Writer: Eric Brown
First Publication: 2007
Summary (from Amazon):
This is the story of David Conway and his new life on Chalcedony, a planet renowned for its Golden Column, an artifact that is mysterious and strange, no one knowing why it is present there. Conway meets some locals in the town of Magenta Bay and buys an old star ship from Hawksworth, who runs a scrap yard in the town full of old and disused star ships. Conway sets up the ship on his land and uses it as his home, but the presence of what can only be described as an alien ghost starts a string of events that lead to a revelation that will change everything for humanity.Comments:
Eric Brown is another author who I have heard about and wanted to read for a long time. This short novel/novella seemed like the perfect place to start. The author has written one story for each season. All four are collected into one volume.
I liked the authors ideas and characterization. The one problem I had with this story was that it starts out at a very slow pace. It does convey the sense of what Conway's life is like now that he is retired. This pace continues until the alien ghost comes into the picture. Then the ending seems very rushed. I think the author could have written a better story if he paced it differently. It might not be as much of a problem when it is collected with the other stories.
Even though I was not thrilled with this story, Brown demonstrated enough to bring me back for more. I am not sure if my next foray into his writing will be the second story in this series or "Helix" (a book that looks very good and has been sitting on my shelf far too long).
