Genre:
Sci-fi
Description:
A
planet settled by an Amish community is in imminent danger of being
destroyed because its sun is about to go super nova. The Amish are
rescued by a Guild transport ship. The story takes place on the ship
as it voyages to the new Amish planet.
Author:
Kerry
Nietz is a refugee of the software industry. He spent more than a
decade of his life flipping bits, first as one of the principal
developers of the database product FoxPro for the now mythical Fox
Software, and then as one of Bill Gates's minions at Microsoft. He is
a husband, a father, a technophile and a movie buff. He has one
non-fiction book, a memoir entitled FoxTales:
Behind the Scenes at Fox Software.
His first novel, A Star
Curiously Singing, was
published in October of 2009.
To
learn more check out Mr. Nietz’s website and Facebook page.
Appraisal:
Before
I get to the story, which I enjoyed immensely, I have a few comments
about the presentation: I would never in a million years read a book
with such a cynical title. And as for the old saying—never judge a
book by its cover, well that has probably never been truer. I don’t
enjoy vampire stories, either. No. The only reason I selected this
story was because I’ve read two of Mr. Nietz’s previous novels
and enjoyed them both. There is a reason behind both the title and
the cover. It’s explained by the publisher at the beginning of the
book, and if you’re interested, you can read about it in the Amazon
sample.
So, to
the story: as the title implies, there are three threads to this
novel.
Amish—the
story begins with the Amish community, and the author achieves a
brilliant piece of world building in this section. I was sucked in
and enthralled with the characters and traditions on display.
Space.
Yes, despite the title, this is a sci-fi novel, and the space ship
(transporter) was fascinating—a second world successfully built by
Mr. Nietz including the characters who ran the ship and a nicely
nuanced love story to boot.
Vampires.
Well, yes, but from a sci-fi perspective without the usual paranormal
BS that annoys me like fingernail scratches on a chalkboard.
The
threads were pulled together beautifully. The read was fast, the
writing sharp and easy on the eye, the characters all worked and made
sense. Tension was maintained right to the end. I can’t believe I’m
typing this, but— I highly recommend Amish
Vampires in Space.
FYI:
Added
for Reprise Review: Amish
Vampires in Space was a
nominee in the Science Fiction category for B&P 2015 Readers'
Choice Awards. Original review ran June 21, 2014
Format/Typo
Issues:
None
noted - Really clean writing.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: Pete Barber
Approximate
word count: 135-140,000
words
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