Just finished re-reading Orbit ($15 or less at Amazon) after picking it up for a $1 at Books a Million on a trip, had read it just after it was first released. The main character is Kip Dawson who wins a free trip into Orbit, and winds up alone and doomed when the pilot is killed – leaving him alone to figure things out because the radio doesn’t work any longer either and only a few days of oxygen.
He panics and gives up, then realizes that he may as well do something with his last few days. He starts writing the story of his life, good, bad, and ugly, on a computer on the ship. Unknown to him, it’s being sent back to Earth, and it doesn’t take long before everyone is reading his story. He does this for a couple days, then erases it all, and tries to write what he wishes his life would have been.
A little contrived maybe, but if you’re a blogger (or read blogs), I think you may get the power that something like that might have. All the defenses down, and in doing so people realize that they aren’t so very different – all the same hopes, fears, compromises, and frustrations.
It’s a good read, and it might make you think about where you’re at in life and where you want to be. Let me know what you think of it.
