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Floating Solo by Shelley Wilson #Review

  Fancy taking a leisurely boat ride along a beautiful Warwickshire canal? Floating Solo by Shelley Wilson was published by Hillfield Publishing on November 5th. Are you single? Have you lost your confidence when it comes to travelling? Would you welcome a few weeks away to find that missing spark? Climb aboard the Creaky Cauldron for an adventure like no other! Budding entrepreneur Kat Sinclair wants to grow her quirky solo narrowboat holiday enterprise but faces rejection at every turn. Until a Hollywood film crew gets in touch with the potential to change her business, dreams, and love life forever. 'Enemies to lovers' 'Small town romance'   My Thoughts   You can't help but fall under the spell of life on the canals when you read this story. Kat has big dreams for her business but seems to lack confidence to put it into action. Her Floating Solo holidays are very successful for her clients and many use the experience to sort out their thoughts and plan their ...

The City Among the Stars by Francis Carsac translated by Judith Sullivan & Margaret Schiff #Review


Welcome to the first English translation of the celebrated Golden Age Science Fiction Classic, The City among the Stars by Francis Carsac.




A soldier of the Empire of Earth floats through space, his spaceship destroyed by sabotage. He is saved by a ‘city-in-space’ whose people despise those born and raised on a planet. Out of spite, he refuses to deliver the one piece of knowledge that can protect the people who saved but now spurn him - leading to catastrophic consequences.

 "This stunning classic stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Arthur C. Clark, Asimov, and Heinlein. No devotee of great sf should miss The City of the Stars." – New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors W. New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear.

My Thoughts

The chance to read the first English translation of a French Sci Fi classic from 1962 was tempting.  Written in a world where space travel was just beginning and just after President Kennedy had committed  the USA to land a man on the moon, it feels like a traditional take on the genre, with lots of detailed descriptions of the technology and descriptions of space which come mainly from the writer's imagination. One of the most interesting aspects for me, is the characterisation, especially of the female characters who all seem pretty subservient to the needs of the plot. This would not be unusual for its time.

    Life on board the Spaceship with the People of the Stars is described in great detail with a new hierarchy which looks down on those who they label 'planetary' as opposed to their kin who they feel have evolved beyond them. At the heart of the book is an adventure story, surrounded by aliens, space, far flung planets and a reimagined Earth. Running through all this you may glimpse a little romance.

In short: Escape to outer space


About the Author


Francis Carsac, a pseudonym for the world-renowned French scientist, geologist, and archaeologist Francois Bordes, wrote and published six novels during the golden age of science fiction. 


Never before published in English, these novels resonate with timely issues ranging from climate control to racism and greed and tell the stories of characters whose challenges and triumphs clearly relate to many of the problems we encounter today. He has been translated and published into Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Hungarian, Estonian amongst others.

Book link: Amazon UK

Thanks to Flame Tree Press and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.


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