Dust in the Wind by William Hutchison

For the past couple of weeks, in between fangirling over the madness of Orphan Black, procrastinating over everything (probably could’ve written this a week ago), and consistently shoving Ben & Jerry’s Milk & Cookies down my throat, I have been reading Dust in the Wind by William Hutchison.

Hutchison has spent over 35 years working in engineering in the aerospace industry. His hands-on experience with space systems concepts and manufacturing, operational management, and being entrusted with valuable technological information about space travel, gave him the knowledge and accuracy he needed when writing this novel. The same is true of his first book, Sigma One, which was self-published in 2013. Some of the events and procedures that occurred in Sigma One, as well as Dust in the Wind,  have an underlying validity in them that other novels in the science fiction genre may find difficulty matching.

Writing has always been in the background of this successful man’s life. Apart from his professional experience in proposal and technical writing, he has dabbled in poetry and children’s literature for years. DITW is a book that has been many years in the making, combing Hutchison’s two distinct worlds into one.

The year is 2035, and the world is literally falling apart. Climate fluctuations and dwindling levels of oxygen result in the rapid deterioration of human societies, social unrest and, duh, death. The situation is dire, and we need a solution pronto. The future version of the United Nations, the Unified Nations, comes up with a project called Helios. Project Helios, and its precursor, Project Xavier, are designed to be the building blocks for human settlement on Mars. The transition isn’t smooth at all. This novel is packed with a very surprising subplot that will knock your socks off, and I will not tell you what it is, even if you give me Oreos. Never mind, I can be bought with Oreos, but only Double Stuf.

On a scale of “Immediately Burn This Damn Book” and “Build a Monument in Dedication to the Protagonist,” my rating for this book is in the “Tolerable” territory.

While the plot that I described above is phenomenal, the execution leaves much to be desired. Since I finished this novel, I’ve been thinking that part of the reason this book fell short is because of Hutchison’s experience as a technical writer.

Though the following could be considered a plus for some, I personally feel that the novel drifts into technicalities too often. I suspected the science/technology bit would skate right over my head, but the way it’s written in Dust in the Wind is unnecessarily incessant, verbose and, most importantly, it drags the story. There are those who would argue that such detail is genre-appropriate. While that may very well be the case, to me the beauty of fiction is the imagination in it. We readers don’t need to know every single detail. We shouldn’t be subjugated to drab dialogue, where characters merely shoot the breeze with one another, and don’t further the plot. It’s a waste of my time space on the page. In the words of William Faulkner with a Stephen King twist, “Leave out the boring parts, and kill all your darlings.” Hutchison gets the latter half of that statement on the mark. People die left and right, and I am completely for that!

That being said, I’m not a fan of the whole adultery bit, or the snide comments about China and Russia. In fact, there are many things that I don’t agree with, but back to the dialogue. It just feels forced, a tad lackluster, and sometimes a little (or a lot) unbelievable, which hurts character development in the long run (I hear eavesdropping helps to get the flow right).

Other than that, the book isn’t bad. It’s a quick read, very fast-paced. You could probably finish it in one sitting, and it will definitely keep you interested. As I read it, I kept wondering what was going to happen next, and I’m usually pretty spectacular at guessing, but this one kept me on my toes. Plus, each chapter (albeit there’s so many) is preceded by an excerpt. These range from song lyrics to lines from popular films, or even quotes from various people at pivotal moments in history.

Although I’ve been ragging on this book, I would read a sequel. Humans ruined Earth, not beyond repair, but to the point where it was progressively becoming uninhabitable. Efforts made were too little, too late, so we ended up piggybacking onto another planet. I’m interested to see how that could turn out in the next book. At some point, do we return to Earth, or was the lesson unlearned? Will we suck Mars dry too, then move onto the next planet (Like parasites? Like the Kaiju in Pacific Rim? What if the Kaiju in Pacific Rim were just mutated humans that traveled back in time? Sorry, I just saw the movie.)

Clearly, Dust in the Wind has not only gotten me talking, but also gotten me thinking. I disagree with certain aspects of the novel, but it forces me to confront why I disagree. For one, I’m a biased reader. As human beings, we’re brought up to think that we’re indestructible, so when there’s a threat to that format, when an ending contrasts everything that has been hammered into my entire life…it’s uncomfortable. Nobody likes to be put in a corner. The novel also introduces interesting concepts about human nature and how we perceive things. While Martians and humans are clearly juxtaposed, there are definitely similarities in how each species views its planet. It’s as if mankind has a significant amount of growing to do before it can properly care for Earth and understand it.

Dust in the Wind is worth a read. It blends politics, suspense, and drama into a giant pot of human self-destruction and the fight for its preservation. Will we make it? Who knows…?

It’s available as an eBook or a paperback on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

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