was on vacation recently, visiting family up north while knocking out a whole lot of novels (I’ve got materials for weeks of reviews now). While rooming at my sister’s, I mentioned I’d like to stop in at any good used book stores. She had one, a little strip mall outlet that had room to grow and lots of books. I dove into it like a shark into a chum-filled ocean.

While nosing through the scifi area, I found a collection of novels by one Christopher Nuttall, the Ark Royal series. It had a very interesting concept – it was a Horatio Hornblower novel set in space. And that’s a great idea. See, Hornblower novels are about the crew, the worries about promotion, the dangerous (and often impossible) missions. Captains are not heroic and idealistic (please note that, AMC, for your terrible take on Hornblower years back). In such novels, captains deal with personal problems – alcoholism, distance from home port, concerns about their next promotion, the worry they’ll end up on the beach when the current war ends, even their own household finances. Hornblower himself worried about the holes in his stockings and his fading respect for “dumpy Maria”, his wife. So to find that in a newly minted world of scifi was just interesting and fun!

Anyway, I’m about half-way through the first Ark Royal novel and loving it. It is a combination of a good sea yarn and Space Battleship Yamato. I am really interesting to see where this series will go. Watch for coming reviews.

But yes, there is no better feeling in the world than discovering a new series by a new author and climbing aboard for the ride.

>>>HEY, I’M STILL “NEW”. CHECK OUT MY BOOKS DOWN THIS LINK!<<<