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Ship #1
Discovery
Jake McDonald’s life has hit rock bottom. He’s lost his job, and his wife and two children have lost their faith in him. It seems that everything that could go wrong has happened, and he now has nowhere to turn. In a final effort to salvage his financial problems, Jake turned from banking to lobster fishing off Santa Barbara Island. While scuba diving, he discovers an underwater cave that extends deep beneath the island’s shoreline. As he swims into the cave looking for fish and lobster, he finds an alien artifact. This discovery drastically transforms his life and changes the history of planet Earth in a way no one could have ever imagined.
Discovery is the first book in the Ship series that draws suppositions from the future science of NASA, and asks the question “Are we really alone?” Jake McDonald uses the discovered artifact to help answer that question, while attempting to unify and protect his family. His ability to think outside the box enables him to explore the worlds beyond the bounds of Earth’s atmosphere.
Discovery is the first book in the Ship series that draws suppositions from the future science of NASA, and asks the question “Are we really alone?” Jake McDonald uses the discovered artifact to help answer that question, while attempting to unify and protect his family. His ability to think outside the box enables him to explore the worlds beyond the bounds of Earth’s atmosphere.
- GenresScience Fiction
352 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 16, 2019
330 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Jack Drafahl
22 books6 followersJack and Sue Drafahl are a husband and wife writing team. For over forty-five years, they have written over 800 articles in sixteen national publications from Petersen’s Photographic to Skin Diver Magazine.
They have also authored seven non-fiction technical books for Amherst Media on various aspects of photography, both topside, and underwater.
In 2006, they changed the course of their writing to include fiction. They have written three book series: (the Acroname series, the Ship series, and the Time and Space series) that currently include fifteen novels that span the gamut of genres from Action/Adventure to Science Fiction.
They both received their scuba diving certification in the early ‘70s, and have logged over ten thousand dives, in almost every ocean on earth. Jack and Sue were awarded Divers of the Year from Beneath the Sea in 1996 and were given the Accolade Award for their conservation efforts. Sue is an inaugural member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame (2000) and is an Honorary Trustee. They are members of Willamette Writers and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Jack and Sue make their home on the Oregon coast. In addition to their book writing, they enjoy leading underwater photo expeditions around the globe.
Please send any comments or errors you may find to novels@earthseapublishing.com.
http://www.JackandSueDrafahl.com
http://www.EarthSeaPublishing.com
They have also authored seven non-fiction technical books for Amherst Media on various aspects of photography, both topside, and underwater.
In 2006, they changed the course of their writing to include fiction. They have written three book series: (the Acroname series, the Ship series, and the Time and Space series) that currently include fifteen novels that span the gamut of genres from Action/Adventure to Science Fiction.
They both received their scuba diving certification in the early ‘70s, and have logged over ten thousand dives, in almost every ocean on earth. Jack and Sue were awarded Divers of the Year from Beneath the Sea in 1996 and were given the Accolade Award for their conservation efforts. Sue is an inaugural member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame (2000) and is an Honorary Trustee. They are members of Willamette Writers and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Jack and Sue make their home on the Oregon coast. In addition to their book writing, they enjoy leading underwater photo expeditions around the globe.
Please send any comments or errors you may find to novels@earthseapublishing.com.
http://www.JackandSueDrafahl.com
http://www.EarthSeaPublishing.com
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 30, 2023
DNF at 38% - It just failed to hold me.
Read
October 18, 2023I just could not finish. Rating: minus 5
It is become harder to write new reviews than to revise my originals. My originals were scribbled notes acting as my path to decent fiction through the swamp of Amazon offerings. I no longer have that luxury since many members have over more than four years commented that "You are not that smart", "Get a hobby" or pointed out punctuation errors in my mildly negative reviews. This was a level of literary discussion which I had not expected on this site at the beginning. Since those three most favoured comments and the much more nasty personal ones were responding to my reactions to racist, sexist and pro-capitalist rants posing as novels, methinks there was a decidedly active anti-socialist element among the membership. Now I require myself to write more detailed opinions of what seem to be acceptable drivel in science fiction, especially among American readers. I can only hope that I cause them much more discomfort than before. 😊
I need a visit to YouTube before I continue on this most literary of sites. This was brought to you by - The Researcher, Bobbing Along, Northern Narrowboaters, Adam Conover, Times Radio, Lily Simpson, Bovington Tank Museum, Acollierastro, Don't F@ck with Ukraine, The Good Place, Kat Blacque, Up and Atom, Our Changing Climate, Ula and Josh, The Take, Jessie Gender, Horses, Brief Brain Snacks, Military Aviation History, May, Rachel MacDonald, SK Media, Jake Broe, Practical Engineering, The Juice Media, Sarah Z, OrangeRiver, Brandon F, J Draper, ThePrimeChronus, NFKRZ, The Cold War, Dark Docs, Meidas Touch, Some More News, Make Better Media, Verilybitchie, Honest Ads, Lives and Histories, The Little Platoon, Annie's Literary Empire, It's Black Friday, Interior Design Hub, Smack the Pony, Answer in Progress, Kidology, Epimetheus, The Bands of HM Royal Marines, Rebecca Watson, Ponderful, The Cambrian Chronicles, JohnTheDuncan, Hello Future Me, Real Time History, Told in Stone, Anna from Ukraine, Operator Starsky, Kurzgesagt.
I looked at the author's page and hoped for an interesting book. I was disappointed but Amazon have lowered my expectations from print fiction enough that I was not surprised. I only judge the world building at this point because every failed story seems to demand a poorly executed background world. While there is no world building, the writers do describe a clear worldview. I believe as do men and women far more learned than myself that all human communication and interaction is political.
I might as well look at the background. The setting is present day USA. That is fine. Every character is American. I have over the last four years become accustomed to the entire globe being reduced to a description of the interests of the USA, the effects on that government and wealthy Americans. Americans are further reduced to a minority (which is growing smaller) of the population. The definition of American has also been restricted by ethnicity and/or race to include only "real" Americans. This has been an almost universal feature across the 1000+ Amazon titles, which I attempted over the last four years.
Most American readers and all the fans of this book know exactly what that term means. YouTube is awash with channels openly complaining that brown cartoon characters are anti-American. This is not hyperbole. More American than British fans found outrageous the mere possibility that a new iteration of James Bond might feature Bond with a brown face. I have paid attention to American news stories in passing for the last four years in order to understand the comment streams on my reviews. I analysed the reality behind some truly horrific but common news articles. None of the paragraph above surprised me. It did explain the character and plot failures in this book.
I knew nothing about the main character at 92% in, than I had read in the first chapter. He was born into an unknown family of origin, grew to adulthood in an unknown municipality, received schooling at institutions unknown and level of education unknown. His employment history and profession are never mentioned. His age is unknown. He has no purpose, no past, no passion, no personality, no empathy, no emotional connection to his current family, no self-awareness, no humility and takes no responsibility. Presumably the main character being a cis white male is description enough to explain his marriage opportunities, the bank teller co-worker having similar opportunities with the banker's daughter, his lack of communication with his wife, the wife treating abandonment as a marital tiff, his ability to out think an alien AI, his assumption of control of same based on no other qualifications. As an astrophysicist who created a channel which I like, once said about bad science "this is sus af". 🙂
The second(ary) major character has no personality, only functions. She married the main character who seemed to have had no prospects without family repercussions or prenup. Her own family consists of a mention of her disapproving father who owns a bank. She has no interests, no passions, no friends, no colleagues. This is a 1960, 70, 80, 90's American TV housewife and no imagination was applied to this character either.
She is the source of the main character's unhappiness. She sells real estate, which is a commonly used female profession in Hollywood comedy TV, similar to the 1960's & 70's male advertising executive husband. She is presumably the manager of the children and home, since the main character is disconnected from both. There is no housekeeper which makes no sense for the bank owner's (?) daughter, nothing to tag as her personality except her controlling her poor husband for more than ten years, given the age of the children. The children's ages and names being the only description of either. I have seen clips and discussions of American TV on a number of YouTube channels and this family lacks anything resembling even the depth of the older TV programmes.
I will take another YouTube break before I continue. This next was brought to you by - LuckyBlackCat, The Book Leo, Isaac Arthur, PatrickHWillems, Discourse Minis, Turtleneck Philosophy, WithCindy, Dr Ben Miles, Lily Simpson, Ash L G, Engineering Knits, Karolina Zebrowska, The British Museum, Jean's Thoughts, The Whoniverse, Ship Happens, Dark Footage, Agro Squirrel Narrates, Cleo Abrams, Crow Caller, Maggie May Fish, Second Thought, Ben and Emily, Savy Writes Books, TIKHistory, Fantasy and World Music by the Fletchers, Octupus Lady, Lady Knight the Brave, Renegade Cut, Frasier Cain, Hej Sokoly, Andrewism, FunnyLilGal Reacts, Shitty Book Club, Gresham College, KernowDamo, Double Down News, Chris and Shell, Mandy - web series, Joe Blogs, Philosophy Tube, Leeja Miller.
They are role placeholders, nothing more. I recently discovered that there is a section of the Central or Western USA named The Redoubt, the denizens of which are almost exclusively white working class. Their mini-state embraces the same outlook as the book's right kind of American. Their philosophy seemed to be that their country is doomed as non-white populations are ruining the USA and seem to be white nationalists but do not think themselves racist. America and Russia both embrace Suella Cruella level racial/ethnic/cultural superiority and in the next sentence remind whoever listens that they are not racist. They are two of the oddest societies on the planet. Goodreads have moved me to discover things that I needed to know about the culture that produces so many horrible science fiction titles.
That explains the two plot driving characters. The secret, secret intelligence agency is something less than plausible but not for being absent from the the dreams of MI5 or MI6. There was no point to including that element, when the USA are notorious for their need to be "Number one". That was taken from a quote by the venerable, unhinged Kissinger at the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Hilary Clinton chuckled in her one interview that it would be ironic, if Russia should find itself mired in a twenty year occupation similar to the U.S. multi-trillion dollar, twenty year long occupation of Afghanistan. Shortly afterwards, the USA has blocked or slowed delivery of as much NATO aid to Ukraine as possible, found excuses for every failure to support their fellow democracy, began to emphasis every problem that Ukraine might have and even failed to hide their disappointment with Ukraine's resilience and battlefield success. All in service of not having been the only power to suffer a pointless twenty year defeat, it seems. It also seems she was not consoled by the British experience in Afghanistan. I think that is enough real world darkness to satisfy the requirements of the story.
The alien probe is just crazy silly. The probe can survive 200,000 years with no power issues, no maintenance issues or regular active consciousness. This level of durability is not consistent with the damage it easily suffers later in the book from not very advanced human technology. My brow furrowed as I found no explanation as to how it monitored earth from below a mountain. A lunar landing would seem a better post for spying on earth. There is no reasonable explanation for the standing self-destruct order, if it should be discovered. It is directed to send a message to Its creators that intelligent life has developed but afterward is allowed to submit to any organic willing to take control of it. The directive to destroy itself before interacting with humanity, suddenly disappeared.
A subordinate electronic intelligence possesses more agency than the (parent?) probe and entertained itself for 200,000 years alone. A terrestrial biome was created inside the probe centuries or millennia before for no apparent reason. The invisibility ability is constantly referenced but never managed to hide the vessel from relatively primitive human technology. This very advanced probe can not out think human technicians but the main character can. Hmm. The ship wields technology, capable of near magic until it can not. The probe's creators are a weird plot device lacking logical motivation. The probe's sole purpose is to set up the libertarian middle ager adventure in the following books.
It is another staple libertarian premise in which the deserving main character happens onto great power/wealth/whatever simply because he is the chosen/deserving one. It may be unimaginative but the ratings suggest the book has a small following as do all the other libertarian tales.
Before finishing, I need one more visit with YouTube. This next was made possible by - Maggie May Fish, Alina Gingertail, Daniel Greene, Jill Bearup, Mia Mulder, Some More News, Vlad Vexler, Friendly Space Ninja, Installation 00, Terrible Writing Advice, James Somerton, Dominic Noble, Contrapoint, Elina Charatsidou, Belinda Carr, Art Deco, The Closet Historian, Between the Wars, Morgan Donner, Gemma Dyer, Daniel Ruben, Operator Starsky, Alex O'Connor, The Little Platoon, Abby Cox, Ukraine News TV, Owen Jones.
I covered enough to point you in another direction if you are not of the target audience. If you are, there are no spoilers here to a book that is so predictable. This is a boring, poorly plotted attempt at fiction with a sad pointless politics but is better than many other libertarian fantasies. Fiction is hard but does not excuse self-indulgence. The quality of publisher favoured US science fiction at the low end bulk level is always badly edited, if at all and adheres to the three standards - No Effort, Insulting and Abhorrent. It has put me off print. I must confess that I watch most of my fiction at present for the first time. The streaming services manage far better, if not brilliant offerings. YouTube also provide short film channels, DUST and Omeleto being two wonderful examples.
I found YouTube only a bit more two years ago in search of decent science fiction commentary. It was a pleasant discovery to see adult, literate reactions to science fiction worthy of analysis. That led me to the essayist, hobbyist, lifestyle, documentary and other educational channels until I found my first book channel. 😍 These are lovely communities of thoughtful readers with varied tastes and all enamoured of the world of books. I feel that any reader will find a visit to several enjoyable.The essayist and educational channels often carry sponsor spots for the dedicated sites such as Nebula, which is a creator-designed site and worth a look.
As to the value of Goodreads. About eighteen months ago, I had the audacity to write a review of Powers of the Earth, a badly written libertarian salute to the sociopathic January 6, 2021 hero by Travis Corcoran. He is a US veteran, a self-described libertarian and vocal advocate for the return of chattel slavery, an employee of an unnamed US agency and supporter of Putin's Russia. For more than a year the writer and six friends wrote needy comments demanding a response to their comments defending the rightness and value of the North American slave trade among other Randian insanity. I erased the original in shock and a Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 (first encountered more than two years previously) wrote a comment declaring that They had "won" (?).
I discovered that They had launched a year-long deluge of vile sexual and racist comments against channels which I mentioned. They failed to impress the Oxford astrophysicist, the German particle physicist, the early teen boater and her mother, the pensioner in France or the many other female creators. They did successfully increase the world's overabundance of ugliness and as a bonus, deliver a splendid self-portrait of the vicious middle class American man-child to a broad multinational audience. Goodreads discourse is not what I had expected. USA! Yay ??
My YouTube picks of the moment.
Media is Fay, Dr Brian Keating, Abney Park, Dr Becky, Acollierastro, Alt Shift X, Mia Mulder, Strange Aeons, AllShorts, Kidology, Philosophy Engineered, Dr Fatima, Vlad Vexler, Perun, Not even Emily, The Antibot, RobWords, Oliver Lugg, Horses.
About Amazon/Kindle/Goodreads. Please consider treating this as a potentially hostile site. 😐
Ominous music begins. 😊 I gave an example of the membership above but it is not the only and I was not the only victim. The average review is not much better, which excuse I used for my own poor scribbles and yet was accused of being an intellectual. Apparently being able to express meaningful opinions is both stunning and threatening. That does not suggest that there is any utility to the fiction reviews and I have have been disappointed by some of the non-fiction judgements. I am certain that the guilty pleasure is specified in UN human rights treaties. However attacking readers who stumble onto publisher chosen awful fiction across genres because those readers do not Love "Transformers", "Harry Potter" or consider "Star Wars" a profound artistic effort is madness. Goodreads encourages madness.
Kindle/Goodreads have periodically blocked my uploads for weeks at a time, masked the names of members writing nasty comments, blocked my ability to see other member's reviews, disabled the automatic transition from end-of-book to the Rating and Review page, removed my ability to delete lurkers (those friends who monitor but never post) from my friends list and placed other quiet restrictions on my account. They have also revamped the notification of changes to reader pages. I have not received an acknowledgement of any query or complaint message in more than four years. Odd customer service protocols. 😃
Not content with the above, Kindle/Goodreads shared my limited message history with the nutcases in the membership. This led to the request from a US secret clearance holder (one of 1.3 to 1.6 million unsupervised individuals) to Australian Intelligence to attempt to interrogate my friend for my personal information, apparently as a favour. My friend was quite concerned for my safety and I realised that there are few limits to what the nutcases find acceptable. The corporate response to my writing about my adventures was "No shame, no change", until people notice a single customer's experience. Suddenly my lurkers were removed by the site and all comments appear to have been removed from my pages, including not just those from the very many nutcases but the six or seven sane members and the between eight and twelve writer comments. Of course the other annoyances seem to be in place still. Had I received an apology email and a false promise to remove the one or two "responsible employees" before the Australian intervention, I would have been a satisfied, if cautious customer.
From the lack of reaction to the ugly comments addressed to female readers and the attack comments to many one star reviews of bad science fiction, I imagine a majority of American members find the above acceptable and sane. Other readers may instead, find the above concerning. My advice to any reader is to consider that your temporary immunity rests on the whims of seriously damaged employees. I suggest a few precautions to make your exposure to Amazon/Kindle/Goodreads safer. Use a single dedicated email address for this corporation, minimise personal profile information on both Kindle and Goodreads, remove Goodreads lurkers, do not add personal information to your Kindle from email to calendars, screenshot the odd and the ugly. These will make their invasion of your privacy more difficult to disguise.
It is important to not forget that these animals lack oversight, restraint or morality in any non-Randian interpretation and they are American. Ominous music ends. 😊
Be well my friend and May we all find Good Reading! 🤗
I am not a good advisor as regards the best of YouTube channels but these are some of my favourites.
