Synopses & Reviews
Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is a hero. She has the medals and the scars to prove it.
She's cooling her heels on Kookaburra, recovering from injuries sustained during the fiery loss of her last ship, the Yangtze, and she's bored -- so bored, in fact, that she takes a berth on the next ship out. That's a mistake. The Aral Sea isn't anyone's idea of a get-well tour.
Jodenny 's handed a division full of misfits, incompetents, and criminals. She's a squared-away officer. She thinks she can handle it all. She's wrong. Aral Sea isn't a happy ship. And it's about to get a lot unhappier.
As Aral Sea enters the Alcheringa -- the alien-constructed space warp that allows giant settler-ships to travel between worlds, away from all help or hope -- Jodenny comes face to face with something powerful enough to dwarf even the unknown force that destroyed her last ship and left her with missing memories and bloody nightmares. Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is about to be introduced to love.
Author Sandra McDonald brings her personal knowledge of the military, and of the subtle interplay between men and women on deployment, to a stirring tale that mixes ancient Australian folklore with the colonization of the stars.
Review
“Likeable characters, excellent development, and a series of interlocking puzzles worked out against Australian culture that most Americans will find exotic. A smart, fun, read.”
--David Drake on The Outback Stars
“The Outback Stars takes a number of interesting ideas and weaves them into a fast-moving page-turner--rivalry aboard a large naval vessel, surviving a terrible accident, mysterious deaths, among other things. But what really sets it apart is the introduction of Australasian Aboriginal myth and cosmology as an integral part of the ways and means of interstellar travel. The author shows intimate knowledge of the nuts and bolts of what really makes big ships tick--and her careful attention to the elements of Aboriginal culture makes this even more worthy of a reader's time."
--Walter Hunt, author of The Dark Ascent
"Sandra McDonald knows the Navy, what makes a ship run well and what can make it run badly. Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is the sort of tough, smart but thoroughly human officer we'd all like alongside us in an emergency. She and the other vivid characters in The Outback Stars propel forward a great story combining military fiction and criminal investigation in space."
--John G. Hemry, author of Against All Enemies and (as Jack Campbell) The Lost Fleet: Dauntless Jacqueline Carey - Douglas Brinkley - David Gibson - Anthony Minghella - Fay Weldon - Anthony Minghella, director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain - Antonya Nelson - Jean Thompson - Charles Stross - Spider Robinson - Neal Asher - Karl Schroeder - Elizabeth Bear - Ulick O'Connor - Michael Billington - Michael Coveney - Sir Ian McKellen - Russ Parsons - Philip Pullman - Sara Douglass - Bill Bryson - Barbara Ehrenreich - Kirkus - John Blades - Ellen Kanner - Gilbert Taylor - Jane Brody's "Personal Health" column in The New York Times - Daniel Mallory - Jim Harrison, author of True North - Michael Ondaatje - Karen Karbo - Kristine Huntley - Susan Orlean - John Banville - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Neil Walsh - Stephen R. Donaldson - Jacqueline Carey - Glen Cook - Elizabeth Haydon - David Drake - Robert Charles Wilson - Cory Doctorow - Bret Easton Ellis - Candace Bushnell - Dominick Dunne - Jay McInerney - Jonathan Demme, filmmaker - A.O. Scott - Martin Arnold - Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes - J. B. Priestley - Charles de Lint - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Gillian Engberg - Clarissa Cruz - Jay Strafford - Hallie Ephron - Patrick Anderson - Walter Jon Williams - S. M. Stirling - Connie Willis, Hugo Award-winning author of To Say Nothing of the Dog - Morgan Llywelyn - Jacqueline Carey - George R.R. Martin - Frederick Busch - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Paul Di Filippo - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - SciFi.com - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Los Angeles Times - Vanity Fair - New York Times Book Review - Rocky Mountain News - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly - Southern Living - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times - Midwest Book Review - Cincinnati Enquirer - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Romantic Times Bookclub - The New York Times - The Washington Times - Los Angeles Times - West Coast Review of Books - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - Booklist - Chicago Sun-Times - Rocky Mountain News - Chicago Tribune - New York Sun - Publishers Weekly - Fangoria - Horn Book Magazine - School Library Journal - USA Today - Entertainment Weekly - Boston Globe - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Entertainment Weekly - January Magazine - Booklist - Library Journal - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - New York Observer - The New York Times Book Review - Publishers Weekly - The Knoxville News-Sentinel - The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - Midwest Book Review - Santa Barbara News-Press - Newsweek - Library Journal - Greenwich Magazine - Time Out New York - New York Times Book Review - San Francisco Chronicle - Booklist (starred review) - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly (starred) - Washington Post Book World - Publishers Weekly, starred review - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - School Library Journal - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - Altair - TV Week (Australia) - Publishers Weekly (starred review) - SF Site - New York Observer - The Economist - Publishers Weekly - Enigma - SF Site - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Romantic Times - San Francisco Chronicle - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - The Associated Press - San Antonio Express-News - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - Booklist - The Guardian - The Observer - Financial Times - New York Observer - Houston Chronicle - Art Week - Christian Science Monitor - Charlotte Observer - Edmonton Journal - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Time Out New York - Library Journal - Cincinnati CityBeat - Globe and Mail - Quill and Quire - Vancouver Sun - New York Times Magazine - The Washington Post - Library Journal - Booklist - Dallas Morning News - Newsweek - The Washington Post Book World - The Los Angeles Times Book Review - Booklist - Stephen Coonts - W.E.B. Griffin - Thomas Fleming - Walter J. Boyne - Pages Magazine - Chronicle - Publishers Weekly - Southern Living - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times - Midwest Book Review - Chicago Tribune - Kirkus, starred review - Library Journal - Kirkus - Publishers Weekly - Mystery News - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) - People - Entertainment Weekly - The Boston Globe - The Columbus Dispatch - The Roanoke Times - Bookstreet USA - Sullivan County Democrat - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - New York Daily News - Publishers Weekly - The Dallas Morning News - The Guardian [UK - ] - The New York Times - The Times [UK - ] - Washington Post - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Parade - Publishers Weekly - Minneapolis Star-Tribune - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Chicago Sun-Times - Washington Post Book World - San Francisco Chronicle - Newsday - Buffalo News - Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Library Journal - Los Angeles Times - Library Journal - Booklist - The New York Times Book Review - Kirkus Reviews - Bulletin of Center for Children's Books - School Library Journal - The Financial Times (London) - The Guardian (London) - The Sunday Independent (London) - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Time Out - Mail on Sunday - People - Kirkus Reviews - Elle - Time Out New York - Miami Herald - New York Post - David Gibson - Douglas Brinkley - People (four stars) - Baltimore Sun - New Yorker - Seattle Times - Library Journal - Booklist - The Chattanooga Free Press - Kirkus Reviews - The Calgary Herald - Publishers Weekly - Altair - TV Week (Australia)
Review
“Likeable characters, excellent development, and a series of interlocking puzzles worked out against Australian culture that most Americans will find exotic. A smart, fun, read.”
--David Drake on The Outback Stars
“The Outback Stars takes a number of interesting ideas and weaves them into a fast-moving page-turner--rivalry aboard a large naval vessel, surviving a terrible accident, mysterious deaths, among other things. But what really sets it apart is the introduction of Australasian Aboriginal myth and cosmology as an integral part of the ways and means of interstellar travel. The author shows intimate knowledge of the nuts and bolts of what really makes big ships tick--and her careful attention to the elements of Aboriginal culture makes this even more worthy of a reader's time."
--Walter Hunt, author of The Dark Ascent
"Sandra McDonald knows the Navy, what makes a ship run well and what can make it run badly. Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is the sort of tough, smart but thoroughly human officer we'd all like alongside us in an emergency. She and the other vivid characters in The Outback Stars propel forward a great story combining military fiction and criminal investigation in space."
--John G. Hemry, author of Against All Enemies and (as Jack Campbell) The Lost Fleet: Dauntless
Synopsis
A fresh and engaging military-SF debut novel by a US Navy veteran
About the Author
Sandra McDonald has been a Hollywood assistant, a software instructor, a bureaucrat, and an officer in the United States Navy. Her short fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida.