Fire Alive!

by John Steiner

Fire. The light by which we tell our stories and mythic tales. It kept the night at bay for hundreds of thousands of years. It guided humanity's migrations across the globe, and became mankind's first weapon of mass destruction. What if fire developed a mind of its own. ... Firefighting is already a tough job even in 2026. Captain Duane "Longhand" Longhurst and probationary firefight Malcolm O'Connell of Salt Lake City's Station 8 discover it's going to get much harder. A phenomenon of particle physics called Self-Propagating Organized Thermotroph or S.P.O.T. emerges to burn whatever they can to ingest the heat that fuels their semi-living existence. Breaking in a new enigmatic probie, and struggling with memories of past fire calls, Captain Longhurst has to now take on the blazing entities.

223 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2013

About the author

John Steiner earned his Associate of Biology at Salt Lake Community College, where he is currently working as a tutor in math and chemistry. He exercises an avid interest in history, science, philosophy, mythology, martial arts as well as military tactics and technology.

Reviews

[Joy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the premise--our firefighting heroes also have to fight fires that are living entities, which begin to evolve! And an arsonist complicates things. The story is set in the future (2026), and the firefighting equipment improvements are impressive. Interesting firefighting background too. Our hero is a fire captain, Longhand Longhurst, and he is mentoring a newbie, who has amazing abilities and a mysterious background. The other characters--members of the fire department--Salt Lake City's Station 8--and friends and family members add interest. Suspense, danger, and death--and how will the world cope with these new and nasty enemies? That had me worried, but there's an exciting and satisfying ending.

Note. More editing was needed, but it didn't prevent me from enjoying the story.