Deeper into the Void

by Mitchell A. Duncan

With billions invested in the successful industrialization and militarization of Mars, Badlands Defense Group has sent the first scientific team to the newly constructed glass dome at the base of Olympus Mons. Months of favorable progress reports have been transmitted back; yet, all goes quiet on the 178th day of the 11th Martian year. A single, cryptic message is the only clue to their mysterious disappearance. Years later, the second team arrives, on schedule, to find everything is in its place and in good working order. When they find no sign of the first team, they are prompted to delve into the past. They soon come to realize that no precaution can be taken against that which remains unknown and unseen. When the line that separates reason from madness is blurred, they will each have to find their own way to reconcile with the past and plan for the future. Echoes of dreams and past horrors emerge on the surface of their reality and mingle with present fears. They will be forced to venture ever deeper into the void if they wish to avoid the same fate as the first team.

Genres: Science Fiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2011

About the author

Mitchell is a psychology student, currently pursuing his Bachelor's degree of science in psychology at the University of Phoenix. He currently has an Associate of Arts degree from Axia College. Mitchell plans on attending graduate school to obtain a Doctorate degree in clinical psychology.

Mitchell works full-time as a department manager at Lowe's, where he has been since 2001.

Mitchell lives in Provo, Utah with his wife and four children. He spends his time with his family when he is not at work or doing homework, or writing books for that matter.

Mitchell is also an avid video gamer, movie buff and an active member within the community. He is currently working on the sequel to Deeper Into the Void, which has yet to be named, but will hopefully be debuted in 2012.

Reviews

[Nawnee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from the goodreads giveaways.
This was an intensely fast-paced scifi thriller/mystery. It held my interest and made it hard to put down the entire time I was reading. There was only one thing that made this a little off for me, and that is the unusual take on the dialogue. This was great for ensuring the reader knows what exactly is going on, and who is saying what. As much as I liked being able to follow the story line so easily, the dialogue also read more like a script than a book at times and successfully took me out of the flow of the book. I could not have guessed the ending of this book until I arrived at the last page. The mystery behind the lost team and the suspense of the characters psychological state was at time intense. Over all this was a good story.
You follows a team that has come to Mars to discover what happened to the last crew of the fledgling Mars base that suddenly cut off communication. When they arrive, the base has been abandoned and there is an unknown "presence" that begins to wear on the sanity of the new crew. They start to question everything including their own sanity and the sanity of their fellow team members.

Overall, The story flowed well and the characters were developed decently for the length of the story.

this was definitely has a few unexpected twists. It was a fairly quick read plus I enjoyed the story, setting, and mood of the story. If you are looking for a well paced and written SciFi thriller, then I would recommend you give this one a chance. You won't be disappointed.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book needs to be made into a movie. I find that there is much to think about and to rethink about as the storyline unfolds. There are components that resemble the best parts from many of my favorite science fiction movies and books. The language and theme is appropriate for all ages.

This book is written in the first person and as a result has a powerful effect on the transport of the mind to a different place and time.

This book is about each of us in the world that we now live in with all the drama of man and machine, wall street and main street. The dilemmas of life and loyalty go with us to the red planet and beyond.

Pop some popcorn, grab a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy!

[Kel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intelligent, fast-paced mystery! I was on the edge of my seat the entire ride... the fresh take on the dialogue was perfect for ensuring the reader knows what exactly is going on, and what is said by whom. I could not have guessed its ending until I arrived at the last page of the book, which was fantastic! Keep em' coming Mr. Duncan! Can't wait to read any other work you decide to give the world!

[Mitchell Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pacific Book Review

Author, Mitchell A. Duncan has created a most tantalizing, sci-fi and psychological fiction with Deeper Into the Void. With his pen, he launches The Reconciliation, a freighter spacecraft, carrying a highly specialized crew and me to the foot of Olympus Mons - the largest mountain range on the red planet, Mars. Landing safely, Captain Cardiff and her team set about their mission. There are two main objectives for the crew: Test sustainable life conditions to ensure humanity‘s future and find out what happened to the first team who vanished from there some time ago. On the surface, the mission appears successful as an ecosystem is attempted, as soil and rock samples are taken, as the pond is tested and plant life is growing. Positive reports are sent back to earth, but the answers as to why the first crew went missing do not surface immediately. In fact, with each passing day, the new team begins to experience bazaar happenings and each one, secretly worries, wondering if they might be losing their grip on reality. This believable mystery, Deeper Into the Void, has enough drama and suspense to come in at four-stars.

Earth’s resources have become scarce and it cannot survive more than two decades. Industry and government defense depends on finding a new frontier with needed space for large buildings, new materials for production, and strong capabilities for the industry expansion with lowered cost. Badlands Defense Corporation has spent billions on cutting edge technology and travel to Mars after the Prometheus Group built a power station called the Dome. With the Dome in place, Badland’s scientific teams have traveled there to test living conditions to prepare for the eventual civilization of the red planet.

Captain Cardiff and the second team have arrived at the Dome. There seems to be no explanation for the missing first team. They simply vanished, but their experiments continue to thrive, so this team picks up where they left off; collecting precious stones, taking water samples and releasing bees to pollinate fruit trees. Progress logs are kept by each person. They report their findings to earth, as objectively as possible. They leave out what they cannot yet explain. They do not confide their insecurities to each other, instead proceeding as professionally as they can, to do the work they came there to do. The ever-prepared Captain Cardiff finds herself unable to prepare for an enemy she cannot see, hear, or touch, except as a nightmare; the psychologist begins to question her own sanity while attempting to evaluate the mental stability of her teammates. The wise one, eventually, wonders if he can convince the others what he has discerned about the sinister experiences they have all had, but cannot explain what is happening. In the end, will he be able to convince them of a dark, malevolent, reality that exist among them, or will he be dismissed as just another scientist gone mad?

Deeper Into the Void is written in present tense. This gave me a first-person view and experience of the mystery, as it unfolded. This kept my senses peeked for each developing scene and adventure. Also, the author’s background in psychology allowed for psychological depth, unanticipated in popular science fiction. As a result, I felt personally acquainted with each of the crew members as they pioneered the possibilities for life on Mars. I was left anxious to go even Deeper Into the Void and hoping Mitchell A. Duncan was already working on a sequel to his, suspenseful and mind-bending creation.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway.

First off ... I actually give this book 3.5 stars but since they don't give you an option, I'm bumping it up to 4 since giving a 3 just wouldn't be right.

Okay. Down to the nitty gritty. I have a feeling this is going to be a long review ... lots, lots, lots to say! And remember, this is my personal opinion. In no way am I the majority view on this but these are my thoughts. Since I was given the book to review ... I'm going to do it honestly. This was a good book. What I have to say won't change that. I don't think.

One of my biggest issues with this book isn't the script style dialogue ... I really didn't mind that. It was a bit more confusing than just writing it the conventional way, but hey, everyone has to buck the system somehow.

My biggest issue with the book was just too many words. Why use 52 words, when just 7 would suffice?!? Duncan isn't a bad writer. He's actually a really good writer, but it felt like sometimes he was trying to describe the scene so much that by the end, I just didn't care. Here's an example of that - "Vibrant violet, brazen blue, enchanting emerald, ostentatious orange and raging red all pierce the air within ... ". Come on. While the author gets extra credit for finding an adjective that starts with the same letter as the color, it felt a little ... forced. And I understand that this is a book about another planet, so you have to do some amazing descriptions when you wouldn't have to do something so in depth if you were just talking about, let's say, a car. Because everyone knows what a car is. But still. Deeper into the Void is like this. On every page. I found myself skimming paragraphs, just picking up the important stuff so that I could move on because using 3 paragraphs to say, 'he opened the door' was a little tiring.

There were a couple other things, but I'm going to hit on just one more. Inanimate objects don't have thoughts. Here's an example of what I'm talking about, "The computer is probably trying to dissuade us from accessing certain files by altering the original versions.". When I got to this part, I had to put the book down for a while. In no other place, previous to this statement had the author insinuated that inanimate objects could think for themselves. The toilet never felt like it couldn't flush, the table never felt like holding stuff up. It just seemed out of left field for me.

All in all, a good book. But I think that the authors note in the beginning should have touched on the over descriptive scenes instead of the script style dialogue. If that had been the case, I could have prepared myself for it and instead of taking 3 deep breaths before I got to the first conversation, I would have done that before I started the book.

Duncan writes a clean book. No curse words or inappropriate situations and that is a breath of fresh air in these times. I might read another Duncan book.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from the goodreads giveaways. It sounded interesting and I figured since it was a gift I would give it a shot. The story was pretty good though I felt the conclusion was a bit lacking. In short, the story follows a team that has come to Mars to discover what happened to the last crew of the fledgling Mars base that suddenly cut off communication. When they arrive, the base has been abandoned and there is an unknown "presence" that begins to wear on the sanity of the new crew.

Overall, I liked the book. The story flowed well and the characters were developed decently for the length of the story. The setting is well written and the dialog is good, even if written in an odd way. What I mean is that the book seemed a bit more like a script than a novel. Many chapters were written with a very third person feel almost as if setting the scene of a ply or movie rather than a book. That and the dialog is all written in script format:

Character 1: Let's go check out the airlock.

Character 2: Ok, I'll meet you there.

And so on... That being said, this was definitely a thriller with a few unexpected twists. It was a fairly quick read and I enjoyed the story, setting, and mood of the story. If you are looking for a decent SciFi thriller, then give this one a chance. Otherwise, you might skip it.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads*

Any fiction that deals with space exploration beyond what has already been achieved peaks my interest. When I read the teaser, which was part of the final transmission from Mars, I knew I wanted to read this book. I found the plot interesting and was satisfied with the outcome. One of the things that initially frustrated me was that a character would be in a frightening situation and remove themselves before I could find out what exactly was happening. After some thought, I realized that this was realistic. As a reader, you want to know all of the details. As a person, you would become frightened and run. Many novels and films don't stay true to human nature this way, so props to Mr. Duncan.

The one aspect of the book that bothered me was that all dialog was written as script. Because of this, the speaker's delivery and frame of mind weren't evident and sometimes the dialog fell flat.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and would be interested in reading more by Mitchel Duncan.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a book that will deliver a suspenseful story right from the beginning then this is the book for you! I really enjoyed that you connect to the characters early on in the story and that you feel like you are a part of what is going on in the book. The author does a great job of foreshadowing and laying groundwork for what will happen later on in the story, which I really liked about this book.

[Bradley Linnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a huge scifi fan, but Duncan weaves a convincing tapestry of characters in a strange land that they are to explore after the group before them disappeared. He is able to weave mystery and suspense into this thriller and was disappointed when I got to the last page. I am looking forward to his next book.

[Velvet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book more stars, especially since it's the first giveaway I ever won from Goodreads. Unfortunately, it was difficult for me to push through in places, and by the end, even though I felt the author accomplished what he set out to do, I was left questioning what his ending meant.

But first, a word about the unique set-up of the book. Mr. Duncan starts by explaining two unusual writing style choices. Firstly, the entire book (with the exception of journal entries by the crew) is written in present tense. The idea is that this perspective subtly moves the reader into the immediacy of the situations as they unfold. His second unusual choice is to set off the character dialogue in a 'script style', thus enabling the reader to quickly and clearly understand which characters are communicating. The result? The book reads like a screenplay.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, but, for me, it took a little adjustment. Throughout the novel, I kept thinking that this could be a fascinating video or film, especially since his attention to detail in describing the ship, the interior of the dome, the "fog" in the rooms, helps the reader to clearly imagine how these spaces appear. On the plus side, it allows him to give the experience of Mars a personality of its own. On the minus side, Mars seems, at times, to have more personality than the human characters.

I think that was one of my biggest problems with the book - I'm a very character-driven reader. Though I was intrigued by the opening journal entry from a crewman of the previous mission, I found that several chapters in, I still had no feel for the true personalities of the current crew. I had no reason to like them, and therefore I found it difficult to push through the story. After many more chapters, I had a better grasp of who they were, but if I hadn't felt compelled to read it in order to review it, I would never have gotten that far.

However, not reading the entire book would have been my loss. Mr. Duncan does an admirable job of crafting the sense of unease, paranoia, and downright strangeness that the characters experience as their mission continues. This subtle atmospheric shift is one of the few things that I worry might not translate as well into film (unless you found an excellent director).

The only other problem I had with the book was occasional word repetition within the same sentence or short paragraph, normally when describing the actions of crew members. I may come back at a later date and quote a few examples, but this particular issue could easily be fixed with the right editor, (and wouldn't be an issue at all in a film).

I would end by stating that I have immense respect for anyone who has the vision and persistence to write a book - I've certainly never been able to manage it - and I applaud Mr. Duncan on his accomplishment.

[Patrick Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was sort-of good and sort-of full of suspense and mystery. But I found the present tense writing difficult (read: really friggin annoying). Or at least seemed tedious until I finally got used to it half way through the book. Likewise, the use of script style dialog was difficult to follow... especially when a character started speaking and the character's name didn't appear until I flipped the page. It would have been better if the speaker's name came at the top/beginning of his paragraph rather than the middle. I also missed the cues you usually get about the speaker's emotions or state of mind that comes with traditional writing... he shouted or she nervously said or he cried or she teased. All of this emotion was missing. Kudos to the author for attempting to be different, or clever, or literary, or whatever. But I just didn't like how it made the story so difficult to read.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the concept and wanted to like this way more than I did. The premise reminded me of the movies Moon or Event Horizon but the dialog is just so laughably bad--it was so simple and dumbed down, it reminded me of something from Larry Blamire movie. The difference is, the dialog in the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is *supposed* to be bad, as its an homage to all those fun B level sci fi and horror movies.
This book would have worked much better if it just presented the narrative and totally eschewed all spoken dialog from the characters. Their internal thoughts and reflections were fine, but once they opened their mouths and actually spoke to one another... yikes.