Galaxy Blues

By: Allen Steele

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Expelled from the Union Astronautica space fleet and facing charges of grand theft, Jules Truffant agrees to sign up as shuttle pilot aboard the freighter Pride of Cucamonga in exchange for amnesty. After botching Pride's mission to RhoCorenae and upsetting an alien culture in the process, Jules must take part in a voyage across the galaxy to place a probe squarely in the path of a black hole as it plows through an inhabited star system.

BONUS AUDIO: In an exclusive introduction, author Allen Steele explains why he needed to bring a lighter tone to Galaxy Blues.

©2008 Allen Steele (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Classic

Great book like all rest of Allen Steel’s work in the Coyote universe. Wish he had written more.

A fun listen!

Would you consider the audio edition of Galaxy Blues to be better than the print version?

N/A

What was one of the most memorable moments of Galaxy Blues?

I enjoyed the entire story.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where the pot cookies were consumed.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It would be a great listen for a long distance road trip.

Any additional comments?

As always, Allen Steele has produced a great story. Great if you have read or listened to one story in the series, or all of them. I 'Highly' (hee hee) recommend this book.

Irreverent take on sci fi staples

Tongue in cheek but a lot of fun.
Story moves along and has a number of cool surprises. The characters are also very vivid. Liked this.

Yep!

The story is set in the Coyote universe, taking place after the events of Spindrift. It has aliens, diplomacy, a mysterious crew member, double crosses, triple crosses and danger...along with a bit of silliness. For example, the value of marijuana to the aliens indicates the author is a baby boomer. Further, the aliens extorted the earth heroes because of a perceived affront, just called for someone with backbone to stand up and call bullshit. I only have one Coyote universe book to go, "Hex." I intend to read that one soon. Then, maybe I can finally put it to rest, at least until another one comes out.

Great story. Dated Tropes.

So I have mixed feelings about Galaxy Blues. One the one hand, it’s a really great storyline. Inventive and unique. But I kept getting pulled back into eye-rolling moments of cringy late-70s perceptions around dating, gender roles, pot, race and more. The patriarchy is certainly alive and well in this novel that that has no idea how to deny that. And while some moments were in fact pretty innovative, others were just kind of tired SciFi descriptions of aliens, their worlds and behaviors, etc.

And while Allen Steele is a really good storyteller, his “humor,” which he states was one of his intentions in the book, is just wooden. He’s no Scalzi, though I will say there was maybe one moment that I did flat out laugh my a-s off.

So yes. Good book, but it REALLY benefit from good editing for the 20s (the TWENTY-20s, mind you)