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Boltguns and Duct Tape
One busted starship.
One small-town mechanic.
One wild ride into the galaxy.
Rix Banner thought his fighting days ended with World War II. Back home in Cranberry Cove, he just wants to fix cars, drink coffee, and put the past behind him. But when a broken-down starship crash-lands in a Wisconsin cornfield, Rix discovers the universe isn’t done with him yet.
The Galactic Empire doesn’t care about Earth’s isolation. They want their ship back—and the fugitive who stole it. Rix isn’t a soldier anymore, but he’s the only one standing between his town and an alien war. With nothing more than wrenches, welding torches, and a stubborn streak, he’ll have to patch together a ship—and a plan—before everything he loves is stripped for parts.
Fans of retro science fiction, found-family crews, and grease-stained heroes will love Boltguns and Duct Tape—a fast-paced adventure where the galaxy’s fate depends on one small-town mechanic who refuses to quit.
Grab your copy today and discover why sometimes the galaxy doesn’t need a hero—it needs a mechanic.
One small-town mechanic.
One wild ride into the galaxy.
Rix Banner thought his fighting days ended with World War II. Back home in Cranberry Cove, he just wants to fix cars, drink coffee, and put the past behind him. But when a broken-down starship crash-lands in a Wisconsin cornfield, Rix discovers the universe isn’t done with him yet.
The Galactic Empire doesn’t care about Earth’s isolation. They want their ship back—and the fugitive who stole it. Rix isn’t a soldier anymore, but he’s the only one standing between his town and an alien war. With nothing more than wrenches, welding torches, and a stubborn streak, he’ll have to patch together a ship—and a plan—before everything he loves is stripped for parts.
Fans of retro science fiction, found-family crews, and grease-stained heroes will love Boltguns and Duct Tape—a fast-paced adventure where the galaxy’s fate depends on one small-town mechanic who refuses to quit.
Grab your copy today and discover why sometimes the galaxy doesn’t need a hero—it needs a mechanic.
- GenresScience Fiction
370 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2025
713 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
January 8, 2026
Great fun!
The author has a unique way with characters. His grip on their movement and motivation is one of the mai
The author has a unique way with characters. His grip on their movement and motivation is one of the mai
February 5, 2026
I bought this book on an impulse because the title seemed to promise a good Sci-Fi/Humor fusion (a hit-or-miss criterion to be sure, but it looked... promising.) It soon became apparent that the book was devoid of anything approaching that expected level of wit or humor, so although the book manages a kind of lighthearted mood throughout, that absence was a big disappointment.
Far worse is something that became clear from the very first chapter: That familiar groan-inducing realization that I'm reading another self-published story by someone with an interesting concept but with an awful, amateurish writing level that short-circuits the whole thing. And just as clearly, the obvious fact of no editor hired to give it a professional once-over.
To give credit where credit's due, aside from a few scattered exceptions the book is thankfully free of chronic grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors - a typical flaw in this level of writing. But while the story idea is interesting and the world-building and character concepts are good, the execution is too shabby to do any of them justice. There is just no craft involved here. It reads like a project for a high school English Comp class that's adequate for that level but... that's it.
An immediate dead giveaway - and a fingernails-on-chalkboard peeve - is the continual overuse of the word "as" as a conjunction. It's that passive-voice thing you see in kids' early attempts at story writing, showing up line after line. There is an action sequence in Chapter 8 so glaring that I ended up highlighting it, where he uses this passive "as" in four sentences out of a paragraph totaling seven, I kid you not.
Another big problem is that the characterizations in this are thin to nonexistent. The protagonist "Rix" (the certifiably-bizarre name being a real head-scratcher,) is the best developed of any of them, simply because he has the lion's share of the dialogue. But we get no inner dialogue, no clues as to his wider interests, his emotions or even much about his experience.
Far worse even than that is the smuggler character Kel. She's essentially a "co-protagonist" and is presented as a kind of foil to the Rix character, but throughout the book her dialogue is predominantly clipped one-liners. She's more a disembodied voice than an actual character. Something that struck me within just the first couple of chapters is that the character of Beverly, an AI bot who shows up in Rix' heads-up display, was actually a more fleshed-out character than the flesh-and-blood Kel. Kel coalesces somewhat as the book progresses, but only by virtue of her repeat presence and the slow accumulation of those one-liners. A main character needs much, much more than this.
McFarlane clearly has a background in mechanical maintenance because the bulk of the book involves a fixation on the minutiae of mechanical parts, tools and repairs. Which morphs from "interesting" to "boring" right into "tedious" within the space of the first three or four chapters. Some of it is to be expected and is informative given the nature of the protagonist Rix and his profession, but that detail quickly goes overboard and continues with no letup. The revision of which repetitive bogging-down is one of the reasons people hire editors, something I'm pretty sure did not get done here.
Another immediately-apparent flaw is that this is supposed to be a 1950s period piece but McFarlane exercises zero discipline in maintaining temporal consistency.
The book's entire premise is that this Rix is a WWII mechanic living smack in the middle of 1950s America, who's unexpectedly swept up by an alien smuggler on the run from a quasi-governmental police force. Good concept. Yet throughout the book he interjects, enthusiastically, idioms and colloquialisms that did not come into faddish use until well into the 21st century.
One particular expression - which I've hated viscerally since the first time I heard it and which McFarlane uses with a kind of obsessive flourish throughout - has only come into common parlance within the last 18 months or so (as of today, Feb 1, 2026.) Which means it first reared its ugly head sometime in the latter half of 2024. Yet here it is jammed edgewise into what's supposed to be a 1950s period piece, with a '50s mechanic rattling off that... thing... every other time he opens his mouth, from the beginning of the book to the end. (And no, I won't identify it specifically because I eagerly await its disappearance and have no wish to further publicize it. Let's just say it's a needless, faddish substitution of an indirect double negative for a simple positive proposition.) Worse than that, the denizens of an utterly alien - i.e., NOT 2025 American - civilization on the other side of the galaxy are all saying it too.
Though they show up less frequently, the other 21st century idioms jammed into this similarly yank the reader, irretrievably, out of the supposed 1950s milieu and into contemplation of "Ah, this writer's having temporal consistency problems again." A little disruptive of immersion, that.
If you're going to write a historical period piece, the one mistake you absolutely cannot make is to jam faddish present-day slang into your characters' dialogue. Because it just obliterates that period feel. This is especially true when there is virtually nothing else in that character's speech or mannerisms to suggest the 1950s time frame. Oh there's an occasional "heck" and "darn," but those by themselves don't really cut it. Especially when the 1950s protagonist is continuously spewing 2025 fad slang like a fire hose - and so, inexplicably, are the aliens.
Another failed aspect of that period premise is the fact that this 1950s mechanic is: attacked by an alien police force, scooped up by a smuggler's UFO and swept into the midst of a chase through the galaxy, and... he does not register the faintest whiff of awe - or even surprise - at any of it. Instead he just yawns, opens up the spacecraft's technical manuals and takes it all in stride. Nobody with a functioning brain - even today, much less in the '50s - would exhibit that blasé a response to something so monumental and life-changing.
The book's focus is entertainment rather than any kind of weighty theme and that's fine. But in the climactic scenes (no spoilers,) where the perps are identified, the revealed motive for their nefarious activity is paper-thin. Worse, the protagonists not only do not clean house on the whole rat's nest they've uncovered, they actually acquiesce to leaving some of the criminals in charge(!) An author has complete control over what happens in a book, so to make the conscious choice to fudge on ethics is a nod to amorality that's frankly a little disgusting. Also implausible.
Finally, there was one facepalm-inducing scientific gaffe that involves a group of people being ejected from an airlock into space sans any kind of spacesuits and... being rescued alive. A standard-issue human being who is suddenly thrust into the absolute vacuum of space would die almost immediately. It's impossible to hold one's breath against that massive suction; if you did succeed in retaining air in your lungs those lungs would explode; everything wet on your body would boil off; bowels and bladder would empty rapidly; capillaries would burst all over; though you'd already be dead well before it happened, the intense cold would begin quick-freezing you just as immediately, etc. Maybe nit-picky but that rescue was a serious suspension-of-disbelief failure.
I can give this some points for an interesting premise and an interesting profession for the protagonist, but the shoddy, amateurish writing just killed the book. I'd hoped it would be the start of a bingeable series but this is one of those books that frequently had me wondering whether it was a good use of my time. I only read it to the bitter end because I'm loath to ditch a book once I've started reading it, no matter the quality. So caveat emptor.
If you're looking for Sci-Fi that combines substance, craft and side-splitting wit, look no further than the first of Jodi Taylor's time-travel series, "Just One Damned Thing After Another." That one was notable not only for delivering on its title's promise, but smacking it right out of the park and knocking out an innocent bystander six blocks away. A far better expense of time.
Far worse is something that became clear from the very first chapter: That familiar groan-inducing realization that I'm reading another self-published story by someone with an interesting concept but with an awful, amateurish writing level that short-circuits the whole thing. And just as clearly, the obvious fact of no editor hired to give it a professional once-over.
To give credit where credit's due, aside from a few scattered exceptions the book is thankfully free of chronic grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors - a typical flaw in this level of writing. But while the story idea is interesting and the world-building and character concepts are good, the execution is too shabby to do any of them justice. There is just no craft involved here. It reads like a project for a high school English Comp class that's adequate for that level but... that's it.
An immediate dead giveaway - and a fingernails-on-chalkboard peeve - is the continual overuse of the word "as" as a conjunction. It's that passive-voice thing you see in kids' early attempts at story writing, showing up line after line. There is an action sequence in Chapter 8 so glaring that I ended up highlighting it, where he uses this passive "as" in four sentences out of a paragraph totaling seven, I kid you not.
Another big problem is that the characterizations in this are thin to nonexistent. The protagonist "Rix" (the certifiably-bizarre name being a real head-scratcher,) is the best developed of any of them, simply because he has the lion's share of the dialogue. But we get no inner dialogue, no clues as to his wider interests, his emotions or even much about his experience.
Far worse even than that is the smuggler character Kel. She's essentially a "co-protagonist" and is presented as a kind of foil to the Rix character, but throughout the book her dialogue is predominantly clipped one-liners. She's more a disembodied voice than an actual character. Something that struck me within just the first couple of chapters is that the character of Beverly, an AI bot who shows up in Rix' heads-up display, was actually a more fleshed-out character than the flesh-and-blood Kel. Kel coalesces somewhat as the book progresses, but only by virtue of her repeat presence and the slow accumulation of those one-liners. A main character needs much, much more than this.
McFarlane clearly has a background in mechanical maintenance because the bulk of the book involves a fixation on the minutiae of mechanical parts, tools and repairs. Which morphs from "interesting" to "boring" right into "tedious" within the space of the first three or four chapters. Some of it is to be expected and is informative given the nature of the protagonist Rix and his profession, but that detail quickly goes overboard and continues with no letup. The revision of which repetitive bogging-down is one of the reasons people hire editors, something I'm pretty sure did not get done here.
Another immediately-apparent flaw is that this is supposed to be a 1950s period piece but McFarlane exercises zero discipline in maintaining temporal consistency.
The book's entire premise is that this Rix is a WWII mechanic living smack in the middle of 1950s America, who's unexpectedly swept up by an alien smuggler on the run from a quasi-governmental police force. Good concept. Yet throughout the book he interjects, enthusiastically, idioms and colloquialisms that did not come into faddish use until well into the 21st century.
One particular expression - which I've hated viscerally since the first time I heard it and which McFarlane uses with a kind of obsessive flourish throughout - has only come into common parlance within the last 18 months or so (as of today, Feb 1, 2026.) Which means it first reared its ugly head sometime in the latter half of 2024. Yet here it is jammed edgewise into what's supposed to be a 1950s period piece, with a '50s mechanic rattling off that... thing... every other time he opens his mouth, from the beginning of the book to the end. (And no, I won't identify it specifically because I eagerly await its disappearance and have no wish to further publicize it. Let's just say it's a needless, faddish substitution of an indirect double negative for a simple positive proposition.) Worse than that, the denizens of an utterly alien - i.e., NOT 2025 American - civilization on the other side of the galaxy are all saying it too.
