Jubilee

At the start of this boisterous if familiar science fiction adventure, Stanford’s debut, investigator Col arrives at Jubilee, a lawless space station that exists in its own dedicated parallel universe, to pick up the dead body of a prominent politician from the conservative Movement 4 Morality (M4M). Faced with an unexpected 36–hour delay, Col and his colleague Danee decide to explore the space station: Col visits a dermatologist who informs the investigator that his wife’s chronic pain is caused by illegal nano-weapons; Douglas, the friendly AI that runs Jubilee, offers Col a job as head of security; and Col and Danee begin an adulterous relationship. When they discover that the corpse is not who they thought it was, Col, Danee, and Douglas team up to take down M4M and save Col’s wife. Replete with botched plans, daring escapes, and amusingly flawed conspiracies, Col’s adventure is a series of old-fashioned hijinks with a new AI twist. The love triangle, meanwhile, sits on the back burner for most of the novel before falling into place a bit too perfectly at the end. The result is an amusing and fast-paced saga sure to please fans of classic space opera. (Feb.)