Ghosts of Ophidian

by Scott McElhaney

An enormous three-mile long ship has just entered the Earth's orbit and it's doing absolutely nothing... except instilling fear and speculation upon the citizens below. After a few weeks, NASA gets a boarding party together to attempt to gain entry into the giant craft. Once inside the ship, they will discover over a million creatures on ice. They will also discover the reason that the ship hasn't been doing anything beyond maintaining an orbit above the Earth - it appears that the ship has been sabotaged by whatever used to exist in three of the empty cryogenic chambers.
Their investigation leads to a lot more than a potential alien invasion. Nothing is as it seems and pretty soon, the two remaining astronauts aren't sure who they should trust anymore.

The next book in the Ghosts of Ophidian universe "Alastair" is available now with much more to come in 2013.

Genres: Science Fiction, Amazon

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 21, 2013

About the author

Scott's first novel, Mommy's Choice, was originally published in paperback under the pseudonym Scott Curtis. In under a year on the bookshelves, that novel won the National Christian Choice Book Award for romantic suspense. When Scott moved to a different publisher and started making his novels available to Kindle readers, he returned to his real name and reduced the prices to the absolute minimum allowed by Amazon.
Scott McElhaney currently resides in Ohio with his wife and two sons. He's a Desert Shield veteran of the US Navy, having served on the USS South Carolina CGN-37. Although his books didn't become available to Kindle readers until December 2011, over 250,000 digital copies have been purchased to date and he still maintains a position in the top 100 worldwide in the "Sci-fi Space Opera" category.

Reviews

[Cynthia Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Good read. Nice pace and a good bit of suspense. I enjoyed the main characters. The author writes well and I would continue the series. I especially want to know more about the God's of Pli. I definitely would not call this hard sci-fi. There where plenty of chances to add some scientific details, we don't even get to know about how these ships are moving in space or even what speeds they are going. Stuff like that is kind of glossed over. They just get to where they are going and then we are there. This also hurt the ending a bit when colonization was glossed over. So many missed opportunities! This would have gotten to 4.5 if it were longer by 50 pages and contained the science I crave!

[Sola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting start but once into what should have been the meat of the story it just suddenly ended with the literary equivalent of a montage. It felt like the author rushed the ending to try to meet a certain page count or time constraint. There were also a lot of little details that made it feel like the author just didn't do the necessary research (e.g. a Navy Seal isn't going to call a magazine a clip; space agencies won't even let tourists go up without a little training).

[Ben Coster · Rating 2 out of 5]

The characters and story showed real promise initially however about halfway through it fells like the author just sort of gave up.

I am however, a big fan of sci fi that starts with the discovery of a mysterious object or spacecraft and the attempts to unravel the mystery behind it.

[Rob Hopwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

What can I say about this? First of all, it is a lot better than most independently published books. The beginning is more detailed than the end, which feels rushed. The storytelling is competent, and I could clearly visualize the locations and situations the author described. The plot is quite imaginative, but feels somewhat unsophisticated. One of the best aspects is that there is no objectionable material or language in any part of the book. Personally, I dislike cynicism, arrogance and nonchalance, and I think it was the honesty of the narrative voice which carried me through to the end.

[Sci-Fi Lover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorites by McElhaney. His writing usually reminds me of Jack McDevitt and this one in particular is one of those times. Well written mystery with nicely developed characters. The best thing about this one is it seems highly plausible and our reactions to such an event would probably be quite similar to those expressed in this novel

[Kieren Philpot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable

Short, well paced tale. Ending was quite abrupt but aside from that it was a fun story, I will be getting the sequel.

[T. Banny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The plot is straightforward: a strange spaceship is orbiting the Earth. Attempts to make contact with it have been unsuccessful. The main character, an ex-Navy Seal who is good at breaking and entering, is hired to cut into the ship. Also going along with him are a crew of trained astronauts. Once aboard, the mystery of the space ship further deepens when the crew discovers the ships very strange cargo.

The only reason I didn't give Ghosts of Ophidian a full five stars is because it moves fast. Very fast. I guess that's a good thing, because the books holds your attention, but I felt like it was over way too quickly. It almost felt like a very detailed outline, or like the author felt he had to condense the story to just the bare bones to keep the reader engaged and entertained. It's a shame, because there is so much material worthy of exploration and detail in the story.

However, that is my only gripe with the book, it was too fast, and although the ending leaves the book open for sequels, it wraps itself up tidily enough to be a stand alone book. I recommend Ghosts of Ophidian if you want a quick, interesting sci-fi read.

[Jon Norimann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghosts of Ophidian is a nice two hour read on first contact between humans and aliens. One of the classic books in this genre is Rendezvous with Rama by AC Clarke. I don't think I spoil anything by saying Ghost of Ophidian has common traits with Clarke's classic. Where Clarke and co-writers dive deep into the subject, McElhaney prefers a faster approach. Here 100 pages is spent on what Clarke uses 1000 pages over 3 books to describe. According to ones taste this can be good or bad, personally I can live with both approaches.

Apparently this is book one in a series. I will most likely be reading book two at some time.

[Scott McElhaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because it reminded me a lot of a book that I wrote called... wait a minute, I wrote this book! I guess that explains why I loved it so much. What are the odds I'd hate a book that I wrote? Anyway, I'd highly recommend this book and any others written by this dude who has the same name as me.

[Sacha Valero · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun and interesting read however unlike Erinyes it wasn't a serious page turner for me. I liked the two main characters but they seem to fall in love unrealistically quickly and the ending was just "BANG!" it's over. This left me thinking the author just wanted it to be over.

Sacha

[Rosa Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story

Excellent sci fi story and a great plot. if you are into aliens and other worlds then this is the book to read. However it felt a bit rushed towards the ending but overall a wonderful story to read

[Michael Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read!

I absolutely love these plots and story lines. I actually read this entire book in a day it was that good. my only suggestion is that you create more since I have read the majority of them or make the books longer as I CRAVE for more!

[Jaiden · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good read. author has neat ideas and good pacing. characters were a bit predictable, but had enough interest to carry the story. worth the buck, for sure

[Aaron Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, just as I have loved everything Scott McElhaney had written.

[jeffrey little · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book and the follow up are really good. I read them both in a day . i couldn't put them down

[Jodi Woody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Ghosts of Ophidian as an easy quick Sci Fi read. Not as developed as I would have liked and the ending just kind of petered out. It was ok. I give it three stars.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5