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The Space Ace of Mangleby Flat
On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn't yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam's wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.
Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness
1. Get a pet dog
2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.
As Sam comes to terms with the shameful family secrets revealed in a series of letters left to him by his deceased uncle, Sam falls in love first with his adopted poodle-cross, and then, much more slowly, with a kind and generous trans woman from his tennis club.
Reina is so visibly and proudly queer Sam can’t imagine the two of them share a single thing in common. If only humans came with a guide book...
Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness
1. Get a pet dog
2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.
As Sam comes to terms with the shameful family secrets revealed in a series of letters left to him by his deceased uncle, Sam falls in love first with his adopted poodle-cross, and then, much more slowly, with a kind and generous trans woman from his tennis club.
Reina is so visibly and proudly queer Sam can’t imagine the two of them share a single thing in common. If only humans came with a guide book...
521 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2023
1 person is currently reading
47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 28, 2025
I learnt more about myself reading this fiction book than any sex ed class could teach me.
Gut-punching, but also sweet and relevant and necessary.
P.s this is not a science fiction space opera like I had initially thought based on the title and cover… LOL.
Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness mission:
1. Get a pet dog
2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.
Sam is asexual, yet struggles to give name to this and instead he (and others) sees himself as broken. It doesn’t help he has a sordid, secret family past and is divorcing his wife and architect business partner.
Although we currently have so many resources and online forums to guide us, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to discover your right identity or find the right labels or try them out. Life is trial and error—a lot of trial and error as seen in this book.
Sam (to me) was very obviously autistic, yet this is only revealed much later on. What did frustrate me was the Reina (a trans woman he has befriended) tells him his experience and he automatically attaches himself to that definition and label without exploring it and alternatives himself.
This is both warm and cozy, yet also melancholic and depressing.
I liked that it was not preachy and did not hold your hand.
I recommend the audiobook format due to the Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand accents and setting.
Bookstagram
Gut-punching, but also sweet and relevant and necessary.
P.s this is not a science fiction space opera like I had initially thought based on the title and cover… LOL.
Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness mission:
1. Get a pet dog
2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.
Sam is asexual, yet struggles to give name to this and instead he (and others) sees himself as broken. It doesn’t help he has a sordid, secret family past and is divorcing his wife and architect business partner.
Although we currently have so many resources and online forums to guide us, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to discover your right identity or find the right labels or try them out. Life is trial and error—a lot of trial and error as seen in this book.
Sam (to me) was very obviously autistic, yet this is only revealed much later on. What did frustrate me was the Reina (a trans woman he has befriended) tells him his experience and he automatically attaches himself to that definition and label without exploring it and alternatives himself.
This is both warm and cozy, yet also melancholic and depressing.
I liked that it was not preachy and did not hold your hand.
I recommend the audiobook format due to the Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand accents and setting.
Bookstagram
December 15, 2024
Often it takes a lifetime to figure out who we are. Although internet culture has helped spread a wider array of labels to help people articulate their gender, sexuality, spirituality, and other aspects of identity, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to find the right labels or try them out. Life is trial and error—a lot of trial and error. The Space Ace of Mangleby Flat is a challenging read that bears this out. Larre Bildeston weaves a compassionate but not always easy story about a man who doesn’t understand why he can’t find his place. I received a copy in exchange for a review.
Sam Dennon has always been a bit … different. After a sheltered boyhood in the remote Mangleby Flat, he moves to the big city, and eventually in adulthood ends up in Wellington, Aotearoa, cofounder of an architecture firm with his ex-wife. Sam is brilliant, loves space and architecture, but he has developed an idea of himself as a loner. He was never quite able to get as enthusiastic about sexual intimacy with his wife, Lisa, as she wanted—hence their split. Now Sam is getting closer with Reina, a trans woman he meets through tennis. The two of them become good friends, yet Reina clearly wants their relationship to be more physically intimate—and Sam isn’t sure he can acquiesce. Deep down, as he flashes back to his childhood, he wonders how broken he is, and why.
So it’s not a spoiler, since it is in the title and also fairly obvious if you know the signs: Sam is asexual. He just doesn’t know this word fits his experience and instead sees himself as broken. This is a common occurrence, sadly, among ace people. It’s not one I’ve had myself (though I have my days where society makes me feel like I’m not enough…), but that doesn’t make it any less real for the ace people who experience it. Sam’s attitude, his despondency, and his anxiety (compounded by being autistic as well), mean he struggles to find definitions and labels for himself that are affirming and uplifting. Instead, he focuses on what he perceives to be his deficits.
This is a difficult book to read. It’s sad, watching Sam feel so broken and unfulfilled. The story gets dark at times. I kept wanting to yell at Sam, help him discover his identity sooner, help him reconcile with people he has distanced himself from. But that’s kind of the point. As much as I want ace characters who are joyous, who are aware of their sexuality from a young age, I have to recognize that a lot of older aces have gone through what Sam goes through. And if you’re allo and reading this, you will get a glimpse of how difficult it can be to exist in a society that assumes everyone will pair off, have and want to have sex, and understand how all of that works. I’m allistic, so I can’t speak to the portrayal of Sam’s autism, but it’s good to have this dual representation.
All things considered, I really liked the supporting cast. Reina is a delight. Lisa is a wonderfully understanding and supportive ex-wife. Mick, Jan, and the other players in Sam’s past form a constellation of characters who helped make him who he is. Bildeston sets up a few mysteries, teases them out, before resolving them gradually in the final act.
I recommend this book for ace people or autistic people looking for main characters like them, with the caveat to beware content warnings (including suicide ideation and incest). I recommend this book for allo people or allistic people who are challenging themselves to learn more about ace and autistic experiences through fiction. Finally, I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in a layered story set in Australia and Aotearoa with an emphasis on found family, communication, boundaries, and lifelong learning.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
Sam Dennon has always been a bit … different. After a sheltered boyhood in the remote Mangleby Flat, he moves to the big city, and eventually in adulthood ends up in Wellington, Aotearoa, cofounder of an architecture firm with his ex-wife. Sam is brilliant, loves space and architecture, but he has developed an idea of himself as a loner. He was never quite able to get as enthusiastic about sexual intimacy with his wife, Lisa, as she wanted—hence their split. Now Sam is getting closer with Reina, a trans woman he meets through tennis. The two of them become good friends, yet Reina clearly wants their relationship to be more physically intimate—and Sam isn’t sure he can acquiesce. Deep down, as he flashes back to his childhood, he wonders how broken he is, and why.
So it’s not a spoiler, since it is in the title and also fairly obvious if you know the signs: Sam is asexual. He just doesn’t know this word fits his experience and instead sees himself as broken. This is a common occurrence, sadly, among ace people. It’s not one I’ve had myself (though I have my days where society makes me feel like I’m not enough…), but that doesn’t make it any less real for the ace people who experience it. Sam’s attitude, his despondency, and his anxiety (compounded by being autistic as well), mean he struggles to find definitions and labels for himself that are affirming and uplifting. Instead, he focuses on what he perceives to be his deficits.
This is a difficult book to read. It’s sad, watching Sam feel so broken and unfulfilled. The story gets dark at times. I kept wanting to yell at Sam, help him discover his identity sooner, help him reconcile with people he has distanced himself from. But that’s kind of the point. As much as I want ace characters who are joyous, who are aware of their sexuality from a young age, I have to recognize that a lot of older aces have gone through what Sam goes through. And if you’re allo and reading this, you will get a glimpse of how difficult it can be to exist in a society that assumes everyone will pair off, have and want to have sex, and understand how all of that works. I’m allistic, so I can’t speak to the portrayal of Sam’s autism, but it’s good to have this dual representation.
All things considered, I really liked the supporting cast. Reina is a delight. Lisa is a wonderfully understanding and supportive ex-wife. Mick, Jan, and the other players in Sam’s past form a constellation of characters who helped make him who he is. Bildeston sets up a few mysteries, teases them out, before resolving them gradually in the final act.
I recommend this book for ace people or autistic people looking for main characters like them, with the caveat to beware content warnings (including suicide ideation and incest). I recommend this book for allo people or allistic people who are challenging themselves to learn more about ace and autistic experiences through fiction. Finally, I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in a layered story set in Australia and Aotearoa with an emphasis on found family, communication, boundaries, and lifelong learning.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
December 23, 2024
Professionally successful yet desperately lonely architect yearns for companionship in a world that expects something he’s unable to give.
This was a bit of an unusual read.
On one level, the vibe is very warm and cozy, and yet there’s a dissonance. Sam is very lonely. Depression isn’t really mentioned as one of his issues, but it very much fits. And fair warning, if there’s anything you think might need a trigger warning, just assume it’s in here. There are a lot of dark elements and experiences that Sam and the other characters go through, though for the most part these are off page.
One element in particular, the storyline, felt a bit over the top and unnecessary to me, and I think potentially distracts from and undercuts what the author’s trying to say here with regards to asexuality.
That said, I loved Sam. The character work is well done, if occasionally a bit “on-the-nose”. The story overall is very touching, and occasionally insightful. Not to mention it’s always pleasing to see some of one’s own thoughts articulated in a novel.
Besides the focus on Sam’s isolation and sexuality, the subject of autism comes up. Reina, fairly late in the novel, tells Sam that she’s autistic, which leads Sam to conclude that he must be too. It wasn’t obvious to me in Reina’s presentation that that’s the case (the novel sticks to Sam’s pov) but it does fit Sam fairly well and explains some of his difficulties. This is one of the moments that felt a little clumsy to me, but autism isn’t the focus here, that’s squarely on Sam’s sexuality.
I was less endeared of the book’s overall structure. We start out with Sam as a child, cut to him in his 40s, where he meets Reina, then go back and recap the intervening years before returning to the present. I do wish we could have gotten more of the present and perhaps broken up and spread out the backstory a bit.
My biggest issue was two chapters right before the end where Sam talks to Mo and Lisa. While there’s a bit of a message-y vibe to the whole book, these two penultimate chapters read as straight up asexuality 101 lectures, as if the author isn’t sure you got the point and wants to sum up for you. The distilled message gives the whole thing an“after school special” / “very special episode” feel, though overall, this is much more successful and agreeable than the last book I read with that vibe.
I’d certainly be willing to try more from the author. Crispin’s story maybe?
This was a bit of an unusual read.
On one level, the vibe is very warm and cozy, and yet there’s a dissonance. Sam is very lonely. Depression isn’t really mentioned as one of his issues, but it very much fits. And fair warning, if there’s anything you think might need a trigger warning, just assume it’s in here. There are a lot of dark elements and experiences that Sam and the other characters go through, though for the most part these are off page.
One element in particular, the storyline, felt a bit over the top and unnecessary to me, and I think potentially distracts from and undercuts what the author’s trying to say here with regards to asexuality.
That said, I loved Sam. The character work is well done, if occasionally a bit “on-the-nose”. The story overall is very touching, and occasionally insightful. Not to mention it’s always pleasing to see some of one’s own thoughts articulated in a novel.
Besides the focus on Sam’s isolation and sexuality, the subject of autism comes up. Reina, fairly late in the novel, tells Sam that she’s autistic, which leads Sam to conclude that he must be too. It wasn’t obvious to me in Reina’s presentation that that’s the case (the novel sticks to Sam’s pov) but it does fit Sam fairly well and explains some of his difficulties. This is one of the moments that felt a little clumsy to me, but autism isn’t the focus here, that’s squarely on Sam’s sexuality.
I was less endeared of the book’s overall structure. We start out with Sam as a child, cut to him in his 40s, where he meets Reina, then go back and recap the intervening years before returning to the present. I do wish we could have gotten more of the present and perhaps broken up and spread out the backstory a bit.
My biggest issue was two chapters right before the end where Sam talks to Mo and Lisa. While there’s a bit of a message-y vibe to the whole book, these two penultimate chapters read as straight up asexuality 101 lectures, as if the author isn’t sure you got the point and wants to sum up for you. The distilled message gives the whole thing an“after school special” / “very special episode” feel, though overall, this is much more successful and agreeable than the last book I read with that vibe.
I’d certainly be willing to try more from the author. Crispin’s story maybe?
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January 29, 2025Sam Dennon from The Space Ace of Mangleby Flat is asexual!
https://www.tumblr.com/aspeccharacter...
https://www.tumblr.com/aspeccharacter...
September 28, 2025
Sam has always been a bit of a loner, so when he's 44 and Raina starts showing interest in him, Sam's first reaction is anxiety. But as he delves into his past and some of his unresolved trauma, he also realizes that his assumptions led him to the wrong conclusions, and maybe he's just as capable of love as anyone else, just on his own terms.
Alright, I hated the part in the middle where we delved into Sam's traumatic experiences of being bullied and assaulted as a teenager. But unlike a few books I could mention, I understand why those are there, and I'm grateful that they weren't any more graphic. I'll also mention for anyone sensitive to attempted suicide, this book gets pretty intense there for a minute. But I had to give this book 5 stars. I've known I'm asexual for most of my adult life, and like Sam, as soon as I realized what the label truly meant, I found it as a huge relief. But it's such an uncommon orientation that there don't seem to be a lot of guidebooks beyond the very basic Ace 101 type thing. But discovering who you are and what you want doesn't end once you graduate from uni. I found myself relating very hardcore with so many of Sam's struggles. And if nothing else, this book reminded me that I don't need anyone's permission to dive deep into my special interests and to spend time thinking about what I want and why. I don't know if it would be as satisfying to anyone who isn't asexual, but I think it's an important book that deeply empathizes with the lonely struggle of what it means not to feel something that everyone else assumes is universal.
Alright, I hated the part in the middle where we delved into Sam's traumatic experiences of being bullied and assaulted as a teenager. But unlike a few books I could mention, I understand why those are there, and I'm grateful that they weren't any more graphic. I'll also mention for anyone sensitive to attempted suicide, this book gets pretty intense there for a minute. But I had to give this book 5 stars. I've known I'm asexual for most of my adult life, and like Sam, as soon as I realized what the label truly meant, I found it as a huge relief. But it's such an uncommon orientation that there don't seem to be a lot of guidebooks beyond the very basic Ace 101 type thing. But discovering who you are and what you want doesn't end once you graduate from uni. I found myself relating very hardcore with so many of Sam's struggles. And if nothing else, this book reminded me that I don't need anyone's permission to dive deep into my special interests and to spend time thinking about what I want and why. I don't know if it would be as satisfying to anyone who isn't asexual, but I think it's an important book that deeply empathizes with the lonely struggle of what it means not to feel something that everyone else assumes is universal.
January 21, 2025
This is not an easy read by any means (I highly recommend you check the trigger warnings) but it portrays the struggles of people who don‘t fit societies „norms“ and the lack of understanding they face every day so well.
The book is collecting A representation like it‘s pokemon:
Asexuality
Autism
Anxiety
etc.
And I am so here for all of that rare represenation.
Regardless of the hard topics, this book made me feel so seen, and gives you unique insights into experiences unlike your own.
This book is for giving hope to the fellow Space Aces, you can tell.🪐🖤🩶🤍💜
The book is collecting A representation like it‘s pokemon:
Asexuality
Autism
Anxiety
etc.
And I am so here for all of that rare represenation.
Regardless of the hard topics, this book made me feel so seen, and gives you unique insights into experiences unlike your own.
This book is for giving hope to the fellow Space Aces, you can tell.🪐🖤🩶🤍💜
Read
June 11, 2024
March 20, 2024
Note: I gave it 5 stars. And acknowledge that the book may not be for you. I don't know you. Actually, I don't know if anyone will even read this and if you do, I probably don't know you, so I couldn't take guess, but I would say that I suspect a lot of allistic and/or allo folks are just going to be baffled by this book.
April 13, 2024
A lovely, funny and heartfelt read that has amazing examples of conversations between adults who respect each other and learn to work within each person’s boundaries. I hope to see more books by this author!
A few trigger warnings - self-harm, assault.
A few trigger warnings - self-harm, assault.
December 3, 2024
5.0
This is a wonderful story of exploring and finding your identity as an adult.
A myriad of queer identities are represented and they are handled with gentle and loving care.
The Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand setting is authentic and makes me feel at home.
This is a wonderful story of exploring and finding your identity as an adult.
A myriad of queer identities are represented and they are handled with gentle and loving care.
The Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand setting is authentic and makes me feel at home.
May 13, 2025
I don't bother reading the backs of queer books, and this was not what I expected based on the title, in the best way! Outstanding, emotional, and riveting.
May 22, 2025
DNF @ 11%
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews