Cover image of "The Minotaur," a novel about humanity's first encounter with aliens

Here’s the latest entry in Peter Cawdron’s remarkable series of standalone First Contact novels. It extends Cawdron’s reach further into the boundless realm of possibilities represented by humanity’s first encounter with aliens. However, at a glance, the book appears to be a modern retelling of the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. It’s not, or at least not only that. Despite the superficial similarities and the title, Cawdron assures us that “The Minotaur is a tribute to the Polish novel Solaris,” which was published in 1961. He reveals that in one of his signature author’s notes. If, like me, you found Stanisław Lem’s work impenetrable, you won’t take much comfort in that. Science fiction authors love that novel. But I’m not sure how many people have actually read it. Suffice it to say here that this novel incorporates elements of both the ancient myth and Solaris. However, the combination does work somehow. The story hangs together, and it’s suspenseful from beginning to end.

Five survivors of disaster in space meet a much greater threat

In the novel’s opening pages, we meet American astronaut Mitchell as he lurches out of hibernation to find alarms blaring. He’s one of ten men and women—five married couples—who crew the starship Kelvin. Something has gone badly wrong. The crew are all dying in their sleep pods. But Mitchell saves as many as he can, including his wife, Jessica, the ship’s captain. And no one thanks him for it, since five of them have died. Worse, in his panic he has diverted the ship from its course to the planet Kreet.

The Kelvin is on a rescue mission. 40 years ago, a 100-person scientific mission aboard the starship Herschel stopped broadcasting from Kreet. Mitchell and his colleagues have come with enough supplies to support the scientists for many years as they make their way back to Earth. But when they finally manage to reach their true designation, Kreet’s moon Nossos, they discover that the Herschel had unaccountably landed on its side there. Then, when they themselves descend in a shuttle to the moon and send two of their number to break into the Herschel, disaster strikes. And it’s only the beginning of their trouble. There’s lots more where that came from. Lots.

The Minotaur (First Contact #28) by Peter Cawdron (2025) 309 pages ★★★★☆

NASA's illustration of exoplanet types, useful in understanding this novel about first encounter with aliens
Artist’s rendering from NASA about the contrasting types of exoplanets. The Jupiter-like gas giant pictured here is similar to Kreet, the destination of the rescue mission in this novel. The “terrestrial” type is closest to Kreet’s moon Nossos, where the lost ship Herschel landed decades ago. It is, however, an icy world. Image: NASA

Why read so many books in this series?

The Minotaur is the 28th book in Peter Cawdron’s First Contact series, and I’ve read all but one of the 27 that preceded it. (The one I skipped is a fantasy about vampires or zombies. Not interested.) And you might wonder why I would read so many books on a similar theme. There are three principal reasons.

  • First, despite the common element—humankind’s first encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence—all 28 of these books are standalone novels. They’re very different from one another. And you don’t have to read earlier entries in the series to understand what’s going on in a later one.
  • Second, and more important to me, this is hard science fiction. Despite how fanciful any of the elements in Cawdron’s stories may appear to be, they’re (almost) all firmly grounded in currently understood or plausible scientific knowledge. I find fantasy a waste of time.
  • Third, Cawdron appends a detailed author’s note to every one of his novels explaining the scientific basis for what he’s written. Often, these notes are alone worth the price of the book. Although he’s neither a scientist nor an engineer, Cawdron seems to know a great deal about both fields. He must do an awesome amount of reading and research. And in The Minotaur, as is the case in many of his other First Contact novels, he displays an impressive knowledge of the history of space travel. What he reveals, sometimes in the text but more often in his author’s notes, is illuminating.

All in all, I learn a great deal from reading these books. You may, too.

About the author

Photo of Peter Cawdron, author of this novel about first encounter with aliens
Peter Cawdron. Image: Amazon

Peter Cawdron‘s entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is a little off-target, failing to discern the centrality of his long-running First Contact series to his career. With 28 or 30 entries to date, according to different sources, the series is easily the most extensive exploration ever written of the concept of encounters with an intelligent alien race. However, the series comprises only a fraction of the books he’s written. There are well over 100.

Cawdron was born in New Zealand in 1967 but has lived most of his life on Australia’s eastern coast.

This is the latest entry in Peter Cawdron’s insightful First Contact book series.

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