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Pluto's Ghost
YOU CAN'T CALL FOR HELP WHEN YOU'RE THREE BILLION MILES FROM EARTH.
On August 25th, 2012, the Voyager 1 probe crossed into interstellar space. It contained a "golden record" with sounds, pictures, and greetings from earth.
On March 15th, 2013, NASA received a transmission from the spacecraft that said: "Hello. We received your golden record. Let's meet."
On September 29th, internationally bestselling author B.C.CHASE invites you on a daring first contact mission into deep space with five intrepid astronauts, one spunky cosmonaut, and a seventy-five-year-old truck driver.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
386 pages, Paperback
Published September 26, 2017
1132 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
B.C. Chase
12 books34 followersVisit bcchase.com for free book offers.
B.C.CHASE is the internationally bestselling author of the Paradeisia Trilogy, which critics have hailed as one of the greatest franchises of our time.* His electrifying talent for combining the latest in scientific breakthroughs with edge-of-your-seat thrills has earned him a reputation as a master of suspense. Amazon has named him among its top 10 Sci-fi authors.
"COMPULSIVELY READABLE...PACKED WITH MYSTERIES AND SURPRISES...ENOUGH DETAIL TO THRILL FANS OF THE MARTIAN."
-HUGO AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR TIM PRATT
“IRREVERENT HUMOR…VIVID…MEMORABLE…AS ORIGINAL AS IT CAN GET.”
–PUBLISHERS WEEKLY CRITIC
“CHASE’S CLEAN, FLOWING PROSE AND BRIGHT SENSE OF HUMOR LIVEN UP A TALE.”
–BOOKLIFE PRIZE QUARTER FINALIST
“FAST AND FUN.”
–THE OKLAHOMAN
“INCREDIBLY WELL-WRITTEN.”
–EBOOKS ADDICT
“CHASE KEEPS US GUESSING UNTIL THE END.”
–ONLINEBOOKCLUB.ORG
“B.C.CHASE IS RAPIDLY BECOMING AN AUTHOR OF AUTHORITY.”
GRADY HARP, VINE VOICE
“CHASE HAS THE RAW TALENT FOR WRITING, AND THE WAY HE’S ABLE TO PUT YOU RIGHT INSIDE THE MAIN CHARACTER’S HEAD IS FANTASTIC.”
–SCIFIANDSCARY.COM
“CHASE HAS MASTERED THE ART OF WRITING SUSPENSE.”
L.A. HOWELL
“ONE HELL OF A RIDE.”
-THRILLERKAT REVIEWS
“IN TRUE CRICHTON STYLE, CHASE TAKES ELEMENTS OF KNOWN SCIENCE, EXPLORES THEIR EXTREME POTENTIAL, AND BUILDS A MYSTERY AROUND SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES.”
-AMAZON.COM
Fiction:
Leviathan
Santa Claus: The King of the Elves Abridged Children’s Edition
Santa Claus: The King of the Elves
Glass: A Motion Picture Script
Paradeisia: Origin of Paradise
Paradeisia: Violation of Paradise
Paradeisia: Fall of Paradise
Pluto’s Ghost
Cataton
*Epub.us
B.C.CHASE is the internationally bestselling author of the Paradeisia Trilogy, which critics have hailed as one of the greatest franchises of our time.* His electrifying talent for combining the latest in scientific breakthroughs with edge-of-your-seat thrills has earned him a reputation as a master of suspense. Amazon has named him among its top 10 Sci-fi authors.
"COMPULSIVELY READABLE...PACKED WITH MYSTERIES AND SURPRISES...ENOUGH DETAIL TO THRILL FANS OF THE MARTIAN."
-HUGO AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR TIM PRATT
“IRREVERENT HUMOR…VIVID…MEMORABLE…AS ORIGINAL AS IT CAN GET.”
–PUBLISHERS WEEKLY CRITIC
“CHASE’S CLEAN, FLOWING PROSE AND BRIGHT SENSE OF HUMOR LIVEN UP A TALE.”
–BOOKLIFE PRIZE QUARTER FINALIST
“FAST AND FUN.”
–THE OKLAHOMAN
“INCREDIBLY WELL-WRITTEN.”
–EBOOKS ADDICT
“CHASE KEEPS US GUESSING UNTIL THE END.”
–ONLINEBOOKCLUB.ORG
“B.C.CHASE IS RAPIDLY BECOMING AN AUTHOR OF AUTHORITY.”
GRADY HARP, VINE VOICE
“CHASE HAS THE RAW TALENT FOR WRITING, AND THE WAY HE’S ABLE TO PUT YOU RIGHT INSIDE THE MAIN CHARACTER’S HEAD IS FANTASTIC.”
–SCIFIANDSCARY.COM
“CHASE HAS MASTERED THE ART OF WRITING SUSPENSE.”
L.A. HOWELL
“ONE HELL OF A RIDE.”
-THRILLERKAT REVIEWS
“IN TRUE CRICHTON STYLE, CHASE TAKES ELEMENTS OF KNOWN SCIENCE, EXPLORES THEIR EXTREME POTENTIAL, AND BUILDS A MYSTERY AROUND SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES.”
-AMAZON.COM
Fiction:
Leviathan
Santa Claus: The King of the Elves Abridged Children’s Edition
Santa Claus: The King of the Elves
Glass: A Motion Picture Script
Paradeisia: Origin of Paradise
Paradeisia: Violation of Paradise
Paradeisia: Fall of Paradise
Pluto’s Ghost
Cataton
*Epub.us
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
September 30, 2017
‘By the time we reach Pluto, the communications delay will be nine hours roundtrip.’
Kansas born author B.C.CHASE is both a composer of music and of fantasy novels His parents' work as missionaries took him to Turkey at the age of seven. While living there, he began a life-long love affair with computers and began to use them in the orchestration of his compositions. There he also wrote his first book, Leviathan. He moved to Germany for education in 2000 and became deeply interested in European history-specifically about World War II. He completed his first symphony in 2003. Wishing for a sunnier climate, he settled in Florida. Here, he completed work on a screenplay and finished a fantasy epic called the STORY OF SANTA CLAUS in 2008. Seeking to undertake a serious study in anthropology, he researched and wrote the nonfiction book The 2010 Thesis. He completed a theatrical dramatization of the birth of Christ with 16 major musical pieces in 2012. In 2014, he published the first part of the novel, Origin of Paradise, to instant success, and has been an award winning author since. He continues to compose music, write theatrical dramatizations of the birth of Christ and begin his spin on genetic engineering and technothrillers. All this before the age of 30! His scientific themes and mastery of suspense are quickly earning him a reputation as the next Michael Crichton.
There is merit in adding author’s notes that reference the novel at hand. BC acknowledges this with the following – ‘While I have aimed for a high level of scientific accuracy in this book, I would characterize the orbital mechanics as very loosely estimated and certainly exaggerated in terms of speed (with the arrival of spacecraft at certain locations at certain times roughly calculated by myself and, in most instances, not accounting for deceleration due to heliocentric gravity). For the dates and times that I do list, the positions of the planets or other bodies at such times as described by the characters are accurate. The technical details and operational procedures of various spacecraft and the space station are accurate, according to the information I had at the time. In everything fictional, I tried to stay within the realm of what’s possible given current scientific understanding. That isn’t to say I don’t take some artistic license where necessary to move the narrative (astronauts use two tethers when performing an EVA on the ISS, not one), but such cases are minor. While I do cite some references, please note that any errors are my own.’
BC Chase has created a story that is at once intellectually stimulating, imaginative, challenging and very entertaining (many laugh out loud passages make the book sparkle. It is a story of space travel – scientifically accurate, bizarre where it needs to be, suspenseful, and impeccably crafted. A mission to send a crew to into space to Pluto to retrieve records sent on Voyager I in 2015 and return to earth after a strange visit. BC populates this space exploration crew with a cast worthy of film. To wit, ‘I’m unemployed. I’m seventy-five years old. I hate flying. But I’m sitting on 90,000 gallons of kerosene about to be blasted into space on a mission that cost four hundred billion bucks. Go figure. NASA told me that I should wear my helmet on the way up. I said, “No, thanks.” I know that helmet or no helmet, if we’re dumped on the ocean, it will be as fine ash. If they don’t like it, they can kiss my saggy, old butt. The date is May 18th, 2020. The time is 4: 27 a.m.. The windows rim the top of the cockpit like holes at the top of an egg. The seats are in two rows: three closest to the nose and three behind. I’m positioned in the right rear (or, in spaceship speak, starboard aft). My back is to the ground in a seat that was clearly not designed by La-Z-Boy. Aside from three screens and a number of buttons and joysticks situated in the nose, the cabin is bare. The walls are dark gray and look like they are made of carbon fiber. The suit I’m wearing doesn’t look like much. It’s puffy, wrinkled, fluorescent orange like a highway cone. Why orange? So that if something goes wrong and we get dumped on the Atlantic, we can be rescued more easily. This tells me that the only thing you have to do to be hired by NASA for spacesuit design is display euphoric optimism during your interview. “Mr. Perkins, what do you think your chances of winning the lottery are, this year?” “About a hundred percent.” “Perfect. You’re just the kind of person we’re looking for. You’ll be making this year’s space suits.” The screens show buttons, numbers, graphs, and geometric shapes. I don’t have a clue what any of the buttons are for or what any of the shapes mean. They tried to teach me in case of an emergency, but I told ‘em if I was going to die in space, I wanted to die sitting peacefully, twiddling my thumbs.’
And by the end of this brief novel BC’s talent is obvious – ‘‘You don’t want to know how long it’s taken us to get back to earth. With a crying baby, no less. It’s a miracle we haven’t killed each other. To give you a hint of how long it took, though, that baby is now just shy of seven years old. But we’re here, at long last, and running on such antiquated technology that we have no way to let them know we’re here. Now, we are in the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and the power of earth’s atmosphere is just starting to thunder on the tiles. Out the windows, the plasma streaks in beautiful shades of gold and rose. My seat is vibrating pretty ferociously as I turn to Commander Sykes and say, “I guess these shuttles weren’t so bad, after all?” “They got the job done,” Commander Sykes replies. Shiro asks, “So, what if we get back and open the hatch to the robot apocalypse?” “Well, I guess we’ll probably start back up in the stone age. That’s not too bad. The old way of doing things worked, too.” From the back seat, the little girl gleefully exclaims, “Look, daddy! It’s beautiful!” “Yes, Columbia,” Tim says. “It is.” I smile back at Katia and Shelby, “This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind, and I hope we land soon ‘cause this man really has to go poddy!”
Bravo once again to one of the truly gifted authors of the day. This unique book is everything the prose promises and more. Highly Recommended.
Kansas born author B.C.CHASE is both a composer of music and of fantasy novels His parents' work as missionaries took him to Turkey at the age of seven. While living there, he began a life-long love affair with computers and began to use them in the orchestration of his compositions. There he also wrote his first book, Leviathan. He moved to Germany for education in 2000 and became deeply interested in European history-specifically about World War II. He completed his first symphony in 2003. Wishing for a sunnier climate, he settled in Florida. Here, he completed work on a screenplay and finished a fantasy epic called the STORY OF SANTA CLAUS in 2008. Seeking to undertake a serious study in anthropology, he researched and wrote the nonfiction book The 2010 Thesis. He completed a theatrical dramatization of the birth of Christ with 16 major musical pieces in 2012. In 2014, he published the first part of the novel, Origin of Paradise, to instant success, and has been an award winning author since. He continues to compose music, write theatrical dramatizations of the birth of Christ and begin his spin on genetic engineering and technothrillers. All this before the age of 30! His scientific themes and mastery of suspense are quickly earning him a reputation as the next Michael Crichton.
There is merit in adding author’s notes that reference the novel at hand. BC acknowledges this with the following – ‘While I have aimed for a high level of scientific accuracy in this book, I would characterize the orbital mechanics as very loosely estimated and certainly exaggerated in terms of speed (with the arrival of spacecraft at certain locations at certain times roughly calculated by myself and, in most instances, not accounting for deceleration due to heliocentric gravity). For the dates and times that I do list, the positions of the planets or other bodies at such times as described by the characters are accurate. The technical details and operational procedures of various spacecraft and the space station are accurate, according to the information I had at the time. In everything fictional, I tried to stay within the realm of what’s possible given current scientific understanding. That isn’t to say I don’t take some artistic license where necessary to move the narrative (astronauts use two tethers when performing an EVA on the ISS, not one), but such cases are minor. While I do cite some references, please note that any errors are my own.’
BC Chase has created a story that is at once intellectually stimulating, imaginative, challenging and very entertaining (many laugh out loud passages make the book sparkle. It is a story of space travel – scientifically accurate, bizarre where it needs to be, suspenseful, and impeccably crafted. A mission to send a crew to into space to Pluto to retrieve records sent on Voyager I in 2015 and return to earth after a strange visit. BC populates this space exploration crew with a cast worthy of film. To wit, ‘I’m unemployed. I’m seventy-five years old. I hate flying. But I’m sitting on 90,000 gallons of kerosene about to be blasted into space on a mission that cost four hundred billion bucks. Go figure. NASA told me that I should wear my helmet on the way up. I said, “No, thanks.” I know that helmet or no helmet, if we’re dumped on the ocean, it will be as fine ash. If they don’t like it, they can kiss my saggy, old butt. The date is May 18th, 2020. The time is 4: 27 a.m.. The windows rim the top of the cockpit like holes at the top of an egg. The seats are in two rows: three closest to the nose and three behind. I’m positioned in the right rear (or, in spaceship speak, starboard aft). My back is to the ground in a seat that was clearly not designed by La-Z-Boy. Aside from three screens and a number of buttons and joysticks situated in the nose, the cabin is bare. The walls are dark gray and look like they are made of carbon fiber. The suit I’m wearing doesn’t look like much. It’s puffy, wrinkled, fluorescent orange like a highway cone. Why orange? So that if something goes wrong and we get dumped on the Atlantic, we can be rescued more easily. This tells me that the only thing you have to do to be hired by NASA for spacesuit design is display euphoric optimism during your interview. “Mr. Perkins, what do you think your chances of winning the lottery are, this year?” “About a hundred percent.” “Perfect. You’re just the kind of person we’re looking for. You’ll be making this year’s space suits.” The screens show buttons, numbers, graphs, and geometric shapes. I don’t have a clue what any of the buttons are for or what any of the shapes mean. They tried to teach me in case of an emergency, but I told ‘em if I was going to die in space, I wanted to die sitting peacefully, twiddling my thumbs.’
And by the end of this brief novel BC’s talent is obvious – ‘‘You don’t want to know how long it’s taken us to get back to earth. With a crying baby, no less. It’s a miracle we haven’t killed each other. To give you a hint of how long it took, though, that baby is now just shy of seven years old. But we’re here, at long last, and running on such antiquated technology that we have no way to let them know we’re here. Now, we are in the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and the power of earth’s atmosphere is just starting to thunder on the tiles. Out the windows, the plasma streaks in beautiful shades of gold and rose. My seat is vibrating pretty ferociously as I turn to Commander Sykes and say, “I guess these shuttles weren’t so bad, after all?” “They got the job done,” Commander Sykes replies. Shiro asks, “So, what if we get back and open the hatch to the robot apocalypse?” “Well, I guess we’ll probably start back up in the stone age. That’s not too bad. The old way of doing things worked, too.” From the back seat, the little girl gleefully exclaims, “Look, daddy! It’s beautiful!” “Yes, Columbia,” Tim says. “It is.” I smile back at Katia and Shelby, “This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind, and I hope we land soon ‘cause this man really has to go poddy!”
Bravo once again to one of the truly gifted authors of the day. This unique book is everything the prose promises and more. Highly Recommended.
November 10, 2017
Interesting
Maybe a little farfetched, but very enjoyable and thought provoking. A quick afternoon's read. This read will make you think a little.
Maybe a little farfetched, but very enjoyable and thought provoking. A quick afternoon's read. This read will make you think a little.
October 15, 2017
I do think the author has an interesting concept just poorly executed. With some professional editing and/or mentorship it could work a lot better. The start of the book could draw in any space thriller lover.
There are some sort of strange parts to the book. I always find movies and books awkward when the suggest that astronauts are anything less than intelligent. It is one thing to have quirks and character but without smarts, the book starts to lose credibility with me. I doubt I need to explain why, but to imply that any man walking down the street could be an astronaut is like saying anyone could be president...
