Minerva

by E.S. Wynn

The year is 2124. Minerva Eclipse and Duke Industries are earth’s two largest aerospace companies, and for the past ten years, these two giants have been working on a joint project to create the world’s first faster-than-light starship, the TEV Minerva. Her first mission is simple; test the experimental Displacement Drive, spend seven days in the depths of space, and snap back. It was supposed to be quick, it was supposed to be easy. Nobody planned on the corpse. Nobody planned on the fifty thousand year old starship. Nobody planned on the sabotage. Nobody planned on the Captain’s sudden, unexplained suicide. Nobody planned on being stranded one hundred and twelve light years from Earth. MINERVA is a Thunderune Publishing Lightning Novel. Lightning Novels are quick and powerful, bold and just long enough, just concise enough, to really stun you.

Genres: Science Fiction

72 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

E.S. Wynn is the author of over seventy books and the editor of a number of magazines. Written works include the seven books of the Pink Carbide cyberpunk series, the sci-fi thriller books of The Cygnus War series, the five books of the Modern Creative Writer’s Workbook series, Minerva, The Mars Manuscripts, Raining Chrome, RIM, Cybergothika, The Highforge Legacy, Letters From A Dead Earth, Dark Salvage, Stimulus, Fatal Mistakes, Shores of the Nameless Gods, The Hyperborean Texts, Skin Dreams, Rods of Mars, Cinder Block Houses, Last Five Years, Beyond Oblivion, Decay Americana, 21 Great Days, Dusk Days and Daysleep Dreams, Rash Door, Universal Roleplaying Resource: Planets, Steam Wars, Beyond the Zompocalypse, Voyage of the Tereshkova, Liber Luminopticon, Liber Velum Voces, Through The Fire, Like Oceans of Liquid Skin, Reasons to Stay Single and Quick & Dirty Book Marketing. E.S. Wynn is also the author of 14 additional books ghostwritten for clients or otherwise credited under various pen names.
As an editor, E.S. Wynn currently owns and operates two fiction magazines. E.S. Wynn has also worked as an editor of books, dissertations, articles and short stories, serving a number of clients and friends since 2005. E.S. Wynn's own articles and fiction have been published online and in print in a number of magazines, including the prestigious California Freemason Magazine.

E.S. Wynn is also “The Voice” of the Dark Dreams Podcast, the Blackout City Podcast and a series of mystic heathenry meditations.

Reviews

[Albion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a frequent reader of E.S. Wynn's on-line sci-fi zine FARTHER STARS.COM. It was there that I read the opening of MINERVA. After doing so, I was hooked, so I clicked on the link just below it and ordered a PDF of the entire lightning novel for less than three bucks. It arrived in my email almost instantly, and I wasn't disappointed with the purchase.

The novel is set in the year 2124, when humanity creates the new FTL (faster than light) drive. The mission of the starship MINERVA is to test this new means of travel and take humans farther into space than anyone has gone before. How precisely they do this seemed particularly interesting to me: it has to do with quantum entanglement. The catch being that no one knows exactly where the ship will end up--except that it won't be in a black hole, sun, or anything comprised of substantial mass.

The action is told from the first person point of view of the MINERVA's second-in-command: Kim Ferox, a twenty two year old, former highly decorated lieutenant of Terra's Black Navy. Her first person narrative of the events, along with the story's startling plot developments, help to make the novel very suspenseful reading.

Yet another reason it was so suspenseful is due to the clear, concise writing style of the author. I never got bogged down by the prose--despite the fact that there is some very "novel" and intriguing science contained within this science fiction work. Wynn has a knack for making it easy to digest.

So if you like to ponder what we may one day find if and when humans ever break the light barrier, then this is a novel to read; in addition, if you're a SUSPENSE JUNKY, or even just a reader who likes to be kept on the edge of your seat, then take a ride on the starship MINERVA.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eldest of the lovely Armitage sisters, raven-haired Minerva, is sent by their hunting-mad father vicar to find a rich husband under disreputable old Lady Godolphin. When Minerva's 'honesty' mars her London debut and alienates vengeful Dandies, eligible Lord Sylvester Comfrey offers her lessons in flirting - with surprising consequences.

A typical romance of the rich man who falls for the simple country girl, building through chance encounters where the young woman seems to constantly find her way into the man's physical space. Then comes the big romantic scene- not described in detail, thank goodness. Following is the misunderstanding and finally the clearing up of the problem and the happily ever after. I did find the plot a bit disjointed and loose at times. It felt like the author was in too big of a hurry to fully explain some of the plot scenes.