Review Tuesday: Sixshooter by Lyndi Alexander -- #SpaceOpera #Polyamory #ReviewTuesday

Sixshooter by Lyndi Alexander

Dragonfly Publishing, 2021

Captain Valeni Pascual scrimped and saved for years so she could buy her own spacecraft and support herself delivering cargo. Now she’s somewhat independent of the predatory Agency that monopolizes commerce in her solar system, but her perpetually shaky finances mean that her freedom is somewhat tenuous. Still, she lives a better life than many spacers, largely due to her unusual crew – a shape-shifting alien whom she rescued after their entire clan was massacred. Valeni shares a deep bond with this being, who alternates between male and female forms, sometimes presenting as handsome, virile Nik and sometimes as curvy blond bombshell Nikki. Nik is her creative and considerate lover; Nikki is her dear friend. Together they form a close though unconventional family.

A resistance movement arises as the Agency tightens its iron-fisted grip. Attending a meeting of the rebels, Valeni and Nikki meet Garrett Rawls, a cowboy from old Earth who arrived in their system when his ship, the Sixshooter, accidentally slipped through a wormhole. Rawls is attracted to Nikki, not realizing she’s only one manifestation of a more complex reality. Valeni finds herself drawn to the cowboy, but she can see that Nikki has similar feelings and does not want to hurt her beloved companion.

Meanwhile, desperate and dangerous situations await Valeni, her crew and their Terran associate. Her brilliant, irresponsible brother Luc has been kidnapped by the criminals for whom he previously worked. A shadowy cabal is exporting bioweapons to a rival world. Humans on Nik/Nikki’s home planet threaten the very survival of the alien race. The rebels have a plan that might bring the Agency down—a plan that depends on Valeni and her cohort for execution and which could easily cost them their lives.

Sixshooter is a delightful space opera adventure with a non-traditional love story at its core. Valeni’s character, living and working on the edge of what is legal while she struggles to be free, evokes echoes of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly”. Her complicated relationship with Nik/Nikki becomes even more tangled when Garrett shows up. The science fiction and political aspects of the novel aren’t very realistic, but the emotions definitely feel genuine. Jealousy, fear, prejudice and homophobia all come into play as the different characters struggle to reconcile their conflicting desires. The resolution turns out to be a sort of inter-species polyamory that I found tremendously satisfying (and sexy).

The ending of Sixshooter sets the stage for a follow-on novel, which I gather has just recently been published (Spectrum by Lyndi Alexander, Dragonfly Publishing, 2026). After all the drama and fun offered by this book, I’m looking forward to the next installment.