High Priest on Union Station

EarthCent Ambassador #3

by E.M. Foner

Start series with free first book, Date Night on Union Station

Two years after the events of Alien Night on Union Station, Kelly faces new challenges as the EarthCent Ambassador. The growing acceptance of humans by their alien neighbors plus a measure of her own personal fame (or infamy) is resulting in too much work for an embassy with only two full-time staffers.

Friends and family must wonder if the stress is finally getting to Kelly when she starts acting even more peculiar than usual. Just leave it to the Stryx to throw a monkey wrench in the works by offering her a vital new assignment that can't be refused.

Genres: Science Fiction, Humor, Aliens, Comedy, Fantasy, Cozy, Fiction

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 24, 2014

About the author

I wrote Date Night on Union Station while taking a break from work on a science fiction epic I've been struggling with for years. The goal was to cheer myself up and to find out if there is still an audience for a science fiction comedy that gets its laughs from dialogue and funny situations rather than from gross-outs and shocks. As many readers have pointed out, the EarthCent series could be rated PG under the old fashioned system, no bloodshed, no graphic sex, no four letter words. And after years of imagining a galaxy for my epic in which multiple human civilizations are at war with each other, it did me a world of good to write about a galaxy where most people are just trying to make a living and find some joy in life. I received so many requests to extend the Date Night universe into a series that I put aside my epic for an extended period to write a sequel, Alien Night on Union Station. The events take place five years after the conclusion of Date Night, and the plot involves a mix of business, diplomacy, gaming and family relations. As a bonus, we finally get to meet Kelly's mother. After the positive response to Alien Night, I wrote a third book for the series, High Priest of Union Station, which is currently in the editing stage and due out in mid-October. I just started a book that extends the EarthCent galaxy with a different mission and cast of characters, though they may intersect at some point.

Reviews

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I liked this one less. Still generally love the gang from Union Station but the ending of this episode was more quick than clever and the budding romances so G rated and unrealistic I got a tooth ache and worse, boredom. I'll give the next one a try next month.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this installment of the Union Station adventures, a reclusive species who have been living as shut-ins on their planet for the past few thousand years after once ruling a mighty (acquisitive) empire have sent word out that they are preparing for the inevitable Doom of their planet and will be Ascending to the next Astral Plane, and would anyone like their stuff?

All the other aliens are all Oh Reaaaaaally? Well, let me help you get all that crass worldly goods off your hands so you can, you know, get ascending.

I highly suspect the author spent a weekend binging on Storage Wars and then got to writing. And what an auction we get here! I’m not sure what was funnier – the auction scene or the ‘planet shopping’ scene.

Another hilarious outing with the crazy folks of the most down-to-earth space station I’ve ever seen.

Bring on the next book!

[Kathy Bryson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ambassador Kelly goes a little off the rails in this installment for reasons that aren't all that secret early on in the story. But while the ambassador is having a melt-down, the rest of the Union Station cast step into their own with the teenage babysitters taking on new business ventures including auctioning off an ancient alien race, saving said race from extinction, and sorting out their loves lives with the help of the station's artificial intelligence. On the other hand, maybe the ambassador's melt down makes sense after all!

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end of the world

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This review is from: High Priest on Union Station (EarthCent Ambassador Book 3) (Kindle Edition)

The books in this series always end "right". The fun is in how the author gets to that ending. If you have read any of Dorothy Gillman's Mrs. Pollifax books, you can see the similarity to the Union Station series. Both have the same low key humor & emphasis on characters. This volume features the end of the world. Not our world but one pretty important to the people who live there.

[Michelle Seckinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was engaging and hilarious. The ending was the best

[john Calkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm on my second trip through this book series (12 volumes so far) mainly because I can't find anything else that's as satisfying to read. Foner's degree of invention and interweaving of story lines is way impressive and all of his characters are individuals I would like to meet. His women are very interesting and believable, not an easy task for a lot of male story tellers. Despite the passive nature of the story (since the books are all one continueing story) it remains fresh and involving all the way through. I gave a few volumes just four stars, but as I reread them I have so far boosted them up to five stars. I hope there are more volumes in the near future.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kassians discovered many generations previously that their planet is about to collide with a void. They have since isolated themselves from the rest of the multiverse but have recently reestablished contact to give away all their possessions and have invited all comers to benefit from the giveaway. Kelly McAllister is the ambassador for Earthcent, but that doesn’t deter the Stryx from drafting her as their ambassador to investigate this situation. Meanwhile the Stryx continue to operate their dating service with some interesting new dynamics. In spite of the horrid cover a fun, light read with some provocative philosophical questions.

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and clever

Surprisingly, I almost liked this book more than the last two in the series. Foner delivers again, and in an excellent way. The characters continues to develope along similar arcs, yet Foner manages consistency and creativity at the same time, and it's quite enjoyable. I found myself enjoying more characters in this book than the last, and I suspect it has to do with his consistent and steady characterizations. It's just really well done. A fun read, albeit quick... But the conciseness of the story almost makes it sweeter. Highly recommend (but read the books in order).

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foner, E. M. High Priest on the Union Station. EarthCent Ambassador No. 3. Paradise Pond Press, 2014.
Ambassadorial duties get stranger and stranger on Union Station. Set about two years after Alien Night at Union Station, Kelly’s diplomacy is in full swing and her family and social life are keeping her busy. Then a gold rush starts in the form of an auction in which she finds herself the unwilling recipient of the accumulated wealth of a reclusive race that is abandoning its material ways. Being the richest woman in space is not easy. High Priest is funny but not quite as much fun as the earlier books in the series. 3.5 stars.

[Kevin Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and good clean fun

I am retreading this series to refresh my memory of who is who. The series is incredible from book 1 to the latest. Highly recommended. I really enjoy how the Stryx can manipulate Kelly without her knowing what is going on around her. New characters are added in each book. I feel like part of the family watching the kids grow up and families interact. Lots of fun with the other alien species interacting with the humans.

[Janis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant and easy

Another Union Station novel. I like reading them when I don’t want to be challenged – no anxiety, no tension. However, I found this one to also be without particular interest. I really didn’t care enough about it to find myself coming back to it to see what happened next. Eventually I did finish it and gave myself a gold star for that. It’s a pleasant read if you’re just looking for something gentle and average. 

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had suspected from the title of this book that High Priest on Union Station would involve a High Priest from some alien religion (that much is true) coming to the Union Station space station and causing some kind of trouble, either by a) becoming highly offended by speech or actions that most residents of Union Station would find perfectly normal, or b) creating situations that would cause Union Station residents, especially EarthCent ambassador, Kelly McAllister to hilariously embarrass themselves out of a desire not to offend the High Priest.

It wasn’t like that. Of course, Kelly manages to embarrass herself a few times anyway, But the female High Priest, Yeafah of the planet Kasil, turns out to be quite reasonable and kind. She is also something of a philosopher.

The planet Kasil is facing certain, although not quite immediate destruction due to some sort of space anomaly that is heading their way. In light of this, the Kasilians have returned from their various colonies to their home planet to restore its natural environment. And now, after several thousand years of this, they have a beautiful agricultural sort of planet and have resigned themselves to their eventual death as a people. To make this easier on themselves, and the creatures from other planets from whom they bought, stole, or looted various artifacts and treasures during their acquisitive phase, they have now decided to divest themselves of all their collected treasures. And they would like the help of the Stryx (the species of artificial intelligences who run Union Station and the other space stations throughout the galaxy) to do this.

Their initial plan is to have the Stryx re-open the travel portals to their planet so that anybody who wants to come and claim part of the treasure for themselves can come and get it. The family who informs Kelly’s husband, Joe, about this is excited to get their hands on some of the wealth. But Kelly, when she hears of it is appalled at the idea of an entire population of people just resigning themselves to dying when they seem to have other options. Plus the members of the Stryx who accompany them on an initial visit to the planet are understandably worried about what an unrestrained group of loot collectors might do to the planet after the best of the collectible items are gone.

Ultimately, negotiations between the Kasilians and the Stryx settle on transferring the artifacts to Union Station, where they will be auctioned off. It falls to Kelly to arrange and run the auction – offering her sufficient opportunities to embarrass herself in the process. But early on, somebody gets the Hadad sisters from the Suk (the shopping area on Union Station; I see this as looking a lot like a large mall) to take over the auctioneering. The results are spectacular.

In the meantime, Libby, the library computer and CEO of the Union Station dating service is busy matchmaking with Kelly’s new assistant and Joe’s foster son, Paul, and with Paul’s former girlfriend, Blythe (daughter of Kelly’s office manager, Donna, and CEO of the InstaSitter babysitting service, among other businesses) and a new camper in the junkyard campground who is interested in ancient civilizations.

[Rebekah Costigan-Main · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great fun read!

I enjoy reading this series. The stories are fun , interesting and easy to on the mind.They remind me of the more humorous scenes in babylon 5 or maybe deep space 9.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, light-hearted read

I love these books! They are a great escape. You get roped in and can’t tear yourself away, but they are short enough to not cause you to miss too much sleep.

[Groucho42 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This time the team gets involved with a civilization waiting its fate and wanting to give away everything. It's a little too obvious and simplistic, especially the "Typical rural Indian girl" trope abused in this one.

[Veronik Durocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

So far, so good! I like the fact that each book is different from the last one as it's a completely different adventure each time with most of the same characters. You can follow their evolution as time goes by.

[Jason M Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoying EarthCent

I liked this installment to the Union station story. Foner's light hearted stories are funny and entertaining. I found that with a couple of books under my belt I was a bit better at predicting when the Stryx we're up to something.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good, very funny, and Kelly gets a new view of self determination as a species.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

These aren't extremely funny but lighthearted sci-fi fun.

[Sheryl Wolford · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are fun easy books to read.

[Joe Pardue · Rating 4 out of 5]

More delightful popcorn for the soul.

[Jennifer Linsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

If we are headed for a superintelligence explosion, as some futurists claim, let us be so incredibly fortunate as to have the Stryx for our partners in futurity.

[JT Neville · Rating 3 out of 5]

Popcorn, family friendly, feel good scifi. Great trip fodder.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another decent read in the series. It's still not as fresh as the first instalment, but the story, characters are still strong regardless.

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has a bunch of eclectic range of individuals. It is an interesting to see what happens in the Ambassador's life. Because the books are short and quick to read you don't expect much.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great fun book in this novella series of life on Union Station. On to the next one in the series!

[Irish Sharky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another entry in the Union Station series. This is particularly delightful as there is some romantic comedy and political comedy. I can't wait to read the next one.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fluffy. Fun. Fiction.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a pleasure to catch up with the Union Station crew.

[Beverly A. Harbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good light reading.

It's a good e-book for reading before bed or on vacation. Nothing heavy but fun.Interesting to follow Kelly on the space station.