Spectacular Silver Earthling

by Mara Lynn Johnstone

Hubcap used to be a rescue bot, getting humans out of every boneheaded scrape imaginable. His new career as a TV star suits him much better: he can poke fun at the humans instead, while harvesting jetpods and tackling alien predators faster than any of them. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also immune to the mysterious “space frenzy” that keeps sending his coworkers into a froth. The robot worries for his human friends, though he would never admit it. Not when it’s much more fun to deploy weapons-grade sass.

Making sure the meatheads don’t kick the bucket while filming is hard enough, but when a rival show pops up aiming to steal their sponsor, the pressure is on. Hubcap has to film the most spectacular footage yet, while avoiding dangerous wildlife, plantlife, and emotions.

The frenzy is getting worse, and this planet might not be uninhabited after all. The entire galaxy is watching. Time is short. But if anyone is up to the task, it’s the robot with skills second to none, and an ego to match.

Genres: Fiction

298 pages, Paperback

Published July 7, 2022

About the author

Mara grew up in a house on a hill, of which the top floor was built first. She split her time between climbing trees, drawing fantastical things, reading books, and writing her own. Always interested in fiction, she went on to get a Master's Degree in creative writing, and to acquire a husband, son, and two cats. She still writes, draws, reads, and enjoys climbing things. She also has been known to make and wear costumes given any excuse, and to thoroughly enjoy life.

Reviews

[David Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was an indifferent reader until I walked into my junior high school library the first week of seventh grade and found a bookshelf labeled science fiction. That day I took home I, Robot and The Martian Chronicles.

I’ve never looked back. I read other genres now, mostly fantasy, horror, and crime fiction, but science fiction has remained my sweet spot. I think I like it because it’s a literature of ideas, because it’s often a sharp, even devastating commentary of current events (hello The Handmaid’s Tail, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984), and especially because of the endlessly inventive world-building.

Speaking of endlessly inventive world-building…Mary Lynn Johnstone’s Spectacular Silver Earthling has some, I’ll say it, spectacular world-building. In her world, humans have spread throughout the universe, and robots are fully recognized as citizens. Hubcap, her main character, was formerly a rescue bot, saving humans lives. Now that he’s his own person, he has a new job—co-host of a tv show that reports on different jobs throughout the universe. Think reality TV like Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs.

Now they’re filming on a new, supposedly uninhabited planet where humans harvest jetpods, but the people there are being plagued by “space frenzy”, which sends victims into an emotional frenzy. When you add in dangerous flora and fauna, and the fact that the planet may not be uninhabited after all, and Hubcap has his hands full.

The thing is, Hubcap can handle it, and he’ll be the first one to tell you that. He’s a robot with an attitude, a snarky smart ass who can run rings around the squishy humans who surround him. A fact he’s happy to remind them. Hubcap is a wonderful character. He’s hilarious, with a huge heart (even if he doesn’t have one), and truthfully, he may be a spectacular silver earthling, but he’s also delightfully human. Just, you know, a little better.

Johnstone is writing classic, old school science fiction here. I don’t want to give much more away here, but the alien world where she’s set her adventure is complex, inventive, and well-thought out. Her narrative gallops along at breakneck pace with excellent action, and a ton of humor. As I read, I was reminded of The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, and Becky Chambers Wayfarers series, both for the humor and the hopeful, optimistic worldview. But Johnstone is very much doing her own thing here, and she’s written a winner.

Spectacular Silver Earthling left me hoping for a sequel, even a series. I can’t think of higher praise.

[Vanessa Krauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had the pleasure of receiving an advanced reader copy of 'Spectacular Silver Earthling.' I'm not going to turn down a science fiction other world story with a humor bent. It's a concept too rare and infrequent within the publishing industry, and somehow this delightful creation landed on my lap. Sure, I get it, some people are nervous around the idea of exploring other words or concepts outside of their comfort zone. But, it was such a humorous and joyous twist that it makes me wonder why this isn't a gold standard within the science fiction genre. It's fresh and so very needed.

Other world science fiction's premise is a ton of world building in a foreign place with strange vegetation and wild biology with a whole host of rules that don't apply to our Earth existence. Then again, 'Avatar' was one of the highest grossing movies ever because it had a Pocahontas romance plot, so even actual aliens can't be that alienating to the general public. The only reason why other world stories are weird to people is because most of the time they're not attached to a story the average reader can relate to. Johnstone solved this conundrum perfectly. What if there was a camera crew led by a hyper, showboating robot called Hubcap who is filling in for a year 3000 AD-ish Mike Rowe? Dirty Jobs plus Mythbusters, and if Hubcap, Elliott and team don't find the most interesting and nutty things to film on the latest space colony, they're going to lose funding and be replaced by a fashion show. The horror! Also, everyone keeps freaking out from the invisible frenzy plague that requires needling people in the neck on top of it adds the needed tension.

There's the plight, then there is the drive to film rocket seed pods, the steroid supergophers, and to chase around alien pterodactyls like crazed maniacs for a share of their dinner (it carries an antidote.) The perspective mostly attaches to Hubcap and his grounding co-host, Elliott, whom you need to calm the excitable Hubcap. And dang, is Hubcap ever hilarious! The dialogue is genius and outrageous. He pranks, he has insane and wild ideas, but he's also a fleshed-out character. He may seem over-the-top and a jokester out to boost morale, but in a former profession he was a rescue bot. Chatty and exuberant, always looking to get a laugh; it's because he's invested in the physical and emotional well-being of others. So there is the protectiveness, the coddling, but also cheek. A character as such is hard to give a realistic drive, and Johnstone developed a perfect balance for the reader to attach to and be carried along the story with. (Though by the end of the book, I suspect that Ms. Johnstone is capable of some heinous April Fools' pranks based on what is in this book.)

Dialogue and Hubcap's crazed ideas for the best shot make the story relatable and fun. Not all are realized, which makes the humor not overbearing. The one problem with this story is that in the search for footage, the film crew does film and interact in some scenarios that do nothing to push the story forward. The three arcs are distinct: Finding good footage not to be cancelled, how the unexplained frenzy plague begins to impede on everything, then, the discovery of intelligent life. While I appreciate down time and bonding within a story, to ground it, the book felt a little long in places with content that wasn't either needed or could be attached to another chapter/segment. Example I'll go with is what is on the book cover. The film crew is following the colonists as they're trying to subdue and steal the dinners from basically giant dino pelicans. After that success, they go and try to also fight giant crabs and one of the film crew gets banged up. Of course, this is to challenge the crew and make them aware of the dangers as well as get Hubcap to be extra guarded about the fragility of life around him. On the other hand, the same character could have been injured by the pelican instead, and the crab sequence could have been cut without much care. Same goes for the supergopher section. While it fleshes out the world, and the supergophers was a natural story element that introduces the readers to how the colonists grow their edible crops (which is very important world building! A lot of authors forget to feed their characters in other world sci-fi), it doesn't move the plot along. The story slowed in places because of world building, but at least it was world building done properly, and not a grand prologue slapped on the front.

One of the other elements that perplexed me about the world building wasn't exactly why the humans were on this world, but why there were entire teams devoted to harvesting the alien resources. The commercial value of the seedpods that were being harvested wasn't elaborated on, and the sedative that was collected on the planet had yet to be marketed. I get that startups take time before they build a commercially-viable product, I personally wanted to see a little more of the economic side. Okay, I'm weird, and nitpicking. Johnstone created a novel alien language and biology that was some of the most unique I've encountered, and my 'major' criticism is what the going rate of an explosive seedpod is. That is how trivial the issues are with this book, as in none. Aside maybe the pacing being a bit slow in the odd place, this is an amazing novel, and any emotion I could express is the shear indignation that as a reader I feel robbed by an industry that traditionally snubs something this clever.

