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Hart & Sol
Is there ever a good time for aliens to exterminate humankind?
Sarah Hart is about to find out…
To the outside world, Sarah Hart has it all, starting with the captain’s insignia on her International Space Corps uniform.
But from there, it’s strictly downhill.
Far from her dreams of military service, Hart’s life at the helm of the Milky Pleasure is just as icky as its name suggests, her cruise ship full of fleshy fantasy seekers and the crew equipped with more baggage than the passengers.
Throw in an alien species determined to erase humanity, and a dead-end job looks like it’s coming to a, well, dead end. But after surviving the initial invasion, it’s up to Hart and her crew to embark on a rescue and retreat mission. Then they can figure out if people are even worth saving.
And that’s before she finds her Sol.
A gleefully inappropriate new sci-fi comedy adventure from the twisted minds of Russell Emmerson and Matt J Pike.
Sarah Hart is about to find out…
To the outside world, Sarah Hart has it all, starting with the captain’s insignia on her International Space Corps uniform.
But from there, it’s strictly downhill.
Far from her dreams of military service, Hart’s life at the helm of the Milky Pleasure is just as icky as its name suggests, her cruise ship full of fleshy fantasy seekers and the crew equipped with more baggage than the passengers.
Throw in an alien species determined to erase humanity, and a dead-end job looks like it’s coming to a, well, dead end. But after surviving the initial invasion, it’s up to Hart and her crew to embark on a rescue and retreat mission. Then they can figure out if people are even worth saving.
And that’s before she finds her Sol.
A gleefully inappropriate new sci-fi comedy adventure from the twisted minds of Russell Emmerson and Matt J Pike.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 27, 2022
5 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Russell Emmerson
4 books1 followerRussell Emmerson is a former accountant, journalist and audiobook recorder.
He grew up in a Melbourne suburb that became trendy after he left, spent a year in a strange part of America and moved to Adelaide for the adventure. His general confusion about life is patiently tolerated by his wife, Karen, and son, Luca*.
Russell considers himself to be a cool geek. His wife assures him he's half-right. And it's not the first bit.
A Mage Alone is his first novel.
He grew up in a Melbourne suburb that became trendy after he left, spent a year in a strange part of America and moved to Adelaide for the adventure. His general confusion about life is patiently tolerated by his wife, Karen, and son, Luca*.
Russell considers himself to be a cool geek. His wife assures him he's half-right. And it's not the first bit.
A Mage Alone is his first novel.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 7, 2023
This was a hoot!
I hope first contact will at least include a chance like in this book when the “experts” have screwed everything up. You can feel the snarky joy the author felt in writing this. The plot is tight and moves right along. The language is agile, descriptive, and sings in the ear. The sly tribute to Rick Astley tickled me pink. Rock on, Emerson and Pike.
I hope first contact will at least include a chance like in this book when the “experts” have screwed everything up. You can feel the snarky joy the author felt in writing this. The plot is tight and moves right along. The language is agile, descriptive, and sings in the ear. The sly tribute to Rick Astley tickled me pink. Rock on, Emerson and Pike.
January 10, 2023
WTF
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
This was a fun, exciting and dangerous book to read. I hope to find more like it.
We have heroes, lovers, traitors and maybe not bad guys?
The writer of this book could write in almost any kind of plot line. Should be someone to follow.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
This was a fun, exciting and dangerous book to read. I hope to find more like it.
We have heroes, lovers, traitors and maybe not bad guys?
The writer of this book could write in almost any kind of plot line. Should be someone to follow.
July 8, 2024
I LOVED this book! The humour, the action, the characters and their interactions were all mwah *chefs kiss*
This was the first book of Pike's I have read, and it certainly won't be the last. Pike and Emmerson's writing styles work flawlessly together - and did I mention the humour? Several laugh out loud moments.
Given the time I could've read it all in one sitting, as each time I had to put it down was torture.
Absolutely epic - definitely recommend!
This was the first book of Pike's I have read, and it certainly won't be the last. Pike and Emmerson's writing styles work flawlessly together - and did I mention the humour? Several laugh out loud moments.
Given the time I could've read it all in one sitting, as each time I had to put it down was torture.
Absolutely epic - definitely recommend!
July 15, 2024
Captain Hart, Flickr, Storm, and Wave: A classic tale of a truly misfit crew who bond and form a team in the face of the end of humanity. The alien Uix species are not the true villain. Leave that role to Ambassador Harding and the bureaucratic Captain of the pleasure ship they are tasked to protect.
This is a long story with many interesting plot twists as it wends its way to the final moments of their existence. It kept me intrigued from start to finish.
There are a few dangling sub plots but that did not distract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
This is a long story with many interesting plot twists as it wends its way to the final moments of their existence. It kept me intrigued from start to finish.
There are a few dangling sub plots but that did not distract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
October 17, 2024
This book was hilariously good. It made me laugh at the same time as keeping me on the edge of my seat.
It had great characters and I always love a good sci fi.
It had great characters and I always love a good sci fi.
April 19, 2023
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: Hart & Sol
Author: Russell Emmerson & Matt J Pike
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 15
Stats
Editing: 7/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 8/10
Cover: 2/5
Of the 15 readers:
12 would read another book by this author.
