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Dilation: A 10,000-Year Sci-Fi Epic
The human race is doomed for extermination…
But not for another ten thousand years. When the first aliens to visit Earth meet an untimely demise, humanity finds itself marked for eradication by the technologically-advanced beings. In an effort to aid our future defense, Earth's greatest warriors are groomed throughout the millennia and sent into space at relativistic speeds, exploiting the principles of time dilation to reconvene together for the pending invasion.
Combining elements of hard science fiction with action and suspense, Dilation is a smart, gripping sci-fi thriller that tells its unique story from both ends of the timeline. When biology professor Denise Walker has her expertise cryptically requested by the U.S. Department of Defense in the spring of 2023, her career takes a drastic and frightening shift that changes the future indefinitely. Meanwhile, in the 126th century, renowned fighter pilot Nadia Raynor arrives only to discover that her skills have been rendered useless by fleets of automated spacecraft. As she searches for her place in the modern military, Raynor explores the year 12595 alongside historical figures including Dr. Walker herself, and Isaac Fowler: the DIA agent notorious for causing their impending genocide.
See the events unfold across the ages for all three characters as humankind struggles to survive long enough to face its potential annihilation. From first contact to invasion, Dilation’s captivating saga will keep you turning pages until the very last!
Warning: contains strong language and depictions of gore.
But not for another ten thousand years. When the first aliens to visit Earth meet an untimely demise, humanity finds itself marked for eradication by the technologically-advanced beings. In an effort to aid our future defense, Earth's greatest warriors are groomed throughout the millennia and sent into space at relativistic speeds, exploiting the principles of time dilation to reconvene together for the pending invasion.
Combining elements of hard science fiction with action and suspense, Dilation is a smart, gripping sci-fi thriller that tells its unique story from both ends of the timeline. When biology professor Denise Walker has her expertise cryptically requested by the U.S. Department of Defense in the spring of 2023, her career takes a drastic and frightening shift that changes the future indefinitely. Meanwhile, in the 126th century, renowned fighter pilot Nadia Raynor arrives only to discover that her skills have been rendered useless by fleets of automated spacecraft. As she searches for her place in the modern military, Raynor explores the year 12595 alongside historical figures including Dr. Walker herself, and Isaac Fowler: the DIA agent notorious for causing their impending genocide.
See the events unfold across the ages for all three characters as humankind struggles to survive long enough to face its potential annihilation. From first contact to invasion, Dilation’s captivating saga will keep you turning pages until the very last!
Warning: contains strong language and depictions of gore.
446 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 19, 2022
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Travis Stecher
4 books2 followersTravis Stecher is an author, musician, and screenwriter in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in mathematics, later leaving related careers to pursue creative efforts. His first book, Dilation, was received well by critics, and was awarded as one of Independent Book Review's Best Books of 2022. He's also an operatic singer of six octaves, a multi-disciplined martial artist, and an award-winning collegiate mascot.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 4, 2022
For those who love their sci-fi as hard as a rock, Dilation: A 10,000 Year Sci-Fi Epic delivers.
Like The Forever War (by Joe Haldeman), Dilation is focused on the concept of time dilation in space travel. Aliens arrive on Earth, but due to an unfortunate accident, humanity kills them. As such, these aliens have marked us for eradication. To prevent this, Earth sends out soldiers and tacticians into space at relativistic speeds, in order to amass a force to fight off the alien threat.
Dilation leans hard into realism. Scientific concepts are a focus of the story, and the accuracy was impressive. In fact, there’s quite the biography at the end listing off the sources the author used. If you’re someone who likes their sci-fi rooted in plausible concepts and scenarios, this is definitely the book for you. It’s clear the author has considered many aspects of future human life, not just weapons or military aspects. The world of the year 12,000 was compelling and fascinating.
Yet, because there is so much realism, the characters fall a little flat. While they do have motives that made sense, there wasn’t space in this novel for any of them to get a lot of backstory or to develop highly complex personalities. Oftentimes their emotions towards a situation or another person are told in a very passive way rather than crafting the scene via dialogue or description of facial expressions and body language. That being said, I did love the diversity and my favourite character was Shino.
Similarly, the action scenes, while few and far between, were exciting, though I found more active phrases would have made them a bit tighter. While the novel has a touch of military sci-fi, don’t go into it expecting David Drake.
I’m more of a space opera fan myself, but if you are a reader who enjoys your science fiction rooted more in science than fiction, you will likely love Dilation.
Like The Forever War (by Joe Haldeman), Dilation is focused on the concept of time dilation in space travel. Aliens arrive on Earth, but due to an unfortunate accident, humanity kills them. As such, these aliens have marked us for eradication. To prevent this, Earth sends out soldiers and tacticians into space at relativistic speeds, in order to amass a force to fight off the alien threat.
Dilation leans hard into realism. Scientific concepts are a focus of the story, and the accuracy was impressive. In fact, there’s quite the biography at the end listing off the sources the author used. If you’re someone who likes their sci-fi rooted in plausible concepts and scenarios, this is definitely the book for you. It’s clear the author has considered many aspects of future human life, not just weapons or military aspects. The world of the year 12,000 was compelling and fascinating.
Yet, because there is so much realism, the characters fall a little flat. While they do have motives that made sense, there wasn’t space in this novel for any of them to get a lot of backstory or to develop highly complex personalities. Oftentimes their emotions towards a situation or another person are told in a very passive way rather than crafting the scene via dialogue or description of facial expressions and body language. That being said, I did love the diversity and my favourite character was Shino.
Similarly, the action scenes, while few and far between, were exciting, though I found more active phrases would have made them a bit tighter. While the novel has a touch of military sci-fi, don’t go into it expecting David Drake.
I’m more of a space opera fan myself, but if you are a reader who enjoys your science fiction rooted more in science than fiction, you will likely love Dilation.
May 17, 2022
Dilation: A 10,000-Year Sci-Fi Epic, by Travis Stecher, is about the human race’s first encounter with aliens. As this encounter leads to humanity’s impending destruction, many people are sent 10,000 years into the future to defend Earth. 21st-century biology professor Denise Walker and DIA agent Isaac Fowler are joined in the 126th century by 32nd-century fighter pilot Nadia Raynor. Follow their journey across time as humankind struggles to find its way into the future and survive the alien invasion.
Stecher captivates the reader from the beginning as he introduces the character Raynor just after she’s arrived in the 126th century. The reader is in suspense as hints are given that something critical is happening. Then, in awe of the historical figures Raynor encounters, the reader is taken back into “our time” and gives the story’s beginning.
The author does a fantastic job of pulling the reader through time as events unfold and connecting the dots to the beginning of this complex book when Raynor is first introduced. Once all the characters and the reader are fully entrenched in the 126th century, he thrusts us into the action of the human race fighting for survival. The action scenes are one to applaud and are filled with such detail you feel as if you are watching a movie. The characters are believable, along with their emotions and dialogue. They are thoroughly fleshed-out characters in a vibrant and detailed universe. The story was not bogged down with technical details, and the author gave enough information to keep the reader engaged.
Dilation: A 10,000-Year Sci-Fi Epic is a gripping time travel adventure that hooks the reader from the beginning and keeps their attention to the very last page. This novel will entertain hard science fiction readers with memorable characters, exciting conflict, and an unforgettable story.
Stecher captivates the reader from the beginning as he introduces the character Raynor just after she’s arrived in the 126th century. The reader is in suspense as hints are given that something critical is happening. Then, in awe of the historical figures Raynor encounters, the reader is taken back into “our time” and gives the story’s beginning.
The author does a fantastic job of pulling the reader through time as events unfold and connecting the dots to the beginning of this complex book when Raynor is first introduced. Once all the characters and the reader are fully entrenched in the 126th century, he thrusts us into the action of the human race fighting for survival. The action scenes are one to applaud and are filled with such detail you feel as if you are watching a movie. The characters are believable, along with their emotions and dialogue. They are thoroughly fleshed-out characters in a vibrant and detailed universe. The story was not bogged down with technical details, and the author gave enough information to keep the reader engaged.
Dilation: A 10,000-Year Sci-Fi Epic is a gripping time travel adventure that hooks the reader from the beginning and keeps their attention to the very last page. This novel will entertain hard science fiction readers with memorable characters, exciting conflict, and an unforgettable story.
June 6, 2022
Dilation is a time travel sci-fi story and is about the survival of the human race. Thousands of other elite soldiers, alongside Nadia Raynor, a fighter pilot from the 32nd century, arrive in the year 12,595 to protect their species from extermination.
The group has spent years dilating their time to return to this year and but when they achieve this goal, everything else changes. Raynor learns way more than she bargained for, which ultimately shapes the story.
What is most enjoyable about this book is the elements of hard science fiction and the adventure that comes with it. The literature is written well, and the concept of the story, although not novel, is intriguing to read.
If you are into aliens and space travel, you will enjoy this book. It provided enough foundation and developed very well. The characters needed to really pull things together, and they did. This induced a well over the written story.
I recommend this book to science fiction fans.
The group has spent years dilating their time to return to this year and but when they achieve this goal, everything else changes. Raynor learns way more than she bargained for, which ultimately shapes the story.
What is most enjoyable about this book is the elements of hard science fiction and the adventure that comes with it. The literature is written well, and the concept of the story, although not novel, is intriguing to read.
If you are into aliens and space travel, you will enjoy this book. It provided enough foundation and developed very well. The characters needed to really pull things together, and they did. This induced a well over the written story.
I recommend this book to science fiction fans.
December 27, 2022
a bit muddled
First thing: ORDNANCE NOT ORDINANCE!!! For gods sake how many times do I have to read that!? Weapons are different than laws! That is what editors are for! A good story but occasionally the sentence structure was off and required rereading. Again, perhaps an editor (with experience?).
First thing: ORDNANCE NOT ORDINANCE!!! For gods sake how many times do I have to read that!? Weapons are different than laws! That is what editors are for! A good story but occasionally the sentence structure was off and required rereading. Again, perhaps an editor (with experience?).
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews