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FizzyWater · 08-27-2018, 02:06 AM

I listened to 2 books by Mary Robinette Kowal this week: The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky. They are not romance novels - in fact, the main character is already married. But I found the books to be solidly romantic - the main character's relationship with her husband was so good. If you like SFR (science fiction romance) and don't mind that these are really science fiction, I think you'd like the stories a lot.

The setting starts in a late 50s America where most of the northern eastern seaboard - including Washington DC - is destroyed by a meteorite. The scientists of the day decide this is a potential extinction disaster and stress the need to get into space to create a colony so humanity can survive.

NOTE: This is all in the book's basic description - I'm not giving any spoilers.

I couldn't put these [audio]books down. She sucked me in.

I discovered after I "read" the books that she wrote these because of a popular Hugo-winning short story she wrote a few years ago: The Lady Astronaut of Mars. For those of you who just have to read the entire series - the short story actually comes years after the two books, despite its being published before. Made me cry like a baby...I've been trying to decide if it would have hit me so hard if I read it first.

Trying to avoid spoilers...maybe in tags?

Spoiler:

08-27-2018, 02:06 AM	#1589
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	I listened to 2 books by Mary Robinette Kowal this week: The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky. They are not romance novels - in fact, the main character is already married. But I found the books to be solidly romantic - the main character's relationship with her husband was so good. If you like SFR (science fiction romance) and don't mind that these are really science fiction, I think you'd like the stories a lot. The setting starts in a late 50s America where most of the northern eastern seaboard - including Washington DC - is destroyed by a meteorite. The scientists of the day decide this is a potential extinction disaster and stress the need to get into space to create a colony so humanity can survive. NOTE: This is all in the book's basic description - I'm not giving any spoilers. I couldn't put these [audio]books down. She sucked me in. I discovered after I "read" the books that she wrote these because of a popular Hugo-winning short story she wrote a few years ago: The Lady Astronaut of Mars. For those of you who just have to read the entire series - the short story actually comes years after the two books, despite its being published before. Made me cry like a baby...I've been trying to decide if it would have hit me so hard if I read it first. Trying to avoid spoilers...maybe in tags? Spoiler: The main character of the books has settled into life on Mars, after being forced to stop flying rocket ships when she turned 50. Her husband is slowly dying of a debilitating disease. And she's offered a chance to pilot another rocket on a minimum 3-year flight. You can imagine her dilemma. And since I'd fallen in love with her husband in the two books, it was just horrible to go from his being a vibrant young NASA engineer to being bed-bound and in pain. Sniff Last edited by FizzyWater; 08-27-2018 at 02:12 AM.