The next installment of Spaceship Mechanic is off to editing and I’ve dropped a pre-order for February 1st!
Working on Jump Drives and Coffee Stains has been a special kind of fun for me—part writing, part problem-solving, part “how would this ridiculous situation look in space?” I’ve always enjoyed taking everyday moments from my own life—fixing something that shouldn’t logically still work, juggling too many projects, or discovering that one leaky thing has caused five other leaky things—and nudging them into a far-future setting. Somehow, giving those moments a starship, a stubborn AI, and a space station that’s held together by hope and questionable engineering makes them even more relatable. Or maybe that’s just me.
As I worked on this book, one of my goals was to keep the same light-hearted, blue-collar humor that readers enjoyed in Boltguns and Duct Tape while letting the story grow in new directions. Rix is still Rix—resourceful, sarcastic, and perpetually fixing things that were not on his to-do list—but I didn’t want to simply repeat the same jokes or situations. Patience Station has a way of creating fresh disasters all on its own, and following Rix through those unexpected turns kept me laughing, even when I was trying to wrangle the plot into something resembling order.
One of the real joys of writing this series has been hearing from readers who see bits of their own lives in these stories—whether they’re mechanics, engineers, tinkerers, or just people who have fought with a stubborn appliance and thought, “This should require hazard pay.” Your messages and stories remind me why I love writing these books. It’s incredibly rewarding to know the humor lands, the adventure resonates, and that these characters mean something to you. Thank you for being part of this journey, and I hope Jump Drives and Coffee Stains brings a smile, a chuckle, and maybe a fresh appreciation for keeping your tools organized… unlike Rix.
