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Alien a la Carte
The dough rose beautifully; unfortunately, it rose beautifully to the ceiling and was now stuck. Normally this would not be a problem; gravity would have its way … This was far from normal.... Bae's career as a xeno-nutritionist is over before it's begun, when asthma stops his chance to join SCC, the Space Colonization Corps. He takes the only job in space he is fit for; Chef on space-station Theta. Despite his health, Bae takes an active and occasionally zany approach to his new role, and life in space. His steaks are mouth watering; his creme brulee is to die for, possibly literally. Theta houses a hydroponics research facility where Bae combines his passions for cooking and nutrition. When a military captain with a unique ship requests his skills for the SCC’s Bioforce team, Bae finally gets to land on an alien world—before even the colonists arrive. Utilizing the space folding ship, when an unrecognizable danger materialises on one of the colony planets, Bae finds his unique qualifications in demand. With a crew that includes his ex-girlfriend, a terrible ships cook and most surprisingly a talking cow, Bae’s new life throws him in the deep end. A light-hearted and humorous science fiction novel by LizaRose Alderson.
130 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 23, 2020
3 people want to read
About the author
LizaRose Alderson
1 book4 followersBorn in the UK, Lizarose now lives as a sandwich filling with her mother and son in Toronto, Ontario.
For more information visit lizarose.ca
For more information visit lizarose.ca
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 17, 2020
I love me some space opera and had high hopes for this one.
It starts off with a fabulous pace and sets up the MC's beautifully while on the space station.
Sadly, once they go off into space the pace becomes frenzied when all I wanted was more more more!
The plot is hella interesting (FYI there are no gnarly aliens despite the title) and the characters are fun to hang out with. I wish the author had slowed down and spent more time in developing (what I felt) were the most interesting bits.
Muchas gracias to LizaRose Alderson for my DRC.
"You've never seen joy until you've seen a cow frolic and turn a somersault."
It starts off with a fabulous pace and sets up the MC's beautifully while on the space station.
Sadly, once they go off into space the pace becomes frenzied when all I wanted was more more more!
The plot is hella interesting (FYI there are no gnarly aliens despite the title) and the characters are fun to hang out with. I wish the author had slowed down and spent more time in developing (what I felt) were the most interesting bits.
Muchas gracias to LizaRose Alderson for my DRC.
"You've never seen joy until you've seen a cow frolic and turn a somersault."
July 21, 2020
I’m drawn to these off-world, outposts in outer-space type of novels because I’m one of many readers interested in the engineering, biology and psychological challenges that humanity needs to anticipate for the next step, when our species transitions to space diaspora. Science fiction, you see, attempts to predict the view around the next corner. However, if you get heavily into the engineering information drop, the book becomes dull and readers lose attention so the thinking is lost. The best way out of that is to deliver a light package of science, the little pearl of a payload, within a pleasant and humorous story with lots of content around human nature. When we look out, we’re also looking in. The human personality under unusual conditions is always a good theme to explore, asking “if this amazing thing happened, how would we react?” Usually, characters rise to the challenge and find the best qualities within themselves, so that’s where an everyman character begins to impress.
The Union Station books by E.M. Foner (4,200 ratings on Goodreads) were recommended to me a long time ago and I thought those were okay, certainly an improvement on the immature and militarised Babylon 5 or perhaps even the soap-opera qualities of DS9, but neither were the best that could be written about a space station scenario. I would rate Alien a-la-Carte ahead of those well-known works of entertainment for several reasons.
The character Bae is unique as far as I know, a chef with asthma and wobbly confidence earning audience sympathy whose only advantage at the beginning is he doesn’t get space sick in zero gravity (imagine). He does his best, improvises, takes risks, makes a fabulous globular crème brulee with blow-torches and grows into a reliable personality. He’s found his place in the Universe. It would be a superb role for a future actor to take on. This author does the same thing which Terry Pratchett also did and that’s to never describe character appearances (e.g. size, weight, eye colour, all the racial footnotes that risk the baggage of stereotyping) but present the character as a normal person who says things in their own way, has personal rather than group style, and then the reader builds their own picture in the mind of what that character means to them and what they might look like. What matters is then what you do with your life, which is a lesson for all of us. My idea of what Bae looks like is probably different to the author’s idea of his appearance, but we both see Bae as real – and that’s a good character shown fully formed, the portrait painted with their doubts, insecurities, experiences and sense of exploration, not the shape of some feature or whatever. Some authors add a scar or an eye-patch to their characters, for want of anything interesting to say.
