Book Review: Freelance on the Galactic Tunnel Network, by E.M. Foner
A book about journalism and economics and financial fraud... in SPAAAACE!
Foner Books, 2020, 253 pages
Can a food writer turned investigative journalist uncover financial fraud on a galactic scale?
It's been less than a century since ancient alien AI saved us from financial suicide by adding our planet to their interstellar tunnel network. Over half of Earth's population has emigrated to live and work on alien worlds and orbitals, and humanity now aspires to that signature vessel of advanced species, a jump-capable colony ship equipped to support millions of pioneers on the search for a new world. With trillions of creds at stake, are humans doomed to repeat the mistakes that led to Earth's first galactic bail-out? Or might a more experienced investigative journalist look for fraud closer to home?
Join the intrepid reporters of the Galactic Free Press, a senior EarthCent Intelligence agent, and an independent trader, as they try to make a living and do their best for humanity with a little help from alien friends. Freelance On The Galactic Tunnel Network is a standalone novel that is the twentieth book in the EarthCent Ambassador / EarthCent Universe sequence, and can be read without starting back to the beginning.
I met the author at a convention and he seemed like a nice guy and boy, did he have a lot of books. He's self-published and has built up a considerable backlog: his EarthCent Ambassador series is up to 22, and this book, Freelance on the Galactic Tunnel Network, is apparently the first of a 6-book spinoff series, but it's meant to be stand-alone.
This is optimistic, family-friendly SF without war or space battles. (In the author's own words, it's the kind of future he'd like to live in.) It's almost "sci-fi cozy." There is some drama and skullduggery, but no violence, no sex aside from some light flirting, and no swearing. All the characters are basically decent. Which is why, alas, while I can see the appeal and there is definitely a target audience, I'm not it. I mean, I don't particularly prefer grimdark or tons of sex and violence, but this book (and all his books, from my brief skim) presents dilemmas that are mostly solved by a little ingenuity and a lot of talking. It's Star Trek at its lightest and most Disneyfied.
The premise is that an advanced alien race called the Stryx contacted Earth decades ago and connected humanity to the galactic tunnel network, opening the galaxy to them. Fortunately for Earth, the Stryx are benevolent aliens with no desire to conquer or even control much, and the entire tunnel network is a peaceful trading network. Nobody fights wars. Humans try to replicate their capitalistic nation-states as they go off trading and adventuring across the galaxy, but find that these dinosaur entities don't work well in a universe full of aliens who don't care much about governments. Being a "primitive" race, humans really want to join the big kids by securing their own FTL colony ship, but the cost is, so far prohibitive for a planet that still isn't able to unify on such a goal.
That's the background. All the books Foner writes seem to be about diplomatic and trading hijinks and slice-of-life with ordinary people. (There are literally books about retirement communities on a colony ship.) Freelance on the Galactic Tunnel Network features a free trader having trouble making ends meet, and a freelance journalist who suspects a project to buy a colony ship for Earth might be a big scam and/or cult. They do some investigation, uncover a network of fraudsters, deal with a lot of aliens and other traders, and pick up a pet alien gryphon who cheats at poker.
It's very gentle SF, and I can recommend these books as comfort reads for someone who just wants a bit of slice-of-life space opera, but honestly, I found myself skimming to the end. I guess I prefer a space battle or two in my SF.
My complete list of book reviews.
Foner Books, 2020, 253 pages
Can a food writer turned investigative journalist uncover financial fraud on a galactic scale?
It's been less than a century since ancient alien AI saved us from financial suicide by adding our planet to their interstellar tunnel network. Over half of Earth's population has emigrated to live and work on alien worlds and orbitals, and humanity now aspires to that signature vessel of advanced species, a jump-capable colony ship equipped to support millions of pioneers on the search for a new world. With trillions of creds at stake, are humans doomed to repeat the mistakes that led to Earth's first galactic bail-out? Or might a more experienced investigative journalist look for fraud closer to home?
Join the intrepid reporters of the Galactic Free Press, a senior EarthCent Intelligence agent, and an independent trader, as they try to make a living and do their best for humanity with a little help from alien friends. Freelance On The Galactic Tunnel Network is a standalone novel that is the twentieth book in the EarthCent Ambassador / EarthCent Universe sequence, and can be read without starting back to the beginning.
I met the author at a convention and he seemed like a nice guy and boy, did he have a lot of books. He's self-published and has built up a considerable backlog: his EarthCent Ambassador series is up to 22, and this book, Freelance on the Galactic Tunnel Network, is apparently the first of a 6-book spinoff series, but it's meant to be stand-alone.
This is optimistic, family-friendly SF without war or space battles. (In the author's own words, it's the kind of future he'd like to live in.) It's almost "sci-fi cozy." There is some drama and skullduggery, but no violence, no sex aside from some light flirting, and no swearing. All the characters are basically decent. Which is why, alas, while I can see the appeal and there is definitely a target audience, I'm not it. I mean, I don't particularly prefer grimdark or tons of sex and violence, but this book (and all his books, from my brief skim) presents dilemmas that are mostly solved by a little ingenuity and a lot of talking. It's Star Trek at its lightest and most Disneyfied.
The premise is that an advanced alien race called the Stryx contacted Earth decades ago and connected humanity to the galactic tunnel network, opening the galaxy to them. Fortunately for Earth, the Stryx are benevolent aliens with no desire to conquer or even control much, and the entire tunnel network is a peaceful trading network. Nobody fights wars. Humans try to replicate their capitalistic nation-states as they go off trading and adventuring across the galaxy, but find that these dinosaur entities don't work well in a universe full of aliens who don't care much about governments. Being a "primitive" race, humans really want to join the big kids by securing their own FTL colony ship, but the cost is, so far prohibitive for a planet that still isn't able to unify on such a goal.
That's the background. All the books Foner writes seem to be about diplomatic and trading hijinks and slice-of-life with ordinary people. (There are literally books about retirement communities on a colony ship.) Freelance on the Galactic Tunnel Network features a free trader having trouble making ends meet, and a freelance journalist who suspects a project to buy a colony ship for Earth might be a big scam and/or cult. They do some investigation, uncover a network of fraudsters, deal with a lot of aliens and other traders, and pick up a pet alien gryphon who cheats at poker.
It's very gentle SF, and I can recommend these books as comfort reads for someone who just wants a bit of slice-of-life space opera, but honestly, I found myself skimming to the end. I guess I prefer a space battle or two in my SF.
My complete list of book reviews.