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Reviewed by Vincent Dublado for Readers' Favorite
T.E.D.D.I.E. B.E.A.R. in S.P.A.C.E. by Victoria Bastedo succeeds in its premise by delivering a psychiatrist to the forefront of the plot where such a character often plays a support role in space opera stories. The SST Featherfleet is no USS Enterprise, but it fares impressively by comparison. Quartered near its medical section is its young on-board psychiatrist, Dr. Felix Fetton. T.E.D.D.I.E. stands for Trusted, Educated, Deferential, Dedicated, Inspirational, Extrapolator and B.E.A.R. stands for Bearing, Extreme, Apprehension, and Rage. Teddie Bears are assigned to assist with tensions that affect the crew. At 22, Felix is a qualified Teddie Bear and the most experienced. Traveling in the Blankensphere is no easy task, and there is always the possibility of not being able to return home. While his job description entails that he spends more time with lonely and depressed crew members, this mission will ask more of him—to the point of risking his life.
Written in a deliberate, affective style, Victoria Bastedo demonstrates how Felix’s conversations with the ship’s crew make for a good case study in psychiatry as the paranoia and depression that infest them are what connects them: every snore, every tear, every rage, every prayer. As a work of fiction, Bastedo takes it a step closer to reality. It is easy to guess that astronauts confined in space for long periods experience such anxieties in the same degree. T.E.D.D.I.E. B.E.A.R. in S.P.A.C.E. presents many possibilities in a scenario filled with impossibilities. Anyone with the slightest notion of visualizing what a Blankensphere is, or how it behaves, will get the impression that space is unforgiving. I mention this to demonstrate how the story raises its definition of speculative while presenting truths about the human psyche. It’s a brilliant narrative, one that will engage you in a plot with a realistic protagonist who tests his own limits.
