Title – Apollo’s Outcasts

Author – Allen Steele

Fiction – Young Adult (and Adult)

I’ve been a fan of Allen Steele’s writing for many years now, as I really enjoy his mix of real science and real characters. He writes near-future science fiction about things like building the first moonbase, manned Mars exploration and so on. Instead of the high-tech utopias that some series have, his books have everyday people doing everyday jobs

– except those jobs are a few years in the future, and in space.

The book tells the story of sixteen-year-old Jamey Barlowe’s fight for survival and freedom together with his friends, against a corrupt and authoritarian government. It has politics, intrigue, action and a touch of romance, all together in a can’t-put-down read. Highly recommended for young adults

– and adults who enjoy a well-written and well-researched story.

‘Apollo’s Outcasts’ is set in 2097, and is narrated by Jamey. He lives in a wheelchair thanks to his fragile bones, since he was born on the Moon before returning to Earth as an infant. His father is a prominent scientist who publicly opposes right-wing Vice-President Lina Shapar

– and when the President dies mysteriously and Vice-President Shapar seizes power, the family has to go on the run in the middle of the night. Jamey and the children of several other scientists are smuggled onto a shuttle to flee Earth, joining the residents of Apollo, the first international mining colony on the Moon. Thanks to the lower gravity, Jamey can stand and walk normally and joins Lunar Search and Rescue. But Shapar won’t give up the chase quite so easily, especially since one of the refugee children is more than she appears…