Space Opera Fans discussion

The January 2019 INDIE Pick is Temporary Duty by Ric Locke. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
Two enlisted sailors are sent to an alien spaceship to help prepare for the real human delegation. Once they arrive, they find out there's a little more to the assignment than that.
Alien worlds and friendly aliens, exploding spaceships and many that don't, a little sex, and the Internal Revenue Service. Oh, and janitorial supplies. Truly there are Wonders Out There.

I’ve read this one several times. I look forward to rereading it next month.

I’ve started my reread. My dad was an Air Force pilot for about 20 years. I have no trouble believing that aliens trying to make arrangements with official negotiators or high ranking officers might run into severe red tape or just “that’s not how it’s done” issues. A sergeant would know how to work around the red tape, etc. In this book it’s the Navy, so E4 and E5 petty officers makes perfect sense to me. Enough experience to know how officers expect things to work, and low enough rank that they don’t get their noses out of joint when alien manners or SOP don’t fit with what they are used to.

I’m about halfway through my reread. I like the world building. There are multiple alien species, and even among a given alien species there are multiple cultures. This is a strange sort of military SF, where most but not all of the fighting is fairly safe demo action. There are real fights, both in space and on planet. There is also salvaging the wrecks after the battle, which is a challenge due to the need to coordinate between Navy fighters searching for the wrecks and the Grallt freighter that has the equipment to do the salvaging, with a translator in the middle juggling languages and also coordinate systems.

I wouldn’t give this book to a youngster. There are sex scenes (inter species) and also the type of language you would expect sailors to use.

This has been on my TBR forever. I had to re-load it to my newer Kindle. Next in queue.

Finished my reread. Very enjoyable.

Unfortunately there won’t be any more books by this author. He appears to have died in 2012.

I’m still early in my read. Interesting so far. Peters and Todd are likable characters. Will comment more as I progress.

Does anyone else feel that this is a precursor to Nathan Lowell's books - in style and philosophy?

I liked this a lot. There were some weak spots and events that could have transitioned more smoothly, but still good stuff. Space opera without all-out war. Female characters with strength and wit. An accidental hero who's just "doing his job".

Sad that this author won't be contributing further.

I agree that this book reminds me of Quarter Share, but Quarter Share was written (or at least spoken for Podio Books) first.

Teresa wrote: "I agree that this book reminds me of Quarter Share, but Quarter Share was written (or at least spoken for Podio Books) first."

Ah-ha! You are correct. Perhaps the influence went the other way. Or just a theme that works well today.

This book is long! It reads more like Peter's journal!

Long is right, Goodreads says 541 pages. A bargain!