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New Providence #1
Trajectory Book 1
Four mining ships are making the slow return to Mars from operations in the asteroid belt. Back on the planet, a group of students discover a mysterious object in space in an impossible orbit. The crew of the Lighthouse space station are shocked by a devastating accident that throws their routine into chaos as they strive to get their ships safely home.
Cut off from Earth, the sub-surface Martian Colony of New Providence suddenly finds itself in peril from something hostile and unknown. Is it alien? Is it an AI from Old Earth? After five generations enduring the harsh conditions on Mars, will the 50,000 citizens of New Providence survive this new and terrifying threat?
Cut off from Earth, the sub-surface Martian Colony of New Providence suddenly finds itself in peril from something hostile and unknown. Is it alien? Is it an AI from Old Earth? After five generations enduring the harsh conditions on Mars, will the 50,000 citizens of New Providence survive this new and terrifying threat?
- GenresScience Fiction
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2015
53 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Robert M. Campbell
7 books19 followersRobert M. Campbell hails from the east coast of Canada, having recently returned to New Brunswick after extended stays in Toronto and Ottawa. An early love of astronomy and technology led him to a career in software engineering. Robert studied Computer Science and Anthropology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.
After twenty years working in the aerospace, government and open source software sectors, he has written his first science fiction novels, Trajectory Book 1 and Book 2 – the first instalments of a projected six in the New Providence Series. Seedfall: New Providence Series Book 3 is out now. Book 4 is due to be released in early 2018.
Robert and his wife Deb live on their small hobby farm on the river where they focus on writing and art. They hope to fill it with dogs in the near future. At least two.
Sign up for his mailing list: http://eepurl.com/cauWDz
http://amazon.com/author/robcee
After twenty years working in the aerospace, government and open source software sectors, he has written his first science fiction novels, Trajectory Book 1 and Book 2 – the first instalments of a projected six in the New Providence Series. Seedfall: New Providence Series Book 3 is out now. Book 4 is due to be released in early 2018.
Robert and his wife Deb live on their small hobby farm on the river where they focus on writing and art. They hope to fill it with dogs in the near future. At least two.
Sign up for his mailing list: http://eepurl.com/cauWDz
http://amazon.com/author/robcee
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 5, 2016
A good start to a well-crafted hard sci-fi tale, inhabited by interesting Mars colonists & spacers just trying to get by. Waste flow meets the intake impeller, and peril rises for folks who've already had a bit of an apocalypse. Avoiding infodumps that plague hard sci-fi in general, details trickle out through thoughts & asides from characters who've been living with it a long while. Seeing as this is Book 1, I wasn't too surprised to see the story left in a cliffhanger. I'm onboard for Book 2!
September 15, 2016
Wow, what a ride. This book was a lot of fun from beginning to end. Great story, great characters and plenty of suspense and action. Have to to rad the next one for sure just to see what happens !
April 11, 2018
Riveting read!
I loved this book, and am now starting book 2. The interactions of families, crews, claustrophobic conditions gave this book a plausible feel. I especially enjoyed the focus of the colony was survival and teaching the young in university the necessary skills to achieve it. Man, I'd like to say more, but if I do, I might give away too much! If you liked The Martian (Andy Weir), and the Red Mars Trilogy (Kim Stanley Robinson), this book will fit with that group nicely.
I loved this book, and am now starting book 2. The interactions of families, crews, claustrophobic conditions gave this book a plausible feel. I especially enjoyed the focus of the colony was survival and teaching the young in university the necessary skills to achieve it. Man, I'd like to say more, but if I do, I might give away too much! If you liked The Martian (Andy Weir), and the Red Mars Trilogy (Kim Stanley Robinson), this book will fit with that group nicely.
April 12, 2016
Easy and fun to read. I was hoping for more of types of content as in the preface (the thought provoking (to me) timezones on Mars) but was still very engaged and entertained throughout.
February 6, 2017
Full review on book 2
February 23, 2018
Full Disclosure. I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
A great set of characters and a thrilling premise. Very reminiscent of the old destroyer vs Uboat scenarios from WWII. I have my suspicions of where this series is going which would explain why there wasn't really a whole lot devoted to background info on why things are they way they are. I'm looking forward to either a confirmation of my suspicion, or more background/history.
The ending was quite abrupt. Almost jarringly so. At the time I am writing this review, I have just finished the second book and I almost wish that they had been combined into one, or that the endings came to a less screeching halt. While this may be a minus by my reckoning, it is far outweighed by all the good writing to be found from beginning to end of the story so far. I'm looking forward to reading this series to its logical conclusion as I get the impression that Mr. Campbell has it all well thought out.
I highly recommend The New Providence series to any lover of realistic (hard) sci-fi.
A great set of characters and a thrilling premise. Very reminiscent of the old destroyer vs Uboat scenarios from WWII. I have my suspicions of where this series is going which would explain why there wasn't really a whole lot devoted to background info on why things are they way they are. I'm looking forward to either a confirmation of my suspicion, or more background/history.
The ending was quite abrupt. Almost jarringly so. At the time I am writing this review, I have just finished the second book and I almost wish that they had been combined into one, or that the endings came to a less screeching halt. While this may be a minus by my reckoning, it is far outweighed by all the good writing to be found from beginning to end of the story so far. I'm looking forward to reading this series to its logical conclusion as I get the impression that Mr. Campbell has it all well thought out.
I highly recommend The New Providence series to any lover of realistic (hard) sci-fi.
December 18, 2017
An enjoyable, quick read! Trajectory seems to end a bit too suddenly, however. Like it's half of a book, not a cliffhanger. Looking forward to reading book 2!
December 8, 2016
This is a character driven, engaging space mystery. My rating 4.25.
The last remaining humans from earth have colonized Mars. As best they have been able to determine humans were destroyed by AI computers or machines that took control of all facilities on earth. Although the colonists have tablets for information and communication, sharing through an open web or internet is banned. Resources, including water, are scarce on Mars. They use a limited number of space ships to mine outer asteroids to bring desperately needed supplies.
Emma has a father captaining one ship and a boyfriend on another. She and her best friends, Tamra and Greg have discovered movement in space that they believe is suspicious. They report it to one of their professors who passes it on to the Commander of the space station that heads security for the colonists. The discovery is confirmed by the sudden, explosive disappearance of the closest of the four space ships that are returning to Mars. Emma is sent to the space station to help the staff figure out what is happening.
The remaining ships are aware of the explosion and they are warned that the foreign object is matching the trajectory of the next ship in line. The other captains try different tacks hoping to return safely to Mars. The story follows the struggles of the three young people, the station staff and the remaining space crews.
This is an engaging space mystery. The story is character driven with a detailed development of the primary characters and their living circumstances. I was interested in what would happen to the people. I also enjoyed the detail in the world and society created by Mr. Campbell. My only disappointment was that the story ends with a cliffhanger. It does not resolve the current conflict and dilemma. Still, I recommend this to sci fi and mystery readers with the forewarning that you will need book two.
I received this as a free download; no obligation to review.
The last remaining humans from earth have colonized Mars. As best they have been able to determine humans were destroyed by AI computers or machines that took control of all facilities on earth. Although the colonists have tablets for information and communication, sharing through an open web or internet is banned. Resources, including water, are scarce on Mars. They use a limited number of space ships to mine outer asteroids to bring desperately needed supplies.
Emma has a father captaining one ship and a boyfriend on another. She and her best friends, Tamra and Greg have discovered movement in space that they believe is suspicious. They report it to one of their professors who passes it on to the Commander of the space station that heads security for the colonists. The discovery is confirmed by the sudden, explosive disappearance of the closest of the four space ships that are returning to Mars. Emma is sent to the space station to help the staff figure out what is happening.
The remaining ships are aware of the explosion and they are warned that the foreign object is matching the trajectory of the next ship in line. The other captains try different tacks hoping to return safely to Mars. The story follows the struggles of the three young people, the station staff and the remaining space crews.
This is an engaging space mystery. The story is character driven with a detailed development of the primary characters and their living circumstances. I was interested in what would happen to the people. I also enjoyed the detail in the world and society created by Mr. Campbell. My only disappointment was that the story ends with a cliffhanger. It does not resolve the current conflict and dilemma. Still, I recommend this to sci fi and mystery readers with the forewarning that you will need book two.
