Award-winning science fiction

Big adventures.
Small, brave hearts.

Cozy space opera and warm-hearted sci-fi — found family, quiet courage, and trouble that always finds the cargo hold. Start reading free.

Cargo Trouble, a free Cooperative Realm story by Nicky Penttila
Cargo Trouble ebook cover
Free ebook

Start here: Cargo Trouble

A boring delivery run. One crate marked LIVE ANIMALS. And cargo captain Frankie Styles about to have a very bad, very funny day. It’s the perfect doorway into my universe — grab it free and meet the crew.

Download Cargo Trouble free →

Delivered instantly. No cost, no catch — just the first of many trouble-shaped stories.

The bookshelf

Two universes, endless trouble

Cozy space opera with the Frankie Styles Adventures, and the deep, wondrous world of the Cooperative Realm.

Frankie Takes a Holiday Frankie Styles Adventures

Frankie Takes a Holiday

A week on the beach, a category-five cyclone, and a cargo captain who can never quite clock out. Cozy space opera at its most fun.

The Elders of Arkhide Cooperative Realm

The Elders of Arkhide

Underwater adventure, galactic politics, and a first-contact mystery beneath the waves. A doorway into a world spanning generations.

Cosmic Weave Cooperative Realm

Cosmic Weave

A communications engineer must choose between her kidnapped daughter and betraying her crew. Tense, tender, and impossible to put down.

Author Nicky Penttila
Hello, I’m Nicky

Science journalist by day, world-builder by night

I spent years as a journalist explaining how the brain works and how science shapes our lives — and somewhere along the way I fell for the kind of science fiction that’s less about lasers and more about people. My stories run to the cozy end of the galaxy: found families, decent people in over their heads, and the small acts of courage that hold a crew together.

Whether it’s cargo captain Frankie Styles talking her way out of trouble or the deep, generations-spanning world of the Cooperative Realm, I write the sci-fi I most want to read — warm, curious, and a little bit funny.

More about me & the books →
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