Genre: Sci-Fi, Romantic Sub-Arc
LGBTQ+ Category: Lesbian
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About The Book
Dr. Jorna Benton is proud to be the Principal Scientist for the Climasphere, a massive, sea-going ecological nursery capable of supporting nearly every biome on Earth. On its inaugural mission to restore and re-wild collapsing ecosystems along the Atlantic coast, Jorna manages the Climasphere’s habitat and harvest, while her colleague—and inconveniently attractive commander—Ava Kaysar directs the rest of the vessel’s critical operations.
When an explosion rocks the Climasphere, Jorna’s carefully-managed world is thrown into chaos, threatening both her personal and her professional future. And worse: she’s the prime suspect.
To clear her name, save the mission, and preserve her chance at a future with Kaysar, Jorna must finally confront the secret she’s been running from all these years: a family and a faith that could destroy her.
The Review
Accelerated Growth Environment is a new Cli-Fi novella length story, one of my favorite jams. The story centers around the Climasphere, an oceangoing vessel that contains and replicates biomes from around the world. It’s one of a fleet of these new ships, intended to help replenish depleted biospheres. The plants within grow quickly in this specialized environment, hence the title.
Honestly, the title was my least favorite part of the book. I think the author was going for a metaphor here, but it fell a little flat.
That said, the rest of the book more than made up for that small issue. It’s told from the point of view of Jorna, a woman who escaped from an anti-technology cult as a child and grew up to be a specialist in biology and biospheres. It’s her job to make sure the plants keep growing and everything in the Climasphere is running smoothly.
A series of small glitches begins to build up to something larger, and she has to figure out what’s going on before it is too late.
Her past haunts her, as does a chance encounter with the captain of the ship, Commander Kayser, with whom she had a very brief romantic fling before finding out Kayser was her new boss. And when her past decides to stop haunting her and shows up in her present day life, everything goes to hell.
I loved the idea of the Climasphere, as well as her personal assistant AI sidekick Savvy. There’s a great thread of hope here, combined with tensionm as one thing after another goes wrong in the great ship and Jorna gets the blame.
There’s also a will-they won’t-they queer romance between Jorna and Ava Kayser that faces a series of speed bumps, as the two try to navigate their work relationship and their potential personal one.
An enjoyable read. I love the blending of solarpunk, and hopepunk, with just a splash of mystery. The author also does a great job with the side characters, giving each their own personalities that add texture of the story.
Highly recommended.
The Reviewer
Scott is the founder of Queer Sci Fi, Liminal Fiction, and QueeRomance Ink, and a fantasy and sci fi writer in his own right, with more than 30 published short stories, novellas and novels to his credit, including two trilogies.