Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh

Expected UK publication date of March 7th 2019

A group of teenagers are trained to become astronauts and travel the stars to a planet that is proven to be earth like yet nothing but plant life has been found on the planet. It will take twenty three years to get there with a newly invented space drive. The teenagers chosen to go are called the Beta group, they will travel with four much older, more experienced astronauts.

The story also follows an alternative history yet includes most of what has actually happened in our history other than the UK has a much expanded space programme having sent astronauts into space for many years. The main part of the story takes place from 2010 to 2018 and depicts history pretty much as it was apart from the big part the UK has in space flight.

The first part of the story is where we meet seven of the six teenagers, their experiences in training, their relationships and how they live with themselves and each other. One rather tragic incident colours their whole training and some begin to ask themselves what is really going on.

The main part is once everyone is on their way to Terra-Two. Mainly about their interactions, relationships and team coherence in close quarters. I found this part very interesting and the behaviours of some characters might be cliched but they are needed to move the story along. I did not find the cliches too bad and for the most part expected the outcomes but occasionally there were surprises.

The dramatic scenes come about 70% into the book, there is more tragedy, splintering of the two groups and splintering within the younger and older travelers too. The way this is written is very good and I thought all the behaviours depicted were not unreal at all.

The finale was a little unexpected, I will not go into it but some survive, some have regrets and some do the unexpected.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and the way it ends leaves it open for a sequel but the ending here is complete in itself. Good, honest SF, I’d recommend this to anyone that enjoys good, thoughtful SF writing.

I would like to thank Temi Oh, Simon & Schuster UK and Netgalley for a free copy in return for a fair and honest review.

I Hate Shaving.......I Hate Having Facial Hair Too

I have always hated having to shave my face but I dislike having a hairy face even more! It is itchy, makes my face sore and overall, not a nice thing to have.

A Vintage Safety Razor Add

The market for mens razors amazes me too. There are the big multi-national companies that charge a small fortune for their multi-bladed pieces of modern art. There are the new mail order companies offering their wares at a discount if you subscribe to a monthly/bi-monthly subscription. Then there are companies that seem to want you to part with your hard earned attempting to sell you a classic, single bladed safety razor.

All of this is great if you like to spend plenty of time on your ‘image’. Me? I like a clean shave that does not cost a small fortune and that I can purchase when I want. I use what a lot of people would consider a cheap and cheerful option. I use an own brand one that one of our big high street pharmacy sells (you know the one based in Nottingham). It is a 3 bladed affair and does an excellent job for me. The handle is inexpensive, yet strong and sturdy. Replacement blades are also inexpensive. Best of all, I get a really decent shave from it.

I know we are all in the position to buy and use what we want or like and mens grooming seems to be a growing thing these days, especially with the growing trend of fine beards. This is not a rant, just an observation that is confusing this old git.

Chemistry, Fairy Princes and Other Loose Ends

A few days away from it all is a good thing, when we do get away we spend quite a bit of our time visiting National Trust properties. We had a few days in Poole, Dorset and even though it was October we had some lovely weather.

Brownsea Island

On our first day we went to Poole Quay and went on a boat trip around the harbour. Part of this trip was to get dropped off at Brownsea Island, if you fancied it. Brownsea Island for most people is the place where the experimental first Scouts camp was held. It is also a home to the increasingly rare red squirrel.

Our next day we visited Kingston Lacy, a wonderful house that is the home to many fine paintings and for me, wonderful furniture and carpentry, the window shutters really caught my attention.

Kingston Lacy

The detail is wonderful, the craftsmanship, spectacular.

Hinton Ampner

On our final day we visited Hinton Ampner. A fine private house with spectacular views over the Hampshire countryside. In contrast to Kingston Lacy, the owner was a collector of fine china and pottery. Not my thing but it is easy to appreciate the skill and artistic expertise of the potters.

I guess for some it is a bit of anathema that the average citizen of today should go around glimpsing into houses and lives that at one time ruled over us. For me it is a pleasure to see that although the people are gone we as a nation are now able to visit these fine houses and voyeuristically look into the lives of our forebears. Besides, the National Trust own and look after plenty of other properties that have a more significant place in our history too.

‘Till the next time.

Record Of A Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Humans have abandoned a dying Earth and for generations have travelled through space in their homesteader spacecraft searching for a new life. They come into contact with a collection of other life forms and agree to join them in a galactic council. The humans fleet settles around a sun and most still live in the space craft they their ancestors have lived and travelled in.

The story revolves around five characters, Tessa, a mother of two children. Isabel, an archivist for the fleets memories. Eyas, a caretaker which is someone that looks after the dead. Kip, a teenager that finds himself at odds with the fleet rules and Sawyer, an orphan from a human colonised planet looking for something new.

This is such an interesting read on so many levels. Firstly the way communities have come to live together in peace and harmony, it is almost utopian. No one has much but everyone is housed, fed and works. All work is done in return for the community and everyone has jobs they want to do. Those jobs that no one wants is then allocated by lottery and everyone does short stints. Everyone is equal no matter their job status, you do the job either because you want to or because it is the best thing you are good at.

As in all human societies, death is a part of life and the way that bodies are disposed of is quite ingenious. Due to the lack of dirt, or only having limited supplies of it, bodies are composted. Once composted the remains are reused as compost for growing new food. It might be against what we commonly believe but when you have limited supplies of minerals and fertiliser, this is a very economic way of producing food. It is another way of helping the community survive and continue and is another way of paying back for everything the community has provided in life.

There is so much more as well but the best way to discover it is to read the book, which I highly recommend.

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

An expected UK publishing date 10 January 2019

Naia Thulin is currently working in the serious crimes division and wants to move over to the Cyber Crime squad in the Danish police force. She has just been assigned a new partner that she does not like and feels that she does not need even though she has yet to meet him.

Mark Hess has been sent back to the Danish force after a temporary reassignment from Europol where he feels he has been badly treated and his return home is not a happy one. With both characters not wanting to be where they find themselves, they are put onto a murder enquiry which soon becomes a countrywide hunt for a serial killer.

This book is horrific, gory, bloodthirsty but boy, is it an excellent read!

The two police officers cannot agree on how the investigation should go, their superior is preventing them from looking into historic murder cases as he feels they are not connected. Hess simply does not want to be there at all, spending his time attempting to decorate and sell a flat he owns. Thulin is constantly hoping that her wish to join the cyber crime team comes to fruition. Then they both start to become involved in the murders as they both see that the commanding officer wants a quick result and anything that sticks, will do.

I started off not feeling anything for any of the characters and not much love for the gory start but as chapters progress I became engrossed and ended up not being able to put it down and having to read beyond 1am to reach the finale, which is tremendous!. I never spotted the perpetrator and even when we knew who it was the story still progressed at a brilliant pace because now, we as readers were really invested in the outcome.

I would like to thank Søren Sveistrup, Penguin UK/Michael Joseph and Netgalley for a free ecopy in return for an honest and fair review.

Discovering new music and music streaming

6 years is a long time but hopefully I’ll start something new here whilst leaving the old stuff in place. I do have a book review blog, a link should be here somewhere.

I’m of a certain age, over 55 anyway. I have always spent a lot of my free time listening to music and for some reason it came to my mind just how lucky music lovers both old and young are today. With

the internet we all have access to what ever makes our ears happy. For instance my music formative years were the 70’s and I simply loved prog rock and listened to what ever I could at the time. Mainstream radio stations played very little, if any at all, even if they did it was late night when all good teenagers were asleep.

Today, we can listen to what we like, when we like. I have Spotify and love it. I can use it free and listen to a few annoying adverts every hour or I could pay the price of 1 CD and listen to everything they have for a month! For me personally, I think it is a great service. I discover new bands almost daily and these are bands that I could have discovered in my teens if this sort of service had been around. Their music was never played on any radio station that I knew of.

I know musicians moan about the streaming services and they do not get as much income from these sources but for young bands, a handful of listeners can spread the word worldwide, rather than a few mates you knew where into the same music. Then, if they are anything like I was, you paid to go to concerts, where bands earn the real income anyway.

So, back to my point. Streaming has given me quite literally, a whole new library of bands to listen to that where around and playing great music that I never got to listen to, until now. Today I have Beggars Opera and their Pathfinder album from 1972. Not heard by these ears until nearly 45 after the event and probably never heard at all by me without my access to the internet. Why is there so much crap out in this electronic world when there are some really good things out there too?

The Trowie Mound Murders by Marsali Taylor

Cass Lynch once again finds herself the centre of a murder investigation. Art thieves and drug smugglers all play their part in this. The local Trowie Mound, the Shetlan for Neolithic burial mounds, comes under scrutiny as one set of travelers goes missing. It soon becomes apparent that there is a lot more at stake than some missing art.

Another brilliant read with the waters around Shetland playing a key role in what is another very good story. Cass finds herself in the middle of this as she starts off by being a good samaritan and goes looking for some missing boaters that ventured into the hills. She soon becomes the target as the thieves find her at their hiding place and lock her in the Trowie Mound.

Besides all that goes on with the crimes, Cass also starts to have feelings for the Inverness DI that comes to the island a second time to investigate what is going on. There is also Anders, her Norwegian crew mate. This is only a side story and I hope it stays that way but I thought I had to mention it.

A great second story in these Shetland Sailing Mysteries.