The Thucydides Galactic Imperial Military High School Detective and Mystery Club: with a Space Dog

By: Jamin Bassette

Narrated by: Jamin Bassette

Read by the Author for his son, nephew, Godson, and anyone else that needs a sci-fi, romance, mystery, comedy that just so happens to have a Space Dog in it.

It is tricky enough being in the first freshmen class of humans in a post-intergraded galactic military high school, but Karel must work to push past cultural prejudice (others, as well as her own) in order to solve the attempted assassination of her new principal. And there is a space dog. Because space dogs are awesome. No, you stop making up sci-fi animals!

In the neon-colored capital planet of Chigu, Karel enters the school believing she has to prove the worthiness of humans to the empire as a whole. However, just as we all think of ourselves as the “main character” of the universe, Karel is not the only new student dealing with this life changing transition. She is joined by Francis, a tall lanky alien dealing with the pressures of living up to his culture’s high expectations for him. Also, Nichol, an artful and highly intelligent alien girl who’s innate scientific skills fit well with her family’s expectations, but conflict with her own personal aspirations.

Finally, there is Kenny, the handsome athletic type alien who’s flirty and confident exterior is hiding the dread he feels over the role he plays in his culture’s competitive examination systems. Oh, and there is a space dog named… Space Dog. He was named by a bunch of 14 year-olds on their first day of school, so not too surprising. I heard one class named theirs “Pupper-nickle.”

©2024 Jamin Bassette (P)2024 Jamin Bassette

Sci-Fi High School romance trying to trick you kid into learning about Asian international relations

Focuses on a group of human and alien high school students and how their own experiences at home and in their galactic empire mirror those of past North East Asian civilizations. Characters are interesting and do have some actual growth by the end, but start out a little slow. Despite being in the title, there is very little of the Dog compared to other characters. The narration is a little inconsistent in quality and goes from serious to goofy a little too quickly for the target audience, but is at least trying something different. I think 9 or 10 year olds will not get all the references, so maybe 11 or 12 years sounds about the best fit.