Fawcett, 1974, $2.50, ISBN 0-449-14435-6, 224 pgs., paperback

Keep in mind that this book was written in 1974 while the Cold War raged and an International Space Station was yet to be on the drawing board. So instead of one spacestation, Earthwreck posits two -- one US and one Soviet Union. Both watch an all-out nuclear war unfold down on the planet.

Muslim fundamentalist militants start the last days of Earth by stealing and detonating three Chinese nukes on Israel, which retaliates by nuking the Aswan Dam in Egypt and releasing billions of gallons of now radioactive water down the Nile Valley. Sino-Soviet border spats escalate into another nuclear exchange. The US then threatens both the USSR and China-stop or else. The or-else happens as nukes hit the US. The subsequent US counterstrike takes out much of the world. And if that isn't enough, the Earth becomes even more "wrecked" as the Soviets unleash a bio weapon.

Scortia weaves a tale of destruction inundated with scientific theory and practice. Indeed, it's a pleasure to read "hard" sci-fi again after so many warp this and laser that. You can see he's working hard to integrate the science into the prose, and he succeeds more or less.

He's less successful in balancing characterization, though he provides the requisite love story, anti-Soviet madman, wise commander, and brilliant engineer. It's good to know the Soviets are the real saviours of the human race because they allow 50% of the space station crew to be women.

His sequence of events proves interesting, even if his writing is not necessaily so. All in all, it's an acceptable book and certainly worth the 25 cents paid at a library book sale. Any more and I'm not so sure.

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