Travis Taylor

The Quantum Connection (Warp Speed)
$7.99
The Quantum Connection (2005) is the sequel to Warp Speed. It is set about three years after the Rains, the widespread destruction attributed to meteorites, but actually caused by enemy action.

In this novel, Steve Montana is a computer geek, specializing in software and with considerable knowledge of hardware and firmware. He developed his own operating system as a teenager and won college scholarships for his work. Then the Rains came and Steve lost his friends and family. He becomes clinically depressed.

Larry Waterford is a technical manager at Wright Patterson for the Innovative Concepts Group in the USAF Space Vehicles Directorate.

In this story, Steve is living in Dayton with his dog Lazarus and working at a virtual reality store. He had dropped out of college and is technical support for the VR store customers. One day a man drops off an old game system and Steve is asked to fix it.

The hardware repair is fairly easy and most of the computer disks only need cleaning and surface repair. But one disk is cracked and not playable even after cleaning and surface restoral. Steve forgets his woes for a while as he works on the hardware and software.

When the customer returns, he is impressed by Steve's efforts and the low price of the bill. Later, Larry returns and offers Steve a job with the Air Force if he returns to school. Steve is tired of working under the young VR store manager and the job looks interesting and lucrative, so he fills out the paperwork and enrolls for classes.

While in school, Steve works as a co-op student for the ICG at Wright Patterson. For his first term, Larry gives him a circuit board and asks him to reverse engineer it. Later, he has an exam question in the Advanced Microprocessors class that provides some insight into the circuit.

Steve finally gets his Top Secret clearance and is taken to Washington for a classified briefing. Then security denies him further clearance. Government agents search his apartment for classified data and kill Lazarus while the dog is protecting his home. Steve takes the body back to Bakersfield and buries it there.

This tale involves advanced aliens, superAgents, and warp drives. Steve meets a nice girl and develops a relationship. Then he makes friends with a computer program.

This story is a character study of a depressed technogeek. It involves schematic diagrams, quantum mechanics and pharmaceutical remedies for bipolar disorder. I enjoyed the technogeek part and related to the depression problems.

Steve was not very likeable at the beginning. He bonds with his dog and cries a lot. Then the feds kill his dog. Steve gets mad and develops a different personality.

This novel still resembles a space opera from the 1930s, much like the early works of John W. Campbell, Jr.. Still, it does have more rationale for the rapid technological advances than does the previous book. This is the last volume in the series, but the author went on to co-author some very interesting SF works with John Ringo and a new series on his own. Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Taylor fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alien relations, interstellar politics, and true romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

One day on Mars
$7.99
The reader is constantly reminded that the main characters are "Marines", as much as 4 times per page. I know they are "Marines" I don't need to be reminded constantly. The military titles and full rank are used each time the character is mentioned (gets old). The war machines are farcical and completly unbelievable, it seems the author watched the Transformer cartoons as a child to much. The story is dull and uneventful to a fault.

If you are a fan of military sci-fi avoid this book like the plague. I've read sci-fi for over thirty years, in my opinion this book is a waste of time and money.

The Science Behind The Secret
$14.99
We create our own reality and science says it's true! The Laws of Attraction do exist and are explained in Layman's Terms by a NASA Scientist.

Warp Speed
$7.99
Warp Speed (2004) is a standalone SF novel. It takes place in the near future, when NASA has funded a low cost program on warp drives under the Breakthrough Physics Propulsion program. Contractors are exploring the concept and conducting experiments.

In this novel, Neil Anson Clemons is a professor within the Physics Department at the University of Alabama at Huntsville and founder of a company working on the warp drive. Two Physics PhD candidates work for his company. Anson is also a mountain biker and holds a black belt in karate.

Jim Daniels is one of the graduate students working for Anson on the warp drive. Jim is also Anson's best friend. He is working on his brown belt at the same studio as Anson.

Rebecca Jean Townes is the other graduate student working on the warp drive. 'Becca is an orphan and has worked her way through college and graduate school. She is also working on her brown belt.

Tabitha Ames is a Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, and a NASA astronaut. She is well known in the space industry and among space fans.

In this story, Anson wins a karate tournament, but at the cost of two broken ribs. His ribs are taped and he is taking pain killers, but it hurts when he sneezes or laughs. He is self-medicating with beer on the flight to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Luckily he has enough frequent flyer miles to upgrade to first class.

He vaguely recognizes his seatmate and finally realizes that she is Tabitha Ames. She also recognizes him for some reason. They are both going to the BPP workshop.

When he reaches the conference, he discovers that Tabitha is the new BPP program director and that the schedule has been rearranged. He now has the first presentation of the day. After the scheduled talks are finished, Tabitha announces that BPP is being redirected toward more immediate research. Apparently the change is mandated by executives higher than the NASA hierarchy.

Anson is still not feeling well and the disappointing news convinces him to leave early. He flies back to Huntsville on the first available flight. When he reaches his house, he has seven messages on the answering machine. Two are from his mother and one is from Tabitha. He starts to call Tabitha, but the phone rings and Jim fills him in on recent developments in the lab.

Jim and 'Becca have made significant progress on a power supply for the warp drive. Anson approves of their work, but the Casimir effect cells are still too big and too weak for the drive. They brainstorm on the design and come up with an improved version.

Tabitha is in Huntsville and Anson invites her over to the lab to see their newest design. Then Anson, Jim and 'Becca investigate a puzzle in their warp experiments. The electrons are disappearing from the experiment and they don't know where they are going.

Jim and 'Becca add cameras to the test sphere and they try again. Now they notice that the electrons are emitting Cerenkov radiation during the experiment, indicating that they are traveling faster than light. Apparently they have demonstrated FTL travel without knowing it.

Later 'Becca has an accident while constructing power cells for the drive. After rushing her to the hospital, Anson and Jim study the wreckage and consider possible causes for an explosion. They discover an inherent instability in the energy cells.

This tale is much like an early space opera. Not in the space voyages, but in the quickness of new discoveries. Within a few months, they have a working warp drive and then the possibilities increase almost exponentially.

The story starts with a karate match and then ramps up the action from there. By chapter five, the action becomes increasingly frantic. Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Taylor fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of experimental science, wholesale destruction, and a touch of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin