Lieutenant Henry Gallant
by H.
Peter Alesso
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
In
an era of genetic engineering, Lieutenant Henry Gallant is the only Natural
(non-genetically enhanced) officer left in the fleet. Many of his superiors,
including rival Anton Neumann, have expressed concern he is not up to the
challenge. However, his unique mental abilities have proven essential to the
defense of the United Planets in its fight against the Titan invaders.
Serving
on the first FTL prototype, the Intrepid, on its maiden voyage to Tau Ceti,
Gallant finds a lost colony on the planet Elysium. Cyrus Wolfe and his son,
manipulate planet politics against the democratic opposition led by James
Hepburn and his granddaughter Alaina. Wolfe has allied himself with an ancient
Artificial Intelligence which had lain dormant on the planet for millennia, but
is now willing to protect the colonists against the Titans.
With
Alaina’s help, Gallant discovers the ancient AI has a sinister ulterior motive
and he matches his unique and exceptional mind against the complexity of
machine intelligence to escape the ultimate trap and prevent the extermination
of humanity.
In
Lieutenant Henry Gallant, one man pits the naked human mind against the
perspicacity of machine intelligence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:
Elysium
Fire retros, thought Gallant, prompting the Hummingbird to
fall from its vertiginous orbit.
The tiny ship’s battle scars reminded him of what he was
leaving behind, but he quickly dispelled his momentary sense of isolation.
Instead, he focused on his mission to a new world. He let Elysium fill the
viewport as well as his imagination. The fulsome imagery blended with his
neural interface receptors, producing a heightened awareness. Optimistically,
he resolved to enjoy the eight minute ride to the landing strip at the outer
edge of the town.
He had grown up on terra-formed Mars and never visited
Earth. Now as he plunged downward toward the aquamarine water, he could
appreciate its novelty. The craft penetrated the atmosphere and passed through
the dotted white clouds with the sun reflecting off its polished surface.
When the Hummingbird pierced the stratosphere, the hull
creaked from strain, alerting him to the many and varied external noises—a
startling change from the formal silence of deep space. Buffeted by solar winds
and the air pressure of the ionosphere, the ship’s metal fabric added vibrating
noises.
He listened to a cacophony of thunderous rocket engines
bellowing as fuel gurgled into the nozzles and then exploded; fierce winds
howled as they chafed against the heat shield, and a rhythmic plink of
particles struck the hull.
Performing a wingover helped to stabilize the fuel mixture
and to distribute the heat more evenly. The maneuver caused the planet to swirl
around in his viewport, adding a visual spectacle to trump the auditory repast.
The sunlight accentuated the blue skies, the vibrant blue-green oceans, and the
orange-red horizons. These soon gave way to the planetary features of numerous islands
with rugged brown-gray mountains and burgeoning green forests. The islands
dotted the expansive ocean teeming with life from multicolored birds to herds
of mammals roaming free.
The largest island in the main chain was the eastern most,
which sported a gigantic volcano on its northern peninsula. Gallant had seen
volcanoes on the various moons of Jupiter. They featured spiraling conical
peaks and deep sprawling ravines, but the one below him dwarfed them all. His
home planet, Mars, featured the largest volcano in the solar system, but before
his eyes was one even larger.
A final crescendo was reached when the Hummingbird thudded
to a jarring stop on the landing pad.
While he unstrapped, the AI reported, “The atmosphere is
breathable with twenty per cent oxygen content. Indications are the plant life
has many similarities to Earth and the ocean is rich in photosensitive
plankton. Testing of voluminous bacteria and virus strains is underway and a
list of dangerous pathogens will be updated continuously as you travel through
the environment.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
As a
scientist and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter Alesso has
over twenty years research experience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at LLNL he led a team of computer
scientists and engineers in innovative applications across a wide range of
supercomputers, workstations and networks. He graduated from the United States
Naval Academy with a B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines
before completing an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He has
published several software titles and numerous scientific journal and
conference articles, and he is the author/co-author of seven books.
You can visit
his Web site at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx
Author Social
Media:
Author Web
site at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx
Goodreads
Address: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/413852.H_Peter_Alesso
YouTube
trailer for Henry Gallant Saga: SciFi Book Trailer: Midshipman Henry Gallant
Facebook for
Henry Gallant Saga: https://www.facebook.com/MidshipmanHenryGallantInSpace
Author Blog
Address: http://cosmologysymmetrybreaking.blogspot.com/
Amazon link
for Volume 1 of the Henry Gallant Saga:
http://www.amazon.com/Midshipman-Henry-Gallant-Space-Volume/dp/1482640325/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Book Reviews for Volume 1:
Past Reviews
of the first volume: Midshipman Henry Galant @2013
"The
author has created a wonderful piece of work with his first novel in the Henry
Gallant Saga. Between Henry Gallant beginning his new life on the United
Planets' battle cruiser Repulse and trying to save the world the author has
came up with it all. Henry Gallant is an admirable character with many
wonderful features such as courage, intelligence, humility, kindness and
special powers. ... the odds stacked against him pretty high. But maybe through
it all, Kelsey will see the remarkable things about him." Ashley Patts,
Teenage Rush teenagerush.blogspot.com
"This
story moves along at a swift pace, with interesting character development and
plot surprises. The characters are complete and engaging. This could develop
into a good series." Rae
"Its
style and flavor reminded me of The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell." -
JJH
"Space
Opera at its finest. Rousing read, introverted young man against impossible
odds, a girl to win or lose, an enemy or is he? Way too much fun...can't wait
for the next one." - vrzepka
I like the sound of this book, it has all of the elements of a great dystopian!
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ReplyDeleteExcellent excerpt and an interesting review.Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI loved the excerpt! Thank you!
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