Saint Vladnitz

by David Wiley

Overview

Over five hundred years since the start of the Space Age and humanity has still not yet broken out of the prison of the solar system. Generation ships have been sent to nearby star systems, but the sublight speeds involved means that nobody has returned yet. Warp drives and worm holes have been around for centuries, although only in science fiction. Running short on resources in the solar system–even Saturn's rings have been strip-mined–humanity needs some divine intervention. Instead, they get Boris S. Vladnitz, a down on his luck captain of a battered spaceship. Follow along with Captain Vladnitz and his crew of wildcatters on board the Arkhangel as they eke out a living among the snowballs and rocks of the Kuiper Belt and finally get the chance of humanity's lifetime, if they survive the trip–and each other.

Saint Vladnitz is the first story in the Borgia Trajectory, a series set in the same universe as the Eichi Testaments, back when the Galactic Empire wasn't even a glimmer in the eyes of the corporations that ruled Earth.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940153922553
Publisher:	David Wiley
Publication date:	12/20/2016
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	973,234
File size:	214 KB

About the Author

David Wiley is a pseudonym for Dave Felstul. By day I am a scientist who lives in Oregon. I was worried that people would have trouble remembering, spelling, or pronouncing my given name, so I decided to adopt the name of a childhood hero, Wile E. Coyote, for my pen name.

I wanted to be a writer from an early age. After being unduly influenced by the first Apollo mission with Armstrong and Aldrin walking on the moon in 1969, there was never any real choice as to my area of writing, science fiction. This was predictably followed by many early stories, lavishly illustrated with spaceships, deathrays, and aliens.
Some of us outgrow our dreams, others merely postpone them.

I did combine my love of science and writing in several technical journalism jobs—including for a computer magazine where I not so presciently proclaimed that "the new Microsoft Word and Microsoft mouse could do a few interesting things, but were not as good as existing products and would never work well together."

After realizing that my options in science journalism were limited, I stuck with the science half of the equation for many years. Only recently am I beginning to realize that deferred dream of spaceships, deathrays, and aliens. Although it is debatable whether the humor has improved since those early efforts, the science has hopefully done so.

My science background has certainly pushed me towards the hard science fiction genre, but I have a definite bent towards biology and not just physics. I want to explore what happens when future technology meets real life. How would a far-flung galactic civilization maintain a common culture or genetics? Will a raygun work in a downpour? Will we have holographic assistants like the doctor in Star Trek Voyager or will the holos be used for advertising shills instead? Unfortunately, I know which one my money and those of the corporations will likely be on.

I am exploring these ideas in books set in the Eichi Testaments Universe, Make No Martyrs, Message from Gondwana, and others as they make it through the review process.

To conclude, my hero, Wile E Coyote had a business card. If you think about it, the card is perfect for a science fiction writer. "Wile E. Coyote, Genius, Have Brain – Will Travel." Who knows where our imaginations can take us? Maybe one day Acme will even sell a rocket ship that works!