
Space/Captain Smith
By Toby Frost
I picked this book up at a publisher’s fair. Reviews liking it to Hitchhiker’s Guide, Red Dwarf and Black Adder. Being a fan of all three, I couldn’t resist.
Set in a very British future, where the empire has been restored and stretches across the galaxy, Space Captain Smith is the comic-adventure story of a third rate captain who gets the job of taking a passenger from one planet to another, not realising the whole thing is a set-up, that he’s just a decoy to encourage the alien Ghasts to come out of hiding and attack.
It starts out pretty good and there are a few laughs along the way. The writing is tidy and uncomplicated and generally entertaining, but – and this is a big but – there are far too many hiccups that pull the reader from the story.
Modern references in science fiction novels are dodgy ground. If a reference can be justified by tying it in with the plot, a good writer can pull it off. Example: Red Dwarf had a great episode involving Stauffenberg’s briefcase (the attempted assassination of Hitler) and it worked well because a) Rimmer was so sure he knew his twentieth century history, and b) the audience knew he didn’t know a damn thing about history, and realised before he did that the case contained a bomb. The situation was central to the comedy, so the joke was relevant.
But when modern-day references come out of the blue, just for a cheap laugh, everything falls apart. I can’t believe in a sci-fi world when the author is dropping one liners that turn my attention away from what I’m supposed to be enjoying.
I put up with a couple of these hiccups, but when a scene opened with a reference to Nick Cave, quoting lines from O’Malley’s Bar, it was too much. Personally, I think Nick Cave is brilliant, and I love the Murder Ballads album, but I’m not so blinkered to believe that renegade space cadets will be discussing his lyrics 500 years from now. It just doesn’t do it for me – plus, the point he was making was only relevant to the song. It was nothing to do with the story.
I did try to read on, but was hit on the very next page with mentions of Jim Beam and Jack Daniels.
Sorry, too many other books out there. Too many better writers.
Colin Mulhern.
Posted by Colin M 

Posted by Colin M 

Posted by Colin M
Lock your doors. Shut your windows. Turn out the lights.
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Cue gripping music, drumroll, audience shuffling nervously on their seats, curtains twitching with hidden movement. And in the dead air before the show begins you can’t help wondering if it’ll match your expectations…
The Boy with the Topknot