Book review - "Final Chance" by David Sullivan

I’m always glad when my friend David Sullivan releases a new story.  His most recent novel Final Chance takes place in the year 2027 after a devastating plague, the N-virus, has killed 85% of the world’s population.  Travis bikes from Seattle to a small town in Oregon to reunite with his grandfather.  The rest of their family died and they are the only two left.

A nearby house catches fire and the three siblings, Winston and his sisters, living in it have to move in with Travis and his grandfather.  Travis and Winston hit it off and soon become lovers.  Together they have to protect their families and survive in a post-apocalyptic world with no infrastructure or law enforcement. 

The only problem with Sullivan’s story is the editing, which I have addressed with him.  Other than that, it’s a good story with great characters.  It kept my interest and I finished it in a short amount of time.  I would have like to see a little more development in their situation, such as Travis and Winston discovering more people alive and thriving, and can start re-building a community. 

Maybe a sequel?

Here is the link to purchase Final Chance:

https://www.amazon.com/Final-Chance-David-Sullivan-ebook/dp/B07KFYM7V5/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549842130&sr=1-1&keywords=Final+Chance+David+Sullivan

My Boarding Pass to Mars on NASA's Insight spacecraft

This coming May, NASA will launch its InSight lander to Mars.  It is scheduled to land on the Red Planet in November 2018. InSight stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.  How long did it take them to come up with that acronym?

In 2015, almost 827,000 people added their names to a microchip that will accompany the lander along with several scientific instruments.  I know, but NASA has to make the whole trip worthwhile.  Now they have added another opportunity to put our names on a second microchip!  Although I get over 300,000,000 frequent flier miles (and can't use them), it is a way to become personally involved in a mission to Mars.

This will be the first mission to explore the interior of Mars.  A seismometer will detect marsquakes (love that term!) and meteor strikes and use this data to study phenomena far below the surface.  InSight also has a drill that will probe deeper into the ground than any previous explorer.

I got my boarding pass to Mars!

Here is the link: https://mars.nasa.gov/syn/insight

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/another-chance-to-put-your-name-on-mars

Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny

I’ve enjoyed the movie version of Zelazny’s classic work Damnation Alley, but wasn’t surprised to find that there was very little in common between the two.

Damnation Alley takes place in a post-apocalyptic nuclear war where most of the earth has been destroyed. Only a few pockets of humanity exist in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Boston. The mid-section of the country is a wasteland, occupied by extremely violent tornadoes, huge bats, Gila monsters the size of Greyhound buses and large, radioactive holes in the ground where the enemy missiles struck so long ago. Planes cannot fly since the atmosphere is wrought with fierce winds a few hundred feet above the earth’s surface.

When a messenger arrives in L.A. from Boston that a deadly plague has hit the city, the nation of California sends the only man who can cross the Alley to take the necessary drugs to the northeast. Murderer/rapist Hell Tanner is the man they need. Zelazny must have started the trend of the lowest, most despicable human being as the only one who can save us all and the world. This theme has been over-used and worn out ever since then. It came as no surprise that of the five men who set out from L.A., Tanner is the only one to make it. His rough and brutal manner is what gives him the ability to traverse Damnation Alley and survive its pitfalls and dangers.

The story is a chronicle of Tanner’s adventures from L.A. to Boston but Zelazny’s writing keeps the reader hanging on to each encounter and wandering what will happen next. Zelazny gives plenty of excitement to the readers’ delight. His description of post-nuclear was America is vivid and frightening. But he does not give much detail about the war or when it occurred. Fleeting references only place it years in the past.

Tanner finally reaches his destination barely alive but he saves the day in a scene reminiscent of Michael Crichton’s Andromeda Strain. As far as Zelazny’s work goes, Ii still much prefer his Princes in Amber series, but for science fiction Damnation Alley is one of the best I’ve read. He weaves a terrifying and excellent story and certainly head-and-shoulders above many of the other post-nuclear war stories out there.