A story about using Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity to your advantage. Baby Billy is born into the circle that includes Starman Jones and Space Pup. They want to take Billy with them on their journeys throughout the universe. But Baby Billy needs to be older. So Starman Jones and Space Pup journey to Sirius and back, traveling very, very fast. The result is that when they return, they arrive on Billy’s 9th birthday, although they, themselves, have barely aged. Thus, they become Billy’s Relativity Birthday Present. Endorsed by Dr. Frank Drake of SETI fame.
In book one, Slingshot, three scientist/engineers reach for the stars as they blend their skills with a host of skilled colleagues to create the world’s first Space Launch-Loop. A team of young eco-terrorists will go to any length to halt the project. One woman is determined to scoop the story, reporting events to a watching world. Slingshot ranges from Seattle’s financial district, to the ocean bottom off Baker Island, to the edge of space, and across the vast panorama of an Equatorial Pacific. It’s a love story, a gender-bender, and a mystery about a missing aviatrix, a conspiracy, and a true-believer. It’s about high finance, intrigue, heroism, fanaticism, betrayal…and humanity’s surge into outer space. In book two, The Starchild Compact, an international team ventures to Saturn’s moon Iapetus to verify it really is a derelict starship. They discover the Founders, descendants of the starship’s builders who arrived in our Solar System 150,000 years ago. Together with the Founders, the explorers advance Founder science with momentous implications for the entire Solar System, paving the way for a joint push to the distant reaches of the Galaxy. But, a Persian Caliphate stowaway sabotages the mission, hoping to destroy science that he believes violates Islam. The Starchild Compact blends tomorrow’s science with human foibles, fears, beliefs, and political intrigue, speculating on how civilization might develop while traveling on a generational starship, and how modern humans might interact with remnants of that civilization. In book three, The Iapetus Federation, besieged Israelis on Earth make their way to Mars as the Federation expands throughout the Solar System. While global Jihad rages on Earth, putting millions to the sword, the Starchild Institute develops wormhole transportation. But will this new technology be ready in time to rescue all that is left of the United States, the beleaguered Lone Star Conservancy, and remnants of other cultures around the globe? From hand-to-hand combat in the oceans, to battles on Earth’s surface, to struggles in interplanetary space, our heroes fight to survive and expand to the far reaches of the universe.
The Starchild Compact is an epic tale of beginnings, of roots, of what might have been, and what might be. The Starchild Compact is an adventure of heroic proportions, commencing on a planet 500 light years distant, arriving here just a few years from now, and ending up in the far distant expanses of the Universe. Jon Stock takes his exploration team to Saturn’s moon, Iapetus, that Earth scientists have determined may be an artifact. Following launch, they discover Saeed Ismail, a Jihadist stowaway, who hopes to sabotage the mission. They arrive at Iapetus, determine it is a derelict starship, and eventually meet with the Founders, descendants of the starship builders. Their revelations impact the entire Solar System with momentous implications going backward and forward in time, paving the way for a joint push to the distant reaches of the Galaxy.
Humans and Asterians construct a huge starship, Andromeda, and set out on a voyage of discovery to the Cold Spot in the Cosmic Microwave Background—first stop, the star RAN in the constellation Eridanus. They discover an incipient space-faring civilization that has hidden itself from the rest of the galaxy. The Third Oort Chronicle centers on efforts to replace these destructive reptilian tyrants with fair-minded leaders within an interstellar system. Oort Federation Chairman John Butler and lizard leaders of the planet Arcan seek to oust Ceffid’s leader, Bopr Arclando. The same applies to Lieutenant Dombit, who cleverly strategizes against General Klarot of The Geroptic Nation. With such vast differences between species, will achieving interstellar peace even prove possible—and at what price!
Slingshot is a love story – about a man, a woman, another man, another woman, some gender-bending...and a machine, the largest ever built. Slingshot is a mystery – about a missing aviatrix, a conspiracy, a true-believer. Slingshot is an adventure – about following a dream, the ocean-deep, outer space. Slingshot is about constructing the first space launch- loop stretching 2,600 km between Baker and Jarvis Islands in the Equatorial Pacific. It’s about high finance, intrigue, unlimited ambition, heroism, fanaticism, betrayal...and about opening space to the common person. The setting is the day-after-tomorrow. Technology has advanced, the web is more pervasive than ever, but human ambition and greed remain unchanged. In Slingshot, Alex Regent, Margo Jackson, and Klaus Blumenfeld reach for the stars as they blend their skills to create the world’s first space launch-loop, backed by major software money. Environmental fanatic Lars Watson with his team of young eco-terrorists are funded by opposing financial interests, who will go to any length to halt the project. Reporter Lori Kutcher indiscriminately applies her own personal skills to ensure it is she who reports the unfolding events to a watching world. With a cast of 69, Slingshot takes you from Seattle’s world financial district, to the ocean bottom at 5,000 feet off Baker Island, to the edge of space 80 km above. You play with dolphins and battle sharks. You fly and sail and dive, you work and play and love across the vast panorama of an Equatorial Pacific being put to leash to serve humanity’s surge into outer space. While its accurate science and precise engineering will appeal to hard science-fiction buffs, Slingshot’s major focus is the grand journey, the opening of outer space to the common person by men and women who loom larger than life as they work, play, and love.
Derek “Tiger” Baily and his SEAL Winged Insertion Command (SWIC) jump from orbit to test the enhanced Gryphon-10 MK 4 hardshell wingsuit for combat applications. Every contingency has been planned. The 6-man squadron believes it is fully prepared for hurtling around the world and staging critical re-entry, but challenged to innovate life-or-death solutions with only seconds to spare, Baily’s team might not survive intact. Fly with Tiger and the SWIC on a mission that surely will test the limits of their training in Robert G. Williscroft’s third installment following Daedalus and Daedalus LEO.
Can you drop from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with just a hardshell wingsuit? Navy SEAL Derek “Tiger” Baily and his SEALS Winged Insertion Command (SWIC) develop an experimental Gryphon hardshell wingsuit that can do just that. Eventually, when the presidential front-runner is seized by pirates for ransom, Baily’s 6-man SWIC team must hurtle around the world, staging critical re-entry for a rescue, challenged to solve life-or-death problems with only seconds to spare. Can they survive? Will they effect the rescue? Join Tiger Baily through all four adventures in sci-fi master Robert G. Williscroft’s Daedalus series, now collected for the first time as “The Daedalus Files: SEALS Winged Insertion Command (SWIC)."
Braxton Thorpe has discovered a threat to the entire Solar System, but he has a problem: he's dead. Frozen at death, he awakens to find himself uploaded into an electronic matrix. Exploring beyond the matrix and the larger GlobalNet, he discovers the Oort, a distributed electronic entity older than humanity, with an unnerving secret: aliens wiped out nearly all life on Earth once, and are coming back to do it again. The mathematical entity that is Thorpe has to find a way to convince humans of the threat, and in time to do something about it. But how, and what? If you've read Niven's "A World Out of Time" or Taylor's "We Are Legion," the opening of "Icicle" will only "seem" familiar. Buckle up for a wild ride; you ain't seen nothing.
They discover a Dyson Sphere under construction by microbots, but the bots are scavenging one part of the sphere to construct another. And where is the civilization that designed this massive project? “This is cutting edge, hard science fiction at its finest. This broad-minded, far-sweeping saga is both realistic and daring. The reader feels that yes, this is what the universe is like and what man’s role in it will come to be.” Professor John B. Rosenman, Norfolk State University. The starship Andromeda stops at the Keid triple-star system on its voyage of discovery and stumbles on a derelict Dyson Sphere. The starship is attacked by microbots scavenging one part of the sphere to repair another. They map the sphere and discover several primitive races inside—humanoid, feline, and saurian. They investigate the internal structure of the Dyson Sphere with its hundred-kilometer wide tubes filled with fast-moving magnetic fluid, and I-beams with hundred- kilometer wide plates and thirty-kilometer wide flanges that are one hundred meters thick. They eventually meet digital uploads of the race that built the sphere. Then the explorers discover that the Dyson Sphere’s star is about to produce a superflare that could destroy all life inside the sphere and possibly even the Dyson Sphere itself. The explorers mount a major rescue effort to save the uploads and sapient races.
As the Oort Federation becomes a major force in the Solar System, Braxton Thorpe passes the Federation chairmanship to former US President John Butler. Thorpe’s group offers humanity virtual immortality, but Isidor Orlov and his Udachny Enterprises oppose their every move. While terraforming Mars for more living space, the Mars Reds prove formidable as resisters. If the Asterian starship fighter pilots are released, will they align with Phoenix or Udachny, and who will develop the right FTL technology? In this tense space adventure, Thorpe, his team, and Max the tabby cat travel to Proxima Centauri and beyond to the Aster system, 84 lightyears distant. Will Thorpe bring together humans and Asterians in their quest for intergalactic travel? Will long life prove more than mere humans can handle?
