ORBIT, (Simon and Schuster, 2005)
For Kip Dawson, winning a passenger seat on an American Space Adventures spacecraft is a dream come true. One grand shot of self-indulgent insanity, he figures, and he can return to his mundane earthbound existence fulfilled. But the thrill turns to terror when a micrometeorite penetrates the capsule, leaving the radios as dead as the pilot. Reality hits: Kip is stuck in orbit and won’t be coming home.
With nothing to do but wait for his breathable air to run out, Kip begins writing on the ship’s laptop computer, unaware that an audience of billions has discovered it and is tracking his every word on the Internet. As a massive struggle gets underway to rescue him, Kip has no idea that the world can “hear” him speaking his truth as he reviews his life without filter, including the good, the bad, and the intimacy of it. His ultimate heroism in the face of certain death however, may just sabotage his best chance of survival.
This deeply moving and highly original work was described by The Seattle Times as “The book for which John J. Nance will be best remembered.”