Turning Point

by Jack Eason

For thousands of years, man in his arrogance, has believed that he is unique in the cosmos. During the last decade of the twentieth century, the day finally arrived when a warlike alien species called the Drana returned to our solar system, intent on re-establishing their rule over the Earth once more. The last time they were here they left a subordinate race in charge of our early ancestors. When the Drana moved on to conquer more planets in the name of their emperor, the Khaz began to create a stronghold here on Earth, hopefully large enough to one day challenge the Drana. Over countless centuries all memories of the Khaz and their masters the Drana vanished from the minds of man. However, the Khaz are still calling the shots through a secret government they set up consisting of the world’s political and military leaders, as well as the heads of all the major business cartels. Meanwhile, our New Zealand born hero Tom is enjoying a well-earned break, hiking through the beautiful mountains of South Westland in New Zealand’s South Island, totally unaware that he is being deliberately drawn to a specific place. In a valley somewhere in South Westland, artificially hidden from the outside world he meets a dying race of peaceful people from another world called the Nephile, who are hiding from the Drana and falls in love with one of them. Through her and others like her he is made aware that everything we have ever learned or assumed is untrue. He learns that the ancestors of all the various branches of humanity were brought here from other worlds as slaves of the Drana millennia ago. After being enhanced, our hero is tasked with bringing in all the other human beings, chosen like him by the Nephile, to be taken back to the valley in New Zealand to form a new species of Nephile/human. While picking up the various groups of humans dotted across the world, his actions inadvertently starts World War Three, days before the Drana return to reclaim the Earth, throwing the Khaz High Command here on Earth into total panic. How to save the Earth and humanity from this nightmare situation? What kind of earthbound weaponry could possibly defeat the Drana? The battle between the army of resistance fighters, led by our hero Tom, and the Drana in New Zealand’s South Island, ends when a worldwide cataclysmic event set in place by the Nephile living in the hidden valley occurs. Will anyone survive?

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2012

About the author

Jack Eason lived in New Zealand for forty-two years until 2000 when he returned to his birthplace in England. As far as he is concerned he will always consider himself to be a Kiwi. After military service in the 1960's, he travelled the world, visiting exotic lands and making many friends. Now retired,he is content to write and travel via the Internet. Besides writing novels and short stories. Some of his short stories and numerous articles appear in the No: 1 online E-zine “Angie’s DIARY”. His literary interests include science fiction, history, both ancient and modern, and humorous tales like those written by his fellow writer Derek Haines, such as “HAL”. He lives in retirement in his home town surrounded by his favourite books, ranging from historical fact to science fiction. His literary icons are J.R.R Tolkien, George Orwell, Arthur C Clarke and John Wyndham.

He also contributes to his blog “Have We Had Help” at: http://havewehadhelp.wordpress.com/ along with articles and short stories to “Angie’s Diary at: http://angiesdiary.com/.
You can also find some of his short stories under the ‘writings’ button at his goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/jackeason

Reviews

[Derek Haines · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a world full of authors, it's a delight to know there are still those few who can tell epic tales. Turning Point by Jack Eason fits this bill completely. Set in New Zealand, the tale unfolds of how a likeable young man,Tom, stumbles upon a secret that will change not only his life, but of all humanity. Starting with his discovery of the Nephiles, which then leads him to the dangers posed by the Drana and Khaz, he joins in the fight for survival.

It's a tale on a grand cosmic scale and so well told, the characters leap from the page at you. A highly recommended read for those who love science fiction and classic adventure tales.

[Ernie Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jack Eason's novel, Turning Point, is an alternate earth science fiction novel about a hidden ancient race, the Nephile, that seeded humanity millennia in earth's past and the ongoing war they have with an evil star-spanning empire, the Drana. The Nephile reveal themselves to select humans and revamp their DNA so that they have some hope of saving humanity and themselves from a potential new attack from the Drana.

Primarly this story shows that Jack has a great interest and a good grasp of Earth's geography. He takes the reader all across the planet at break neck speed betimes. He also has ankylosauruses, which is my favorite dinosaur.

However, I found the story to be a bit difficult to read. There are a noticeable amount of errors that tend to plague us indy authors. The style of the story was very dry and whenever a new concept was introduced, multiple paragraphs unloaded all Jack wanted us to know about that concept all at once. There was little suspense generated throughout the book and it did not engage me and draw me into the story as a reader. I would like to have seen more depth in the characters and relationships. Whenever the humans and non-humans interacted, it was difficult for me to suspend disbelief based on how the humans reacted.

Moreover, the villains in the story, the Drana and their servant Khaz (a goblin-like creature) are a bit cliché.

I am happy to know that this is Jack's first novel and believe that writing is a trained art. I've seen so many who started out much worse than Turning Point and go on to write great novels. My own first efforts were abysmal!

I wish Jack all the best as an author and pray that my words here are constructive and only help.

Ernie Laurence Jr.
Author of Sundered

[Mysti Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a classic sci-fi fan, you'll love Jack Eason's Turning Point. This prequel to his epic novel, Onet's Tale (see my review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) tells the story of how alien life influenced Earth's history and sparked a battle of universal proportions.

Reminiscent of Doyle's "The Lost World", the main character, Tom, stumbles onto a hidden realm in the heart of New Zealand. Within the prehistoric surroundings, lies a very advanced alien race, the Nephile. These angelic-like beings have hidden from their mortal enemies, the Drana and their cohorts, the sleazy little Khaz, who seek to enslave anyone they can. They enlist Tom to help with their mission to overcome the impending Drana invasion. The resulting struggles occur worldwide, resulting in a catastrophic war.

Along the way, Tom falls in love with a beautiful Nephile named Auset. This development, being the romance-a-holic I am, was my favorite part of the whole story. Their love and struggles here spawn the events that lead to Onet's Tale.

The only things I would have liked more of were some deeper characterization and dialogue. Otherwise, it was easy to be swept away into this epic and deadly story. I recommend this, and Onet's Tale, for any readers of classic sci-fi. Go grab a copy today!

[Chris The Story Reading Ape · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is an EPIC Epic Tale. How to describe and explain that statement?
It's well written, in depth and detail, without losing the thread or the plot.
Full of great characters, Human and Alien / Good and Bad.
The story covers just about everything you could imagine, what Ancient Sanskrit texts dating back as far as 6,000BC were talking about with their flying machines, who built the Pyramids in Egypt & South America, how Humans first got their thinking faculties, and a LOT more.
Combine all this with the nature of suppressed peoples, their resulting uprisings, the actions of WWII type Resistance and you've got an EPIC Epic Tale!
To say I enjoyed reading it would be an understatement, I lived in it, became friends with the heroes, cheered and celebrated their victories, mourned their losses and itched to help them when they got into difficulties.
The next book, Onet's Tale - here I come!
I'd recommend anyone who enjoyed Asimov, Clark, Bradbury, Wells, et al, type science fiction, to read this book.

See my review also at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revie...

http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews...

[Carol Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is from: Turning Point (Kindle Edition)

Take one adventure story, give it a sci fi twist and add world war three. Mix in some answers to historical myths and legends and you have Turning Point. Take a journey with our hero Tom as he crosses the world rallying support to overthrow the evil aliens, you won't regret it.

I highly recommend this book for all lovers of a good adventure story and if you like sci fi, you'll find it realistic and entertaining.

Carol Wills

[Gerald Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A science fiction great, not science fantasy.

[Gordon Wulff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack has an incredible knowledge and is an entertaining and challenging author . I highly recommend reading all of his work .
For now a hidden gem , but sure not to remain so for long .

The Seventh Age
The Forgotten Age
The Next Age
Onet's Tale
Jack Eason

Without
Suffer
Abomination
E.E. Borton

[Fiza Pathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A breathtaking scientific novella par excellence
I have been brought up on the legend of Mu and Atlantis, the secrets of the Giza Pyramid, universes that exist and contain intelligent life, planetary travel etc. It was therefore easy to appreciate the breadth of vision of Turning Point, a fable and a science fiction novella by Jack Eason. The story is based on the legend that planet earth had been seeded by intelligent life from other planets and universes. So we have here an alien race of people known as the Drana, and a subordinate race they seeded known as the Khaz, to rule over our ancestors, and who still control our very existence by manipulating our governments (the cartel who call the shots on earth?).
We have here an explanation for ancient secrets like the electromagnetic grid which surround the earth, the reason for the pyramids, the seeding of the earth, the limited use of our minds capacity. We have here remnants of a peaceful people known as Nephile (Mu) who want to contain the Khaz and the secret designs of Drana to return to earth and form armies and slaves to conquer and colonize other planets. But they find that they are incapable of performing that task, without the supporting DNA of earthlings who have acclimatized themselves to the pollution and life on earth. This can only be accomplished by choosing earthlings who is more conducive to their needs (traces of Shambhala here).
Enter Tom, a man on a holiday in New Zealand, who does not know that he is being watched and manipulated, so that he finds the entrance to their homeland.
You will be enthralled by this story as I was, and appreciate the deeply researched book, the scientific mind of Jack and a possible explanation for the seeding of man on planet earth, and other scientific folklore.
I highly recommend Jack’s book, Turning Point. It will a turning point in your life, from the mumbo-jumbo that is today passed off as science fiction.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. There was no depth to the characters, and in some cases, the author didn't even allow them to think for themselves. The plot seemed to jump not only over the world but through time as well.

I better not forget to mention the scores of spelling and grammatical errors. I expect one or two in a published book, but I don't think this was even proof-read.