159. (July 2026) Signal Lost by Onyx Sullivan — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

Signal Lost = 3. Characters

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:13:54 +0000

Did the characters engage you? Did you find yourself empathizing with them? Did they feel real to you? Od did they come off as contrived? Which characters stood out to you and why?

Signal Lost - 8. Playtime

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:30:32 +0000

Is there anything in this book you would bring into your gaming? Does this book show things already in your games? How does this novel affect your gaming sessions?

Signal Lost - 7. The Series

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:28:26 +0000

This book is the first of a series, but it will not be 'The Further Adventures of Dav and Fia'. Each book in the series will be standalone in a shared setting, with new characters and a new situation, sort of like Cherryh's Union/Alliance/Compact Space books. Is this a more interesting way of framing a series? What are the benefits and drawbacks of this approach in your opinion?

Signal Lost - 6. The Plot

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:24:11 +0000

The plot sort of bumbles into being as the crew attempt to gear up for another attempt to rescue Davik's brother while Davik and Leucida get acquainted. Did you like or dislike this approach? Did the author pull it off? What did you think of the plot itself? Was it interesting? Plausible?

Signal Lost - 5. The Romance

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:19:35 +0000

Being a romance novel, the central facet of the story is the the romance between Davik and Leucida. As a romance novel, it lives or dies on this relationship. Did it work for you? Why or why not?

Signal Lost = 4. The Kickoff

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:16:43 +0000

After some in-character background among the Icthians, the book proper begins with Davik's attempt to rescue his brother from cryo-prision. This fails for reasons. Did you enjoy this intro to the two main characters? Was it just a pathetic meet-cute? How did it work for you?

Signal Lost = 2. Setting

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:12:02 +0000

As a SF novel, the has to be a certain amount of worldbuilding. Did the setting engage you? What did you like about it? What annoyed you? How would you rate the setting?

Signal Lost = 1. Overall Thoughts

clash_bowley — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:09:40 +0000

This is obviously a SF romance, we are all male, and most men don't read romances. Did this book work for you overall? Did reading it feel awkward? Did it seem forced? Was it boring?

About Onyx Sullivan

RichardAbbott — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:36:19 +0000

Onyx Sullivan is a shameless nerd who enjoys cheesy B-tier sci-fi shows, video games with absurd lore, and ranting about her controversial opinions on using time travel as a plot device.

Much like her favorite Starfleet captain, Onyx is an unabashed woman in STEM who loves black coffee and explorations of the unknown.

About Signal Lost

RichardAbbott — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:35:01 +0000

Signal Lost: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Tau Ceti Awakened Book 1)

For two hundred years she slept, only to emerge in a galaxy still suffering. But she would carve a path of ruin through it all to keep him safe.

Davik is a practical, gentle man, but surviving in Tau Ceti by only working legal jobs is nearly impossible. Springing his brother from cryoprison is just another job, one that goes off with only one hitch—his brother isn’t in the cryopod. He has accidentally rescued a hungry and lost 6’3” Icthian, and she is smitten with his cooking.

Leucifia expects familiar faces and battleship bays when her pod opens. She does not expect a rusty cargo hold and a warm-eyed human engineer with a million questions and one singular, precious dimple.

Working with Davik in the seedy underbelly of Tau Ceti is her best option to uncover the fate of her slumbering squadron. But when their late-night coffee chats turn from cordial to carnal, she faces a complicated choice of allegiance.

He wants to bring his family back together, to forge a stable life for them. One that has room at the table for her. But as she pieces together her fragmented past, what she finds might shatter his peace.

Signal Lost is the first step into the Tau Ceti Awakened universe. This series by Onyx Sullivan explores a spacefaring dystopian future in which humans and Icthians struggle to survive and thrive together.

All works in this interconnected standalone series feature alien love interests, complex humans, and a guaranteed HEA. (At least, as HEA as it can be in a galaxy ruled by corporate oligarchy.)