Bonkopalypse: A Red Darkling Jam

A glitchy robotic cat that bumps into walls and cleans its “exhaust port” in true cat style, sex pun sci-fi acronyms, and a cast of colorful and dysfunctional characters – what more could one want in a book?

You might or might not recall a book I recommended a while back – a riveting, action-packed yet comedic sci-fi adventure called Red Darkling.

Shoutout to Jason Kemp of Tenkara Studios, Toronto Ontario, for his stunning original artwork on both of these book covers!

The author, L.A. Guettler, has participated in several of my collaborative projects with the infamous WPaD (Writers Poets and Deviants) group. A pair of early tales of Bonk the cat can be found in WPaD’s sci-fi anthology, Strange Adventures in a Deviant Universe.

Guettler is a brilliant writer, and her debut novel Red Darkling showcases her talent for storytelling and warped sense of humor. The protagonist, Red Darkling, steals the reader’s heart despite, or perhaps because of, her flaws. Although Red bears some vague similarities to a certain red-hooded fairytale character, she reminds me somewhat of a female version of Marvel’s Peter Quill , AKA Starlord, as depicted in Guardians of the Galaxy.

And now the long-anticipated sequel to Red Darkling has arrived, and Bonkopalypse: A Red Darkling Jam meets and exceeds all my expectations.

Our somewhat salty heroine and her malfunctioning robotic cat embark on a new hilarious and action-packed adventure, seasoned with a plethora of hilarious sex pun acronyms (the D.I.L.D.O. had me on the floor LMAO) and a cast of fun characters including an uninhibited lounge lizard scientist and an abbey of monks named after typos.

Confused? You won’t be once you read the book. And if you haven’t already done so, be sure to pick up a copy of the first book. You won’t be sorry.

(I can’t confirm or deny at this point, but there are some hints that a third book may already be in progress.)