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Billy in Space
by Harry L-B
DETAILS: Publication Date: April 5, 2023 Format: eBook Length: 223 pgs. Read Date: March 23-24, 2023
“Sometimes things go so bad you think it couldn’t possibly get any worse. Then, it does. Because life is terrible.”
This is somewhat new territory for me—I’m generally pretty adept at talking about a book’s story/setup without getting into spoiler territory.* I’m not worried about spoiling plot points in this book—I’m worried about spoiling jokes. It’d be really easy for me to describe something here in a way that’s not particularly amusing and then when you get to the point in the book that’s supposed to tickle your funny bone, it’d lose its effect.
* Although an author or two have had different thoughts.
What’s Billy in Space About?
Billy had constantly lived his life in the shadow of Andy—brilliant, effortlessly cool, and genuinely a nice guy, and it grated on him. When it came time to decide on a career path, he swallowed a recruiter’s lines and volunteered to have the surgery to become telekinetic—visualizing a future as a member of a security team, using his abilities to combat injustice.
And instead, he became a “thought-lifter.” Basically, a human forklift working in a ship’s cargo hold. Thankfully, he was on the same ship as his one and only friend, so he wasn’t entirely miserable. Actually, he rather enjoyed his life, certain things would get better. “Billy was nothing if not delusionally optimistic.” He’s desperately outgoing, friendly, socially-inept, and earnest as the day is long.
After weeks of hesitating, and a final push by Andy, Billy asks out an attractive engineer—and is the victim of an industrial accident just as the date is about to start. And that’s the best part of the date. He wakes in a medical bay—the ship is on emergency power, and he can’t find anyone on board—he can find some discarded pieces of crew members, however. So he sets off to try to find anyone alive, find out what happened—and hopefully, find something to wear other than a hospital gown.
Oh, and then space pirates show up.
Boris
Boris could best be described as a man made from a carefully arranged stack of Russian cinder blocks.
Billy’s coworker—and fellow thought-lifter—Boris took a bit for me to warm up to. Initially, he seemed like a one-trick pony—he’s the gruff and laconic anti-Billy. He stands and says nothing, barely tolerating Billy’s attempts at conversation and bonding. Ha-ha, I get it. Can we move on now?
But the further we get into the book, Boris starts contributing in other ways—largely interacting with people who aren’t Billy. His character handles plenty of the action, but he’s also a guaranteed punch-line generator. With one sentence in any situation he can reveal a little about himself that is both incredibly apropos and ridiculous.
I’d compare him to Ron Swanson or Rosa Diaz—at least in the way he works in contrast to the other characters and what has to be a deadpan reaction to almost everything.
The Action Part of the Equation
Popular film and television painted an uncharitable picture of space pirates. In every depiction Billy had seen, they were a rude and nasty lot, their ships’ halls favored an abundance of red lighting, and someone onboard kept a cyborg parrot as a companion. The media was surprisingly accurate on most counts. Billy didn’t think abductions were particularly polite, and his eyes were having difficulty adjusting to a world painted in shades of crimson. He was disappointed by the lack of any cybernetic parrots, but kept his ears open for digital squawking.
Something I try to do when evaluating an action-comedy is to ask what it would be like without the comedy. Does the story hold up? It’s not a deal-breaker for me if the novel/show/movie needs the comedy, but if it can survive while being serious, I give it bonus points.
With a tweak to the purpose of the Space Cutie VII‘s mission (and the ship’s name), in addition to dropping the comedy and Billy in Space would work as a SF-Action tale—might even cross the line into SF-Horror. That says a lot about the plot, the story arcs, and the characters.
The comedy helps heighten the story—I think maybe even makes some of the tense moments more tense (this isn’t a comedy where bad things don’t happen), and the ridiculousness of the characters makes them more engaging. But the fact that the novel could hold up without the chuckles makes me care more about the outcome.
So, what did I think about Billy in Space?
Billy was born on Mars. He grew up on Mars. He went to Mars City High School, home of the Fighting Tunnel-Squids. Growing up, he had been fairly sure he was going to work on Mars, and eventually get eaten by a tunnel-squid on Mars, something that became more and more likely as Martian settlements spread into their natural habitats.
I had a lot of fun with this one, it’s a great mix of silly, SF, and action. Because everyone has to mention Hitchhiker’s Guide when mentioning humorous SF, the jacket copy for this does, too. I didn’t find it that THHGttG-ish, honestly. More of a Futurama (also mentioned in the description), or early Scalzi. Very Red Dwarf, too. Although, that’s something that too few would understand anymore. But for those of a certain age, Billy’s pal Andy is essentially what Ace Rimmer would’ve been had he gone into biology.
When things got hairy, I have to say that I was surprised at how dark the events got—I wasn’t put off by it, I just didn’t assume the light feel of the book up to that point would take such a left turn. But it worked so well. It’s hard to describe the blend of Alien-ish story with the goofiness of Billy and the others. Shaun of the Dead comes kind of close.
I chucked frequently, gasped in surprise at least once, and generally had a good time escaping into the world that Harry L-B created. This was a fun ride and I’d jump on another novel like this without hesitation—you should check it out!
Grab a book, any book.
