Customer Reviews

Abandon In Place

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

NASA is in deep decline especially looking back to its glory days of Mercury, Gemini, and the Apollo missions. As the astronaut and cosmonaut pioneers of space die, Elvis-like sightings are reported, but most rationale folks write them off as too much moonshine. However, when Neil Armstrong passes away, a Saturn V moon rocket launches from the Cape Canaveral pad witnessed by shuttle astronaut Rick Spencer. The ghostly spacecraft reaches Moon orbit, then vanishes. This phenomenon repeats itself several times.

Rick persuades the NASA brass to allow him to travel with the phantom ship, which takes him to the shuttle piloted by his girlfriend, Tessa McClain. Rick, Tessa, and astronomer-astronaut Yoshiko Sugano ignore their superiors and ride the ghost ship to the Moon with the Russians providing mission control support from earth. Rick soon learns that if he fears that the space program will end, the ship remains solid, but if he believes that the space program will recover, the ship begins to vanish. The team lands on the Moon and successfully returns to Earth only to have the CIA interrogate them to learn more about psychic powers.

ABANDON IN PLACE is a full-length novelization of an award-winning novella. The story line is exciting as Jerry Oltion uses New Age elements combined with scientific information tat tuns into an excellent paranormal tale. The novel is at its best during the space scenes, but loses thrust when the CIA enters the picture. Though the NASA leaders seem stilted, fans of preternatural science fiction will relish this weird to the moon and back thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Completely ignoring typical notions of story structure, consistency, and suspension of disbelief, Olton seems to have simply daydreamed up a wild fantasy (involving NASA and magic), and written it down verbatim. The result is one of the most genuinely FUN novels I've read in years. As with most of Olton's novels, the characters seem to enjoy the story as much as the author, and a healthy undercurrent of intelligence keeps the novel from seeming overly cheesy or juvenile.

I'd recommend this book for anyone looking for pure escapism at it's most unhindered.

Great story, but the first part of the book, first 200 pages went way to fast and let out a lot of info. Over all a good book.

Those reviewers who complaing about the second part of the book need to remember that reality is what you make of it ;)

Yes, it is true that you can clearly tell where the original short story ends. But this doesn't mean that the rest of the story is bad only that it's a _different_ story. In first part the core idea remains unexplained but we get an exiting and thrilling ride from its application. In the second part Oltion explores the core idea itself. Basically it is an intelligent approach to psychic phenomenon. Oltion asks the reader to assume that it exists and proceeds to explore what could be the rules governing it, what could be the logic behind it and what whould be the consequences if a large number of people understood these principles and tried to apply them.

Don't stop reading the book at the changing point between the too parts. You'll be glad that you continued when you reach the end.

Fantastic, can't wait for Mr. Oltions next release.

Only a Grinch (and there apparently ARE Grinches) could dislike a book as stuffed with ideas, adventure and sheer fun as Jerry Oltion's latest.

Sure, it's a little messy, but so is life. Sure, you can tell exactly where the Nebula-Award-winning short story it started out as ends and the "widening gyre" of the author's wildly imaginative elaboration begins. But the center holds. (A tip o' the hat to ol' W.B. Yeats, whose poem "The Second Coming" could describe the world portrayed in this book.)

For anyone who appreciates a novel that is truly novel, that makes you chuckle on one page and despair on the next, that has you rethinking everything you ever believed and still leaves you smiling, read this one. Unless you're anti-evolution...or a Grinch.

This book is based off a short story that was rewritten as a novella and then finally a novel. It seems obvious to me where the original idea ended and the extra stuff was added to make this novel length. It's this extra atuff that makes this book so bad though. The premise is great- a mysterious Apollo rocket launches itself monthly from Florida soon after Neil Armostrong dies. The main characters of the story investigate this and I am finding myself enjoying this book very much. I am thinking, "Heh-heh, I have found myself a new author!" But then the sci-fi ends and we are treated to 200 pages of crap about psychic phenomenon. I should have seen it coming- the first 100 pages were too good; I wondered "What will happen now, all the good stuff happened?". Because of those great early pages, I forced myself to finish the book and was very unimpressed with the results. I would steer clear of this book, there's a lot better out there.

Oltion may not be for everyone, but he can tell a decent sci-fi story. The story here (I don't want to spoil it with too many details), can drag at times but pays off in the end. His style of writing is similar to Orson Scott Card's in that it can be unclear at times, but is always imaginative. If you're an Oltion fan you'll love this. More casual sci-fi fans might want to give it a look too.

Fantasy hasn't been "my bag" since I was about 14, and I've long preferred science fiction. While this is a pretty good book, there were times when it just got to be too much for me.

I must admit, the characters are pretty good, and the idea is great, but the whole book just felt a little "rushed". It could have been another 200 pages long without sacrificing quality or readability.

The blend of magic and science, while interesting, just got to be too much at times, and I found myself putting down the book for awhile to go watch ESPN.

Still, I'd recommend you sit down, and give it a read. It's a fun little romp, even though it's lacking in any real major plot twists.