Returning to the Garden :

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put this one down
Review: As a kid I looked to the stars in wonder, read all I could get ahold of about stars, planets, and all things in space. I drew them, painted them, and kept a childlike wonder in me about life "out there", where I was from, and if someday I wouldn't have to draw Mars, paint Mars, but actually touch it and know it. McCullough's book, one which I couldn't put down for two days. Because of the fast paced nature, the characters you grow to love, and the ever present and growing discoveries, synergies, and uncoverings, this is a story that I don't want to end. For those of us who know in our hearts that there is more "out there", this is a book that can re-ignite that same childlike passion and wonderment about the Universe in which we live.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put this one down
Review: As a kid I looked to the stars in wonder, read all I could get ahold of about stars, planets, and all things in space. I drew them, painted them, and kept a childlike wonder in me about life "out there", where I was from, and if someday I wouldn't have to draw Mars, paint Mars, but actually touch it and know it. McCullough's book, one which I couldn't put down for two days. Because of the fast paced nature, the characters you grow to love, and the ever present and growing discoveries, synergies, and uncoverings, this is a story that I don't want to end. For those of us who know in our hearts that there is more "out there", this is a book that can re-ignite that same childlike passion and wonderment about the Universe in which we live.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put this one down
Review: As a kid I looked to the stars in wonder, read all I could get ahold of about stars, planets, and all things in space. I drew them, painted them, and kept a childlike wonder in me about life "out there", where I was from, and if someday I wouldn't have to draw Mars, paint Mars, but actually touch it and know it. McCullough's book, one which I couldn't put down for two days. Because of the fast paced nature, the characters you grow to love, and the ever present and growing discoveries, synergies, and uncoverings, this is a story that I don't want to end. For those of us who know in our hearts that there is more "out there", this is a book that can re-ignite that same childlike passion and wonderment about the Universe in which we live.

Rating:
Summary: Here's why you will enjoy "Returning to the Garden"
Review: I wrote Returning to the Garden: A Novel About Mars to entertain a wide audience: action/adventure fans, science fiction fans, conspiracy theorist ("X-Philes"), and those intrigued by the mysteries of the Bible and man's origins. It even contains a romance. Most of all, I wanted it to be fast paced and hard to put down. In fact, several readers have reported staying up all night to finish it. Others have reported reading it in only two days. Of these readers, several were women.

I also wanted to challenge people with frame-breaking ideas. I included my web site and e-mail address at the end of the book so readers could discuss the book with me. Here's a teaser:

Ian McCall builds his Sojourner rover for NASA's Mars Pathfinder Mission. When it unexpectedly makes an amazing and mysterious discovery on the Red Planet, the U.S. Government is determined to cover up the discovery and ensure that Ian never learns its true meaning. Abby Perkins is a young, beautiful professor at Stanford University. Disobeying her mentor's warning she deciphers an ancient text that recasts history and rocks her religious beliefs. Abby and Ian's paths cross, and they discover startling revelations about the Space Race, the Manhattan Project, human evolution and foundations as basic as the Book of Genesis. They fight against enormous odds to foil a government plot, with the very fate of mankind hanging in the balance.

Here's what the press has said about the book:

"McCullough's book is a veritable Rubik's Cube of seemingly divergent topics, including (but not limited to): NASA missions, the origins of the Old Testament, the Cradle of Civilization, the atomic bomb, the Missing Link in human evolution, Nazis, fundamentalist virgins and sex.... (It's) an escapist, quick read, short on poetic devices and long on contemporary appeal."

"...broader purposes are behind it: McCullough uses the heroine to symbolize society and its reactions to the discovery that man's origins were different than everyone thought. He explores the conflict between science and religion, hoping people don't have to lose faith because of what science discovers."

Cityview, February 2, 2000, "Life on Mars" by Brenda Fullick.

"...touches of accuracy lend credence to McCullough's fantastic tale. The details come from years of serious research."

Des Moines Register, December 15, 1999, "Book parallels recent Mars fiasco" by Daniel P. Finney

"You don't run into a lot of guys around here who can talk about the fine points of Martian history and geography. I'm talking about guys who know that the average annual temperature is 81 below and who know that the Martian day is 24.6 hours but the year is 686 days...Steve McCullough is probably one of the few who can tell you that. Off the top of his head. Cold...And - I'm guessing - he's the only Iowan who's been out to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and actually touched the six-wheeled rover they're sending to Mars in 2001. The machine, he says, is named Madame Curie."

Des Moines Register, November 23, 1999, "Mars has attacked - and it hit a financial planner" by Rob Borsellino.

"Scientists think that as late as 200,000 years ago, Mars had running water and was a much warmer planet than it is today," McCullough said. "Now its average temperature is minus 71 degrees. It is bone dry and has only a thin, carbon dioxide atmosphere. 'Returning to the Garden' provides an explanation about what happened to cause this change. It also explores the question of man's origins and reconciles the findings of science with creationism. It asks why we have used our scientific advances to develop weapons that can wipe out our entire species and highlights the continuing danger of weapons of mass destruction." All this and a sequel, too!

Omaha World Herald, December 10, 1999, "Iowan's 1st Sci-Fi Book Visits Mars" by Gerald Wade.

I hope you enjoy my book! I look forward to your feedback and questions.

Steven McCullough

Rating:
Summary: Returning to the Garden
Review: If you liked Clive Cussler's first few books, you'll enjoy Returning to the Garden.

I first heard about this book while listening to drive time a.m. radio. The story line was enough for me to risk the $10 to buy the large paperback version.

The book is a fast paced, fun, enjoyable read. While there isn't alot of deep technical discussion to support the general premise, the story line keeps you wanting more. There is supposed to be a sequal. I can't wait, because there are a whole lot of loose ends that need to be tied together.

In a few years this author could be at the top of the scifi field.

Rating:
Summary: A Thought Provoking Quick Read
Review: This book raise some mighty big issues - and at a breakneck pace too. Not many 220 page works can credibly challenge all we think know about the origins of the Old Testament and the space race. Heck, this book also raises fundamental questions about our religious faiths, the theory of evolution, the global arms race, and humanity's view of our place in the cosmos.

As a fact-based science fiction novel set in the modern era, "Returning to the Garden" describes the discovery by two American's that the planet of Mars is the Garden of Eden of religious and mythic lore. The refugees, diminished and deranged within a generation, were the missing link in human evolution and the spark for all human life on Earth. The novel focuses on the discovery, the manic response of various government agents, and the consequences for the discoverers - both intellectually and temporal. I hope the promised sequel focuses more on the heroine and the cosmic issues, which are much more interesting and original than the cloak and dagger elements.

As we get bombarded with all the new Mars movies this year, check out the "Returning to the Garden" for a fresh and thought provoking perspective on Mars - a perspective which even claims to be fact based.

Rating:
Summary: A Thought Provoking Quick Read
Review: This book raise some mighty big issues - and at a breakneck pace too. Not many 220 page works can credibly challenge all we think know about the origins of the Old Testament and the space race. Heck, this book also raises fundamental questions about our religious faiths, the theory of evolution, the global arms race, and humanity's view of our place in the cosmos.

As a fact-based science fiction novel set in the modern era, "Returning to the Garden" describes the discovery by two American's that the planet of Mars is the Garden of Eden of religious and mythic lore. The refugees, diminished and deranged within a generation, were the missing link in human evolution and the spark for all human life on Earth. The novel focuses on the discovery, the manic response of various government agents, and the consequences for the discoverers - both intellectually and temporal. I hope the promised sequel focuses more on the heroine and the cosmic issues, which are much more interesting and original than the cloak and dagger elements.

As we get bombarded with all the new Mars movies this year, check out the "Returning to the Garden" for a fresh and thought provoking perspective on Mars - a perspective which even claims to be fact based.

Rating:
Summary: If You Like Consipiracy Theories ...
Review: This is more of a conspiracy theory book than a novel about Mars, and I found it pretty far-fetched. In addition, the author's style was flat, giving us the events, but no real depth of character. I plan to resell my copy. I don't need to re-read it, and don't plan to recommend it to my fellow Mars enthusiasts.

Rating:
Summary: If You Like Consipiracy Theories ...
Review: This is more of a conspiracy theory book than a novel about Mars, and I found it pretty far-fetched. In addition, the author's style was flat, giving us the events, but no real depth of character. I plan to resell my copy. I don't need to re-read it, and don't plan to recommend it to my fellow Mars enthusiasts.