Chaos Station, a bit of MM space opera

Mentioned in a post last week was the Chaos Station series by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen.  If you enjoy a classic science fiction space opera sort of tale, then you will likely enjoy this, as long as you have no issues with the primary couple being male-male.  The books feature space battles, first contact with an alien race, and much more.  While couples outside of Flick and Zed are mentioned, the only couple you really get to know and observe (as a couple) are Flick and Zed, as the authors do a good job focusing on that, while not pretending that other couples don't exist.  The do exist, but aren't the focus of the series, so aside from interactions displaying those reactions, there is little focus on them as couples, though the characters may be fairly well developed outside of that situation. This series seems to have been designed to conclude in five parts, with an implied HEA, since after book four, it isn't something I would take for granted.  The short honeymoon tale they wrote afterwards is a nice light-hearted read, which is needed after what the authors put Flick and Zed through.  Each book here seems to focus on a specific issue, and that issue is mostly resolved within that book in relation to the major story arc, making the books easier to read.  I will need to reread to recall if the books end in a cliffhanger like the serials of old, but with all the books released, even if they do cliff hang, at least you can get the next if you liked the one you just finished.

I am not sure if I actually wrote a decent blog entry here, having worked all night, and I probably need to sleep, but I will post it anyway, because this was one series I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered.  I am going to hope for some future shorts with Flick and Zed, but if the authors plan another full length book or an additional series with these two, I really hope they plan it as well as they did this one, because then I know several people who will enjoy reading it.

MM Romance and series

I was chatting with a friend tonight on the phone and something came to my attention when we were discussing books.  It seems that most of the books I have suggested she read were part of a series of MM Romance.  These weren't the typical series with a different couple each book, but rather a series that focused on a couple for several books, some of the series mentioned were Kate Sherwood's Dark Horse, Lyn Gala's Aliens and Assimilation, the Chaos Station series by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen, JC Owens' Gaven series, and Charlie Cochet's THIRDS.  The common denominator for all of these seemed to be that the authors gave the characters more than a single book to grow and develop.  Much of MM Romance gives a single short (80,000 words or so) book time to develop the relationship and wrap it into a happily ever after, that these series, with multiple books devoted to the characters actually give the reader more.  Everyone loves HEA books, but everyone also knows that the happily ever after is a work in progress.  After a few too many shifter books with knotting and an automatic HEA, I think readers deserve in depth view of relationships and the trials that form and strengthen them.  Not every series I mentioned is paranormal, but each works to detail the trials of the couple and how they overcome those obstacles.  Yes, all of them include sex, but that is not a reason to automatically remove them from consideration as good books.  I don't think Dex, from THIRDS, resembles Flick from Chaos Station any more than Liam resemble Gaven, and none of them resemble Dan or anyone from the Dark Horse series.  There isn't a resemblance here that says these folks are filling out a form and fitting in the characters.  All of them have proper motivations and all of these are explored during the course of the series, and I think what appears to be a common length restriction on MM Romance novels may actually do these authors a discredit, because the stories they write deserve to be longer, and I am pleased they take the effort to explore.

For the most part, links will be to the publisher site, but I think all are available on Amazon.