Aurora:

by Paul Grzegorzek

The earth is dying, torn apart for resources by warring corporations. The world's first colony ship is ready to set off for the distant planet of Aurora, where humanity can start again. Danny Carver, a welfare rat from the towers outside London's dome, needs to be on that ship. His partner, Tammy, is dying from Chronic air pollution syndrome (CAPS), and a berth on the ship is her only chance of long term survival. To keep her alive in the meantime, Danny gets involved in a criminal enterprise that goes wrong, landing him in court with just two options; life in an asteroid mine or almost certain death in the corporate marines. He chooses the marines, still intent on finding a way to get himself and Tammy on the colony ship, but instead finds himself posted to a research station at the arse end of the solar system and treated little better than a slave. Things couldn't get any worse, right up until he finds himself fighting for his life on the sharp end of a brutal corporate war.

283 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 17, 2021

About the author

Paul is 36 years old and despite the surname hails from Sussex where he has lived all his life, having gone to school in the beautiful countryside town of Midhurst. He was born in Shoreham-by-Sea, within spitting distance of Brighton, a city he's called home since the mid 90's.

Over the last twelve years, Paul has worked as a soldier (part time only), a bouncer, a security officer and a police officer, not necessarily in that order. In a 6 year police career, Paul worked on the beat (on a mountain bike of all things), on response, then on LST, specializing in riot duties and working as a riot medic.

Paul then went on to join DIU (the divisional intelligence unit) and worked on undercover drug operations as well as dealing with vehicle crime for the city and anything else that caught his eye.
During his police career Paul was twice given bravery awards in the form of divisional congratulations.

Paul eventually left the police for a high-profile security job in the US which fell through, leaving him working freelance security in the UK.
He now works in the defence industry and occasionally gets time to write!

While in the police, Paul met Peter James and soon the two became firm friends, Paul helping Peter as an adviser on his Roy Grace series on novels.

Outside of work and writing, Paul has studied white crane kungfu for about a dozen years on and off, and lives in Brighton which he loves and hates with a passion. Wherever he goes in the city he is reminded of a job that he attended, a person he arrested or a crime scene he worked, which is why he writes about the place with such vigour and realism.

To see more of Paul's work including some of his police memoirs, check out his blog at http://diariesofamodernmadman.blogspo...

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Science fiction I have read in a long time. Don't miss this space gem!

Take a pinch of 'Blade Runner', (yes I know the proper name) add a slice of 'Expanse' (ditto) mix it in with a dollop of 'Starship Troopers' add it to some current day socio-economic issues and some very poignant points regarding climate change and you are served with a lovely Sci-fi delight to savour. Thoroughly looking forward to the following books in this series.

[jaroslaw olech · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Lovely story and a fantastic read. I have to admit that I couldn't stop reading. Very enjoyable. Action full of twists and surprises.

[Zed Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out strong. I really dug the main character’s voice, which was this veteran combat type that has been through a lot. When the main character finds himself in a dire situation in the beginning of the book he goes:

Hull integrity - critical, temperature - critical, life support, you guessed it - critical.

Something about this line, especially the “you guessed it” part, made me buy the book right away.

Unfortunately, this book does something really strange. It starts off in that dire situation, then the rest of the story is set before it. Other stories that have this structure usually lets the reader know what happened before that led up to the situation in the beginning, and usually go on to resolve that situation as well. This story does something completely different. It never leads up to what happened in the beginning! The main character never gets to become a veteran of many dire situations who can go “you guessed it”.

Which is a shame because I liked the journey the main character goes through. Even though there were a lot of typos, I counted 9 and I wasn’t even looking for them, I managed to ignore them and continue reading because I found the main character compelling. That said, the main character’s goal resolved itself in what can only be described as pure dumb luck.

I felt unsatisfied when I finished reading this book. I think it could have been much better but I felt like I’ve only read half a book.