The current work, entitled, Moonslide, is third novel written by Robert Linhardt. The story is set on the first permanent manned lunar base in the not-so-distant year of 2046. In this remote environment seven astronauts closely interact with one another as they establish this new and distant outpost for humanity. On the moon they encounter both expected and unexpected challenges. The diverse character and technical skills of the carefully selected crew of astronauts are required to meet these challenges and for the completion of their mission.
Some might categorize this as a work of science fiction. Instead, the author suggests this novel more accurately fits the genre of historical fiction. Since the setting is just two decades into the future, it depends on science and technologies that are already currently available or in the development stages. In contrast, most science fiction of today looks far into the future and utilizes technologies and science not yet on the horizon. Instead of focusing on novel technologies in telling his story, the author looks at the impact of the current technologies on society and the complex interactions between the story's characters.
This story is entirely fictional as are the characters and events. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and was unintended. No artificial intelligence was used in the writing of this book.
Dr. Robert Linhardt is a prominent American scientist, author of more than 1,000 scientific papers, holds more than 75 patents and is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Inventors. Linhardt has previously written two non-fiction books, his memoirs, Time, the Essence of a Man (2021) and its post-pandemic follow-up, Time Stops (2023).
The author has also previously written novels. Four Legs Good (2024) was his first work of fiction about a failed biological experiment and its immediate outcome. This short novel was an allegorical fable-or perhaps even a parable. The epilogue to this novella was expanded into his second novel, Rescue from the Tower of Babel (2024) and explores the impact of a single failed experiment might have on society as a whole. This book also examines the impact of seamless communications, resulting from simultaneous language translation, on the world from 2025 to 2100.
