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ISBN: 1-932695-53-2
         978-1-932695-53-3
Rated M [Mature]
Danvedi Garwal is the highest peak in the Toribol system; a magnificent stratocone volcano rising high above the surface of the tiny Lochlon moon, Utha. The mountain remains unconquered after repeated attempts by climbers from dozens of worlds where alpine climbing is an interplanetary obsession.

    Now, Alois Anwar will finally get his chance to lead a group of the finest mountaineers alive to the top. But there is more to the challenge than reaching the summit.

    The Amanian ascent team faces political complications from a rival nemisis Trescan team advancing on the opposite side of the mountain, along with everything else the mountain throws at them including deadly parasites, period cyclones, ice worms, pagan myths, the hopelessness of failure and the greatest obstacle of all...themselves.


$14.95 Tradesize paperback
The Challenge
by
Kirk J. Pocan
Another blast of wind funneled down the slope and ripped open the body sled that Skodad hauled up from the Spider’s Nest where his comrade perished.” With an opening line like this, I was hooked.

I found Mr. Pocan’s characters, technology, and settings to be well written and gripping. The dialogue is believable in the words of his characters. We have a number of very interesting characters. If I were to tell, the story would not be the same.

The fact that Mr. Pocan has climbed extensively in the Western United States is a major reason that the climbing and all the technology that surrounds it is true to life. I found this a read that is fraught with danger, intrigue, and a cast of real characters. For anyone that wants a good book to read, this is it. I highly recommend this book.


---Bob Medak
www.allbooksreviews.com


We tend to think of the future in terms of alienation, mutation, interaction with aliens, and not necessarily as two rival factions trying to climb a mountain peak on a distant moon. But, as the author Kirk Pocan (himself an environmental chemist and climber) presents it this may be an interesting perspective on those very subjects.

There are aliens here, plus the dreaded ice worms: “He stabbed the black mass on his leg again, running the spike deep into the dark flesh. The thing loosened its grip and slid down to his knee. A moment later it climbed back up with a sucking motion that pinched his leg down to the bone.” This added dimension of the fantastic, takes a traditional yarn up a notch or two.

The dialogue is crisp, the description, almost psychedelic...
The climber’s real discovery is inevitable, sad and yet somehow noble: “Yet the truth was that they were all expendable and the climb would continue without any one of them, even he, for just as long as was possible.” More than the truth of climbing a mountain, this is the truth of living life.

...suspense builds nicely and this is a surprising proficient book for a first work of fiction.

---Reviewed by: John Lehman | View Bio

If you are afraid of heights, take warning: The Challenge is about extreme mountain climbing--in a distant galaxy! On the surface it is a “quest novel,” involving two competing teams of climbers (the Amanians and the Trescans) that attempt to climb Danvedi Garwal the most unconquerable peak in the Toribol system, a huge stratocone volcano rising high above the landscape of the tiny lochlon moon, Utha. On another, more subtle level, it is about the tension between the consciousness of the climbers and the “consciousness” of the peak itself.

The strength of the book lies in its wonderful landscape and the struggle of the climbers to engage it. The portrait is magnificent and chilling. Even though the vast majority of readers would never undertake such a bloodcurdling adventure (no sense in working yourself into a lava!), reading THE CHALLENGE is an opportunity to engage one vicariously. The book is highly recommended for the armchair adventurer.

--- Reviewed by: Rod Clark | View Bio