Gibraltar Earth

Gibraltar Stars #1

by Michael McCollum

It is the 24th Century. Humanity is only just beginning to gain a toehold out among the stars. While exploring the New Eden system, the crew aboard Stellar Survey Starship Magellan encounters a pair of alien spacecraft. A skirmish ensues and both sides exit the battle with heavy losses. In picking through the wreckage of one of the alien ships, the human crew stumbles upon a survivor with a fantastic story.

The alien hails from a million-star Galactic Empire ruled over by a mysterious race known as the Broa. As masters of this region of the galaxy, they permit no challenge to their empire. But as yet the Broa are ignorant of humanity’s existence.

Armed with this vital information, the human race must decide how best to proceed. Do they cease all astral voyages and retreat to their corner of the universe, quaking in fear at the thought of the Broa’s discovery of Earth? Or…do they take a more aggressive approach?

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Audiobook, Ebooks

443 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Michael McCollum was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1946, and is a graduate of Arizona State University, where he majored in aerospace propulsion and minored in nuclear engineering. He is employed at Honeywell in Tempe, Arizona, where he is Chief Engineer in the valve product line. In his career, Mr. McCollum has worked on the precursor to the Space Shuttle Main Engine, a nuclear valve to replace the one that failed at Three Mile Island, several guided missiles, Space Station Freedom, and virtually every aircraft in production today. He is currently involved in an effort to create a joint venture company with a major Russian aerospace engine manufacturer and has traveled extensively to Russia in the last several years. In addition to his engineering, Mr. McCollum is a successful professional writer in the field of science fiction. He is the author of a dozen pieces of short fiction and has appeared in magazines such as Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, Amazing, and Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Mr. McCollum is married to a lovely lady named Catherine, and has three children: Robert, Michael, and Elizabeth.

Reviews

[Tamahome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally read the book Steve Gibson from the Security now podcast recommends. It's definitely got some authentic-sounding space physics. The Mark character does some really fun stuff around 1/3 the way in. The end has a good reveal. But mostly the end is just a lot of people talking. I suppose you could relate it to the first Peter F. Hamilton Salvation book. The writing itself is somewhat dated, like one character "curses like a sailor", instead of actually having the curses.

[Glenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read all three books in the series. This came recommended by Steve Gibson on his Security Now webcast. Great storyline and engaging to read; this series had a premise that I haven't encountered before in my extensive sci-fi readings. I also appreciate that the author simply skips over boring details of how the characters get from A to B; many authors would fill the journey with psuedo-suspense or excruciating detail.

So why two-stars? Because by the end of book one I felt like I was reading sci-fi from the 1940s or 50s. OK, the main characters have a great sex life, but quickly I lost interest. I also began to realize that nothing bad would happen to any of the main characters. Death is illusory.

There are so many "Mc" authors that I get them confused. I may have thought that I really liked McCollum, when, in fact, it was probably McCloskey. OTOH, book one was fine - I only became disheartened as I got into 2 and 3. And I read Antares Dawn, book one of another series of his and really liked it - but never read the remaining two.

[David Bland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the "audio" version of this book from Audible.com

I picked this up on a recommendation of Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte from Security Now.

It reminds me of a "superhero" film or story, where the first part of the story is the "gathering of the heroes" for the coming crisis. This portion of the story was a bit slow, and he almost lost me.

But when the assembled team ventures out into the galaxy to investigate stories they've been told of the "Broa Overlords", the story really takes off. There is a sense of mystery as the team seeks to answer some critical questions, and the tension builds. In a paperback, I often cheat and look ahead for spoilers, but with an audiobook, there's no good way to do that. But this book created suspense for me that really made me want to cheat.

The narrator is fantastic, and is able to suggest numerous characters with his voice. Overall a great read, and I'm plowing into part 2!

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally like the author's writing because it reflects a classic science fiction style. In other words, it can be a little corny. The men and women are on par with David Niven, Doris Day and Janis Paige as they were in the film, "Please Don't Eat the Daisies.". (The characters are stereotypical men and women struggling to get past the 1950s while navigating the pitfalls of a modern life beyond Ozzie and Harriet.)

