In David Dyer’s first book, The Midnight Watch, he explores a machine that went wrong and uses an incredible amount of research to put forth a plausible theory as to why The Californian did not go to the Titanic’s aid the night she sunk into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s one of my favourite books, not because it sparked an obsession with the Titanic disaster, but because Dyer’s narrative is just so beautiful and emotive. It puts you in that water right along those boats.

In This Kingdom of Dust, Dyer turns this on its head and explores a machine that, in reality went right, but fictionalises the micro and macro ramifications of ‘what-if’ it went wrong.

The 1969 moon landing is quite possibly the world’s biggest moment in history. ‘One giant leap for mankind’ is a phrase that many of us in adulthood know well, regardless of whether we were alive to watch it back then or not. The Apollo program was huge and despite its failures - it put 2 men on the moon. But the thing is, despite some hiccups, the mission was a success.
Buzz and Neil landed on the moon, did an EVA, and then the Lunar Module lifted them off the Moon to reunite with Mike in the Columbia, and they all returned to Earth as heroes.

But, what if it didn’t. What if something - a single point of failure - failed, and there was no way to fix it?

Dyer shows his excellent research skills once more and through the eyes of a fictional journalist named Aquarius (a nod to Norman Mailer), Buzz, his wife Joan, and Neil, the reader explores such a failure and learns about the human, mechanical, and humanity reactions to a moon landing disaster, or more accurately a moon ascension disaster and the very real Protocol/contingency - Unbeknownst to many - for this very event. And let me assure you, it was no The Martian/Mark Watney ‘Bring him Home’ moment.

Hearing Dyer talk about this book at the recent Queenscliffe Literary Festival, it became clear that he added numerous parallels, symmetries, and positions but the one that resonates with me the most is the hopelessness, of slowly suffocating - as an astrowife and deprived of oxygen - and there’s nothing that anyone can do about it.

Many thanks to David Dyer, Penguin Random House Australia, and NetGalley for an arc of this fascinating historical fiction story. I eagerly await to see what after comes up with next.