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Division One #1
Alpha and Omega
Dr. Megan McAllister was already a pretty unusual human -- NASA astronaut, professional astronomer, polymath -- when she encountered the man in the black suit that night in west Texas. What Division One Agent Echo didn't know, when he recruited her to the Agency, was that she was even more special.
But he'd find out, soon enough.
~
The Division One series:
Alpha and Omega
A Small Medium At Large
A Very UnCONventional Christmas
Tour de Force
Trojan Horse
Texas Rangers
Definition and Alignment
Phantoms
Head Games
~
An Interview with Stephanie Osborn
How long did it take you to write this book?
I wrote some of the original stories a couple decades back, but didn't know what to do with them. When someone suggested I think about publishing ‘em, they weren't much more than short stories. First I had to transfer them off floppy disks, and edit them until I could stand to read ‘em without cringing. Then I had to make them coherent, novel-sized stories. I think this book has taken the longest, because I was trying to figure out where I wanted the overall series to go. Maybe 3 months, to take it from around 30,000 words up to about 125,000.
How much of the plot do you have in your head when you start?
I'm a pantser, but that doesn't mean I don't have a structure in my head. I have to have the major plot points, to include who are the protagonists, antagonists, and nature of the conflict, before I can write a word. I have to "see" the conflict & the scenes in my head before I can describe them. So I guess the answer is, it all has to be in my head before I can start.
You're a scientist, but you use warp drive, blasters, and artificial gravity.
I look at what would be a useful and logical development, then look at cutting edge research to devise a reasonable/rational extension of that research resulting in those items. “Alcubierre drive” is the technical term for "warp drive," the concept that the ship generates an enclosed wave function around itself. This is because there’s no limit on a wave function’s speed. "Blasters" are just a good shorthand; in the first book of the series, the full name is "Proto-cyclotron blaster." It's a particle beam weapon. I assume a powerful, efficient, and very compact power supply, but if you have an entire galactic civilization to work with, somebody would have figured that out. And I postulate that a manipulatable Higgs field can result in lots of nice gadgetry, like artificial gravity, tractor beams, shaped force fields, pressor beams, and more. So just because it's a science fiction buzzword doesn't mean I haven't applied my scientific knowledge and background to make it something more than that.
Where does your writing fit into science fiction writ large?
My overall style and subject matter is favorably compared to Robert A. Heinlein, E. E. "Doc" Smith, & Arthur Conan Doyle, all of whom were definite influences when I was growing up. Other influences that sometimes come out are people like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, & H. G. Wells, and even William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, & Charles Dickens. More recent influences include Lois McMaster Bujold and Travis S. Taylor.
How much of your inspiration comes from your background at NASA?
I've read and watched SF since I was a kid. I went into the space program because of two things: Star Trek, and the Apollo One fire. I looked at the former, and thought, 'That's where we could end up.
But he'd find out, soon enough.
~
The Division One series:
Alpha and Omega
A Small Medium At Large
A Very UnCONventional Christmas
Tour de Force
Trojan Horse
Texas Rangers
Definition and Alignment
Phantoms
Head Games
~
An Interview with Stephanie Osborn
How long did it take you to write this book?
I wrote some of the original stories a couple decades back, but didn't know what to do with them. When someone suggested I think about publishing ‘em, they weren't much more than short stories. First I had to transfer them off floppy disks, and edit them until I could stand to read ‘em without cringing. Then I had to make them coherent, novel-sized stories. I think this book has taken the longest, because I was trying to figure out where I wanted the overall series to go. Maybe 3 months, to take it from around 30,000 words up to about 125,000.
How much of the plot do you have in your head when you start?
I'm a pantser, but that doesn't mean I don't have a structure in my head. I have to have the major plot points, to include who are the protagonists, antagonists, and nature of the conflict, before I can write a word. I have to "see" the conflict & the scenes in my head before I can describe them. So I guess the answer is, it all has to be in my head before I can start.
You're a scientist, but you use warp drive, blasters, and artificial gravity.
I look at what would be a useful and logical development, then look at cutting edge research to devise a reasonable/rational extension of that research resulting in those items. “Alcubierre drive” is the technical term for "warp drive," the concept that the ship generates an enclosed wave function around itself. This is because there’s no limit on a wave function’s speed. "Blasters" are just a good shorthand; in the first book of the series, the full name is "Proto-cyclotron blaster." It's a particle beam weapon. I assume a powerful, efficient, and very compact power supply, but if you have an entire galactic civilization to work with, somebody would have figured that out. And I postulate that a manipulatable Higgs field can result in lots of nice gadgetry, like artificial gravity, tractor beams, shaped force fields, pressor beams, and more. So just because it's a science fiction buzzword doesn't mean I haven't applied my scientific knowledge and background to make it something more than that.
Where does your writing fit into science fiction writ large?
My overall style and subject matter is favorably compared to Robert A. Heinlein, E. E. "Doc" Smith, & Arthur Conan Doyle, all of whom were definite influences when I was growing up. Other influences that sometimes come out are people like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, & H. G. Wells, and even William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, & Charles Dickens. More recent influences include Lois McMaster Bujold and Travis S. Taylor.
How much of your inspiration comes from your background at NASA?
I've read and watched SF since I was a kid. I went into the space program because of two things: Star Trek, and the Apollo One fire. I looked at the former, and thought, 'That's where we could end up.
310 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 24, 2018
52 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 23, 2019
The Men In Black sequel we all wished we'd gotten
It's as if the author watched the movie, said, any idiot can do better, and then went and made something you now prefer to the OC. So, TL'DR: Stay with this one, it's worth it.
Longer letter later: This one's written by a gal, so there's a powerful thread running through the story about relationships, and feelings, and more feelings. Which works until the point... MIB and this novel are a mashup of SF and action thriller. The author does the former so much better it's a joy to read. The latter... Use the Speed movie standard. If that works for you; great: It didn't for me. So the emo had me skimming a big chunk of the book.
But I stuck it out, because the characters were excellent. The world this author built is fascinating, and that "But I gotta know what happens" hook? She nailed. So not only was this a great reading vaycay from 15 back-to-back novels of teenage angst, I will buy the sequel as soon as it drops.
It's as if the author watched the movie, said, any idiot can do better, and then went and made something you now prefer to the OC. So, TL'DR: Stay with this one, it's worth it.
Longer letter later: This one's written by a gal, so there's a powerful thread running through the story about relationships, and feelings, and more feelings. Which works until the point... MIB and this novel are a mashup of SF and action thriller. The author does the former so much better it's a joy to read. The latter... Use the Speed movie standard. If that works for you; great: It didn't for me. So the emo had me skimming a big chunk of the book.
But I stuck it out, because the characters were excellent. The world this author built is fascinating, and that "But I gotta know what happens" hook? She nailed. So not only was this a great reading vaycay from 15 back-to-back novels of teenage angst, I will buy the sequel as soon as it drops.
April 1, 2018
Good read suitable for young teens and up. The author has produced an imaginative series that shows what Men In Black could have been, but wasn't ... and that is entertaining Science Fiction. I found no noticeable typos or formatting to distract from the reading enjoyment or obvious science faux pas and it's quite clear that the author is familiar with her science and likes to pass the knowledge on to the reader at a basic level.
As someone who has spent some hours in a space lab and quite of bit of time in earth stations and even more on runways around jets I found the material a bit slow technically, but it didn't get tedious as the action moves along rapidly.
I recommend this book and have purchased the follow one.
Happy reading.
As someone who has spent some hours in a space lab and quite of bit of time in earth stations and even more on runways around jets I found the material a bit slow technically, but it didn't get tedious as the action moves along rapidly.
I recommend this book and have purchased the follow one.
Happy reading.
March 1, 2017
Nice easy reading
This isn't a hip deep philosophical treatise. This is an easy reading , shootem up, agents and aliens story. Easy on the science, heavy on the action covering much of the covert agency tropes in a fun way. Apparently there's going to be a sequel. Can't wait to read more about Division One. Finished reading? BUY THIS NOW!
This isn't a hip deep philosophical treatise. This is an easy reading , shootem up, agents and aliens story. Easy on the science, heavy on the action covering much of the covert agency tropes in a fun way. Apparently there's going to be a sequel. Can't wait to read more about Division One. Finished reading? BUY THIS NOW!
July 6, 2017
Blah
I could handle it being an obvious rip off of MiB. And the writing isn't terrible. But then the preaching started...
I had to stop when a character started to infodump about how bad cigarettes are and the chemicals used during commercial production and...I don't smoke and it made me want to go out and buy a pack.
I could handle it being an obvious rip off of MiB. And the writing isn't terrible. But then the preaching started...
I had to stop when a character started to infodump about how bad cigarettes are and the chemicals used during commercial production and...I don't smoke and it made me want to go out and buy a pack.
February 19, 2021
Felt like two short stories she did her best to bridge together into a single novel. But it's the first in a series so here's hoping it gets more focused in the following books
June 14, 2022
Loved it. Funny and intriguing start to a new series
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews