Nathan always wanted to be a rocket scientist.
Too bad rockets are banned by international law.
Forty years after a global nuclear war, Thirteen-year-old Nathan and his family struggle for survival on their small farm in northern New Mexico. When Nathan discovers a fugitive scientist hiding in an abandoned missile silo, he thinks the scientist may be able to help him fight the bio-weapon that is still plaguing their settlement. But the scientist is already battling a more serious threat.
The scientist claims that a dangerous asteroid, an earthcrosser, is on a collision course with earth, and only a nuclear missile can stop it. Missiles were banned by the armistice that ended the war, so the launch must take place in secret. Nathan agrees to help, but before they can launch the missile, the scientist is arrested.
Trapped alone in the missile silo, Nathan is the only one who can avert a global disaster, but will launching the missile save his crippled civilization or plunge the world back into war?
Earthcrosser, a 64,000 word post-apocalyptic novel for young readers, draws on my experience working for a prominent asteroid scientist, extensive research into the Titan Missile Program, and my interest in post-nuclear war survival. With an intriguing setting and strong characters, Earthcrosser should appeal to readers who enjoyed the powerfully imagined dystopias of Lois Lowry's The Giver and Margaret Peterson Haddix's Among the Hidden.
Last Update December 2010
Copyright 2010 by Rebecca J. Carlson