A failed space rescue mission lands astronaut Bach Turner in a beleaguered future world where history repeats itself, future events cast shadows, and abduction, deceit, seduction and hedonism fuel an allegorical battle of good and evil. With no way out short of blind faith and the ultimate weapon, his mind, Turner embarks on a final mission that fulfills prophecy.
May 25, 2020. NASA dispatches Commander "Bach" Turner on a perilous mission to find four astronauts lost beyond Earth's solar system. Minutes after rescue, the edge of a lethal, swirling cloud of galactic plasma draws the earthship deeper into space and deposits it on a strange planet.
Bach's troubles multiply when his crewmates are abducted by an evil army of Rooks—Rulers of other kingdoms. His rescue by Altemus Rider, the patriarch of a clan of geniuses, and his daughter Star, lands Bach in a beleaguered future world where he delves into alien technology with a single-minded goal: find his crewmates and return to Earth.
In this unstable zone of space, time is running out on all life forms, children are missing, few can be trusted, and Bach's DNA is of particular interest to one alien. When he learns of a tunnel of light on a distant mount he cautiously ventures in. There, the Creator delivers the first of several instructions: search this weird, inverted galaxy for those with a sacred icon and allow them passage aboard your spacecraft.
After a race against time, and the enemy, through lands of future and past with Star at his side, Bach's harrowing, prophetic journey takes an unthinkable turn when deep space rumbles a forewarning--and he realizes he didn't get the Creator's final instruction.
Reviewers and readers of Alpha Rising have compared this believable, thought-provoking, speculative story to the works of C.S. Lewis.
Excerpt
Bach searched the rubble for a water test kit and, after finding it, crouched beside G.R. and spoke confidentially, "In all your biological studies, have you ever encountered a phenomenon where water's so still it looks like black glass?"
G.R. shook his head. "You're saying the lake is totally motionless?"
"It was, until I tossed in a handful of sand."
"And ...?"
"It sank straight down with a gurgling stream. But then came a churning or heaving in that area of the water, followed by the whole lake transforming into what looked like a caldron of hissing bubbles that seemed hungry."
"Hungry?"
"Don't know how else to describe it--like they wanted to attack something."
Professional Reviews
Soars to the top of my list of great books
"Alpha Rising soars to the top of my list of great books...credible and compelling...there is a startling sense of reality in this book, as if this story could actually happen one day in the distant future...The author successfully straps readers into the cockpit, giving them a clear view of the story, as each turn of the page accelerates them deeper into a new dimension...The characters and the cosmos merge into a story line that has eternal significance...The final pages are like riding a shaft of sunlight into a place long forgotten but easily remembered...Alpha Rising is a thrilling taste of the extraordinary!"
Joyce Handzo, In the Library Reviews
http://www.inthelibraryreviews.net/DouglasGL.html
This one will rumble around in your brain a bit...
"…reminds me of the Narnia books…allegory to a larger, more important message...this one is ingenious…beautiful scenery, high-tech gadgets, action and adventure…long after I've finished, the plot and characters have continued to roll around in my thoughts. That, my friends, is the sign of a good story. I look forward to reading more from this author."
Madeline000 -- Amazon reviewer
http://www.madelinemusing.com/
A remarkable good versus evil tale
"...overtones of C.S. Lewis in abundance. As with Lewis' Space Trilogy, this novel will only reveal its true depth as more and more readers take their personal journeys into its pages...an exceptionally savvy and well-constructed tale of modern spirituality."
Peter Sykes, Sci-Fi Lists
http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/
I am an avid science fiction fan and enjoy all the various sub-genres, however this retelling of the Noah’s Arc story did not do it for me. It is a noble effort by a first time author, but ultimately it falls short. If this story was targeted at middle school readers, except for a few words above their vocabulary level, this story would work. If it is targeted at adults, it is not enough.
Bach, the main character, comes off as stodgy and wooden. The pun on his name and the band Bachman Turner Overdrive never pays. The pun would have been better based on Grand Funk’s song Captain, My Captain. None of the other characters, with the possible exception of Star are developed beyond cardboard cutouts.
The story’s action is simplistic. There is a lot of it, but, like the characters, it lacks depth. Sometimes I felt like I was reading an evangelical tract. The pacing was erratic and even the parts that should have been exciting weren’t. Properly told, with adequate description, this story should have been triple its current length.
I have an issue with the gratuitous killing off of a potentially major character so early in the work. Other than to deliver her Bible, why was she even there? Given the military nature of much of the other writing in this genre, there is surprisingly little bloodshed so when a character dies, it stands out more.
As an environmentalist who includes environmental themes in my own fiction writings, I am sensitive to how this issue is handled. The gratuitous repetition of the word “toxic” was heavy handed and off-putting. The descriptions of each of the “worlds” visited was all “tell” and no “show”.
As other reviewers have commented, the text was free of the errors that so often plague self published works. The grammar was correct and the punctuation was perfect. There were no typos that I noticed.
I do not wish to discourage this writer from future works, however, before undertaking another such project, at least one work by each of the following authors should be read: Ann McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Elizabeth Moon, Ellen Rouiz, Holly Lilse, K. D. Wentworth, Linda Evans and Mercedes Lackey.
Ninety-Nine Novellas (1,600 book pages) is a collection of 99 popular Jay Dubya novellas and the book is the companion work of Ninety-Nine Novellas, Part II.
