Alastair Mayer

I really enjoyed this hard science fiction novel. It is mostly absent of action, and primarily deals with themes of science, technical technique, relationships, and a bit about survival. I really appreciated the detail of how a multi-national science expedition to a previously unexplored (by Earth human) planet could be conducted.

The only issue I have is that matters of faith and religion are taken very lightly and are discarded as only the realm of fundamentalists and other people who don't think properly.

I did have a bit of a hard time following all of the characters. Some were developed more then others. That is pretty common for stories that have several characters that play a part.… (más)

When a science fiction author decides to move his characters over interstellar distances he has several options. He can use a generational starship, and their descendants will exit the starship several generations later. He can use a starship that has the ability to travel at a significant percentage of light speed, and allow relativity effects to keep his travelers young, although this screws up the timelines of everyone who does not make the trip. Or, he can use a FTL drive – faster than light. Of course, this violates the laws of physics as we know them, and most SF authors simply ignore this; not Alastair Mayer, however. He uses the FTL ploy alright, but he gives it a physics justification that makes so much sense that the JPL may be studying his notes. This is real Hard Science Fiction.Any good story requires good guys and bad guys. The run-of-the-mill writers give you just that – good and bad guys; not Alastair Mayer, however. He sets things up so the Americans have a workable warp drive that creates a kind of warp bubble, but it cannot accommodate the smallest power source the Americans have. The Chinese, however, have developed a small fusion plant that fits into the warp bubble just fine, but they have not been able to figure out how to create a warp bubble. So they have to work together to get to Alpha Centauri – voila, good guys and bad guys.No spoilers here, but they arrive at Alpha Centauri, find two habitable planets – too habitable, perhaps. With this, Mayer sets up his special universe: T-space or Terraformed Space. It seems that someone, long ago, terraformed planets in an interstellar bubble surrounding Sol. Who and when is a mystery, and sets Mayer up for a continuing series of T-space novels, complete with an Indiana Jones kind of hero: [b:The Chara Talisman|13741281|The Chara Talisman|Alastair Mayer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348481932s/13741281.jpg|19374704] and [b:The Reticuli Deception|25295432|The Reticuli Deception (Adventures of Hannibal Carson Book 2)|Alastair Mayer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428189147s/25295432.jpg|45022997] to start, with more coming. This is great Hard Science Fiction.
… (más)

When a science fiction author decides to move his characters over interstellar distances he has several options. He can use a generational starship, and their descendants will exit the starship several generations later. He can use a starship that has the ability to travel at a significant percentage of light speed, and allow relativity effects to keep his travelers young, although this screws up the timelines of everyone who does not make the trip. Or, he can use a FTL drive – faster than light. Of course, this violates the laws of physics as we know them, and most SF authors simply ignore this; not Alastair Mayer, however. He uses the FTL ploy alright, but he gives it a physics justification that makes so much sense that the JPL may be studying his notes. This is real Hard Science Fiction.

Any good story requires good guys and bad guys. The run-of-the-mill writers give you just that – good and bad guys; not Alastair Mayer, however. He sets things up so the Americans have a workable warp drive that creates a kind of warp bubble, but it cannot accommodate the smallest power source the Americans have. The Chinese, however, have developed a small fusion plant that fits into the warp bubble just fine, but they have not been able to figure out how to create a warp bubble. So they have to work together to get to Alpha Centauri – voila, good guys and bad guys.

No spoilers here, but they arrive at Alpha Centauri, find two habitable planets – too habitable, perhaps. With this, Mayer sets up his special universe: T-space or Terraformed Space. It seems that someone, long ago, terraformed planets in an interstellar bubble surrounding Sol. Who and when is a mystery, and sets Mayer up for a continuing series of T-space novels, complete with an Indiana Jones kind of hero: The Chara Talisman and The Reticuli Deception to start, with more coming. This is great Hard Science Fiction.
… (más)