The Beacon

Solar System #7

by Brandon Q. Morris

When you discover a deadly threat to the solar system from your backyard Peter Kraemer, a physics teacher with a passion for astronomy, makes a discovery that he himself can hardly Stars disappear from one day to the next, with nothing left of them. The researchers he contacts provide reassuring and logical explanations for every single case. But when Peter determines that the mysterious process is approaching our home system, he becomes more and more anxious. He alone perceives the looming catastrophe. When he believes he has found a way to avert the impending disaster, he chooses to pull out all the stops, even if it costs his job, his marriage, his friends, and his life.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 8, 2021

About the author

Brandon Q. Morris is a physicist and space specialist. He has long been concerned with space issues, both professionally and privately and while he wanted to become an astronaut, he had to stay on Earth for a variety of reasons. He is particularly fascinated by the "what if” and through his books he aims to share compelling hard science fiction stories that could actually happen, and someday may happen. Morris is the author of several best-selling science fiction novels.

Reviews

[Emily Goodin · Rating 1 out of 5]

So poorly written I stopped after the first few pages. There might be a good story in there somewhere but this writer is in dire need of an editor. I felt insulted by the lazy writing and poor word choice. Just not readable.

[Tiffany Peterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love his books but not this one.

I love his books but this one was not his finest. If this is the first one you’ve read please read his others! It was slow and I kept waiting for it to be an adventure novel as his others. Pass on this one but read all the others!!

[David Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is the sun suddenly going to disappear?????

Unlike the majority of other books by Brandon, this one really focuses on one person, Peter, a physics teacher in Germany who is also an amateur astronomer. One day while using his telescope to see specific stars his automated tracker fails to find the specified star. Further study reveals that the tracker works by using 'star marks' ie specific star patterns to identify the tracking. He realizes that one of the stars used for this purpose is now not visible. Following communication with an editor of Space magazine and a preprint it becomes apparent that several stars appear to no longer be visible and Peter calculates that the sun could follow suit!
This novel is a mystery suspense as Peter investigates the problem and tries to solve it....! There is also some poetry, a crumbling relationship, space flights, a planned hijacking, use of radio telescopes and other astronomical devices and essentially an interesting and thought-provoking tale.

[Clare Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Brandon’s stories but I got a little lost with this one

The author’s hero in this book is a math/physics high school teacher. I think he is much smarter than most math/physics teachers her in the U.S.; he’s German. But rather than proving he is right about his the sun will go out (he is also an amateur astronomer), he rushes and spends his money to save earth almost wrecking his marriage. As strange as it may seem, this book gave me the same excitement as when I was in elementary school and read my first science fiction books about Mr. Bass in the Mushroom Planet series. Of course this has more of a scientific foundation than those books but it strays to reflect on the personality of its characters when a person is pursuing an outcome that seems more like science fiction than science

[Terrie Crotti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all the books in the Solar System Series by Brandon Q. Morris. I love his writing. His characters seem very down to earth (no pun intended) and real. In this novel, the main character is definitely flawed. Much like Einstein and Picasso, he is obsessed with his passion to the exclusion of everything else around him, which makes him not very likeable. But he thinks he is saving the world! Does he? We don't know for sure. A sequel perhaps? BTW, this was NOT my favorite book in the series, by a long shot. Like I said, the main character was not likeable at all, and I pretty much wanted it over with. But I kept reading, because that's what Morris's books are like. You want to finish them and see what happens next. Great writer. Thank you, Mr. Morris.

[Iza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dobrze się czyta, tzn. nie jest zbyt trudne dla laika, mimo, że określone jest jako hard SF i jeszcze po angielsku. Początek wciąga, chociaż jest powolny, a później... miałam wrażenie, że autor 'poszedł po bandzie' ;) I z pomysłami, i z rozwojem akcji. Nie wiem, czy polecam, chociaż sam pomysł tej historii jest świetny.

[Carl Wilburn]

Gives technical explanations for the scientific mysteries he introduces. Fun reads and they relate to the things we read about in science today.

[Michael]

Very good

[Fabi]

https://amzn.eu/d/iwPNLVE

[Thorkil Poulsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read several novels by Morris.
This one I didn’t finish.
Things feel apart because the story is that he is very fond of his wife and yet hardly thinks of her for days as soon she is out the door.
It simply can’t be right.
The tale about stars that can’t be seen and the explanation is hard to follow and didn’t catch me.
So I stopped reading halfway through the book.
Sorry

[Audiblelovers.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nachdem ich von Mars Nation enttäuscht war, kann ich nur bestätigen, dass er fast immer soliden Hard-SciFi liefert.
Die Story erinnert zuerst an Peterson’s Vakuum, aber die eigentliche Story ist die eines Hobby Astrologin.
Ähnlich der Serie “Salvation” (2017, zwei Seasons), auch wenn da der Protagonist steinreich ist...

Weiter so. Was mich trotzdem immer wieder an SciFi stört, z.B. verschwinden wirklich Sterne, seit den ersten Aufzeichnungen der Moderne?
Wieviel Fiction steckt in solche Behauptungen?

Das Ende haette er mehr ausarbeiten müssen, auch wenn das nicht die Staerke von HardSciFi ist...