Slice of Chaos: Pizza In Space Book 2 (Paper Golem LLC)
by Lawrence M. Schoen
Since Book 1 Melody Wilder has beaten a ruthless alien pirate/priest, survived being gored, and is recuperating while trying to complete and defend her doctoral dissertation. They’ve made her Chair of a new University department since Melody is the only human the Quilton race will speak to, and it will be the first program to handle Quilton Studies in the galaxy. The Quilton deal in Luck: how much of it is probability… or are other forces involved? As she tries to get well while starting a new department others who want to study the Quilton—for various reasons—barge in and some even set up shop in her new offices.
Characters we met in Book 1 abound. We again read of those two obnoxious yet loveable “bear cub” alien physicists, and of course her best friend, Drinder: a green, half-height, six-limbed alien who remembers things that haven’t happened yet, and keeps bringing her whatever pizza she’d like best. She gets death threats from an angry (and very pregnant) amphibian, propositions from sleazy corporate jerks, and has to have meetings with weird, beach ball-like aliens. Meanwhile, the Quilton who communicated with her and even saved her life—and is the reason for all the threats and visitors who want that luck, or else—her Quilton contact, Sarasota Quilton, is nowhere to be found.
The bear cub physicists’ equations suggest Melody is rolling in luck. A representative from the Probability Guild insists it’s all just serendipity. And then, in a move guaranteed to make readers sympathize with her as a young person just starting out, Melody’s mother shows up. It’s a fractal romp with serious thoughts—and science—in the bargain.
You’ll love these characters and this series. RECOMMENDED
Hi Wendy – I believe you have turned me on to a new author! He sounds a bit like the aliens in trouble stories I loved by Christopher Anvil back in the day.