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Al Clark

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A thousand specially selected people left a troubled Earth for a new start on a virgin planet thirty years away.

Their ship is state-of-the art, and almost totally automatic; it's passengers safely sleeping through the journey - but something has gone wrong. Something unexpected.

A man suffering from amnesia awakens to a new life, with more questions than answers, to begin a journey of discovery. It is the beginning of a quest that will take him to places he could not have imagined, manage things he would not have thought possible, and learn the true value of friendship - true friends capable of helping him to save the ship, and solve the disturbing puzzle that is...AL CLARK.

288 pages, ebook

First published September 15, 2014

795 people are currently reading
923 people want to read

About the author

Jonathan G. Meyer

10 books43 followers
Jonathan G. Meyer is a mid-western author born and raised in the St. Louis area. He is a retired electrician with a passion for Science Fiction. Much of his life has been consumed with machinery and electronics. Now with more time to pursue his true interests, he is writing the stories he imagined for years.

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5 stars
792 (45%)
4 stars
569 (32%)
3 stars
286 (16%)
2 stars
84 (4%)
1 star
24 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 188 reviews
Profile Image for Dixie Conley.
Author 1 book9 followers
December 28, 2014
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of a man with amnesia who finds himself waking up in a box with no idea where he is or what to do about it. His voyage of discovery is one of the best parts of the book.

This is also the story of the colonization of an sparsely occupied planet. That part isn't as good. It follows an expected pattern and the mentioning of a prophecy regarding their arrival is never followed up on. In many ways, it seems like a preface to a larger series. However, as it's titled as the tale of the one man, it seems that it's self-contained.

It was too straightforward and formulaic for my tastes. The main character was the only one of real interest. It was a book, a rather average one. I can only describe it as 'a book'. It wasn't a great book, it wasn't a terrible book. It was just a book.
Profile Image for Jonathan G. Meyer.
Author 10 books43 followers
Read
July 23, 2015
This is the revised version of Al Clark, and some minor issues have been corrected. I have added detail to some things that were too vague. The now longer book also has an updated cover. Enjoy the story of Al's new life.
Profile Image for Wytzia Raspe.
530 reviews
June 29, 2020
Old fashioned sci-fi. A man wakes up not knowing where he is and who he is. It turns out he is on a spaceship out to colonize a world.
Reads fluently. Secondary characters stay a bit 2 dimensional. Good pulp.
Profile Image for Montzalee Wittmann.
5,258 reviews2,350 followers
December 18, 2016
Al Clark book one by Jonathan Meyer is an outstanding sci-fi novel! I loved it from page one. Al wakes up from on a space sleep stasis when his sleep module malfunctions. He finds he can't remember who he is but he did get his by a piece of the meteor that messed up the space station that he was on. He figures out his name is Al Clark by the name above his module but can't remember anything else. He wanders around the ship and finds that one other person that is awake. Together they awaken a tech that can awaken others on board. Soon the ship is saved and they are off to the planet below that they thought was uninhabited. Boy were they wrong. Great plot, great characters, great wit and fun. Al finds he is not who he thought he was, the planet is not what they thought is was, and their is a saboteur on board trying to kill people. The action and wit alone is enough to enjoy this book. I loved it! Can't wait to read book 2!
Author 2 books
June 4, 2017
Despite the poor editing, I managed to finish it. I skimmed a few chapters near the end, though. The concept was good, but it felt like it was written by a kid and beefed up at the last minute to make it a novel. The colonists are attacked by "dinosaurs". The only way we really think of a Jurassic Therapod (a T-Rex or Allosaur) is because of the cover. The mystery of Al Clark was enough to keep me reading, but it was fairly easy to guess what it was.

Maybe I've watched too much "Star Trek" to find the highly advanced, space-faring humans colonizing an already inhabited planet acceptable. It surprises me that such an advanced ship would not have a backup plan if one planet didn't work out.

The editing was truly poor. Paragraphs had sentences in both present tense and past tense, hyphens were improperly used, and the punctuation was almost enough to make me stop.

It was an okay book. Not terrible, not great, but passable.
30 reviews9 followers
January 29, 2020
What a great story

This story takes place in the future when a much of colonists leave a used up Earth and board a starship to travel to a distant planet. In search of a better home. The people have to be place in hibernation for the long trip.
Things go wrong just about from the beginning until Al is awaken from his sleep and meets Chris and the two of them start waking up the others. There are some close calls. You will not be disappointed if you buy this book. The plot is good as well as the characters.
Profile Image for Beverly.
63 reviews1 follower
April 14, 2018
New life

I enjoyed this book a lot. It keeps your interest and want you to know more about their lives.
They learned a lot from each other and the natives of that planet.
If you enjoy science fiction you all will like this one a lot.
Profile Image for Joe.
13 reviews5 followers
July 22, 2020
Passable, but weak

A science fiction story with very little actual science. An attempt at a heart warming tale that cautions against prejudice, and also about mercy and redemption. A shallow morality tale that passes time, but does not satisfy. I will not read further in the series.
3,995 reviews14 followers
November 6, 2018
( Format : Audiobook )
"Everybody knows that robots can't lie."
A panicked awakening. He doesn't know where, why or even who he was. Alone in a room, he finally determines that he is on a space craft. The name over his door suggests he is Al but still he can remember nothing. Clark. Venturing out to explore, he discovers a youth named Chris and together they join forces to find the hundreds of other people, including Chris'mother, who were sent out on this huge ship in search of a new planet to colonise. It is obvious that things had gone seriously wrong.

This is an easy read. solid S.F. adventure, which, whilst not ground breaking in originality, is still very enjoyable with a nice added twist in the mystery of who is this All Clark, not listed in the passenger documents? Characterisation is thin but made more accessible through the narration of Timothy McKean, who gives individual voice to all of the protagonists as he also reads the connecting text with good intonation and understanding. His pleasant voice is a pleasure to hear.

This is the first in an ongoing series and I look forward to book two. My thanks to the rights holder of Al Clark, book one, who, following my request via Audiobook Boom, freely gifted me a complimentary copy. A good adventure, suitable for all ages.
Profile Image for BookLoversLife.
1,838 reviews9 followers
March 2, 2018
So, 1000 people were specially selected to inhabit a planet 30 years away from earth. They were put to sleep and were to wake up at a certain time, but something went wrong! A man wakes up but has no recollection of who he is or what he is supposed to do. On his door is the name Al Clark, so he adopts that as his own name. Al meets someone who is awake and finds that something has gone wrong and they were asleep too long. They try to wake everyone else, but some of the people have died in their sleep. With the rest of the people awake, they continue to the planet they were supposed to inhabit. What they find there is equally fascinating for them as it is dangerous, because the planet is already inhabited by people, but also something else...

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this! It was different than what I thought and captured my attention right from the start. I mean, there's dinosaurs in space!! How cool is that, and for that fact alone, this is worth the read :)

The plot of this played out nicely. It isn't by any means very fast paced, but it had a steady pace that kept me reading. Figuring out who Al Clark is and what happened on the ship was great, but when you added in the fact that they are trying to colonise a new planet and having to deal with the locals, as well as dinosaurs, well it just made for an entertaining read.

I liked all the characters too. Al Clark is mysterious, but when you started to see who he was, it made me like him all the more! I also liked the natives of the planet and hope to see more of them in the next book.

In all, this is an easy to follow sci fi book and I'm looking forward to the next one. The new planet is fascinating and with Al finally figuring some things out, it's made me excited for the next installment.

Timothy McKean did a good job with this. He was clear and easy to follow and had enough tones and voices to differentiate the characters, I just found that I wanted a little more from his performance for it to be a 5 star one. I wanted him to put more emotion behind the reading, to really make it come alive! I mean, he read the part where the dinosaurs attack rather blandly. e could have put more oomph behind his reading and it would have been better.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.
Profile Image for Joe Pranaitis.
Author 23 books87 followers
June 15, 2018
Author Jonathan G. Meyer brings is the beginning of a trilogy that deals with a man who is more than a man and the ship that he saves. The ship is the Excalibur and they are a colony ship that was sent out 40 years before the story began to the planet Avalon. Al is the first that we meet of the Excalibur crew that is suddenly awoken up from cryosleep. Once he is awake he starts to explore his environment since he lost his memory when a meteor shower hit the ship years ago. While searching through the ship he meet's a young man named Chris who befriends him and they then in turn slowly bring the ship back to life with the help of others that they've awoken. Once the surviving members of the crew awake they begin to make planet fall and find out that their new home is inhabited by a small humanoid species and what we would call Dinosaurs. This is a great book and the twists and turns will keep you reading for a long time. I am looking forward to the next book in the trilogy. 
Profile Image for RJ.
2,044 reviews13 followers
December 20, 2019
We’re invited to a voyage of discovery. Our protagonist wakes aboard a malfunctioning colony space ship with amnesia. Determining who he is, exploring the ship, and finding other passengers is the beginning focus of this introductory volume. Our amnesia patient determines his name is Al Clark. I tried to figure out what this name could have represented reminiscent of the Star Trek episode when they found an Apollo craft. I didn’t get it, but it was quite funny when revealed. The story continues with our colonials setting up a base on a new planet while discovering who or what may exist with them. The story is wonderful and the characters very likable. Relationships among the colonists, which may have improved the close ties feelings, where just being explored towards the end of the volume. I’m interested to learn how this tale evolves. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
233 reviews
June 8, 2021
A miniscule dot of light shines into a box containing a person. It turns out that the person is thinking and trying to figure out how he can experience more than one small dot of light. From such small things are great stories made, and this is one of them. The person manages to escape the box. He finds a mirror and discovers a dot of blood in the middle of his forehead. He wipes it away. The person discovers he is the only one awake in this environment. He discovers some damage rather close to his original box, and he discovers people in suspension in other parts of the environment. He discovers loneliness in himself and decides to awaken others from their sleep. Human interaction becomes a sought-after activity. There is a small sign on the original box that contained the being; the sign said, as well as could be made out, "Al Clark." My kudos to author Jonathan G. Meyer. An awfully lot of story was attached to that one small dot of light inside the box.
Profile Image for Thomas.
2,711 reviews
July 18, 2025
An amnesiac man wakes up alone in a cavernous starship with one section open to space. He adopts the name Al Clark from a sign he sees. He doesn’t remember his personal history, but he does remember how to use a handgun he finds in a cabinet.
From here on, it is spoiler time.

He is on a colony ship with most of the passengers in stasis. They land on a planet that looks ideal, but it is already inhabited by cave-dwelling sapients and man-eating dinosaurs. Al finds out that he is a human consciousness that has been uploaded into an android body. He is a natural security officer for the colony. But will the colonists consider him human?

Al is a likeable guy, but world-building could be better. We need to know more about the planet’s ecology and the spaceship’s engineering. The whole business has a generic, out-of-the-box quality. Meyer wrote a prequel in 2019. I don’t know what it contains, but I wish it had been worked into this first volume of the series.
Profile Image for Kurt Springs.
Author 4 books90 followers
August 7, 2018
This review was first published on Kurt's Frontier.

Synopsis:

The spaceship Excalibur has left Earth for a new start on a planet thirty years away. The ship is state-of-the-art. One thousand people are kept in hibernation while the automatic systems complete its journey. Except something has gone dreadfully wrong. Forty years into the journey and they still have not woke up.

Al Clark awakens with amnesia. He has no memory of how or why he’s on the ship. As he helps to wake the surviving passengers, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery. He goes places he never imagined and does things he didn’t think possible. Yet he is still left with a great mystery: Who is Al Clark?

Review:

Al Clark is the first book of the series with the same name. Earth is in the midst of an environmental crisis. Earth has sent colony ships to other Earth-like worlds. We are introduced to Al Clark, a man who wakes up on the ship with amnesia. What follows is Al Clark slowly working out who he is and why he is on the mission.

There are characters—like Chris: a young man who is the first person Al meets after waking up and Liz, Chris’s mother—who become people we learn to care about. The first contact scenario seemed to go to well. This results from a prophecy that isn’t further explored after the author introduces it. As the story revolves around the setup of the colony, it proves to be an episodic story but still enjoyable with exciting battles with dinosaurs.
Profile Image for Rick Bylina.
Author 10 books17 followers
August 23, 2017
I like the mostly solid science supporting the story. The writing was clean and flowed even if there were a few plodding moments in the first half, but there was a lack of emotional depth surrounding the sweeping events the story covers that, for me, keeps this from being a great book, but it is a very good, quick read. I can see why the author needs two or more books to potentially fill in the ticking time bombs left behind at the end of this first in the series. I’d like an Al Clark on my team anytime. It receives a high-end 4 from me and a well done salute to the author.
Profile Image for Robin Cappello.
34 reviews
November 23, 2019
Good who-dun-it!

When I started reading this book, I wasn't too sure about whether or not I liked it. But it caught me & made me want to know what the heck was going on! Then it began introducing more characters who not only added to the storyline but were interesting in their own right. By the time the dinosaur attacks started, I was hooked!
To be honest, I didn't expect to enjoy this book/story as much as I did. I'm SO glad I was proven wrong! I can't WAIT to move on to the next book in the series, "Al Clark: Avalon" !
Profile Image for Brad.
708 reviews3 followers
October 6, 2020
One of the Best I’ve Read This Year

I read a lot of books across a wide range of genre. I can honestly say this is one of the best I’ve read this year. The characters are well developed and the world view is clear and vivid. The science fiction is plausible which means it supports the story instead of being an abstraction.

