Marcha Fox, science fiction author of the Star Trails Tetralogy and former NASA engineer based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, not only knows her science, she writes a beautiful story.
I have been 
captivated by Marcha’s book Beyond The Hidden Sky, the first volume in her wonderful Star Trails series, and my review follows below.
Even better, you can hear all about Marcha’s latest interest from the author herself as she is being interviewed tonight by Gia Scott on the radio show The Dawn Of Shades.
The show goes out 8.00 pm to 10.00 pm Central Daylight Time on the 30th September 2014. If you can’t catch it live, the show is available FREE through its archives HERE . Marcha is a wonderful author with a fascinating life story and hearing her talk live will be a treat for her fans of astrology.
My Review of: Beyond the Hidden Sky by Marcha A. Fox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A joy to read. Imaginative hard sci-fi with real-life characters
Imagine growing up in a regimented, well-ordered, pristine bubble. Then imagine you burst that bubble accidentally and your new playground suddenly opens up to include the galaxy, but you’re on your own, your family is travelling farther and farther away, you’re trapped in this escape pod, and there’s a virtual nanny telling you what to do. Imagine you’re a natural rebel.
Creena Brightstar is a rebel.
Dirck is her brother. Dirck is dutiful, compliant, and loves to drive his non-conforming sister crazy. This time he went too far. Now he’s with his father and on a mission to find Creena, only the big, bad world outside is nothing like the bubble he’s raved about all his life, and his dad has some rapid education to do.
This is such a fun, fascinating read. Marcha Fox knows her science, and the Brightstar children rapidly need to learn all this stuff about space travel, warp drive, and time bumps, and so the reader learns right along with them. Anyone who loves hard science will lap this book up. However, that and the wonderful world-building is the bonus.
The real joy in this story (the start of a bigger, complex, political sci-fi thriller chock-full of mysterious baddies) is Creena and Dirck’s development. Adversity tests, tries, and changes their outlook on life. In Marcha Fox’s world, never mistake inexperience for incompetence. She expects much from her young characters, and yet intuitively understands and empathises with them.
Oh, and there’s a robot I swear would drive C-3PO insane.
Overall, I highly recommend this book for both young and old and I will be gradually devouring the rest of this series.
Ceri London's Blog, Science Fiction Author 