Gunpowder Moon by David Pedreira

gunpowder moonGunpowder Moon’s title riffs off the unmistakable gunpowder smell that astronauts have reported on lunar landings. It’s journalist David Pedreira’s first novel, about the hazards of lunar mining, at least when someone is trying to sabotage your operation and kill you.

Set in a lunar He3 mining base for fusion reactors on Earth in the Sea of Serenity 2072, Caden Dechert is an ex-marine who left Earth to get away from war and politics, finds that no matter where you go, people will complicate things. The Earth has suffered a sudden exo-disaster from a massive methane burp that made the US and Europe third world countries for a time, but they are now struggling back to their former strength. Both the US and the Chinese have set up mining operations, but have agreed to divide the moon up into separate regions. There was a brief period of global social cohesion after the event, but now nationalism is re-emerging.

Dechert is an ex-Marine, now commander of the base, which is a corporate/government hybrid. Tired of conflict, he went to the moon to get away from warfare and political intrigue. Like that’s going to work out for him. Well, it did for a while, but now someone is methodically killing off the base staff, and the government higher ups are sure it’s the Chinese, but Dechert’s not so certain, and he’s got his hands full trying to keep the political situation from escalating and keeping his team alive.

The publisher would very much like readers of Andy Weir’s The Martian to flock to this book, and it’s close, though the character and political conflicts move it more into the standard techno-thriller lane than hard SF. You’ll probably like the quirky crew assembled: Quale, the brilliant but rebellious engineering type grows pot in the greenhouse, but Dechert trusts him to keep the station running. Lane, the Safety officer, is the only woman on the base, and is prickly and cynical, and hasn’t a clue that Dechert is grooming her for her own command.

The tension keeps ratcheting up towards an explosive  climax that somehow manages to leave room for a sequel amid the lunar debris. It’s a good read, and if there’s a sequel, count me in.