This is one of my top reads of 2022. Read it. Appreciate it. It's smart, clever, funny, and a type of sci-fi that everyone needs right now in a sea of dystopias and flaky space operas.

[W.A. Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of Spectacular Silver Earthling for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Some books' titles grab your attention and plaster a smile on your face, and Spectacular Silver Earthling by Mara Lynn Johnstone is one such book. Together with its cover of said spectacular silver earthling riding a creature bearing a resemblance to a pterodactyl while others attempt to restrain it as others film the chaos, this is a book that beckons to be read.

While you should never judge a book by its cover (or even its title), the smile the title elicited continued as I started reading the book, and remained on my face until the very end. If I were to sum up the book in a single word, it would be "fun." Whether it's the characters, the plot, the world or the humour, Spectacular Silver Earthling is a joy to read, told with a freewheeling nature that is completely fun.

Set in the future, where humanity has taken to the stars and televises them with intergalactic wildlife TV shows, this novel tells the story of Hubcap, an egotistical robot and host of one such TV show. In order to keep the sponsors happy and ensure his show stays on the air, Hubcap and his crew must film footage that will capture the audience's attention, which sets them off on an adventure that sees them exploring mysterious areas and meeting alien species.

The book's humour runs through its characters and the snark they bring to their situations. This book is funny, and the comedy is successful throughout the book's entirety. It is filled with amusing descriptioms, one-liners and banter.

The banter is an absolute joy, and moves at a rapid-fire pace. Hubcap is a larger-than-life character with an ego to match, and yet, through the humour, he remains relatable. The other characters are dialled down a notch from him, but still shine. Hubcap is undoubtedly the protagonist, but the rest of the book's sizable cast gets their due.

Given the amount of banter, dialogue plays a huge part in the book, resulting in a style that is very dialogue-heavy. If you enjoy reading a healthy amount of dialogue with characters verbally sparring with one another, you'll be delighted. The dialogue is full of wit and the characters all sound unique, with their own way of speaking, whether they be robot, human or alien.

The sci-fi elements are great, whether it's in relation to an alien location, its creatures, or the aliens, and the author presents all of these uniquely. They are written with a sense of wonder, while grounded enough to feel like they could exist within our universe.

As dialogue-heavy as the book is, the author uses prose effectively. In scenes filled predominantly with dialogue, the prose is sparing but still conveys the necessary information about the characters and setting. In these instances, the prose is is used economically, doing more with fewer words. In scenes with less dialogue, the world is painted in lush, vivid detail.

Whether it's poking fun at television or exploring alien worlds, Spectacular Silver Earthling brings a sense of joyous fun. Hubcap's snarky sense of humour is great and bounces off the other characters beautifully. If you're a fan of humour novels or science fiction, you'll find a thoroughly enjoyable book. If you're a fan of both, you'll find it infuses these brilliantly, for a truly unique experience.

My full review will be available on my website from Friday 15 July, 2022. To read it (and a host of other book reviews), click here.

[R. Lee Fryar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate enough to read a copy of this book. I like to describe this book as Dirty Jobs in space, and I think that accurately conveys the tone and fun of the book. Hubcap is the delightful MC of his own show, whether or not he’s really in charge of it, and always trying to find new ways to delight viewers and raise ratings. He’s got an off-the-cuff kind of charm, and often brushes aside his deep concern for his coworkers by reminding them of how fragile they are compared to him, while inside he’s coming to terms with what it might be to lose the people he really cares about if he can’t find a way to deal with a strange space plague that seems to be spreading across planets.

It's not your typical sci-fi read, though. The stakes, while high, are very personal for Hubcap, and I’d describe it as a nice mix of character-driven and plot-driven, with a lot of just plain fun events, similar to the episodic feel of the program that Hubcap and his friends are trying to sell to their world.

Overall a fun read with more emotional impact than I expected.

[Elise Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished my advanced reader copy. This was a new way to explore another planet -through the eyes of a film crew found of banter and digs at each other, as they seek footage exotic enough to keep their show on the galaxy's airwaves. The crew are good natured, and I enjoyed their company, and the conceited but very entertaining, endless digs that robot lead Hubcap makes at his 'meatbag' companions, which, along with the story, built to what I found to being a satisfying finale.

Frenzy, a space illness of mysterious origins was an interesting and realistic concept as a 'villain'. And naturally, an interesting original new alien species makes an appearance too. This was an immersive adventure, and an up-beat distraction from the sickbed in which I read it. An enjoyable and entertaining read.

[Betsy Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining sci fi romp with creative world building.

[Emily Ansell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular Silver Earthling by Mara Lynn Johnstone takes us to a far-future world of alien worlds, sentient robots and…TV ratings? Buckle in folks, because we’re heading to space! And as usual, no spoilers.

The first thing you need to know about this book is that it’s all about Hubcap (and he’d absolutely agree). Hubcap is a sentient robot trying to get past his, well, past and find a new path in life. In Hubcap’s case, that new path is a career in show business. Right away we’re introduced to him and his human co-host and crew, as they try to find some good TV moments on an alien planet far from Earth. Hubcap is a smartass who cracks jokes and generally plays it for laughs, but you see so much more of him in the course of the book. He’s a robot, but he was programmed with emotions and in a lot of ways, is not so unlike a human (though he’d never admit it). You really go on a journey with him. He’s not the same robot by the end, and the things that go down on the planet really give him a great emotional arc and it’s really amazing to see the resolution.

The rest of the surrounding cast is really great, too. You get to know the rest of the TV crew, and you bond with them. As well as the human workers and scientists who live on the planet. What’s really great here is how authentic everyone is. Every person feels like a person; they have personalities of their own and don’t just come off as tropes. They’re fun, they’re frustrating, they’re assholes, they’re people. This isn’t just in how they come off to the reader, either. You see them do things (often over and over again) and you just want to scream at them STOP YOU IDIOTS, YOU’RE DOING THIS ALL WRONG! But it’s also absolutely how people would deal with the kinds of situations that happen here. That is one of the biggest strengths of the book, how perfectly written and authentic the human actions and responses are.

So there a couple of mysteries to be solved in the course of the story. The first is the ‘frenzy’, ie a full-body freak out that can be fatal to humans. It’s an invisible enemy, always lurking around every corner and everyone is always on the lookout for it manifesting. It’s an omnipresent threat, and an insidious one, and honestly a really cool idea. Who knows what kinds of ‘things’ lurk out in the galaxy, and how they’d affect the humans who come in contact with them? And what if, like the frenzy, we couldn’t figure out what caused it? You see the kinds of protocols that were implemented to try and deal with it, but even those can’t always stop it. The other mystery is something they find on the planet, and the revelations that follow. This revelation is absolutely fascinating and I refuse to spoil any part of it. But oh man, the human response is pitch perfect (especially once some new folks show up in light of these finds). It’s frustrating, but spot on.

So, read this book. Seriously. If you like alien planets full of unique and creative flora and fauna, you’ll like this book. If you like a deep-dive/satire/calling out of humanity, you’ll like this book. If you like snarky robots, you’ll like this book. Seriously, Spectacular Silver Earthling has all the humor, heart, and sci-fi shenanigans you could want. What are you waiting for? Go read it today!

[Chris Durston · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite sci-fi things is when aliens aren't just humans with different limbs or whatever, so I like very much that Spectacular Silver Earthling's aliens are totally biologically different, with different ways of communicating and even thinking that make sense based on their environment.

