sit down at a bar and swap stories with them over a few brews.
Jack Bodett masterfully captures the "found family" vibe seen in works like Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes. He ensures that even without high-octane drama, the day-to-day survival and small victories of the crew remain deeply engaging. Just when the slice-of-life pace settles in, the author tosses in a bit of adventure to keep the momentum going perfectly.
The audiobook experience is equally phenomenal, with Neill Thorne and Rebecca Winder providing a stellar narration. They perfectly capture the easygoing, southern charm of the protagonists, making the humor land and the emotional connections feel earned.
My only minor critique is the lack of traditional chapters, but the quality of the storytelling and the sheer fun of the ride make this a five-star experience regardless. If you are looking for a heart-warming, laugh-out-loud adventure that prioritizes great friendships and low-key romance over galactic warfare, this is a series you won't want to miss.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The journey begins when their broken-down big rig is accidentally sucked into the sky by an alien spacecraft. Rather than panicking, these two "good-old-boys" simply roll with the situation, bringing a sense of calm and common-sense wisdom to the far reaches of the galaxy.
The beauty of this story lies in its "no stress" approach to world-building. While a reader might initially wonder how alien technology could possibly be repaired with Earth-based mechanical theories and a roll of duct tape, the charm of the narrative quickly sweeps those concerns away.
Rusty and Mike find that their "kitbashing" skills make them invaluable on a massive mothership full of aliens who are strangely incapable of fixing their own tech. Alongside their Martian companions—the spirited Piper Skyflare and Jenna Moondrift—the duo thrives in their new extraterrestrial home, turning a cosmic kidnapping into an enjoyable road trip fueled by friendship and plenty of coffee.
What truly sets this book apart is the depth of its characters. Despite the fantastical setting, Rusty, Mike, and the crew feel surprisingly real. They possess backstories and personalities that make you feel like you could sit down at a bar and swap stories with them over a few brews.
Jack Bodett masterfully captures the "found family" vibe seen in works like Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes. He ensures that even without high-octane drama, the day-to-day survival and small victories of the crew remain deeply engaging. Just when the slice-of-life pace settles in, the author tosses in a bit of adventure to keep the momentum going perfectly.
The audiobook experience is equally phenomenal, with Neill Thorne and Rebecca Winder providing a stellar narration. They perfectly capture the easygoing, southern charm of the protagonists, making the humor land and the emotional connections feel earned.
My only minor critique is the lack of traditional chapters, but the quality of the storytelling and the sheer fun of the ride make this a five-star experience regardless. If you are looking for a heart-warming, laugh-out-loud adventure that prioritizes great friendships and low-key romance over galactic warfare, this is a series you won't want to miss.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 2, 2025
Truth in Advertising!
A friend recommended I check out this book, and I'm glad he did!
Jack Bodett's "No Stress Space Express: A Cozy, Low-Stakes, Slice-of-Life Adventure" is exactly what the title & subtitle say. This novel is about two Earth-born truckers from Alabama -- Rusty Ray Dixon and his best friend, Mike Harlan, two of the most easygoing, absolutely unflappable characters I have ever read in fiction. And right out of the gate, Rusty and Mike are (accidentally) abducted when their broken-down big rig is sucked up by an alien spacecraft ... and Rusty and Mike pretty much just roll with it.
Seriously, the "No Stress" and "Low-Stakes" elements of the title say it all. Rusty and Mike finding themselves surrounded by aliens of a dozen different races? No problem. Most of those aliens speaking English (or "Krypticlic," as they call it)? Sure, why not. Rusty and Mike discovering they're able to repair alien technology, because it more or less follows all the same theories as its familiar Earth equivalents? Works for them!
At first, the nit-picky nerd in me resisted with, "But *how* could that work?!" or "Oh, come on, what are the odds of that?!" But as I continued to read this slice-of-life tale (once more, truth in advertising), as I followed along with Rusty and Mike, and their eventual Martian companions, Piper Skyflare and Jenna Moondrift ... well, I just let all that go and enjoyed the low-key ride.
And that's pretty much how it goes: The reader follows along as, day by day, these two good-old-boys and their Martian friends survive and thrive on a massive extraterrestrial ship. And just around the point where I was almost ready to say, "I hope this isn't *all* that happens ...", something comes along to spice things up a bit -- sorry, no spoilers!
"No Stress Space Express" is a fun, funny, easy read -- my *only* complaint is the lack of chapters, but that's not enough to knock it down from 5 stars. And I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this new series.
A friend recommended I check out this book, and I'm glad he did!
Jack Bodett's "No Stress Space Express: A Cozy, Low-Stakes, Slice-of-Life Adventure" is exactly what the title & subtitle say. This novel is about two Earth-born truckers from Alabama -- Rusty Ray Dixon and his best friend, Mike Harlan, two of the most easygoing, absolutely unflappable characters I have ever read in fiction. And right out of the gate, Rusty and Mike are (accidentally) abducted when their broken-down big rig is sucked up by an alien spacecraft ... and Rusty and Mike pretty much just roll with it.
Seriously, the "No Stress" and "Low-Stakes" elements of the title say it all. Rusty and Mike finding themselves surrounded by aliens of a dozen different races? No problem. Most of those aliens speaking English (or "Krypticlic," as they call it)? Sure, why not. Rusty and Mike discovering they're able to repair alien technology, because it more or less follows all the same theories as its familiar Earth equivalents? Works for them!
At first, the nit-picky nerd in me resisted with, "But *how* could that work?!" or "Oh, come on, what are the odds of that?!" But as I continued to read this slice-of-life tale (once more, truth in advertising), as I followed along with Rusty and Mike, and their eventual Martian companions, Piper Skyflare and Jenna Moondrift ... well, I just let all that go and enjoyed the low-key ride.
And that's pretty much how it goes: The reader follows along as, day by day, these two good-old-boys and their Martian friends survive and thrive on a massive extraterrestrial ship. And just around the point where I was almost ready to say, "I hope this isn't *all* that happens ...", something comes along to spice things up a bit -- sorry, no spoilers!
"No Stress Space Express" is a fun, funny, easy read -- my *only* complaint is the lack of chapters, but that's not enough to knock it down from 5 stars. And I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this new series.
November 12, 2025
This book offered the mental break I needed. I didn't even know cozy sci-fi existed, but I knew it's what I wanted, and voila.
Mike and Rusty have been accidentally kidnapped by a UFO picking up whoopie cushions they're trucking as cargo. On this huge UFO, they meet a Martian named Piper who explains a lot of things about the galaxy, including why bipedals can usually understand each other well.
Piper is awesome, and is military but not in a negative way. She was also sucked into this city-like ship and wants to get home. Eventually they all meet yet another Martian named Jenna who's also unwittingly on the ship.
I really don't like the people running the joint.
Mike and Rusty are truckers but also mechanics, and pick up odd jobs to get them money and hold them over. The four learn that there are over eighty planets cataloged with the name "Mars" in the entire universe, and that one week by the owners' standards is 100 Earth years. Yup, really suspicious folk.
I like that even though the book stretches the imagination at times, Bodett doesn't break physics. FTL travel isn't physically possible, but creating waves of curved space-time are. A ship can move fast in the vacuum of space, but in the atmosphere of a planet, it has a much slower upper limit.
The two men are a bit ridiculous, and I like that the ladies point out how extra they sometimes are.
I do find it weird that despite the number of Earth weeks together, Rusty & Piper or Mike & Jenna don't actually get together. OTOH, I really like it because the plot isn't about the romance but the overall relationships.
I love that coffee is a universal staple.
Despite its length, the book is a wonderfully quick read.
And, despite my love of some multi-book series, I feel like this first one was great enough so I likely won't continue. That has everything to do with me though and not the writing/story!
Mike and Rusty have been accidentally kidnapped by a UFO picking up whoopie cushions they're trucking as cargo. On this huge UFO, they meet a Martian named Piper who explains a lot of things about the galaxy, including why bipedals can usually understand each other well.
Piper is awesome, and is military but not in a negative way. She was also sucked into this city-like ship and wants to get home. Eventually they all meet yet another Martian named Jenna who's also unwittingly on the ship.
