"It's kind of silly if you think about it. I'm in my space suit on Mars and I'm navigating with 16th century tools. But hey, they work".

Now this is the sort of story to get your teeth into. It reminded me of Journey Into Space with a modern twist and rather amusing hero to boot. It's not the sort of work that resounds deeply afterward; there's a lightness to the way it's written that lets you come away having finished it without any baggage. But while in there, you're really feeling it and wondering just how much more this guy can take.

"“I could find something sharp in here and poke a hole in the glove of my EVA suit. I could use the escaping air as a thruster and fly my way to you. The source of thrust would be on my arm, so I'd be able to direct it pretty easily.”
“How does he come up with this shit?” Martinez interjected.

“I can't see you having any control if you did that,” Lewis said. “You'd be eyeballing the intercept and using a thrust vector you can barely control.”

“I admit it's fatally dangerous,” Watney said. “But consider this: I'd get to fly around like Iron Man.”"


Everything's very contrived, of course, but that's just how this sort of story works. I can't quite finger what's so delightful: it's a bit cheesy in places, really, looking at it objectively. But for some reason, I was pretty hooked.

"“The Vehicular Airlock?” Johanssen said. “You want to... open it?”

“Plenty of air in the ship,” Lewis said. “It'd give us a good kick.”

“Ye-es...” Martinez said as he brought up the software. “And it might blow the nose of the ship off in the process.”

“Also, all the air would leave,” Johanssen felt compelled to add."

So? TO me, it's properly modernised pulp-era sci-fi for the now. I must admit, the ending didn't exactly surprise, and I must further add that the copy I was sent for free says "Redistribution of this e-book is permitted, so long as it is distributed for free." whereas the author's website now says it's being taken up by a big publisher and so is no longer available. Hey. Whatever the rules and rights of the thing, it was a well-told story and I'm rather glad I read it.