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Hayden's World #4
Erebus: A Hayden's World Novella
In 43 Seconds, James Hayden took us to near-light-speed with the world’s first Riggs ship. Now, construction of the second Riggs ship is nearly complete, and in one month Sarah will take the helm. But growing opposition may shut down the program before she gets her chance. When James’s last-ditch publicity stunt traps him light-days from rescue, Sarah must decide just how far she’s willing to go to save a friend.
Erebus is a hard science fiction short story set in the Hayden's World universe. The story is a 17,000 word novelette (< 2 hours to read) and is the perfect size for reading on the go.
Erebus is a hard science fiction short story set in the Hayden's World universe. The story is a 17,000 word novelette (< 2 hours to read) and is the perfect size for reading on the go.
71 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 25, 2017
14 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
S.D. Falchetti
11 books24 followersI wrote my first story at the age of eighteen. A Monte Carlo, gas station, and small town were nearly destroyed to keep anyone from reading it. I'm giving it another whirl.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 23, 2018
Erebus by S.D. Falchetti is a thrilling novella of fifty-five pages (on my Kindle) and the fourth in the Hayden’s World series. It opens with a beautifully described sequence where two space craft are speeding and performing aerobatics through the cloud layers of Saturn, eventually docking at a space station located under one of the planet’s rings. But the story really gets going when, failing to convince a congressional hearing about the benefits of a new ship capable of achieving 99.9% of light speed, James Hayden decides to take matters into his own hands. Deciding that a trip to Erebus, the newly-discovered ninth planet in our solar system, would promote his vision of space exploration and inspire confidence in his plans, he takes off in Bernard’s Beauty, an existing vessel, capable of only a measly 98% of light speed! But when his reports come to an abrupt halt, an urgent rescue mission is launched. Using the new, faster ship, the rescue crew must race against time to try to locate both Bernard’s Beauty and James Hayden before the ship’s life support systems begin to give out - a mission which brings danger and surprises in equal measure and culminates in an astounding denouement on a distant moon.
Erebus is classic science fiction. As a fan of the genre I appreciated the research and careful detail, along with the technical specifics employed in the tale (even if the discussion the crew had on time dilation went a little over my head). Well-written, with a cast of solid believable characters, Mr Falchetti has produced a worthy novella that will not disappoint sci-fi fans. Erebus is the fourth in a series but stands well on its own; you will not need to have read the previous stories to enjoy this one. I hadn’t but will certainly make a point of reading the others now.
Erebus is classic science fiction. As a fan of the genre I appreciated the research and careful detail, along with the technical specifics employed in the tale (even if the discussion the crew had on time dilation went a little over my head). Well-written, with a cast of solid believable characters, Mr Falchetti has produced a worthy novella that will not disappoint sci-fi fans. Erebus is the fourth in a series but stands well on its own; you will not need to have read the previous stories to enjoy this one. I hadn’t but will certainly make a point of reading the others now.
September 21, 2018
A Little more Hayden please
The series titular Hayden is not intended to be the focus of Erebus, but every time he makes it on page you can't help but want a little more time with the Chuck Yeager—esque character.
That said, a few pages into Erebus, the reader has a mostly familiar story arc, which isn't a bad thing. We know for the most part where the major events will go and so we get to dive deeper into character motivations and decisions. Baiting the reader with a familiar plot line allows SDF to throw one really unexpected curve ball into story that I think any reader will enjoy.
Like the rest of the series this seems built to be a fast read, but more so than any of the others in the series, Erebus could be easily be a full novel. I'm left wanting chapters told wholly from the perspective of more of the crew, wanting an more expansive problem solving session as the crew lands on Erebus and must solve how to rescue Hayden, and maybe a chapter focusing the reader on Hayden's conversations with his AI, Ananke.
As with any good story, readers will be left wanting a bit more.
The series titular Hayden is not intended to be the focus of Erebus, but every time he makes it on page you can't help but want a little more time with the Chuck Yeager—esque character.
That said, a few pages into Erebus, the reader has a mostly familiar story arc, which isn't a bad thing. We know for the most part where the major events will go and so we get to dive deeper into character motivations and decisions. Baiting the reader with a familiar plot line allows SDF to throw one really unexpected curve ball into story that I think any reader will enjoy.
Like the rest of the series this seems built to be a fast read, but more so than any of the others in the series, Erebus could be easily be a full novel. I'm left wanting chapters told wholly from the perspective of more of the crew, wanting an more expansive problem solving session as the crew lands on Erebus and must solve how to rescue Hayden, and maybe a chapter focusing the reader on Hayden's conversations with his AI, Ananke.
As with any good story, readers will be left wanting a bit more.
April 4, 2019
An SDF. SYFY. Novel (HWOB - 4)/Rescue in Space
SDF. has penned a SYFY. Novel that takes the reader to the next Riggs Test, engines, before the next attempt to achieve SOL (Speed of Light). There are problems encountered before departure, but they are finAlly settled. The designer of the Riggs engine travels down course and ends up in trouble. The next test of the Rings become a rescue mission. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS
SDF. has penned a SYFY. Novel that takes the reader to the next Riggs Test, engines, before the next attempt to achieve SOL (Speed of Light). There are problems encountered before departure, but they are finAlly settled. The designer of the Riggs engine travels down course and ends up in trouble. The next test of the Rings become a rescue mission. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS
December 2, 2022
Great Series of Short Stories
The Erebus tale probably has the most continuity to the previous books of the Hayden’s World series — and it was easy to digest and understand the plot as it unfolded. The story is interesting, and the mixture with science especially makes the books fun to read.
The Erebus tale probably has the most continuity to the previous books of the Hayden’s World series — and it was easy to digest and understand the plot as it unfolded. The story is interesting, and the mixture with science especially makes the books fun to read.
January 7, 2022
The hard sci-fi series takes a twist
Having picked up the first book in this series “43 Seconds” on a promotion, I was really impressed with Falchetti’s “hard science” approach to space and the spread of mankind through the solar system, so I picked up a few more of his books and I am working through them.
This book follows the story of James Hayden as he continues to risk his own life in the cause of encouraging mankind to push beyond Earth. Once the problems discovered in “43 Seconds” had been overcome, Hayden and his team set about building bigger and faster ships, but became increasingly held up by home world politics and bureaucracy. To break the deadlock, James “steals” his own ship and heads for Erebus, a small planet or moonlet far from the sun in interstellar space. Nothing is ever simple, so things go wrong, leaving the team back on Earth to put together a daring rescue using the next generation of space-warping ship which hasn’t been properly tested. They face problems, too, but that all pales into insignificance compared to what they find on the isolated planetoid.
This book has all the signature science exactness of Falchetti’s other books, with everything as realistic as it can be with the exception of the plausibility-stretching high-speed space drive itself. I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as some of the others in the series which concentrate more on the practical details of solar system exploration.
Having picked up the first book in this series “43 Seconds” on a promotion, I was really impressed with Falchetti’s “hard science” approach to space and the spread of mankind through the solar system, so I picked up a few more of his books and I am working through them.
This book follows the story of James Hayden as he continues to risk his own life in the cause of encouraging mankind to push beyond Earth. Once the problems discovered in “43 Seconds” had been overcome, Hayden and his team set about building bigger and faster ships, but became increasingly held up by home world politics and bureaucracy. To break the deadlock, James “steals” his own ship and heads for Erebus, a small planet or moonlet far from the sun in interstellar space. Nothing is ever simple, so things go wrong, leaving the team back on Earth to put together a daring rescue using the next generation of space-warping ship which hasn’t been properly tested. They face problems, too, but that all pales into insignificance compared to what they find on the isolated planetoid.
This book has all the signature science exactness of Falchetti’s other books, with everything as realistic as it can be with the exception of the plausibility-stretching high-speed space drive itself. I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as some of the others in the series which concentrate more on the practical details of solar system exploration.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews