“Emma. For the past five months, I have watched the world die. Glaciers have advanced across Canada and England and Russia and Scandinavia, trampling everything in their path. They show no signs of stopping. The data says they won’t. Within three months, ice will cover the Earth, and life as we know it will end. My job is to find out why. And to stop it.”
Those are the opening lines to A.G. Riddle’s science fiction novel Winter World. When the story begins, Emma is leading the expedition to solve why, in the midst of global warming, the earth is freezing. Shortly after seeing an unusual shaped object in space, a power overload destroys the Space station and leaves Emma floating in space.
Meanwhile down on earth, robotics expert James is the only survivor of a prison riot. NASA convinces him to lead an expedition into space to determine what happened to the space station and make contact with the unknown object.
On earth three alliances have formed that move people to the remaining warmest places on earth while they work to survive. James and other experts from these alliances put together a plan to head to space, make contact with the object and reverse the world cooling. Along the way, James rescues Emma.
As the book jacket says, “Close to the burning edge of the sun they catch a fleeting glimpse of something that shouldn’t be there...something unnatural. Suddenly humanity must face the possibility it is not alone in the universe. And the terrifying possibility that whatever is out there may be trying to exterminate us.” This page turner was recommended to me by KRCU General Manager Dan Woods.
If you’re fan of science fiction/outer space/end of the world/page turning stories, then you must read Winter World by A. G. Riddle.
