Genre: Sci-Fi, Space Opera
LGBTQ+ Category: Lesbian, Ace/Aro, Pan
Reviewer: Scott
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About The Book
Running on caffeine and spite with nothing left to prove. GOLDEN GIRLS meets FIREFLY in this rollicking space opera adventure.
Maryn Alessi retired from mercenary service after her last assignment went horribly sideways and settled down on a quiet planet with the love of her life. Unexpectedly widowed, Maryn must fulfill a promise to return her mate’s ashes to zer home planet for funeral rites, but a brutal civil war has destabilized space travel.
Former Artemis Corps sisters-in-arms and their sassy ship, the Golden Girl, are up to the task, counting on luck and their rather sketchy cargo business to get Maryn passage through the contested star lanes. But when the crew of the Girl rescues survivors of a ruthless war crime, Maryn and her ride-or-die friends must take up their old profession to save the lives of innocents from a genocidal dictator.
Warnings: violence, genocide, aging, chronic illness, grief (death of spouse), PTSD
The Review
Whiskey and Warfare was pitched to me for a beta read by a dear friend of mine, EM Hamill. They had me at “It’s like Golden Girls meets Firefly.”
The story kicks off at a memorial service. Maryn Alessi, once a space mercenary and of late a Professor at a university on Echo Four, has just lost her partner, the nonbinary Andalek, a non-binary Xyrian royal who succumbed to a plague the week before. They should have outlived Maryn by centuries, and she suddenly finds herself alone and stripped of the job she only held by dint of her partner’s tenure.
When the opportunity comes to leave her troubles behind, at least momentarily, by hopping a ride with her former mercenary crew – Col, Scylla, Jaq and the always entertaining Golden Girl ship/snarky AI – she jumps at it.
But what seems like it will be a simple run to Xyri to lay Andelek’s ashes to rest instead turns into a wild run for their lives, when a little smuggler rendezvous that Jac and Scylla “forgot to mention” goes horribly wrong. Soon, the four aging once-warriors find themselves drawn into a fight with a shadowy corporation, trying to save innocent beings from genocide.
Maryn just has to figure out how to overcome her fear from that last, worst mission where he was lost in space and convinced she was going to die.
I love the characters. The story is told in third person, from Maryn’s point of view. She’s getting old, feeling cranky, and not ready to face her old fears, let alone jump back into save-the-galaxy mode. Whiskey and Warfare a no-holds-barred look at aging, including a couple scenes were Maryn is sitting naked on the toilet, staring at her “decrepit” body and the scars that mark who she once was.
My favorite character is Col, a six-and-a-half foot tall white furry Boshi who is at turns menacing and cuddly, and has an almost terminal (and thoroughly adorable) fear of children. Scylla and Jaq, a pair of lovers and the only two of the four still actively working at the whole mercenary thing, round out the cast.
But how could I forget the Golden Girl? Yeah, the name’s maybe a bit on the nose, but the ship/AI offers a humorous counterpoint to the seriousness of the plot, and her sassy comments make her my second favorite character.
There are nail-biting space walk scenes, terrifying battles, and some good-old-fashioned negotiating with the person they left for dead on a previous mission, from who they now need for supplies. The whole story exudes a Firefly (or Star Wars) vibe.
A story with older characters shouldn’t seem so daring. It’s refreshing seeing these women, whom society wants to relegate to the sideines, rediscover who they are and kick some ass. Just goes to show that you don’t have to be a hopped up, macho space marine to clean someone’s clock.
A fantastic read, a thoroughly delightful romp through space with an all-female main cast that blends crazy action scenes with deep reflection on what it means to grow older. This isn’t your parents’ Golden Girls.
I just hope they come back again for more.
The Reviewer
Scott is the founder of Queer Sci Fi, and a fantasy and sci fi writer in his own right, with more than 30 published short stories, novellas and novels to his credit, including two trilogies.