The Last Dance

Written by Martin L. Shoemaker

Narrated by Joyce Bean, Natalie Naudus, Whitney Dykhouse and 5 more

At the heart of a mystery unfolding in space, the opposing forces make a treacherous journey between Earth and Mars.

In space, mutiny means death—that’s why Inspector General Park Yerim is taking her investigation so seriously. The alleged mutineer is Captain Nicolau Aames, whose command of the massive Earth-Mars vessel Aldrin has come under fire. The vast System Initiative says he disobeyed orders, but his crew swears he’s in the right.

En route to Mars, Park gathers testimony from the Aldrin’s diverse crew, painting a complex picture of Aames’s character: his heroism, his failures, even his personal passions. As the investigation unfolds, Park finds herself in the thrall of powerful interests, each pushing and pulling her in a fiery cosmic dance.

Corruption, conflicting loyalties, and clashing accounts make it nearly impossible to see the truth in fifty million miles of darkness, and Park faces danger from every direction. All eyes are on her: one way or another, her findings will have astronomical implications for the Aldrin and the future of space travel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Nov 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781799749004

Martin L. Shoemaker

Martin L. Shoemaker is a writer and programmer who, as a kid, told stories to imaginary friends. Fast-forward through thirty years of programming, writing, and teaching. He wrote, but he never submitted anything until his brother-in-law read a chapter and said, “That’s not a chapter. That’s a story. Send it in.” It was a runner-up for the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award and earned him a lunch with Buzz Aldrin. Programming never did that! Shoemaker has written ever since. He is the author of The Last Dance in the Near-Earth Mysteries series, and numerous short stories and novellas, including Murder on the Aldrin Express, which was reprinted in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection and in The Year’s Top Short SF Novels 4. He received the Washington Science Fiction Association’s Small Press Award for his Clarkesworld story “Today I Am Paul,” which continues in Today I Am Carey. Learn more at www.Shoemaker.Space.

Reviews for The Last Dance

[auntmarge64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Later in this century, humanity is working out the kinks in maintaining a sustainable human presence on Mars. There are some permanent settlers, and there are a couple of ships that do regular slingshot runs between Earth/Luna and Mars, never actual pausing as they await rendezvous with ships that dock on-the-fly to deliver and pick up people and supplies. The ship Aldrin is one of these vessels, and its captain has been charged with mutiny for refusing to obey orders from the governing body. A young but self-possessed Inspector General has been brought on board to investigate and decide the merits. She is suspicious of the official hurry, since the ship will not be at its destination for months. She has the official complaints and wants to hear the defense, but the extraordinarily loyal crew stonewalls her, forcing her to offer them off-the-record interviews. Their stories of the captain, known to be extremely abrasive and demanding, shows the parts of his history for which they were present, and quite a bit of it involves the early exploration of Mars and the difficulties of the human push to settle there.The stories are an effective ploy, although the writing is occasionally awkward for what is presented as spoken narrative. I found myself drawn in to each person's testimony and to the Inspector's efforts to defuse a volatile situation between the crew and the soldiers brought aboard to apparently be something of a threat to both her and the crew. Matters are much more complicated than they appear in the official version (as might be expected) and she has her work cut out in reading between the lines. This is a definite read for Mars aficionados and for those who like either spaceship tales or courtroom dramas.