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The Lotus Fountain: A Slipstreamers Adventure
Cassidy Cane goes by many titles -- archeologist, anthropologist, adventurer -- but none more fitting than that given to her on some strange Slipstreamer .
Cassidy slips between worlds, traveling to bizarre planets and alternate Earths to find extraordinary new technologies and artifacts that might better humanity!
While trying to live her best normal life, Cassidy discovers a secret portal to stunning world of Lotus Lorea, a world populated only by women! At first things seem ideallic... but not everything is as it seems, and the waters of the Lotus Fountain may hide the secrets to immortal life!
Written with the astonishingly talented Nicole Little in her debut novella! Start the adventure now! Includes NINE short stories by the author, including the award-winning SWEET SIXTEEN!
Cassidy slips between worlds, traveling to bizarre planets and alternate Earths to find extraordinary new technologies and artifacts that might better humanity!
While trying to live her best normal life, Cassidy discovers a secret portal to stunning world of Lotus Lorea, a world populated only by women! At first things seem ideallic... but not everything is as it seems, and the waters of the Lotus Fountain may hide the secrets to immortal life!
Written with the astonishingly talented Nicole Little in her debut novella! Start the adventure now! Includes NINE short stories by the author, including the award-winning SWEET SIXTEEN!
152 pages, Paperback
Published October 23, 2020
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 8, 2020
I couldn’t put the book down! I was sooo good! Nicole Little's novella is truly an adventure. When Cassidy Cane travels to Lotus lorea, she's shocked when she discovers it’s a world populated only with women! When she gets there, everything goes well... Until something happens! This book is suggested for people who enjoy Engen books.
November 21, 2020
The Lotus Fountain, by Nicole Little and JD Ryot, is the 4th book in Engen’s Slipstreamers series about an anthropologist named Cassidy Cane is hired to explore a series of portals into other worlds. In The Lotus Fountain, Cassidy investigates a mysterious adoption agency and tumbles through a portal into a seemingly idyllic matriarchal society.
At the centre of this society lies a beautiful fountain which heals broken bones, wounds, and so much more. But something doesn’t feel right, hidden in the library’s forbidden books, discipline huts, lack of men, and disappearing babes. Still, this world calls to Cassidy, tempting her with a softer existence than the ones she’s known.
The book’s strengths lie in Little’s use of character, the way she draws out the confusion in Cassidy’s mind as her chaotic, adventurous nature smashes into her nurturing side.
Cassidy is surprised at the comfort she finds in this gentle world, the easy sense of belonging, but the fault lines are always there, nagging at her, promising that everything may not be as it seems. And Cassidy can’t ignore those fault lines forever.
I highly recommend this book to writers making a study of a character at odds with theirself, to lovers of the original Star Trek series which this adventure brought to mind, and to all fans of Cassidy Cane. I give The Lotus Fountain 4.5/5 stars overall and a solid 5/5 for Little’s excellent writing.
(originally posted to my blog)
At the centre of this society lies a beautiful fountain which heals broken bones, wounds, and so much more. But something doesn’t feel right, hidden in the library’s forbidden books, discipline huts, lack of men, and disappearing babes. Still, this world calls to Cassidy, tempting her with a softer existence than the ones she’s known.
The book’s strengths lie in Little’s use of character, the way she draws out the confusion in Cassidy’s mind as her chaotic, adventurous nature smashes into her nurturing side.
Cassidy is surprised at the comfort she finds in this gentle world, the easy sense of belonging, but the fault lines are always there, nagging at her, promising that everything may not be as it seems. And Cassidy can’t ignore those fault lines forever.
I highly recommend this book to writers making a study of a character at odds with theirself, to lovers of the original Star Trek series which this adventure brought to mind, and to all fans of Cassidy Cane. I give The Lotus Fountain 4.5/5 stars overall and a solid 5/5 for Little’s excellent writing.
(originally posted to my blog)
December 29, 2020
The fourth episode of Slipstreamers was a blast to read. The mystery surrounding Lotus Lorea was intriguing and expertly paced. The author did a fantastic job of crafting Cassidy Cane's latest adventure. It was a lot of fun to read, and the author kept things fresh by switching back and forth between the portal.
There was a lot of great internal and external conflict that not only grew Cassidy's character, but showed the effects of "slipping" between dimensions on our hero.
My favorite aspect of this episode was the character's realization that her boss, Doctor Gamgee, may not be divulging all the information he has with her. It provides a story telling device that I hope the series revisits in the future.
There was a lot of great internal and external conflict that not only grew Cassidy's character, but showed the effects of "slipping" between dimensions on our hero.
My favorite aspect of this episode was the character's realization that her boss, Doctor Gamgee, may not be divulging all the information he has with her. It provides a story telling device that I hope the series revisits in the future.
December 3, 2020
This is the fourth book in the Slipstreamer series, and I should note, for transparency sake, that I will have a novella published under this series in 2021.
Nicole Little takes Cassidy Cane to a world of only women when she is "nudged" into investigating an adoption agency by Dr. Gamgee. It seems like a utopia, but Cassidy quickly finds that things are not so idyllic as first imagined. This is yet another fun Cassidy Cane story that further explores the character, and shows that while she loves adventure, she can also take pleasure in the more peaceful aspects of life.
The adventure in this story is fun and exciting, and the interactions with other characters really helps display Cassidy's own characterization. I would recommend this story to really get a feel for Cassidy, and some of her ethical trials, making her more than just an adventurer.
My critiques are that I would have liked to have explored The Hut a little more, the buildup was so well written, and I have never met an archaeologist concerned about dirt under their nails (even those of us who do #fieldworknails)!
Nicole Little takes Cassidy Cane to a world of only women when she is "nudged" into investigating an adoption agency by Dr. Gamgee. It seems like a utopia, but Cassidy quickly finds that things are not so idyllic as first imagined. This is yet another fun Cassidy Cane story that further explores the character, and shows that while she loves adventure, she can also take pleasure in the more peaceful aspects of life.
The adventure in this story is fun and exciting, and the interactions with other characters really helps display Cassidy's own characterization. I would recommend this story to really get a feel for Cassidy, and some of her ethical trials, making her more than just an adventurer.
My critiques are that I would have liked to have explored The Hut a little more, the buildup was so well written, and I have never met an archaeologist concerned about dirt under their nails (even those of us who do #fieldworknails)!
May 28, 2022
Preamble
I’m slowly making my way through the Slipstreamers series. It’s a series of novellas, published by local-to-me indie genre publisher Engen Books, set in a world where the heroine Cassidy Cane jumps through portals to alternate dimensions, pulling YA Indiana Jones hijinks and capers… and it seems like most of the other worlds are a dystopia of one form or another.
A note about my reviews: I consider myself an appreciator, not a critic. I know first-hand what goes into the creation of art – the blood, the sweat, the tears, the risk. I also know that art appreciation is subjective and lernt good what mama tell’t me – if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I’m not a school marm grading a spelling test – I’m a reader who enjoys reading. If a book is entertaining, well-written, and I get absorbed into it, five out of five. It’s either five stars or nothing these days – if I don’t like it, no review. Regardless, I wouldn’t even put a star rating system on my reviews but for the reality of storefronts like Amazon.
Take from that what you will.
Review – 5/5
“Cassidy thought for sure that if Marcella had been wearing a string of pearls around her lying neck, she would have been clutching them, meme style.”
Cassidy Cane is back, and this time she’s heading to gyno-dystopia. I’d be lying if I said that I’ve never seen anything like this before – a matriarchal society where it seems like Utopia at first and then something rotten in the State of Denmark is subsequently perceived feels somewhat familiar from a sci-fi perspective, but Little’s version of this idea is quite excellent in its own right.
Let’s be clear – this is YA, so there is a certain level of verboten territory in terms of sexuality, but it definitely seethes beneath the surface in this one. The sexual element is not quite defined – something about women getting pregnant from a well of water that heals, the eponymous Lotus Fountain. The womyn gave the lads the boot because they were big Ds bearing Ds back in the day (and the allegory to our Rick Jamesian ‘man’s world’ gets somewhat heavy-handed here), making it a female-only society. There are no dudes, anywhere. Again, it’s not well explained and is meant to have a bit of mystery about it, I think.
That, or it flew right over my head.
Cassidy gets charmed by the place and its inhabitants, and even considers moving permanently to the place. But then she finds out where all the little boys who are born from ladies boning the small body of water go, and it’s not back home with their mothers from the hospital. Obviously, this doesn’t go over well with the women what pupped the scamps, which is part of where the dystopian element becomes clear. It becomes sad, and I was genuinely moved to tears at one point, which speaks to Little’s skill as a writer.
Like all of Cassidy Cane’s stories, it’s a quick read, which I definitely appreciate these days. It’s well worth the buck fiddy asking price for the e-book here in Canada. Well written, well paced, easy to digest – what more could you want?
I’m slowly making my way through the Slipstreamers series. It’s a series of novellas, published by local-to-me indie genre publisher Engen Books, set in a world where the heroine Cassidy Cane jumps through portals to alternate dimensions, pulling YA Indiana Jones hijinks and capers… and it seems like most of the other worlds are a dystopia of one form or another.
A note about my reviews: I consider myself an appreciator, not a critic. I know first-hand what goes into the creation of art – the blood, the sweat, the tears, the risk. I also know that art appreciation is subjective and lernt good what mama tell’t me – if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I’m not a school marm grading a spelling test – I’m a reader who enjoys reading. If a book is entertaining, well-written, and I get absorbed into it, five out of five. It’s either five stars or nothing these days – if I don’t like it, no review. Regardless, I wouldn’t even put a star rating system on my reviews but for the reality of storefronts like Amazon.
Take from that what you will.
Review – 5/5
“Cassidy thought for sure that if Marcella had been wearing a string of pearls around her lying neck, she would have been clutching them, meme style.”
Cassidy Cane is back, and this time she’s heading to gyno-dystopia. I’d be lying if I said that I’ve never seen anything like this before – a matriarchal society where it seems like Utopia at first and then something rotten in the State of Denmark is subsequently perceived feels somewhat familiar from a sci-fi perspective, but Little’s version of this idea is quite excellent in its own right.
Let’s be clear – this is YA, so there is a certain level of verboten territory in terms of sexuality, but it definitely seethes beneath the surface in this one. The sexual element is not quite defined – something about women getting pregnant from a well of water that heals, the eponymous Lotus Fountain. The womyn gave the lads the boot because they were big Ds bearing Ds back in the day (and the allegory to our Rick Jamesian ‘man’s world’ gets somewhat heavy-handed here), making it a female-only society. There are no dudes, anywhere. Again, it’s not well explained and is meant to have a bit of mystery about it, I think.
That, or it flew right over my head.
Cassidy gets charmed by the place and its inhabitants, and even considers moving permanently to the place. But then she finds out where all the little boys who are born from ladies boning the small body of water go, and it’s not back home with their mothers from the hospital. Obviously, this doesn’t go over well with the women what pupped the scamps, which is part of where the dystopian element becomes clear. It becomes sad, and I was genuinely moved to tears at one point, which speaks to Little’s skill as a writer.
Like all of Cassidy Cane’s stories, it’s a quick read, which I definitely appreciate these days. It’s well worth the buck fiddy asking price for the e-book here in Canada. Well written, well paced, easy to digest – what more could you want?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews