David Pederira’s Gunpowder Moon concerns a murder mystery occurring in a lunar He3 mining operation. Set in the 2070’s, Earth has suffered a major climatic catastrophe for which lunar exploitation is beginning to provide a source for economic growth. Several nation states, USA, China, and others are in the midst of a pseudo- 1849 gold rush mentality. Against this background, a US operation becomes plagued with odd occurrences: missing stuff, minor sabotage, until finally an outright aggressive act leads to a death. While US officials are ready to blame the Chinese and immediately begin to militarize the lunar operation, the local lead starts his own investigation that suggests a conspiracy and false flag attack as an excuse for more action.
The sci-fi elements are kept to a minimum and mainly rely on standard engineering principles to establish a realistic presence and behavior under lunar conditions. There’s a good appreciation of company politics and bureaucracy as well as geopolitical issues. In addition, a reasonable sense of the “fog of war” issues that generally will plague rapidly developing emergency situations is apparent. The minimal dramatic actions scenes are well crafted and executed. The major issue with the tale is that the conspiracy is not quite discovered as much as revealed in the end; as well as reliance on journalistic self interest to eliminate future threats.
The narration is reasonable, although the cast is rather limited with minimal female involvement. There’s a definite cinematic feel to the tale.