Though they show up less frequently, the other 21st century idioms jammed into this similarly yank the reader, irretrievably, out of the supposed 1950s milieu and into contemplation of "Ah, this writer's having temporal consistency problems again." A little disruptive of immersion, that.
If you're going to write a historical period piece, the one mistake you absolutely cannot make is to jam faddish present-day slang into your characters' dialogue. Because it just obliterates that period feel. This is especially true when there is virtually nothing else in that character's speech or mannerisms to suggest the 1950s time frame. Oh there's an occasional "heck" and "darn," but those by themselves don't really cut it. Especially when the 1950s protagonist is continuously spewing 2025 fad slang like a fire hose - and so, inexplicably, are the aliens.
Another failed aspect of that period premise is the fact that this 1950s mechanic is: attacked by an alien police force, scooped up by a smuggler's UFO and swept into the midst of a chase through the galaxy, and... he does not register the faintest whiff of awe - or even surprise - at any of it. Instead he just yawns, opens up the spacecraft's technical manuals and takes it all in stride. Nobody with a functioning brain - even today, much less in the '50s - would exhibit that blasé a response to something so monumental and life-changing.
The book's focus is entertainment rather than any kind of weighty theme and that's fine. But in the climactic scenes (no spoilers,) where the perps are identified, the revealed motive for their nefarious activity is paper-thin. Worse, the protagonists not only do not clean house on the whole rat's nest they've uncovered, they actually acquiesce to leaving some of the criminals in charge(!) An author has complete control over what happens in a book, so to make the conscious choice to fudge on ethics is a nod to amorality that's frankly a little disgusting. Also implausible.
Finally, there was one facepalm-inducing scientific gaffe that involves a group of people being ejected from an airlock into space sans any kind of spacesuits and... being rescued alive. A standard-issue human being who is suddenly thrust into the absolute vacuum of space would die almost immediately. It's impossible to hold one's breath against that massive suction; if you did succeed in retaining air in your lungs those lungs would explode; everything wet on your body would boil off; bowels and bladder would empty rapidly; capillaries would burst all over; though you'd already be dead well before it happened, the intense cold would begin quick-freezing you just as immediately, etc. Maybe nit-picky but that rescue was a serious suspension-of-disbelief failure.
I can give this some points for an interesting premise and an interesting profession for the protagonist, but the shoddy, amateurish writing just killed the book. I'd hoped it would be the start of a bingeable series but this is one of those books that frequently had me wondering whether it was a good use of my time. I only read it to the bitter end because I'm loath to ditch a book once I've started reading it, no matter the quality. So caveat emptor.
If you're looking for Sci-Fi that combines substance, craft and side-splitting wit, look no further than the first of Jodi Taylor's time-travel series, "Just One Damned Thing After Another." That one was notable not only for delivering on its title's promise, but smacking it right out of the park and knocking out an innocent bystander six blocks away. A far better expense of time.
December 12, 2025
2.5 to maybe 3, but the three is weak.
I expected a found family, plucky earth hero, space adventure. What I felt I got was a screed for the " right to repair" crowd- which I consider myself a part of, with trad wives influences sprinkled throughout with lukewarm dialouge and characterizations.
The main character is a man named Rix from Cranberry Cove, which I'm 80% sure was lifted from M.A.S.H, but I'm not sure. Rix, as he is clear to point out to us, survived World War II as an airplane mechanic. Now he runs up his own little shop. Until an alien takes his hyperbolic sign (which we never see) as gospel that he can fix spaceships.
I would've loved a book on the technical side, figuring out how to fix things when we only have the UNIVAC as a computing device. But instead, we get basically an AI in an IPAD showing him that " gee whilikers, for all your backwardness, all it takes is a new look at things!"
Much is vaunted about the so called " manufacutries" which sounds like 3D printing. And evil corporations own the property rights to manufacture things, so you'll have to pay up! Grrr!. And the evil corporations like to just replace a whole unit, grrr! Wait, how has no one thought of simple repairs?