I really don't like the people running the joint.
Mike and Rusty are truckers but also mechanics, and pick up odd jobs to get them money and hold them over. The four learn that there are over eighty planets cataloged with the name "Mars" in the entire universe, and that one week by the owners' standards is 100 Earth years. Yup, really suspicious folk.
I like that even though the book stretches the imagination at times, Bodett doesn't break physics. FTL travel isn't physically possible, but creating waves of curved space-time are. A ship can move fast in the vacuum of space, but in the atmosphere of a planet, it has a much slower upper limit.
The two men are a bit ridiculous, and I like that the ladies point out how extra they sometimes are.
I do find it weird that despite the number of Earth weeks together, Rusty & Piper or Mike & Jenna don't actually get together. OTOH, I really like it because the plot isn't about the romance but the overall relationships.
I love that coffee is a universal staple.
Despite its length, the book is a wonderfully quick read.
And, despite my love of some multi-book series, I feel like this first one was great enough so I likely won't continue. That has everything to do with me though and not the writing/story!
December 16, 2025
No Stress Space Express is a mildly amusing, very entertaining, but always b-rated fun for the science fiction geek in the family. It's not intended to be serious, and it of course turns the whole aliens are superior thing on it's head, but it sure is a nice break from your normal run of the mill stories. If you're looking for a bit of 1970s kind of scifi fun, this series might be the thing you've been hunting for.
I'll probably read this series one book at a time, when I need a break from other kinds of reading. It's going to take me considerably longer to get through the series that way, but it will also keep it fresh and enjoyable all the way through, there's only so much childish antics I can take at one time.
I'll probably read this series one book at a time, when I need a break from other kinds of reading. It's going to take me considerably longer to get through the series that way, but it will also keep it fresh and enjoyable all the way through, there's only so much childish antics I can take at one time.
August 1, 2025
I was drawn in by the promise of cosy scifi, but in the end I found I would have liked a bit higher stakes.
The book glossed of a lot of (minor) problems that I would have expected for someone not used to a) living in a complete new environment and b) living with aliens. For example how did they know what foods they would be able to eat?
And too many things were IMO too convenient. How lucky that everybody understood their language. How lucky that aliens love coffee, too. They needed to register with the ship to run a hauling company, but not to run a repair shop in a cargo hold? I can live with a bit of suspension of disbelieve, but here it was just one thing after another. And while I enjoy witty banter, the jokes were mostly too immature for my taste.
It was an okay read to pass some time, so I didn't DNF, but I won't be continuig with book 2.
The book glossed of a lot of (minor) problems that I would have expected for someone not used to a) living in a complete new environment and b) living with aliens. For example how did they know what foods they would be able to eat?
And too many things were IMO too convenient. How lucky that everybody understood their language. How lucky that aliens love coffee, too. They needed to register with the ship to run a hauling company, but not to run a repair shop in a cargo hold? I can live with a bit of suspension of disbelieve, but here it was just one thing after another. And while I enjoy witty banter, the jokes were mostly too immature for my taste.
It was an okay read to pass some time, so I didn't DNF, but I won't be continuig with book 2.
January 12, 2026
I quit. I value my life too much to finish this trash.
The margins are offensive. The lack of chapters is infuriating. But the casually, gently, warmly homophobic, sexist, if-only-y'all'd-just-be-just-like-me smug southern-fried milquetoast toxic positivity was what made the first 120 pages of this book really intolerable.
I finally gave up at "She was a willowy slip of a thing, barely..."
If that sentence fragment doesn't make you cringe, you'll probably love this book. If you can't even figure out what I'm talking about, you'll definitely love this book.
If the experience of being condescended to about fundamental life philosophy by someone who is not only much dumber than you but also absurdly obviously wrong were to take physical form as a novel, this would be that novel. Yuck.
The margins are offensive. The lack of chapters is infuriating. But the casually, gently, warmly homophobic, sexist, if-only-y'all'd-just-be-just-like-me smug southern-fried milquetoast toxic positivity was what made the first 120 pages of this book really intolerable.
I finally gave up at "She was a willowy slip of a thing, barely..."
If that sentence fragment doesn't make you cringe, you'll probably love this book. If you can't even figure out what I'm talking about, you'll definitely love this book.
If the experience of being condescended to about fundamental life philosophy by someone who is not only much dumber than you but also absurdly obviously wrong were to take physical form as a novel, this would be that novel. Yuck.
January 13, 2026
Thank you @highgravityaudiobooks for the ALC of No Stress Space Express!
🎧 Narrated by:
🎤 Neill Thorne (@neillthorne)
🎤 Rebecca Winder (@rebeccawindernarrator)
🗓 Release Date: Jan 26, 2026
📚 Humor/Science Fiction
~~
"Well we've got a pile of bills taller than a stack of pancakes at a church breakfast, a dead rig, and a trailer full of whoopee cushions running late for their farty party."
~~
As soon as I started listening to this, I immediately died laughing 💀
These guys, Mike & Rusty, get abducted by aliens in Alabama. Mike and Rusty are absolutely the funniest characters I've listened to in a while! I feel like I know people who talk like that! 😂
Neill Thorne is amazing with his southern/country accent and Rebecca Winder is fabulous!
This is such a fun audiobook 👽
🎧 Narrated by:
🎤 Neill Thorne (@neillthorne)
🎤 Rebecca Winder (@rebeccawindernarrator)
🗓 Release Date: Jan 26, 2026
📚 Humor/Science Fiction
~~
"Well we've got a pile of bills taller than a stack of pancakes at a church breakfast, a dead rig, and a trailer full of whoopee cushions running late for their farty party."
~~
As soon as I started listening to this, I immediately died laughing 💀
These guys, Mike & Rusty, get abducted by aliens in Alabama. Mike and Rusty are absolutely the funniest characters I've listened to in a while! I feel like I know people who talk like that! 😂
Neill Thorne is amazing with his southern/country accent and Rebecca Winder is fabulous!
This is such a fun audiobook 👽
January 16, 2026
Book review Jack Bodett: No Dtress Space Express
No Stress Space Express is a clean no frills feel good story about Rusty and Mike who accidentally get beamed into a spaceship while delivering cargo. They meet a motley cast of friendly creatures from across the galaxy and end up making a lot of friends while repairing broken machines.
Advertised as a sci-fi book, this mostly felt like listening to Wheelers Dealers or some similar auto repair show, just with southern accents. All the characters were friendly and with a sense of humor, and the events and activities seemed very earth like even though the story was set in space. This story felt like a warm, cozy blanket you can wrap yourself into.
This book is for you if you like
📖 feel good
📖 no drama
📖 friendly and hospitable cast
📖 found family
📖 car repair shows
📖 some sci fi elements
📖 verbal humor
📖 southern charm
No Stress Space Express is a clean no frills feel good story about Rusty and Mike who accidentally get beamed into a spaceship while delivering cargo. They meet a motley cast of friendly creatures from across the galaxy and end up making a lot of friends while repairing broken machines.
Advertised as a sci-fi book, this mostly felt like listening to Wheelers Dealers or some similar auto repair show, just with southern accents. All the characters were friendly and with a sense of humor, and the events and activities seemed very earth like even though the story was set in space. This story felt like a warm, cozy blanket you can wrap yourself into.
This book is for you if you like
📖 feel good
📖 no drama
📖 friendly and hospitable cast
📖 found family
📖 car repair shows
📖 some sci fi elements
📖 verbal humor
📖 southern charm
January 17, 2026
No Stress, Space Express is a cute, cozy, humorous science fiction tale. Rusty and Mike are trying to repair their truck when they are inadvertently taken by aliens. They want to get back home to Alabama. What happens when Rusty meets Piper? The duet narration by Rebecca Winder and Neill Thorne was spectacular. Rebecca Winder was brilliant as warm, confident Piper. Neill Thorne was perfect as sweet, charming Rusty. His Southern accent was delightful. These two extraordinarily talented voice actors brought this story to life masterfully. I highly recommend listening to this audiobook.
Thanks to the author and High Gravity Productions for this ALC.
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Story 5 stars Narration 5 stars
Thanks to the author and High Gravity Productions for this ALC.
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Story 5 stars Narration 5 stars
August 31, 2025
A very solid cozy read for me. The story of two “bubbas” getting abducted by aliens and finding their groove fixing various items for their alien friends, colleagues, and neighbors. The corny one-liners and country corn-pone call & response between the two main characters is quite amusing. It would have been nice to stretch out some of the romance plot lines but I understand why things like this need to be sewn up in “Book 1” (just in case). Structurally, I found that lack of chapters to be disconcerting in my kindle version but it is an easy read to stop and start without the chapter boundaries. I will continue the series in the near future.
January 9, 2026
Sci-fi
Comedy
Duet narration - Neill Thorne & Rebecca Winder
These two were so fun to listen to. Loved their performance.
This was a fun and interesting book. I found it to be very entertaining.
Rusty and Mike are long haul truckers that break down in the middle of nowhere. Getting rescued by an alien space ship was quite the shock to them. Spending a few weeks in outer space and trying to figure out how to make money to survive was an interesting story.
I found the characters to be a joy and fun time listening to. The author did a great job describing the alien world and good character development. The humor was superb!
Comedy
Duet narration - Neill Thorne & Rebecca Winder
These two were so fun to listen to. Loved their performance.
This was a fun and interesting book. I found it to be very entertaining.
Rusty and Mike are long haul truckers that break down in the middle of nowhere. Getting rescued by an alien space ship was quite the shock to them. Spending a few weeks in outer space and trying to figure out how to make money to survive was an interesting story.
I found the characters to be a joy and fun time listening to. The author did a great job describing the alien world and good character development. The humor was superb!
May 2, 2025
A fun little space adventure
This is a story about two Alabama truckers who are inside their truck when it is hold on to a spaceship. They're very good at making repairs, and also exceptionally good at making friends. This is a great book to read when you just want to relax and read a story that's funny, has a lot of heart, a very large number of silly jokes, and throws in a touch of joy. This is very similar to the Bob's Saucer Repair series. I will definitely read the next book in this series.
This is a story about two Alabama truckers who are inside their truck when it is hold on to a spaceship. They're very good at making repairs, and also exceptionally good at making friends. This is a great book to read when you just want to relax and read a story that's funny, has a lot of heart, a very large number of silly jokes, and throws in a touch of joy. This is very similar to the Bob's Saucer Repair series. I will definitely read the next book in this series.
July 24, 2025
Started off promising but by the time I got halfway through, the characters and the banter were just annoying and the story, instead of being 'cozy' was more toe curling. Skipped the last 10% or so, things were just getting too twee. Sorry, but I just deleted the sequels, life is just too short.
As an afterthought: does the author know Jerry Boyd (Bob and Nikki series)? The premise is just so similar.
As an afterthought: does the author know Jerry Boyd (Bob and Nikki series)? The premise is just so similar.
August 2, 2025
Too many words
Picked this up because the author was favourably compared to Jerry Boyd. In a dark bookshop, squinting at the set up, I can see at best Boyd-lite. Actually trying to read this, the difference is sharp, clear, and makes me miss Boyd more. Bodett over writes as though he’s being paid extra for each adjective or simile he squeezes in. His world building is less logical, and his characters lack any depth.
Picked this up because the author was favourably compared to Jerry Boyd. In a dark bookshop, squinting at the set up, I can see at best Boyd-lite. Actually trying to read this, the difference is sharp, clear, and makes me miss Boyd more. Bodett over writes as though he’s being paid extra for each adjective or simile he squeezes in. His world building is less logical, and his characters lack any depth.
January 26, 2026
I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a book that was both chill and hilarious. The No Stress Express is super out of my norm but I found myself fully enjoying these truckers and their new alien friends. Neill Thorne Rebecca Winder did an amazing job voicing this story. Mike and Rusty were such funny (puny) and adorable trucker besties who handled the whole being abducted by aliens pretty calmly. Piper is there new found family buddy.
