Customer Reviews

The Mars Transmission

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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In 'The Mars Transmission' a profound new technology enables the discovery of a communication from an extraterrestrial source, not light years away, but from our neighboring planet Mars. A rapid mission to Mars is developed (Mars Direct) to seek out the signal source. Having spent years with little success deciphering the meaning of the signal, NASA scientist, Dr. Jesse Wright, receives answers from some unexpected sources. With assistance from a night shift janitor, Tyler Anderson, the meaning of the alien transmission, and a conspiracy to hide that meaning is revealed. Tyler Anderson displays a unique ability to communicate with the transmission source. He inadvertently causes the Mars transmissions to cease when he informs the senders in a broadcast "we are coming". In a perhaps unlikely but surprisingly believable scenario, this ability lands him a position on the first humans to Mars crew. The NASA mission arrives on Mars safely to search for the lost alien signal source. An apparently abandoned yet active alien built complex is discovered nearly six months into the mission on Mars. This is when the highly innovative and adaptable 5 man 2 woman Russian /American crew experience tragedies in their mission. Over 200 miles from their main base, the crew creates a new home, by setting up operation within the discovered underground alien built structure. What seemed like a haven from the harsh Martian environment proves to be even more dangerous in subtle ways. There, it is unclear whether the revealed powerful alien technologies are being used to aid or hinder the crew. The answers WILL surprise you!

As a first novel from Ronald Jackson, I found this to be a well done and intriguing story. Certainly worth mentioning, the included CD containing a song titled 'Red Skies' shows exceptional talent from this author / musician, in both medias.

After years of feeling alone in the universe, a stunning discovery occurs when a repeat transmission of radio waves emulates from Mars. NASA maintenance engineer Tyler Anderson, toilet unclogger superstar works on translating the incoming message though he is unaware of a conspiracy involving his superiors. Instead he soon realizes that someone on Mars is begging for help, but first he must fix a stuffed toilet.

The world's space exploration community puts together a manned space mission that includes Tyler to investigate the transmission at its source. On Mars, the crew finds an abandoned still functioning complex, apparently built by an alien civilization that for whatever logistical reason left behind their junk but technological treasures to the earthlings who came after them. However, the crew is soon going to learn how Pandora felt when she opened the box. Things begin to wrong and some of the crew die while communication with mission control fails. Tyler concludes that the message was not a call for help, but a warning that may prove too late to heed.

Once readers accept the Walter Mitty like Tyler turning into Rocky defeating Apollo Creed by translating what everyone else thought was noise and being added to the astronaut team, fans will enjoy a strong science fiction thriller. The story line makes the flight to Mars, the subsequent landing, and the climax seem so real that readers will believe NASA and the Russians conducted a joint mission to the Angry Red Planet. Tyler may not at first be suited for the job, but the audience will like him and forget his job description as he is the hero of this epic space adventure.

Harriet Klausner

This story is so suspenseful, I didnt want to put it down! i read half of the book in one sitting, couldnt wait to find out what was going to happen next!I felt as if I personally knew the characters, and the imagery was so vivid, I could picture each scene!
this story is not only for science fiction lovers, but for anyone who would like to take an adventure to a place never visited before.
I would hope to read more Ronald reed Jackson's stories in the future.

To hardcore sci-fi fans, some parts of this story will look familiar, and I noticed most of the positive reviews seem to be from newbies to sci-fi, which seems fitting. The writing has a tendency to read like a script, but this didn't deter from what I thought was good character development and flow. The story creates an urgent manned mission to Mars in 2009 using many recently popular concepts to achieve the mission. The eventual discovery of a transmission source occurs on Mars after setting and characters are convincingly established. It becomes progressively suspenseful, and pleasingly soft on technical jargon, in my opinion. I had some suspicions, but was still surprised by the ending. The story includes a somewhat spiritual message, reminiscent of the Tim LaHaye series, though not quite as dark in that aspect. If you are a Mars fan, or just into reasonably credible adventure-fantasy, this book should be on your read list. While I did not purchase this book for a CD, the included song 'Red Skies' CD spun in my player at least 100 times in the first two weeks I got it. I actually wrote the author, and suggested he market the single separately. He replied, saying "No, but I could send him a check for my free CD if I wanted." A sure sign of an up and coming author!

D. Morgan

Hats off to the author in his debut as a novelist. The Mars Transmission was a fantastic book! The book was very suspenseful and I truly never knew what to expect next. This suspenseful element kept me reading straight through until the very end. It is an easy read that I would recommend to everyone, including people that don't normally fancy sci-fi. I really enjoyed the way the author co-mingled spiritual messages within the story. Great book!

I must admit that I'm not much of a sci-fi reader, but when I started reading "The Mars Transmission" I couldn't put it down.
I was very much drawn to the chracters and story line.
This story really stired my immagination. I was captivated by the story and the way the writer described Mars. Seemed surreal. I especially loved the free CD included with the book. I've listened to it many times and will continue to enjoy.
I have recommended this book to all of my friends and I look forward to reading more books from Ronald Reed Jackson.
Once again, wonderful story.

I found the characters interesting in this novel, particularly the main Character, Tyler.{not Mr. Anderson ;)} The Mars mission was also interesting and seemed reasonably real to me, but it was the characters and story that kept me hooked. There was not really that much hard science, or hard core science fiction in my opinion. I enjoyed the story very much, and found it difficult to find stopping points in the end. Was very surprised by the ending, particularly after seeing so many almost cliche stories about Mars lately. For most main stream readers into adventure stories I would highly recommend this book!

A friend of mine recommended this book. At first I was not interested in reading it because I am not a science fiction fan. But as soon as I began reading it, I could not put it down. I literally read the entire book in one sitting! I would recommend this book to anyone. Very suspenseful, very believable characters whome you will feel that you know.I would love to read more work by Mr Jackson!

This is a fun book. Written a bit ago before more info was discovered about Mars. What you have is a very good set of characters, that anyone who has felt a lack of familial support can immediately relate to. As with all fiction, the fantasy of what happens to the main character only enhances the fulfillment of his eventual destiny. I highly recommend.

This is a great read for anyone who loves action packed adventure ! I got so involved in the story , I lost all sense of time while I was reading this story. I could not wait to find out what was going to happen next!