Al Clark is more human than many even though he is more than than he seems. The story follows his growing understanding of himself as he awakens to save the passengers and crew of Excalibur. The book is a great start to the series.
1,220 reviews
March 17, 2022
If you enjoy surprises in the story plot, then you will thoroughly enjoy "Al Clark". Just when I was understanding Al Clark's dire situation, waking up alone and not knowing where he was, the entire image of Al's circumstances became even worse than imaginable. Consider the horror of realizing that you are alone somewhere in space. However, this would not be the end of the amazing revelations the reader would discover as he accompanies Al on his journey to remember his past and make a future in his new reality. Good Read!!!!
Profile Image for Annette Vallieres.
22 reviews
October 3, 2017
Great story

I'd passed this one over a few times regrettably because of the dinosaur on cover and today it popped up again as a selection recommendation and finally I read the description. I am so glad I did because this book was wonderful with interesting characters, different enjoyably path taken in plot, and even an OMG didn't see that coming moment for a character I had already fallen in love with. Give it a read its worth it for sure!
1,015 reviews11 followers
July 31, 2020
Deserves 6+ stars!

What a wonderful, exciting, interesting and easy book this was to read. Al is such a great character and his friends too. How thrilling to wake up (10 years late) to paradise! And it gets really complicated after that. The language used is natural and flows easily. And wow the world building is spot on! There are other Al books that I will definitely read. And no cliff hanger in sight! Yay!!!
Profile Image for Jean Kelly.
29 reviews2 followers
August 23, 2020
Can colonist survive?


The last ship from Earth - colonist begin to learn how to work together. Learning from past hatreds - they must become one people if they are not to repeat the mistakes of earth. A delightful read as the colony moves into the future. The author has made very complicated technology and issues surprising simple usually with a slight sense of humor.
Amazingly relevant to many of yesterday’s and today’s issues.



Profile Image for Petra.
1,246 reviews38 followers
May 8, 2025
A story of a smallish group of people colonizing another planet, which is lightly populated already. It's a tale of co-operation and friendship.

While being an interesting and light read, it's also not terribly well written and there's a touch of Utopia in it that made things just a touch too simple. On the other hand, that also made it an easy read. The story just happened, the reader is interested enough, and the ending is satisfactory.

I will not be continuing with the series.
Profile Image for Donald Allan.
Author 9 books42 followers
March 22, 2018
This is a wonderful novel. It grips you from the first pages with a mystery of a man wakening with no memories in a spaceship. It is a tale of exploration and adventure with a little superhero thrown in for good measure. I love Indie Authors and Jonathan Meyer is making a great start. I liked this novel enough to go out and immediately purchase the next two in the series (trilogy?).
69 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2021
A feel good book if there ever was one

I very much enjoyed this story. It is well written and described even though you may these terms describe each other, they do not. After you read it you will figure that out for yourself. I can't wait to start another one Jonathan, nice job sir.
Profile Image for rose cook.
58 reviews1 follower
January 20, 2023
Delightful

Absolutely delightful read! Haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time. It makes you stop and think about some of the stupid views we put of onto others. But then it's a delightful scary story even with romance mixed into it. Will be reading a lot more of Jonathan G. Meyer
Profile Image for Teresa.
1,908 reviews35 followers
June 3, 2023
Not a bad book.
I knew he was not human almost immediately. But I thought Al was really AI. Wrong.
How he got his name was funny.
The story was pretty cliched and the dialogue needs a lot of word. The whole book could use another editing to fix some repetitive words and some spelling errors.
But it was not bad. Spent an enjoyable afternoon reading it.
256 reviews1 follower
March 26, 2017
Great Sci-fi Thriller

Acceptance of new technology is somewhat difficult when we suspect it may be smarter than us. This book handles the subject in a different way. Thank you for an exciting new series, Danny Scott.
Profile Image for Donna.
1,626 reviews34 followers
January 1, 2018
Cover/Title: I picked this book because it had a dinosaur on the cover.

Characters: I liked the characters. I felt bad for Chris being alone for a whole year while everyone slept. I also felt bad for Tammy because she was brain-washed by the people that supposedly cared for her.

Plot: I loved the idea of starting a colony on another planet. I also liked that they were respectful of the original inhabitants. The dinosaurs were a nice touch as well. I wonder what other creatures they will come across in this series. I can't wait to find out.

Overall: I loved the concept of this book and I am enjoying it as it plays out. I will definitely be reading more of this series.
Profile Image for Mike Goodman.
1,600 reviews12 followers
March 27, 2020
Great Science in the Fiction

This story of a guy who wakes up with no memory on a colony spaceship is awesome. It’s a very interesting entertaining fast paced action packed story that I really enjoyed reading.
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