Sparkle Ship Shine

by Aaron Hall, Steve Beaulieu

Cleaning starships is unglamorous work, even for a teenager. Sadie doesn't just hate her job, she hates pretty much everything about her life. When her sleazy boss leaves her on the closing shift alone so he can go party, she thinks it's the beginning of another in a long line of forgettable nights. Then she meets her final client of the evening, and finds that her otherwise boring job is about to become a fight for survival.

Genres: Science Fiction

47 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2017

Reviews

[krysley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly enjoyed this book, especially considering this was slightly out of my comfort zone.

You see, I'm not a fan of horror or scary things. In fact, my favorite scary movies are the I Know What You Did Last Summer series. See? Scary/horror is not my realm at all. So while I would consider this sci-fi/horror, true horror fans may laugh at my categorization. That's okay. I'll leave the truly scary stuff to them.

Steve Beaulieu and Aaron Hall did an excellent job at creating a suspenseful atmosphere on a highly intelligent ship with an insane AI. To me, there were truly creepy scenes where I shuddered in enjoyable horror (especially the maggots). For such a short book, I was gripped the entire time - and I wanted more.

I listened to the audiobook version and greatly enjoyed Lillie Ricciardi's narration. She was perfect as Sadie and handled the few additional characters very well.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Christopher Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. The protagonist is a teenage girl in a dead end retail job cleaning ships by hand for $4 an hour.

It has all the good young adult/middle age traits that make a good book:

They speak like you know like a teenager - Check
The mundane teenage life and crappy first job - Check
Action and adventure - Check
A defined villain - Check

Loved it!!!!!

[Steven Guglich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hall & Beaulieu deliver an unusual, yet entertaining and engrossing story about a young woman bored with her job... a job that suddenly takes an unexpected turn of events.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sparkle Ship Shine reminded me of a Sci-Fi themed episode of the TV show “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”, keeping me on my toes up until the very line and even after that. The occasional humor keeps the story from getting too dark and had me smiling a few times. I quickly emphasized with Sadie, a teen worker at a spaceship cleaning service, as she endures her increasingly suspenseful and horrific ordeal. While the imagery and setting is vivid, I did find the prose a bit choppy in a few places, breaking the flow of the story. I also wished there was a bit more of a hint of what happens to Sadie at the end. Overall, this is a great story that can be finished in under 30 minutes.

[J.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short story. It had a sci-fi urban feel to it, reminding me of Nueromancer, and a humorous touch like the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The social and moral questions that arise also brought up a shadow of Asimov's collection in I, Robot.

It was a fun read and I look forward to more !

[soda · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received this in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting and heart pounding short story. Sadie cleans for a living, and hates her life. When she steps aboard a starship and begins to clean, she has no idea what's in store and what/who the ship 'is'. This has potential to be a great full length novel with a lot more detail added.

Good read.

[Summer Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

snappy protagonist. non stop action. plenty of gore and humor.