Situation Normal
Leonard Richardson
December 14, 2020

Situation Normal, Leonard Richardson’s sophomore outing, is a satirical yet deeply poignant military space opera that fuses Serenity with Guardians of the Galaxy, the Coen brothers doing Star Trek. Set in a wildly original universe, with a large vivid multispecies cast, it contains (inter alia) sentient parasites, weaponized marketing, horny alien teens, and cosplaying monks. The author’s unique debut, Constellation Games—a novel of first contact, video games and computer programming, equal parts Big Ideas, clever whimsy and genuine pathos—won high praise across SF, from Boing Boing to Strange Horizons.