The Last Shuttle

by Tom Glover

A top-secret NASA space telescope designed to detect alien life is in trouble, at risk of entering Earth’s upper atmosphere and vaporizing. Only one man could prevent the accident. An ex-NASA scientist reluctantly joins the crew of re-commissioned space shuttle Discovery on a daring rescue mission to recover the satellite. Orbiting Earth, they are about to experience something out of this world.

Genres: Science Fiction, Novella

92 pages, ebook

First published October 15, 2011

About the author

Born in California, Tom spent most of his childhood in Washington state, traveling frequently throughout the American Southwest with his parents and gaining an appreciation of travel and the outdoors. A childhood ambition to work at NASA led him to seek a Mechanical Engineering degree at the Oregon Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 1985. Tom’s professional career path took him instead into the private sector, where he has enjoyed success in high-tech business management.
Tom was inspired to begin writing upon the birth of his son in 1992, sketching out a time-travel story about a father on a desperate mission to resurrect his only child by going into the past to prevent the terrorist act that killed him. Paradox Man is the working title of the novel, but as a single parent working full-time in the corporate world, Tom couldn’t spend much time writing: his leisure time for many years was spent coaching baseball, attending band concerts and going on Boy Scout campouts. Story ideas kept coming, however, and he vowed to spend more time writing as soon as the pace of his parental responsibilities slowed. True to his goal, Tom published his debut novella, The Last Shuttle, during his son’s first semester in college. Responding to reader demand and bolstered by winning an Honorable Mention award in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest, Tom has released a sequel, Sentinel, and is now turning his attention back to Paradox Man.

Tom’s natural curiosity about our world and our universe fuels many of his interests, including outdoor recreation, scuba diving, sailing, golfing, star-gazing, reading science fiction and collecting nautical antiques. He has served as an adult volunteer in Boy Scouts of America while his son Brandon was earning the rank of Eagle Scout, and is a certified trainer with Leave No Trace, an organization dedicated to outdoor ethics and conservation. Other leisure activities include domestic and international travel, and a never-ending list of home improvement projects.

Reviews

[Tom Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote it, so I'm entitled to give it 5 stars ; )

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really dislike cliffhangers. I don't enjoy them as a concept, plot device, way to build suspense or whatever. The Last Shuttle doesn't exactly get a pass from me, (more like a stay of execution) for being a really tight and exciting novella although it's really the first half of a novel or start of a series.
A scientist who is admittedly not an astronaut must land the last operational shuttle after an alien information recovery mission goes awry. The story is suspenseful, the characters are relatable and you never feel over encumbered by technical details. Very good but left unsatisfied by the ending. Looking forward to reading the rest of the story.

[Cynthia K · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband won an autographed copy of this book through GoodReads. As soon as he finished, he asked me to find the sequel!

I decided I better check this out. I can see why my husband enjoyed this story. Fast-paced and can stand alone, but it leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book review of The Last Shuttle
By Tom Glover

I got this book as a giveaway from Goodreads. The basic idea of this book is set around NASA and the space shuttles. The characters are believable and the dialogue is in keeping with the settings. The air of mystery which surrounds astronauts along with the feeling that they saw more in space than we hear about is woven into this story very cleverly.
The book is well written and is easy to read. There aren’t too many details or technicalities to interrupt the flow of the story which has a good pace to it. The reader isn’t overwhelmed with long descriptive passages yet there is enough detail to bring the scenes alive. The dialogue is in keeping with the storyline and the characters and helps to move the story along. The story flows well and the action balanced with the suspense keeps the reader turning the pages.
Toms next novel Sentinel is a follow on from The Last Shuttle and tells the story of what happens next 11 years ahead of the end of this book. I would recommend reading The Last Shuttle first as once you have read it you will want to read Sentinel to see what happens next. I know I will. All in all a very good read.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this copy of the last Shuttle from Goodreads giveaways.

Tom Glover writes this novella as a prequel to a longer novel called Sentinel, and it's dealing with a first contact situation in the orbit of earth. The title refers to a last Discovery mission after the shuttle program has been decommissioned.
I liked particularly Glover's scientific precise style of writing, and the rather logic approach he taking on what a alien life form could consider the entity that should be contacted.

This novella does make me interested in Glover's other work.

[Carol Fitzsimons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished The Last Shuttle by Tom Glover which I won in the goodreads givaway. As I read the first chapter I was wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it, I was wrong by the end of chapter one it did begin to peak my interest. Although this is quite a short book there is a lot packed into it. If you have even the slightest interest in space travel, alien life form I think you will enjoy this. It is a light read and isn't to deep which would make it a great read to take on holiday or a long car journey.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

there is so many memories that I remember with this shuttle there has been quite a few people have died in the sky and millions people have watched it. But there has been many people that have walked on the moon due to this shuttle. It's to bad that the government had to close it a lot of people have lost their job because of this.

*Sad and happy memories everyone will remember because of this shuttle.*

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book goes threw a technical, actual might could of happened aspec of sci-fi that I rather enjoyed. The main character was engaging though some of the supporting characters I didn't get much a feel for them in such a short read. Plus *spoilers* they were unconscious for half the book. Carver goes threw extream human feets just to save his team and it kept me on the edge of my seat and nose glued to the pages. I haven't read the other book but I plan on reading it now. Nice little read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book from the Author and not being a big Sci-fi fan I thought it was a great read and would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good sci-fi read. Tom tells a really good story with lots of detail, and along with my imagination making me making me wonder what is really out there. Get Tom Glover's book, its a quick read and worth every minute of your time.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was given to me by goodreads givaway, after having won a copy.

A highly enjoyable high octane and suspenseful NASA ride. With a credible technical mission narrative that pushes all the buttons' screaming for attention and time running on a limited cable, as it put’s one into the driving seat of the mission's survival. Great fun for everybody to be ready for re-entry.

[Joe D'Aulerio · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former Space Shuttle Launch team member I enjoyed the book. Very imaginative and close enough to reality to be realistic. One thing I really liked was his view about alien life, peaceful. In the universe the only alien life I know happens to be violent in nature, us. I don't blame other civilizations in the universe from avoiding us, I would do the same, until we grew up.

[Janet Lapierre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have one bad thing to say about this. It was WAY too short of an introduction at only 71 pages. Having said that I've already purchased the next book "Sentinel" and am enjoying reading it at this time.

[Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick & engaging novella that moved quickly. Highly Entertaining - looking forward to the sequel.

[Cyber Killer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really cool hard sci-fi story.

[Goldie Herechuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book free from Goodreads. I thought it was very interesting and not boring. It was easy to understand and I look forward to the next book

[Robert Lewter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. A bit brief.

[Goddess of Chaos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels like your in / on the shuttle

This story has an attention to detail and environment that sucks you in and makes you feel like you are there.

A seemingly straightforward premise, this story took a few turns I wasn't anticipating, and left me glad I made a little time for this done in one quick read.

It mentions a sequel, and I am curious what else the author wrote in this Universe, as he did some interesting world building, though a few times his straightforward tone could have been taken as heavy handed or preachy by some, to me it was simply blunt characters.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book for my 9 year old, who is a tough critic! He loved it. The drama, the existential crisis of the hero, the questions about the nature of what it means to be human. The science was less important than the hero’s journey… he can’t wait to read the next one! We recommend it!

[Joseph W Premo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good little book.

[Sarah-Jayne Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I think it's clear that a lot of research went into this book and although I felt it could have been a bit longer, I did find this book quite easy and entertaining to read.

There were quite a lot of details in this book, though I struggled a bit to relate to any of the characters. I think having a bit more background would have made it easier for me to empathise with the characters.

Even despite that difficulty, I felt myself drawn into the book. From about the middle of the book to the end, I was eager to see what would happen and really pulled into the plot.

I can't say I understood all of the technical details in this book, but I did appreciate that the author had done all of that research and clearly knew what he was talking about.

I was quite intrigued by Sentinel and I would have liked to know a bit more about his planet and people. I think there's a lot more of this story that could be explored in the next book.

[Liquid Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining short. But boy, do you really need to suspend belief. I mean, chuck it out the window, lock and barricade your doors, and sit in the middle of an empty room. Think (movie) Armageddon, but more ridiculous. Now you say, whaa? Stick with me.

The timeline is so short and lack of training so insane, that tossing a brilliant, older engineer (Space Cowboys-ish sans space experience) into the NASA shuttle program - which has been terminated for quite some time- and expect any level of success - is well, Hollywood.

BUT - the narrative is good. The theme of the story holds interest. The reason why an emergency mission to fix a telescope is so critically important - that is for you to discover. As is the adventure.

The book is short - 80 pages or so - you'll fly through it.

[Shannon Haddock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good story, but had some problems that keep me from giving it a higher rating. First, it really felt like it should’ve been longer. The first few chapters especially read too much like a summary of events and the epilogue leaves too many unanswered questions. I understand that there’s a sequel, but since nothing on the cover indicates that this is book one of a series, I assumed it could work as a stand alone novella.

The main character was interesting, but he, as were all the characters, were hampered by a lack of dialogue to give you a real feel for them.

The descriptions of what went on in space and what everything looked like up there were very well done.

Really, it was good enough that I might get the sequel, but I’m in no rush to.

I received this book from a Goodreads’ First Reads Giveaway.

[Marc Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads draw.
The writing is ok and initially reads as a standard adventure, but nothing to write home about. I found myself bored by the central character and could easily predict what would happen next. This was a shame because of the writers obvious knowledge of the subject matter.
I was going to give up on it until the first descriptions of the aliens. Here was the element of mystery needed and I could not predict the narrative so easily. I became more interested in the text and finished.
I was left wanting to learn more about the new species.
I think that this works as a good read. I would rather read,more polished text and be kept surprised throughout the story.

[Bob Rivera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reality stretched too far, research was poor.

Although I struggled through the whole thing, I knew it was going to be technically poor when the author referred to a geosynchronous orbit as being at 1,000 miles up early in the first few pages. Technically that's still low earth orbit territory. Didn't get better as the story went on. Story theme was ok but execution was implausible.

[Don O'goodreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

WARNING: THIS IS A NOVELLA, A PREQUEL, A TEASER FOR A BOOK.

The Last Shuttle by Tom Glover is a 70-page, first-contact novella with as pretty good "amateur manually lands the Space Shuttle" sequence.

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on June 15, 2014. I received my copy on July 8, 2014.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice short novel. The author clearly did his research, as launch procedures and technical details abound, but for a nerd like me it was a good story. This is definitely science fiction though, so be prepared for some suspension of disbelief.

[Roopkumar Balachandran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story prequel to sentinel, I liked the re-entry part of the shuttle.