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Tropical Punch (Bubbles in Space Book 1) by [S.C. Jensen]

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S.C. Jensen

Tropical Punch (Bubbles in Space Book 1) Kindle Edition

by S.C. Jensen (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 320 ratings

Book 1 of 5: Bubbles in Space

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Strippers, drugs, and headless corpses? All in a day’s work for Bubbles Marlowe, HoloCity’s only cyborg detective.

Does she like her job? No. Is she good at it? Also no.

She can’t afford to be too good. The last time she got curious it cost her a job, a limb, and almost her life.

But when a seemingly simple case takes a gruesome turn, and Bubbles discovers a disturbing connection to the cold-case death of an old friend, she is driven to dig deeper.

And deeper.

Until what she uncovers can never be buried again…

Blade Runner meets The Fifth Element in this eccentric cyber-noir thriller series about a bleak world ravaged by corrupt leaders, mega-corporations, and crime lords… and the washed-up detective who might be the only one crazy enough to take them on.

Bubbles in Space is a darkly funny mashup series for fans of space opera, cyberpunk, and hard-boiled noir thrillers. Delve into the secrets of this gritty future world, and buckle up for an adventure full of unusual characters, dark humour, and non-stop action.

Book 1 of 5

Bubbles in Space
Print length

302 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

March 29, 2021
File size

2265 KB
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From the Publisher

Dark streets, darker secrets, and one...


	#1 Tropical Punch	#2 Chew 'Em Up	#3 Pop 'Em One	#4 Spit 'Em Out	#5 Cherry Bomb


	Dames for Hire	HoloCity Hard Boys	Neon Goldfish	Bubbles in Space: The Complete Series (Digital Edition)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

S.C. Jensen is a Canadian fiction writer, sci-fi enthusiast, and literary advocate. She lives on the windswept prairies with her husband, three children, and various fuzzy friends. When she's not writing, she can be found trying to avoid mosquitoes, sunburn, and/or frostbite in the great outdoors. She loves to talk about books almost as much as she loves writing them, and is often chatting away on bookstagram @scjensen.author when she should be working. Shhh. Don't tell her kids that's what she does in the office all day. Visit www.scjensen.com to see what S.C. Jensen is up to. Sign up to the VIP Reader's Club to get free books and special deals on new releases! --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08WRD2LTY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Northern Edge Publishing (March 29, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 29, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2265 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 302 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1990306004

Best Sellers Rank: #514,377 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #945 in Technothrillers (Kindle Store)
- #1,331 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #2,084 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 320 ratings

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S.C. Jensen is a Canadian fiction writer, sci-fi enthusiast, and literary advocate. At least, that’s what her replicant ID states. She lives on the windswept prairies with her husband, three children, and various fuzzy friends. When she's not writing, she can be found trying to avoid mosquitoes, sunburn, and/or frostbite in the great outdoors while waiting, somewhat impatiently, for the singularity.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

320 global ratings

5 star		47%
4 star		33%
3 star		13%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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vonrickstr

A Fun 1920s private eye style story set in a Apocalyptic/dystopian crime ridden world.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 19, 2022

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I was lucky enough to find Bubbles in Space: Complete Series for free. This is how I feel about the series by S.C. Jensen. The protagonist "Bubbles", earned her nickname under very unfortunate circumstances. She may not have been the greatest cop that ever looked over this advanced post-Apocolypse city, but she was honest and truly cared about people. Graft and corruption were more than just rampant in the city and Bubbles looked into a friend's death just a little too much. Powers that be tried to kill her. She lost her arm but kept her head. So now retired from the force Bubbles becomes a private detective and this book is written in a 1920s private dick style which makes it fun. To say that Bubbles has issues is the understatement of the year. But, she is persistent and this series follows her escapades trying to solve murders, corralling a rag-tag group of followers as she goes, and trying not to get killed herself. A fun, very in-depth story line, the mysteries are great but the solutions usually come too fast to fully grasp how she figures out the truth. (Very 1920s private eye style). I did enjoy the characters who were, as a whole, true-to-life-like persons. I recommend this series for a great change of pace from your standard syfy story line.

5 people found this helpful

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Eric Malikyte

I want a Hammett now!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 11, 2023

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I'm a huge fan of pulpy noir fiction. Film noir is also one of my favorite styles of movie-making. The lighting, the somber attitude, the down-and-out characters. But, what I love more than any of that stuff is when noir is applied to science fiction, and cyberpunk as a genre makes for a great bedfellow with this sensibility.

Tropical Punch by S.C. Jensen is so far up my alley it's not even funny. Jensen's prose paints a dirty, industrialized far future world that feels like it would be perfectly brought to life as a nightmarish mish-mash of Norman Rockwell paintings, Art Deco, 1920s fashion, and grimy, bright neon pastels. Now, the world I pictured in my mind might be different from how you imagine it, but the world Jensen painted for my imagination was unlike any else in the genre. Often, the immediate criticism some modern cyberpunk books that feature a nice, greasy coating of noir flavoring is that they're carbon copies of Blade Runner or Neuromancer. And I can tell you that while Tropical Punch is definitely inspired by 80s cyberpunk, that's the key word here, INSPIRED. It is 100% it's own unique thing. There is a smattering of influences here, as well, including Dick Tracey and The Fifth Element (really I got major Mobius vibes from this whole affair, and I'm here for it).

The characters are vibrant and fun! I absolutely love "Bubbles" Marlowe. She's witty, resourceful, a recovering alcoholic ex-cop who suffered a major mishap on the job that resulted in the loss of one of her arms and some damn near fatal wounds. She wouldn't be alive if it weren't for the cybernetics holding in the contents of her gut, and whenever her cybernetic arm is missing, you really get the sense that she feels naked without it. She's a flawed, yet endearing female protagonist that I could not help but root for. However, her relationship with her smart pet, Hammett, a smart pet that projects a cartoon pig skin around its spherical metallic body, is one of the most endearing relationships in the book. I'm not at all big into AI, but I want a Hammett of my own. For a simulated pet, Hammett feels just as real as any of the other characters in the book.

The plot is a complex mystery involving holograms, space drugs, doppelganger dames and pushers, and all the tongue-in-cheek noir humor and colorful prose you can shake a cybernetic limb at. The opening chapters are a bit slower-paced as they set the tone and the world of HoloCity, and personally, I loved this as it helped me to get used to the characters and the setting before we inevitably changed scenes. But once Bubbles is finally in space, the pace skyrockets. I wasn't quite sure where this case was leading Bubbles, but all of the clues to the eventual reveal are absolutely there, and the climax totally worked for me.

A note on slang for the uninitiated.

My approach to slang in cyberpunk settings is really a grab bag of what might make sense based on what current slang trends are right now. I try to make slang as immediately obvious in context as possible, cause I know not every reader is gonna look at the glossary. But, you know, sometimes, slang doesn't really develop in the way you'd expect. And sometimes, it can transform what is otherwise clearly English into a wholly new language. 1920s-40s slang totally fits this. I mean, without knowing anything about the 1920s and Speakeasies, would you know what a flapper was? (It means a young woman who enjoys a free, energetic lifestyle, and who also enjoys the Speakeasy party life). The answer is, probably not. Tropical Punch uses its 1920s-1940s slang brilliantly, illustrating a fascinating difference between the people who use it like it's their first language (and being from the streets of HC, it basically is) and the people who are paying the planet of Terra Firma an orbital visit aboard the Island Dreamer. One of the side characters Bubbles interacts with even responds to Marlowe's slang with, "I don't know what any of that means."

If you love cyberpunk, if you love 1920s-40s detective noir, you simply have to read this book. No two ways about it, kid. Trust me, it's better than any glow-up you could get at a Speakeasy. While the ebook is free everywhere, I would suggest the paperback version. The book deserves more love.

I give Tropical Punch: Bubbles in Space Book 1 by S.C. Jensen 5 out of 5 stars. Already ordered the next one.

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C.T.

Bubbles in SPACCCCCCCEEEEE

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 5, 2021

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BUBBLES IN SPACE: TROPICAL PUNCH is a discovery for a jaded cyberpunk fan like myself. It is a surprisingly lighthearted story despite the noir elements it posses as well as its techno-dystopian setting that manages to absolutely bleed neon from every pore. It is also a book that I not only finished in a single day but proceeded to immediately buy the rest of the series of when I finished it. Bubbles is a fantastic heroine and its a ridiculous but well-developed mystery that she's found herself investigating.

The premise is that Bubbles Marlowe is a cybernetic armed ex-cop and recovering alcoholic who screws up a mission to contact a young woman. Said woman is killed before Bubbles has the chance to make contact, only for an identical one to show up seconds later and get killed herself. This is just the start of her very bad day as she finds herself also hunted by her old boss. Thankfully, she wins a lottery ticket that promises her the space luxury cruise of a lifetime. It's just she didn't enter the contest in the first place.

Bubbles is a fantastic character that fills the role of a 1930s film noir private eye while also being a pink-haired sarcastic screwup that is just trying to keep her head above water. Given the water in the future is radioactive, this is probably futile. The world is incredibly dark but she handles it with a can do attitude and perserverance that makes her a deeply enjoyable heroine.Bubbles doesn't want to save the world or even her client. She just wants to avoid being murdered and actively resents the conspiracies she's repeatedly drawn into. I think she has more in common with the Dude in adaptations of The Big Sleep than her surname-sake.

The absurd idea of placing a noir and cyberpunk dystopian heroine on a cruise ship is a hilarious juxtaposition. Bubbles is surrounded by the ultra-rich and decadent of the future while having not a credit to spare. What she wants more than anything is to hit the buffet but soon finds herself in the machinations of a sinister cult, a drug deal gone wrong, and a science experiment that potentially could help humankind evolve into gods.

I have to say my favorite character, after Bubbles herself, is her A.I. pig companion. Choosing to go by the pun-laden title of Hammett after Dashielle Hammet, he provides the majority of common sense as well as hacking support to our heroine. The character is just adorable and I hope to read more about them. About the only thing they could have done that was more on the nose would make him an electric sheep.

The antagonists in the book are an interesting mix with Chief Swain being a hate sink of corruption and police brutality that already ruined Bubbles life once before. The Last Humanist Church doesn't initially appear to be bad but it's pretty hard to be sympathetic to an organization that considers Bubbles to be an abomination just for having a prothstetic arm. Other characters are good or bad depending on whether their agendas conflict with Bubbles' at the time. Specifically, her survival.

This is a flat out great book and I strongly recommend people pick it up. It has the cool quality of using variants of 1920s and 1940s slang to help make the language appear different from typical speech of the 21st century. It works surprisingly well and lends a sense of otherness that would otherwise be lacking if they didn't have their own unique oddball phrases. Mind you, hearing "skirt" used unironically as a bit bizarre. The book is available on Kindle Unlimited and is definitely worth a read.

7 people found this helpful

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Two Weeks

Bought as a gift for a cyberpunk lover.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

Bought this as a gift for someone who is into cyberpunk lit. They absolutely loved it.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 29, 2023

Verified Purchase

A very fast paced read, with a old school detective flair. I found it hard to take someone named Bubbles serious though....

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Top reviews from other countries

Fred Jones

Noir cyber punk in space

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

I loved this, a great story, loved bubbles the ex cop PI with lots of attitude and a pink cybernetic arm, full of lots of bent cops, shady cults, robots and a space cruise. Great dialogue, lots of action and twist and turns. Classically with a cyber punk outer space twist. The book ends but the story continues in book 2. J C Jenson is a new writer time but one to look out for anyone I will be following.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Nik Whittaker

A fun and enjoyable journey of sci-fi noir with a twist.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

The first book in the sci-fi noir Bubbles In Space series is a very enjoyable reading experience, especially for those who enjoyed the classic hard-boiled crime fiction such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

By taking inspiration from the genre, Jensen then adds several twists on the tropes to create her own highly original, yet clearing loving, take on them. Furthermore, fans of the genre will also find many ‘easter eggs’ and subtle head-nods, which were always fun to spot.
While the novel’s overall plot is interesting, it’s the book’s characters and voice of the MC Bubbles Marlowe that keeps the reader engaged, with witty-banter and style.

Overall, Tropical Punch is a fun, fast-paced, and easy read that is especially suited for noir-lovers looking for something new and a little different. I’ll definitely be checking out the sequels to see where Marlowe goes next.

Kindle Customer Baz

Unbelievably good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

Amazing storylines, brilliant characters and world-building of the highest order. I couldn't put this one down it had me turning pages till the end I read it in one sitting it's that good. Follow a disgraced ex-cop turned PI as she tries to unravel this case that's dumped into her lap, set in a future where crooked cops drug lords and a creepy religious sect vie for power on planet and in space, with cybernetic body enhancements being the norm this one will keep you turning pages. Reminiscent of Austin Dragons Liquid Cool series this ones a winner, highly recommend a must read for fans of this genre, Baz.

M. A. Knights

More awesome pulp style similes than you can shake a cybernetic stick at!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

Tropical Punch by S. C. Jensen is a cyberpunk love letter to the pulp stories of writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. It's also a fantastic read! Full transparency, I am friendly with the author on IG. But I wouldn't say I thought a book was good if I didn't genuinely enjoy it.
.
I've had a rocky reading road so far in 2021. Despite reading more than my usual intake over the last three months I have, unfortunately, been left rather dissatisfied with the majority of the books I've read so far. None have been awful... Just not as good as I'd hoped.
.
That all changed however when I picked up this book! I don't want to get into spoiler territory so I'll keep this brief. But if you enjoy murder mystery, cyborgs, blade runner vibes, snarky quips and casts of vibrant characters then this novella could just be for you.
.
It's also liberally littered with more pulp style similes than you can shake a cybernetic stick at, which is wonderful 😂
.
It kept me guessing right to the last pages and I'm excited to pick up the next volume when it's released later this year, and at the end of the day, what more can you ask from a book! 😊

Calvin Powell-Brown

Tropical Punch - Meet Bubbles a PI who gets pushed to solve the case of her life

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

Wow! I could not put my kindle down, trying to follow the case Bubbles was on, her Ex still a detective, Rae her prosthetics friend and Ham her cute synth pet pig. With the Humanist religious followers, a space cruise-liner, holo games and lots of drugs. But then what is it with the ladies in silver sparkle dresses and a shocker with a blood red crystal. This is a futuristic cyberpunk meets Blade Runner in more ways than one.
Can't wait for the next instalment.

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