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Peter Cawdron

Jury Duty (First Contact) Paperback – May 19, 2021

by Peter Cawdron (Author)

607 ratings

Part of: First Contact (18 books)

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FIRST CONTACT is a series of stand-alone novels that explore the concept of humanity's first interaction with extraterrestrial life.

The United Nations is thrown into chaos when an alien spacecraft is discovered buried beneath the ice in Antarctica. With no one nation able to lay claim to the craft, a multinational effort is undertaken to salvage the vessel, which is estimated to have crashed several hundred thousand years ago. Rather than leaving key decisions to hostile governments or their armies, a jury is established to represent the average global citizen, being selected from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Their job is to review findings and guide the process of discovery.

The FIRST CONTACT series is like BLACK MIRROR or THE TWILIGHT ZONE in that it is based on a common theme rather than common characters. This allows the series to be read in any order. Technically, they're all first as they all deal with how we might respond to contact with an alien intelligence. This series explores the social, political, religious and scientific aspects of First Contact.

Print length

388 pages
Language

English
Publication date

May 19, 2021
Dimensions

6 x 0.88 x 9 inches
ISBN-13

979-8506891468
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B095GHZPGC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (May 19, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 388 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8506891468
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.88 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,317,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,976 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #22,030 in Science Fiction Adventures

Customer Reviews:
607 ratings

About the author

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Peter Cawdron
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Peter is an Australian science fiction writer, specialising in making hard science fiction easy to understand and thoroughly enjoyable.
His FIRST CONTACT series is topical rather than character-based, meaning each book stands alone. These novels can be read in any order, but they all focus on the same topic of First Contact with extraterrestrial lifeforms. In this regard, the series is akin to BLACK MIRROR or THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
Hard science fiction is a misnomer as far as categories of literature go, as it sounds harsh and difficult to understand, but that is far from reality. Hard science fiction is simply plausible science fiction, fiction that is written in such a way as it conforms to the known laws of science, and that makes it more interesting, as there's no magic wand the protagonist can wave to get out of trouble. Peter's forays into hard science fiction could best be described as informative science fiction or enjoyable science fiction.
Peter is a fan of such classic science fiction writers as Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Crichton and their influence on his style and story lines is readily apparent. You can follow Peter on Facebook or Twitter or find him posting some interesting tibit on his blog http://thinkingscifi.wordpress.com/
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Customer reviews

5 star		61%
4 star		27%
3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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John Stephens

The human condition is examined in this book

Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2021

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Once again, Peter Cawdron hits it out of the park with this, his 17th story of First Contact. I didn't think Peter could get better as a writer, but in this installment, he matured as a writer even more, showing a different side of his writing. His character development had its usual excellence, and by the middle of the book, you felt like you had known the characters for years.

And this character development is the predominant feature in this book, with the idea of First Contact taking a backseat to the human condition. The story is actually about spousal abuse and how abusers are treated, rewarded, and viewed with blinders by society. Peter has never shied away from hot button issues and in this book, tackled another one. The protagonist in this book goes through life changing experiences and comes out a better human being by the end of the book. Let's hope at least one abuser will read this book, realizes what has been happening with their life, and makes the appropriate changes.

But the thing that really hit home with me was Peter's description of Antartica and life down there. His detail made it appear that he has been there and experienced it first hand. Peter's research into whatever subject he is writing about is spectacularly extensive and it shows in this book.

While I still consider his last book, Wherever Seeds May Fall, to be his best work and possibly the best science fiction book I have ever read, Jury Duty comes in as a close second. Peter showed maturity as a writer and a capability of writing about different things, tackling difficult subject matters with ease. This book definitely deserves five stars.

4 people found this helpful

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Cheopys

First Contact is almost an afterthought

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2021

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The latest in Peter Cawdron's long list of novels of first contact with aliens. An alien vessel is found buried 400,000 years ago under a mile of Antarctic ice and and international team of ordinary people, "jurors," is selected to make on the spot decisions. We follow Nick, a beer-drinkin' fool who is whisked from his life as an abusive husband into an international team through the most hostile environment in the world.

We don't get to the first contact until near the end of the book but along the way we watch a man grow in mature in some of the best moral repartee since early Greg Egan.

I've read a lot of Cawdron in the last few years and this one was a bit of a shock. The leap in his writing from even recent works is comparable to that of Philip K. Dick after his 1974 religious experience. Cawdron has never been a mediocre writer; now he is a formidable one.

And Jury Duty is an excellent book.

4 people found this helpful

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Avid Reader

Survivor Meets Mystery Science Theater 3000

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021

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This is allegedly about First Contact but is actually a survivor / redemption story. Maybe another setting - marooned by a foreign power, part of an intricate game, a mystery exploration - but this plot has been done often and far better. It's the old "spaceship" in Antarctica tale, the plot of hundreds of sci-fi books. And it makes about as much sense as a flying rock. (PLOT REVEAL)

Things just happen - a loser is selected for a global jury, all members (Chinese, Russian, French, etc) speak English - even peasants, we manage to "save" a race with godlike powers who "crashed" on Earth (reason never disclosed). people go comatose - some wake others don't, a ship "wakes up" after 430,000 years and builds itself but needs material from a 10 megaton (LOL) bomb. (The largest in our arsenal is 1.2 M.)

At last we meet the alien (sort of) and like Close Encounters our local yokel is chosen to go along. But in true 1950's Big Show fashion they perform medical experiments on him. In fact the whole thing reeks of really bad sci-fi. But alas, those evil ETs have a change of heart and deliver him back to good old SC where wouldn't you know, he (with top of head removed) meets his long lost love. My Grade - C

CX

It's a good travelogue of the polar cap, the cold, storms, habitat, hellish conditions. Biut that's 2/3 of the book.

2 people found this helpful

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Jeff

Fumbled the human elements, nailed the science.

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2021

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The actions, reactions, and overall human half of the story makes no sense. The science and settings are generally well thought out and executed, but this world is inhabited by people that don't act as people would in situations like these. From an unbelievable solution to a world problem, to select people's reaction to being a part of said solution, nothing about the people or their motivations ring true.

By the time the book wraps up you've got people miming to eachother, and communication and understanding complex concepts in the simplest of ways, similar to a random child understanding Lassie when he tells them about Timmy falling down a well.

The author relies too heavily on memes, slang, and obscure pop culture knowledge that doesn't fit the characters saying the words, and they reference too many other, better stories with similar situations, with the number one exception being The Abyss, a movie reference that would have been a little too on the nose, perhaps.

All in all, the science and physical aspects of the book work well, but the human side of the book reads as though it were written by an immature writer with a very loose grasp of complex adult interactions and situations.

The story isn't terrible, but the ending is rather hasty, and the First Contact promise of the books title under delivers.

One person found this helpful

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Cosmo

Another worthy addition to the First Contact series

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2021

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Another great addition to his awesome First Contact series.
The beginning of the book caught me off guard. I couldn't figure out why Mr. Cawdron had a leading character who had abused his girlfriend. Not something I expected but as the story developed I began to understand.
It's kind of a look at the dark side of humanity and the landscape of Antarctica was the perfect parallel.
The characters were all well developed and I found myself actually crying when one of my favorites was killed.
Mr. Cawdron writes in the Afterward "Violence is the failure of reason", a theme that ricocheted throughout this story.
I really enjoyed this book, it was an interesting read with a great storyline. I learned more about the author and I appreciate him all the more for sharing this truth.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Norma Miles

"Every road has two directions."

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 20, 2021

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Already a long time fan of the author, Peter Cawdron, I again enjoyed this stand alone first contact book. His writing style is very approachable, full of immediate impact and easy to read, with lifelike characters. The main protagonist in Jury Duty, however, is a little more difficult to fully accept even if duress can possibly bring about remarkable changes, even soul searching 'road to Damascus ' moments. As the author reveals in the afterward, this is in many ways a personal to him exploration.
I would have preferred an earlier ending.

Yes, there is an alien first contact in the book but it is far more an exploration of the human psyche and the individuals within it which, combined with the terrors of Antarctica so brilliantly reconstructed for the reader, make this a fascinating and exciting read

Chris Roberts

Both challenging and perfect SF

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2021

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This is more an exploration of humanity than aliens. The protagonist, Nick, is maybe more of an arse than Thomas Covenant, which makes for a strange kind of hero's journey. The ending is perfect, but likely not what many are going to expect or want.

This is a fine piece of literature never mind SF, if you choose to read I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Robert A. Chalmers

Interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2021

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Well it got off to an interesting start, and really took its time to get going. Once the story started though about half way into the book it became a good read. A bit predictable in the outcome though. But still a good yarn.

Jackie Togwell

Fantastic first contact novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2021

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book! I've read most.of Peter Cawdrons novels and I rate Jury Duty as one of the best 😁

This one was not only a page Turner but absolutely intriguing!

Keep them coming, Peter 😉

Mike Carter

Take a day off work...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2021

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This is a fast paced adventure. Once you start you cannot put it down.

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About the author

Peter Cawdron

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