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Colony Ship Eschaton #1
Recovery of a Colony Ship
Michael and Jamie live in Dome 17. The last place safe for humans, or any life, on a dying earth. They are adventurers who have explored other domes, but everywhere else is dead. Will Dome 17 meet the same fate? The committee has a risky plan to try out unproven a faster than light scout ship, and teleportation. Both technologies have severe limits. Only two people can be carried aboard those FTL scout ships for a one-way journey, Teleportation can only work when a receiving pad is at the target location. So, can they make both these technologies work to save the last of humanity? One hundred years before, the people of earth had built gigantic colony ships with enclosed habitats. They were filled with flora and fauna and people. These ships were launched into space knowing it would take generations to reach other solar systems. Those space pioneers would live out their lives in transition to a new world. But the colony ship program was considered a dismal failure. All of the colony ships were considered lost. Will Michael and Jamie travel to one of the colony ships? Will it be a derelict? Or will it be a chance for a new home for humanity? What will they find as they try the recovery of a colony ship?
Book 1 of the Colony Ship Eschaton series.
Book 1 of the Colony Ship Eschaton series.
183 pages, ebook
First published January 25, 2013
88 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
John Thornton
203 books21 followersJohn Thornton will just write this autobiography.
Hi everyone,
Updated as of August 31, 2025.
Thanks for reading this page. For a smoother way to contact me, look for the Colony Ship Eschaton series page on Facebook.
I am getting excellent feedback about the audio versions of my books. And over 3 million page reads through Kindle unlimited. Thank you so much for being readers and listeners to my books. I truly appreciate you.
The Colony Ship Eschaton 10 books), the Colony Ship Vanguard (8 books), the Colony Ship Conestoga (8 books), and the Colony Ship Trailblazer (8 books) are all complete and out in kindle, paperback, and AUDIOBOOKS!
The Colony Ship Warren series (7 books) is complete and all are available as kindle, paperback, and audiobooks
The Colony Ship Zubalamo series has four books. Pursuit of the Zubalamo
Fugitives on the Zubalamo
Ghosts on the Zubalamo
Prisoners on the Zubalamo
More in the Colony Ship Zubalamo series are being written.
The audio versions are by professional narrators! Please check out those options! The narrators have done a superb job. I sure hope you listen to those.
One of my works is somewhat different. The Battle on the Marathon is written in first person. That book is stand-alone work, and while it is in the same universe as the other works, is not as directly connected as the five other series.
In the summer of 2022, I released four short stories. Penny, Homecoming, Shelter, and the Dog Unit. These are a different style from my novels and are available as a kindle of audiobook. I think you will like those.
"Year Eighty-Five" is a stand-alone novel which is related to the Colony Ship Universe in a peculiar manner. Can you figure out that mystery?
And percolating in my mind is the Jelly War series which will begin, chronologically at roughly where the Colony Ship Eschaton series ended, but will have many crossover aspects to it.
As to me, I have read science fiction since I was a small child. For over twenty years I have been making notes, writing outlines, and drawing deck plans of the Colony Ship. These jumbled ideas have finally coalesced into book form in the Colony Ship Eschaton series. Damon Knight's "The World and Thorinn" and Robert Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky" showed me how bizarre and interesting a generational space ship environment could go wrong. Those books, and many others, have given me hours of pleasure in reading.
I worked as an RN for 10 years in various ICUs, cardiac, surgical, and medical. I saw lots of people die, and I also listened to some really amazing people share their life stories with me.
I graduated from a variety of colleges, all of which helped shape and mold me into what I am today. After finishing a doctoral degree, I decided to focus on informal educational endeavors. I still love to learn.
I enjoy reading very much. I read all kinds of literature, from romance novel to historical fiction to science fiction (I love dystopias and stories about things in a post apocalypse) to theology texts, to how to books. Did I miss any genres?
If you are new to my works, you can start with any series, or the Battle on the Marathon. Some readers have discussed which series is their favorite to start, but that is all personal preference. They are all set in the same "universe" or "alternative reality" or "cosmos" I invented. I call it the "Colony Ship Universe" but I hope you call it a fun read!
Back to reality. I have four grown-up daughters, all married, a delightful wife, fabulous grandkids, two wonderful dogs, and a very nice cat.
I live in the Northern Plains of the USA, so I experience the cold and bitter during the winter, and hot and dry during the summers. I also live with a chronic associate, a painful form of degenerative arthritis. I have lots of mechanical parts inside my body, and in some ways, I truly am a cyborg.
The best way to contact me is through Facebook.
Hi everyone,
Updated as of August 31, 2025.
Thanks for reading this page. For a smoother way to contact me, look for the Colony Ship Eschaton series page on Facebook.
I am getting excellent feedback about the audio versions of my books. And over 3 million page reads through Kindle unlimited. Thank you so much for being readers and listeners to my books. I truly appreciate you.
The Colony Ship Eschaton 10 books), the Colony Ship Vanguard (8 books), the Colony Ship Conestoga (8 books), and the Colony Ship Trailblazer (8 books) are all complete and out in kindle, paperback, and AUDIOBOOKS!
The Colony Ship Warren series (7 books) is complete and all are available as kindle, paperback, and audiobooks
The Colony Ship Zubalamo series has four books. Pursuit of the Zubalamo
Fugitives on the Zubalamo
Ghosts on the Zubalamo
Prisoners on the Zubalamo
More in the Colony Ship Zubalamo series are being written.
The audio versions are by professional narrators! Please check out those options! The narrators have done a superb job. I sure hope you listen to those.
One of my works is somewhat different. The Battle on the Marathon is written in first person. That book is stand-alone work, and while it is in the same universe as the other works, is not as directly connected as the five other series.
In the summer of 2022, I released four short stories. Penny, Homecoming, Shelter, and the Dog Unit. These are a different style from my novels and are available as a kindle of audiobook. I think you will like those.
"Year Eighty-Five" is a stand-alone novel which is related to the Colony Ship Universe in a peculiar manner. Can you figure out that mystery?
And percolating in my mind is the Jelly War series which will begin, chronologically at roughly where the Colony Ship Eschaton series ended, but will have many crossover aspects to it.
As to me, I have read science fiction since I was a small child. For over twenty years I have been making notes, writing outlines, and drawing deck plans of the Colony Ship. These jumbled ideas have finally coalesced into book form in the Colony Ship Eschaton series. Damon Knight's "The World and Thorinn" and Robert Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky" showed me how bizarre and interesting a generational space ship environment could go wrong. Those books, and many others, have given me hours of pleasure in reading.
I worked as an RN for 10 years in various ICUs, cardiac, surgical, and medical. I saw lots of people die, and I also listened to some really amazing people share their life stories with me.
I graduated from a variety of colleges, all of which helped shape and mold me into what I am today. After finishing a doctoral degree, I decided to focus on informal educational endeavors. I still love to learn.
I enjoy reading very much. I read all kinds of literature, from romance novel to historical fiction to science fiction (I love dystopias and stories about things in a post apocalypse) to theology texts, to how to books. Did I miss any genres?
If you are new to my works, you can start with any series, or the Battle on the Marathon. Some readers have discussed which series is their favorite to start, but that is all personal preference. They are all set in the same "universe" or "alternative reality" or "cosmos" I invented. I call it the "Colony Ship Universe" but I hope you call it a fun read!
Back to reality. I have four grown-up daughters, all married, a delightful wife, fabulous grandkids, two wonderful dogs, and a very nice cat.
I live in the Northern Plains of the USA, so I experience the cold and bitter during the winter, and hot and dry during the summers. I also live with a chronic associate, a painful form of degenerative arthritis. I have lots of mechanical parts inside my body, and in some ways, I truly am a cyborg.
The best way to contact me is through Facebook.
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 22, 2025
Good story.
Definitely a good read. The attention of some decent proofreaders and an editor would be beneficial. Far too many typos and unnecessary repetitions.
Definitely a good read. The attention of some decent proofreaders and an editor would be beneficial. Far too many typos and unnecessary repetitions.
June 2, 2017
( Format : Audiobook )
""...a new life...it had to be better.""
A really delightful story with tension but without gory details.
Earth has been reduced at some time in the past to a totally inhospitable world incapable of supporting life. Most of the population had fled in seven Colony Ships, heading into space in search of new worlds to call home. But some had stayed and domes had been constructed to protect the last of humanity remaining behind. But the domes had started to fail. Finally, only one remained and it, too, was coming to the end of it's life. Soon, the occupants of Come 17 would also die - unless an evacuation to one of the long distant Colony ships could be made.
Science had advanced considerable in the several generations since the ships had left. Now it would be possible for a team of two to reach a ship using faster than light technology and, from there, build a portal for the other doomed Dome 17 inhabitants to walk through, away from earth and into safety. But time is very short and the location of and conditions within the ships was unknown. We follow two intrepid adventurers, Michael and Jamie, as they set out on their mission to save the last people on Earth.
Simply written, with sufficient characterisation to make the two main protagonists endearing and with colourful representation of the worlds encountered, this book grips the attention and imagination in the way that Journey into Space, a 1950s radio drama did so many years ago.As well as the excitement and wonder of the unknown, there is also the race against time to add piquancy. Narrator John Thornton has a clear and pleasant English voice, with the hint of a Northern accent, and his dialogue is excellent, from the human male and female voices to his representation of the A.I.s. He does, however, have a slightly dislocated reading of the text in between, with short inappropriate tiny pauses, especially after giving someone's conversation, for example when noting something that Jamie had said, but then moving on to the next conversational comment as if it were this same person speaking. Fortunately, as already noted, the character voicings are so distinctive that this does not make the story unclear. There is also a brief paragraph in chapter 26 which is repeated twice, an editorial flaw. Throughout, Mr.Thornton's narration is bright and perky, obviously to keep the story upbeat for younger listeners. Unfortunately, this also has the effect of dampening down much of the intrinsic tension, putting it more on the level of Winnie the Pooh in that regard.
My thanks to the rights holder for gifting me my copy of Recovery of a Colony Ship, via Audiobook Boom. Despite being decades older than the 13 or over suggested reading age, I did enjoy this book. It was fresh and somewhat unusual. Because of the gentle text and, especially, the up beat reading, I think that many younger than aged 13 adventurous listeners would enjoy it, too
""...a new life...it had to be better.""
A really delightful story with tension but without gory details.
Earth has been reduced at some time in the past to a totally inhospitable world incapable of supporting life. Most of the population had fled in seven Colony Ships, heading into space in search of new worlds to call home. But some had stayed and domes had been constructed to protect the last of humanity remaining behind. But the domes had started to fail. Finally, only one remained and it, too, was coming to the end of it's life. Soon, the occupants of Come 17 would also die - unless an evacuation to one of the long distant Colony ships could be made.
Science had advanced considerable in the several generations since the ships had left. Now it would be possible for a team of two to reach a ship using faster than light technology and, from there, build a portal for the other doomed Dome 17 inhabitants to walk through, away from earth and into safety. But time is very short and the location of and conditions within the ships was unknown. We follow two intrepid adventurers, Michael and Jamie, as they set out on their mission to save the last people on Earth.
Simply written, with sufficient characterisation to make the two main protagonists endearing and with colourful representation of the worlds encountered, this book grips the attention and imagination in the way that Journey into Space, a 1950s radio drama did so many years ago.As well as the excitement and wonder of the unknown, there is also the race against time to add piquancy. Narrator John Thornton has a clear and pleasant English voice, with the hint of a Northern accent, and his dialogue is excellent, from the human male and female voices to his representation of the A.I.s. He does, however, have a slightly dislocated reading of the text in between, with short inappropriate tiny pauses, especially after giving someone's conversation, for example when noting something that Jamie had said, but then moving on to the next conversational comment as if it were this same person speaking. Fortunately, as already noted, the character voicings are so distinctive that this does not make the story unclear. There is also a brief paragraph in chapter 26 which is repeated twice, an editorial flaw. Throughout, Mr.Thornton's narration is bright and perky, obviously to keep the story upbeat for younger listeners. Unfortunately, this also has the effect of dampening down much of the intrinsic tension, putting it more on the level of Winnie the Pooh in that regard.
My thanks to the rights holder for gifting me my copy of Recovery of a Colony Ship, via Audiobook Boom. Despite being decades older than the 13 or over suggested reading age, I did enjoy this book. It was fresh and somewhat unusual. Because of the gentle text and, especially, the up beat reading, I think that many younger than aged 13 adventurous listeners would enjoy it, too
October 19, 2019
This is a copy and paste of my review of Colony Ship Vanguard as both book are quite similar:
Simple and enjoyable would be my first thought about this book. The story is very good and the possibilities are almost endless: multiple colony ships, each with multiple habitats, etc. The writing is workmanlike and keep the plot moving forward. In the book, nothing is extraordinary (writing, pacing, world building, character depth) per say, everything is competent no more, but the sum of it all somehow makes something better than competent. I will be following the adventures of Colony Ship (Eschaton) and probably the other series as well, and hope that the no-frill presentation transform in the latter books.
Simple and enjoyable would be my first thought about this book. The story is very good and the possibilities are almost endless: multiple colony ships, each with multiple habitats, etc. The writing is workmanlike and keep the plot moving forward. In the book, nothing is extraordinary (writing, pacing, world building, character depth) per say, everything is competent no more, but the sum of it all somehow makes something better than competent. I will be following the adventures of Colony Ship (Eschaton) and probably the other series as well, and hope that the no-frill presentation transform in the latter books.
