CeLEStial Books

TALES FROM ARDULUM BY J.S. FIELDS

15/6/2019

J.S. Fields has a new FF sci fi book out: Tales From Ardulum.

One year after saving the Neek homeworld and redefining the people’s religion, the crew of the Scarlet Lucidity returns to the Charted Systems for a much-needed break. For Nicholas and Yorden, the Systems will always be home, but for Emn and Atalant, too many memories compound with Emn’s strange new illness to provide much relaxation.

TALES FROM ARDULUM continues the journey of Atalant, Emn, Yorden, Nicholas, and Salice as they try to define their place in a galaxy that no longer needs them while battling the artifacts of Ardulan colonization. Other stories include Yorden’s acquisition of the Mercy’s Pledge (and his grudge against the galaxy), Atalant’s exile from her homeworld, Ekimet and Savath’s romance, and many others.

Series Blurb:

The ARDULUM series blends space opera and hard science into a story about two women persistently bound to their past, and a sentient planet determined to shape their future.

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Giveaway

J.S. Fields is giving away four prizes with this tour: a collectible soft enamel pin of the Mercy's Pledge (2), and a high res version of one of the interior illustrations (their choice, pick from Yorden, Nick, Emn, or Atalant) (2). Enter via Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4767/?

Excerpt

“She is nothing, anymore,” the president responded. “She is Exile.”

“You can’t!” Neek burst towards the door just as it slammed closed. She rebounded and fell back to the floor, her tailbone taking the brunt of the fall. The ship’s engines began to whine, and the floor jostled as the craft left the surface.

Neek ran to the controls and slammed her hands on the stuk interface. Through the viewscreen, she saw capital buildings, the Ardulan Temple, and then treetops as the skiff left the city and moved to the suburbs. She tapped command after command into the computer, but each try brought an angry beep and no change in course. The ship was on autopilot and password locked. She had no control.

Neek swallowed, trying to ease the ache in her throat. Wherever they stashed her, she would find a comm. She would smuggle out handwritten messages if she had to. She wasn’t going to give up. That she had lost the robes, lost the Guard…she could mourn that in time. Saving the forests, that was her job. Helping her people move beyond Ardulum so they could truly participate in the Charted Systems, that was why she did all this, right? That she loved piloting was just a bonus.

Right?

A low tremble went through the ship. Neek had never felt a skiff do that before. Had she lucked out? Was it malfunctioning? Neek sent another query to the computer. The ship was…

Neek blinked. It couldn’t be.

The ship was going up.

Neek frantically queried the computer. The viewscreen still showed treetops, but that silo in the distance…that had been there the first time she’d looked. It had seemed closer for a while, but now, she realized as she squinted, it was far away again. She was watching a prerecorded loop!

“No!” The skiff was clearly going up. Neek’s ears were popping, and there was a funny feeling in her gut. Her planet’s skiffs were not designed to leave even the lower atmosphere. Only settees could do that, and this was no settee. Whatever the president’s engineers had done to make it spaceworthy, it hadn’t been nearly enough.

Neek threw commands at the computer. Land. Coast. Glide. STOP.Each returned with a ping and the perpetual image of treetops. He couldn’t do this. He had no right to do this! What in Ardulum’s name was the president thinking? Neek pounded at the controls, and the recorded loop fuzzed out to reveal space. Endless space.

Text scrolled across the computer screen:

Hours of air left: 233

Gallons of water remaining: 2

Food rations available: none

Communication systems: disabled

Destination: high orbit around planet Neek

Entertainment options: one video available of Heaven Guard airshow #4194, highlighting the double barrel rolls of Guard Four; all Neek holy texts available

Neek screamed. She kicked the console, her boot denting the cheap biometal. The Neek did not leave their planet. They did not live on space stations or strange worlds. They stayed put, to wait for Ardulum’s return. And she…she was meant to rotup here, in Neek space—rot while watching a planet she could see but never again touch. Rot while the Heaven Guard executed flawless formations in Neek’s upper atmosphere, ignoring her gold coffin spinning by. Rot while reading texts she’d had shoved down her throat since she was old enough to read—texts that were slowly destroying her planet.

And…and…

She would never get her settee.

She was only nineteen years old, and she was going to die, alone, in space.

And there was nothing she could do.

Author Bio

J.S. Fields (@Galactoglucoman) is a scientist who has perhaps spent too much time around organic solvents. They enjoy roller derby, woodturning, making chainmail by hand, and cultivating fungi in the backs of minivans. Nonbinary, and yes, it matters.

Fields has lived in Thailand, Ireland, Canada, USA, and spent extensive time in many more places. Their current research takes them to the Peruvian Amazon rainforest each summer, where they traumatizes students with machetes and tangarana ants while looking for rare pigmenting fungi. They live with their partner and child, and a very fabulous lionhead rabbit named Merlin.

Author Website: http://www.jsfieldsbooks.com

Author Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/galactoglucoman

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16484795.J_S_Fields

Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-s-fields/

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/J.S.-Fields/e/B071YWC4VN

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REVIEW: Translucid by Zen DiPietro

27/9/2018

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Genre: science fiction (space opera/military)

Pairings: female/female

Queer Representation: bisexual, pansexual, lesbian

Warnings: none

Rating: 3.5 stars

REVIEWED BY ANON.

Review

Emé wakes up on a space station with no memory of who she is, but a complete memory of her job as a security chief. With every part of what makes her her missing, Emé must learn to trust those around her while she pieces her life back together. It turns out, however, that the person she was before was a liar–a good one–and Emé must unravel not only her personal identity, but determine why she lead a second life on Dragonfire station…with a wife who was originally her ‘mark.’

General

Heeeey it’s space lesbians! My favorite trope! The book started off strong, with a great hook chapter with Em waking up without her self-memory but a great technical memory… and then having to go home with a wife she does not remember. Em also discovers she has some uncanny fighting skills that she’s been hiding from the entire station. There’s great tension, the pacing is reasonable, and the interaction between Em and her wife is fantastic. The only time the pacing drops is in the final third of the book, when Em leaves Dragonfire station to find her missing Black Ops friends. Even then it doesn’t drop so much as it changes. The book goes from a sweet space opera directly into military sci fi, which was a little jarring. It was almost like two books smashed into one without much transition, leaving me to wonder if the rest of the books in this (extensive) series skew to the space opera side, or the military sci fi side.

Writing

This is one of those times were the narrative carried the book despite its flaws. The writing could have been much cleaner and direct, and there were numerous instances of timeline conflicts (pg 89, for instance, when Wren tells Em that a friend will be visiting for dinner that night, only to have Wren and Em watch a movie and go to bed because the friend actually isn’t coming over until the next night). The editorial work on this book was not tight, but it was easy to forgive amongst the intrigue of Em’s identity and the richness of the station.

Characters

I was instantly involved with Em. Her lost memory and the issues surrounding her wife and living situation created strong conflict from the first page and drove the book the entire time Em was on the station. Wren, her wife, was three-dimensional despite having very little page time. There was a menagerie of secondary station characters, all of whom were fleshed out and had distinct personalities. A number of cultures were very well described as well, giving a 270 page book surprising depth.

The members of the Black Ops team were less compelling, likely because they were introduced late in the book and had little screen time. It was hard to make the transition between Em’s daily station life and her Black Ops life, especially after she left the station. I think I needed more investment in the three other ops characters before I could get on board with the story line moving in their direction. One of the main factors keeping me from picking up the next book, in fact, is the uncertainty of whether it would continue the military side with Em’s operative friends, or whether it would drive Em back to the station and her interpersonal relationships there.
In the end, TRANSLUCID is a strong addition to the lesbians in space genre. Those interested in space opera and its intersection with military science fiction will enjoy this book. Those looking for straight space opera may want to look elsewhere.

You can buy TRANSLUCID in ebook here and paperback here.

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REVIEW: Ardulum first don by j.s. fields

23/6/2018

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RATING: Five stars

Reviewed by L.A. Ashton

Genre: Sci-Fi / Space Opera

Pairings: F/F (setup for future novels)

Queer Rep: NBs! Queers!

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence.

Synopsis

Neek is the pilot of a run-down transport ship, where she and her eclectic crew work to make ends meet. Exiled from her home world for not transcribing to the belief of the traveling planet Ardulum and its godly inhabitants, she seeks a way to earn favor to see her family again.

It seems like a normal day when the crew stumbles across a battle between a strange alien race and the sheriffs of the Charted Systems. Growing stranger by the moment, Neek and her crew are rewarded for their (accidental) aid with the gift of a slave girl. A slave girl who bears a striking resemblance to the Ardulan gods of lore, and whose ability to manipulate cellulose could make her a force of righteousness, or a paragon of destruction.

General

This is another “holy shit” book. And by “holy shit” book, I mean “holy God guys, read this immediately.”

Plot

Ardulum is beautifully paced, charming as hell, and delivers mounting excitement throughout.

The first scene is strange, delivering the narrative in a way that’s a bit unconventional, but easy to follow. I balked when I first began, but as I read on I became deeply entrenched in the moment. The reader’s next scene is with Neek, and she immediately makes you feel at home. The Firefly vibes are strong with this one, and the quippy charm and attitude was a sight for sore eyes.

Things unfold naturally; action and space battles flash through your mind’s eye, and personal struggles keep you grounded alongside the crew. I was always clamoring for more— more details, more info, more. This could be why I finished the book in less than two days.

Setting

The universe surrounding Neek is highly alien. Despite that, the world and intricacies are always palatable. My eyes never glazed over from info dumps or confusion. Instead, their lives and worlds bloomed to full color on the page in front of me. They felt like places that worked and moved even when I wasn’t watching them, realistic both in their structure and presentation.

Characters

Gosh darn it, I fell in love with the whole crew. I loved them and their interpersonal dynamics, which made every conversation a joy to read.

J. S. Fields does something wonderful in their writing, and it is something that calls to me specifically: Everything is gray. You think this character is chaotic evil? You think they’re the indisputable “bad guys”? Guess again.

The readers are given multiple povs that span the universe and its races, and every single glimpse left me more conflicted than the last. The characters I wanted to hate weren’t inherently awful! The guys you build up in your mind as good and untouchable might have dark ulterior motives! There is nothing more wonderful than this. It is human, and in this case it is also alien. Right and wrong shift depending on where you stand, and societal constructs color one’s upbringing. There is definitely commentary here— not heavy handed or brash, but nuanced. The reader has to reexamine their initial views and adjust as the book plows forward, and something as simple as this made the narrative all the more exhilarating. You are on a journey with the characters, sometimes with a touch of dramatic irony, and sometimes just as ignorant.

Ardulum was so good that I actually had to ban myself from downloading the second one, because I knew I’d read it the moment it hit my Kindle. I have things to do. It will be my reward. J. S. writes beautifully and stoically, if that makes sense to anyone but me. They deliver scientific information without forcing a laymen like me to scratch my head. The only parts I struggled with were during some battles, in which the manipulation of cellulose was being illustrated. It’s probably from a lack of understanding of the compound, but I didn’t feel I could envision it properly. Luckily this doesn’t detract much— the action is narrated internally as well as externally, so the effect of that manipulation is made obvious (and cool. It was super cool).

Please buy the book. Honestly, just... Here’s the link. Give it the ol’ click.

J. S. Fields’ official site can be found here, and their twitter is here.

Note: I am an Amazon Associate and I am using affiliate links. These do not affect you or my reviews.

From Ninestar Press:
Ardulum (ebook)
From Amazon.com:
Ardulum (print) | Ardulum (ebook)

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TALES FROM ARDULUM BY J.S. FIELDS

Get It On Amazon

REVIEW: Translucid by Zen DiPietro

REVIEW: Ardulum first don by j.s. fields

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