Gunpowder Moon audiobook

”Life is so tenuous on Luna’s desiccated expanse that staying alive is an endeavor practiced with almost religious fervor. No one ever deserts another man on the Moon. Race, creed, religion, flag---none of that crap matters. Dechert would risk his life for any Chinese digger in distress, as long as they were within range. And he knew they would do the same for him. At least until what happened to Cole.” The Moon---”Earth’s naked shadow.”When survival is paramount, we are drawn together in the interest of mutual survival. We forget all the things that divide us. It is only when we have the luxury of existing at a certain level of comfort that we start to figure out ways to separate ourselves. There are plenty of natural resources for everyone on the moon. There are several countries participating in mining the moon, but the two elephants are the Chinese and the Americans; all the nations of the world have a stake in extracting enough Helium-3 to keep the lights on back on Earth. And the Earth is still in recovery from an apocalyptic event. ”Asteroid collisions you can prepare for, carbon emissions you can legislate against, but who expected a subsea methane eruption would plunge us back into the Dark Ages for more than a decade?”As if I don’t have enough things to worry about, now I have to add methane eruption to the list? Caden Dechert is the chief of the U.S. mining operation on the edge of the Sea of Serenity. He is a veteran of wars in the Middle East and is reminded of his tour of duty with every breath he takes. ”The gunpowder smell of moondust filled his nostrils.”Dechert has a good relationship with his counterpart over on the Chinese side of the moon. They have similar military backgrounds and both have no illusions about the simmering politics on Earth that could spill out into the universe, even to the moon. They have enough to worry about keeping some catastrophic event from wiping out their stations, such as solar flares or something as seemingly mundane as moondust crippling their power supply. They don’t have time for murder.But murder is what they got. When that hatch explodes and kills the first surfer dude on the moon, the ramifications go well beyond just the extinguishing of a life. Dechert has dealt with death his entire adult life, but never has he had a death mean so much. ”The dead settle in our mind like cooling embers. After a time they diminish, snuffed out by the immediate, and then a puff of memory rekindles them and for a moment they are hot and near once again.” A boot print is one of the few clues. That explosion that blew that hatch on the moon is the equivalent of the bullet that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914. The tinder is so dry that it only takes a spark to light a conflagration that could burn up not only all the progress Earth has made recovering from the methane eruption, but could level us back to the Stone Age. Dechert has experienced being in the middle of a war, but he has never been at the flashpoint of the beginning of a war. Was it the Chinese?Doesn’t make sense.Then who was it? Before everyone dies on the moon, maybe we should take a moment to look at the sky.”How to explain the Moon’s thunderous star field to the uninitiated? It would be like describing the yellows and reds of Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows to a blind man.” Maybe we all need to look at the sky more often and clear our minds of the deluge of testosterone driven patriotism. Dechert’s loyalties, never in question before, are wavering as he tries to sift through the evidence and find a solution before there is no turning back.The American marines arrive. The Chinese equivalent of super troopers arrive. Weapons that have never been allowed on the moon are now bristling on every person’s body. Who killed Cold Benson is becoming irrelevant to everyone, except Dechert. How many times does a war start and, within a short amount of time, everyone forgets how it ever started? Why are we fighting? Ask the Hatfields and the McCoys why they hate each other. It is like we are all just waiting for a reason to give in to our most primordial instincts. The smell of fear on the moon is mingling with the acrid stench of gunpowder, like lovers reunited over the expanse of history. The Sea of Serenity is not so serene after murder comes to visit.What I really enjoy about this book is how real it feels. This isn’t some science-fiction universe that exists in some future that is beyond our own scope. This future is tomorrow or next year or certainly within our life spans. President John F. Kennedy asked us to go to the moon; now all someone has to do is ask us to go to the moon and stay. I was very aware of the constant danger of eminent death. One mistake and not only will you kill yourself, but you might kill your whole team. It is a fragile and invigorating way to live. Where David Pedreira really shines is in his descriptions of pulse pounding, moon blasting action. I was so involved in what was happening that I needed my own space suit to monitor my vitals. ”Mayday, mayday, mayday”was a metronome that blasted through the comms in my dreams for several nights after finishing this book. Buckle up, squeeze your cheeks together, pour a pitcher of Tang, and put your cell phone on silent. You won’t have time for Earthly concerns once you land on the moon. I want to thank Harper Voyager for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review. If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.comI also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