I wondered for a while what this book was about. Like, I was having a fun enough time following Hubcap (whom I initially pictured from the name as being sort of Claptrap-y but who evolved as I read into basically a shiny cowboy) and co. in their quest to make a good TV show, but I wasn't sure what I really made of the whole thing until probably about two thirds of the way through. It just sort of starts to click, or at least it did for me, with the threads of the show and its corporate overseers and the native aliens and the frenzy all joining up together to weave themes about how we ignore what's really important in pursuit of profit. And, I think, about how we don't really understand our own emotions an awful lot of the time.

The 'space frenzy' that whips humans into elevated emotional states has people twitchy, ready to jump in with a sedative, at any display of what might be even slightly deviant emotion. I don't know whether this is deliberate but it kind of reminded me of how people who express themselves and their feelings differently are too often shut down forcefully and quickly, with no attempt made to understand them. There is a passing line about how the spread of the frenzy could cause everyone to become afraid of showing feelings at all, but I think that could've been explored further - still, it turns out that the cause is in fact kind of benign (or at least serves a purpose) in its native context, with any problems being caused only by the wanton melding of environments and inhabitants that don't belong together. So the whole thing joins up quite neatly, in the end, with everyone getting increasingly nervous of Big Feelings (and thus increasingly prone to getting overwhelmed by said Big Feelings) until the environmental issues can be resolved.

[Dannye Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fun romp on a weird planet amid a pandemic that’s a cross between zombies (the fast kind) and panic attacks. The solution, according to the robot protagonist Hubcap, is to risk it all to save his human friends while constantly giving them crap about everything.

They’re on the planet to film a show about strange jobs and end up recording a first contact with a new species. At first, it’s just about TV ratings, but when the creatures turn out to need careful handling, Hubcap finds himself the character most capable of treating them with— of all things— respect. Hubcap turns out to have a lot of emotional depth, and it’s fascinating to see him grapple with the same issues that plague (pun intended) his closest human friends. While saving the day, of course! Hubcap’s not a modest character, but neither does he need to be.

Spectacular Silver Earthling is a sci-fi adventure in a vivid universe that stays with you after the book is done. If you’re looking for a story with action, emotional tension, humor, and some very bizarre plant life, I highly recommend it.

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

“But I love terrible ideas!’ Hubcap insisted.”

Although it had a strong start it, it still took me a while to get into it. There are way too many characters (at least too many minor ones). The characterizations and humor get repetitive fast- even if I enjoyed them at first, I ended up wanting more.

The pacing was much more character-focused, so I just let the descriptions of the world form and waited to see how the characters relationships would turn out. (It turned out ok!) Hubcap quickly grew on me, he’s a very fun character with enough potential conflicts to invite curiosity. I understand that Elliot’s perspective provides contrast to his energy, but I still wish Hubcap was more at the front. Still, I liked their friendship. I became more invested between halfway through and ended up feeling more soaring of emotions by the conclusion.

[Karl Kadie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mara Lynn Johnstone's brilliant new novel, Specular Silver Earthling, breaks the science fiction mold by introducing Hubcap, a robot with a well-rounded, expressive, immensely flawed character. Hubcap is not a hyperrational entity incapable of emotions. Instead, he's an egotistical prankster with a soft heart for his human friends and a passion for rescuing them. You will be captivated and entertained by new life forms, an undiagnosed "frenzy" disease, and the ever-present threat of corporate overlords. Along the way, you'll learn the advantages and pitfalls of being a robot. Paradoxically, the novel is easily accessible due to a storyline that follows a reality TV series, focusing on dirty jobs in space. Trust me, you won't stop laughing.

[Charlotte Tressler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spectacular Silver Earthling is a sci-fi romp on an alien planet, with a quirky robot named Hubcap as our narrator. There are a few sharp-intake-of-breath moments when the action really picks up, and some introspective moments when Hubcap realizes he's not as detached as his programming had led him to believe.
This is a satisfying light read for adults, and appropriate for YA readers (no foul language or sex).

[ChillwithabookAWARD With · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular Silver Earthling by Mara Lynn Johnstone has received a Chill with a Book Readers' Award
www.chillwithabook.com