Hello Folks,
A slightly smaller than usual turnout for our most recent meeting, with most of
us enjoying our books, The White Mountains, and The City of Gold and Lead by
John Christopher. For our next book we’ve chosen a tale of interstellar
adventure and war in the first book in the Vatta’s War series, Trading in
Danger by Elizabeth Moon.
The next meeting of the Science Fiction club will be on Thursday, July 14.
Place, Book Nook at:
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e
Time: 9 PM Eastern, 8 PM Central, 7 PM Mountain, 6 PM Pacific, and 1:00 UTC.
Our book, Trading in Danger, is available both from BARD and in Publisher
Quality from Bookshare:
The link to download the BARD version is:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.nls/db.57103
The Publisher Quality Bookshare version is at:
https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/719873
The NLS Annotation reads:
Kylara Vatta is expelled from a military academy for a seemingly small
indiscretion. To rebuild her self-confidence, her father sends her on a mission
to command the scrapyard-bound cargo ship Glennys Jones. As captain, she
expands the mission and finds herself in the middle of a space war. Bestseller.
2003.
Here is Bookshare’s Long Synopsis:
Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father's
only
child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the
family
business. For Ky, it's no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport
Ltd.
shipping concern can't hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an
interstellar
cruiser. It's adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her
family's
misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a
valuable
asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down.Expelled
from the Academy in disgrace-and returning home to her humiliated family, a
storm
of high-profile media coverage, and the gaping void of her own future-Ky is
ready
to face the inevitable onslaught of anger, disappointment, even pity. But soon
after
opportunity's door slams shut, Ky finds herself with a ticket to ride- and a
shot
at redemption-as captain of a Vatta Transport ship.It's a simple assignment:
escorting
one of the Vatta fleet's oldest ships on its final voyage . . . to the
scrapyard.
But keeping it simple has never been Ky's style. And even though her father has
provided
a crew of seasoned veterans to baby-sit the fledgling captain on her maiden milk
run, they can't stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture-in
the name of turning a profit for Vatta Transport, of course.By snapping up a
lucrative
delivery contract defaulted on by a rival company, and using part of the
proceeds
to upgrade her condemned vehicle, Ky aims to prove she's got more going for her
than
just her family's famous name. But business will soon have to take a backseat to
bravery, when Ky's change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the
middle
of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it's her military training and
born-soldier's
instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous
mercenaries,
and violent mutiny....
Finally, here’s a brief review from School Library Journal taken from Amazon’s
page for Trading in Danger:
Adult/High School-Ky Vatta has been groomed for a career in her family's
interstellar
shipping empire, but yearns for the life of a military officer. Sadly, in her
senior
year at the Space Academy, she is accused of an indiscretion and forced to
resign.
When she returns home in disgrace, her father hands her what she feels to be a
demeaning
assignment, though it does make her a captain: to take an obsolete ship to the
scrap
yard. But before long, the family talent for commerce emerges, and Ky negotiates
an independent contract to supply a struggling colony with agricultural
equipment
from a nearby planet, hoping to realize sufficient profit to buy and refit her
ship.
The young woman finds herself in the midst of an interplanetary crisis and must
prove
her mettle. In this human future, commerce is the common ground where a
believable
variety of peoples, societies, and religions interact, and integrity and
intelligence
are essential factors in leadership. Entertainingly, Moon creates suspense and
reveals
character as much through contractual negotiations as through military action.
Some
readers might not approve of the author's use of shorthand sci-fi conventions to
sidestep scientific issues, but for most others, the human interest,
well-wrought
story, humor, and rich world-building will more than satisfy. The publisher
bills
this first in a series as military science fiction. It could equally be
described
as space opera … la Robert Heinlein, or a family yarn that can please fans of
Anne
McCaffrey's "Rowan" saga (Ace).
Come join us on July 14 to talk about this book, and anything else related to
SF literature.
Evan