I received a free advance copy of this from the publisher for review.They say to never judge a book by its cover, but if you show me a space helmet with a hole in the visor laying on the surface of the moon…..I’m gonna read that book. It’s the year 2072 and Earth has just begun to recover from a global climate catastrophe. Part of that comeback has been based on using helium-3 as a fuel source, and since the moon has oodles of the stuff there are now large scale mining operations happening on its surface. When Earth was in trouble all the nations worked together to do moon mining at first, but now that things are getting better everyone is ready to get back into greed and power grabs. Caden Dechert is the chief of a small mining crew who just wants to do the work and keep his people safe, but when some of their equipment is sabotaged the American government is more than happy to point the finger at a nearby Chinese base. As things escalate Dechert may be the only person who can head off a full scale war on the moon.There’s a lot to like in this one. It’s got a realistic and gritty portrayal of a near-future tech on the moon as well as having enough hard science to keep things grounded and relatable. The setting is well established so that you feel like you’re walking the corridors of this cramped underground moon base as well as feeling the exhilaration and terror of doing long rocket assisted hops into pitch black craters. The plot is also good with the set-up of a pretty intriguing mystery which then becomes more of a conspiracy thriller as events unfold.I also was intrigued with the character of Dechert who is an ex-military guy who had a belly full of all the wars that popped off when Earth was at its most desperate and fighting for scant resources so he got off planet. Going to the moon to get the hell away from most people is an attitude I can relate to these days.There’s an incredible tightness and economy to the writing so that David Pedreira is able to set up a detailed sci-fi concept as well as telling a good story. In fact, it’s just a little TOO economical. It’s less than 300 pages, and even though I’m all for an author getting it done that quickly I found myself wishing for a bit more story which came across as a little rushed at times.It’s a good sign when the worst you can say about a book is that it left you wanting more.

A murder mystery at the moon! EVERYTHING STARTED WITH ONE DEATH… In a near future, the Moon becomes a key resource to get Helium-3 from the moon dust, vital to process fuel for fusion reactors.Each major political power with space capabilities has its own facility at the Moon, like USA, China and Russia.Caden Dechert, manager of the American one, is a war veteran and he can’t avoid to notice that the moon dust smells just like gunpowder……so it’s not so rare that a murder happens.Not matter the tense political ambiance, Dechert has been able to keep the peace with the other mining operations, however with a dead man……in a place where hand weapons were unnecesary……a madness explodes, that along with the arrival of military forces from Earth, representing each political power, now the guns are everywhere and everyone carrying them.But the mystery remains……who murdered Cold Benson and why?A murder happened at the Moon, and while you may think that it's not so easy for the culprit to escape......guess again!Never the Sea of Serenity has been more in turmoil!A great debut work full of realistic science fiction!

I was provided a galley of the book by the publisher.A murder mystery on the moon. It's as simple as that, and as awesome as that. Dechert is the chief of a lunar mining operation. He's not young. He's had substantial military experience. He's on the moon to get away from that past and to be the gruff father to his eccentric crew of misfits. But when incidents of sabotage crop up and one of his miners is killed in an explosion, the higher echelons of American forces blame a rival Chinese mining operation without genuine evidence, drawing the two nations to the brink of war--a war both sides seem to want. Dechert investigates a murder that could be the first of millions.This book is everything that I hoped Andy Weir's Artemis would be. It's smart and savvy, based solidly in real science but still totally approachable to laymen. Dechert is easy to relate to as a protagonist, and you can't help but love his strong bonds with his quirky crew. His experience makes him a fantastic investigator like the greats of the genre. The book is a fast read, too. It hooked me from the start and I had to read through in about a day.

In the second half of the 21st century, there are HE3 mines on the moon, a clean energy source. Terra has been severely hurt by global warming, but not in any vague way. There were sudden, huge climate changes due to methane being released by the thawing of old layers off the coast of Washington state. That's a real possibility according to this article. (Another article says nitrous oxide may be a bigger danger, but that came out after this book was published.) Pedreira then sketches the economic & political impacts through scattered references - no data dump! I love it when actual science is used this well in a book.There's a good mystery leading to a lot of tensions & some great action. All of it was very realistic until it got a bit out of hand at the end. His shuttle was a bit too convenient & well fueled. So, it wasn't perfect, but still a really good adventure on the moon full of excellent characters driving a very tense situation.Jeffrey Kafer did a fantastic job narrating this. His voice & tone was that of a noir crime novel that enhanced the bleak atmosphere of the moon & the situation. I would have enjoyed this in text a lot, but Kafer was truly a great bonus.

**** Review to come. ****

https://delivreenlivres.blogspot.com/... Nous sommes en en 2072, et l’extraction d’hélium 3 sur la Lune alimente les réacteurs à fusion qui permettent à la Terre de se relever d’une catastrophe écologique sans précédent. Mais la concurrence entre les différents pays pour obtenir la ressource si précieuse fait rage.Caden Dechert, ancien marine, est le chef des opérations d’extraction minière au bord de la mer de la Sérénité. Dans sa petite station la routine bat son plein, jusqu'au jour ou il comprend que son équipe a été victime d'un sabotage.Alors qu'il se demande encore qui a bien pu faire ça, un de ses mineurs décède dans une l’explosion d'une bombe. La il devient certains que quelqu'un les a délibéré ment ciblé. Commence une chasse à l'homme en huis clot qui va mettre ses nerfs bien éprouvés à l'épreuve ... La géographie de la Lune, les contraintes techniques de la vie sur le satellite et le contexte géopolitique sur terre sont au cœur du l'intrigue dans cette guerre autour d'une ressource essentielle. Suite aux événements précédents, le gouvernement américain a décidé de réagir et envoie sur place une équipe de 4 militaires qui vont devoir se charger de protéger les intérêt américains. Ils sont persuadés que cet événement est des représailles des chinois après un événement dramatique qui a eu lieu récemment en Mer de Chine.Et cela pose plein de problèmes. Le premier est qu'ils cassent les accords qui avaient été mis en place sur le non-armement de la Lune et pourrait escalader le tout en véritable guerre, les mineurs se retrouvant en plein milieu. Le second est le fait que la station n'est pas faite pour accueillir 12 personnes, elle est normalement limité à 8 maximum. Ce qui pose la aussi pas mal de problèmes de matériel, ressources et de sécurité de l'ensemble de l’installation. Caden ne comprend pas toute cette agitation. Étant un vétéran il a connu divers guerre et c'est à la base pour s'éloigner de la Terre et de ses tensions qu'il avait pris ce métier loin de tout. En plus il avait de très bonne relations avec les autres mineurs du coin, surtout les chinois, les plus proches, qui sont devenus ses amis avec les années. Dans cet environnement hostile on se sert les coudes et il sait que comme lui, ceux ci auraient tout fait pour les sauver si ils étaient en danger.Du coup ce que lui sort gouvernement comme arguments ne semble de son point de vue pas du tout logique et il sent qu'il y a quelque chose d'autre par derrière. Il décide donc d'enquêter de son coté pour essayer de mettre le doigt dessus.Par contre ne vous attendez pas à de l'action, on est vraiment sur un livre d'ambiance ou la tension ne cesse de monter tout du long.Je pense d'ailleurs que c'est surement ce point la qui pourra déplaire à certains. Au final il ne se passe pas grand chose. Tout repose sur l'ambiance pesante, le stress des différents protagonistes qui sont bloqués et en danger sur place. Dans un sens, niveau ambiance, ça peut légèrement faire penser à Seul sur Mars sur ce point, ou la survie dans l'espace est au cœur de tout, mais ça n'a en fait rien à voir d'autre.L'intrigue est très sympa, bien ficelée quoi qu'un peu simple au final, avec peu de rebondissements. On pourrait presque dire que le livre est un peu court.Je pourrais lui reprocher de mon coté que le coté "enquête" est finalement un peu absent. Enfin elle existe mais il y a peu d'étapes en gros, ce n'est pas une enquête ou on va d'indices en indices et on est très loin du genre policier que j’apprécie mieux en général que le thriller.15.5/20

Gunpowder Moon a taut hardish blend of classic sci and airport thriller. In the year 2072, Helium-3 mining on the Moon provides vital fuel for a devastated Earth. Geopolitical tensions between the United States and China spill over to the harsh surface of the Moon, and when a miner is killed by a bomb, the cold war threatens to explode. A bureaucrat from the back office arrives to take control, and then a squad of Air and Space Marines, and the entire command structure is ready to start a war. It's up to mining supervisor Dechert to get to bottom of the plot before missiles fly.The story moves quickly, and Dechert has an appealing voice as a narrator, an ex-Marine who saw combat in the Bekaa Valley and doesn't ever want to see more again. The tech is worn down and gritty. It's thematically offshore oil rigs in space, which isn't exactly novel, but it's well done.The flaw in the book is the secondary characters. Even though this story takes place in a bottle, with maybe a half-dozen people in the mining outpost and a few more over comms, I had difficulty distinguishing them aside from The Girl (fortunately a surrogate daughter and not a love interest). Characterization is admittedly hard, but Gunpowder Moon does it in a rote way, like this is a novel therefore it must have characters. Still, speed is a virtue, and the tension carries the story.

It's way too easy to die on the moon, and terrifyingly easy to start a war. These are the two thoughts that dominate the reader's mind throughout Gunpowder Moon. A mining operations commander and his crew get caught up in an international crisis when drilling equipment is sabotaged and a young specialist is killed. An intense, disturbing read.

I love Pedreira’s near-future, horrifying climate collapse, economic crisis and all. His central hero is a memorable one, Lew Archer broken by modern war and endless wartime, slowly building himself back into someone recognizably human. I do wish Pedreira had spent a bit more time on the mystery, since once things kick up they just do not stop. Consequently, the central question’s resolution feels the wrong kind of abrupt. And outside of his hero, Pedreira’s cast tend more towards interesting sketches than full-blown characters. Still, I liked this quite a lot, and I hope to read more of his work in the future.

I don't read a ton of sci-fi, and I really enjoyed Gunpowder Moon. This is a book about resource mining on the moon, and the first murder that occurs up there. It was intriguing and had some good suspenseful parts. I think there were a few too many characters to keep track of, but it was manageable enough. Some of the science was a bit over my head, but it wasn't too bad - this book is definitely readable for a science dummy like me. This was a good read, and I would definitely read more from this author. Thank you to Harper Voyager for sending me a copy of this! Gunpowder Moon will be out on 2/13!I also must say that I LOVE the title and cover of this book!

A taut page turnerHeld my attention from the first paragraph and didn't let go until the last. Likeable protagonists, a good whodunit, and a fascinating look into the nature of humanity and the idea that just because mankind makes the giant step into space doesn't mean nationalistic enmity doesn't follow.

I INHALED this book! Brilliant mix of action and politics... on the moon!

This isn’t my usual genre, but I was taken in by the title, premise, and... yes, the cover (shut up). It didn’t disappoint.