Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge is the second book in Mary Pax’s Backworlds series about bio-engineered human life forms that were created to be able to thrive in the harsh environments of planets that are not exactly, “Earth Normal”.

The Story

In this tale we find Craze and his new-found friends from the first book encamped at Pardeep Station, a sort of rest stop along the galactic interstate system, except Pardeep is out in the sticks, galactically speaking, and not an especially inviting place to go.

Craze has established his own tavern, serving the occasional starship that arrives at Pardeep.  An old military ship arrives and discharges a form of engineered human life that was thought to be extinct – and her army of shadows. She brings news that the small group of friends has a traitor among them and that traitor has brought an old enemy bent on recovering a secret weapon stashed there long ago.  With the arrival of this ship the life of everyone on Pardeep Station is now at risk.

This tale continues the tradition started in the first book of incorporating chocolate as a key element in the story.  Stopover also has a love-interest for Craze, but again it’s a rather quirky situation. Poor Craze – will he ever find a stable relationship?

The Technical

As we have come to expect from M.Pax, this book is not only quite imaginative, but also expertly written and edited.  The story steps along at a sprightly pace and holds the readers interest well.  The characters are well developed and we are pulled into their amazing situations.

The only negative reaction is the rather frequent use of the word “shit”.  Most readers will likely not be bothered by this at all, but this reviewer’s puritanical sensibilities reacted badly to it.  Not badly enough to cause this book to be laid aside – as he has been known to do with weaker stories – but it did detract some from the enjoyment of it.

Summary

Another excellent story has emerged from the mind of M.Pax, employing elements of mystery, action adventure, and romance all rolled into a solid science fiction wrapper.

Available for all eReaders from: Amazon / Amazon / B&N / Smashwords

iTunes and Kobo will be available shortly.

About the Author

If you haven’t read the first book The Backworlds yet, it’s available as a free read from many outlets. See HERE for links.

Inspiring the words M. Pax writes, Mary spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the husband unit and two loving cats. She writes science fiction mostly and has a slight obsession with Jane Austen. Mary blogs at http://www.mpaxauthor.com/blog/