The story: A survey ship is looking for suitable colony worlds when suddenly they are in the midst of an ongoing space battle between two alien craft. Weaponless, the survey ship sends out a faster-than-light space probe toward the battle which (due to the technical limitations of FTL flight) blows up, destroying one of the battling ships and crippling the other. One survivor remains. This is first contact with an alien species and the story the alien tells is of millions of worlds all dominated by the Broa. The Earth must decide whether to eventually submit to Bora domination or find a way to turn Earth into a fortress... thus creating a Gibraltar Earth.

Any problems with this story? Well... the characters are stereotypical of 1950s men and women who are obstructive peace activists, gruff space dogs, feckless politicians, stolid military men, dumber-than-dirt businessmen, gangsters with no sense of humanity and scientists who think that all intelligent species must be friendly. What could possibly go wrong?

If you can look past all that and just have fun with it, it's a good read, but if you cringe every time someone "opens a door for a lady" then you should probably skip this one.

The other thing I noticed (and thus brought be out of the story) was how human the alien seemed to be. Although clearly smarter than humans in terms of processing information, it seemed to have no more wealth of knowledge than humans had. Of course it was holding back certain facts, but the general theme seemed to be that physics is the same everywhere and we already know most of it anyway. How much more could an alien know? Well... maybe a little, so they looked, but the effort seemed to be standard operating procedure rather than mining for gold.

Finally, what really drove me up the wall was how many times the author used the phrase "stygian darkness". Didn't the author have a thesaurus handy? The editors should have caught this. This seemed to be fixed in the sequel.

Any modesty issues? Yes. The author seemed to contrive a very odd way to make sure that the main woman character was seen with her clothes off in a public way. Sex was described but not in detail. The narrative seemed rather clumsy in this respect. I think the author needs to work on that.

The ending was reasonable, not exactly a cliffhanger, but this is a trilogy and one needs to read all three books to get to the end of the story.

I'd be glad to read this book again. I might increase my rating. I have already finished the series as of this writing. The next book is "Gibraltar Sun".

[Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm currently reading the third novel in the series, Gibraltar Stars. I thought it might be a good time to come back and visit with GoodReads, and update my status.

So far, the series is as excellent as The Praxis, and the Expanse - the two tomes that I've recently begun to use as my yardstick for measuring how captivating and enjoyable a space opera is, or perhaps, is not.

Michel McCollum's suggestion of reading Antares Dawn before beginning his other books was well received by this reader, and after doing so, I quickly moved onto the Gibraltar Earth series. Of the two series, I do have to say that I'm enjoying the Gibraltar Earth series somewhat more - the enemy is just much more cunning, and somehow more alien, even though the species is more like homo sapiens. How McCollum did this should be studied and rewarded, as far as I'm concerned. I thought that nothing could be more "alien" than the Ryall from the Antares series. They're repitlian, don't speak the same way we do, and came from the waters of their planet. It's like comparing ourselves to an alligator-snake being for comparisons.

The Broa, however physically similar, are somehow more alien. They've managed to subjugate all other races in the galaxy, and as such, see themselves as they only species worthy of respect. They've ended the very existence of other races for various threats to their "civilization," as they call it, and it's a sure bet that they'll do the same to humanity, if given the chance.

Where the Broa become more alien, however, is somewhere in between the difference between a human, and a chimpanzee. What seems so similar, actually contains differences that span great distances of understanding.

I'd highly recommend the Gibraltar Earth series to anyone who enjoys a good, technically-driven, science-loving space opera.

[Bernard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conquest of the new world showed what happens when different cultures meet and one is far more powerful militarily. This book takes that concept into space. In this case, what if the natives understand what can happen and decide to do something about it?

It is a solid plot with acceptable writing.

Worth reading.

[Stan · Rating 3 out of 5]

His writing may not be the most graceful, and some of the science may be of dubious plausibility, but McCollum can tell a good story, with good balance between hard sci-fi and character-driven fiction. Sign me up for Book 2.

[Josn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it! It’s a nice story! It’s also a safe story: the characters are a bit two dimensional, nobodies dies, the difficulties in the story are overcome pretty easy. The reader doesn’t suffer from sleepless nights. It’s nice and entertaining.

[Jon Norimann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great plot, not so well written. Still overall its great fun and well worth a read.

[Lyle Blosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise and well-executed tale with decently developed and believable characters; a solid foundation for the series. Looking forward to the next book, Gibraltar Sun.

[Wesley F · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gibraltar Earth, as a story, is good enough for 3 stars, but editing and stylistic problems drop it to 2 stars for me. This is kind of a concern given that I paid full price for this book and did not get a fully edited and refined product. Self-published authors should keep this in mind when pricing their books.

Gibraltar Earth is a first contact story that takes place after humanity has developed FTL travel. A human starship witnesses a battle between two alien ships and gets caught in the crossfire. The human ship survives and discovers a survivor, an extraterrestrial named Sar-Say. They return to Earth and begin the process of learning to communicate. The world's leaders decide to keep it quiet, while trying to find out if there is a threat to Earth. They conclude there is. An alien empire called the Broan Sovereign represents a threat to Earth freedom. The climax follows the great debate and whether Sar-Say is what he says he is.

I like space travel, first contact, and political intrigue so the premise is pretty interesting. The technological descriptions and explanations are strong and well thought out. I couldn't identify any inaccuracies or problems other than the lack of time dilation with FTL travel. The characters are all educated, articulate, and respectable.

At the same time, I feel like McCollum was revisiting old territory that science fiction examined in the 80s and 90s. The hit show The X-Files examined first contact and the "cover-up" by the government due to fears of national security, and mass panic. Gibraltar Earth doesn't really add anything new. The protocols for dealing with a new alien species also feels a little dated. For people who have read a lot of space travel, alien encounters, this book probably won't blow you away, but is still entertaining.

Unfortunately, the story itself is weighed down with too many scientific explanations, infodumping, and little random historical tidbits. Context and some scientific explanation is necessary for science fiction, but McCollum went a little too heavy. Parts of the book read like excerpts from a science textbook.

There are also rapid shifts in POV, with as many as eight or nine characters. Many names are thrown at you, and it is difficult to tell them apart. The descriptions are okay and the character development isn't bad, but there are simply too many characters.

The author uses obscure words in contexts that don't require it. There is confusion in POV in the middle of chapters, and there are a couple grammatical and spelling errors. All of this could've been fixed with a good editor. I could forgive all of this but combined with the style issues, it becomes an aggravating factor. This book needed a real good, comprehensive editing.

Gibraltar Earth isn't a flop and there are plenty of books out there that are much worse. At the same time, I just can't recommend this one.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Gibraltar Earth” is an awkwardly written, very old skool space opera.

Characters were OK, with an over reliance on stereotypes, for example ‘the spoiled rich kid who finds himself’; the nerdy, female academic hiding a hot body; Capt. Picard; a self-doubting Margaret Thacher, etc..

The writing is ‘workman-like’ at best. Plotting is actually well done, but the scenes are awkwardly written. With the plotting, the author did a good job. The foreshadowing was well handled, and the converging points-of-view handled as separate story lines were likewise well done. However, there were many awkwardly written scenes. In particular, scenes between characters suffered, not the least from overly melodramatic dialog. The author is reasonably competent with action scenes. He has issues writing prose intended to be romantic or erotic.

Tech and world building was OK, but very old fashioned and unoriginal. The reader is supposed to believe it’s the 24th century. It all looks like 90’s ‘future tech’ with better computers to me. (Use of 24th Century automation is pretty spotty.) Major hand waving is performed with the physics of intra-solar and extra-solar distances. This is despite a heavy leavening of ‘meters per second’ and ‘angular distance’ measurement. The technical terms are correctly used, but what they imply is conveniently ignored.

The story reminds me of the space operas originally written in the mid-50’s like E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith’s ‘Skylark’ series or Heinlein’s juvenile novels . Personally, I enjoy the more current ‘hard science’ space operas written by Paul J. McAuley (“Quiet War”) or Alastair Reynolds (“Revelation Space”). However, readers of this may find the “Ancillary series” by Ann Leckie a more prudent use of their reading hours.

Finally, This story really can’t be read ‘stand-alone’. It is an integral part of a trilogy (“Gibraltar Earth”, “Gibraltar Sun” and “Gibraltar Stars”). The hanging plot lines in “Gibraltar Earth”, make reading one or more of them necessary for closure. From this first story, I’m not certain the author has enough inertia to get readers to hang on for three books.

“Gibraltar Earth” is a rather unimaginative space opera written in a style that was popular decades ago. These ‘low-brow’ space operas were great at the time, but (I think) the audience has changed. There is nothing very imaginative or thought provoking about the story in its: world building, characters, or plotting. In places the story is actually poorly written. Finally, this 300-page book was written to sell you an additional 600 pages. (That is, the author intended to pay his mortgage for three years with this series.) There are enough, really good, new space opera stories ‘out there’ to better spend your valuable reading hours on than this book.

[Bumblyjack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by Ramon De Ocampo. This is a first contact story. Humanity is no longer alone...and we may be in grave danger.

Author Michael McCollum's take on aliens reminds me a lot of the following quote from The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski:

"When we put our heads together and tried to list everything we could say with certainty about other civilizations, without having actually met them, all that we knew boiled down to three simple laws of alien behavior:
1. Their survival will be more important than our survival. If an alien species has to choose between them and us, they won't choose us. It is difficult to imagine a contrary case; species don't survive by being self-sacrificing.
2. Wimps don't become top dogs. No species makes it to the top by being passive. The species in charge of any given planet will be highly intelligent, alert, aggressive, and ruthless when necessary.
3. They will assume that the first two laws apply to us."

[Bryan Ewert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very similar in plot to Antares Dawn, with the characters, technologies, and aliens simply painted with a different brush. At times I was wondering if I was reading McCollum's previous trilogy again. Having read Antares first, this hampered my enthusiasm somewhat, as there wasn't enough of a new experience here. On the other hand, if you liked Antares, you'll enjoy this. I'd recommend filling some time between the series to allow the second to feel less like a rehash.

The twist/revelation at the end of this was easy enough to predict from early on – almost cliche. Still, it didn't hamper the story. I used it as an opportunity to enjoy the story as though from the alien perspective; not McCollum's intention, I'm sure. (No real spoiler here; simply a caution for those who want to go in with no expectations.)

I'm interested enough to continue on with Gibraltar Sun.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not military sci fi. There are no troops in sight, no notable ship armaments, and no space battles.

The ship Magellan runs into an alien ship that fires on them. After disabling yhe ship, they board and find 2 dead aliens and one alive. They take this monkey look-alike back to earth where a lot of political stuff happens to cover up the fact that alien life has been discovered. The alien tells them some disturbing things about the Overlords of the galaxy and around the last 25% of the book they take all 12 of there ships and go investigate.

In spite of getting this far, I didn't finish. Like I said, they don't have any troops, so if something happens I don't know how a bunch of engineers and scientists will defend themselves.

The tech wasn't explained enough. He talks of "super light" speed, which I assume is faster than light, but it isn't explained how that is achieved. Nor could I picture things properly as far as the ships location and surroundings.

[Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off a little slow but really got going in the second half of the book. I am glad I persevered. This is not an original story but an idea I love. Earth has just started being able to visit other solar systems but their space exploration is in its infancy. Still thinking they are alone in the universe when suddenly an alien craft appears and leads on to the discovery that earth is but a meaningless blip compared to what is out there. This is really science fantasy rather than a space opera.

Yes it was hard going in the beginning. Large chunks could have been cut, but what a twist in the end, I did not see that one coming. This has really made me want to seek out the next in the series.

I cannot rate this higher than a 3 or 3.5 stars because it took too long to get going but I have high hopes for the second book.

[Peter Hiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book that I enjoyed more than I thought I would at the start. I'd say that the main failing of it is simply that humans succeed. Essentually, there is a minimum amount of problems that the author puts in to make it not a total peice of cake, but fundamentally, it all works out fine.

I saw the twist coming a little bit, but it was still a good twist. I've read the other books in the series, and they were fine too.

This book is definately worth the price of purchase, not a brillaint book, but still a good book. The fact that I could but it without DRM is a huge plus for me as well, I'll be back to the authors website to buy more in future.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this on Audible and it was an enjoyable story to have on while driving or doing things around the house. I think the premise of the series was pretty fascinating; which is that the earth finds out it is in a galaxy controlled by a species through superior tech and if they are discovered they will be subjugated just like the rest of the species in the galaxy or be exterminated. The story feels like a Pournelle/Niven story from the 80's but with a little less polish. At some point I will probably continue in the series but I didn't feel deeply compelled to pick the next up in the series.

Pithy review - scifi summer reading for slow hot days.

[Jeff Daly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version, read by Ramon De Ocampo.

I enjoyed it. I plan to read the rest of the series ("Gibraltar Sun" and "Gibraltar Stars").


They keep expressing how dangerous the Broan are, so I'm hoping there's more to be revealed as to why that is so, because so far it just sounds like empty threats. It sounds like they happened to gain the upper hand technologically before other lifeforms, and therefore can go around bullying everyone.


started: 2013-09-01.Sep.Sun 12:31
finished: 2013-09-04.Sep.Wed 14:23

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on meeting aliens in the future. I liked it enough to read the next two books in the series. I'm not sure that it will be in my re-read a lot list, but will enjoy going thru the series in the future. During a skimming reread for my book club (I recommended it to my book club which gave it mixed reviews), I had a different take given that I knew future events. If you like Asimov, Heinlein, Campbell, then I think you'll enjoy this book and the series that belongs to. I'll leave the play by play to others for this book.

[Corona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This not a perfect book, but it was a ride! A crazy exciting otherwordly ride. It was so hard to put it down. I’d wake up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep and read on until morning. It’s science fiction in the vein of Star trek of old school first contact, about the first thrill and excitement and fear of alien life. Some things that bothered me had to do with gender. I felt women were more likely to be described by their appearance/beauty. The twist was not easy to miss, but even though I knew it was coming, the journey to it was worth it.

[Tbloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying military science fiction romp by Michael McColloum. Perhaps slightly inferior to his other series like this, but still very enjoyable. Our protagonist here is initially a not very likeable guy, but over the course of the book he actually undergoes some real (and 'believable') personality changes and becomes a character you are really rooting for.

This books sets a real sense of tension, and the twist really is pretty suprising.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read and fun, I read all three books in the series in less than a week.

minor negatives for clumsy sexism and some Herman Melville teaches us how to whale moments. Fun orbital mechanics though.

I wish the Human Foil would have been more believable. Still a fun and fast read.

[Shaft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the twist even with the fact that we knew there was a secret to work out personally I did not see that coming. I think I will stick around with this series. This is the second Michael McCollum book I've read the first being Tau Ceti.

[Per Gunnar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't like the anti-space-exploration and we-must-hide-from-the-scary-aliens plot elements. The book also spent way too much time on politics for my taste.

[Waywardgeek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent sci-fi.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept, a good plot driven story but a little wooden on the character side.

[Andre Laurin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big sci-fan but rarely read any sci-fi books. I've read all three of his books from the Gibraltar series and look forward to his 4th and last.

[Michielm · Rating 5 out of 5]

cabt wait untill i can get sun and stars on my tab

[Joshua Kimble]

Decent realistic science fiction book about first contact. Part of a trilogy.