Mission To Methonē

by Les Johnson

The year is 2065 and an accidental encounter in space leads to the discovery that we are not alone in the universe—and that our continued existence as a species may be in jeopardy.

Chris Holt, working in his office at the Space Resources Corporation, discovers that one of the asteroids he is surveying for mining is actually not an asteroid at all but a derelict spaceship. The word gets out and soon the world's powers are competing to explore and claim for themselves the secrets that it holds.

What they don't know is that across the galaxy, a war has been underway for millennia. A war between alien civilizations that have very different ideas about what should be done about emerging spacefaring civilizations like our own. The artificial intelligence resident in the derelict Holt discovered has been in our solar system since before the dawn of human civilization, watching, waiting and keeping quiet lest the interstellar war return and wipe out the sentient race that now resides there—humanity.

And that war might soon be again coming to our front door. The truth can only be discovered on Methone, a tiny, egg-shaped moon of the planet Saturn. Who will get there first? And will it be in time?

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

About Rescue Mode by Ben Bova and Les Johnson:

"... a suspenseful and compelling narrative of the first human spaceflight to Mars."—Booklist

Les Johnson is a NASA physicist and author. By day, he serves as the Senior Technical Assistant for the Advanced Concepts Office at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In the early 2000s, he was NASA’s Manager for Interstellar Propulsion Research and later managed the In-Space Propulsion Technology Project. He was technical consultant for the movie Lost in Space and has appeared on the Discovery Channel series, Physics of the Impossible in the “How to Build a Starship” episode. He has also appeared in three episodes of the Science Channel series Exodus Earth. He is the author of Rescue Mode, coauthored with Ben Bova, as well as Back to the Moon and On to the Asteroid, both coauthored with Travis S. Taylor. He is the coeditor of the science/science fiction collection Going Interstellar.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2018

About the author

Les is the author or co-author of both popular science and science fiction. His latest science fiction novel, "Mission to Methone," was released by Baen Books on February 6, 2018. Coincidentally, his latest non-fiction book, "Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World," with co-author Joe Meany, was published the same day (from a different publisher - Prometheus Books)!

By day, Les is Principal Investigator (lead scientist) for NASA's first interplanetary solar sail mission, The Near Earth Asteroid Scout, at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In the early 2000's, Les was NASA's Manager for Interstellar Propulsion Research and later managed the In-Space Propulsion Technology Project. He has worked for NASA since 1990 and has served in various technical and management roles.

Les was the featured "Interstellar Explorer" in the January 2013 issue of National Geographic Magazine. He was technical consultant for the movie, Lost in Space. NPR, CNN, Fox News, The Science Channel and The Discovery Channel have all interviewed him. He appeared on the Discovery Science Channel in their Exodus Earth series and the "How to Build A Starship" episode of Michio Kaku's 2010 Discovery Science Channel Series "Physics of the Impossible.

He was the Chief Scientist for the ProSEDS space experiment, twice received NASAs Exceptional Achievement Medal, and holds 3 space technology patents. He has numerous peer-reviewed publications and was published in Analog."

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m always intrigued when a scientist, especially a NASA scientist, puts his or her expertise to work in writing science fiction. The science of Mission to Methon¬e isn’t the problem – Johnson’s hammer-plus-nail approach to storytelling is. It’s clear Johnson is going for a Rendezvous with Rama kind of vibe with his solo debut, as scientists from different nations race to gain advantage from first contact when an alien ship is discovered in the solar system. The novel’s geopolitical presumptions are eye-rollingly adolescent, as are its views on society and culture, both alien and human. The idea that a supposedly advanced and enlightened alien race would observe Earth’s history with Euro-centric prejudice is this novel’s most telling flaw and speaks to a shortfall of imagination. This may have been a passably entertaining pulp novel if the pacing weren’t so herky-jerky and the characters so flat and uninspiring. Skip it.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is exactly the brand of Science Fiction I've been looking for! This book mixes Hard Science Fiction with the more pulpy elements of Space Opera. It is exactly the type of Sci-Fi book I'd expect from Les Johnson.

First of all, this book has a pretty awesome premise, and that premise is delievered. We get plenty of space exploration in this book, specifically sending a team to Saturn and Methone, but we also get a political subplot that keeps the story exciting and dangerous.

The political storyline feels like it would fit in a Tom Clancy movie or in the show "For All Mankind". The existence of India as a major power as well as China really feels inspired and different. I also liked the way the Caliphate worked like the Nazis in "The Sum of All Fears".


This book does have a few weaknesses, and that is really evident in the character work. The characters in the book are pretty flat and their development is fairly nonexistent. This really is a plot centric story, and as such the characters have some superficial changes, but it feels like characters change because the plot requires it, not because they've gone on a journey.

The worldbuilding, on the other hand, is actually an excellent part of the book. The alien technology and history and world was fascinating and well realized, while at the same time Les left the door open for other books exploring it.

If I hadn't known anything about Les Johnson, I would mostly compare his writing style (and his placement in the sub-genre of Hard SF/Space Opera) to Ben Bova. This is affirmed when you consider that they co-wrote a book together and Les is currently working on a book for Bova's Grand Tour universe. I firmly believe that Johnson will pick up the torch from Bova as the next great Hard SF/Space Opera writer!

Overall, a strong and very enjoyable book! If Les Johnson's future books have better character development (as well as the excellent plot and worldbuilding present here), then he will become a top author for me I'm sure. I'll give this one an 8 out of 10! Well done Les Johnson!

[Bookteafull (Danny) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ Page 85, about 29%

Welp, I said I'd get to at least 30% but I barely made it past page 50, so reading an extra chapter just wasn't gunna happen.

There's nothing horrendously wrong with this book, it's just boring. I actually quite like that the author works for NASA and is leading his first interplanetary solar sail mission - the information he presents is sound and rational; which is more than I can say for many sci-fi novels I read in 2018.

That being said, it's a wee bit excessive on the 'fun facts' and severely lacking in intrigue and entertaining plot lines to keep me invested. The characters are flat and there are Aliens who act and think more like humans than actual aliens - which was jarring and disappointing.

I can't rate this novel because I didn't finish it, but I can say that there are far more captivating sci-fi novels out there that grasp your attention within the first chapter.


** setting date read to a random year in the early 2000s so it doesn't interfere with my 2019 goals.

[L.A.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. This was a traditional sci-fi story with an emphasis on the hard sciences. Les Johnson, a real-life NASA scientist, really brought this space adventure to life. 3.75 stars rounded up to 4.

The main character, Chris Holt, is almost a stereotypical scientist. Dr. Holt is on the autism spectrum, which was a nice change from the traditional sci-fi action hero. I enjoyed the diversity of the crew with scientists and astronauts from Japan, China, and the EU. I especially appreciated that the mission leader was a female Colonel. I could clearly see the other characters were drawn from the author's personal experience working at NASA and that made them feel very real.

The story itself is fairly straight-forward. Although the book dives a bit further into the political aspects than I expected, it was all done fairly well. However, there were a few scenes like the spy and traitor-scene that did feel a bit disconnected. It made sense to the plot but fell just a bit outside the main purpose that these scenes just didn't quite work. But they also didn't completely derail the story either.

Overall, classic sci-fi of humans meeting an alien-life form. I look forward to reading the next book.

[Dana Nourie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I’d give this novel 3.5 stars. I was really hopeful I’d get a great hard Sci-fi story from this author as he is a NASA physicist. I liked the realism of the space travel, in the beginning, and overall I liked the story. The characters were ok, but I think if you’re going to have a straightforward story like this, your characters, or at least the main character, needs to really stand out and pull us into the story. Don’t use a dry type A personality to tell the story in a plain way.

Also, mid story we go from realistic physics, a bit of speculation which is fine, to a leap with a certain device that I just can’t follow. Maybe he’s right, and I just don’t understand quantum mechanics well enough to follow where he took this story.

There was some really good potential here for a greater story. He cut off the ending. Definitely he could write a sequel, but I didn’t care for the ending or how the politics was handled. I basically skimmed through all of that.

Yet with all that, I did enjoy it. If there is a sequel, I may read it. But for now I have many books waiting to be read.

[Sue Dix · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this novel is good and I really did enjoy it, but the ending fell flat, and I changed my rating from 4⭐️s to 3⭐️s. Alien contact, alien technology lead to international conflict. It is more complicated than that, but the racial bias hits a sour note. I liked the science fiction aspect of the book, and I wanted more. Overall, an entertaining read.

[Whitney (SecretSauceofStorycraft) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun near future where a derelict and broken alien ship is detected in our solar system…. And of course we must explore!!

Despite this story fitting almost perfect into the big dumb object subgenre— it was overall an entertaining story. Easy to follow and well, entertaining. Would recommend.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, I look forward to the next book, whenever it comes out. Well worth having bought the eARC.

[Jan Wignall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book vaguely similar to Arthur C. Clarke's style.
It doesn't take itself too seriously and the science feels grounded. Characters are rather one dimensional though.
Methone is an alien space station sent to the solar system and the race is on to investigate between the US/China team and India.

[eIle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not recommend

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

First contact novel written by an engineer, and unfortunately the prose style shows it. Some of the science fiction aspects of the story are interesting, but the politics (national as well as interpersonal) are handled shallowly and the writing style is not of professional caliber. I'm surprised by Baen Books.

[Patrick J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a small team on a scientific exploration mission to Methone. Instead, this is more space opera with hard SF technology. There's a fast pace and clarity to the writing, so I kept reading until the end.
The story follows the events of one man and a number of associates, friends, allies and opponents who deal with a detected alien presence. Each of the humans serves or betrays their nation's interest. The contending human nations and multiple alien groups with shadowy motives of their own are the forces driving the plot, not the characters. The characters need more agency if they are to be interesting.
The stakes are high for the Earth as a whole, but there's not much personally at stake for the main character and his associates. Consequently, there's some pain endured, but not enough struggle. Little is lost along the way to the goal, but since the fate of the Earth is still uncertain at the end, one must say that the main goal is unresolved.

The human political forces are an extrapolation of current events. That's good, because there's a lot of them and already knowing them makes it easy to keep track of who's who and makes their motivations instantly credible.

Some sub-plots trigger critical events, but the sub-plot characters don't have any contact with the main group of characters. One involves a traitor, who is never caught. The main characters never pursue or get their hands on this person. Maybe this sub-plot is picked up in a sequel?

The key human technologies in the story are explained quite well in an appendix. I appreciate that, and wish it were a standard feature of SF.

[Kelsey Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I found out that Les Johnson actually worked for NASA I was pretty excited to read Mission to Methone. Astronomy has always interested me since high school so seeing all the facts from Les Johnson's experiences at his job was pretty cool. Having the annotations actually made me like the story more, too. Some of the things in this novel actually happened to Les or he was working on some of the equipment used by the characters.

The main character Chris has autism, but it only affected the way he socializes with others. It made him very unlikeable to most people but, I actually really liked his personality. I thought he was more blunt rather than being rude. Sometimes he was actually pretty funny and sounded sarcastic. The other characters were kind of just there for me. But that's okay because the story was revolved around Chris and his mission. The characters fit the story and the story moves with some interesting twists and turns. There is a lot of things left open but I do believe that there will be more books after this one. So maybe in those books we will learn more.

If you are a fan of Sci-fi, science, aliens, space, planets, NASA or just anything really astrological I think you would really enjoy this book.

[J. Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked: detailed world building, realistic technology, consistent plot, and accurate descriptions of space travel. When I read sci-fi, this is what I am expecting, and I dislike when authors are lazy with their research or handwave "for the plot." I'd easily give Johnson's knowledge and effort five stars.

What I disliked: the writing style.

I saw other reviews that say "I can tell that this was written by an engineer." I'm also an engineer, and I do not write fiction like this. This work has a very different style compared to Johnson's collaboration with Ben Bova in Rescue Mode. Bova's style can be seen throughout that novel. Don't go into this book expecting it to be the same like I did.

I also read Johnson's nonfiction collaboration with Gregory Matloff, Living Off The Land In Space, and it was also different. The afterword seemed to be in a similar style as this nonfiction piece.

The writing style is different, and evolving, but it isn't world-ending. I'd give it 2 or 3 stars for engaging the reader and readability.

That's an average between 3.5 and 4 stars. I rounded up.

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

We need more sci-fi by scientists, but not like this. There are so many “As you know Bob” moments that it could almost be a drinking game. Yes, that’s the actual name of the trope, where one character will explain to another character something very basic in a field where they’re both experts. It’s as if one surgeon said to another surgeon, “As you know, blood circulates throughout the body.” It’s baffling that this is done because the story lends itself to giving press briefings and showing TV news reports.

There’s also the very basic game-of-Risk level of geopolitical stuff going on while the astronauts are out in space doing their first contact thing. After years of political thrillers in fiction and watching real-world politics, it just doesn’t ring true most of the time. Part of that is because these characters don’t come across as actual people most of the time. A lot of it is due to first novel issues, I think.

I’m predisposed to cutting books like this a break, but I just couldn’t get into it.

[Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice first contact novel featuring a near-future Earth with a 4-part rivalry between a U.S./European bloc, China, a slightly lesser India and a 3rd-tier Caliphate in the Middle East. There's a space race of sorts, with corporate and government efforts interlinked on the Moon and Mars and in-between. An asteroid is found and turns out to be a damaged monitor from an alien civilization. Before the human factions knock it out, they get enough interaction to learn they need to go to one of Saturn's moons (the titular Methune) and a bit about the history of the aliens, their mission, and their own conflicts. Most of the rest deals with getting to Saturn, the human rivalries, and how they impact the next contact events. Fun stuff, with some realistic assumptions about human behavior, technology, politics and maybe an explanation for why we haven't been hearing from all the aliens you'd think were out there.

[Henry Lazarus · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2065, there are colonies on Mars and privately owned tiny spacecraft are exploring the solar system. Then an ancient spaceship is discovered America and Europe send one expedition, the Chinese send another, and the Califate sends a missile. Chris Holt, the Astronomer who discovered the object is on the mission and discovers a way to communicate with it s ancient control computer, before the missile destroys the ship. That gets plans for fusion drive and a moon of Saturn. Thus we then have a combined Mission to Methone (hard from Baen) with Americans, Europeans, and Chinese. India sends a separate ship and isn’t willing to cooperate. This is a future with India and China ready for Nuclear war. This is a darker future that most uses of this standard trope. Most intelligent species wipe themselves out, or are helped on their way by Alien Destroyer who are opposed by the Makers. Fun.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think other reviewers may not understand the intent of this novel. If you are looking for the dark gritty complicated political and character driven soap operas that pass for space opera these days, you may do better elsewhere. If you want good old fashioned sense-of-wonder science fiction with an emphasis on the hard science, this delivers in spades. "Rendezvous with Rama" meets "The Arrival" and several other first contact novels.

Having said that it's more about the sense-of-wonder and the science, I find the characters more than merely two dimensional and I do care about what happens to them. While the volume has a satisfying ending it does nicely set the stage for sequels. I will be ordering them as soon as they are available.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mission to Methone is the first book in a new series by Johnson. The theme is first contact. An alien ship is discovered and the plot moves from there. Earth is divided and each division has its own goals and they do not match. The characters fit the story and the story moves with some interesting twists and turns. What it does not do is come to any conclusions. We are left wondering if all will be well or all will be lost. The story leading up to that point is well written, the plot is action filled and the science is very believable.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

[Tomj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more like three and a half stars. This is a pretty good hard science fiction novel obviously inspired by Arthur C. Clarke, and if you miss Clarke as I do, you will find this a pretty effective way to feed your fix. The writing quality is acceptable but not great. I have no brief for religious fanatics, but the depiction of Moslems in the book lacks nuance and the author isn't cynical enough for my taste about the U.S. government. The author is a NASA scientist, which helps explain the book's good points.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great and I hope it gets some of the recognition it deserves. It was just enough science/technical jargon and fiction to actually be realistic and interesting. The espionage and political climate throughout the book are clearly based on our present and offer a more realistic look at how our world will react to a theme from science fiction.

I loved this book and hope it will have at least a sequel! I look forward to future works from Les Johnson.

[Mark Whorton · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent near-future hard sci-fi

Les Johnson certainly knows his stuff as a NASA scientist and space visionary and he lays out in this book a very credible scenario for first contact in the near-future. I love the groundedness of the story - you get a sense that this might actually happen. No unobtainium or inserted miracles required. Great story.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recent Reads: Mission To Methone. Les Johnson's space exploration tale is reminiscent of Hogan's Giants series: artifacts found during routine space exploration change how we look at the universe. Another look at the Fermi Paradox, a cosmos at war and humanity in the sights.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat reminiscent of James P. Hogan's Inherit The Stars, but updated for the 21st century. I did not like the rather simplicistic world-view (US good, muslim bad) that this book espouses.

[Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kept reading it because I was curious how the aliens/human interaction would go. Eh.

[Brandon Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend. It's a great quality book. I enjoyed it very much, especially since I don't technically read these kinds of books.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting work. Keeps you going from the first page.

[Avery Stempel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quick read. Quite the page turner! Solid science. Good story.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good near-time science fiction with a nice mix of real/speculative physics, humanity stumbling toward self-destruction, and, of course, first contact.

[Elizabeth]

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