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Dust
Nick Papagous has learned his father’s secrets and they have driven him to hate the man he once admired. Nick sets off for Nexus Station, a gateway to humanity’s frontier. Stripped of all of his money, he’s forced into the employ of Max Cabot, an old freighter pilot with a tragic past of his own. To pay off his debts, Max has been running the same route for ten years, running back and forth from Nexus to Dust, the last colony the Republic established. Dust is remote and isolated from the rest of society, a place abandoned by the Republic due to the high costs associated with operating the colony. Sand storms regularly sweep the planet’s vast plains, making Dust a place few want to go. For Nick, it’s a perfect place to lay low and find his way. However, Nick soon discovers that Dust has its own secrets that will challenge everything he believes.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 20, 2012
7 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Jason Hutt
8 books16 followersJason T. Hutt is the author of two books and various pieces of short fiction. He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife and three daughters. He has worked in human spaceflight for the past 18 years at NASA Johnson Space Center and is currently working on the Orion program.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 15, 2017
Loved this story. Nick wants to leave Valhalla and his father so he goes to an employment place. There he is asked what can you do? Nick has never had a job. This of course makes it hard for the placement officer to find a possible job interview, but he keeps looking. Finally he finds a possibility for Nick. Nick then goes off on this interview where he meets Max. Max is a space pilot and asks Nick many questions, Max thinks Nick is a nice kid but would not be able to do the job. Nick is desperate and keeps talking to Max, then Max thinks OK we will see if the kid can do it and offers him the job. Nick is quite happy and within the hour is down on the dock looking for the ship, what he finds is a very old ship called, Hannah. On the Hannah a robot called Reggie greets him and shows him to his room.
From there our adventure begins. An adventure full of surprises, new places and many new people, some good and some not good.
This book "Dust (Children of the Republic, #1) by Jason T. Hutt was given to me through Good Reads and the author to read, enjoy, and give a review.
From there our adventure begins. An adventure full of surprises, new places and many new people, some good and some not good.
This book "Dust (Children of the Republic, #1) by Jason T. Hutt was given to me through Good Reads and the author to read, enjoy, and give a review.
September 14, 2022
This is wonderful space saga worthy of your time
I loved this tale of love, exploration with characters that pull you with their each point of view. This would make movie worth watching.
I loved this tale of love, exploration with characters that pull you with their each point of view. This would make movie worth watching.
April 3, 2012
Dust is an impressive first long-form story from author Jason Hutt. It is an examination of the theme of parents and children, set in front of a backdrop of space opera that includes armadas, robots, and genetic engineering. The main characters are Nick, a young man running from a father he can’t understand and Max, an older man running from the tragic death of his only child. Max just so happens to captain a space ship, carrying cargo across the stars; a space ship that provides Nick a way off-planet. Together the two travel to Dust, the last, farthest, and hardest Earth colony. On Dust they quickly become pawns in a bloody conflict.
Possible plot influences for the book range from Josh Whedon’s Firefly to H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau. The story reminds me of the young adult sci-fi stories and novels that Robert Heinlein did, early in his career, such as Red Planet.
Dust follows a three-act structure, with economic prose, resulting in a fast paced adventurous read. It is the economy of prose that prevents me from rating the novel higher. For me, science fiction has two primary appeals. First, it often gazes upon a technology and asks the question of “what if?” And second, it can build new worlds, different than our own and full of wonderful things. Dust does take the reader to a distant future, where Earth has many colonies. It’s a slightly dystopian future, but very believably an evolution of our own – a place where corporations are more powerful than governments – a place where technology continues forward, but resources are dwindling. It’s a world full of conflict, but the tight focus of the story on the two protagonists spares little verbiage for coloring that world. Dust left me hungry for more information about the universe it inhabits – hungry enough to hope for a sequel.
Possible plot influences for the book range from Josh Whedon’s Firefly to H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau. The story reminds me of the young adult sci-fi stories and novels that Robert Heinlein did, early in his career, such as Red Planet.
Dust follows a three-act structure, with economic prose, resulting in a fast paced adventurous read. It is the economy of prose that prevents me from rating the novel higher. For me, science fiction has two primary appeals. First, it often gazes upon a technology and asks the question of “what if?” And second, it can build new worlds, different than our own and full of wonderful things. Dust does take the reader to a distant future, where Earth has many colonies. It’s a slightly dystopian future, but very believably an evolution of our own – a place where corporations are more powerful than governments – a place where technology continues forward, but resources are dwindling. It’s a world full of conflict, but the tight focus of the story on the two protagonists spares little verbiage for coloring that world. Dust left me hungry for more information about the universe it inhabits – hungry enough to hope for a sequel.
March 20, 2012
An outstanding freshman long-form effort by an accomplished short story writer. Hutt has clearly put a tremendous amount of care into crafting a world that is at once realistic and visionary. Dust feels much like the introduction to a larger universe.
Hutt has an established background working at NASA on the International Space Station, and this expertise is evident. It's refreshing to read a book set in a very distant future that doesn't fall back on what are effectively "magic" tropes. While the world is clearly science-fiction, the reader is left believing that such a world could, indeed even might someday, exist. By setting the story in a world based on realism, Hutt forces the reader to accept that the responses of the characters are also more realistic.
The work feels deeply personal as well. Strong themes of a man's relationship to his father, and a father's relationship to a daughter, pervade the two main characters. The conflicts that ensue are not artificial - they could be conflicts anyone with a family might face. The resolution of the conflicts are fairly ambiguous as well, just as often happens with "real" family conflicts.
I look forward to reading more stories set in the universe of Dust. It is my belief, and my hope, that Hutt is just beginning to reveal his brave new world.
Hutt has an established background working at NASA on the International Space Station, and this expertise is evident. It's refreshing to read a book set in a very distant future that doesn't fall back on what are effectively "magic" tropes. While the world is clearly science-fiction, the reader is left believing that such a world could, indeed even might someday, exist. By setting the story in a world based on realism, Hutt forces the reader to accept that the responses of the characters are also more realistic.
The work feels deeply personal as well. Strong themes of a man's relationship to his father, and a father's relationship to a daughter, pervade the two main characters. The conflicts that ensue are not artificial - they could be conflicts anyone with a family might face. The resolution of the conflicts are fairly ambiguous as well, just as often happens with "real" family conflicts.
I look forward to reading more stories set in the universe of Dust. It is my belief, and my hope, that Hutt is just beginning to reveal his brave new world.
March 26, 2012
I won this book through a goodreads giveaway contest.
Excellent Sci-Fi adventure, with well balanced characters and an interesting storyline. The future in this book is realistic, and the politics interesting. The character Max was done very well, from his gruffness and evasive personality to his genuine compassion. Nick was done right with the illusions of youth and feelings that everything would go right if he did the right thing. It was interesting to see how his small world was opened up through the course of the story. The plot was paced perfectly, not to long and tedious, but also not to short. I felt like everything was told at the right time, and that it was thought out perfectly. Great sci-fi adventure story, kept me entertained the whole way through!
Excellent Sci-Fi adventure, with well balanced characters and an interesting storyline. The future in this book is realistic, and the politics interesting. The character Max was done very well, from his gruffness and evasive personality to his genuine compassion. Nick was done right with the illusions of youth and feelings that everything would go right if he did the right thing. It was interesting to see how his small world was opened up through the course of the story. The plot was paced perfectly, not to long and tedious, but also not to short. I felt like everything was told at the right time, and that it was thought out perfectly. Great sci-fi adventure story, kept me entertained the whole way through!
April 29, 2012
First off, i want to say thank you to Jason Hutt and Goodreads First Reads giveaways for giving me this book!
My English teacher in middle school told me that in order to make a good science fiction novel- you have to know science. It made a lot of sense at the time but I just sort off brushed it off thinking anyone can do it if they have the imagination. It was not until I read Dust I saw how much different knowing science can make!Jason Hutt has worked in the field in NASA's Johnson Space Center. This experience gives him the opurtunity to gives the audience a more in depth look on things like running space ships. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes hard core sci-fi!
My English teacher in middle school told me that in order to make a good science fiction novel- you have to know science. It made a lot of sense at the time but I just sort off brushed it off thinking anyone can do it if they have the imagination. It was not until I read Dust I saw how much different knowing science can make!Jason Hutt has worked in the field in NASA's Johnson Space Center. This experience gives him the opurtunity to gives the audience a more in depth look on things like running space ships. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes hard core sci-fi!
September 13, 2012
Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. I consider it to be straight sci-fi, with no fantasy elements, even though some of it pushes the envelope. I was a bit put off with the 3d person unlimited omniscience aspect but the plot was well conceived and it was well written.
August 3, 2012
Surprisingly good sci-fi. Good characters & plot. I'll look for more of this author's work.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews