Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Astounding! 
AUTHOR: Kim Fielding
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 210 pages
BLURB:
Carter Evans is founder and editor-in-chief of Astounding!—a formerly popular spec fiction magazine currently in its death throes. Not only can he do nothing to save it, but stuck in a rathole apartment with few interpersonal connections, he can’t seem to do much to rescue his future either. And certainly all the booze isn’t helping. He snaps when he receives yet another terrible story submission from the mysterious writer J. Harper—and in a drunken haze, Carter sends Harper a rejection letter he soon regrets.
J. Harper turns out to be John Harper, a sweet man who resembles a ’50s movie star and claims to be an extraterrestrial. Despite John’s delusions, Carter’s apology quickly turns into something more as the two lonely men find a powerful connection. Inexplicably drawn to John, Carter invites him along on a road trip. But as they travel, Carter is in for some big surprises, some major heartbreak… and just maybe the promise of a good future after all.
REVIEW:
What a creative plot!
Back in my teen years I was in to science fiction and read a few of these old style magazines and books featuring short sci-fi stories. I loved the diversity of the plots and the writing style. I’ve since moved on, but still have a place in my heart for my old favorites. I saw the blurb for Astounding! and couldn’t resist it!
Carter and his best friend Freddy started Astounding! the magazine together. Freddy was an aspiring author, Carter an editor. It was successful for some time, however their personal relationship was not. Freddy’s writing career took off, and he headed to California and left Carter with the magazine and a crappy apartment in Seattle. Carter continued to work on the magazine, but 15 years later has finally admitted it’s failing. He and Freddy have stayed friends and Freddy occasionally sends a story to Carter, using his popularity to help Carter stay afloat another month. Carter drinks a bit too much, has no friends or life other that Astounding!, and it just barely living. Each month he gets a very badly written story submitted to him by someone named J. Harper. One night after a little too much to drink, Carter writes a nasty rejection letter and sends it off to J. Harper. Oddly he receives a letter begging him to publish just one story, with yet another crappy story. He sees J. Harper lives in Portland and Carter decides he has to know WHY it is so important to J. Harper that he publish, and off he goes on a road trip to Portland.
Carter shows up at the house of the mysterious J. Harper and is shocked to find a very handsome man named John Harper, who looks like a 50’s movie actor. They end having a meal together, a conversation, and Carter learns what a weirdo John is. He says he’s an alien! Right. Carter has pretty much decided his magazine is over and agrees to publish one of John’s stories, even though he thinks he’s crazy. Carter stays the night as it is raining and a little something happens in the night….
So a connection is made between the two. Carter returns home and gets his last edition ready to publish, including John’s story. He also agrees to go on what turns out to be a life changing vacation with Freddy and his husband Keith, in a giant RV. They pick up John on the way south and off they go.
This is really a fantastic story. I loved the connection that builds between Carter and John, physically and emotionally. It was rather bittersweet for a while, I’m trying not to say too much, but John wants to go home, and the romance they have feels like it will be very short. Carter is dealing with some issues, the ending of his magazine, the ending of his old life, he felt almost a little suicidal to me. Not that he says that or even threatens, but it’s clear he’s lost. So is John. The two spend some time lost together, but you know it’s going to be short. I could not see how Kim was going to get them out of this mess. You have to trust her though!
There were several things that I caught my attention in this story. Her two characters from The Tin Box show up in this book! Took me a minute to realize who they were, but that was cool. Also there is a restaurant mentioned in Portland, a place to make your own pancakes, and I did Google it out of curiosity. It’s a real place! Now I want to go to Portland! I loved the other characters in this one, Freddy and Keith are great on their own, but so helpful in regards to Carter and John’s developing story. Obviously John is a fantastic character on his own, but paired with Carter they both are amazing. And the sex between them….. damn. Hot but so emotional. Then there are a handful of folks in Portland that I loved and want to know more about!
The ending was just perfect. It was happy, sweet, absolutely everything I wanted but wasn’t sure we’d get. So good!
I loved the nod back to old school sci-fi this books gives us, including the cover. I loved the creative plot, I loved the characters, I loved the bittersweet feeling, and I loved the ending. Kim is turning out to be one of my favorite authors in this genre. I have liked everything of hers I’ve read. She has a beautiful way of telling a story, she doesn’t rush, but gets all of the details out. This book felt real to me, even in its unreality.
I’d give this one a try, it was fun and creative, but had a really good story underneath.
RATING: 
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