Project Avalon

by B. Alexander Howerton

Project Avalon is the gripping story of the founding of the first private lunar colony while civilization on Earth crumbles under its own decayed weight. In the tradition of Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Project Avalon explores the current socio-political conditions of the human race and extrapolates their development into a dangerous yet promising future. Project Avalon is a prescient cautionary tale, which nevertheless paints a vivid picture of a brilliant tomorrow for humanity.

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 1998

About the author

I am endlessly fascinated by the depth of human experience, both into the deep past and the far future. It is so easy to look myopically at our current condition and conclude we are doomed as a culture and a species. But that is actually a good thing. It is a survival trait ingrained in us through millennia of surviving. The blissful carefree people walked off the edge of the cliff, or didn't run early enough from the tiger, and didn't get to reproduce.

But life is nevertheless worth living, and my books explore the multi-millennial span of the human condition. My earlier books Free Space and Project Avalon look forward into a hopeful future. My more recent books The Wyrding Stone and Gravettian Goddess gaze back into the 40,000-year history and culture of modern humans, to explore the timeless themes that are still relevant and important to us in this present day.

I believe, far from imagining ourselves at the pinnacle of evolution and history, that we should cultivate an attitude of stewardship, taking the rich cultural gifts passed to us by our ancestors, nurturing them, and bestowing them upon our progeny. the more we can develop this attitude, the better our chances for long-term survival, and thriving as we reach out into the cosmos.

To further these aims, I participate with The Overview Institute http://www.overviewinstitute.org/ and the Space Frontier Foundation http://spacefrontier.org/. I encourage anyone interested in these ideas to join me in discussing them at my Gravettian Goddess blog http://gravettiangoddess.com/.

Reviews

[Conan Tigard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Project Avalon is the story of how the first Lunar Colony came into existence. The story centers around Art LeFey and his struggle to see Project Avalon through to completion. The characters are very well written and the story is excellent.

The main character is an environmentalist and a space nut. During the story, his wife leaves him for another man and also leaves their child, Gary, with him to raise alone. When I was reading this I had to sit up in bed and say, “Wow! This guy sounds exactly like me!” Because of this, I felt a very tight bond with the main character.

I see by reading the back cover of the book that Mr. Howerton has written another book called Free Space! Real Alternatives for Reaching Outer Space. I look at this book as having those same ideas, but told in a story-like fashion that all can enjoy. His vision of how we can get into space logically, and with a significantly low cost then the way we do it today, seems to hit the mark.

Also, the way that Project Avalon is set up also appears like the way to go. As a supporter of NASA and all space programs myself, I found that this book to be smartly written and scientifically sound. I look forward to the next book in the series about the conflicts that Art and Gary have in the future…if another book is to follow.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be an excellent read. Be warned, don’t let the book cover fool you. It’s not too swift. Personally, I probably would not have picked it up for the cover artwork. But it is what is between the cover pages that are worth your time. Still, I recommend Project Avalon to all. Don’t miss this book!

I rated this book a 10 out of 10.