Greetings, once again! 👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this newsletter.
Just Out of Jupiter’s Reach is the fifth of six books in The Far Reaches Collection featuring imaginative stories about the cosmic world and advanced technology.
The 45-page book is about 7 space travelers meeting for the first time after 5 years of traveling in solitude. It was published in June 2023 and it’s the author’s latest addition to her robust portfolio of books on science-fiction and fantasy.
Selected for some research, 7 people leave their homes behind and embark on a journey into space with nothing but their AI assistants, pets, and plants as companions. They were to explore other planets and write reports for 10 years. Halfway through, these travelers were coming together for a meeting that would last a week, and their Miris, which had become their homes were fused together.
From different walks of life, they all had something from their previous lives they held on to. Tornado had left behind her parents and brothers and missed them terribly, while Dawud was sad that he wouldn’t see his daughters for 10 years. He was even wondering and asked the group if they thought the money was worth it.
Jamal had left his boyfriend and was rather depressed. Gracious and Kisha who had left their husbands behind, fast became friends and still wanted to see more of the cosmos. Anthony missed food from home while Ravi took solace in the caves he built on his spaceship, complete with trees and coconut crabs.
“As we ate, we shared stories of the last five years. Stories of discovery, ingenuity, awe, and of course, loneliness.”
In the 7 days they spent together, Tornado and the 6 other space travelers explored each other’s Miris—their spaceships, had meals together and talked about their experiences with solitary living and things they missed most about home. Drawing on what little social skills they had left, they also got to know each other and shared how they had coped over the years.
From a fight breaking out to people falling in love and even some members of the groups deciding not to continue with the journey for another 5 years, they all left as different people from those who had emerged from their cocoons 7 days earlier.
“We’d left behind everything we’d ever known on Earth after being there all our lives; we’d also be able to leave behind a few days of companionship with our people (for that’s what we were, a People) when the time came.”
I quite liked this book and being a short read made it all the better. The author did a great job of packing so much in such a small number of pages. The imagery is everything; I might as well have been reading the book on my own spaceship.
Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Kindly leave a comment.
If you read this book after reading this review, do come back and share 😊