February 28, 2025
First book
Two good o’l Alabama boys and their big rig truck get picked up by a huge space ship and that’s just the start of this delightful story. It’s kinda sorta like Jerry Boyd’s Bob and Nikki books. Suitable for all ages with lots of humor and Earth cultural references. A great book.
Two good o’l Alabama boys and their big rig truck get picked up by a huge space ship and that’s just the start of this delightful story. It’s kinda sorta like Jerry Boyd’s Bob and Nikki books. Suitable for all ages with lots of humor and Earth cultural references. A great book.
March 3, 2025
A good start for a great series.
Being a fan of space opera for nearly 70 years and a truck driver for 40-plus years, this story really intrigues me. It has tremendous possibilities so jump for the golden ring, Mr. Modett. Let's find out how many runs we can make before the DOT can catch us
Being a fan of space opera for nearly 70 years and a truck driver for 40-plus years, this story really intrigues me. It has tremendous possibilities so jump for the golden ring, Mr. Modett. Let's find out how many runs we can make before the DOT can catch us
June 9, 2025
What a wonderful ride through the Universe
Awesome book. I really enjoyed the repartée between the characters. Also the story twist in the middle! Totally didn’t see it coming. My husband said he didn’t need to read the book because I kept reading parts of it to him. I recommend you read it too.
Awesome book. I really enjoyed the repartée between the characters. Also the story twist in the middle! Totally didn’t see it coming. My husband said he didn’t need to read the book because I kept reading parts of it to him. I recommend you read it too.
July 24, 2025
The title says no stress and it is correct these guys are no stress. This book is a fun SF comedy with characters that take life's ups and downs s they come and always manage to work and stay positive. I really like to the positive part and the fact they are no afraid of that dreaded four letter work "work."
August 6, 2025
Writing and Humor similar to Jerry Boyd
I miss the late Jerry Boyd and his "Bob and Nikki" series. Jack's writing style and humor is very similar to Jerry's. This book made me laugh out loud several times and nobody dies.
So looking forward to reading the next books in the series.
A++
I miss the late Jerry Boyd and his "Bob and Nikki" series. Jack's writing style and humor is very similar to Jerry's. This book made me laugh out loud several times and nobody dies.
So looking forward to reading the next books in the series.
A++
December 20, 2025
Fun, very funny, wholesome adventure
I really enjoyed this over the top humorous, loving adventure story. These people refuse to let any situation stop them from loving life as they find new friends and face new exciting challenges everywhere life takes them. A great start to a joy-filled new series!
I really enjoyed this over the top humorous, loving adventure story. These people refuse to let any situation stop them from loving life as they find new friends and face new exciting challenges everywhere life takes them. A great start to a joy-filled new series!
March 3, 2025
So Much Fun
Books like this make reading fun. And the Southern Cultural references do not hurt either. Just so they do not pair 23 on the side of the new ship and go jumping asteroids. But not too sure about peanut butter chicken
Books like this make reading fun. And the Southern Cultural references do not hurt either. Just so they do not pair 23 on the side of the new ship and go jumping asteroids. But not too sure about peanut butter chicken
March 23, 2025
A whole lot of good old boy fun.
Humor, friends and romance at great multiples of light speed.
Two great American truckers making the best of an unexpected breakdown.
Funny and engaging.
Humor, friends and romance at great multiples of light speed.
Two great American truckers making the best of an unexpected breakdown.
Funny and engaging.
April 3, 2025
Jerry would be pleased
A great start hopping to see many more. Very enjoyable story but I may never give another review since I’m not a wordsmith and dislike the minimum word requirement.
A great start hopping to see many more. Very enjoyable story but I may never give another review since I’m not a wordsmith and dislike the minimum word requirement.
April 19, 2025
This was an excellent read.
I'd been looking for a silly space adventure since Jerry Boyd passed. I fell in love with the Bob and Nikki series. This was just as much fun, and just as hard to put down. Well done good sir! If all your books are this good you'll have fans for life.
I'd been looking for a silly space adventure since Jerry Boyd passed. I fell in love with the Bob and Nikki series. This was just as much fun, and just as hard to put down. Well done good sir! If all your books are this good you'll have fans for life.
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