It's very red coded, in that ew, dirty semi sentient immigrant, but now that you have immigrants status you can start to make money! And the trad wife influence, literally there is a scene where " she makes herself more buxom and volupitous" to " play a part". What is that part, helpless ingenue?
The dialouge is choppy and scattered- it reads like a book that the whole concept is " wow, 1950s man in space!". Somehow coffee is universal, as is booze, and semi satient and satient people are all bipedal carbon breathers. There is no thought to different atmospheres, no diversity of Star Trek, no manufactured history like Star Wars and really no stakes like Stargate. The highest stakes is , maybe, they get shot. Maybe the space mafia takes over your 5000% interest rate loan. Yet our plucky hero is able to start making credits within a third of the chapter, and the power of Space Captialism ( or Late Stage Reaganomics) can save our intrepid heroes!
The personalities feel super one dimensional and flat, one minute shes an intrepid space hero, the very next paragraph shes worried about being stuck in a traditional females role.
There was little build up to the alien/human interplay and to call it a slow burn is insulting to a slow burn.
Don't know if I'll read the next one
I expected a found family, plucky earth hero, space adventure. What I felt I got was a screed for the " right to repair" crowd- which I consider myself a part of, with trad wives influences sprinkled throughout with lukewarm dialouge and characterizations.
The main character is a man named Rix from Cranberry Cove, which I'm 80% sure was lifted from M.A.S.H, but I'm not sure. Rix, as he is clear to point out to us, survived World War II as an airplane mechanic. Now he runs up his own little shop. Until an alien takes his hyperbolic sign (which we never see) as gospel that he can fix spaceships.
I would've loved a book on the technical side, figuring out how to fix things when we only have the UNIVAC as a computing device. But instead, we get basically an AI in an IPAD showing him that " gee whilikers, for all your backwardness, all it takes is a new look at things!"
Much is vaunted about the so called " manufacutries" which sounds like 3D printing. And evil corporations own the property rights to manufacture things, so you'll have to pay up! Grrr!. And the evil corporations like to just replace a whole unit, grrr! Wait, how has no one thought of simple repairs?
It's very red coded, in that ew, dirty semi sentient immigrant, but now that you have immigrants status you can start to make money! And the trad wife influence, literally there is a scene where " she makes herself more buxom and volupitous" to " play a part". What is that part, helpless ingenue?
The dialouge is choppy and scattered- it reads like a book that the whole concept is " wow, 1950s man in space!". Somehow coffee is universal, as is booze, and semi satient and satient people are all bipedal carbon breathers. There is no thought to different atmospheres, no diversity of Star Trek, no manufactured history like Star Wars and really no stakes like Stargate. The highest stakes is , maybe, they get shot. Maybe the space mafia takes over your 5000% interest rate loan. Yet our plucky hero is able to start making credits within a third of the chapter, and the power of Space Captialism ( or Late Stage Reaganomics) can save our intrepid heroes!
The personalities feel super one dimensional and flat, one minute shes an intrepid space hero, the very next paragraph shes worried about being stuck in a traditional females role.
There was little build up to the alien/human interplay and to call it a slow burn is insulting to a slow burn.
Don't know if I'll read the next one
November 30, 2025
Took a bit to get going, but so much fun
I love Jamie McFarlane’s Junkyard Pirate series, and this seemed like a good place to keep reading. I love a scrappy main character who rolls with the punches and makes something out of nothing. I can also definitely see how a classic mechanic would be highly valued in a society where they probably have long since lost the skills to repair things on their own. My dad often tells me how he’s saved his company (in the agriculture business) tons of money by Jerry rigging a fix for a machine rather than buying a custom part. Anyways. I love the concept, and while the beginning of the book was fun, the part right after the MC’s hasty departure from Earth was a bit of a slog. It felt like we didn’t really know where the story was going for a while, and we also don’t really see enough of the MC and Kel’s relationship to really be invested. I pushed through, and was happy I did. Hoping that the next one is even better!
I love Jamie McFarlane’s Junkyard Pirate series, and this seemed like a good place to keep reading. I love a scrappy main character who rolls with the punches and makes something out of nothing. I can also definitely see how a classic mechanic would be highly valued in a society where they probably have long since lost the skills to repair things on their own. My dad often tells me how he’s saved his company (in the agriculture business) tons of money by Jerry rigging a fix for a machine rather than buying a custom part. Anyways. I love the concept, and while the beginning of the book was fun, the part right after the MC’s hasty departure from Earth was a bit of a slog. It felt like we didn’t really know where the story was going for a while, and we also don’t really see enough of the MC and Kel’s relationship to really be invested. I pushed through, and was happy I did. Hoping that the next one is even better!
November 3, 2025
Bolt Gun and Duct tape is a pretty good start to this new series (one book so far). It's an interesting view of a small us town, and what happens when a mechanic tries to be funny on his advertising signs. I expect this series to be fairly amusing (as this one was), and perhaps to show us a familiar story of trade and barter, while also showing us a universe with plenty of interesting planets, races and stop overs for our main characters.
I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
January 10, 2026
Great tongue in cheek space opera
Accomplished writer makes his story a pleasure to read. A joy to read to help one de-stress from today's headlines. I liked how his main character was literally the guy next door who could fix anything. My Dad taught me how to take apart things and carefully put each part down in the order it was removed so you could it back together correctly (in my case, most of the time). Springs were known to sneak away.
Plenty of action, the girl does not immediately fall into his bed, just like real life. Philosophy reminds me of that little brother who followed so many of us around always wanting to help.
Immensely enjoyed this escapism story!
Accomplished writer makes his story a pleasure to read. A joy to read to help one de-stress from today's headlines. I liked how his main character was literally the guy next door who could fix anything. My Dad taught me how to take apart things and carefully put each part down in the order it was removed so you could it back together correctly (in my case, most of the time). Springs were known to sneak away.
Plenty of action, the girl does not immediately fall into his bed, just like real life. Philosophy reminds me of that little brother who followed so many of us around always wanting to help.
Immensely enjoyed this escapism story!
October 14, 2025
A Brilliant Blend of Retro Sci-Fi, Grit, and Heart!
Boltguns and Duct Tape is everything I love about classic science fiction inventive, fast paced, and full of heart. Rix Banner is a phenomenal protagonist: a war veteran just trying to live a quiet life until fate (and a crashed starship) drags him back into a fight he never expected. The mix of small town Americana and interstellar conflict is pure genius it feels both nostalgic and thrillingly original.
Boltguns and Duct Tape is everything I love about classic science fiction inventive, fast paced, and full of heart. Rix Banner is a phenomenal protagonist: a war veteran just trying to live a quiet life until fate (and a crashed starship) drags him back into a fight he never expected. The mix of small town Americana and interstellar conflict is pure genius it feels both nostalgic and thrillingly original.
November 14, 2025
Great start to a new series. I was looking for something to replace my adventures with Bob & Nikki since the passing of Jerry Boyd, and I think this just might fit the bill. Others have described the plot, but the story is cohesive, characters well developed, and overall a fairly tight well executed story. If you are after hard core military space opera, this is not it. It's a light-hearted fun adventure of what happens when the unexpected happens.
January 11, 2026
This is a fun book. I guess I go for the story line where an ordinary American somehow ends up (usually involuntary on their part) in Space where alien civilizations rule the star lanes. The ordinary American cannot go back home and needs to adjust to their involuntary immigration and set up a new life. This one has interesting characters, dangers, action and humor. I am looking forward to the sequel to see what happens next. Recommended for any reader who wants a fun read!
October 6, 2025
It’s a Good Start
An interesting beginning for a new series. Unfortunately the narrative reads a bit like it is a first book for a new author and that is not the case. The storyline is rough in places, and progress feels disconnected at times.
Even so, I finished the book so it held sufficient appeal to keep me interested. We’ll see what the next installment brings.
An interesting beginning for a new series. Unfortunately the narrative reads a bit like it is a first book for a new author and that is not the case. The storyline is rough in places, and progress feels disconnected at times.
Even so, I finished the book so it held sufficient appeal to keep me interested. We’ll see what the next installment brings.
October 26, 2025
A Great Start to a Long Adventure
Jamie McFarlane has created a fascinating cast of likable characters in a fast-paced new series. A perfect blend of character development, world building and page-turning action foreshadow a new best selling series. I can hardly wait for the next installment.
Jamie McFarlane has created a fascinating cast of likable characters in a fast-paced new series. A perfect blend of character development, world building and page-turning action foreshadow a new best selling series. I can hardly wait for the next installment.
November 5, 2025
Better than expected!
Started off just wanting to know what a bolt gun was, found myself sucked in. Rix reminds me much of myself and some of the things I get into. Quite engaging reading, much better than I expected. I will definitely be reading Mr. Mcfarlaine's other titles, and look forward to the next installment of this series!
Started off just wanting to know what a bolt gun was, found myself sucked in. Rix reminds me much of myself and some of the things I get into. Quite engaging reading, much better than I expected. I will definitely be reading Mr. Mcfarlaine's other titles, and look forward to the next installment of this series!
November 6, 2025
was looking for something different, Glad to find this book
Where to begin? Just a good yarn of adventure, humor, mystery and adventure. All the important parts of many books in one simple ebook.
Characters evolve and fill out through this first tale. Anxiously awaiting the next installment.
Highly recommend
Where to begin? Just a good yarn of adventure, humor, mystery and adventure. All the important parts of many books in one simple ebook.
Characters evolve and fill out through this first tale. Anxiously awaiting the next installment.
Highly recommend
November 16, 2025
First book in the series
Rix Banner is a WW 2 veteran and an expert aircraft and car mechanic, a trade he learned in the US Army Air Corps. He now has a repair shop in a small Wisconsin town and uses the slogan “We fix anything”. Then Kel shows up with her broken spaceship expecting him to fix it. Things change quickly after that. A great story.
Rix Banner is a WW 2 veteran and an expert aircraft and car mechanic, a trade he learned in the US Army Air Corps. He now has a repair shop in a small Wisconsin town and uses the slogan “We fix anything”. Then Kel shows up with her broken spaceship expecting him to fix it. Things change quickly after that. A great story.
January 26, 2026
A lot of fun!
A fast paced and solid space adventure with some great characters, a bit of humor, a hint of romance and a few twists. I worked on F-4s in the USAF and our hero resonates with me and the type of folks I served alongside. I am invested in the crew and looking forward to their continuing adventures.
A fast paced and solid space adventure with some great characters, a bit of humor, a hint of romance and a few twists. I worked on F-4s in the USAF and our hero resonates with me and the type of folks I served alongside. I am invested in the crew and looking forward to their continuing adventures.
October 6, 2025
A different sci to series
This book was a hit right off. A bewildered earthen thrust into space with a wacky, shape shifting alien ace pilot. The action starts right away. Can't wait for the next one.
This book was a hit right off. A bewildered earthen thrust into space with a wacky, shape shifting alien ace pilot. The action starts right away. Can't wait for the next one.
October 6, 2025
A fun read
I found this at a time when I needed a good SF read that was all plot and good characters with a minimum of space war. This hit the need perfectly. I can't wait for the next book.
I found this at a time when I needed a good SF read that was all plot and good characters with a minimum of space war. This hit the need perfectly. I can't wait for the next book.
October 7, 2025
Jamie has done it again
I really enjoyed this first in what seems to be a series brewing. I needed something a little different than the typical SciFi storyline and this fit the bill.
I really enjoyed this first in what seems to be a series brewing. I needed something a little different than the typical SciFi storyline and this fit the bill.
October 9, 2025
What I love most about Jamie McFarlane's books is that they are FUN to read and Boltguns and Duct Tape is no exception. Fun characters, fun dialogue and and engaging plot make this a gem. I'm looking forward to book 2 in this series.
October 15, 2025
Another Great McFarlane Tale
Rix gets his life turned upside down when he he fixes a spaceship. Forced to flee Earth with Kel and her simian sidekick he is sucked into a fast paced story filled with action and adventure! Looking forward to the next book!
Rix gets his life turned upside down when he he fixes a spaceship. Forced to flee Earth with Kel and her simian sidekick he is sucked into a fast paced story filled with action and adventure! Looking forward to the next book!
October 18, 2025
An Amazing Adventure
I like this book. I don't know what to say about it without spoiling it for future readers. Even though it has a relationship with Junkyard Pirate, it's definitely not the same story. This is good stuff. I hope there are another 50 books in this series.
I like this book. I don't know what to say about it without spoiling it for future readers. Even though it has a relationship with Junkyard Pirate, it's definitely not the same story. This is good stuff. I hope there are another 50 books in this series.
October 18, 2025
Man's Savior (Duct Tape)
I very much enjoyed the story line and the characters were well rounded though some left Room for improvement I think Greater knowledge in the next book Thanks for a nice read
I very much enjoyed the story line and the characters were well rounded though some left Room for improvement I think Greater knowledge in the next book Thanks for a nice read
October 29, 2025
Fun and well written
Rix is a happy man with an auto repair shop and a dinner in his pocket. His clever sign at the edge of town advertised that he could fix anything and even had a picture of a spaceship painted on it, and that's where it all begins!
Rix is a happy man with an auto repair shop and a dinner in his pocket. His clever sign at the edge of town advertised that he could fix anything and even had a picture of a spaceship painted on it, and that's where it all begins!
November 6, 2025
My new bestie!
Jamies writing style and my reading style are a match made in heaven.
I loved the flow of the story, the characters and the action. Thankfully, none are so overboard the story books down, rather it stays fresh from start to finish.
Cannot wait for the second book.
Jamies writing style and my reading style are a match made in heaven.
I loved the flow of the story, the characters and the action. Thankfully, none are so overboard the story books down, rather it stays fresh from start to finish.
Cannot wait for the second book.
November 27, 2025
Excellent
Not what I was expecting from a sci-fi book but it had some good chuckles. If you want some fast reading with very little blood and guts/death and destruction this would be a good choice. 🙂
Not what I was expecting from a sci-fi book but it had some good chuckles. If you want some fast reading with very little blood and guts/death and destruction this would be a good choice. 🙂
December 4, 2025
Unique storyline
Great read. A tried and true framework where an Earthling takes Space by storm. I hope there is a follow on. This would be a great selection for a budding.young Science fiction reader!
Great read. A tried and true framework where an Earthling takes Space by storm. I hope there is a follow on. This would be a great selection for a budding.young Science fiction reader!
January 16, 2026
Asteroid Heaven
Not really, but a good fast read from being a American mechanic to being a wannabe space ship mechanic, business owner in another Galaxy. Take a breathe and here you go.
Not really, but a good fast read from being a American mechanic to being a wannabe space ship mechanic, business owner in another Galaxy. Take a breathe and here you go.
January 25, 2026
an enjoyable read
Wasn’t sure what to think, but ended up reading it in one long go. Enjoyable. Interesting aliens. Organized crime. And one stubborn earth man who can fix things.
Recommended.
Wasn’t sure what to think, but ended up reading it in one long go. Enjoyable. Interesting aliens. Organized crime. And one stubborn earth man who can fix things.
Recommended.
January 25, 2026
Did someone hack Jamie’s account?
Felt like a poor rehash of Junkyard Pirates. Emphasis on poor. Word use and sentence structure feel off. Like a kid or grandkid slapped his name on their project? Certainly not what I’ve come to expect from the Author who wrote Privateer Tales!
Felt like a poor rehash of Junkyard Pirates. Emphasis on poor. Word use and sentence structure feel off. Like a kid or grandkid slapped his name on their project? Certainly not what I’ve come to expect from the Author who wrote Privateer Tales!
February 4, 2026
Light read and highly entertained.
Highly entertained by the story. Looking forward to more from this talented storyteller. The characters are fun and give the story the kick in the pants that most books do not have.
Highly entertained by the story. Looking forward to more from this talented storyteller. The characters are fun and give the story the kick in the pants that most books do not have.
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