• SaturnAlia

  • SpaceHome, Book 1
  • By: Grant Callin
  • Narrated by: Steve Heinke
  • Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
SaturnAlia  By  cover art

SaturnAlia

By: Grant Callin
Narrated by: Steve Heinke
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The year 2137: Humans discover they’re not alone in the universe. Competition between the SpaceHome Lagrangian colony and Earthers for first contact with the Aliens turns deadly in the rings of Saturn. Kurious Whitedimple is an unassuming professor of archaeology at SpaceHome University: possessor of a boring life at .3G and a boring future.

Junior Badille is a 19-year-old wrinkled gnome with an improbably high IQ, living with his parents in an isolated research station orbiting Saturn at 3.5 million kilometers: possessor of a lonely life and a short future. The odds of these two meeting, sharing high adventure, and forming a lasting friendship are astronomical...on the same order, for instance, as the accidental discovery of an alien message on the surface of Iapetus....

©1986, 2018, 2019 Grant Callin (P)2019 Grant Callin

What listeners say about SaturnAlia

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well-written space opera with great characters

Grant Callin has a background in aerospace and astronautical engineering, and it shows. The plot is plausible (okay, suspend your disbelief about aliens, constant-acceleration spaceships, and maybe some strength of materials), but it's the characters that make the story.

The main character grows from a bit of nebbish to a "look of eagles" sky pilot right up there with the likes of Kim Kinnison and Cirocco Jones. He's got a lot of interior conflicts. He's terrible at cribbage. Somehow he succeeds, and earns the respect of (nearly) everyone for making some hard choices in a calm, responsible way. He's a lot like any of us, learning to do something new and difficult, or making a big change.

Callin's done his homework, and manages to maintain suspense during scenes like moon landings and navigating Saturn's ring system, while also keeping a common sense "let's be conservative and NASA-like" atmosphere. His astronautics are largely accurate (for the 80s, anyway) and his depiction of the CRF drive is consistent and pretty believable, once you get beyond the initial magic.

Oh, and it's funny. Except for the bits that will make you cry a little. No foolin'.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

waiting on "a lion on tharthee"

can't wait for the second book in this series
they are my 2 favorite books of all time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful