Galactic Hellcats by Marie Vibbert is a Spring Into Books Festival pick #sciencefiction #comedy #giveaway
- N. N. Light
- Apr 17
- 5 min read
Title: Galactic Hellcats
Author: Marie Vibbert
Genre: Comedy / Science-fiction
Book Blurb:
Ki is a petty thief. Her best friend wills her his solo-flyer-call it a space motorcycle: temperamental, fast as hell, and expensive to maintain. Any reasonable person would sell it to get off the street, but Ki isn't reasonable. Margot is a military vet at loose ends. She blows her entire back pay on a solo-flyer, a decision she instantly regrets. Margot meets Ki and thinks she's the sympathetic friend she needs when she feels most alone. Ki thinks Margot is an easy mark for food money. They're both right, but lunch leads to a joy ride to planet Ratana, where Margot is arrested by border control. With her street-smart skills, Ki enlists the help of Ratanese local Zuleikah, a bored rich girl who finds the idea of busting someone out of jail intriguing. Together, they rescue Margot but find themselves trapped on a hostile planet on the cusp of civil war. When Zuleikah proposes a daring plan to escape the planet involving the kidnapping of Prince Thane from his dreary role in the crumbling monarchy, the plan sets off a thrilling chase across the desert and into the farthest reaches of the universe, with the fate of our heroes hanging in the balance.
Excerpt:
Ki ran along the roof ridge and found a fire escape. It didn’t go all the way to the ground. If she lowered the bottom ladder, the guard would suspect the place had been broken into. Ki could make the drop. She crouched on the roof for the guard to pass by.
The guard passed. She started down the fire escape.
Her first three steps rattled louder than gunfire. Damnit!
She froze against the wall, willing herself invisible. The guard didn’t come straight back. Forty seconds to go until she reappeared. Ki crept carefully the rest of the way to the
bottom of the escape to avoid making noise. She grabbed the side of the ladder opening and lowered herself. She was about to drop when she heard the guard’s footsteps. She should
have checked the time again. The guard walked underfoot slowly, boots crunching sand against the pavement. The stupid guard stopped. Walked back the way she’d come.
What a time to start caring about her job!
Ki’s arms trembled with the effort, then burned, then felt ready to snap in half before the guard stopped investigating whatever it was that was so fascinating under Ki’s feet and continued on her way. Slowly. Ki bit her lip and concentrated on the sound of footsteps until the building
muffled them again. She dropped to the ground. She held her breath until she could hear that steady crunch-crunch of the guard’s footsteps again. She ran for cover, giddy. That delicious old thrill. The thump of her heart was food to her. What an adrenaline junkie. She had
just escaped a war zone and already craved more danger.
Admonishing herself, she stopped at a warehouse that only required snapping a standard lock and scanning boxes for food labels. Sporting goods. Seriously? Of all the luck.
The third warehouse was the charm, filled with a familiar vending machine logo. They even had a handcart parked near the door. She pushed it around the warehouse, casually dropping items onto it like a housewife in some old movie grocery store. She trundled out into the freezing night, humming a jaunty tune as the cart jolted along the gravel.
Zuleikah was getting cold. Icy blasts snuck in every opening. They’d bent down the curled metal of the damaged wall panel as best as they could, but it wasn’t as if the uninsulated metal warehouse was going to provide more than a windbreak.
Zuleikah knelt on the gritty floor next to Margot. She cleared her throat. “I found an article on how to create a fire using electrical parts. I think I have everything on the list, but I was wondering—”
“I’m sorry,” Margot said.
“For what?” Zuleikah wanted to take the words back instantly.
“We captured Thane; he’s our responsibility. We’ll get him out of here safely.”
Zuleikah furtively glanced toward Thane, keeping warm by walking a circuit of the room, his hands buried in his sleeves like a monk. He didn’t look like he’d heard them; he was watching his feet and stepping so carefully that it must have been a special, royal meditation walk.
The offer to start a fire was supposed to be her apology for hitting Margot, if the woman would let her get through it. “Do you want me to start? I have to take apart the seat warmer.”
“Maybe. Academically, I know fire can work, but…” To her surprise, Margot grabbed her hand in both of hers. “I’m not normally such a bitch. It’s been a hard couple of days.”
“Um. It’s okay.” Zuleikah looked down at her hand. How did you end a hand-hold? The warmth, at least, was nice. “I was in the Sol Navy.” Margot blurted like it was a secret that had been bothering her, something Zuleikah should care about. “It’s not the same as being on the ground.
You live here. I-I was defending you. Well, my ship was defending your world’s government. Kind of. Uh… you were on the royal side, right?”
Zuleikah extracted her hand and wiped it on her pant leg. What was with outsiders and always wanting to talk about the war? It was stupid. War never felt quite what a news story or history class made it seem. It was a series of awful things that were awful until one day you realized it had been a while since something awful had happened.
Then it would start again.
“So, you’re from Earth,” Thane said, a little too enthusiastically for Zuleikah’s tastes. His circuit had taken him back to them. “My mother is terrified of the Earth government. Is there something you can do? To help them take over?”
Margot looked at Thane like he was so stupid she was amazed his mouth could form words. This relieved Zuleikah because it resulted in Thane scowling at Margot. “It was just a suggestion,” he said.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
What’s your favorite thing about springtime?
The small buds ready to open.
Why is your featured book a must-read this spring?
It’s fun, like spring, it’s about girls doing good crimes, and I feel like it’s time for some adventures after a long winter.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs April 1 – 30, 2025
Drawing will be held on May 1, 2025.
Author Biography:
Hugo- and Nebula nominated author Marie Vibbert’s short fiction has appeared over 90 times in top magazines like Nature, Analog, and Clarkesworld, and been translated into Czech, Chinese and Vietnamese. Her debut novel, Galactic Hellcats, was long listed by the British Science Fiction Award and her work has been called “everything science fiction should be” by the Oxford Culture Review. She also writes poetry, comics, and computer games. By day she is a computer programmer in Cleveland, Ohio.
