A Fall of Moondust

This was one of the first books that I bought for myself, probably around age 13 and introduced me to the fact that you can actually choose the books that you own. I didn’t actually have all that many, I remember a small shelf in my bedroom containing perhaps 15 or 20 volumes and since I was such an avid reader I read them all multiple times, including this one. Finding it included in an Audible two for one deal I decided to give it a go and see how much I recalled…

Yes, I did recall the basic outline and most of the key scenes but still enjoyed it after the 40 year gap! What did surprise me was how well it holds up, at least in scientific and technical terms, you could make a very good low budget disaster movie and not have to change very much at all. Some of the social aspects would need to change – the emergency ration packs included cigarettes(!) And wow, the characters were quite a diverse group for their time but I do think we do need to see people from beyond the British Commonwealth.

The story itself is actually quite straightforward, a vehicle carries tourists across a large dust filled sea on the moon and a freak geological event causes it to sink in the dust. The story is then one of efforts to first locate and then to extricate the trapped tourists and crew, along with the events back at base and the efforts of the media to find out what is going on. It moves along at a good pace, there are few wasted scenes and the science and technology is pretty much spot-on, apart from not recognising that the passengers would’ve had their own personal entertainment devices and not how to rely on the efforts of the entertainment committee and the two novels that they managed to round up.

Overall, I enjoyed this and I can recommend it both as a good read and an interesting audiobook. Not a historical curiosity, a genuine science-fiction story that holds its own against the current crop.