It does seem like there was more than one person writing this book but there was no communication between these people. It was difficult to follow and I find there to be little consistency.
January 13, 2018
Congratulations, B.C.Chase, for taking me down the garden path through space and leading me completely astray! I really relish stories that catch me unawares at the end and you did not disappoint. Thank you for not bogging down a perfectly good story with lots of mundane wording and description that really didn't matter. I loved Jim's character and kept seeing him as being portrayed by Clint Eastwood in the movie version. Thank you again.Iwilldefinitely be looking for more of the same from you!
November 24, 2017
Started with good premise with fairly good character development but quite a few holes in the story line. One of the worst endings I have ever read. Don’t waste your time or money on this very disappointing novel
August 29, 2018
I liked the plot twist and I liked Jim. He is an interesting choice of character for a space mission. The itch to discover what out-of-the-box insights a trucker might bring to a multi-year NASA space mission was what kept me turning the pages. Those were the highlights.
The characters were unremarkable. Most of them I forgot before I finished the story.
The story itself didn't make much sense as it unfolded. It seemed as if there was nothing to do in the story during the trip to Pluto. So why not kill a few astronauts. But these many accidental deaths are improbable. Ooh! So now we have something for our trucker to dwell on. It didn't offer much as a whodunit story either though.
Lastly, the science doesn't stack up. It doesn't need to be real, but it does need to be believable. After reading Rendezvous with Rama (by which I inevitably judge all world-building in science fiction) I was sold on the idea of a rotating habitable drum flying through space. But I can't imagine the ISS taking the trip around the solar system after reading Pluto's Ghost. I know the Enterprise can't work in reality, but it is believable. Perhaps not so much because the science holds up, but because I want to believe in it. I think perhaps most science fiction and fantasy stories work because they feed our need to imagine a different world. This book didn't offer much in that respect either.
In the end, I didn't dislike the book either. I just think I'm going to forget it in a few days and move on.
The characters were unremarkable. Most of them I forgot before I finished the story.
The story itself didn't make much sense as it unfolded. It seemed as if there was nothing to do in the story during the trip to Pluto. So why not kill a few astronauts. But these many accidental deaths are improbable. Ooh! So now we have something for our trucker to dwell on. It didn't offer much as a whodunit story either though.
Lastly, the science doesn't stack up. It doesn't need to be real, but it does need to be believable. After reading Rendezvous with Rama (by which I inevitably judge all world-building in science fiction) I was sold on the idea of a rotating habitable drum flying through space. But I can't imagine the ISS taking the trip around the solar system after reading Pluto's Ghost. I know the Enterprise can't work in reality, but it is believable. Perhaps not so much because the science holds up, but because I want to believe in it. I think perhaps most science fiction and fantasy stories work because they feed our need to imagine a different world. This book didn't offer much in that respect either.
In the end, I didn't dislike the book either. I just think I'm going to forget it in a few days and move on.
January 31, 2024
After receiving a message from extraterrestrials NASA assembles a team that was specifically requested by the aliens for an historic meeting by the (no-longer) planet Pluto. A string of catastrophes ensues.
I never heard of this author nor this book before. Amazon popped it up as a suggestion and the tagline grabbed me. They allowed you to borrow books for free, so why not?
Voyager I was sent out decades ago to observe our solar system then to venture beyond with an invitation for extraterrestrials to come and meet us. After receiving a response with very specific instructions, NASA sends off a team for the rendezvous. No step of this voyage isn't without challenges and tragedy.
The story is told from the perspective of the least likely member of the team, 75 year old truck driver Jim. He had no experience in space. No degrees. Nothing making him extraordinary at all. In fact, he's plainly extra ordinary.
Despite being set in space you immediately feel an air of mystery and suspense around this tale. Things don't feel right. Something's amiss. Was it crew perfidy? Were the aliens toying with the Earthlings?
You easily fly through the pages since it's written in a flowing spoken word format. Plus, with all the strange events going on you keep turning pages to see what will happen next. I was suspicious about where the story was leading near the beginning of the story, but the massive plot twist in the final quarter of the book is shocking!
Not at all what I expected, making it a complete pleasure to read. I highly recommend it.
I never heard of this author nor this book before. Amazon popped it up as a suggestion and the tagline grabbed me. They allowed you to borrow books for free, so why not?
Voyager I was sent out decades ago to observe our solar system then to venture beyond with an invitation for extraterrestrials to come and meet us. After receiving a response with very specific instructions, NASA sends off a team for the rendezvous. No step of this voyage isn't without challenges and tragedy.
The story is told from the perspective of the least likely member of the team, 75 year old truck driver Jim. He had no experience in space. No degrees. Nothing making him extraordinary at all. In fact, he's plainly extra ordinary.
Despite being set in space you immediately feel an air of mystery and suspense around this tale. Things don't feel right. Something's amiss. Was it crew perfidy? Were the aliens toying with the Earthlings?
You easily fly through the pages since it's written in a flowing spoken word format. Plus, with all the strange events going on you keep turning pages to see what will happen next. I was suspicious about where the story was leading near the beginning of the story, but the massive plot twist in the final quarter of the book is shocking!
Not at all what I expected, making it a complete pleasure to read. I highly recommend it.
November 21, 2017
When I first stated this book, my initial reaction was that it was a lot like Andy Weir's Tthe Martian. The set up is intriguing: apparently, Voyager 1, having exited our solar system and maybe our galaxy, has been discovered by an alien race who reaches out. They ask that specific people -- including a 65 (or is he 73) year old trucker -- be sent to rendezvous with them at Pluto, whether it's a planet or not. The story is told from this guy's point of view.
There are some editing problems with the book -- the 65 vs 73 above, for example -- as well as some formatting issues. It's not really a spoiler to say that things start to go wrong with the mission pretty quickly. Sadly, that's also where the book started to go wrong for me.
The set up is really intriguing and, in fact, the entire plot is pretty inventive. But, at bottom, it's just not told very well. It starts good, but by the midway point it wasn't working for me. Lots of things just didn't add up. Finally, the ending just . . . was. It came quite suddenly with minimal explanation.
There are some editing problems with the book -- the 65 vs 73 above, for example -- as well as some formatting issues. It's not really a spoiler to say that things start to go wrong with the mission pretty quickly. Sadly, that's also where the book started to go wrong for me.
The set up is really intriguing and, in fact, the entire plot is pretty inventive. But, at bottom, it's just not told very well. It starts good, but by the midway point it wasn't working for me. Lots of things just didn't add up. Finally, the ending just . . . was. It came quite suddenly with minimal explanation.
October 8, 2017
Pluto's Ghost: A Suspense Novel by B.C.Chase is based around Nasa's Voyager 1 but set in 2015. Previously to this B.C.Chase had written a bestselling trilogy.
The story revolves around a crew of five astronauts, a determined cosmonaut and a seventy five year old truck driver. They set off on a daring first contact mission into space, to Pluto too retrieve records sent on Voyager 1 in 2015. After the bizarre mission they return back to earth several years later.
I'm not usually a big fan of Sci-fi but I did go into this with an open mind. The way it's been written the reader is immersed in the story from the word go. There was several very witty moments that had you laughing. It's not just a Sci-fi though there are many other sub-genres running throughout this story including suspense. It would make for a great movie script.
The story revolves around a crew of five astronauts, a determined cosmonaut and a seventy five year old truck driver. They set off on a daring first contact mission into space, to Pluto too retrieve records sent on Voyager 1 in 2015. After the bizarre mission they return back to earth several years later.
I'm not usually a big fan of Sci-fi but I did go into this with an open mind. The way it's been written the reader is immersed in the story from the word go. There was several very witty moments that had you laughing. It's not just a Sci-fi though there are many other sub-genres running throughout this story including suspense. It would make for a great movie script.
December 21, 2019
The author did a reasonably good job explaining life in space including the everyday challenges of living in an enclosed ship with limited space and limited resources. I was somewhat suspicious about the number of things that went wrong during the trip including how astronauts and cosmonauts died on route, especially given the amount of attention that is given by engineers designing space ships to ensure things don’t go wrong. The author also messed up in his storyline by having one of the female astronauts give birth to a baby, when all the males on board were said to have been sterilized as per mission rules.
I was also disappointed by the majority of the book being about the travel out to Pluto, with a very short ending revealing the truth about the aliens wishing to meet and the voyage home to earth.
I was also disappointed by the majority of the book being about the travel out to Pluto, with a very short ending revealing the truth about the aliens wishing to meet and the voyage home to earth.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2018
SPOILERS AHEAD
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I was super pumped to read this. Interesting plot and it was reccommended to me.
What started off as a fun read with a very likeable character turned into a piss-poor effort after about 50 pages.
Seriously? A vaguely defined sentient computer mind orchestrated the whole thing? No. No reasoning or warning. It didnt make any sense and hurt the continuity. Also it never explained why he/they was/were specifically asked for.
I was saddened by the lack of technical info and the lack of attention to detail. He really had something here but whiffed. There is a spot where 7 years is unaccounted for in the blink of an eye. Could be better things coming once he gets his feet under him, so to speak.
Good idea, poor follow through.
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I was super pumped to read this. Interesting plot and it was reccommended to me.
What started off as a fun read with a very likeable character turned into a piss-poor effort after about 50 pages.
Seriously? A vaguely defined sentient computer mind orchestrated the whole thing? No. No reasoning or warning. It didnt make any sense and hurt the continuity. Also it never explained why he/they was/were specifically asked for.
I was saddened by the lack of technical info and the lack of attention to detail. He really had something here but whiffed. There is a spot where 7 years is unaccounted for in the blink of an eye. Could be better things coming once he gets his feet under him, so to speak.
Good idea, poor follow through.
August 5, 2020
Great, excepting the finish
Rollicking First Contact tale from the viewpoint of a 75 year old trucker with a high school diploma, but proves to be a PhD level brain. Why did Nasa include him? The aliens personally requested his presence.
Funny things happen on the way to Pluto and people die. The story is fast paced and told well. The science is solid and the author enables the suspension of disbelief quite well.
Avoiding spoilers, it is the end where the story falters. The origin and identity of the alien(s), comes as a bit of a non-sequiter, and the moral of the story is a bit preachy.
This was a rare 5 star until the end of the story. Deduct one star, and it's still worth the effort.
Rollicking First Contact tale from the viewpoint of a 75 year old trucker with a high school diploma, but proves to be a PhD level brain. Why did Nasa include him? The aliens personally requested his presence.
Funny things happen on the way to Pluto and people die. The story is fast paced and told well. The science is solid and the author enables the suspension of disbelief quite well.
Avoiding spoilers, it is the end where the story falters. The origin and identity of the alien(s), comes as a bit of a non-sequiter, and the moral of the story is a bit preachy.
This was a rare 5 star until the end of the story. Deduct one star, and it's still worth the effort.
May 26, 2018
Spoiler alert: author doesn't understand how to use commas. or has a bad editor. Or both.
I'm all for self-publishing, but it means there's more responsibility on you to make sure your stuff is readable. I was invested enough in the story to soldier through, but the deeper into the book I went, the worse the writing and grammar got.
The major reveal was eye-rollingly bad and retroactively sucked any enjoyment of the book out of me. It gets 2 stars instead of 1 because I was entertained enough for the first 2/3's to actually finish the book, which I never bother to do anymore.
I'm all for self-publishing, but it means there's more responsibility on you to make sure your stuff is readable. I was invested enough in the story to soldier through, but the deeper into the book I went, the worse the writing and grammar got.
The major reveal was eye-rollingly bad and retroactively sucked any enjoyment of the book out of me. It gets 2 stars instead of 1 because I was entertained enough for the first 2/3's to actually finish the book, which I never bother to do anymore.
October 10, 2017
Interesting premise, needs expanded
Self-aware AI predisposed to stalker live and premeditated murder decides a human is needed to explore interstellar space with it, and by the way Voyager leaving the solar system is a lie. I did like Jim and the other characters. I like the idea of the story. I didn’t like 6 pages of copy / paste horticulture Ops Manual. Was a fun 4 hr read, if maybe a bit disappointing.
Self-aware AI predisposed to stalker live and premeditated murder decides a human is needed to explore interstellar space with it, and by the way Voyager leaving the solar system is a lie. I did like Jim and the other characters. I like the idea of the story. I didn’t like 6 pages of copy / paste horticulture Ops Manual. Was a fun 4 hr read, if maybe a bit disappointing.
May 18, 2018
I have mixed feelings about this book.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't wery good either.
It was interesting enough, but the writing/storytelling was a bit strange.
How to best explain it? Have you ever played some of those more text based adventure games or maybe those visual novel games? To me the way the book is written almost feels like the author was planning to use the story in something like those games, but decided to put it in a book form instead.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't wery good either.
It was interesting enough, but the writing/storytelling was a bit strange.
How to best explain it? Have you ever played some of those more text based adventure games or maybe those visual novel games? To me the way the book is written almost feels like the author was planning to use the story in something like those games, but decided to put it in a book form instead.
November 9, 2020
Come to Pluto with us and learn many technicalities, curiosities and stories about the ISS, the shutters, the Soyuz, how people live (and die) in deep space during long voyages, how to gain speed using the Sun and planets as catapults, and see how different and incredibly beautiful is the sky viewed from a spaceship out of the Earth. Also, help us decide whether Pluto deserves or not to be called a dwarf planet.
October 11, 2018
I guess I have to agree with many of the other reviews: "Good premise, not so good execution.." I kept waiting for Jim to do more, say more, give me reasons why he's on board the ship. It was kind of like watching an early, bad Star Trek . I had high hopes for a bang-up ending and it just drizzled to an end.
October 18, 2018
Needs an editor
This would have gotten 3 stars at most, but the editing is nonexistent. Poorly parsed sentences, parts of paragraphs cut and missing, others that start a paragraphs, have another inserted then finish the original, sentences that start twice because the author couldn't decide what to say and never corrected it... Seems like he didn't even proofread his own book.
This would have gotten 3 stars at most, but the editing is nonexistent. Poorly parsed sentences, parts of paragraphs cut and missing, others that start a paragraphs, have another inserted then finish the original, sentences that start twice because the author couldn't decide what to say and never corrected it... Seems like he didn't even proofread his own book.
June 24, 2020
Well researched but not very good
The idea was interesting, but the ending was dumb.
The crew keeps repeating little crises events on their way to Pluto, which are too repetitive and boring.
The ending is an inconclusive letdown.
The book is well researched but the author lacks writing talent.
The idea was interesting, but the ending was dumb.
The crew keeps repeating little crises events on their way to Pluto, which are too repetitive and boring.
The ending is an inconclusive letdown.
The book is well researched but the author lacks writing talent.
August 11, 2018
The Voyager 1 space probe contained recordings meant for any beings in outer space who come across the ship. In this novel, we receive a message from Voyager that says "We received your messages--let's meet." The book tells the story of the crew sent to meet up with the beings from "elsewhere".
December 29, 2018
Interesting intriguing concept but oh what a let down on the ending. It was almost like the author wanted to be finished so badly that they ran out of creative juices and just stopped working on the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2017
Pathetic
This is a really trite story with a terrible, predictable ending. Don't waste your time. There's not much suspense in this "suspense" novel.
This is a really trite story with a terrible, predictable ending. Don't waste your time. There's not much suspense in this "suspense" novel.
October 12, 2017
Really kind of a terrible Sci-Fi Novel. It is interesting at times, but reads like a short story that a high schooler wrote.
January 15, 2018
It was a pretty good read overall. The ending was a little lame but okay.
April 3, 2018
Good concept. Poor delivery I'm afraid. Holes in plot and at the end I was just reading to finish out of principal rather than out of eagerness to discover the story.
May 25, 2018
Funny and clever. Great idea for a novel and definitely has more twists and turns than you think.
February 16, 2019
I liked that it was based on real scientific terminology and facts. It was entertaining, but better suited for the sci-fi fans.
March 4, 2019
What an awful book. The version I read was full of typos and other formatting and grammar problems. The hard science is ridiculous, the social science is hopeless, the pacing is decent at the beginning but goes to Mach-one-million at the end in a way that just doesn’t even make sense and WHY the hell is Jim there at all?? Utter nonsense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2019
A mediocre story with numerous typos/errors in the text but it was a quick, light read which was exactly what I needed.
May 12, 2023
Ugh! Is this a real book?
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