Gold Rush

By: Peter Cawdron

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Astronomers discover an interstellar comet on a collision course with Venus. Not since Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 struck Jupiter in 1994 has a collision captured the public's imagination, but all is not what it seems. Additional observations reveal a second comet also on a collision course with Venus, sparking speculation about the possibility of extraterrestrial involvement. NASA astronaut Dice Newman is already in space, heading to Venus to observe the impact, when confirmation comes of an alien spacecraft entering the solar system.

"Gold gave birth to cities and cemeteries alike.” —John David Borthwick, California (1854)

FIRST CONTACT is a series of stand-alone novels that explore humanity's first interaction with extraterrestrial life. This series is similar to BLACK MIRROR or THE TWILIGHT ZONE in that the series is based on a common theme rather than common characters. This allows these books to be read in any order. Technically, they're all first as they all deal with how we might initially respond to contact with aliens, exploring the social, political, religious, and scientific aspects of First Contact.

Great story but they used an AI narrator

Another excellent story by Peter Cawdron but a ‘Virtual Voice’ narrator, essentially AI, was used. This made for a rather dismal listening experience as the narration was rather monotone with no difference in inflection between the characters either male or female. I gave up on the audiobook and went back to reading the story. From now on I’ll check to make sure the audiobook has a human narrator before I buy it.

a fantastic first contact novi

I really liked that the Syfy was just hard enough to be believable and the story was great. it was nice to listen to hopeful and positive book right now when so much seems to be going wrong in the world

You won’t like listening to this

I always like Cawdron books. They are usually well-written and thought provoking. This could very well be one of those, but unfortunately it was ruined by the, “Virtual Voice” a.i. narrator.

There were mispronounced words, weird inflections as well as a lack of emotion. You don’t appreciate the skill and craft of a voice actor until you are subjected to something like this.

There have been narrators that I didn’t like in the past, but I think I’d take the worst human audiobook narrator I’ve ever heard over this ”virtual voice” thing.

The biggest bummer is this really seemed like an interesting book. I hope they re-do it with a human someday.

Not a science fiction book

The story line had so much promise. new and fresh. But, in the end it was about the human condition and the author spent endless time describing every minor detail.