n the near future, a problem-plagued United Nations mission to Mars is nearing its destination when six people on Earth begin receiving powerful, sporadic mental messages from an unknown source. The source identifies itself as an alien living on the Martian moon Phobos, one of a team of two aliens that has been secretly protecting humanity from destruction by large asteroids and comets. The senior member of the team has died unexpectedly, leaving the remaining alien, Avva, in need of rescue.
Most of those contacted by Avva keep the communications secret, believing themselves to be going insane. Dan Francisco, a weatherman who does a computer-animated weather forecast, hides his "condition" from his ex-wife, who is trying to keep him from seeing their daughter. Martina Elena Omerov, Russian-American head of security for--and secret lover of--the UN Secretary General, checks herself into a mental clinic. Daveed Shah, a talented media engineer working for the UN communications uplink team to Arres (the Mars mission), must hide the communications from his obnoxious supervisor. Jane Dawkins, mission commander of the six-member Arres team, also hides her contact, fearing that her obnoxious second-in-command will take over the mission.
Reverend Ray Sunshine, a rich TV evangelist, has no such qualms. He believes the voice in his head to be a directive from God. In his telecasts, he begins urging that the alien be saved. The final human to hear the alien distress call, Jamal, a.k.a. Code Daddy, a.k.a. Jambo the Joker, is an agoraphobic master computer hacker who lives in a secret underground bunker. Jamal decides to use his skills to bring together everyone who heard Avva's calls, and redirect the Arres mission to rescue Avva. Their mission to save Avva is made dangerous by a group of militant white extremists who fear that the alien wants to conquer Earth.
Standard wish fulfillment
Call from a Distant Shore is only Burns's second novel, although he has been writing short SF (mostly for Analog) for 15 years. While the story of the protagonists' efforts to join forces and divert the Mars mission is complex and interesting, the novel suffers from a number of flaws typical of new SF writers who are more familiar with the characters and conventions of adventure SF and fantasy than with those of literature in general.
Both the motley cast of characters and the thriller plot seem driven by SF/fantasy wish fulfillment rather than by the rigorous logic and literary conventions of the best hard SF. The characters, though complex, feel like standard SF archetypes and never become fully believable, despite Burns's efforts to make them distinct and memorable. The reader can't help but ask why only these six humans were chosen by Avva. The answer is apparently that these are the six for whom success is least probable while still being possible, therefore resulting in a typical against-all-odds story.
The concept of a team of aliens secretly protecting humanity is both interesting and original, and provides a momentary sense of wonder. Burns doesn't fully exploit the potential of the idea, however. Avva never rises above the level of the "benevolent alien" archetype, leaving the reader wishing for a more complete vision of the aliens that have dedicated their lives to helping young species like humanity survive into maturity.
