All That is in the Earth

Having very much enjoyed the works by Andrew Knighton that we are publishing through Wizard’s Tower, I decided to catch up on some of his other work. All That Is In The Earth is a stand-along novella from Luna Press Publishing. It showcases something that I think Knighton does really well: massive amounts of worldbuilding from minimal amounts of detail.

The book is a science fiction story. The main character crash lands on an alien planet which is, in theory, quarantined due to a deadly plague that is found there. He doesn’t expect to live long, but to his surprise he finds a thriving colony of fellow marooned travellers. Clifford (not Cliff) starts off as a bit of an arse, but he slowly becomes a better person as he learns the necessary skills for survival, which of course includes collaboration. No one is going to survive on this planet alone.

I said that Abaddon, the planet, is only theoretically quarantined. That’s because there are a whole lot of political factions in the galaxy who are keen to learn its secrets. Clifford himself is a expert on soils who was sent to Abaddon to study it. In theory he would get samples fetched for him by drones, but life happened.

The other people on Abaddon are also there for political reasons. Some have been sent there to study it, like Clifford. Others are soldiers on a (possibly doomed) survey and extraction mission. So although they all have to work together while on the surface, they are all also competing to bring the planet’s secrets to their employers.

Knighton tells us almost nothing about the universe beyond Abaddon, but he peppers the narrative with sufficient snippets of detail to lead us to believe that he has a whole political system worked out. Maybe he does, and there will be a novel or two one day. But maybe he’s just very good at faking it.

There are also some very nice supporting characters. I particularly liked Private Marel, a man who has totally bought into the idea that if you work hard in a dangerous job then you will be well rewarded and be able to retire to a life of luxury before long. But then again, Clifford comes from some sort of feudal society, and he’s absolutely scandalised that Marel treats Captain Tork as a boss, not as a social superior to whom he should kow tow at all times.

Finally there is a genuine scientific mystery to be solved, in the fine tradition of science fiction. The title of the story and the fact that Clifford is a soil scientist give us some clues.

Knighton packs a lot into this fairly short story. If I wasn’t already publishing him, I would want to having read this.

Title: All That is in the Earth
By: Andrew Knighton
Publisher: Luna Press Publishing
Purchase links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Bookshop.org UK
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