Description/Blurb:  James Patterson is a gay accountant living in Keyes, Oklahoma—deep in the Bible Belt—the religious heartland of America. He’s also the first person to make contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence seeking to understand our world, and that makes him the most important person on the planet.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

I received a copy of this novella from the author and it was just what I needed to drag me out of my reading slump. I enjoyed the start with the mysterious blue planet and the worldwide dream, but what really kept me engaged was the main character’s journey. This story got better and better as I read and it made me a little sad when it ended.

I had been looking for a book that would fully hold my attention and fortunately this one did. It would be wonderful if you could explore in books they way you can in role-playing games. The author’s descriptions were excellent, painted a clear picture of the journey his characters took and I would have loved to look around a bit more.

Starship Mine embodies all of the things I like most about the Peter Cawdron’s work. He manages to not only tap into the humanity and vulnerability of his characters (human and alien alike sometimes), but to convey the story to us without a loss of emotion or humor while we explore fascinating alien landscapes and societies. This was a really heartwarming story and I don’t know that the blurb does it justice. Mr. Cawdron’s characterizations improve with every book he writes and I’ve really come to look forward to his new releases.

Even though this was a science fiction story about meeting an extraterrestrial intelligence, it was also a story about what it means to be human: to doubt, fear, love and to be different in more than one way. I like my stories with some sociopolitical backing and there was just enough to give the story the depth it needed. Starship Mine is packed full of ideas to ponder and emotions to explore. It was so good that I read it in one evening, non-stop and I’ll probably read it again tomorrow to ensure that I didn’t miss anything while I was furiously flipping the page advance button.

All around a great job and an excellent adventure. There’s a nice little twist at the end, but I wouldn’t want to spoil it. Happy reading.