My letter “P” pick for the A to Z Reading Challenge was PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir—best known for THE MARTIAN. I see now that PROJECT HAIL MARY is releasing as a movie, and I cannot wait to see it. Just like THE MARTIAN, this is a story of a man unexpectedly in a battle for survival—but in this case, not for himself but for the entire planet. Ryland Grace is aboard the Hail Mary, a spaceship sent to another star system that may have the key to saving Earth’s sun, currently under attack by a space parasite known as astrophage that is draining the star of its energy.

This space parasite absorbs and emits large amounts of energy itself and scientists have found a way to harness that and create an interstellar engine capable of transporting three scientists on a suicide mission in order to find an answer for the astrophage problem. Grace, a middle-school science teacher and genius level scientist (who dropped out of grad school when his groundbreaking paper on molecular biology was critically panned) is drafted into the program. He finds himself unexpectedly alone when he wakes as the only mission survivor at his destination – a star that is impervious to astrophage located twelve light years from earth. That doesn’t last for long, however, when he is hailed by an alien spacecraft.

The lone alien survivor on his crew, a rock-like creature with multiple arms who speaks in musical notes, is able to communicate enough to establish that he and Grace are on the same mission. Astrophage is killing his planet’s sun, as well. Grace names him Rocky, writes up a computer program that translates words to music and vice versa, and they become a team. Rocky turns out to be a brilliant engineer and each race has made marvelous scientific advances that the other can take advantage of. Along with his incredible skills, Rocky offers much more, becoming a true friend to Grace. I won’t give away the challenges they face or the killer plot reveal but I will say it’s a thrill a minute, smart as hell, and I love both of these characters SO much. The ending is perfect, and I hope the movie keeps it. Five glowing stars on this outstanding read.