I received this as a free download; no obligation to review.
June 21, 2017
Fast paced (enough) hard sci-fi. Enjoyed the world and the plot.
Why 4/5: I'm not against cliffhangers in general, but here story just cuts abruptly. In the end feels too short, like it's a one-third of the book, not the first book in a trilogy. Maybe it's just that I read completed series more often than ones still in progress.
Edit: Spelling + TIL there are going to be six books in this series, not three. It's at the same time excellent (more good books!) and unfortunate (so. much. waiting.)
Why 4/5: I'm not against cliffhangers in general, but here story just cuts abruptly. In the end feels too short, like it's a one-third of the book, not the first book in a trilogy. Maybe it's just that I read completed series more often than ones still in progress.
Edit: Spelling + TIL there are going to be six books in this series, not three. It's at the same time excellent (more good books!) and unfortunate (so. much. waiting.)
June 29, 2016
Love it. Mars. Heavy science for those who are into that sort of thing. If you aren't there is plenty of humanity to balance it out and it all moves the story forward. Suspenseful too! So happy Book 2 is out now yay!
July 18, 2016
Interesting stuff happens, but the book still feels kind of bland, not sure how to describe it. I am still going to check out the next book.
August 18, 2019
I persisted and finished this book as it was only 200 pages long. But that’s time I’ll never get back and I really should have quit fifty to a hundred pages in rather than suffer the pain. The reason I did persist was that the premise was a good and interesting one and I wanted to see its conclusion. Bad mistake; there is no conclusion, it ends on a cliffhanger with almost nothing resolved. I hate the way this is becoming more and more common nowadays. So far as I’m concerned a book should have an ending, a conclusion, if it doesn’t then it’s not a book it’s a part of a bigger book. In most book series that I have read (rather than abandoned) each volume has a conclusion that resolves much of the issues in that book whilst leaving a greater story arc to continue in the subsequent books. This is what authors like Asher, Weber, Bujold, Jack Campbell and many others have done, and done very satisfactorily for me. This book does not and it’s not just a cliffhanger it simply stops! I shall not be continuing despite the fact that it is, as I say, an interesting premise and I would like to see the final outcome.
I might almost have considered continuing were it not for the fact that it is compounded by dreadful writing, copy editing and editing in general. I really don’t understand what it is with most self-published authors that I have read, not all but certainly the overwhelming majority. Do they feel that the story they have to tell is so exquisitely important that it really doesn’t matter how it’s presented? Because that’s the only explanation I can come up with for not properly finishing the text after the writing is done. Time and again I have this complaint about such authors. Am I a total pedant that I expect the books I read to be adequately edited? This is a complaint that I rarely apply to traditionally published authors, although there are notable exceptions, and almost always apply to self-published ones, though again there are notable exceptions. Usually the biggest issue is they are either too lazy to take the time to edit out all the typos or maybe too tight to pay someone else to do it, but in this case whilst there were a significant number of such errors they paled into insignificance against all the other editing errors. There were whole threads of story that seemed to serve no purpose other than to show how clever Campbell has been in his Mars world building and had no relevance to the story being told. The book is 217 pages long and has 76 chapters; that’s an average of less than three pages per chapter! And each chapter is a scene and POV switch leaving the poor reader’s mind reeling especially with the sometimes bad head hopping going on even within a single chapter.
This book is not long but still it is padded out with so much irrelevant detail as well as irrelevant threads that it could easily have covered the same ground in no more than half the pages, probably a lot less. Now I know a little colour is required to put the flesh on the bones of a good book but sometimes a diet is called for; I mean I really don’t need to know the actual bands and track names the protagonists are listening to (all of whom seem to be conveniently enamoured of late twentieth and early twenty-first century music) and I certainly don’t need to be told the actual cards being turned over when one person is (rather inappropriately) playing solitaire to pass the time.
Presented as a hard science fiction story the science is often outright wrong! And some of the fundamental premises are just so implausible it’s staggering. In a Mars colony that contains the remaining fifty thousand remnants of the human race, still without the manufacturing base to build its own space ships they are sending those few that they have got out to mine the asteroid belt for metal. The colonists are sitting on an entire planet that can be comparatively simply and easily mined but, no, their few ships are sent out to the asteroid for weeks at a time to bring back just a few tens of tonnes of metal. Please! Ah but of course without that there would be no story. It is full of implausible aspects like this including one of my favourites that crops up time and again from, mostly, inexperienced authors; inappropriate unskilled person get elevated to sit alongside the real experts and puts them all to shame. In this case it is an astronomy student who has discovered an anomaly in near space and instead of sending a genuine expert like an astronomy professor up to the space station to help them figure it out, they send the student. Well of course they do because they will make an exciting, if implausible, hero.
Rant over; there is so much wrong with this story that I’ve still only scratched the surface. Sorry Mr Campbell but not recommended. I really should have stopped after the first 50 pages!
I might almost have considered continuing were it not for the fact that it is compounded by dreadful writing, copy editing and editing in general. I really don’t understand what it is with most self-published authors that I have read, not all but certainly the overwhelming majority. Do they feel that the story they have to tell is so exquisitely important that it really doesn’t matter how it’s presented? Because that’s the only explanation I can come up with for not properly finishing the text after the writing is done. Time and again I have this complaint about such authors. Am I a total pedant that I expect the books I read to be adequately edited? This is a complaint that I rarely apply to traditionally published authors, although there are notable exceptions, and almost always apply to self-published ones, though again there are notable exceptions. Usually the biggest issue is they are either too lazy to take the time to edit out all the typos or maybe too tight to pay someone else to do it, but in this case whilst there were a significant number of such errors they paled into insignificance against all the other editing errors. There were whole threads of story that seemed to serve no purpose other than to show how clever Campbell has been in his Mars world building and had no relevance to the story being told. The book is 217 pages long and has 76 chapters; that’s an average of less than three pages per chapter! And each chapter is a scene and POV switch leaving the poor reader’s mind reeling especially with the sometimes bad head hopping going on even within a single chapter.
This book is not long but still it is padded out with so much irrelevant detail as well as irrelevant threads that it could easily have covered the same ground in no more than half the pages, probably a lot less. Now I know a little colour is required to put the flesh on the bones of a good book but sometimes a diet is called for; I mean I really don’t need to know the actual bands and track names the protagonists are listening to (all of whom seem to be conveniently enamoured of late twentieth and early twenty-first century music) and I certainly don’t need to be told the actual cards being turned over when one person is (rather inappropriately) playing solitaire to pass the time.
Presented as a hard science fiction story the science is often outright wrong! And some of the fundamental premises are just so implausible it’s staggering. In a Mars colony that contains the remaining fifty thousand remnants of the human race, still without the manufacturing base to build its own space ships they are sending those few that they have got out to mine the asteroid belt for metal. The colonists are sitting on an entire planet that can be comparatively simply and easily mined but, no, their few ships are sent out to the asteroid for weeks at a time to bring back just a few tens of tonnes of metal. Please! Ah but of course without that there would be no story. It is full of implausible aspects like this including one of my favourites that crops up time and again from, mostly, inexperienced authors; inappropriate unskilled person get elevated to sit alongside the real experts and puts them all to shame. In this case it is an astronomy student who has discovered an anomaly in near space and instead of sending a genuine expert like an astronomy professor up to the space station to help them figure it out, they send the student. Well of course they do because they will make an exciting, if implausible, hero.
Rant over; there is so much wrong with this story that I’ve still only scratched the surface. Sorry Mr Campbell but not recommended. I really should have stopped after the first 50 pages!
September 19, 2017
I agree with comments from the other reviewers. The book is well written. While slow at times, it reflects the realistic nature of science moving through space with equipment that is not so far distant from today. My major concern here is that there are a number of unknowns and number of challenges that we are looking for the solutions to. It was the unknown object that we know nothing about. There is the survival of the ships trying to make it back to Mars. What is going to happen to the individual protagonists.
I have read many series in this genre. What I do respect the need for suspense sufficient to make you want to read the next book but I also think it important to bring the smaller matters to a conclusion providing some closure to the current book. Unfortunately, this book is moving right along and in the true Buck Rogers fashion just stops. To be continued….
I did not enjoy being treated that way and, not knowing whether that will happen again after the next book, I do not propose to read the next in the series. If you are prepared to continue on, not concern yourself with the foregoing, it is a pretty good book.
I have read many series in this genre. What I do respect the need for suspense sufficient to make you want to read the next book but I also think it important to bring the smaller matters to a conclusion providing some closure to the current book. Unfortunately, this book is moving right along and in the true Buck Rogers fashion just stops. To be continued….
I did not enjoy being treated that way and, not knowing whether that will happen again after the next book, I do not propose to read the next in the series. If you are prepared to continue on, not concern yourself with the foregoing, it is a pretty good book.
January 31, 2018
Humans have colonized Mars after most of mankind was destroyed on earth. Resources, including water and crucial supplies are mined from the asteroid belt using space ships with small crews.
Emma, a student, discovers a small object in space and lets her friends Tamra and Greg know. Then things develop quickly, she is sent to the space station to help figure out what happened to one of four space ships. Her father is on one space ship, her boyfriend Jerem and hid father on another one. Greg's mom is on the third one.
Mostly captivating story line with use of space ships and technology that seem possible to realistic.
Some out-of-character behavior of one of the space ships appears to have been included to add drama and the ending is a major cliffhanger, rather abruptly bringing the book to an end. This looks like made in hope for TV series ending and is rather disappointing, but I'm still planning to read the next installment.
Emma, a student, discovers a small object in space and lets her friends Tamra and Greg know. Then things develop quickly, she is sent to the space station to help figure out what happened to one of four space ships. Her father is on one space ship, her boyfriend Jerem and hid father on another one. Greg's mom is on the third one.
Mostly captivating story line with use of space ships and technology that seem possible to realistic.
Some out-of-character behavior of one of the space ships appears to have been included to add drama and the ending is a major cliffhanger, rather abruptly bringing the book to an end. This looks like made in hope for TV series ending and is rather disappointing, but I'm still planning to read the next installment.
January 15, 2017
Le côté scientifique n'est pas trop pesant même pour un profaneL'histoire est prenante :quatre vaisseaux miniers doivent rentrer sur Mars mais sont poursuivis et attaqués par un étrange objet... L'auteur nous fait vivre comme un reportage l'épopée de ces différents équipages, chacun avec leurs qualités et leurs défauts Parallèlement, la station de contrôle ainsi que de jeunes étudiants scientifiques tentent de comprendre (et nous avec !) et de trouver des solutions ...
Perso, il m'a manqué un peu plus d'épaisseur dans l'organisation de la colonie martienne et son histoire mais ce n'était pas l'objet de ce tome 1
J'espère que le tome 2 ne trainera pas en longueur mais fera avancer le "chmilblick" parce que le tome 1 nous laisse suspendus en pleine action ...
donc, lecture du tome 2 obligatoire Hop Hop Hop
Perso, il m'a manqué un peu plus d'épaisseur dans l'organisation de la colonie martienne et son histoire mais ce n'était pas l'objet de ce tome 1
J'espère que le tome 2 ne trainera pas en longueur mais fera avancer le "chmilblick" parce que le tome 1 nous laisse suspendus en pleine action ...
donc, lecture du tome 2 obligatoire Hop Hop Hop
November 20, 2025
Loved it. The concept is great and it gets into the nuts and bolts of the science in a way that's interesting but also doesn't pull punches. It has a large cast of characters spread across Mars, a space station and multiple ships, but moves between them in a way that doesn't feel like you're being jerked around too much, and also does a great job of making those characters memorable and engaging
July 23, 2018
Good start
This was an Enjoyable book but stopped in the middle of the story. The next books will decide if it's good or not.
This was an Enjoyable book but stopped in the middle of the story. The next books will decide if it's good or not.
January 21, 2016
Enjoyed this. Only reason I didn't give it five stars is because it has been bit by the "let me resolve pretty much nothing and cliffhanger pretty much everything and actually resolve things in the rest of the trilogy" approach to bookwriting that seems to have infected a lot of scifi lately. :/
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews