Breaking Anchor

by Henry Melton

"M99 0" -- A coded message appeared on Tommy Dorie's cell, not that unusual from his secrecy minded scientist father Nick. Whether it was a scavenger hunt, a "pop quiz" or just a test to see if he were following orders, when Nick gave him a coded order, he was expected to follow it, even if it meant he had to miss out on an important date with his girlfriend. But this time, things were puzzlingly wrong. His laptop was missing, there were strange messages on the answering machine, and he was ordered to go hide on the family's sailing boat. Suddenly, it was up to Tommy to sail into downtown Chicago on the river and rescue not just his father, but the others that had been caught between a secret too big to keep, and the company that would do anything to keep it. All he had was the family yacht and a stray dog, and the training that had been drilled into his head all his life. But nothing was quite what it appeared to be -- not the yacht, nor the dog.

310 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2012

About the author

Henry Melton is often on the road with his wife Mary Ann, a nature photographer and frequently captivated by the places he visits. This has inspired his latest series of novels; Small Towns, Big Ideas. Formerly a programmer specializing in database work and web design, he pioneered Internet use for a Fortune 500 company until the tech bubble collapse. In the early days of home computers, he created one of the earliest commercial word processing programs, and built his own computers back when that meant wiring the chips together by hand to his own schematics.
Henry's short fiction has been published in many magazines and anthologies, most frequently in ANALOG. Catacomb, published in DRAGON magazine, is considered a classic, and by the continuing fan mail twenty years later, a formative influence among modern computer gaming programmers. Many of these are available for free on his website.
Other than an occasional short story, most of his time is spent writing science fiction YA novels. Currently being published by Wire Rim Books are the Small Towns, Big Ideas series of books, where high school aged heroes of the here and now are confronted with classic science fiction themes. The first, Emperor Dad, was the winner of the 2008 Darrell Award for Best Novel.
Sharing what he's learned about the art, craft, and business of writing has been an on-going part of his life, from grade school readings to teaching formal classes and veranda coaching for the students of George Benson Christian College in Zambia during his 2007 trip to Africa.

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Reviews

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom has picked up sailing from this parents Nick and Marissa. Mom died of cancer this past year. His dad works for a company on mysterious projects. He has worked up secret codes with Tom. The secrecy is probably preparation not paranoia, and the story starts with Tom getting some coded messages. This is important enough for him to miss school, cut contact, take the battery out of his phone and leave on their boat. Then it's pick up Nick, Ruth and more coworkers. We know the company is after them, but probably not the police.

Cloak and dagger, secrecy, fleeing on a sailboat/hybrid with Tommy as the only competent sailor. All we know (Tommy's perspective) is that the company is after Nick, Ruth, Marvin and him. Even when Nick is aboard he's so out of it he can't give many answers. The speculative part of the story is why the company is after Nick, but for most of the story we don't get see much of this technology.

Tom is forced to take on responsibility, e.g. become the captain of the boat. The goal of the story seems to be keep themselves from being captured by the company. Nick may have some plans, but we aren't privy to those. Sailing and boat handling is integral to the plot, it was mentioned throughout the book. Marvin's family and Tom made choices during the ending, but there were some unanswered questions and Tom's future seemed undetermined. Going back to school, taking his finals and getting his diploma didn't seem to be an option. 4 stars.

[Robert Arl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melton's "Small Towns, Big Ideas" series of independent YA novels continues to amaze me. The "Ideas" are entertaining and thought-provoking, and the teenage main characters are reminiscent of the best of the early juvenile SF writers, updated and reflective of the 21st century. I'll continue to read and recommend these novels as long as Mr. Melton writes them.

Read "Breaking Anchor" and you too will really, really wish you had a dog like Bert.

[Jack Buckley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I met this author and he described this series of self contained stories as exploring cities he’s been to. When I bought this book, I was living elsewhere and searching for a bit of home.

The book is supposedly about Chicago but the majority of the plot takes place on the open water. I wish there wasn’t so much information about sailing.

The immense info dumps about sailing and the consistent comma splices made this a tough one to get through. There was also the weird romance between the 17 year old protagonist and the 16 year old daughter. Didn’t feel great about that. The stereotyped statements and the random prayer circle bit was strange. Anyways, not one I will be keeping.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A seventeen year old boy must keep his family's sailboat away from very diligent pursuit. It was only about his trip, but was exciting and enough science to make it sci-fi. Loved it as I have every Henry Melton book I have read.