Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
Adventures in Space
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
February 1, 2026
“Crash Landing,” by Christopher G. Nuttall, Raconteur Press, January 2026, 144 pages, $14.99 (Paperback), $4.99 (E-book)
Eric and his brother John Crichton come from a spacefaring family. Their parents built a major interstellar shipping line before disappearing in space. The boys, in their early teens, could stay safely on Earth, living off their trust fund. Instead, they bought two elderly starships, combining them into one functional freighter. They convinced older sister, Maryam, who is their legal guardian, to accompany them as the ship’s doctor.
“Crash Landing,” by Christopher G. Nuttall, the second book in the Boy’s Own Starship series, follows the trio as they continue their adventures.
Having succeeded, almost in spite of themselves, in making a profit they and their ship, Max Jones, are on Winchester’s World, discharging cargo and seeking another shipment. While there, they take on another crew member, Vanessa Carmichael. The daughter of a rich businessman, she has her basic spacer’s certification and wants experience on a ship not owned by her father. The Crichtons take her, because an extra hand is useful.
They soon find a charter. They are told plague has broken out on a planet called Epirus and are hired, at a high rate, to express the cure to Epirus. The charter proves dodgy; they are ambushed by pirates when they arrive in the star system. The attack forces them to crash land on Epirus. When Eric walks to the nearest settlement for help he discovers there is no plague.
The charter was a way to lure a small single-operator starship to a remote star system to seize its cargo. While Max Jones got away from the pirates, Eric believes the pirates will try to land and take the cargo from the wrecked starship. He must enlist help from the locals to keep that from happening and to get Max Jones spaceworthy again.
“Crash Landing” and the “Boy’s Own Starship” series borrows heavily from 1950s science fiction, especially the traditions of Robert Heinlein’s SF juveniles. It features teenaged protagonists operating largely independent of adult guidance. It also borrows heavily from the morality of those stories: stand on your own feet, don’t make excuses, there is no easy road to success, learn from your mistakes, and take your medicine when you make mistakes. The Crichton brother make mistakes in these books – and learn from them.
If enjoy this kind of science fiction and miss it, you will not want to miss “Crash Landing” or the rest of this series.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.
https://www.amazon.com/Crash-Landing-Boys-Own-Starship/dp/B0GC3HHLQD