Crater, the new book by author of book that inspired October Sky
"October Sky" is one of my favorite feel good movies!
Here's the trailer to refresh your memory!
According to Rotten Tomatoes:"NASA engineer Homer H. Hickam, Jr.'s autobiography provided the basis
for this drama about a teenager coming of age at the dawn of the space race. In 1957, Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a
high school student in Coalwood, West Virginia when the Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first man-made satellite. While
most of his friends and neighbors react with fear or distrust, Homer is instantly fascinated and begins studying everything
he can find on jet and rocket design. While many of Homer's friends are puzzled by his new obsession, several new friends
share his enthusiasm, and with the encouragement of his teacher (Laura Dern), Homer and his fellow "Rocket Boys"
begin designing and launching their own homemade missiles. However, Homer's father (Chris Cooper) takes a dim view of his
son's interest in rockets and is convinced Homer's future should be the same as his own, working in the local coal mines.
October Sky mixes the drama of traditional family conflicts with a nostalgic glimpse of life in the mid-50's and a look at
the earliest days of our journey into space."
Now, Homer Hickam has written a new book, a fictional sci-fi one. According
to his website:
"A mining colony on the moon. A teen sent on
a deadly mission. And a secret bigger than two worlds.
It's the 22nd Century. A tough, pioneering people mine the moon for Helium-3 to produce energy for a desperate,
war-torn Earth. Sixteen-year old Crater Trueblood loves his job as a Helium-3 miner. But when he finds courage he didn't know
he had and saves a fellow miner, his life changes forever. Impressed by his heroism, the owner of the mine orders Crater to
undertake a dangerous mission. Crater doubts himself, but he has no choice. He must go.
With the help of Maria, the mine owner's frustrating but gorgeous granddaughter,
and his gillie—a sentient and sometimes insubordinate clump of slime mold cells—Crater must fight both human and
subhuman enemies. He’ll battle his way across a thousand miles of deadly but magnificent lunar terrain before vaulting
into the far reaches of space, there to recover an astonishing object that could mean the difference between life and death
for every inhabitant on the moon."
Watch this amazing
book trailer! One would think it is for a movie, it's so well done!
