Steve Rzasa

The Intelligence Service of the Realm tasks Captain Vincent Chen with finding a lost operative—a sticky assignment given that the operative is none other than Izzara Neoh. Reuniting (so to speak) with Izzy will lead to more dangers than one for Vincent, and what's coming may turn his world on its head in Mixed Messages by author Steve Rzasa.

So! Is the fourth book in this ChristFic sci-fi series the last one? Perhaps not, since the end of the story leaves room for more to come without cliffhanging, but this book also felt like a heavy handful of goodbyes to me.

Was this my first time feeling all but choked up while reading a Vincent Chen novella? It has some really poignant moments in it...along with some great action, dashes of comedy that don't go overboard with silliness, a little romance, serious questions of faith, and Vincent's signature dry humor.

Yeah, as with the previous books in this series, it took me a while to get into the story, chunks of the science-y narration lost me, and I found some of the technical errors a little distracting, such as the places here and there where quotation marks and small words are missing, and times when Vincent's present-tense narration of his story slips into past tense when it shouldn't. It messes with the "here and now" effect of the storytelling.

But it's been worth it to be along for this overall journey with Vincent. I hope there's more coming for him.… (altro)

Captain Vincent Chen isn't exactly excited about making a trip home to Tiaozhan to reunite with his family. This won't be a vacation, as he's in for somewhat of a disciplinary meeting about what MarkTel thinks of his latest escapades as a comms employee. And Vincent's younger brother is caught up in a smuggling scheme that will soon have both the brothers' lives on the line in Failed Frequencies by author Steve Rzasa.

There wasn't any need for me to read the blurb before I dove into this novella, as I've been enjoying this ChristFic sci-fi series enough not to require an intro.

Vincent is still his dryly humorous self, and it was interesting to finally meet some of his family in person, if you will. (I especially liked meeting his mother and sister. Gotta love women with brains.) Some of the family moments tugged on me, as did seeing the lasting, terrible effects that fear of Kesek, a former secret police agency, has had on the people of Tiaozhan.

Now, I found some parts of the read more engaging than others, and typos here and there pulled me out of the story a few times as I had to read some sentences more than once. Also, the same as in the previous books in the series, the present tense narration in this one slips into past tense at times when it shouldn't. I enjoy stories in first person present, but verb tense confusion weakens the effect.

Even so, I'll admit I was moving around and adding a little of my own sound effects during the action, and the ending left me plenty intrigued to move on to Book Four.… (altro)

I do not normally read science fiction but enjoy a good detective novel in the past. This is a futuristic noir style detective novel. The main protagonist is a military police that works with an augment (AI) called baby. His duties on this planet are a narrow focus dealing in crimes involving embassies and governments in exile. Every chapter the book just seems to get better as the character is fleshed out and the world expands before us as he investigates. The world itself is well fleshed out for many more stories to come. The story is well wrapped up so worth the read. The only error in the book I found was an editing error that will only be noticed by those who are familiar with military ranks and does not detract from the story line.… (altro)

Captain Vincent Chen sees little choice but to help out Izzy, a (beautiful) stowaway spy on the run for her life. Vincent gets caught up in Izzy's mission to stop a criminal organization from stealing and selling classified data. Vincent, who prefers to work alone, will have to seek help from his fellow comms jockeys to fend off an oncoming raid in Cryptic Commands by author Steve Rzasa.

I didn't read the book blurbs before starting this Vincent Chen novella or the one before it. The knowledge that it was ChristFic sci-fi and the stunning, electric cover sold me on the first book, and Vincent's story in the first book sold me on the second—which has another excellent book cover.

Because I'm not the most science-minded reader, it took me a while to really get into this story, where I enjoyed the characters and the bursts of action but got lost in a lot of the in-between technical details about space travel functions and maneuvering. While the bigger themes and deeper questions in the first book hooked me, this second read was more like a general suspense story to me, with perhaps fewer new or wider questions to address. Also, some punctuation errors and places where the present tense narration unintentionally slips into past tense adds minor confusion to the flow.

Still, Vincent has plenty to work out inside of himself, including matters of faith, his convictions, and his unexpected feelings for a woman who has virtually invaded his solitary life. Vincent's quick and dry humor, even in the midst of danger, is entertaining and refreshing without turning his adventures into a joke, and the events in the last third of the book really took me in their grip.

I'm looking forward to continuing this series.… (altro)