I like the way that future society has moved to consuming a plant-based diet, not because I am vegetarian myself but because the mathematics say we can’t continue eating meat-dominant diets if our population continues to scale up. Seeing the future from a new, vegetarian angle seems like a shift in social philosophy to me but if you are one of the world’s Hindus (ditto Jainism and most sub-divisions of Buddhism), there’s no difference at all and it just looks like others have come around to your way of thinking. Most of the traditional Chinese diet (within China, not takeaways) is based on plant materials and India is a majority vegetarian culture, so if that’s 25% of the planet’s population now, it has got to be the way we’re heading. It is easier to have plants in space than a cow in space (think of the methane) but then again this story does have one of those too, strangely.
The second half of the book takes Bae beyond the station, as he gets a better offer. I felt the character’s strain in choosing to leave the job he was ideal for and the aspirational thing he’d originally wanted to do. Wrong choice, I thought, but he made the opposite decision anyway. We then follow the character as he discovers new species in faraway outposts (coincidentally, I also wrote a sci-fi novel which included this exobiology aspect. It would be a cool way to spend your time) and he visits colonies, which are often more agricultural than Asimov’s drag and drop technical civilisations, but these also seem sensibly planned and influenced by their unique local environmental chemistries.
I thought the author did really well to produce an international feel-good story with potential wide appeal beyond the sci-fi genre. It can be read as a sensible extrapolation of the career opportunities that may open up in outer space in the future (people will still need to have dinner, colonies will need to be serviced) or some will prefer to enjoy the unusual fantasy elements. It’s worth remembering that some science fiction imagination has become reality later on, so I wouldn’t be brave enough to say purple trees aren’t out there somewhere as we still need to get out there and look. This is good all-round entertainment, not heavy, not preachy, just imaginative fun.
The Union Station books by E.M. Foner (4,200 ratings on Goodreads) were recommended to me a long time ago and I thought those were okay, certainly an improvement on the immature and militarised Babylon 5 or perhaps even the soap-opera qualities of DS9, but neither were the best that could be written about a space station scenario. I would rate Alien a-la-Carte ahead of those well-known works of entertainment for several reasons.
The character Bae is unique as far as I know, a chef with asthma and wobbly confidence earning audience sympathy whose only advantage at the beginning is he doesn’t get space sick in zero gravity (imagine). He does his best, improvises, takes risks, makes a fabulous globular crème brulee with blow-torches and grows into a reliable personality. He’s found his place in the Universe. It would be a superb role for a future actor to take on. This author does the same thing which Terry Pratchett also did and that’s to never describe character appearances (e.g. size, weight, eye colour, all the racial footnotes that risk the baggage of stereotyping) but present the character as a normal person who says things in their own way, has personal rather than group style, and then the reader builds their own picture in the mind of what that character means to them and what they might look like. What matters is then what you do with your life, which is a lesson for all of us. My idea of what Bae looks like is probably different to the author’s idea of his appearance, but we both see Bae as real – and that’s a good character shown fully formed, the portrait painted with their doubts, insecurities, experiences and sense of exploration, not the shape of some feature or whatever. Some authors add a scar or an eye-patch to their characters, for want of anything interesting to say.
I like the way that future society has moved to consuming a plant-based diet, not because I am vegetarian myself but because the mathematics say we can’t continue eating meat-dominant diets if our population continues to scale up. Seeing the future from a new, vegetarian angle seems like a shift in social philosophy to me but if you are one of the world’s Hindus (ditto Jainism and most sub-divisions of Buddhism), there’s no difference at all and it just looks like others have come around to your way of thinking. Most of the traditional Chinese diet (within China, not takeaways) is based on plant materials and India is a majority vegetarian culture, so if that’s 25% of the planet’s population now, it has got to be the way we’re heading. It is easier to have plants in space than a cow in space (think of the methane) but then again this story does have one of those too, strangely.
The second half of the book takes Bae beyond the station, as he gets a better offer. I felt the character’s strain in choosing to leave the job he was ideal for and the aspirational thing he’d originally wanted to do. Wrong choice, I thought, but he made the opposite decision anyway. We then follow the character as he discovers new species in faraway outposts (coincidentally, I also wrote a sci-fi novel which included this exobiology aspect. It would be a cool way to spend your time) and he visits colonies, which are often more agricultural than Asimov’s drag and drop technical civilisations, but these also seem sensibly planned and influenced by their unique local environmental chemistries.
