She Blinded Me With Science... Fiction

Bianca and Gertie have been best friends, almost sisters, since childhood. In fact, since Gertie’s mother took Bianca in as a child, they literally grew up together. For the past couple of years, the two young women have made a living by taking temporary jobs. Right now, the two are in Las Vegas, ready to work as extras at a Star Trek Convention – not only work, but fun too, since both girls are Star Trek fans.

On the night before the convention is to start, they are sitting in the hotel bar, scoping out the hot guys. Gertie is the shy, retiring type, and Bianca is the in-your-face gorgeous blonde. On the rebound from a broken relationship, Bianca asserts that she can pick up a guy without even saying a word and she happens to choose Colby James. Unfortunately, Bianca does not recognize Colby, who knows her from high school where he was the classic pencil-necked geek. He has some serious issues with Bianca – principally an unrequited case of lust left over from their school days. As if romantic difficulties weren’t enough, Bianca is to find herself much more deeply involved in the Star Trek Convention than she cares to contemplate.

What is not to like about a book in which each chapter begins with a quotation from Star Trek? I thought the descriptions of the convention were very accurate, judging from the SF conventions I’ve attended. I had a really good laugh from the mental images of the con-goers that Ms. Surbeck invokes. It took me a couple of chapters to really get into the story, since a lot of the back story is revealed by the characters in those chapters, and was a bit confusing due to the order in which the information was given. Once I got on track, however, I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happened to the characters. There are four main characters, Bianca and Gertie, and Colby and his friend Miguel. The characters came across very superficially at the beginning of the novella, but they continue to develop and grow throughout the story. At the end, each one was an engaging and recognizable character in his or her own right. The several love scenes in the story a! re more sensual than erotic, and quite emotionally rewarding. You can’t go wrong with this funny, complex story. I enjoyed it, and I think you will too!

Reviewed by: Jean