BUBBLES IN SPACE: TROPICAL PUNCH by S.C. Jensen
BUBBLES IN SPACE: TROPICAL PUNCH by S.C. Jensen is something that I hadn't thought was possible to exist: a humorous cyberpunk noir detective novel. Cyberpunk is inherently dreary, dark, and depressing due to being set in dystopian science fiction futures where life is cheap, and death is free (to quote Warren Zevon's "Transverse City"). S.C. Jensen manages to create a delightfully oddball and hilarious universe where the world's worst detective stumbles around without a clue.
Bubbles Marlowe is a former police detective in HoloCity. She's a recovering alcoholic who recently lost her arm due to her own superiors setting her up for a fall. Fun stuff, eh? Well, Bubbles plans to avoid getting killed after her latest case (protect a young woman from getting killed) ends with complete failure. Having nowhere to flee and no money to pay for it, Bubbles ends up getting an out by winning a set of cruise tickets. Specifically, a space cruise around the star system with all expenses paid. No, it doesn't say if they're going to try to sell her a time share.
The juxtaposition of a hardened noir detective with pink hair and the ridiculously extravagant tourists around her make it a truly unique experience. Bubbles is barely able to afford water to drink back at her apartment and is overwhelmed by the discovery of the buffet. However, she is unfortunately cursed with the fact there is a case to solve and the people who want her dead are willing to follow her on her tropical space voyage. This is something the cruise company would like to avoid as well but passengers dying is almost as bad as people trying to shoot the place up to get at her.
Gradually, Bubbles is able to unravel the mystery of events despite herself. I've mentioned she's a terrible detective and part of this is due to the fact she absolutely does not want to be involved in this case nor has any desire to solve it. She's purely self-interested and it's the fact it's following her that leads to her being forced to try. That and Bubbles has a cute as a button sobriety AI in the shape of a talking pig named Hammet. Named for Dashiell Hammet and, well, the fact it's a pig.
Bubbles has quite a hilarious eccentric supporting cast and I rapidly came to like them all. While no one is as fun as Hammet, I loved the glam rocker-esque cosmetics mogul, Cosmo, who confuses Bubbles for a street merc. She also has a bestie that wants to help her out but seems completely confused as to why giving her a new arm with a thousand pre-paid aps is not the best present she could give.
In conclusion, Tropical Punch is just a fun book, and I am glad to have picked it up. I think everything about it is amusing and it's a nice argument that cyberpunk isn't dead, merely sleeping. It plays with and subverts a lot of tropes by contrasting them with a heroine who just wants to enjoy her unwilling vacation in a floating tourist trap. I also love how Jensen uses 1930s slang in the future to give a sense of otherworldliness in the dialogue. Bubbles herself doesn't know what people are saying half the time.