7 thought the cover was good or excellent.
15 felt it was easy to follow.
13 would recommend this book to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 5 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
Of all the readers, 4 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
11 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
12 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
“A fun sci-fi filled with oddball characters who I enjoyed getting to know. It´s a long book and I do think a good editor might have cut it a little just to tighten up the pacing. But if you like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, you´ll like this.” Male reader, aged 42
“I enjoyed this story. It´s sort of sassy in all the right ways. I did feel the speech sort of wandered off and went on for too long, but there´s plenty of humour here which mostly/often hits the mark.” Female reader, aged 43
“A cleverly plotted sci-fi story with plenty of comic moments to keep readers amused. This is what I´d call light sci-fi as opposed to The Martian which is heavy sci-fi. Plenty of twists, and a cool crew for the reader to get to know. Flicker is an idiot, Hart is cool.” Male reader, aged 33
“The plot is almost secondary to the humour and the crazy characters. Works well!” Male reader, aged 58
“Loved it! I giggled my way through out. In terms of technical accuracy, not so strong. In terms of belly laughs, excellent.” Male reader, aged 49
To Sum It Up:
‘A sci-fi comedy that´ll keep the reader guessing all the way till the exciting end. A RED RIBBON WINNER and highly recommended!’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Title: Hart & Sol
Author: Russell Emmerson & Matt J Pike
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 15
Stats
Editing: 7/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 8/10
Cover: 2/5
Of the 15 readers:
12 would read another book by this author.
7 thought the cover was good or excellent.
15 felt it was easy to follow.
13 would recommend this book to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 5 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
Of all the readers, 4 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
11 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
12 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
“A fun sci-fi filled with oddball characters who I enjoyed getting to know. It´s a long book and I do think a good editor might have cut it a little just to tighten up the pacing. But if you like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, you´ll like this.” Male reader, aged 42
“I enjoyed this story. It´s sort of sassy in all the right ways. I did feel the speech sort of wandered off and went on for too long, but there´s plenty of humour here which mostly/often hits the mark.” Female reader, aged 43
“A cleverly plotted sci-fi story with plenty of comic moments to keep readers amused. This is what I´d call light sci-fi as opposed to The Martian which is heavy sci-fi. Plenty of twists, and a cool crew for the reader to get to know. Flicker is an idiot, Hart is cool.” Male reader, aged 33
“The plot is almost secondary to the humour and the crazy characters. Works well!” Male reader, aged 58
“Loved it! I giggled my way through out. In terms of technical accuracy, not so strong. In terms of belly laughs, excellent.” Male reader, aged 49
To Sum It Up:
‘A sci-fi comedy that´ll keep the reader guessing all the way till the exciting end. A RED RIBBON WINNER and highly recommended!’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
May 17, 2025
I loved this book. Red Dwarf and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy vibes, but a completely fresh story. Loved the characters and the humour.
Looking forward to the next book!
Looking forward to the next book!
July 20, 2023
The perfect storm - first contact leads to the end of humanity?
The alien attack wipes out all human habitations-planet, and in space, save one lone space station and the few ships on interplanetary voyages. The motley crew of the William Shakespeare - bottom-of-the-barrel military embarrassments, sex-obsessed, alcohol (and other)-addicted - these poor fools are "escorting" a pleasure cruiser full of wealthy, sex-obsessed, alcoholic civilians on a tour of Jupiter, Saturn and their inhabited moons when the deadly deed goes down. Humanity has never had a more unlikely bunch saviors. Bogged down by their shady nominal superiors, the rulebook enslaved martinet cruise ship captain, and the overwhelming destruction of any- and everything that might render aid, Captain Hart, Flicker, Storm, and Wave (plus Will, their ship's psuedo-Shakespeare spouting AI) must leverage their collective crackpot genius to somehow save humanity from both the aliens and the worst of itself. It's a funny, wry, suspenseful and thought-provoking sci-fi survival tale - a little heavy on the sexual innuendo and substance abuse - but well worth reading. And this, of course, is a voluntary and independent ARC review.
The alien attack wipes out all human habitations-planet, and in space, save one lone space station and the few ships on interplanetary voyages. The motley crew of the William Shakespeare - bottom-of-the-barrel military embarrassments, sex-obsessed, alcohol (and other)-addicted - these poor fools are "escorting" a pleasure cruiser full of wealthy, sex-obsessed, alcoholic civilians on a tour of Jupiter, Saturn and their inhabited moons when the deadly deed goes down. Humanity has never had a more unlikely bunch saviors. Bogged down by their shady nominal superiors, the rulebook enslaved martinet cruise ship captain, and the overwhelming destruction of any- and everything that might render aid, Captain Hart, Flicker, Storm, and Wave (plus Will, their ship's psuedo-Shakespeare spouting AI) must leverage their collective crackpot genius to somehow save humanity from both the aliens and the worst of itself. It's a funny, wry, suspenseful and thought-provoking sci-fi survival tale - a little heavy on the sexual innuendo and substance abuse - but well worth reading. And this, of course, is a voluntary and independent ARC review.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews