Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Safety Protocols for Human Holidays by Angel Martinez

Safety Protocols for Human Holidays: A Holiday to Remember

"Fascinating and quirky, this sci-fi holiday story is unique, unexpected, utterly charming. The writing is exceptional, the plot serviceable and the character development a tour de force."

Part of the "A Holiday to Remember 2017 Series"

As a security officer on an interspecies ship, Growlan Raskli's experienced in heading off species-specific aberrant behaviors in order to keep the peace. But when her captain asks her to find out what's bothering their sole human crew member, Raskli's out of her depths. She hardly knows anything about humans and she's not a psych doctor.

Something's definitely upset Human Jen, something to do with human holidays. The more time Raskli spends studying humans and interacting with the intriguing Human Jen, the more personal the assignment becomes. Determined to lift the dark cloud from Human Jen, Raskli will do whatever it takes—within safe parameters, of course.

Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Zero Sum Game by Stefani Deoul

Zero Sum Game (A Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventure)

"There is nothing I haven’t loved about this book. When there are a lot of characters I can find myself lost in trying to figure out who is who, or what not but the author made an awesome job in giving every character a clear voice, so much so that even the most peripheral ones where easy to understand ad remember. Another thing that I really loved about this book is the way the author was able to give a voice to the adolescent stage of life, it is clear from the start that we are looking at a group of teenagers, without it being demeaning or becoming a caricature. Now I want to read the first book in this series and this is actually the best compliment any reader could give to an author, being curios till the point to wanting to know about what they wrote before and becoming such a fan that ones want to wait patiently for the next book."

"There’s a zany brilliance about Stefani Deoul’s writing that makes this second book in the Sid Rubin Silicon Alley Adventure a pleasure to read. Although the story revolves around a small group of nerdy, needy and semi-nihilistic teen brainiacs who solve mysteries by virtue of their encyclopedic knowledge of video games, game theory and teenage angst, the superior writing keeps one going even when the subject matter is somewhat arcane to all but the most dedicated of millennials. Deoul’s use of the first-person POV is perfect, striking the exact right balance amongst the competing mood swings associated with young adult blasé, bedevilment and botheration."

Zero Sum Game finds our high-flying lesbionic brainiac Sid Rubin and her unlikely posse of friends, grounded, with wings clipped from their live-action-role playing misadventures.

To break out of parental jail, Sid, Jimmy, Imani, Ari and Vikram enter a school robotics competition. But just as things get interesting, Vik learns that his super-star status and hard-won trophies from the frantic online game Contagion have been stolen.

"Tu n'as pas envie avec mes amis. You do not mess with my friends."

Watching Vik fall apart, Sid is determined to track down the trophy thief, no matter how much late-night gaming and sleuthing it takes.

Sid and the gang join newcomer Ze to chase ghosts and trawl dungeons in a frantic race against time to save not just Vik's bevy of stolen gaming goods, but also the life of a hostage teenage gamer.