Jerry Boyd

I was near the finish of Monkey Business when I heard that Jerry Boyd had died. Between the summer of 2019 and the summer of 2024, Boyd published 49 Bob and Nikki novels. Fellow indie writer Nathan Lowell describes the series as a near-parody of space opera and says Boyd “succeeded by doing everything wrong.” His Facebook page features a picture of him chained to his desk with the comment that his wife will free him when he writes another thousand words. At the speed he composed, he show more would not be chained for long.
Like other books in the series, Monkey Business is a peppy, dialogue-driven story. Nikki is pregnant, and Bob and the bots are refurbishing a mothballed fleet of warships. The space-faring squirrels are acting feisty, and like it or not, Bob must act like a commodore. It should be as easy as he tells one crewmember it is to be an executive officer: “It’s a simple job, really. If something is happening, panic. If not, worry. Did I miss anything?” But, as Bob also frequently reminds us, “Murphy is our shepherd.”
Rest easy, Jerry. One day, a pretty alien girl in a flying saucer with an amazing medbay is bound to arrive and put you back in Murphy’s arms. show less

Boyd, Jerry. Shady Oaks. Bob and Nikki No. 3. Kindle, 2019.
I will assume that few readers are picking up Shady Oaks without having read the first two books in the series. That being the case, all readers should know exactly what to expect by now. More aliens in need of help. More baddies getting in the way. A growing work family of rescued aliens, rejuvenated humans, dogs, and happy robots. Why nobody in town notices is a mystery best left alone. Readers will not be surprised to find a show more dialog-driven narrative with lots of name repetition that make the book easy to read. There are also lots of sophomoric jokes, such as, and here I paraphrase, I am Bob Wilson. Once you get to know me, you can call me asshole like everybody else. This series seems a creature out of time. It reminds me of the Saturday matinee movie serials I saw as a kid—with more contemporary pop culture references and risqué content. Best advice for reading the series: don’t worry about character or plot. Just go with the flow and enjoy the saucer ride. 3.5 stars. show less

Boyd, Jerry. Whammo Ranch. Bob and Nikki No. 2. Kindle, 2019.
The silly but fun adventures of mechanic Bob, a.k.a. Caveman, and alien girl Nikki, a.k.a. Space Cadet, continue. They have moved to a farm out of town where it is easy to hide ailing flying saucers in the barn. The cast keeps growing. Most fun now come from two grateful shapeshifting robots rescued from the Moon. They enjoy playing Frisbee with the dog. Plot? Who cares? 3 stars.

Boyd, Jerry. Bob’s Saucer Repair. Bob and Nikki No. 1. Kindle, 2019.
Bob’s Saucer Repair is old-school pulp science fiction, a light, chatty story that is the sort of thing that used to be on the B side of an Ace Double. Bob is a mechanic with a well-equipped home shop. He comes home one day to find a young woman repairing a flying saucer she has parked in his driveway. Shade-tree MacGyver that he is, he jury rigs a repair--and that is the meet-cute for the romcom. Nikki is an alien who show more is biologically identical to human. Early crossbreeding is the explanation. If you can’t go with an explanation that lame, this is not the book for you. The Earth is a protected backwater, but it draws a lot of undercover visitors. Nikki, for example, is a pilot for some graduate students doing research on terrestrial street gangs. A traditional publisher would have run the book through a few more revisions for style and story arc, but I have read worse. It is a popcorn read that stays within its own small playing field. Three stars. show less