If you like your science fiction set in space, and you use to watch the MacGyver series, you will like this story. I certainly enjoyed it. Still not convinced? Then add a side kick that is a computer with and unexpected surprise. ( )

A sci-fi adventure, but the sci-fi is incidental to the adventure. An independent miner in the asteroid belt finds an alien artifact. Corporate mining companies soon find out about it, and try to get it away from him. Along with his onboard computer, which may be sentient, he embarks on a trip to Ganymeade to escape. Once there, he realizes he needs to let everyone know about the artifact. An easy read, and I would give it 4 1/2 stars. ( )

Really good and engaging space opera. The pages keep turning as the down-on-his-luck hero finds an alien artifact in a remote asteroid. Interesting characters, including the on-board computer. Great story. Overall a good escapist Sci-Fi read. ( )

Beltrunner is set in a futuristic space environment.

Collier is a one man mining operation against the massive corporations. He, along with is now sentient computer Sancho make a very interesting discovery on one of the asteroids they are mining, and this discovery has the potential to be the "really big win" netting him many hundreds of years of pay in one single hit.
However, in order to do so, he would need to sell this discovery off to the corporations, which is *not* happening!

Collier decides to run to a semi-distant planetoid which is occupied by a marxian society of hermaphrodites who want him to join their community.

All in all, the book was quite well written. A few slightly slow parts, but overall the book was very enjoyable.
They physics of space travel was adhered to (ie burn to accelerate towards a destination, then "flip-burn" to slow down.) ( )

“Beltrunner” by Sean O’Brien (Calgary: Hades Publications) is an interesting eBook that flows well beginning to end with a good story line. However, I would place it second to “Milky Way Repo” by Michael Prelee (Calgary: Hades Publications) on my list of recommendations as both eBooks take place several centuries in the future and fit into the same genre. While set in the future, the technology is relatable to what we might imagine, but with problems also somewhat similar to what we experience daily. Whereas “Milky Way Repo” has multiple storylines intersecting throughout the eBook, “Beltrunner” is essentially a single storyline that lacks the intricate plot switches. Where “Beltrunner” does excel is in its social commentary set in a futuristic setting of a mineral prospector and his self-aware computer prospecting for valuable minerals in an asteroid field. The David and Goliath conflict with the large mining companies sets up some interesting situations, leading up to a largescale faceoff at the end. However, the ending choice leaves many unanswered questions as the main character bails out by giving the “point of contention” to another trusted party and goes off to live happily ever after(?). Up until that point, the reader is pulled into the conflict, wanting to see how the solitary prospector figures out a way to win against overwhelming odds. (An alternative ending might play off the conspiracy theory of oil companies buying up all the rights to energy-saving car mileage technology to maintain the demand for crude oil. Combine that with the mob tactics of the mining companies and you have a lead into a sequel of press leaks, revenge, and a search for the source of the “new technology.” In any case, I leave it to the readers that follow me to be satisfied with the current ending or fantasize about how you might re-write the ending for the cliffhanger set up by O’Brien.) ( )