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Indie Publishing

Xenotech Rising – Book Review

August 24, 2020 by hpholo Leave a Comment

If The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets The Office is a phrase that makes you want to fling all your money at whatever inspired it – well, grab your wallet. 😀

In Dave Schroeder’s Xenotech Rising (Xenotech Support #1), first contact has been made in the form of aliens teleporting straight into the office of JP Morgan Chase and offering Earth a space in the Galactic Free Trade Association. Now, fifteen years later, Earth is bonkers with hyper-advanced alien technology, and when that tech breaks (or, more likely, when the user does something stupid to it), someone’s gotta fix it. 

Enter Jack Buckston. As the head of Xenotech Support Corporation, he’s the guy to call when alien tech goes weird. Little does he know that what starts as a simple fix-it might tangle him in a plot that threatens Earth’s new place in the universe…

Okay, there are two things you need to know about this book going in: 1) Xenotech Rising is a sci-fi comedy, and 2) a lot of that comedy hinges on puns, dad joke humor, and geek references. Jack’s very first job in the book involves fixing an issue with “rabbot” lawn mowers that are replicating like rabbits at an organization called Widget Tech & Fabrication (or, WT&F). If that alone made you groan, you can put your wallet away now and go read something about taxes or whatever it is humorless pun-haters like to read about. Meanwhile those of us who thrive on silly wordplay will find a smorgasbord of nourishment here.

Even so, there’s more to the humor than puns. Xenotech’s is a setting in which one of Earth’s biggest exports is government session broadcasts repackaged as reality TV shows, and they’re so profitable that the most…erm…entertaining congresses have added extra chambers and extended sessions to maximize their on-screen time and profits. And even though Delta American Air-Space is first introduced as “the D’Am Company,” that introduction is immediately followed by a look at how airline travel even managed to remain A Thing in a universe where teleportation is also A Thing – and it all comes down to economics. Though it’s certainly a source of humor, the galactic economy is an elaborately imagined and genuinely intelligent part of this world.

Of course, with alien tech comes alien civilization, and the aliens in this novel are equally imaginative. They range from the Murm, which are tiny intelligent beetles with even tinier wormholes in their heads that allow their hivemind to communicate across galaxies (whew!), to the Dauushans, which are six-legged elephantine centaurs with three trunks that have three more trunks, which grant them the mobility they need to be one of the most high tech civilizations in the setting, despite their clumsy bulk (whewwww!). These don’t even scratch the tip of the iceberg as Xenotech’s alien races are concerned, and the unique characteristics of these races often shape the story in such a way that they’re inseparable from it.

The cast of characters is infinitely likeable, too. Jack is a regular guy who just wants to finish his jobs without some idiot getting in the way (so, relatable for anyone who works with the public). He’s also a perfect, if awkward gentleman to Poly, his tech- and disaster-savvy maybe-hopefully-girlfriend. Most notable to me, though, is Terrhi, a young Dauushan who, despite being one of the least human-looking and potentially least relatable of the alien species, ends up being one of the single most adorable characters I’ve ever read – and plays more of a role in the story than one would initially expect.

Most criticism that I have comes down to personal taste: 

Its opening is slow-paced enough that it took several chapters for me to realize where the story was even going – but once the threads began to come together, I realized that everything had actually been set up from the very first chapter, which made the eventual “Aha!” moment that much more fun. 😀 Similarly, part of the climax goes long and seems to amount to “Well, it would be a waste to have an immersive virtual reality company in this book and not have an extended virtual reality video game battle, so…here’s some of that.” Still, even though it doesn’t contribute a whole lot to the plot, it’s still fun to read (even if some of its puns are shoehorned in way too hard, even for a book defined by puns). 

The closest thing I have to a real complaint is that Poly’s insistent romantic advances on Jack become a little tiring. On the one hand, it’s refreshing to read a relationship in which the woman is the initiator. On the other, there was more than one scene in which I went, “Dang girl, he said no! How much clearer can he be?” 😐 It’s played mostly for humor, though, to accentuate the gentleman that Jack is, and ultimately the positives in their relationship outweigh this one small negative.

All this to say, if you’re in the mood for self-consciously dorky humor and unexpectedly complex sci-fi comedy, you’d do well to pick up Xenotech Rising. 😄

***

Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: aliens, Comedy, Dave Schroeder, First Contact, Indie, Indie Publishing, sci fi comedy, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, science fiction comedy, workplace comedy, Xenotech Rising, Xenotech Support

The Dragons of Jupiter Has a New eBook Edition! (Also, some eBook publishing tips!)

March 20, 2020 by hpholo Leave a Comment

I do a lot behind the scenes at Holo Writing, from actual novel-writing to handling our graphic design, marketing, and social media presence. One of my most recent projects has been teaching myself to design eBooks in Adobe InDesign*, and this is the fruit of that! 😀
Then I figured, while I’m updating the guts, I might as well update the cover, too, especially now that The Gordian Protocol has officially made Jacob a National Bestselling Author! 😲 Man, does it feel good to put that on a cover. 🤩
And so, without further ado, say hello to the new eBook edition of The Dragons of Jupiter!
The-Dragons-of-Jupiter-Cover-3-FINAL-FRONT-ONLY-WEB
*An FYI for aspiring authors: We’d previously hired eBook Launch to handle our eBook formatting, and they’re fantastic, but now that we’re definitely In This For The Long Run, I figured it would be good to learn how to build our indie books from the bottom up.
I mainly chose InDesign because I already had access to it through Adobe’s Creative Cloud and figured I might as well get my subscription’s worth. Plus, I like that it allows me to have infinitesimally specific control over what’s in my files (even if it’s a beast to learn 😬).
However, I wanted to add for the emerging authors who want a simpler, less technical mode of eBook production: Vellum is reputed to be an awesome piece of software, and at just $100, should probably be one of your first purchases as an indie if you plan on publishing lots of books. For comparison, paid formatting for us often costs $100ish PER eBOOK.
We didn’t know about Vellum when we started – if it even existed back then – but I wish we had, as having direct control over your eBook files makes it A LOT easier (and cheaper) to update internal links and booklists, change front and back matter, etc. As quickly as marketing strategies change in the indie publishing industry, any software that can help you nimbly alter your product to suit the market is Good Software To Have.
Personally, I’ve only played with the trial version of Vellum (and found it wondrously easy to use), but I have author buds who use it regularly and love it.
Hope this helps those of you who are just getting started! 😊

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Book Covers, eBook, eBook Launch, Indie Publishing, National Bestselling Author, self publishing, Space Marines, Space Ninjas, Space Opera, The Dragons of Jupiter, Vellum

Interview with Keystroke Medium!

May 6, 2019 by hpholo Leave a Comment

keystrokemediumEarlier tonight, David Weber and Jacob joined Josh and Steve over at Keystroke Medium to chat collaboration, publishing, and The Gordian Protocol. Check out the interview below! 😀

And of course, for more interviews and writing insight, visit Keystroke Medium’s website and YouTube channel!
Also, LESS THAN ONE DAY TO GO, Y’ALL! 😀😀😀
The Gordian Protocol Cover Photo

Filed Under: Holo Books Tagged With: Alternate History, baen books, Collaboration, David Weber, Indie Publishing, Jacob Holo, Keystroke Medium, May 2019, Publishing, self publishing, The Gordian Protocol, time travel, Traditional Publishing, Writing, Writing Techniques, YouTube

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