Nightflare
My first novel, Nightflare, is out! It's been in the works for years, and I'm really excited to share it with everyone.
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Official Description
The first murder in outer space. An experiment unfinished. Love lost and found.
Follow a young woman at a Midwestern college, a vengeful lab assistant on a space stations, and a pair of investigators way out of their league as they all try to navigate loss, betrayal, and a menacing new threat to every person on Earth.
In this epic sci-fi space opera factions vie for control of nothing less than the future of humankind. To win, they'll rely on their wits, their instincts, and each other. And lasers.
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End Notes
As a bonus, these are the references I compiled while doing research for the story. They illustrate how some of the ideas and concepts are surprisingly not fiction.
- The idea mentioned in chapter 3 that protein folding and crystal growth both change drastically without Earth's gravity is real
- Also in chapter 3, the US federal government does indeed hire lawyers as criminal investigators - here's an example of one such job within the Department of Energy
- Noted in chapter 7, the US Air Force does actually operate in both space and cyberspace
- The X-37 space plane mentioned in chapter 10 is a real NASA project
- The role of the Japanese Emperor was reduced to that of a figurehead at the behest of General MacArthur as described in chapter 16
- Mentioned in chapter 22, the truly silent gun relying on sealed cartridges with internal pistons is real
- The solar flare discussed in chapter 26 actually happened in 1859 and would severely disrupt global communications and electronics if it happened today
- The fuelless ion engines described in chapter 30 are real
- Also in chapter 30, using nuclear-powered lasers as a weapon in space was a real government research project
- And again in chapter 30, the massive destructive power of antimatter is real
- As mentioned in chapter 31, bullets designed to disintegrate and not penetrate hard surfaces like walls are real - the word to describe them is "frangible"
- Glasses with a HUD and augmented reality features for military use like those described in chapter 39 are real
- The Cas9 protein mentioned in chapter 40 is a real way to perform genetic engineering in living beings via RNA and DNA modification
- Also in chapter 40, a disabled version of HIV being used to modify genes is real, particularly as a possible treatment for cancer
- Mentioned in chapter 43, there really was a horrible aftermath to World War II in regards to home ownership and displacement
- The Lagrange points talked about in chapter 46, L4 and L5, would in fact be the most energy efficient places to put an object with line-of-sight around the sun
- The Homan Square black site in Chicago referenced in chapter 50 is real
- The idea to use orbital platforms to defend the ground mentioned in chapter 51 is real