I thought the author did really well to produce an international feel-good story with potential wide appeal beyond the sci-fi genre. It can be read as a sensible extrapolation of the career opportunities that may open up in outer space in the future (people will still need to have dinner, colonies will need to be serviced) or some will prefer to enjoy the unusual fantasy elements. It’s worth remembering that some science fiction imagination has become reality later on, so I wouldn’t be brave enough to say purple trees aren’t out there somewhere as we still need to get out there and look. This is good all-round entertainment, not heavy, not preachy, just imaginative fun.
August 2, 2020
Title: Alien a la Carte
Author: LizaRose Alderson
Publisher: LizaRose Alderson
ISBN: B089MP5WC
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Carte-Li...
Reviewer: Teresa Fallen Angel
Blurb:
The dough rose beautifully; unfortunately, it rose beautifully to the ceiling and was now stuck. Normally this would not be a problem; gravity would have its way …
This was far from normal....
Bae's career as a xeno-nutritionist is over before it's begun, when asthma stops his chance to join SCC, the Space Colonization Corps. He takes the only job in space he is fit for; Chef on space-station Theta.
Despite his health, Bae takes an active and occasionally zany approach to his new role, and life in space. His steaks are mouth watering; his creme brulee is to die for, possibly literally.
Theta houses a hydroponics research facility where Bae combines his passions for cooking and nutrition. When a military captain with a unique ship requests his skills for the SCC’s Bioforce team, Bae finally gets to land on an alien world—before even the colonists arrive. Utilizing the space folding ship, when an unrecognizable danger materialises on one of the colony planets, Bae finds his unique qualifications in demand.
With a crew that includes his ex-girlfriend, a terrible ships cook and most surprisingly a talking cow, Bae’s new life throws him in the deep end.
Total Score: 3/5
Summary:
Bae always wanted to go to space, but his medical condition precluded him form joining the Space Colonization Corps until was offered a job as chef at the Space Station Theta. Now it was fascinating to experience all the problems Bae had learning to deal with not only zero gravity, but the challenges with cooking were very interesting.
Now the premise of the story was that after almost causing the destruction of the Earth humanity has changed direction towards living within their biosphere and protecting all life forms. Bae learned that there was much more going on at the space station allowing him to finally use his passion as a xeno-nutritionist to help humanity.
Now the story line had many side bras like Bae meeting a genetically altered cow, finally realizing Bae’s desire to experience space, and an offer to join the Bioforce team. The story was very interesting until the point where the mandate to protect life seems to be ignored in a very strange way with the story abruptly ending.
According to the author this is the first book in the series and these issues will be addressed in the next book.
Author: LizaRose Alderson
Publisher: LizaRose Alderson
ISBN: B089MP5WC
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Carte-Li...
Reviewer: Teresa Fallen Angel
Blurb:
The dough rose beautifully; unfortunately, it rose beautifully to the ceiling and was now stuck. Normally this would not be a problem; gravity would have its way …
This was far from normal....
Bae's career as a xeno-nutritionist is over before it's begun, when asthma stops his chance to join SCC, the Space Colonization Corps. He takes the only job in space he is fit for; Chef on space-station Theta.
Despite his health, Bae takes an active and occasionally zany approach to his new role, and life in space. His steaks are mouth watering; his creme brulee is to die for, possibly literally.
Theta houses a hydroponics research facility where Bae combines his passions for cooking and nutrition. When a military captain with a unique ship requests his skills for the SCC’s Bioforce team, Bae finally gets to land on an alien world—before even the colonists arrive. Utilizing the space folding ship, when an unrecognizable danger materialises on one of the colony planets, Bae finds his unique qualifications in demand.
With a crew that includes his ex-girlfriend, a terrible ships cook and most surprisingly a talking cow, Bae’s new life throws him in the deep end.
Total Score: 3/5
Summary:
Bae always wanted to go to space, but his medical condition precluded him form joining the Space Colonization Corps until was offered a job as chef at the Space Station Theta. Now it was fascinating to experience all the problems Bae had learning to deal with not only zero gravity, but the challenges with cooking were very interesting.
Now the premise of the story was that after almost causing the destruction of the Earth humanity has changed direction towards living within their biosphere and protecting all life forms. Bae learned that there was much more going on at the space station allowing him to finally use his passion as a xeno-nutritionist to help humanity.
Now the story line had many side bras like Bae meeting a genetically altered cow, finally realizing Bae’s desire to experience space, and an offer to join the Bioforce team. The story was very interesting until the point where the mandate to protect life seems to be ignored in a very strange way with the story abruptly ending.
According to the author this is the first book in the series and these issues will be addressed in the next book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews