Peter Cawdron

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Book Review: Feedback by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on March 2, 2014
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FeedbackBook Description:

Twenty years ago, a UFO crashed into the Yellow Sea off the Korean Peninsula. The only survivor was a young English-speaking child, captured by the North Koreans. Two decades later, a physics student watches his girlfriend disappear before his eyes, abducted from the streets of New York by what appears to be the same UFO.

Feedback will carry you from the desolate, windswept coastline of North Korea to the bustling streets of New York and on into the depths of space as you journey to the outer edge of our solar system looking for answers.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I’ve been a bit remiss regarding getting a review up for this book as I was a beta reader for it and read it before it came out. Obviously, I was provided with a review copy of this story.  I’m currently working on two books of my own and like most other writers have a full-time job (Yes, this is the rationalization for my procrastination). On with the review.

I loved the way this story started right at the beginning of the mystery and in the action. Following our pilot friend, John Lee, as he crashes and makes his way through hostile territory to locate the young English-speaking boy who was the survivor of a UFO crash gets you right into the story. I like when I’m immediately sucked in.

From there the story swaps back and forth between North Korea 20 years ago with our pilot friend and modern-day New York with the main character of our story, Jason. Jason is a student and space geek like oh so many thousands across the world, who just so happens to find a strange girl standing on the street corner for hours on end in the rain outside of his apartment. Being a good soul he invites her in to get dry and possibly help her find whatever she’s waiting for. From the first, Lily is an odd cookie and something strange seems to be going on with her, but Jason who is almost immediately smitten seems to take a while to get around to just how odd her behavior is.

I don’t want to give things away, but the story accelerates from this point at a low burn action-adventure pace like you might find in movies like Chain Reaction or National Treasure. I don’t know what you’d call it, but it has that kind of feel of the collegiate action-adventure hero type thing for lack of a better explanation. The story moves along at a pretty good pace and I enjoyed the unveiling of the plot and the intertwining of characters and timelines. There were some things I would have liked to have seen more on. Jason’s professor is quite the interesting guy who we unwittingly meet earlier in the story. I would have liked to know more about how the professor got from Point A to Point B in his life to be in place in Jason’s life. Given the story line it seems that it would have had to be pretty complex and I would be interested in reading more about that background and how it all developed.

I can’t say that I was pleased to see how things turned out with Lily and Jason. I would have liked to have seen that wrapped up some other way, but I’m sure that’s just the romantic in me. Overall it was a good story that I’m willing to recommend to others, though I would have liked to see more at some points as I did have some unanswered questions. The epilogue was one of the best and most fascinating parts of the book. I could have read an entire book that started where the epilogue took us and followed it out through the universe with no hesitation.

I think there is another, perhaps greater, story here that Peter Cawdron hasn’t written yet and may deem fit to take us through at some point. I feel like Feedback was only a chapter in what could be a greater study of these aliens in the universe and I would very interested in reading more about them. It is like we are at the edge of something great that hasn’t quite happened yet. Needless to say, the author has captured my attention and set my imagination in gear with this story. I like a story that makes me dream about what-if’s. Feedback is a good story in itself, but it could easily turn out to be the first book in a very fascinating universe if the author is so inclined.

Little Green Men by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on November 26, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

A LGMDescription: 

Little Green Men is a tribute to the works of Philip K. Dick, hailing back to classic science fiction stories of the 1950s.

The crew of the Dei Gratia set down on a frozen planet and are attacked by little green men. Chief Science Officer David Michaels struggles with the impossible situation unfolding around him as the crew are murdered one by one. With the engines offline and power fading, he races against time to understand this mysterious threat and escape the planet alive.

 

5 of 5 Stars

Little Green Men by Peter Cawdron was a great ride.  I enjoyed it very much and sped right through it, never finding myself bored or distracted by outside factors.  The crew of the Dei Gratia have a unique experience during their exploration of a possible mining site.  They must conquer themselves and work together to understand the mystery that is presented to them in the hope of getting away alive.

This was a good first contact story of the old style variety.  The writing was excellent as was the storytelling.  I felt like I was there and that’s what I’m looking for from a story.  Any time you find yourself physically cringing in your chair as the characters go to peek around a corner there is no doubt that the author has done their job.  One of the things I really enjoy about Peter Cawdron’s stories is that he seems like the kind of person who sits around in the evening fully exploring the what-if scenarios before him, waiting patiently until he finds just the scenario he is seeking.  This generally leads to some kind of interesting and intelligent twist away from what you were expecting as a reader.  I like to be surprised so this is a very appealing quality for me in fiction.  All in all it was a fun read and I really enjoyed it.  I hope you will too.  Once again, Peter Cawdron has given us a tale with something to think about when we head to the stars.

Xenophobia by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on June 28, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

xenophobia-smallDescription:  Xenophobia is set in Malawi, Africa, with US soldiers acting as peacekeepers to stop a civil war erupting. When an alien spacecraft arrives in orbit, America is thrown into turmoil and US troops are withdrawn from hotspots around the globe to provide support at home. Malawi descends into chaos.

Xenophobia follows a band of US Rangers that stay behind to get doctors and patients from an outlying field hospital to safety. When hundreds of alien spacecraft begin flying overhead, the dynamics of war take on an entirely new dimension.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

This was a great first contact story, I really enjoyed it and it was accurately named. It was gritty, sweaty, realistic and moved at a good pace.  I mentioned in another review recently that I like a story that can be introspective without sacrificing excitement and action and was glad to see that this story had managed to do just that. I also like a story that requires you to think and I wasn’t disappointed in that area either.  Xenophobia certainly delivered by investigating not only our fears of strange or alien things from outside our galaxy, but also how we fear and treat one another due to those same irrational fears of things and persons unknown though we may only be from different countries rather than different planets.

There are several characters in this book, but Bower, a doctor who stays behind to care for her patients that need to be transported, and Elvis (nickname, not a resurrection lol), one of a group of US soldiers that volunteers to stay behind to protect them, are the mains for most of the story and they were both interesting travel companions.  I thought the aliens were really cool and well thought out and I loved the journey as a whole. It was nice to get away from the Hollywood action movie clichés about what first contact will be where the aliens are generally hell-bent on eating, killing or in some other way making us subservient. I also liked that the book looked at how we treat one another and what types of behavior might be expected given a first contact situation on Earth.

Peter Cawdron has a great perspective on the world and it definitely comes through in his stories like a fresh gust of air.  Each story I’ve read by Mr. Cawdron has been better than the last both technically and in overall storytelling. I’m just glad I got to take this trip through reading rather than stomping the road these characters traveled. Though that last part would have been pretty wonderful, but I dare not say too much. If you like a smart story that challenges you to look beyond what we see everyday then I think you would enjoy this one as much as I did.

Serial Expectations

Posted by tjhapney on June 11, 2013
Posted in: Random Thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I was talking/writing with someone I know today about how we develop expectations about what we see or read, especially when it comes to a series. With a book blog, even though it’s a voluntary labor of love that you have put upon yourself, once you get going you have people contacting you for reviews, blog tours and the like and you end up with things on your schedule (so to speak) to read that you didn’t necessarily search out for yourself. It’s actually cool and I have read some really good books that way. Presently, I’m doing my best to work my way through the commitments I have made, but I bought/pre-ordered Dust by Hugh Howey the other day and I swear I can hear it calling to me as I read the other books on my list.

I loved Wool and cannot wait to read Dust, though perhaps the waiting is good for me because once I have read it and it’s over I’ll have to wait a while to find another book that truly draws me to it. I have a few fairly new authors right now that really draw me in and I can’t wait for them to put out new books.  Hugh Howey is one of them because I was just blown away by the Wool series. Michael R. Hicks is another and the last time I read one of his books from the In Her Name series, I ended up re-reading the whole series and reading the current book again before I could even get around to reviewing it. I’m hoping Dust will be like that too. I also keep an eye out for Christian Cantrell’s stuff because Containment was a good read and Peter Cawdron’s stuff because of the unique perspectives he offers in his books with Monsters being the most recent one I have enjoyed reading. So I’m currently reading a book I was requested to read and it’s really pretty good. The author might even be one I start looking out for, but when I’m standing at the sink washing dishes and such I still find myself wondering what will be there when I open Dust.

I hope the distraction is worth the wait, but the book I’m reading is good enough to not put down as an orphan and I can’t read Dust until it comes out in August so I’ll have to wait. However, I wait with happy expectations of what I will find when I open Dust.

Monsters by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on May 31, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

MonstersOriginal review posted Thursday, January 10, 2013

Description:  Monsters is a dystopian novel set against the backdrop of the collapse of civilization.

The fallout from a passing comet contains a biological pathogen, not a virus or a living organism, just a collection of amino acids, but these cause animals to revert to the age of the mega-fauna, when monsters roamed Earth.

Bruce Dobson is a reader. With the fall of civilization, reading has become outlawed. Superstitions prevail, and readers are persecuted like the witches and wizards of old. Bruce and his son James seek to overturn the prejudices of their day and restore the scientific knowledge central to their survival, but monsters lurk in the dark.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

Life has been busy and it took me forever to get around to reading Monsters, but I’m glad I did.  It was a good story. Generally I read more of the reaching and playing in the universe brand of stories, but I really enjoyed this story.  Monsters is a post-apocalyptic type of story, though civilization doesn’t fall to nuclear weapons, zombies or anything of the type, which was refreshing. The destruction of civilization as we know it was much more subtle and leads to the theme for this book, which is really how much would we lose if we as a civilization lost the ability to read and how would our lives be affected through the generations. The beginning of the book was a little bit too much narrative for me, but it wasn’t so much that I couldn’t get through it.  It picked up nicely along the way in the battling of Monsters, both wild and human. I was really into by the end of the book and hated to see it end. If I had to be in this world I would surely take the risks that the characters do to get their hands on books, because I too am a reader. All in all it was a good read and a interesting way to pass a couple of evenings at home.

War (Galactic Exploration) by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on May 31, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

warOriginal review posted Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Description: War is the fourth in a series of stand-alone novellas exploring concepts related to the Rare Earth Hypothesis in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

The crew of the Rift Valley are being chased through a star cluster by marauding aliens intent on harvesting their genetic diversity. With limited options, being out-gunned and out-paced by the alien warships, the Rift is running out of options.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

At the author’s request, I read the beta of War, the fourth installment of the Galactic Exploration series this past weekend and it is now available for download to your favorite e-reader (just a small plug for a struggling indie author here on the blog lol).  As it is difficult to separate the pieces of the story now that I’ve read them all, this will be kind of an all encompassing review for the project as a whole and as I feel the series was intriguing, enjoyable and well written, I’m giving it 5 stars.

War had more punch and tension than some the previous installments which were more world (so to speak) and character building and I really enjoyed seeing it all come together with the action and more tension than we’ve seen in the previous novellas. War was very descriptive and even some of the portions that weren’t actually action seemed that way, but I’d have to spoil the story to tell you how that was achieved.

All in all, Mr. Cawdron really did an excellent job of bringing the characters together from the other installments and integrating them in this latest novella for a chance to mess with your head a little. For the first time the characters from the previous installments are together (in a manner of speaking) and it was good to see them all struggling and working together for the same goals – survival and freedom. For those who have read the three prior novellas, Anderson, Trixie, Berry and Diana are all present as they encounter what so many yearn to search for and may be afraid to find. War was a good read and I think some of the complaints I’ve seen in reviews from others (and that includes myself) that there wasn’t enough and they were left hanging will easily be resolved by reading the four novellas together.

Savannah by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on May 31, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

SavannahOriginal review posted Sunday, May 20, 2012

Description: Savannah is the third in a series of stand-alone novellas exploring alternatives to the Rare Earth Hypothesis in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

How did a nurse from Chicago find herself on a voyage to the outer reaches of the galaxy? After taking up a position in an exclusive hotel in Kenya, Diana finds her world turned upside down by the advent of the equatorial space-port. 

Review 5 of 5 Stars

As I have enjoyed his other works, I happily settled down to read Savannah, Peter Cawdron’s most recent addition to the set of novellas he’s been working on in his exploration of the Rare Earth hypothesis and how mankind might go about searching for extraterrestrial life. Having read the other novellas he has written in this series, I was ready to see where the latest installment would take me as I still had unanswered questions and was truly interested to see where the story was going. Gladly, I can say that I very much enjoyed Savannah and was pleased that it tied together several of the things in the previous novellas that I felt were missing. This volume really tied together the pieces for me from Serengeti and it was interesting to see meet the characters in Trixie and Me in a different setting before they set out on their explorations. I will freely admit that I was a little confused as the story got started since the others were further along the timeline, but I immediately recognized the characters and was more than willing to explore their stories more as I felt I’d been left hanging regarding the story of these characters when I first read about them in Serengeti. As I had hoped from the description I was soon drawn into the characters and the story of how it all began, which I very much enjoyed reading and I was disappointed when it had to end. I’m afraid that to say more would give away too much and lessen the enjoyment for readers. In reviewing this, I wish that I could say I’m only reviewing Savannah which was very interesting, had some wonderfully fun and unusual humorous moments and kept my attention from start to finish. However, having now read three of the stories in this series it’s kind of like reading a really good book that covers several different story lines in sections. In fact, it reminds me of reading serial science fiction where you had to wait expectantly for the next month’s issue to come out. I definitely suggest Savannah to readers and am waiting expectantly for the next issue in a manner of speaking…

Trixie & Me (Galactic Exploration) by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on May 31, 2013
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trixieOriginal review posted Saturday, April 14, 2012

Description: Trixie & Me is the second in a series of stand-alone novellas exploring alternatives to the Rare Earth Hypothesis in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Trixie and Berry are trapped on an alien space ship. Berry can’t move, but he seems to understand what’s going on. Trixie is confused, she has no recollection of how they ended up in the dark depths of an alien war craft. She struggles to comprehend even the simplest of concepts, struggling to speak, but she is free of her chains, so she is Berry’s only hope. They must escape their captors and warn humanity about this sinister threat coming from the galactic core.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

The author requested that I read/review this book. What a great and unexpected ending. I love a good twist and this one was totally unexpected. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you more than that or it’ll ruin the whole experience.  All in all this was a great story.  It was a little slow at the beginning, but picked up nicely on the way and moved along at a good pace once it got going.  When you get to the end you finally realize what was being built, though at no point in the story did I expect the conclusion to be what it was.  Mr. Cawdron’s writings improve and become more intriguing with each new tale he produces and I look forward to reading the next in this series of novellas exploring the search for intelligent life.  This story was cohesive and intriguing.  The ideas were fresh and well thought out and I truly enjoyed it.  Thus far, I’ve enjoyed Mr. Cawdron’s various stories and look forward to seeing more from this up-and-coming independent author.

Serengeti by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on May 31, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

serengetiOriginally reviewed on Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Description: Serengeti is the first of three novellas exploring alternatives to the Rare Earth Hypothesis in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

The Serengeti is a generation star-ship, venturing out above the Milky Way, searching for signs of alien intelligence. The crew discover far more about the nature of sentient life than they imagined possible.
Review – 4 of 5 Stars:

I’d previously read Anomaly and had really enjoyed it. So, I was excited to read Serengeti. As I had hoped, Peter Cawdron did a good job writing Serengeti and it caught my interest right away. It suited me fine that it was heavy on science as it explored whether man should search for other life in the universe, among other things. I very much enjoy stories that make me think so the fact that it wasn’t an action story did not bother me in the least. I especially liked that in addition to the scientific question being explored, it explored the reactions and feelings of the characters as they were faced with the reality of their small part in this ongoing project. There was plenty to think about. I’m also a sucker for a science fiction love story, even a heavily cerebral one. I read the whole thing in about two hours. I realize this novella is the first of the series, but it seemed as if it could have benefited from being expanded a bit more. I’m hoping that Mr. Cawdron will give us a little more story in the next one. I’m intrigued by what might have happened next. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed what I read and look forward to seeing the next one in the series.

Anomaly by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on May 31, 2013
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Original review: Sunday, February 12, 2012

anomalyDescription: Anomaly examines the prospect of an alien intelligence discovering life on Earth. The technological gulf between mankind and the alien species is measured in terms of millions of years. The only way to communicate is using science, but not everyone is so patient.

Mankind’s first contact with an alien intelligence is far more radical than anyone has ever dared imagine. With a technological gap of millions of years, mankind is barely able to recognize the arrival of an alien space craft outside the gates of the United Nations in New York.

Review – 5 of 5 Stars:

I found Anomaly randomly when I was looking for something to read at lunch one day and consider it a fantastic purchase. In fact I enjoyed it so much that I’m currently reading Serengeti, another book by Peter Cawdron that I’m sure I’ll be reviewing here when I’ve finished. The characters and hero of the book were vibrant, every day people, which greatly added to its charm and interest level in my opinion.

Anomaly was a great science fiction book. I loved that it was so different from other books I’ve read. It was truly original and fresh. The writing was tight and compact and I was especially intrigued by how the world as a whole reacted to the discovery of Earth by an alien intelligence that was patient enough to wait for us to learn about it. It was a smart book, rather than an action novel and I found it really difficult to put down. If you enjoy intelligent, fresh, speculative science fiction that makes you think, this book is for you!

I read to be entertained. If you share that view, then Peter Cawdron is definitely an author to watch for in the future.

Additional comments:

Since reading this book, I’ve read other books by Peter Cawdron as he has progressed as a writer, but I stand by the 5 stars because I loved the concept and how different it was from other books I’d read.