America 2040

America 2040

by Evan Innes

Locked in a fierce struggle with the Soviets and on the brink of nuclear annihilation, the United States sends a courageous group of men and women, led by Captain Duncan Rodrick, on a mission into the uncharted realms of outer space

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1986

About the author

Evan Innes is a pseudonym of American author Hugh Zachary, used exclusively for his five-part America 2040 series.

Reviews

[Linda Branham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series. It is about: In the year 2033, the American president is given an ultimatum by his mad Russian counterpart: Let the Soviets take over the world or it will be destroyed. The president orders a spaceship built so that Americans can colonize a far-distant planet. War breaks out as the vessel lifts off, and communications are conveniently sabotaged so the fate of Earth is never known.

BUT... the story for me was what they encountered on the planet where they landed. The different life forms... how they interacted with the people they met. Of course it is written from "civilizing" the planet mentality... but still a good story... written in the 1980's

[Godfather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a series of 5 books about travel to distant planets by three teams of Americans, Brazilians and Russians. My wife doesn't like Science Fiction but she couldn't put down these books. There is very little "science" involved as opposed to political, emotional, and journey difficulties that are encountered.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are kind of pulp science fiction if that makes any sense. I could see readers just ripping these to pieces. The writing is a bit formulaic, the characters are straightforward and not complex, but there was something about these books that I really enjoyed. Kind of like reading a cozy mystery - when you want something light and easy and a bit fun. My rating is for my reference - can't say I'd really recommend these books necessarily but I won't get rid of these and will probably re-read at some point in the future.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. From page one Innes pulls us in to an incredible world of human survival. I have to keep buying replacement copies because they keep disappearing from my personal library. It's my hope that someday Innes will release a hard cover edition of this collection. :)

[Alli Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book started off slow and was a little hard to get into for me, but after a few chapters, it started to get interesting. I definitely want to get the rest of the series now that it got good. I want to know what happens next.

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a young adult I was taken with the science fiction concept of these books, but I didn't make it very far when I read them. So my reading this is an act of pure nostalgia on my part.

Here's the plot of this book, facing worldwide nuclear annihilation, the United States sends a starship filled with colonists to Cyngi Alpha A to start a new Earth colony.

Let's start with the incredibly unfair. As an act of prognostication, this book is negative stars. Technologically and geo-politically. The reasons for the entire plot seem every dated, and by dated I mean the 1980s.

Ok, like I said, incredibly unfair.

As a plot, it is merely terrible to blah. It's got a fairly standard murder mystery plot while the ship is in transit. It's well executed, but it's not interesting; you never believe the mystery isn't going to be solved, and the ship will survive.

To give the character's depth there are all sorts of developed and developing relationships, but they're pretty standard stuff.

Innes manages to wring some interesting drama from the actual planetfall, but that is maybe forty pages.

Here is the problem with the book. It's not enough of science fiction book to be satisfying, when Innes is so off base technologically and geo-politically. To some the lack of technobabble, will be a huge plus. The murder mystery is not long enough, or detailed enough to satisfy murder mystery fans. As just pure soap opera I can't imagine any of the characters being well drawn enough or interesting enough to be satisfying.

In the 80s these serialized dramas were sort of a thing in the book industry. This was obviously a science fiction adjacent attempt. Either Innes did not commit to whole science fiction aspect to this, or he had to keep the appeal broad enough. That would at least explain all the sort of blah components to this story.

What is worse this is just barely good enough, and it's not that good, that I have an itch to see what the second book (of five) holds.

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in the 80s, you can feel the tension between the U.S. and Russian. In the future, things are still tense between the two countries. When the U.S. President Hamilton visits the Soviet Premier, he knows things don't bode well for the world. When an element is discovered to achieve faster than light speeds, the President puts things in motion to have Americans colonize the stars before the world ends. The Spirit of America launches in hopes to reach a new world, but not without consequences. Great action and memorable characters.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this series. Commies, guns, hot chicks, and robots, can't ask for more than that. It's been out of print for a long time and not available in ebook format. The author seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.

[Ivaroni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. Great premise, if a little poorly written. However, the character development is well done (in the first book anyway). Fun read.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good story, but not written well. This is the first time I have had the power of a good story support a poorly written book.

[John Leffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Science Fiction.

[Susan Troutner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the fantasy world that was created. Wish Amazon would put this series on e-books