I’ve got a soft spot for historical nautical fiction — the Age of Sail was a fascinating time period, in which the Earth was shrinking … but the distances were still so vast that men could be away from their families for years between trips home. I loved Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey novels, so it’s no surprise that I’m enjoying the Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet series. It’s military science fiction that evokes much of O’Brian’s work (all he needs is a science officer obsessed with cataloging alien fauna and the homage would be complete).
The books follow the exploits of Captain “Black Jack” Geary, a legendary starship captain who “dies” in an Alamo-like space battle, only to be found a hundred years later in frozen hibernation. He’s thawed and back on the bridge of a starship, but now he’s commanding an entire fleet of ships trapped behind enemy lines. He has to deal with people who view him as something like a demigod, military traditions run amok, and an enemy intent on destroying his fleet before he can bring it safely home. They’re good fast reads, and the perfect distraction from the start-of-semester crush. They’re also a good way to round out my summer reading list, which I technically have until September 21 to complete…