Eclipse [Paperback]

K. A. Bedford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 2005

Watching HMS Eclipse through the geosynch spaceport window, Officer James Dunne, a newly minted graduate of the Royal Interstellar Service Academy, thinks his first assignment will be routine . . . an easy going excursion on an aging deep-space cruiser, heading into the Dark, on a mission to explore the farthest reaches of known space.

James had always wanted to be a part of the romantic final frontier. Now, he thought, his lifelong dream was about to come true.

In fact, he was about to begin the greatest challenge, and worst nightmare, of his already-too-short service career!

Although repeatedly warned "not to rock the boat", it soon becomes obvious that it is too late for the young Officer!

He is drafted into the First Contact Team where he realizes two things: (1) that his contribution to the Interstellar Space Service might easily turn out to be that of a 'replaceable warm body' and (2) that disrespecting junior officers, like Dunne himself, often suffer 'unfortunate' and sometimes fatal 'accidents' out in the Dark.

Dunne's survival will depend on his ability to separate power from perversion while enduring the corruption and control of others!

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Eclipse is a taut psychological thriller set in the claustrophobic confines of a starship where nothing is as terrifyingly alien as humanity itself.

About the Author

K. A. Bedford was born in Fremantle, and attended Murdoch University in Perth where he studied writing, theatre, and philosophy prior to his becoming actively involved in the Australian SF community. ECLIPSE is his second novel (soon to be followed by Hydrogen Steel). He lives with his wife, Michelle, near Perth, Western Australia.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy Publishing; 1 edition (September 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894063309
• ISBN-13: 978-1894063302
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,624,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing and tense read, July 22, 2006

By 

Liviu C. Suciu (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Eclipse (Paperback)

Being a big reader of mostly SF, I keep 10-15 unread books at any given time and when I finish one, I flip through all of them to see which grabs me then. One recent evening after finishing Glasshouse, I opened Eclipse and it really grabbed me so I read it nonstop until finished later in the night. It is this good and tense. While I enjoyed Orbital Burn too, this book put Mr. Bedford on my buy on publication list, so I eagerly wait his new novel. The synopsis of the book gives a good description of the story which is pretty much independent of the earlier book, though set in the same universe, but the strength of the book is in the 4 main characters (the junior officers, the exec and the captain), their personalities and interaction. Of all the characters, the captain and some of his life trajectory as recounted (read the book to see how) struck me as so well done that you could really image him and his torments. Very, very good.

Liviu

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eclipse of the Soul, June 21, 2006

By 

dshan111 "Reader Rabbit" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Eclipse (Paperback)

Eclipse is K. A. Bedford's second published SF novel, following Orbital Burn (2004). Though set in the same universe as the earlier novel it shares none of the characters or story-line (aside from a couple of references to the "Kestrel event") with that work and can be enjoyed without having read the previous book.

Eclipse opens about forty years after the events described in Orbital Burn and 150 years after the Earth was mysteriously destroyed by forces unknown. Humanity is spread across the remaining planets and moons of the sol system as well as nearby stars. James Dunne, 21, a newly minted graduate of the Royal Interstellar Service, is about to take up his first duty on the starship Eclipse. He meets an attractive female graduate while waiting to board and soon finds himself plunged into an environment of steadily increasing horror, institutionalised bastardry, intraservice rivalry and corruption, and is faced with the threat of a new war. He also becomes involved in humanity's first contact with an alien race. Dunne has to deal with a deeply disturbed and vengeful captain and a psychotic and sadistic executive officer who is out to break his spirit at any cost. Meanwhile the reader gradually finds out details of Dunne's family history and gains insight into why he joined the service and why he feels compelled to stick it out while his world collapses around him, and his future looks increasingly bleak.

The story comes with several interesting SF ideas, such as injectable computer "headware" for command, control, communication (and hacking) aboard ship and cheap biologically engineered "disposable" humans of limited capabilities--used when a robot is not enough, and a real human is too much, for the job at hand. Then there's the "virtual queen" who seems to engender as much, or as little, loyalty in her subjects as any flesh and blood royal.

Eclipse starts out like a fairly typical Heinlein-inspired "military SF" story but it soon veers off into altogether darker, more interesting and dramatic, territory. Set almost entirely aboard the starship Eclipse the story appears to leave some loose threads hanging around towards the end (I got the impression there's much more to Dunne's father's disappearance/death, his mother's remarriage and his brother's tragedy than we find out in this story) and I can't help wondering if Dunne's story will be continued in the future. At the end of Eclipse I was left uncertain if the weakly godlike aliens were the same ones that appear in Orbital Burn. Either way the story arc feels unfinished. We can but hope.

Eclipse is an accomplished and engrossing tale that plays on the darker side of military service and human nature. It won the Aurealis award for the best Australian SF novel of 2005.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sophomore jinx? Not here, folks., July 13, 2006

By 

Charles Stuart (Canmore, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eclipse (Paperback)

It is a widely held belief in many kinds of artistic endeavours that a second effort is often a let-down, especially when the first is notable. Well, K.A. Bedford's "Orbital Burn" was notable, and I was pleased to discover that this second effort of his is even better.

Others above me here have given a nice synopsis of the story, so I'll just say that you should be careful if you have a heart condition; this book is a pulse-pounder that's guaranteed to raise your heartrate.

Killer cover, killer story ... what more could you ask for?