October 10, 2021
The writing is so poor that I cannot finish the book. The flow of the story is stiff and word usage is often incorrect. Here's an example: "the history achieves." The author clearly intended to refer the history archives. Here's another type of problem: "the surprising [ellipsis (sorry, I can't get my phone to type more than one period in a row)] was expected." How can something surprising be expected? Too many mistakes and too stiff a style! The reason I give this book two stars rather than one is that the concept is great. If only the execution matched the concept!
June 29, 2017
Interesting twists
The colony ships and the dying environment fit together nicely to make an entertaining story. The AI is a central part of success and can help humans forge ahead. Trials and tribulations await the explorers and immigrants. The twists are expected but are interesting nonetheless.
The colony ships and the dying environment fit together nicely to make an entertaining story. The AI is a central part of success and can help humans forge ahead. Trials and tribulations await the explorers and immigrants. The twists are expected but are interesting nonetheless.
October 1, 2018
Refreshing
New, different, exciting, a way that the human species claws up by their bootstraps and possibly survives haven't read the second in the series yet, but this is a excellent standalone by itself, it's good enough by itself, but I'm going to read them all
Thanks John I appreciate what you have accomplished. Dan
New, different, exciting, a way that the human species claws up by their bootstraps and possibly survives haven't read the second in the series yet, but this is a excellent standalone by itself, it's good enough by itself, but I'm going to read them all
Thanks John I appreciate what you have accomplished. Dan
January 23, 2020
Different View
I chose this heading as this story of future space life was so very different than all other sci-fi stories I have read in the past. I was engaged in the story line from beginning to end. None of story line was so far fetched that it couldn't be believed. I look forward to reading the next story soon.
I chose this heading as this story of future space life was so very different than all other sci-fi stories I have read in the past. I was engaged in the story line from beginning to end. None of story line was so far fetched that it couldn't be believed. I look forward to reading the next story soon.
January 25, 2021
This book is the start of a series and sets the scene very well, the last days of planet Earth, the journey to the colony ship, the struggles and wonder of visiting a new world are very well written, The only thing that disappointed is the narration, The narrator pauses in the middle of sentences for no reason and has no great range of voices, otherwise a good start to the series.
August 15, 2023
A beginning for a New series.
The author John Thornton imagination in the first book of this series already shines beautifully.
The narration of each character in this creation is done perfectly by Alexander Doddy.
My recommendations !!!
Oded Ostfeld.
The author John Thornton imagination in the first book of this series already shines beautifully.
The narration of each character in this creation is done perfectly by Alexander Doddy.
My recommendations !!!
Oded Ostfeld.
January 31, 2020
Heaven or Hell
This book was well written and kept me reading .I gave it a 5 star rating because I think the author did a great job!
This book was well written and kept me reading .I gave it a 5 star rating because I think the author did a great job!
March 20, 2020
Great storyline
This has a great storyline . Has many different types of cultures on different "worlds" or Habitats . The main characters are very lovable.
This has a great storyline . Has many different types of cultures on different "worlds" or Habitats . The main characters are very lovable.
May 10, 2020
Good Read
Clever, lots of unusual ideas. Very clearly written. Not tremendously written. Good for young adults. Loving but not sex oriented.
Clever, lots of unusual ideas. Very clearly written. Not tremendously written. Good for young adults. Loving but not sex oriented.
February 25, 2021
Very interesting plot
Enjoyed plot, tech was good and did not hinder plot. A bit theological at times, slowing reader without adding to the story. A good and entertains story
Enjoyed plot, tech was good and did not hinder plot. A bit theological at times, slowing reader without adding to the story. A good and entertains story
February 26, 2021
Interesting
Well written and an interesting plot. Makes you wonder about how much technology is growing. Plan to continue reading the next book
Well written and an interesting plot. Makes you wonder about how much technology is growing. Plan to continue reading the next book
July 5, 2013
I love Sci Fi with plot-driven stories. This plot was excellent - I just can't stop thinking about it. A unique and interesting premise. I really hope you write another book to continue the story!
This is one of those stories that you think about long after you put the book down. Such a great setting! Can't wait to read the next one!
Overall an excellent story and I can't wait to read your next book!
LOL! Ok, so I really, really can't wait to read the next book, that's why I'm going to go find it and buy it right now :)
This is one of those stories that you think about long after you put the book down. Such a great setting! Can't wait to read the next one!
Overall an excellent story and I can't wait to read your next book!
LOL! Ok, so I really, really can't wait to read the next book, that's why I'm going to go find it and buy it right now :)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews