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Static
"Static" Panic! Horror In Space: Book 1
While on a routine deep-space mission to chart the frontier of unknown space, the starship Mercury stumbles across quite a mystery. How had the Kilgary – a cargo carrier last seen lightyears away forty years before, reached that part of space before the Mercury? Why couldn’t the cause of death of its crew be determined? What was in the deleted log entry of the Kilgary, and more importantly, why had it been deleted?
The last thing Captain Stuart Flane expected while working to solve the enigma of the Kilgary, was a day-long running battle with the undead! Their troubles didn’t end there though, because the Mercury - their only ride home, was also in trouble!
Of all the starships in the Terran Space Fleet, the I.S.S. Mercury is probably the unluckiest ship in history! Not once, not twice, but many times over, the same hapless crew – give or take a few dozen casualties, on a supposed voyage of deep space exploration, stumble into the weird, wake the creepy and trip over the downright terrifying and possibly even supernatural.
While on a routine deep-space mission to chart the frontier of unknown space, the starship Mercury stumbles across quite a mystery. How had the Kilgary – a cargo carrier last seen lightyears away forty years before, reached that part of space before the Mercury? Why couldn’t the cause of death of its crew be determined? What was in the deleted log entry of the Kilgary, and more importantly, why had it been deleted?
The last thing Captain Stuart Flane expected while working to solve the enigma of the Kilgary, was a day-long running battle with the undead! Their troubles didn’t end there though, because the Mercury - their only ride home, was also in trouble!
Of all the starships in the Terran Space Fleet, the I.S.S. Mercury is probably the unluckiest ship in history! Not once, not twice, but many times over, the same hapless crew – give or take a few dozen casualties, on a supposed voyage of deep space exploration, stumble into the weird, wake the creepy and trip over the downright terrifying and possibly even supernatural.
205 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 6, 2017
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Christina Engela
117 books44 followers"Christina Engela is a South African editor and author of horror, fantasy and science fiction novels. Her books are never short of suspense, adventure and humor, while her colorful characters and thought-provoking settings take readers into another world, making her one of the most gifted and creative storytellers. A firm supporter of the LGBT community, Christina believes that Sexual and Gender Minority characters aren’t reflected enough by authors due to a number of reasons. As such, Christina's writing isn’t stereotypical, and her characters aren’t stereotypes, regardless of their sexuality or gender." - Booksradar.com, June 21, 2021. You can find out more on ChristinaEngela.co.za
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 1, 2017
I wrote it, so obviously I loved it ;)
February 13, 2020
Page turning space sci-fi full of chills and fun from beginning to end...
Christina Engela delivers a fun but chilling book that contains many of the familiar horror story tropes only now they are in space and on distant planets of the haunted/abandoned persuasion.
For what reads and feels like an anthology of shorter stories they are all linked by their events and of course 'Captain Stuart Flane' who by the end of it all has probably seen it all. From space 'zoms' to possessed dolls and 'toys' all the way to an abandoned formerly colonized planet that's now inundated with ghost types playing havoc with furniture; our hero 'Flane' can only explain this stuff to the higher ups in the least absurd ways possible.
Those who are fans of classic and recent horror stories will find this to be a read in somewhat familiar territory while much of the events come unexpectedly and on the fringes of laugh out loud comedy. There's mystery, suspense, a lot of fun and of course that element of the unexpected which will keep readers turning the pages. Many of the sub genres of horror are represented with hauntings, zombies, possessions and urban exploration all of which are set in the science fiction universe of the 'Panic! Horror in Space series'.
Christina Engela delivers a fun but chilling book that contains many of the familiar horror story tropes only now they are in space and on distant planets of the haunted/abandoned persuasion.
For what reads and feels like an anthology of shorter stories they are all linked by their events and of course 'Captain Stuart Flane' who by the end of it all has probably seen it all. From space 'zoms' to possessed dolls and 'toys' all the way to an abandoned formerly colonized planet that's now inundated with ghost types playing havoc with furniture; our hero 'Flane' can only explain this stuff to the higher ups in the least absurd ways possible.
Those who are fans of classic and recent horror stories will find this to be a read in somewhat familiar territory while much of the events come unexpectedly and on the fringes of laugh out loud comedy. There's mystery, suspense, a lot of fun and of course that element of the unexpected which will keep readers turning the pages. Many of the sub genres of horror are represented with hauntings, zombies, possessions and urban exploration all of which are set in the science fiction universe of the 'Panic! Horror in Space series'.
May 24, 2021
Originally posted over at my personal blog site, Night Terror Novels
“The ‘neck’ slowly unfurled at the end of the prehensile humanesque tentacle like the obscene fruit at the end of a repulsive vine.”
– Christina Engela, Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1
🚀I received an e-Book of this story in exchange for a fair review!🚀
Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1 (2019) offers a collection of comedic sci-fi short stories with a horror flavour, taking established genre tropes – such as the undead, locations haunted by ghostly spirits, and possessed objects – and combining them with elements of the science-fiction genre across three narratively and thematically linked stories. Each tale follows the luckless Captain Stuart Flane and his crew aboard a starship called the Mercury, as they attempt to chart the unknown corners of space. Along the way, they move from misadventure to misadventure, getting into increasingly bizarre circumstances.
I think of the trio, the first story comprised of two shorts titled Part 1: Mercury Rising and Part 2: Mercury Resurgent, was the strongest, as it took the well-worn premise of a zombie outbreak and gave it a neat and original twist. The other two stories, titled Part 3: Dead Center and Part 4: Through a Dark Glassy, were also entertaining to read, if a tad more formulaic than the first. I didn’t feel they did quite as much to differentiate themselves from the tropes they were riffing on, and instead sort of just transferred the setting to space.
I don’t know the exact background of these stories, but after reading them, I imagine that they existed as standalone shorts before being collected into this book. Though they do follow on directly from one another in the overarching narrative, each one does reintroduce certain elements and characters at the beginning. I feel like perhaps this could have done with a bit more editing when they were collected into this particular novel, as many of these are repeated in each. It meant rereading the same character info or descriptions, and this repetition could have been shaved off in this collection.
Stuart Flane and his EXO Vic Chapman were pretty entertaining lead characters, and had a good back and forth comedic banter between them. The rest of the crew and characters often existed solely to serve as conduits for their various hijinks, and unfortunately felt a little underdeveloped as a result. I did feel that sometimes the gravity of the events was downplayed quite a bit as well, and the deaths of these more expendable crew members were somewhat trivialised, though I do understand that this is often the case in more comedic stories.
Comedy is often a very difficult thing to pull off as it is so subjective, and although I didn’t think every joke landed for me personally, the author did do a good job of infusing a jovial flow to the narrative. She also effectively establishes her own sci-fi universe and lore without bogging down the book with too many details, instead allowing the world to grow and expand naturally through the stories.
There is one major point I’d like to bring up on the grammatical front; exclamation marks should, ideally, be used sparingly and for emphasis. I think they featured on almost every page in this book, and the effect was quite jarring. I don’t think there is ever really a call to use them in the omniscient narrative voice as they were here, and using them too often in dialogue gives the impression that every character is extremely excitable, or just shouting all the time. If there was one piece of constructive criticism to be taken away from this review, it’d be to scale that back. That aside, this is an enjoyable read with some snappy dialogue exchanges and jokes aplenty. It’s maybe a tad light on the horror elements for my taste, but the stories themselves were lively and fun.
VERDICT: All things considered, Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1 provides amusing and light-hearted action within a science-fiction setting, sprinkled with the odd spooky scene and a strong comedic current too. There are a few technical areas that I felt could’ve done with some tightening up, but overall the stories, settings and characters were all engaging and entertaining.
It’s a solid ⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer. I also want to say a humongous thank you to Christina Engela for providing a copy and giving me the chance to read and review it.
Book Information
Title(s): Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1
Author(s): Christina Engela
Publisher(s): Self-published
Original Publication Date: 15th December, 2019
Page Count: 252 pages
Format Read: Digital
Advance Review Copy (Y/N): Y
Website(s): https://christinaengela.com/
“The ‘neck’ slowly unfurled at the end of the prehensile humanesque tentacle like the obscene fruit at the end of a repulsive vine.”
– Christina Engela, Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1
🚀I received an e-Book of this story in exchange for a fair review!🚀
Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1 (2019) offers a collection of comedic sci-fi short stories with a horror flavour, taking established genre tropes – such as the undead, locations haunted by ghostly spirits, and possessed objects – and combining them with elements of the science-fiction genre across three narratively and thematically linked stories. Each tale follows the luckless Captain Stuart Flane and his crew aboard a starship called the Mercury, as they attempt to chart the unknown corners of space. Along the way, they move from misadventure to misadventure, getting into increasingly bizarre circumstances.
I think of the trio, the first story comprised of two shorts titled Part 1: Mercury Rising and Part 2: Mercury Resurgent, was the strongest, as it took the well-worn premise of a zombie outbreak and gave it a neat and original twist. The other two stories, titled Part 3: Dead Center and Part 4: Through a Dark Glassy, were also entertaining to read, if a tad more formulaic than the first. I didn’t feel they did quite as much to differentiate themselves from the tropes they were riffing on, and instead sort of just transferred the setting to space.
I don’t know the exact background of these stories, but after reading them, I imagine that they existed as standalone shorts before being collected into this book. Though they do follow on directly from one another in the overarching narrative, each one does reintroduce certain elements and characters at the beginning. I feel like perhaps this could have done with a bit more editing when they were collected into this particular novel, as many of these are repeated in each. It meant rereading the same character info or descriptions, and this repetition could have been shaved off in this collection.
Stuart Flane and his EXO Vic Chapman were pretty entertaining lead characters, and had a good back and forth comedic banter between them. The rest of the crew and characters often existed solely to serve as conduits for their various hijinks, and unfortunately felt a little underdeveloped as a result. I did feel that sometimes the gravity of the events was downplayed quite a bit as well, and the deaths of these more expendable crew members were somewhat trivialised, though I do understand that this is often the case in more comedic stories.
Comedy is often a very difficult thing to pull off as it is so subjective, and although I didn’t think every joke landed for me personally, the author did do a good job of infusing a jovial flow to the narrative. She also effectively establishes her own sci-fi universe and lore without bogging down the book with too many details, instead allowing the world to grow and expand naturally through the stories.
There is one major point I’d like to bring up on the grammatical front; exclamation marks should, ideally, be used sparingly and for emphasis. I think they featured on almost every page in this book, and the effect was quite jarring. I don’t think there is ever really a call to use them in the omniscient narrative voice as they were here, and using them too often in dialogue gives the impression that every character is extremely excitable, or just shouting all the time. If there was one piece of constructive criticism to be taken away from this review, it’d be to scale that back. That aside, this is an enjoyable read with some snappy dialogue exchanges and jokes aplenty. It’s maybe a tad light on the horror elements for my taste, but the stories themselves were lively and fun.
VERDICT: All things considered, Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1 provides amusing and light-hearted action within a science-fiction setting, sprinkled with the odd spooky scene and a strong comedic current too. There are a few technical areas that I felt could’ve done with some tightening up, but overall the stories, settings and characters were all engaging and entertaining.
It’s a solid ⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer. I also want to say a humongous thank you to Christina Engela for providing a copy and giving me the chance to read and review it.
Book Information
Title(s): Static: Panic! Horror in Space Book 1
Author(s): Christina Engela
Publisher(s): Self-published
Original Publication Date: 15th December, 2019
Page Count: 252 pages
Format Read: Digital
Advance Review Copy (Y/N): Y
Website(s): https://christinaengela.com/
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews