You Sexy Thing

by Cat Rambo

Overview

Farscape meets The Great British Bake Off in this fantastic space opera You Sexy Thing from former SFWA President, Cat Rambo.

2022 Dragon Award — Nominee
2022 Locus Award — Nominee

Just when they thought they were out…

TwiceFar station is at the edge of the known universe, and that’s just how Niko Larson, former Admiral in the Grand Military of the Hive Mind, likes it.

Retired and finally free of the continual war of conquest, Niko and the remnants of her former unit are content to spend the rest of their days working at the restaurant they built together, The Last Chance.

But, some wars can’t ever be escaped, and unlike the Hive Mind, some enemies aren’t content to let old soldiers go. Niko and her crew are forced onto a sentient ship convinced that it is being stolen and must survive the machinations of a sadistic pirate king if they even hope to keep the dream of The Last Chance alive.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250269287
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/16/2021
Series:	The Disco Space Opera , #1
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	255,089
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

CAT RAMBO (They/Them) lives, writes, and teaches somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Their 200+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy&Science Fiction. They are an Endeavour, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award finalist. They also run a popular online school, The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. Their books include You Sexy Thing, Carpe Glitter, and Hearts of Tabat.
Cat Rambo (they/them) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer whose work has appeared in, among others, Asimov's, Weird Tales, Chiaroscuro, Talebones, and Strange Horizons. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, where they studied with John Barth and Steve Dixon, they also attended the Clarion West Writers' Workshop. They are currently the managing editor of Fantasy Magazine. They published a collection of stories, Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight, and their collaboration with Jeff VanderMeer, The Surgeon’s Tale and Other Stories, appeared in 2007. They live and write in Washington State, and “Cat Rambo” is their real name.

Editorial Reviews

06/21/2021

Rambo (the Tabat Quartet series) mixes far-future space opera with the trials and tribulations of running a restaurant in this clever mishmash of aliens, pirates, and humans with near-impossible dreams. Nicolette “Niko” Larson, military genius and former Admiral of the Holy Hive Mind, has retired with her motley, mixed-species unit to operate the Last Chance gourmet restaurant on TwiceFar Station at the very edge of the universe. Just as they are set to win the coveted Nikkelin Orb food award, an explosion hurls Niko, her faithful crew, and a mysterious crate they’re transporting into a chaotic scramble for survival aboard the sentient bioship You Sexy Thing. The ship takes them into the clutches of a pirate king who’s been planning his revenge on Niko ever since an encounter decades earlier and has a series of grisly tortures in mind. Running parallel to this plot is a coming-of-age tale starring Atlanta, an heir to the Paxian galactic empire, who was shipped to Niko to learn how to govern herself and others. Rambo crafts her characters with relish, creating credibly motivated alien beings, a plucky heroine, and a ship learning to experience emotion for the first time. The result is a thoroughly entertaining sci-fi romp. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Fun and action-packed.... This action-packed space opera is loads of fun." —BuzzFeed

“Cat Rambo’s You Sexy Thing, a truly hilarious and wonderful sci-fi novel that deliberately engages with the POV.”—Gizmodo

"Fun, fantastic, and delicious—I loved it!"—Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice

"Cat Rambo's writing is everything you could hope for—lyrical, emotional, funny, by turns or all at once." —Django Wexler, author of Ship of Smoke and Bone

"Rambo has a gift for immersing their reader into a vivid universe full of adventure, sensuality, wit, and poignant observation."—Jody Lynn Nye, New York Times bestselling author

"Cat Rambo is a genuinely gifted writer."—Saladin Ahmed, author of Throne of the Crescent Moon

"A romp. If you’re the kind of person who likes Mass Effect, or enjoyed Valerie Valdes’s Chilling Effect and Prime Deceptions, or fell head-over-heels for Tim Pratt’s Axiom trilogy... then this book is definitely for you. This is a fast, zippy novel that hides some surprisingly substantial emotional heavy lifting under its hood." —Locus

From the Publisher

★ 08/01/2021

At the edge of the universe lies TwiceFar Station, the home of the upscale restaurant Last Chance. It's staffed by retired Admiral of the Holy Mind Nicolette "Niko" Larson and a disparate crew of fellow veterans of different species. On the verge of earning the illustrious Nikkelin Orb award, the restaurant crew finds themselves in the midst of a station explosion, with Niko holding a mysterious crate. They are then forced to flee on the sentient bioship You Sexy Thing, but the ship takes the group by force to the domain of an old enemy, a pirate king who has a torturous and deadly plan for Niko, in revenge for past encounters. As Niko and her crew figure out how to escape, the mysterious crate reveals a young heir to the Praxian Empire, Atlanta, who was sent to Niko for protection and guidance. The parallels in Atlanta and Niko's storylines are key to this tale of military reach, memories, and the will to survive. VERDICT Rambo (Tabat Quartet) launches a delightful, action-filled space jaunt, packed with engaging alien species, a bioship that learns emotions, and witty references.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Library Journal

Narrator Vivienne Leheny brings to life the fun personalities in Cat Rambo’s latest sci-fi adventure. This slightly wacky space opera is great for fans of Becky Chambers’s Wayfarer series. Using her restaurant business as a means to escape the military’s “Hive Mind,” Niko and her crew have more to worry about than a bad review. They have enemies who are out for revenge. The diverse and animated cast of characters is what makes this audiobook shine. Leheny provides a different level of energy, along with a distinctive voice, for each of the alien characters. Her adept performance makes this quirky story pop. N.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2021 - AudioFile