The Long Way Home [Paperback]

Darrell Bain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

A surprise assault on an Exploration Corps starship by implacably hostile, xenophobic aliens leaves its one remaining longboat as the only option for warning the home worlds of the existence of the predators. Unfortunately, the starship met disaster while thousands of light years from Earth. Theoretically, that sort of voyage in a longboat is possible but has never been attempted. In order to return, the crew has to stop on numerous unknown planets to renew supplies and hydrogen fuel many, many times along the way. They know they will certainly face danger and inimical life forms, as well as the hazards of braving interstellar space in a ship meant only for travel within a solar system. And before they get anywhere close to Earth they will need to figure out a way to destroy a much larger and much better armed alien starship. The ship shadowing their every move must not be allowed to follow them home to Earth and its colonies. The long journey has to succeed, even as more and more members of the crew fall prey to perils of the incredible journey. Humanity must be warned. There will be no second chance. Fail, and the poorly armed home worlds will likely die.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Double Dragon Publishing (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155404703X
• ISBN-13: 978-1554047031
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,033,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have read about 20,000 books in my lifetime, much of it science fiction but history, mystery, war, popular and historical fiction as well. I also write and have a variety of books published in print and as e-books. I like to write humor and adventure/mystery/science fiction/suspense/thriller novels and short stories. I have worked in the medical field, am a Vietnam Veteran and currently live and write in east Texas where my wife Betty and I owned a Christmas tree farm until two years ago. I like to correspond with fans and can be reached through my web site, www.darrellbain.com We have two dachshunds that I've written about. I currently have about fifty books in print.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cut the soft porn and this would be much better, January 2, 2010

By 

T Hamel - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Long Way Home (Kindle Edition)

Great alien environents. Characters you care about. Fast paced. I cant wait for the sequal. Those nasty monkey claws need a good butt kicking. If Bain had skipped the sleasy romance details I would give it 5 stars. However Porn and Sci Fi Combos are usually much worse. Please stick to pure Sci Fi next time Darrell.

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, August 22, 2011

By 

R. Whitsitt (Stockton, Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Long Way Home (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book and although I don't want to give it away, I really liked reading about the character's lives. I for one didn't mind the sex parts of the books. It really wasn't all that graphic. Yet it did help me feel for the people more. I was amazed at the worlds and the dangers that they encountered. Always something so strange. How they went to faster than light or warp speed or whatever was a novel idea. Oh and the monkeyclaws were seriously bent creatures! I liked the ending and it left me with a good feeling. I kept saying to myself, "Wow! That was a good book". Of course I'm just an average joe here and not a professional critic. I've seen some people here citicize us average reader's comments. It's the one or two naysayers who are the odd man out. Most of us are having a good time reading good books from this great Author. There are some formatting errors in here but not bad enough that I can't just ignore it. It's the story that counts! And the kindle price is right. You know, I could seriously see this one as a movie. It would sure be something new and fresh. I'm quickly becoming a Sci-fi fan, and Darrell Bain is to blame!

2.0 out of 5 stars Ran out of Steam, November 1, 2009

By 

David Thill (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Long Way Home (Kindle Edition)

First, confession time: I didn't make it through this book. 20% of the way in, I decided that I'd given it a chance, and could in all fairness put it down.

The idea is appealing - who doesn't love a castaway story, a quest to return home with only your wits and the contents of a lifeboat to get you there? Unfortunately, the writing just couldn't support the story the author wanted to tell. There were two big issues I had with the writing. The first was composed of a lot of little issues of terminology and jargon. After a while, the difference between a Spacer 3 and an Explorer 2, or a warrant officer and a lieutenant, start to get confusing - and I have read a lot of military scifi, I know what the "standard" ranking system is supposed to look like. I got the feeling that somewhere there was a nifty chart laid out with a detailed ranking system, which the author thought was cool and somehow wanted to shoehorn into the book.

The most irritating thing to me was the constant sexual background to everything. Yes, I recognize that add ANY two human beings together anywhere, and there's going to be SOME kind of sexual factor involved, however faint or unimportant - humans are sexual beasts, and Bain's characters are all youngish healthy specimens trapped in a small craft for a long journey. But it just got really old really fast having to slog through yet another random male's internal monologue describing the sexual qualifications of a random female. Apparently every male on the boat was evaluating every female primarily on her breeding potential. Again, yes, I'm a guy, I KNOW that this isn't totally unrealistic - but the characters just weren't developed enough for me to CARE that John thought Marsha had nice eyes and cute ears. Or that Luke thought Holly had firm calves. Etc. Etc. Ad nauseum. In the first week after the loss of their mother ship, the castaways spend hours wringing their hands over the potential morale effects of, in order of importance: a) the apparently inevitable breakdown of non-fraternization regulations and b) only having room for a small gym, until the expected attrition along the way cleared out more living space for the presumably grateful survivors.

Which points out the real weakness of this book. There are too many characters introduced too quickly, without enough characterization to go around. What characterization is there doesn't always ring true - the military decisions leading up the the loss of the mother ship seem exceptionally far-fetched, and the attitude towards potential loss of life on the trip home seems faintly unreal. I have the book beside me, but I won't bother opening it to try and figure out who the main characters (if any) were - I can't remember, and I was reading the book 8 minutes ago. I think the commanding officer's name started with a "J." I think some of the other characters also had names starting with a "J." That's about as much as I recall.

I believe some readers will find the story itself entertaining, if they're not too concerned with character development. It's very much a book written by a guy for guys, and some guys will find it a fun, easy romp without anything too challenging to distract from the yarn. The book feels like a first effort by an author who, in 20 years with a dozen better books under his belt, will look back on it fondly, but a little embarrassed that this was published.