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Galaxy Series #2
The Twisted Galaxy
Astronauts Paol Joonter and Blade Slater have landed on a planet thousands of light years from their home world. Considered by many to be a suicidal effort, they have safely completed the first year of a twelve year mission. What will they find on Earth2, and how will it shape the directive they were given by NASA? As they explore and learn about this new world for six years, they hope to find friendly conditions there, knowing they will still have to survive the perilous ride back home on the tail of a superluminal comet.
While wondering about their beloved astronauts, Professor Zimmer and his team of postdoctoral researchers worry about the state of the mission and make even more startling discoveries about the nature of the comet. As they come to better understand its past, they can't help to wonder what the return of the comet portends for the outcome of the mission.
While wondering about their beloved astronauts, Professor Zimmer and his team of postdoctoral researchers worry about the state of the mission and make even more startling discoveries about the nature of the comet. As they come to better understand its past, they can't help to wonder what the return of the comet portends for the outcome of the mission.
377 pages, Paperback
Published April 9, 2017
About the author
Michael L. Lewis
2 books20 followersScience Fiction newcomer, Michael L. Lewis, is the author of the Galaxy Series, which begins a years-long journey of writing that stemmed from a simple dream. A computer engineer by trade with a passion for reading fiction, he now takes that love to a new level with his first novel, the Orthogonal Galaxy. Michael currently resides in Woodinville, Washington with his wife, daughter, son, and cat.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 14, 2017
This story’s universe revolves around a comet, which in turn revolves around the Universe. Confused? Well you could be if you haven’t read the first book, so perhaps you should do that first then. That’s right, The Twisted Galaxy is a sequel to The Orthogonal Galaxy, good but a little too long, which I reviewed earlier this year. It’s a continuation in the same style, grown up science fiction with an explicable physical reason behind near future developments and one particular stunning and worldwide attention grabbing phenomena that lights up the sky every six years like nothing else could do this side of a supernova. If you thought ripped knees and fidget spinners were big, try this for context. Whoosh! A super luminal (faster than light) comet. Climb aboard the train that never stops, never slows and tries to keep its secrets. It's the sense of good explanations and rational progression which propels this tale, or rather tail, more than the comet itself because although that antagonistic device opens up the vista of exploration, almost a mute character that everyone’s counting the days to return, the hyper-distant, ultra-quick travels would be just so much baloney pie to the readers without credible underpinnings. That aspect is signed off thoroughly in book one.
I can appreciate the symmetry of universe-scale circles in which everything physically possible must exist or happen somewhere in space-time so the best place to imagine something opposite to your own world is on the diametrical far side to us of that circular arena. It’s easier to picture that way. Mathematically, it could pop up anywhere but I'm comfortable with the feng shui thought that it seems fair that something opposite should be placed opposite.
The comet swings around the circular hoola-hoop path, which allows a pair of expendable risk takers to compare the two Earthly sites. However, [WARNING: Trog reads fictional entertainment and takes it much too seriously] I didn't understand why some things were almost exactly the same, such as atmospheric pressure, light intensity, language and history, as that would suggest linkage - i.e. if I name a pet or a nut or a child, drop a pan on my foot or think of a new word and assign it a meaning expressing the anguish of the pan/foot or nut-eyed child experience, then someone an incredible distance away will be unconsciously compelled to do the same because even marginal differences would diverge as rapidly as Elise Fordham's legs after two minutes in the Balearic islands. No then, that hard link maintaining parallel synchronicity wasn't made clear enough for me as a mutation in one brain cell might change the course of history, genes are miscopied on an incalculable global scale all the time and if one photon missed and one miscopy didn't happen, you'd get a new future extrapolation and the two Earths wouldn’t have much in common. If you forget a birthday, it has implications and consequences. In other words, we live in a quantum open system and it happens duality happens but for it to match consistently in two locations, there would have to be a strong, invisible lock. The same molecule existing in two places, which is allowed in quantum theory, is probably what the writer is pointing to, but they’d move differently (without another lock law that’s a stranger to known physics). My head hurts and I sense everyone’s stopped listening to me and gone off to Google Elise Fordham (of Lock’s Heath). Aliens just getting lazy and building the same design of planetary system in two locations wouldn’t cut it, so either I missed an important page or could all be made clear in the third book of the trilogy? From what I’ve seen, this is not an author who leaves loose ends. [END: of mad nit picking].
I've now been extremely and unendearingly pedantic, over-egged the criticism, ignored poetic licence and trashed someone who asked me to “big her up a bit” online, so that isn't fair in an outward-facing way because this is a good story, switching between a worried astrophysics team on Earth and an exploration of Earth 2 (in a system fairly identical to ours - Mars 2, Venus 2 etc.) and there are some differences between the two planets (paint colours, house designs), but the main food for thought the author gives us in this book is bang in line with the by now traditional science fiction education remit: "What would it look like if we chose to live like this?" The second level question is often "Are we being ignored by E.T. because we haven't sorted ourselves out yet?"
Ah, okay, when that light goes on and you comprehend that the book has been designed to deliver that worthy message for consideration, the principle that Earth 2 and its people need to be just like us in the narrative becomes a totally necessary foundation to deliver a readily acceptable offer - "This is how we could live. It could work, if we got behind this – and it could be so easy”, like Elise. Make like the comet and never stop.
Well, the alternative society thing that’s portrayed could work but I think a more communal style of living, without a financial system, would be open to abuse, even with equivalent recompense. The author is aware of this issue too. I'm willing to think these utopian ideas through though because taking a position before you've heard the facts is stupid but I had hoped to see a better explanation of (a) the mechanism for non-compliance (being frowned at is not a convincing penalty for not taking work as an unpaid traffic warden, for example, which entails being frowned at) and (b) what the philosophers would say about the impact on free will and self-determination. Where are the Refuseniks? What do they have to say? What about the French equivalents, who go on strike regularly? In short, this is an experimental social system being judged under an economic cost/gain calculation which, apparently, improves happiness. Economists don't do happiness. If you want to glow, try putting it about in the Balearic Islands. Or you could start a vendetta. How do disabled people fit into this utopian model, for example? What penalty is there for doing your job badly? All of these are small points that don't take a lot away from the message or the central adventure and ticking clock but my comments are a legitimate outpouring in response to the author inviting me to think about his proposed social model that worries me. It is a reasonable idea but a leap of faith and I wonder if people would end up doing more productive work or less?
Okay, let’s try it, but far away from me on the other side of the galactic rim. On Earth 2 for example.
Now, I know it's really bad form to discuss things which aren't in the book, but I don't play by the rules and have decided to include this discussion in preparation/anticipation of where the story could go in Book 3:
First of all, where did the air cars originally come from? That factor is an intriguing hint of third-party involvement and we haven't met the intelligent Them yet.
I do hope the comet turns out to be an alien space craft that went too fast and is condemned to orbit the Galaxy forever. That’s just speculation, no hint of it so far, but that idea glows a little.
Finally, here's a high-level suggestion (vain attempt to get an original thought onto the record way ahead of a Nobel Prize winner): What if the comet only circles once? That sounds odd but think about this for a moment. Speed and time are relative up to and including the speed of light. If anything could go faster than that (superluminal comet, Hawking radiation), another mathematical function would have to be found to understand the speed's affect on not just time (boring) but also the position in space-time of its light. Where would it be visible? My proposal is that the comet could go around once but so fast that its existence would be reflected every six years in time. A distortion I'd like to name The Solid Echo Theory. This book describes the change in the comet's line of passage through the Solar System between passes but I hazzard that the comet retained the same position and it is the Universe itself which is drifting. Cool, or what?
I can appreciate the symmetry of universe-scale circles in which everything physically possible must exist or happen somewhere in space-time so the best place to imagine something opposite to your own world is on the diametrical far side to us of that circular arena. It’s easier to picture that way. Mathematically, it could pop up anywhere but I'm comfortable with the feng shui thought that it seems fair that something opposite should be placed opposite.
The comet swings around the circular hoola-hoop path, which allows a pair of expendable risk takers to compare the two Earthly sites. However, [WARNING: Trog reads fictional entertainment and takes it much too seriously] I didn't understand why some things were almost exactly the same, such as atmospheric pressure, light intensity, language and history, as that would suggest linkage - i.e. if I name a pet or a nut or a child, drop a pan on my foot or think of a new word and assign it a meaning expressing the anguish of the pan/foot or nut-eyed child experience, then someone an incredible distance away will be unconsciously compelled to do the same because even marginal differences would diverge as rapidly as Elise Fordham's legs after two minutes in the Balearic islands. No then, that hard link maintaining parallel synchronicity wasn't made clear enough for me as a mutation in one brain cell might change the course of history, genes are miscopied on an incalculable global scale all the time and if one photon missed and one miscopy didn't happen, you'd get a new future extrapolation and the two Earths wouldn’t have much in common. If you forget a birthday, it has implications and consequences. In other words, we live in a quantum open system and it happens duality happens but for it to match consistently in two locations, there would have to be a strong, invisible lock. The same molecule existing in two places, which is allowed in quantum theory, is probably what the writer is pointing to, but they’d move differently (without another lock law that’s a stranger to known physics). My head hurts and I sense everyone’s stopped listening to me and gone off to Google Elise Fordham (of Lock’s Heath). Aliens just getting lazy and building the same design of planetary system in two locations wouldn’t cut it, so either I missed an important page or could all be made clear in the third book of the trilogy? From what I’ve seen, this is not an author who leaves loose ends. [END: of mad nit picking].
I've now been extremely and unendearingly pedantic, over-egged the criticism, ignored poetic licence and trashed someone who asked me to “big her up a bit” online, so that isn't fair in an outward-facing way because this is a good story, switching between a worried astrophysics team on Earth and an exploration of Earth 2 (in a system fairly identical to ours - Mars 2, Venus 2 etc.) and there are some differences between the two planets (paint colours, house designs), but the main food for thought the author gives us in this book is bang in line with the by now traditional science fiction education remit: "What would it look like if we chose to live like this?" The second level question is often "Are we being ignored by E.T. because we haven't sorted ourselves out yet?"
Ah, okay, when that light goes on and you comprehend that the book has been designed to deliver that worthy message for consideration, the principle that Earth 2 and its people need to be just like us in the narrative becomes a totally necessary foundation to deliver a readily acceptable offer - "This is how we could live. It could work, if we got behind this – and it could be so easy”, like Elise. Make like the comet and never stop.
Well, the alternative society thing that’s portrayed could work but I think a more communal style of living, without a financial system, would be open to abuse, even with equivalent recompense. The author is aware of this issue too. I'm willing to think these utopian ideas through though because taking a position before you've heard the facts is stupid but I had hoped to see a better explanation of (a) the mechanism for non-compliance (being frowned at is not a convincing penalty for not taking work as an unpaid traffic warden, for example, which entails being frowned at) and (b) what the philosophers would say about the impact on free will and self-determination. Where are the Refuseniks? What do they have to say? What about the French equivalents, who go on strike regularly? In short, this is an experimental social system being judged under an economic cost/gain calculation which, apparently, improves happiness. Economists don't do happiness. If you want to glow, try putting it about in the Balearic Islands. Or you could start a vendetta. How do disabled people fit into this utopian model, for example? What penalty is there for doing your job badly? All of these are small points that don't take a lot away from the message or the central adventure and ticking clock but my comments are a legitimate outpouring in response to the author inviting me to think about his proposed social model that worries me. It is a reasonable idea but a leap of faith and I wonder if people would end up doing more productive work or less?
Okay, let’s try it, but far away from me on the other side of the galactic rim. On Earth 2 for example.
Now, I know it's really bad form to discuss things which aren't in the book, but I don't play by the rules and have decided to include this discussion in preparation/anticipation of where the story could go in Book 3:
First of all, where did the air cars originally come from? That factor is an intriguing hint of third-party involvement and we haven't met the intelligent Them yet.
I do hope the comet turns out to be an alien space craft that went too fast and is condemned to orbit the Galaxy forever. That’s just speculation, no hint of it so far, but that idea glows a little.
Finally, here's a high-level suggestion (vain attempt to get an original thought onto the record way ahead of a Nobel Prize winner): What if the comet only circles once? That sounds odd but think about this for a moment. Speed and time are relative up to and including the speed of light. If anything could go faster than that (superluminal comet, Hawking radiation), another mathematical function would have to be found to understand the speed's affect on not just time (boring) but also the position in space-time of its light. Where would it be visible? My proposal is that the comet could go around once but so fast that its existence would be reflected every six years in time. A distortion I'd like to name The Solid Echo Theory. This book describes the change in the comet's line of passage through the Solar System between passes but I hazzard that the comet retained the same position and it is the Universe itself which is drifting. Cool, or what?
February 16, 2020
Nice compliment to his first!
This was pretty much a MUST READ for me after Michael's first, and it did not disappoint (entirely).
I enjoy this author's writing style and integration of interesting and compelling science. He also does a fantastic job with character development. Finally, I get a sense that he writes and interweaves situations from personal experience due to the care he gives, and details he includes.
That being said, this work cannot be compared with the first, which caught we entirely off-guard. The fact that Earth 2 is so similar to Earth 1 makes it relatable, but leaves a lot off the table from a "what might be possible" stand point.
Quick and enjoyable read, so still a MUST if you enjoyed the first. Thanks!
This was pretty much a MUST READ for me after Michael's first, and it did not disappoint (entirely).
I enjoy this author's writing style and integration of interesting and compelling science. He also does a fantastic job with character development. Finally, I get a sense that he writes and interweaves situations from personal experience due to the care he gives, and details he includes.
That being said, this work cannot be compared with the first, which caught we entirely off-guard. The fact that Earth 2 is so similar to Earth 1 makes it relatable, but leaves a lot off the table from a "what might be possible" stand point.
Quick and enjoyable read, so still a MUST if you enjoyed the first. Thanks!
March 30, 2020
The story directly continues with the adventures of Paol Joonter and Blade Slater on Earth2, after having landed there at the end of the first novel. They are very surprised when the locals look and speak just like they do on Earth1, which is an interesting set to the story. I felt this was somewhat expected, as the first book’s theory was that this was a sister solar system, being that its make-up appeared to be identical to ours.
The two find out that there is more in common than just the people and clothing, the area that they landed in, which is Kansas on Earth1, is also Kansas on Earth2. The country is also called the United States of America. Even though they learn that the U.S.A. is a moneyless “communist” type economy, having the names of places be identical was a little over the top for me.
There’s quite a bit of discussion about how the economy could work, as Paol wants to know how they deal with people that don’t want to work. The Brainer’s, who’s farm they landed on, insist this isn’t an issue due to the way they have things structured. Since there was so much banter about this, I felt there was some point trying to be made by the author. I feel that concerns about whether everyone would pull their own weight is only one popular blue-collar worker concern. The arguments never address the human nature of wanting to better their own situation and feel unique in the world. I think the high rate of alcoholism and suicide in communist countries points out this other failing. They also never address how a citizen of this country would ever be able to travel to another country, if they don’t have any money.
Nevertheless, the two astronauts, often referred to as extraterrestrials are finally granted an audience with the president of the United States. This also strikes a little odd, as if they don’t know the capabilities of the “extraterrestrials”, bringing them to the White House would probably not be the first step.
The President immediately is suspicious of their intentions and locks them away in the Area 57 secret air base. Turns out, the farmer, Mr. Brainer, works at the base during his “White Collar” stint. Every person in the U.S.A. is required to have a White- and Blue-collar career and switches between them every year.
Because Brainer believes that the two astronauts are just regular guys, he agrees to help them to get out of Area 57. Mainly due to overhearing that there are military types that would like to just kill the two and be done with the problem.
Paol and Blade manage to escape Area 57 with their ship and, through a stroke of luck, managed to have a device that was being tested at Area 57 that cloaks their ship and makes it invisible. Once they figure out the device, they use it to complete their six-year mission of studying the different cultures on the planet.
I found myself disappointed that the six year study of the planet seemed to occur in a “* * *” section of the book, there was no stories about any adventures. The books also has many areas where people are reminiscing about previous events, or watching videos that are old. This cause me much confusion on what period we were in, as some of these musings are quite lengthy and it caused some misunderstandings for me about whether they were in the now, six years ago or what.
The last part of the book shows the astronomers on Earth1 expecting the two back in a few days, but then we’re put back to Paol and Joonter who are starting their journey six years prior.
Even with the timing confusion, I was entertained by the story. Paol and Blade are just as lovable as they were in the first book. You can’t help but envy the way they work together and let each other take the lead when it’s appropriate.
I will definitely be looking out for book three of the series, as I’d love to see the outcome of Earth1’s dilemma. I didn’t mention the dilemma in the review, as I feel it would be a spoiler!
The two find out that there is more in common than just the people and clothing, the area that they landed in, which is Kansas on Earth1, is also Kansas on Earth2. The country is also called the United States of America. Even though they learn that the U.S.A. is a moneyless “communist” type economy, having the names of places be identical was a little over the top for me.
There’s quite a bit of discussion about how the economy could work, as Paol wants to know how they deal with people that don’t want to work. The Brainer’s, who’s farm they landed on, insist this isn’t an issue due to the way they have things structured. Since there was so much banter about this, I felt there was some point trying to be made by the author. I feel that concerns about whether everyone would pull their own weight is only one popular blue-collar worker concern. The arguments never address the human nature of wanting to better their own situation and feel unique in the world. I think the high rate of alcoholism and suicide in communist countries points out this other failing. They also never address how a citizen of this country would ever be able to travel to another country, if they don’t have any money.
Nevertheless, the two astronauts, often referred to as extraterrestrials are finally granted an audience with the president of the United States. This also strikes a little odd, as if they don’t know the capabilities of the “extraterrestrials”, bringing them to the White House would probably not be the first step.
The President immediately is suspicious of their intentions and locks them away in the Area 57 secret air base. Turns out, the farmer, Mr. Brainer, works at the base during his “White Collar” stint. Every person in the U.S.A. is required to have a White- and Blue-collar career and switches between them every year.
Because Brainer believes that the two astronauts are just regular guys, he agrees to help them to get out of Area 57. Mainly due to overhearing that there are military types that would like to just kill the two and be done with the problem.
Paol and Blade manage to escape Area 57 with their ship and, through a stroke of luck, managed to have a device that was being tested at Area 57 that cloaks their ship and makes it invisible. Once they figure out the device, they use it to complete their six-year mission of studying the different cultures on the planet.
I found myself disappointed that the six year study of the planet seemed to occur in a “* * *” section of the book, there was no stories about any adventures. The books also has many areas where people are reminiscing about previous events, or watching videos that are old. This cause me much confusion on what period we were in, as some of these musings are quite lengthy and it caused some misunderstandings for me about whether they were in the now, six years ago or what.
The last part of the book shows the astronomers on Earth1 expecting the two back in a few days, but then we’re put back to Paol and Joonter who are starting their journey six years prior.
Even with the timing confusion, I was entertained by the story. Paol and Blade are just as lovable as they were in the first book. You can’t help but envy the way they work together and let each other take the lead when it’s appropriate.
I will definitely be looking out for book three of the series, as I’d love to see the outcome of Earth1’s dilemma. I didn’t mention the dilemma in the review, as I feel it would be a spoiler!
July 14, 2017
Having read the previous book in this series, I was eager to read this one. It turned out to be an enjoyable read, with an interesting and exciting plot, as well as a great cast of characters. The way the story from Earth 1 that was going on at the same time as that on Earth 2 was told in flashbacks was a little confusing at first, but I got used to it after a while. Other than the flashbacks thing, I loved this book, and would recommend it to those who like their science fiction to include a good dose of science, rather than just consisting of alien invasions and space battles.
September 7, 2020
I loved this book as a 2nd book to the 1st books in the series. I wish there was a 3nd book.They managed to return to Earth live.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2019
So when I finished this book, I looked for book 3 but was disappointed to find there is no book 3. Hmmm... kind of left me hanging there with no real end. Is there going to be a follow up to this story? Is the intent to create our own ending? If so, not a fan of that idea.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews