Book twelve in The Department of Homeworld Security series takes us in a new direction—quite literally. Homeworld for the Holidays features an Earth chef named Buddy and Nika, chief engineer for the Reckoning.
We get to see more of what makes the space kittens so special in a way that I really enjoy. Much of this series is about looking at things with fresh eyes and noticing things we’ve never noticed before. When Buddy meets Patches, the fiestiest of the kittens, she’s able to communicate her name to him. He sees that she looks like a kitten, but doesn’t really have preconceived notions of what she can do and if she really is a standard Earth cat. Because of that, he’s able to see her for the extraordinary life form that she is.
Can you tell that I’m excited about the space cats? Because I’m very excited about the space cats.
I had an absolute blast writing an actual holiday special novella in this world. I added so many of my own favorite parts of the season. Family, friends, pets, music, lights, food. And I did my best to make this book as inclusive as possible. I’ve heard from so many readers that I succeeded there, and their gratitude warms my heart to this day.
We also got to see our first actual Cygnians in this book, and do I ever have plans for them! But that…is another series 😉
He wanted to spend Christmas with the girl of his dreams—but never dreamt they’d spend it in space!
Buddy didn’t mean to stow away on an alien warship. He just wanted to surprise Nika with a holiday dinner she’d never forget. But now, he’s stuck aboard the Reckoning with his dog, of all things, headed to a star system far from Earth and the Christmas dinner where he planned to introduce Nika to his family.
Nika has enough on her plate building colonies, dome worlds, and space stations in the Sol system—all without Earth’s governments detecting their presence. With a war going on throughout the galaxy, it’s up to her to create sanctuaries for sentients who have lost their homeworlds. When she’s called aboard the Reckoning to track down odd system errors—and pulled from a holiday dinner with Buddy—she knows something’s gone very wrong. It goes from bad to worse when she finds Buddy and his dog on board.
Now, they have to work together to figure out how to fix the ship for good, keep Buddy and his dog hidden, and forge an alliance with a planet full of super strong warriors with impulse control issues. For a galaxy at war, can a chef, his dog, and a little holiday four-part-harmony pave the way to peace?
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