Bobbing Along, Munecat, ATP Geopolitics, Dr Fatima, Crecganford, Andrewism, Ben and Emily, Just A Robot, Tom Nicholas, It's Black Friday, May, Tara Mooknee, Interior Design Hub, The Juice Media, Jessie Gender After Dark, Violet Orlandi, Eleanor Morton, NerdForge, Renegade Cut, Anna from Ukraine, Ponderful, Elina Charatsidou, DUST, Gutsick Gibbon, Planarwalker, Ben G Thomas, Geo Girl, Honest Ads, Female Warriors, Honest Trailers, The Little Platoon, Chris and Shell, Peter Coulson, Prime of Midlife, Smack the Pony, Julie Nolke, Deerstalker Pictures, Eileen, Ukraine News TV, The Good Place, Sarah Z, Dr Alexander Clarke, Then & Now, Mitchell and Webb, Jean's Thoughts, The Book Leo, I Draper, Chloe Stafler, Rebecca Watson, Climate Town, Adam Something, Bookslike Whoa, Big Joel, IzzzYzzz, Verilybitchie, Lady of the Library, Lily Alexandre, Lilly's Expat Life, A Day of Small Things, Terrible Writing Advice, Savy Writes Books, Strange Aeons, Malinda, Female Warriors -Teresatessa, Kathy's Flog in France, TIKHistory, Sabine Hossenfelder, Jake Broe, Roomies Digest, Autumn's Boutique, The Closet Historian, OrangeRiver, 2 Cellos, Adult Wednesday Addams - 2 seasons, Bernadette Banner, Karolina Zebrowska, Science with Damien Walker, History with Kayleigh, Lady Knight the Brave, Truth to Power, No Justice MTG, Mandy -web series, KernowDamo, Kat Blacque, Diem 25, Boat Time, Cruising Alba, Cruising Crafts, Siobhan McCarthy, Amanda Rae,Jay Exci, Dark Docs, Science of Science Fiction.
I wish you a wonderful morning, a splendid afternoon, a pleasant evening, a magical night and may we all continue learning.
A bird sings not because it has an answer but because it has a song.
Taiwanese Proverb
It is become harder to write new reviews than to revise my originals. My originals were scribbled notes acting as my path to decent fiction through the swamp of Amazon offerings. I no longer have that luxury since many members have over more than four years commented that "You are not that smart", "Get a hobby" or pointed out punctuation errors in my mildly negative reviews. This was a level of literary discussion which I had not expected on this site at the beginning. Since those three most favoured comments and the much more nasty personal ones were responding to my reactions to racist, sexist and pro-capitalist rants posing as novels, methinks there was a decidedly active anti-socialist element among the membership. Now I require myself to write more detailed opinions of what seem to be acceptable drivel in science fiction, especially among American readers. I can only hope that I cause them much more discomfort than before. 😊
I need a visit to YouTube before I continue on this most literary of sites. This was brought to you by - The Researcher, Bobbing Along, Northern Narrowboaters, Adam Conover, Times Radio, Lily Simpson, Bovington Tank Museum, Acollierastro, Don't F@ck with Ukraine, The Good Place, Kat Blacque, Up and Atom, Our Changing Climate, Ula and Josh, The Take, Jessie Gender, Horses, Brief Brain Snacks, Military Aviation History, May, Rachel MacDonald, SK Media, Jake Broe, Practical Engineering, The Juice Media, Sarah Z, OrangeRiver, Brandon F, J Draper, ThePrimeChronus, NFKRZ, The Cold War, Dark Docs, Meidas Touch, Some More News, Make Better Media, Verilybitchie, Honest Ads, Lives and Histories, The Little Platoon, Annie's Literary Empire, It's Black Friday, Interior Design Hub, Smack the Pony, Answer in Progress, Kidology, Epimetheus, The Bands of HM Royal Marines, Rebecca Watson, Ponderful, The Cambrian Chronicles, JohnTheDuncan, Hello Future Me, Real Time History, Told in Stone, Anna from Ukraine, Operator Starsky, Kurzgesagt.
I looked at the author's page and hoped for an interesting book. I was disappointed but Amazon have lowered my expectations from print fiction enough that I was not surprised. I only judge the world building at this point because every failed story seems to demand a poorly executed background world. While there is no world building, the writers do describe a clear worldview. I believe as do men and women far more learned than myself that all human communication and interaction is political.
I might as well look at the background. The setting is present day USA. That is fine. Every character is American. I have over the last four years become accustomed to the entire globe being reduced to a description of the interests of the USA, the effects on that government and wealthy Americans. Americans are further reduced to a minority (which is growing smaller) of the population. The definition of American has also been restricted by ethnicity and/or race to include only "real" Americans. This has been an almost universal feature across the 1000+ Amazon titles, which I attempted over the last four years.
Most American readers and all the fans of this book know exactly what that term means. YouTube is awash with channels openly complaining that brown cartoon characters are anti-American. This is not hyperbole. More American than British fans found outrageous the mere possibility that a new iteration of James Bond might feature Bond with a brown face. I have paid attention to American news stories in passing for the last four years in order to understand the comment streams on my reviews. I analysed the reality behind some truly horrific but common news articles. None of the paragraph above surprised me. It did explain the character and plot failures in this book.
I knew nothing about the main character at 92% in, than I had read in the first chapter. He was born into an unknown family of origin, grew to adulthood in an unknown municipality, received schooling at institutions unknown and level of education unknown. His employment history and profession are never mentioned. His age is unknown. He has no purpose, no past, no passion, no personality, no empathy, no emotional connection to his current family, no self-awareness, no humility and takes no responsibility. Presumably the main character being a cis white male is description enough to explain his marriage opportunities, the bank teller co-worker having similar opportunities with the banker's daughter, his lack of communication with his wife, the wife treating abandonment as a marital tiff, his ability to out think an alien AI, his assumption of control of same based on no other qualifications. As an astrophysicist who created a channel which I like, once said about bad science "this is sus af". 🙂
The second(ary) major character has no personality, only functions. She married the main character who seemed to have had no prospects without family repercussions or prenup. Her own family consists of a mention of her disapproving father who owns a bank. She has no interests, no passions, no friends, no colleagues. This is a 1960, 70, 80, 90's American TV housewife and no imagination was applied to this character either.
She is the source of the main character's unhappiness. She sells real estate, which is a commonly used female profession in Hollywood comedy TV, similar to the 1960's & 70's male advertising executive husband. She is presumably the manager of the children and home, since the main character is disconnected from both. There is no housekeeper which makes no sense for the bank owner's (?) daughter, nothing to tag as her personality except her controlling her poor husband for more than ten years, given the age of the children. The children's ages and names being the only description of either. I have seen clips and discussions of American TV on a number of YouTube channels and this family lacks anything resembling even the depth of the older TV programmes.
I will take another YouTube break before I continue. This next was brought to you by - LuckyBlackCat, The Book Leo, Isaac Arthur, PatrickHWillems, Discourse Minis, Turtleneck Philosophy, WithCindy, Dr Ben Miles, Lily Simpson, Ash L G, Engineering Knits, Karolina Zebrowska, The British Museum, Jean's Thoughts, The Whoniverse, Ship Happens, Dark Footage, Agro Squirrel Narrates, Cleo Abrams, Crow Caller, Maggie May Fish, Second Thought, Ben and Emily, Savy Writes Books, TIKHistory, Fantasy and World Music by the Fletchers, Octupus Lady, Lady Knight the Brave, Renegade Cut, Frasier Cain, Hej Sokoly, Andrewism, FunnyLilGal Reacts, Shitty Book Club, Gresham College, KernowDamo, Double Down News, Chris and Shell, Mandy - web series, Joe Blogs, Philosophy Tube, Leeja Miller.
They are role placeholders, nothing more. I recently discovered that there is a section of the Central or Western USA named The Redoubt, the denizens of which are almost exclusively white working class. Their mini-state embraces the same outlook as the book's right kind of American. Their philosophy seemed to be that their country is doomed as non-white populations are ruining the USA and seem to be white nationalists but do not think themselves racist. America and Russia both embrace Suella Cruella level racial/ethnic/cultural superiority and in the next sentence remind whoever listens that they are not racist. They are two of the oddest societies on the planet. Goodreads have moved me to discover things that I needed to know about the culture that produces so many horrible science fiction titles.
That explains the two plot driving characters. The secret, secret intelligence agency is something less than plausible but not for being absent from the the dreams of MI5 or MI6. There was no point to including that element, when the USA are notorious for their need to be "Number one". That was taken from a quote by the venerable, unhinged Kissinger at the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Hilary Clinton chuckled in her one interview that it would be ironic, if Russia should find itself mired in a twenty year occupation similar to the U.S. multi-trillion dollar, twenty year long occupation of Afghanistan. Shortly afterwards, the USA has blocked or slowed delivery of as much NATO aid to Ukraine as possible, found excuses for every failure to support their fellow democracy, began to emphasis every problem that Ukraine might have and even failed to hide their disappointment with Ukraine's resilience and battlefield success. All in service of not having been the only power to suffer a pointless twenty year defeat, it seems. It also seems she was not consoled by the British experience in Afghanistan. I think that is enough real world darkness to satisfy the requirements of the story.
The alien probe is just crazy silly. The probe can survive 200,000 years with no power issues, no maintenance issues or regular active consciousness. This level of durability is not consistent with the damage it easily suffers later in the book from not very advanced human technology. My brow furrowed as I found no explanation as to how it monitored earth from below a mountain. A lunar landing would seem a better post for spying on earth. There is no reasonable explanation for the standing self-destruct order, if it should be discovered. It is directed to send a message to Its creators that intelligent life has developed but afterward is allowed to submit to any organic willing to take control of it. The directive to destroy itself before interacting with humanity, suddenly disappeared.
A subordinate electronic intelligence possesses more agency than the (parent?) probe and entertained itself for 200,000 years alone. A terrestrial biome was created inside the probe centuries or millennia before for no apparent reason. The invisibility ability is constantly referenced but never managed to hide the vessel from relatively primitive human technology. This very advanced probe can not out think human technicians but the main character can. Hmm. The ship wields technology, capable of near magic until it can not. The probe's creators are a weird plot device lacking logical motivation. The probe's sole purpose is to set up the libertarian middle ager adventure in the following books.
It is another staple libertarian premise in which the deserving main character happens onto great power/wealth/whatever simply because he is the chosen/deserving one. It may be unimaginative but the ratings suggest the book has a small following as do all the other libertarian tales.
Before finishing, I need one more visit with YouTube. This next was made possible by - Maggie May Fish, Alina Gingertail, Daniel Greene, Jill Bearup, Mia Mulder, Some More News, Vlad Vexler, Friendly Space Ninja, Installation 00, Terrible Writing Advice, James Somerton, Dominic Noble, Contrapoint, Elina Charatsidou, Belinda Carr, Art Deco, The Closet Historian, Between the Wars, Morgan Donner, Gemma Dyer, Daniel Ruben, Operator Starsky, Alex O'Connor, The Little Platoon, Abby Cox, Ukraine News TV, Owen Jones.
I covered enough to point you in another direction if you are not of the target audience. If you are, there are no spoilers here to a book that is so predictable. This is a boring, poorly plotted attempt at fiction with a sad pointless politics but is better than many other libertarian fantasies. Fiction is hard but does not excuse self-indulgence. The quality of publisher favoured US science fiction at the low end bulk level is always badly edited, if at all and adheres to the three standards - No Effort, Insulting and Abhorrent. It has put me off print. I must confess that I watch most of my fiction at present for the first time. The streaming services manage far better, if not brilliant offerings. YouTube also provide short film channels, DUST and Omeleto being two wonderful examples.
I found YouTube only a bit more two years ago in search of decent science fiction commentary. It was a pleasant discovery to see adult, literate reactions to science fiction worthy of analysis. That led me to the essayist, hobbyist, lifestyle, documentary and other educational channels until I found my first book channel. 😍 These are lovely communities of thoughtful readers with varied tastes and all enamoured of the world of books. I feel that any reader will find a visit to several enjoyable.The essayist and educational channels often carry sponsor spots for the dedicated sites such as Nebula, which is a creator-designed site and worth a look.
As to the value of Goodreads. About eighteen months ago, I had the audacity to write a review of Powers of the Earth, a badly written libertarian salute to the sociopathic January 6, 2021 hero by Travis Corcoran. He is a US veteran, a self-described libertarian and vocal advocate for the return of chattel slavery, an employee of an unnamed US agency and supporter of Putin's Russia. For more than a year the writer and six friends wrote needy comments demanding a response to their comments defending the rightness and value of the North American slave trade among other Randian insanity. I erased the original in shock and a Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 (first encountered more than two years previously) wrote a comment declaring that They had "won" (?).
I discovered that They had launched a year-long deluge of vile sexual and racist comments against channels which I mentioned. They failed to impress the Oxford astrophysicist, the German particle physicist, the early teen boater and her mother, the pensioner in France or the many other female creators. They did successfully increase the world's overabundance of ugliness and as a bonus, deliver a splendid self-portrait of the vicious middle class American man-child to a broad multinational audience. Goodreads discourse is not what I had expected. USA! Yay ??
My YouTube picks of the moment.
Media is Fay, Dr Brian Keating, Abney Park, Dr Becky, Acollierastro, Alt Shift X, Mia Mulder, Strange Aeons, AllShorts, Kidology, Philosophy Engineered, Dr Fatima, Vlad Vexler, Perun, Not even Emily, The Antibot, RobWords, Oliver Lugg, Horses.
About Amazon/Kindle/Goodreads. Please consider treating this as a potentially hostile site. 😐
Ominous music begins. 😊 I gave an example of the membership above but it is not the only and I was not the only victim. The average review is not much better, which excuse I used for my own poor scribbles and yet was accused of being an intellectual. Apparently being able to express meaningful opinions is both stunning and threatening. That does not suggest that there is any utility to the fiction reviews and I have have been disappointed by some of the non-fiction judgements. I am certain that the guilty pleasure is specified in UN human rights treaties. However attacking readers who stumble onto publisher chosen awful fiction across genres because those readers do not Love "Transformers", "Harry Potter" or consider "Star Wars" a profound artistic effort is madness. Goodreads encourages madness.
Kindle/Goodreads have periodically blocked my uploads for weeks at a time, masked the names of members writing nasty comments, blocked my ability to see other member's reviews, disabled the automatic transition from end-of-book to the Rating and Review page, removed my ability to delete lurkers (those friends who monitor but never post) from my friends list and placed other quiet restrictions on my account. They have also revamped the notification of changes to reader pages. I have not received an acknowledgement of any query or complaint message in more than four years. Odd customer service protocols. 😃
Not content with the above, Kindle/Goodreads shared my limited message history with the nutcases in the membership. This led to the request from a US secret clearance holder (one of 1.3 to 1.6 million unsupervised individuals) to Australian Intelligence to attempt to interrogate my friend for my personal information, apparently as a favour. My friend was quite concerned for my safety and I realised that there are few limits to what the nutcases find acceptable. The corporate response to my writing about my adventures was "No shame, no change", until people notice a single customer's experience. Suddenly my lurkers were removed by the site and all comments appear to have been removed from my pages, including not just those from the very many nutcases but the six or seven sane members and the between eight and twelve writer comments. Of course the other annoyances seem to be in place still. Had I received an apology email and a false promise to remove the one or two "responsible employees" before the Australian intervention, I would have been a satisfied, if cautious customer.
From the lack of reaction to the ugly comments addressed to female readers and the attack comments to many one star reviews of bad science fiction, I imagine a majority of American members find the above acceptable and sane. Other readers may instead, find the above concerning. My advice to any reader is to consider that your temporary immunity rests on the whims of seriously damaged employees. I suggest a few precautions to make your exposure to Amazon/Kindle/Goodreads safer. Use a single dedicated email address for this corporation, minimise personal profile information on both Kindle and Goodreads, remove Goodreads lurkers, do not add personal information to your Kindle from email to calendars, screenshot the odd and the ugly. These will make their invasion of your privacy more difficult to disguise.
It is important to not forget that these animals lack oversight, restraint or morality in any non-Randian interpretation and they are American. Ominous music ends. 😊
Be well my friend and May we all find Good Reading! 🤗
I am not a good advisor as regards the best of YouTube channels but these are some of my favourites.
Bobbing Along, Munecat, ATP Geopolitics, Dr Fatima, Crecganford, Andrewism, Ben and Emily, Just A Robot, Tom Nicholas, It's Black Friday, May, Tara Mooknee, Interior Design Hub, The Juice Media, Jessie Gender After Dark, Violet Orlandi, Eleanor Morton, NerdForge, Renegade Cut, Anna from Ukraine, Ponderful, Elina Charatsidou, DUST, Gutsick Gibbon, Planarwalker, Ben G Thomas, Geo Girl, Honest Ads, Female Warriors, Honest Trailers, The Little Platoon, Chris and Shell, Peter Coulson, Prime of Midlife, Smack the Pony, Julie Nolke, Deerstalker Pictures, Eileen, Ukraine News TV, The Good Place, Sarah Z, Dr Alexander Clarke, Then & Now, Mitchell and Webb, Jean's Thoughts, The Book Leo, I Draper, Chloe Stafler, Rebecca Watson, Climate Town, Adam Something, Bookslike Whoa, Big Joel, IzzzYzzz, Verilybitchie, Lady of the Library, Lily Alexandre, Lilly's Expat Life, A Day of Small Things, Terrible Writing Advice, Savy Writes Books, Strange Aeons, Malinda, Female Warriors -Teresatessa, Kathy's Flog in France, TIKHistory, Sabine Hossenfelder, Jake Broe, Roomies Digest, Autumn's Boutique, The Closet Historian, OrangeRiver, 2 Cellos, Adult Wednesday Addams - 2 seasons, Bernadette Banner, Karolina Zebrowska, Science with Damien Walker, History with Kayleigh, Lady Knight the Brave, Truth to Power, No Justice MTG, Mandy -web series, KernowDamo, Kat Blacque, Diem 25, Boat Time, Cruising Alba, Cruising Crafts, Siobhan McCarthy, Amanda Rae,Jay Exci, Dark Docs, Science of Science Fiction.
I wish you a wonderful morning, a splendid afternoon, a pleasant evening, a magical night and may we all continue learning.
A bird sings not because it has an answer but because it has a song.
Taiwanese Proverb
February 25, 2020
“Discovery,” is the first book in the Ship Series by authors Jack and Sue Drafahl. The adventure begins when Jake McDonald stumbles onto an ancient, alien spaceship while deep sea diving off the California coast. This ship has been asleep for over 188,000 years. Jake’s presence wakes it up and it is soon fully restored to life. Jake has been down on his luck, and this discovery is one that will alter the downward course that his life has been taking.
The ship has a mission for Jake, and in order to complete it, others take notice. This includes the US government, NASA, and a secret extremist military group known as Tech Forces (TF).TF wants to gain control of the ship so that they can access its technology which exceeds anything that we have on our planet. They will use the technology to take over the US government and gain full control of earth. Jake now must save the ship and his family who are targeted for kidnapping on earth. Jake soon learns that the planet is dying because of human greed and corruption. It would be best if he organizes a team of people from a variety of backgrounds to explore the universe with him. With his wife on board, they set out to convince qualified people to go off on this adventure with them. The adventure with this group of interesting eccentrics will continue in the second, forthcoming book in this series.
After my first glance at the cover, and reading a few pages in, “Discovery,” immediately enthralled me. The authors truly have brought a creative adventure to life which is not like anything else that I have ever read. They have such a gift for writing descriptive detail that I felt more like I was watching a movie, than reading a book. I could “see” everything as I read.
The characters are multifaceted, flawed and likeable. The good guys are likeable anyway. The relationships between the characters, whether they be good or bad, are very complex and realistic. The plot is also complex because it involves issues on multiple levels. These range from the protagonist’s familial issues, to espionage against the US government, international politics, and the unhealthy state of our planet. All these concerns fold into the story in ways that make sense, and yet are still unsettling because they involve fears that we hide within ourselves about things that could really happen.
This is the first book that I have read by Jack and Sue Drafahl. They really impressed me, and I look forward to reading other books in their series. “Discovery,” is definitely a keeper! I cannot wait to read the next book in the series!
The ship has a mission for Jake, and in order to complete it, others take notice. This includes the US government, NASA, and a secret extremist military group known as Tech Forces (TF).TF wants to gain control of the ship so that they can access its technology which exceeds anything that we have on our planet. They will use the technology to take over the US government and gain full control of earth. Jake now must save the ship and his family who are targeted for kidnapping on earth. Jake soon learns that the planet is dying because of human greed and corruption. It would be best if he organizes a team of people from a variety of backgrounds to explore the universe with him. With his wife on board, they set out to convince qualified people to go off on this adventure with them. The adventure with this group of interesting eccentrics will continue in the second, forthcoming book in this series.
After my first glance at the cover, and reading a few pages in, “Discovery,” immediately enthralled me. The authors truly have brought a creative adventure to life which is not like anything else that I have ever read. They have such a gift for writing descriptive detail that I felt more like I was watching a movie, than reading a book. I could “see” everything as I read.
The characters are multifaceted, flawed and likeable. The good guys are likeable anyway. The relationships between the characters, whether they be good or bad, are very complex and realistic. The plot is also complex because it involves issues on multiple levels. These range from the protagonist’s familial issues, to espionage against the US government, international politics, and the unhealthy state of our planet. All these concerns fold into the story in ways that make sense, and yet are still unsettling because they involve fears that we hide within ourselves about things that could really happen.
This is the first book that I have read by Jack and Sue Drafahl. They really impressed me, and I look forward to reading other books in their series. “Discovery,” is definitely a keeper! I cannot wait to read the next book in the series!
September 21, 2023
Ok story, dated and dry dialogue, and more plot holes then star in the sky.
The story was simple and basic. Moving from one step to the next. The families dynamic and dialogue where old fashioned and cringe. The authors seem to try to make this perfect marriage, Ozzie and Harriet style that came off as unbelievable especially with the events that were happening. The exciting part was really the antagonist of the story who were at least interesting because you didn't know just how evil they could be. The story itself had so many plot holes, and skips and logic that overstepped each other, to where the reader always questioning... "why is that happening or why couldn't they just do this or why do they have this much power to do something but they can't do this." It was a distraction after a while because of how stupid the main character was and how the plot laid out. Also the story took place in just a couple weeks but the characters acted as if this had been going on for years and it wasn't believable. Overall it was like a high school attempt at writing, a unique story that was interesting but could never really grab the reader's attention and hold it. I think they tried to cover too much of the world building and plot line in this first book, but the illogical sequence of events and plot holes were just too much for me to overcome and it kind of ruined the book for me.
The story was simple and basic. Moving from one step to the next. The families dynamic and dialogue where old fashioned and cringe. The authors seem to try to make this perfect marriage, Ozzie and Harriet style that came off as unbelievable especially with the events that were happening. The exciting part was really the antagonist of the story who were at least interesting because you didn't know just how evil they could be. The story itself had so many plot holes, and skips and logic that overstepped each other, to where the reader always questioning... "why is that happening or why couldn't they just do this or why do they have this much power to do something but they can't do this." It was a distraction after a while because of how stupid the main character was and how the plot laid out. Also the story took place in just a couple weeks but the characters acted as if this had been going on for years and it wasn't believable. Overall it was like a high school attempt at writing, a unique story that was interesting but could never really grab the reader's attention and hold it. I think they tried to cover too much of the world building and plot line in this first book, but the illogical sequence of events and plot holes were just too much for me to overcome and it kind of ruined the book for me.
January 5, 2023
Rather Odd Sci-fi
The basic premise has appeal but as the storyline develops the overall worldview becomes an odd collection of poorly defined tech, supported by some quite primitive science. It’s as though parts of the narrative were transplanted from mid-twentieth century sci-fi. Conflicts are nebulous at times, with the players minimally developed and individual character development is spotty at best. The book has a strong moral sense, even though some of the scenes are improbable. This book ends at a convenient pause in the story arc.
The basic premise has appeal but as the storyline develops the overall worldview becomes an odd collection of poorly defined tech, supported by some quite primitive science. It’s as though parts of the narrative were transplanted from mid-twentieth century sci-fi. Conflicts are nebulous at times, with the players minimally developed and individual character development is spotty at best. The book has a strong moral sense, even though some of the scenes are improbable. This book ends at a convenient pause in the story arc.
August 21, 2023
Its the beginning of a fun adventure
I love a fun sci fi synthesis tale, where many sci find to ties combine, Discovery is on of those tales. It brings character development, story ,robots and aliens and fun together. Star Trek meets Lost in Space and some Swiss family Robinson skillfully combined to be plausible,related able and still a fun stpry. Grab it and give it a read.
I love a fun sci fi synthesis tale, where many sci find to ties combine, Discovery is on of those tales. It brings character development, story ,robots and aliens and fun together. Star Trek meets Lost in Space and some Swiss family Robinson skillfully combined to be plausible,related able and still a fun stpry. Grab it and give it a read.
February 6, 2023
colonization
I searched colonization new worlds and the book Discovery came up. This is one of my favorite genres. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am looking forward to book two. I am open for suggestions of other books dealing ithcolonizartion, heather done by a space ship of time portal.
I searched colonization new worlds and the book Discovery came up. This is one of my favorite genres. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am looking forward to book two. I am open for suggestions of other books dealing ithcolonizartion, heather done by a space ship of time portal.
April 19, 2023
Juvenile
I have it two stars because it is a book,and I apologize to the author of the book is intended for young adults and I missed it . But the title just about covers the review. No more needs to be said other than I have up on it as a waste is my time one quarter of the way in
I have it two stars because it is a book,and I apologize to the author of the book is intended for young adults and I missed it . But the title just about covers the review. No more needs to be said other than I have up on it as a waste is my time one quarter of the way in
May 9, 2023
Meh
All the tech in the world gets sniped. Book 2 tells of a spy, the A. I claim to be perfect but make imperfect human mistakes left and right. Meh. I've been on a Space Odyssey curve and stumbled across this book and the glaring great reviews. Unfortunately, I was not too fond of the book, but I can see why people would love it.
All the tech in the world gets sniped. Book 2 tells of a spy, the A. I claim to be perfect but make imperfect human mistakes left and right. Meh. I've been on a Space Odyssey curve and stumbled across this book and the glaring great reviews. Unfortunately, I was not too fond of the book, but I can see why people would love it.
August 19, 2023
Fantastic book
I loved every minute of my reading this book! I can't wait until I can get the rest of the books in this series. But I'll have to force myself to just one book per day
The people are believable and the mix will make for even more interesting reading. I was beginning to despair of not finding a book, or series, that I could get really interested in reading.
I loved every minute of my reading this book! I can't wait until I can get the rest of the books in this series. But I'll have to force myself to just one book per day
The people are believable and the mix will make for even more interesting reading. I was beginning to despair of not finding a book, or series, that I could get really interested in reading.
September 30, 2024
great book! loving the characters
Great book and love the characters! My only thing to critique is the timeline of some of the events. Sometimes it seems like many days have passed for one set of characters whereas only a few hours or a single koght has passed for others. It doesn't take away from the story at all just sometimes kind of jarring.
Great book and love the characters! My only thing to critique is the timeline of some of the events. Sometimes it seems like many days have passed for one set of characters whereas only a few hours or a single koght has passed for others. It doesn't take away from the story at all just sometimes kind of jarring.
March 18, 2023
Fantastic book! Recommended highly!
I'm not very good at book reviews. I haven't done it very often, but this is one I really hope everyone will read. The author has done a great job with it, so please do yourself a favor and read it. I don't think you will be disappointed.
I'm not very good at book reviews. I haven't done it very often, but this is one I really hope everyone will read. The author has done a great job with it, so please do yourself a favor and read it. I don't think you will be disappointed.
July 19, 2023
Great new discovery story
I mostly enjoyed the story. Some of the obvious bad guy mole on the ship is a little too Dr. Smith from lost in space.
I can't wait to see if they get out of the solar system.
I mostly enjoyed the story. Some of the obvious bad guy mole on the ship is a little too Dr. Smith from lost in space.
I can't wait to see if they get out of the solar system.
January 31, 2024
Finally gave up
This was so convoluted that it ruined the book. I thought it was fi ally getting to main storyline and it drops even farther into the trash category. This was written by a writer who wrote all the terrible Sci fi channel stuff. Truly horrible.
This was so convoluted that it ruined the book. I thought it was fi ally getting to main storyline and it drops even farther into the trash category. This was written by a writer who wrote all the terrible Sci fi channel stuff. Truly horrible.
April 25, 2024
A very good book
I enjoyed this book from cover to cover.I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I agree that if we do not do a better job with our planet we will eventually destroy it.
I enjoyed this book from cover to cover.I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I agree that if we do not do a better job with our planet we will eventually destroy it.
May 13, 2019
Good
Great story I really enjoyed it. Some slow parts but over all a fun read . When is the next one going to be released ? Hopefully soon.
Great story I really enjoyed it. Some slow parts but over all a fun read . When is the next one going to be released ? Hopefully soon.
March 21, 2023
Wow
Started off a tad slow up then went into Warp drive. The start was reminiscent of Delphi Nation but then went to a different scenario. Starting on book two after my walk.
Started off a tad slow up then went into Warp drive. The start was reminiscent of Delphi Nation but then went to a different scenario. Starting on book two after my walk.
June 1, 2023
Fun read
A very entertaining book, well written with good well developed characters. I enjoyed it and will the next installment. Excellent job Jack and Sue !.
A very entertaining book, well written with good well developed characters. I enjoyed it and will the next installment. Excellent job Jack and Sue !.
July 16, 2023
Great
It is a great start to a great story😇 this is a author that needs to be read. I will definitely read on
It is a great start to a great story😇 this is a author that needs to be read. I will definitely read on
December 4, 2023
This is Book one : Of The Ship Series
This was a great start to a new series I'm looking forward to the next Book in this series .
This was a great start to a new series I'm looking forward to the next Book in this series .
December 1, 2024
DNF. 20% into the book and it's ADHD levels of PoV switching. So many perspectives that feel so disjointed. The whole thing feels very forced and unpleasant.
December 20, 2024
Story is good, but dialogue is cringy at times. Not sure if I'll continue series.
December 5, 2023
Awesome Story
I really enjoyed this book. Great plot, pacing, action, etc. My only complaint is lack of character development. The characters were likeable but came across as very one-dimensional. The dialogue seemed contrived instead of natural. Even so, I will be reading the rest of the series! I have to know what happens next!
I really enjoyed this book. Great plot, pacing, action, etc. My only complaint is lack of character development. The characters were likeable but came across as very one-dimensional. The dialogue seemed contrived instead of natural. Even so, I will be reading the rest of the series! I have to know what happens next!
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