Moonshot

Europa Reich, Book 1

By: James Philip

Narrated by: Madeline Clare

Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Blast off minus two!

A decade ago, the challenge was accepted: to send a man to the Moon and to return him safely to the Earth, and now a giant rocket ship designed by Wernher von Braun stands ready on the pad and the clock is counting down.

Ten years ago, nobody thought it was possible. But that was then, and this is now. Mankind has chosen to sail the new sea of space, to quest after the knowledge and the dreams of the star-filled abyss, to climb the infinite ladder to the stars.

While the peoples of the Earth shiver in the chill winds of a 30-year-long Cold War, and the superpower protagonists prime their thermonuclear arsenals across the ideological void, one country, one empire has dared to attempt what seemed impossible only a decade ago.

The race to the Moon is all but run; there can be only one winner, and for the loser, it may or may not be an omen of what is to come. To the victor go the laurels; to the vanquished...the ashes.

However, this is not July 1969. That world never came to be in this universe because in the days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Adolf Hitler was persuaded not to declare war on the United States of America.

The United States never came into the war against Germany; and the world was never the same again.

Today is January 14, 1975.

Now the mighty Moon rocket standing on a pad in Guyana bears not the Stars and Stripes, but the Swastika Flag of the Third Europa Reich and the launch has been timed so that a German astronaut’s boots will disturb the regolith of the Lunar surface on the 10th anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler, the founding father of the Nazi Movement....

©2021-2071 James P. Coldham writing as James Philip (P)2021 James P. Coldham writing as James Philip

Conceptually interesting..but.....

So the concept of space going Nazi's ( having not been defeated in WW2 ) is, on the face of it, yet another entry into this unique and fun sub-category of alternative history speculative fiction. This offering is, regrettably, not at the top of the category. Clunky storytelling, all too obvious twists, and a serviceable but sometimes inconsistent performance makes this an awkward listen. I wanted to enjoy it more, especially given that it is the first part of a series, but I just can't give it more than 3 stars. I will recommend it, but with a lot of caveats. Gotta really love the category. I did my copy free from Freeaudiobooks.com.