The 13th Day of Christmas

by Robert Blevins, Geoff Nelder (Editor)

Seattle sci-fi author Robert Blevins' third novel is an exciting tale in the spirit of works such as Marooned and Red Planet. A new U.S. President with vision has challenged NASA to do the impossible - launch a manned mission to Mars within four years, when Earth and Mars make their closest approach in a decade. The Mars 1 mission is a calculated risk and the stakes are high for both NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, who have combined forces to make it happen. Conflict between a stubborn mission commander and the woman assigned to get everyone safely to the Martian surface increases those risks. As the world holds its breath, Mission Commander Michael Walker, MEV lander pilot Anna Johnson, and Mission Specialist Dale McKendrick roll the dice in a gamble unprecedented in space exploration. The gamble turns into a fight for survival when they find themselves stranded, out of contact with Earth, and days from running out of oxygen. Twenty-six images from the Mars Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California are included as chapter headers. Robert Blevins' previous works include Say Goodbye To The Sun and The Corona Incident.

Genres: Science Fiction

196 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 2010

Reviews

[Beverly]

This was an OK read for me. It's sci-fi, which these days is iffy for me. Sometimes they get way over the top technical for me but this one was not. It was an interesting story of the first Mars landing and the problems the crew of 2 men and 1 woman faced. I just never felt like there was enough tension created to make the reader really fear for the crew's life. I enjoyed the problem solving that the crew did to get around their difficulties and the descriptions of the scenery and weather patterns on the Red Planet but although I hoped all would end well in the end, I never really saw anything but a happy ending coming. Some of you may be inclined to feel minor peril and great...that would make for an even better reading experience.

[Randy Westfall]

Reminiscent of "The Martian", and the author feels that he was ripped off by the movie. Good story. The ending was too short.

[Kimberly Ardolino]

The book had the structure to be a great sci-fi book, but when it could have gotten good, the book flew through to the ending. Needed to be longer and develop their time on Mars.

[M]

I really enjoyed reading this book!