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Three Miles Down
Three Miles Down | Harry Turtledove
3 posts | 2 read | 1 to read
From New York Times bestselling author Harry Turtledove, the modern master of alternate history, a novel of alien contact set in the tumultuous year of the Watergate scandal. It's 1974, and Jerry Stieglitz is a grad student in marine biology at UCLA with a side gig selling short stories to science fiction magazines, just weeks away from marrying his longtime fiancée. Then his life is upended by grim-faced men from three-letter agencies who want him to join a top-secret "Project Azorian" in the middle of the north Pacific Ocean—and they really don't take "no" for an answer. Further, they're offering enough money to solve all of his immediate problems. Joining up and swearing to secrecy, what he first learns is that Project Azorian is secretly trying to raise a sunken Russian submarine, while pretending to be harvesting undersea manganese nodules. But the dead Russian sub, while real, turns out to be a cover story as well. What's down on the ocean floor next to it is the thing that killed the sub: an alien spacecraft. Jerry's a scientist, a longhair, a storyteller, a dreamer. He stands out like a sore thumb on the Glomar Explorer, a ship full of CIA operatives, RAND Corporation eggheads, and roustabout divers. But it turns out that he's the one person in the North Pacific who's truly thought out all the ways that human-alien first contact might go. And meanwhile, it's still 1974 back on the mainland. Richard Nixon is drinking heavily and talking to the paintings on the White House walls. The USA is changing fast—and who knows what will happen when this story gets out? Three Miles Down is both a fresh and original take on First Contact, and a hugely enjoyable romp through the pop culture, political tumult, and conspiracies-within-conspiracies atmosphere that was 1974. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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sebrittainclark
Three Miles Down | Harry Turtledove
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3.5

Amid the country learning the details of Watergate, Jerry Stieglitz is learning about an even bigger American secret. A space ship sunk a Russian submarine, and the CIA has a plan to raise the space ship from where it lies 3 miles under water. This novel is part sci-fi and part political intrigue. I enjoyed how grounded it was in history; although, some of the comparisons between now and the events of the 70s were a little hard to read.

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quote
sebrittainclark
Three Miles Down | Harry Turtledove
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Jerry Stieglitz sat cross-legged in front of the stereo on the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases in his apartment.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Bookishgal71 The Viscount Who Loved Me - The topic of rakes has, of course, been previously discussed in this column, and This Author had come to the conclusion that there are takes, and there are Rakes. 2y
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stevesbookstuf1
Three Miles Down | Harry Turtledove
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Pickpick

From the master of alternate history, this book is a story about alien first contact, set in America in the early '70s. If I had to compare this book to any other First Contact work I‘d say that it shares a lot with the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. As in the movie, the focus is on the impact on a handful of common people more than on the extraterrestrials.

NetGalley ARC - book out 7/26. Full review: https://bit.ly/rvw-3Miles

stevesbookstuf1 Though there isn't anything on NetGalley, or on the publisher's website, to confirm it, this is likely the first book in a series. It ends on a cliffhanger so seems likely there will at least be a sequel. In which case, the extraterrestrials will probably have a lot more to say for themselves... (edited) 3y
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