Queen of Denial

Queen of Denial #1

by Selina Rosen

On the planet Barious, war has become a national pass time. During one of these conflicts Taralin Zarco, Queen of Barious, was abducted by the Barion's mortal enemies the Lockeds. When the story starts the war has ended, the Barions have won and the queen has just been found on a distant planet. Enter Drewcila Qwah, a rough-and-tumble salvager, who drinks too much, smokes too much, and has a mouth you wouldn't kiss your mother with. Drewcila (Drew) and her partner, a huge hair-covered alien named Van Gar, have been hired by the king's emissaries to take the confused queen to meet her husband. Only two real problems with this plan. Drewcila hates royalty, and the queen has no memory of being queen or of her husband. Meet a strange world filled with palace intrigue, rebel plots, assassination attempts, civil unrest, economic depression, trash, and the unscrupulous salvager who wants to change it all to suit her own needs. Queen of Denial is a book with one to entertain. It is a fast-paced, hard-hitting, action-packed, science fiction comedy, with a little mystery thrown in for good measure. Ms. Rosen believes in researching her work in every detail. Queen of Denial is the end product of a lifetime of drinking, working in the trash collection business, and getting into fistfights over petty crap.

Genres: Science Fiction, Lesbian, LGBT, Fantasy, Fiction, Space, Space Opera

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Selina Rosen’s short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies including Sword & Sorceress, Witch Way To The Mall, Turn The Other Chick, the two newest Thieves’ World anthologies, Aoife’s Kiss, and Here Be Dragons.

Her novels include How I Spent The Apocalypse, Black Rage, Queen Of Denial, Strange Robby, and Jabone’s Sword.

Her mystery novels, Bad Lands, and Bad City, the first two Holmes and Storm Mysteries, were co-written with Laura J. Underwood.

One of Selina’s recent projects was a novelization of the first Duncan and Mallory graphic novel that was co-written by Robert Asprin and Mel. White, tentatively entitled Duncan and Mallory I.

Selina was honored by Deep South Con/FenCon in Dallas this past September where she was awarded the Phoenix Award.

Check out her website for her continuing series, The House. It’s posted in episodes—approximately two per month.

In her capacity as editor-in-chief of Yard Dog Press, Ms. Rosen has edited several anthologies, including the five award-winning Bubbas Of The Apocalypse anthologies and two collections of “modern” fairy tales including the Stoker-nominated Stories That Won’t Make Your Parents Hurl.

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rednecks in Spaaaaace! A lighthearted, farcical space opera about Drewcila Qwah, a spacegoing garbage and scrap dealer, and the kingdom of Barious she sets out to save from its post-war depression.

I enjoyed this book. It's light and funny, but at the same time it's dealing with issues faced by real world countries in similar situations. Some of the solutions proposed are a bit draconian, but it's all in fun. What is nice, too, is that despite her astonishingly foul mouth, I really found myself enjoying Qwah as a character. It becomes obvious in the story that she's got a good head on her shoulders and isn't afraid to use it, and that she really does mean well, and she's very good at aligning the interests of Barious with lining her own pockets.

-Jim

[Rusalky · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK IS NOT LESBIAN
It has nothing but hetero romance in it, I don't get why it's so wrongly categorized. Not a single lesbian in it.

That said, it's still an amazing book. The main heroine is just the perfect combination of rude, assertive and absolutely lovable. The humor is actually funny and there's not a single boring spot.
Great read!

[Tasula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slapstick in space. Very broad humor, 100% fun. Our heroine is the ultimate party girl and refuses to change.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp with good characters, and great cover art. There wasn't a lot of space action in the tale. Not quite a 4 star story but close, definitely more than a 3.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Entertaining characters and funny.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. This was a fun and fast read, with a roguish and charming lead character who gets up to shenanigans but comes through on the idea front. There's plenty of action and a big dollop of offbeat humor as well.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

This book is trying hard to be a send up of male fantasy space sci fi in a humorous way. It partially succeeds, and was at times funny. The female lead character is rude, crude, and business focused. She is hard drinking, hard fighting, violent, caring in a hidden way, and a good leader. In other words, she is the female version of many male characters in the genre. I like this idea of turning the genre on its head, but it does not quite work.

[Bookwyrm · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into the book, but by chapter 4 I couldn't put it down even though I had a party to go to. I had to read it in the same night. This is a funny read with characters I would like to be my friends.

[Bill Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Low space opera, trash talking, foul-mouthed, yet with a sense of humor.

[Jenncw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! It was funny and refreshing, despite the garbage smell