"Hole in the Sky"

Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and the multiple New York Times bestselling author of techno-thrillers such as Robopocalypse, The Clockwork Dynasty, and The Andromeda Evolution (an authorized sequel to the Crichton classic). He earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Masters degrees in Machine Learning and Robotics. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Hole in the Sky, with the following results:

From page 69:

I slow the car when I see the sign for NASA Johnson Space Center. I’m a little bit late, but that’s not such a bad thing. It’s better to give my escort some time to get inside and make an impression before I arrive.

Stopping at a security gate, I flash my badge to an armed, uniformed soldier manning the entrance. A dismayed federal marshal in a NASA security guard outfit sits next to him, looking dazed. The Army soldier is one of ours, sent ahead.

Page 69 of Hole in the Sky is the first page of the chapter called "Mission Control" — when two of my main characters meet for the first time. Gavin, the CIA weapons analyst, has been sent to investigate Mikayla, a NASA astrophysicist who has made contact with a strange object floating at the edge of our solar system.

It’s a fair introduction to special agent Gavin Clark, as he sweats through his shirt driving a rental car for yet another government mission. Although his job is pretty extraordinary—investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena—it’s actually pretty mundane and tiring to do this much traveling.

When Gavin actually meets Dr. Mikayla Johnson, the NASA astrophysicist is openly hostile to his point of view. This is the first time we see their clashing perspectives on what’s out there. Gavin is focused entirely on national security, and his instinct is to pull the trigger first and ask questions later.

What Gavin doesn’t know is that the entity has been speaking to Mikayla through the augmented reality glasses she wears to treat her face blindness. Gavin is frightened of first contact, but Mikayla is intrigued, excited, and can’t wait to meet whatever-it-is.

On the next few pages, things are about to get crazy as they realize the object has changed course and is headed toward earth at an incredible rate of speed. Once it lands in Spiro, Oklahoma, they’ll meet a local man named Jim Hardgray and the whole rest of this incredible adventure will unfold.

Visit Daniel Wilson's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Boy and His Bot.

The Page 69 Test: Robopocalypse.

My Book, The Movie: Amped.

The Page 69 Test: Robogenesis.

My Book, The Movie: Robogenesis.

Writers Read: Daniel H. Wilson (June 2014).

--Marshal Zeringue