“This is a revolutionary post-apocalyptic book.”–Steven Konkoly, Best selling author of The Jakarta Pandemic and Fractured StateClayton Shepard is 249 miles above Earth when the lights go out.He has no communication, limited power, and an unbreakable will to survive.His one goal: find his way BACK to his family.Shepard is an astronaut on his first mission to the International Space Station. … on his first mission to the International Space Station.
When a violent blast of solar magnetic radiation leaves him stranded in orbit, he’s forced to use his wit and guile to find a way home.
He has no idea what he’ll find when he gets there.
SPACEMAN is a post-apocalyptic/dystopian tale that tells the survival story of a man and the family he left behind. It’s written with the help of former astronauts, NASA team members, and well-respected astrophysicists that give SPACEMAN a unique sense of detail and desperation.
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“Tom Abrahams is a master with this genre. In a plot paced just this side of orbital velocity, his not-so-ordinary spaceman –and the family he loves– battle a new and unique unknown that tests their resilience, courage, and love for one another, both on and off the planet. Failure to turn the pages of this book quickly is simply, “not an option!”
–Astronaut Clayton C. Anderson, 6-Time Spacewalker and Author of The Ordinary Spaceman
“Tom Abrahams isn’t just a rising star in the post-apocalyptic genre, he is now a leading voice with his action packed stories and compelling characters. SpaceMan is a one-of-a-kind story that moves at a breakneck pace.”
— Nicholas Sansbury Smith, USAToday bestselling author of Hell Divers
“SpaceMan is an intriguing new direction for Abrahams. He cleverly veers from traditional post-apocalyptic novels to weave a well-researched sci-fi adventure sure to entertain fans of both genres.”
— Russell Blake, NY Times & USAToday bestselling author of Jet
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After listening to this audiobook I went back to the book blurb to see if perhaps I had misunderstood what I was purchasing. After all, I thought that I was getting a book much like The Martian only this time the astronaut who is in trouble is in earth’s orbit. Sure enough, that’s what seven out of eight lines of the blurb is about. Why then was it only about twenty percent of the story? Out of the one hundred twenty-seven words that form the blurb, there are six pesky little words that tell you what the real story is about: “And the family he left behind”. Honestly, I find this a little misleading because this should have been titled “The SpaceMan’s Family.” It isn’t that the story of what’s happening to the astronaut’s family on earth when the lights go out doesn’t make for a potentially good story, but it isn’t what I thought I was buying.
And it is only “potentially” good. Perhaps I am naïve, but I hope that when a solar storm knocks out all the computers on the planet (which the vast majority of people don’t know has happened—they just know the lights are out) I hope it takes more than six or eight hours for the world to start down the road toward a Mad Max-style apocalypse. But honestly, the lights go out late enough at night that many people are already asleep, but a weird cult has already mobilized shortly after dawn the next day, and within another hour instant street gangs are forming and people are trying to steal from each other, and a couple of hours later cops are getting in on the stealing. I mean, it could happen that way, but honestly, the whole story happens in less than 24 hours and I just found the break down of society a bit rushed.
To complete my frustration, the novel ended on a cliffhanger. Now I recognize that in a series there are often unresolved events, but really, there is no pretense at even coming to a resolution point on two of the three storylines.
That being said, I did like the cast of characters, and that’s important. I just think that the blurb would have been much more honest if it had focused on the astronaut’s family struggling to survive and reunite during an apocalyptic crisis while the astronaut tried to find a way back to earth.
I read it in two sittings, kept me turning pages, and couldnt wait to get back to it, the minute I could. Learned a lot about space and looking forward eagerly to getting the next installment.
Apocalyptic Fun
I’ve read several of Tom’s books before, but [spaceman-a-post-apocalyptic-thriller-the-spaceman-chronicles-book-1-by-tom-abrahams] was one of my favorites. It’s book #1 in a three-part series about what happens when an EMP knocks out power on Earth and strands an astronaut out in space. This thrilling tale races from the astronaut’s plight to his family’s fight for survival back on Earth. And unlike most apocalyptic books, this one is very believable.
Highly recommended.
You can’t go wrong with anything written by Tom Abrahams. Always original with a sense of whit in the worst of conditions.