Earthwreck!

by Thomas N. Scortia

The Earth had become a radioactive mass - the only human survivors wanderers in space.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1974

About the author

Thomas Nicholas Scortia was a science fiction author. He worked in the American aerospace industry until the late 1960s/early 1970s. He collaborated on several works with fellow author Frank M. Robinson. He sometimes used the pseudonyms Scott Nichols, Gerald MacDow, and Arthur R. Kurtz.

Scortia was born in Alton, Illinois. He attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned a degree in chemistry in 1949. He worked for a number of aerospace companies during the 1950s and 1960s, and held a patent for the fuel used by one of the Jupiter fly-by missions.

Scortia had been writing in his spare time while still working in the aerospace field. When the industry began to see increased unemployment in the early 1970s, Scortia decided to try his hand at full-time writing. His first novel, The Glass Inferno (in collaboration with Frank M. Robinson) was the inspiration for the 1974 film The Towering Inferno. Scortia also collaborated with Dalton Trumbo on the novel The Endangered Species.

Scortia died of leukemia in La Verne, California on April 29, 1986.

Reviews

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Italian-American astronaut Quint Longo is recalled from leave to replace an injured crewman on the space station, and upon his arrival all hell breaks loose back on Earth. A limited nuclear exchange becomes a full-blown spasm and it looks like the only humans left are on the two space stations - one American and one Russian. And the Russian one has all but one of the women… Their problems increase when they learn that bioweapons were also used, so a return to Earth and living in the Moon habitat is ruled out. Combining their resources, the Russians and Americans decide on a Moon landing but the unreasoning hatred of a few of the crew imperils this idea too. Finally, it looks like maybe Mars could provide a haven, if only they can put their long-running animosities behind them. An easy to digest end-of-the-world tale with plenty of chemistry and rocket design talk for those interested (some of the physics is dodgy but you can let that slide). Thomas N. Scortia’s novel can be read as an alternate history tale where nuclear armageddon finally arrived in the mid 1980s.

[John (JP)]

224 pages Science Fiction. Earth is savaged by WWIII. The only surviors are in separate space stations manned by the Russians and the Americans. This is story of how they learn to co-opperate and go to Mars. Full of 1970's angst and distrust. The book acts as window into what we avoided during the Cold War and what may happen if we go back to the bad old days of nuclear politics.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced read of apocalyptic work. Provided some rare insights into man's philosophical place in the universe, or at least a great introduction into various ways of looking at the question.
I'm glad it glossed over some details, giving me more signal than noise.

[Arn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad space thriller, shows its age at times, but is a good read.
The author worked in aerospace and it shows in his writing, the space station and rocket descriptions sound very convincing.
Like a lot of writing of this age it's descriptions of women is always focusing on their looks, and he doesn't seem to be able to be positive with any female characters, and there is a very short but uncomfortable description of the main characters experience bathing his young son, wistfully remembering his body. It's an odd paragraph or two.
But overall a good read.

[Tim Pyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a 2.5

[David Haddon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. Politics, science, and social mores are all 50 years dated, but the story was pretty good.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

2023: I found this in my unread pile, I have no memory of how it got there. So I'm reading. 2/3 done, and it's certainly fast-paced and gripping. I'm not usually one for apocalyptic stuff, so the fact that it's still got me reading it is worthy of note.