Red Thunder

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
John Varley, the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of classics like The Ophiuchi Hotline and the Gaean trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon) has released his first novel in more than five years. Red Thunder is Varley at his very best, mixing complex hard science fiction themes with masterful characterization of risk-taking outsiders so common in Varley stories.

It is the near future, and a manned Chinese spaceship is on its way to Mars. An American ship is also headed to the red planet, but the Chinese have a big head start and in all likelihood will be the first humans to walk on the planet's surface. When four young misfits almost kill a washed-out ex-astronaut lying on a Florida beach in the middle of the night while four-wheeling in their tricked-out truck, a strange friendship blossoms. After the young adults meet the ex-astronaut's semiautistic/genius cousin Jubal (who has discovered a revolutionary new power source), a crazy plan is hatched to build a spaceship out of old tanker cars, fly it to Mars, and beat the Chinese! They call the ship "Red Thunder," and with Jubal's new power source ("Squeeze Drive") and a lot of American gumption, this ill-matched group of dreamers just might be able to do it…

Fast-paced, cerebral, sensual, and filled with Varley's unique wit, Red Thunder is reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's The Number of the Beast -- wicked and wondrous science fiction from a master of the genre. Paul Goat Allen

The Washington Post

Varley's great strength is in his characterizations, but in Red Thunder he also shows a strong sense of place. He's clearly in love with Florida and the many quirky and eccentric people who live there. As a result, Red Thunder is a realistic -- and funny -- novel that happens to be set in the future. The novel is also in a sense an elegy: Sf readers have long hoped to travel in outer space, and Varley implies that this will be possible only if we discover something radically different from anything now known to physicists. But if you are willing to simply fantasize about fleeing your office cubicle and becoming a heroic space explorer, this novel will amiably fulfill your wishes. — Martin Morse Wooster

Publishers Weekly

And the heart-pounding space race is on! When a Chinese spacecraft, Heavenly Harmony, threatens to land on Mars a few days before the U.S. shuttle vehicle Ares Seven, washed-up ex-astronaut Travis Broussard, his brilliant but unconventional cousin, Jubal, and four kids from Florida decide to build their own private spaceship, Red Thunder, and get there first in this riveting SF thriller from Hugo and Nebula award winner Varley. Jubal has invented an amazing new power source, the Squeezer, which provides enough thrust to get them to Mars in a mere three days. While the Chinese and other Americans head to Mars the long way, the team works feverishly to build a spaceworthy craft, because although they all want Americans to land on Mars first, a more pressing reason for their visit to the red planet arises. Jubal has discovered a potentially disastrous design flaw in Ares Seven, which has Travis's ex-wife aboard. With a plausible cover story, a lot of help and a raided trust fund, Red Thunder gets built. Will its creators evade the feds who keep nosing around? Will they launch? Will they beat the Chinese to Mars? Can they save Ares Seven? Do you have to ask? In the end, they put their lives on the line, proving that Everyman can be a hero, too. With hilarious, well-drawn characters, extraordinary situations presented plausibly, plus exciting action and adventure, this book should do thunderously well. (Apr.) Forecast: The Tom Clancy-ish jacket art is misleading, but Varley's name in big type at the top will ensure this reaches his core audience of male adolescents and young men. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.