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Gary Martin
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Sunspots Kindle Edition

by Gary Martin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 out of 5 stars 70
See all formats and editions
Bored, lazy, and slightly incompetent; John Farrow is an unlikely hero.
He works as a shift manager on Sunspot 2, a battered old spaceship that takes the Earth's rubbish, and dumps it in the Sun's corona.
John’s limited skills are put to the test when he wakes up on a routine voyage to find half the crew missing, and the ship at a standstill. A situation made more irritating as he's not supposed to be there.
Now that everything has gone wrong, John realises how completely out of his depth he is. The remaining crew don't trust him as a leader, but he knows he has to get them working together if they have any chance of survival against an unknown threat...

Sunspots is not suitable for younger readers.


'Writing from a first-person perspective allows for the sort of sharp writing that makes this book shine. The dialogue is colloquial and fast-paced, packed with frustration and foul mouths, but it energizes the story. A unique and entertaining novel." Self-Publishing Review, 4 Stars

'Sunspots is a well-crafted story that keeps the reader fully engaged and curious to know more.' - Onlinebookclub.org

'A dark and suspenseful tale set in the confines of a garbage scow in space, SUNSPOTS is an intense and intelligent thriller.' - IndieReader.com

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 2
    Sunspots
  2. Print length
    267 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    August 6, 2015
  6. File size
    2373 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Martin approaches this plot line with his tongue firmly in cheek, and positions John as an incredibly amusing anti-hero, basically the last person you would want to suddenly be put in charge of a spaceship heading straight for the sun. Writing from a first-person perspective allows for the sort of sharp writing that makes this book shine. The dialogue is colloquial and fast-paced, packed with frustration and foul mouths, but it energizes the story. A unique and entertaining novel." Self-Publishing Review, 4 Stars
"Sunspots is a futuristic suspense novel that follows the life of John Farrow, one of two shift managers aboard the cargo starship Sunspot 2, whose mission is to transport Earth's garbage to the Sun to be incinerated. The job is rather tedious, and John spends most of his time reading, doing paperwork, and assigning tasks to his four-man team. This predictable routine is shattered when John wakes up for his shift to find the ship sabotaged and half of the crew missing. With time running out, John and his less-than-harmonious team must fix the ship and discover who--or what--has caused the rest of the crew to vanish.
Sunspots is a well-crafted story that keeps the reader fully engaged and curious to know more. The story is told from John's perspective in the first person, and jumps back and forth between the dilemma aboard the Sunspot 2 and flashbacks to John's interactions with his two best friends, Jacob and Terrell, and his girlfriend, Ez. The transitions between John's time aboard the Sunspot 2 and his personal life on Earth are done smoothly, and I can only recall one instance when the change had me momentarily confused.
The writing within this novel is top-notch and almost devoid of errors. The author provides enough detail for the reader to get a clear picture of the settings without being too heavy-handed, which is a common problem in the science-fiction drama. The plot moves swiftly, the loose ends are neatly tied together, and the ending is anything but predictable.
But although the story is well-written, I do feel obligated to warn potential readers about a couple of things. First, this book follows the dystopian future trope that is so common these days, which for me was a personal disappointment, as the book was described as being similar to Star Trek (which portrays a largely utopian future). So, if you're looking for something bright and optimistic, then this probably isn't the book for you.
My second warning to readers is that this is an adults-only story. There is an enormous amount of swearing in the dialogue, which was at times over the top and distracting. Additionally, there are numerous references to drug use, including the description of a pregnant woman drinking alcohol and using opioids. Readers who might take offense to this type of material are advised to avoid this book.
Even though I did not enjoy some of the aforementioned elements of this novel, I am giving Sunspots 3 out of 4 stars for its engrossing plot and superb writing. The author is very talented, and I believe that there is a large enough audience out there that would appreciate his work." Onlinebookclub.org 3 out of 4 stars

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B013KPXQAM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ (August 6, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 6, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2373 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 267 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 out of 5 stars 70

About the author

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Gary Martin

Gary Martin

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Gary Martin was born in the small market town of Devizes, Wiltshire in 1978. Back then, the maternity ward was on the same site as the mental health hospital, and some of his friends would probably say that explains a lot. He still lives in Devizes with his wife and their idiot dog. In his real life he works as a printer. He says the hours are long, the shift pattern is awkward, and ultimately it's very dull. He spends most of his free time making sci-fi models, binge watching TV shows on Netflix, painting, writing, going down the pub, recording music, and playing in three bands. Drums in two of them and bass in the other. He's played guitar and done vocals in a few bands in the past, but the less said about that the better. He's also made a couple of very low budget sci-fi films with a friend, that are on Youtube somewhere. Gary has always had a soft spot for the more naive sci-fi of the 50's 60's and 70's, with their monsters of the week, and the man in a bad monster suit attacking miniature spaceships, submarines, or cities. He wrote 'Sunspots' on his days off, between his other hobbies over the course of a year. The original idea behind 'Sunspots' was for it to be vaguely similar to Farscape, Firefly and Star trek, (which he loves all of) but darker and with swearing and knob gags. He developed it from there. A lot of the ideas came to him while working the night shift. He says that between 2am and 4am is a very strange time to still be awake, and the brain starts thinking in odd ways, so he jotted anything down that may just work in the story. Forever Dark: Sunspots book II is out on June 11th 2019.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
70 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Stephen R. Bender
5.0 out of 5 stars How to fake your way through life.
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
I got this ebook in a Goodrfeads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review. This wasw a neat Sci Fi novel about a man who had problems in his lovelife and on his job. He wasw a shift manager on a spaceship that dumped waste into the sun. Not well trained and with a laxadaisical crew. when something goes wrong he appears lost. You find yourself rooting for him. Surprise ending and good characterizations. Recommended.
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Robert O. Cox
4.0 out of 5 stars Odd ending.
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2022
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Lot of action and some drama. Didn't see the ending coming.
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Iris Chacon
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying sortie for sci-fi seekers
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2016
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This adventure was a rollicking read with plenty of interesting characters and situations and an unforgettable ending. Gary Martin clearly knows what sci-fi lovers want, and he provides it with aplomb.
One person found this helpful
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Jeff Harbison
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2015
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Good
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Kindle Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the time
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2020
Verified Purchase
Storyline very disjointed. Terrible editing.Characters are somewhat shallow and excessive vulgarity. Against my better judgement, I reluctantly finished the book.
2 people found this helpful
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Miriam Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2016
"Sunspots" is a cracking debut novel from author Gary Martin, I don't tend to read Sci-Fi but I'm glad I did as this is an excellent story, funny, interesting with the right amount of emotion in the correct places and I particularly enjoyed the banter and comaraderie between John, Jacob and Terrell in the duo story line running parallel to the main plot. I can well imagine a time our rubbish is transported to the sun to be burned and the author captures the idea perfectly. I look forward to the next installment by this very imaginative author and would recommend to anyone.
One person found this helpful
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Nicholas Rawlins
2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2015
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So, there are a lot of problems with this book. Right off the bat, you'll notice that there is no table of contents. Annoying, but not a deal breaker.

One of the worst problems, however, is the dialogue. Lines of dialogue will end in a period instead of a comma, followed by a lowercase "he/she said". That might sound like a small problem to some of you, but for me it was extremely distracting. An even bigger issue is the fact that a majority of the he/she said tags are missing altogether, even in conversations between up to four people at a time. Good luck trying to figure out who says what, because you certainly won't be able to by their personalities, although it really doesn't matter much anyway. The characters are bland, one-note, and ultimately pointless. Their lines feel more like tools to move through the plot than actual words people would say.

The whole thing seemed like a VERY rough draft that was in desperate need of a second pair of eyes editing it. Spelling, grammar, and basic punctuation errors are found on every page. Run-off sentences are the status quo. Dividing thoughts into paragraphs seems like a mere suggestion that the author chose to ignore. I continued reading out of curiosity in what was going to happen, but there really wasn't much of a payoff at the end.

I can say that the world building was pretty decent. It's clear the author has some interesting ideas, he just isn't able to adequately focus them into professional-level writing. Every once in a while a flash of wit and humor shows through, and it makes the trudge a little more bearable. I also liked the cover, but you can see and judge that for yourself.
6 people found this helpful
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otherworldmom
4.0 out of 5 stars Unique science fiction story
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2017
This is a book that takes a typical sci-fi trope and turns it on its ear. Sunspots is well written, fast-paced, and surprising. My only gripe is the overuse of profanity in the dialogue, but I realize that not everyone is bothered by that.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

The Foeux
5.0 out of 5 stars A special and brilliant book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2019
Verified Purchase
Here’s the thing. I don’t read sci-fi, or at least I didn’t. I don’t read enough, period, but when I do, sci-fi is not something I have ever made time for. Wrongly, I believed it to be nerdy, inaccessibly dense and full of figures; intangible worlds populated with outlandish and dubiously named characters. I was wrong. If what I have just finished reading is a true representation of what a sci-fi book is, I now read sci-fi. However, I doubt this is typical of the genre, I think this is probably something quite special…

Imagine my delight when I found this book to be funny, human and largely relatable to my own reality. There is nothing odder and less understood that the full spectrum of human emotion; the quirks and foibles of human relationships, interactions and inner voices. In this book there is love, friendship, fun, heartache, impulse, fallibility, rage. The characters are well developed without ever feeling like there is a morass of over-information or ‘nerdiness’. Caveat: I do not consider ‘nerdiness’ to be bad, I just worried that sci-fi was oft ruined by the writer riffing too extensively on their chosen subject, like I do about moths from time to time. It is not conducive to someone uninitiated enjoying themselves.

The pace and suspense of the writing fuelled my desire to reach each revelation in the plot. I finished this book as fast as I could. The moment I finished, I was compelled to review it. It is a real ‘page-turner’ and I would (and have) recommended this book.

I feel humbled, uplifted and motivated to know that ‘a bloke down the pub’ wrote this. It gives me hope that there might be a little spark of brilliance in me that I one day nurture. Perhaps I’d even be able to share a part of that with the world and in so doing improve it a bit. What I am trying to say is that this book improved my world a bit and I hope this is what the author wanted. It’s happened now anyway.

It is far, far, far better than I thought it could be (see previous misconceptions about sci-fi) and I am very pleased that a sequel exists. I am very pleased I bought and read it and I am very pleased to recommend this book to anyone, especially those with stupid sci-fi misconceptions like mine.
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The Foeux
5.0 out of 5 stars A special and brilliant book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2019
Here’s the thing. I don’t read sci-fi, or at least I didn’t. I don’t read enough, period, but when I do, sci-fi is not something I have ever made time for. Wrongly, I believed it to be nerdy, inaccessibly dense and full of figures; intangible worlds populated with outlandish and dubiously named characters. I was wrong. If what I have just finished reading is a true representation of what a sci-fi book is, I now read sci-fi. However, I doubt this is typical of the genre, I think this is probably something quite special…

Imagine my delight when I found this book to be funny, human and largely relatable to my own reality. There is nothing odder and less understood that the full spectrum of human emotion; the quirks and foibles of human relationships, interactions and inner voices. In this book there is love, friendship, fun, heartache, impulse, fallibility, rage. The characters are well developed without ever feeling like there is a morass of over-information or ‘nerdiness’. Caveat: I do not consider ‘nerdiness’ to be bad, I just worried that sci-fi was oft ruined by the writer riffing too extensively on their chosen subject, like I do about moths from time to time. It is not conducive to someone uninitiated enjoying themselves.

The pace and suspense of the writing fuelled my desire to reach each revelation in the plot. I finished this book as fast as I could. The moment I finished, I was compelled to review it. It is a real ‘page-turner’ and I would (and have) recommended this book.

I feel humbled, uplifted and motivated to know that ‘a bloke down the pub’ wrote this. It gives me hope that there might be a little spark of brilliance in me that I one day nurture. Perhaps I’d even be able to share a part of that with the world and in so doing improve it a bit. What I am trying to say is that this book improved my world a bit and I hope this is what the author wanted. It’s happened now anyway.

It is far, far, far better than I thought it could be (see previous misconceptions about sci-fi) and I am very pleased that a sequel exists. I am very pleased I bought and read it and I am very pleased to recommend this book to anyone, especially those with stupid sci-fi misconceptions like mine.
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Roger Coulter
5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting short novel that was very difficult to put ...
Reviewed in Australia on September 6, 2015
Verified Purchase
An exciting short novel that was very difficult to put down (switch off). Congratulations to the author Gary Martin on his first published novel, I hope there are more to come. Perhaps a sequel?
One person found this helpful
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Ant
4.0 out of 5 stars Well.written sci fi.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2019
Verified Purchase
Very well written and a highly believable look into the possible future. Can see a bit of most people in the hero John. I would recommend this book to any sci fi fan and am looking forward to reading the sequel.
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kindlelover77
5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 14, 2015
Verified Purchase
A break away from my usual choice of genre but so glad I did! Great first novel, really enjoyed the detail and pace and was resentful of any interruptions to my reading - always a good sign! Am looking forward to the continued story....
One person found this helpful
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C. R. Bullock
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but flawed
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2017
Verified Purchase
A well written, interesting story. Some characters were believable, but others lacked any personality. I found the frequent use of swearing pointless and off-putting - I assume it was put in for effect as it only appears in certain scenarios, but it just becomes annoying. Also, I thought the ending was very shallow. almost as if the author just wanted to get the story out of the way, and couldn't think of any suitable ending. Overall, these negative points were a bit of a shame, as there clearly is some talent in the story telling - so cut out the swearing; and end with a bang, not a whimper, please.
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