Vaughn Heppner

* SPOILER ALERT *

I would have given this just two stars if it wasn't for its sheer likeability. Heppner mashes up a great deal of old American popular science fiction for nothing but entertainment, making it ideal for recovering from (say) an illness where you don't want to think too much.

The gung-ho hero (an ex-marine called Logan but aren't they all?) with his 'guardian of the galaxy' blue crystal in his pocket give us lots of fun dialogue with his little AI friend even if there are show more moments of lengthy exposition necessary to get the story from fire fight to fire fight.

There is a Flash Gordon-Dale Arden aspect with 'Debbie'. Our hero has the moral fibre of men more than half a century ago, trusting in his girl even when the evidence repeatedly points to her being a creature of alien forces. This is pre-feminist stuff but not the worse for that.

And Heppner does not stint on aliens - in addition to the blue crystal, the staff officer to Logan's man in the field, we have mercenary corporate aliens, an alien crystal intelligence gone rogue and about to become God and a lost race of arrogant super-aliens who may as well be gods.

Space ships fly through oceans and space piloted by someone who was a security officer for a solar energy plant in the Nevada desert only a day or so before while alien weaponry pummels the earth yet somehow is not noticed to be alien!

And our man Logan defeats all the bad aliens as well as their Neanderthal minions (allowing a nod to alternative evolutionary history straight out of the mind-set of the 1920s)! There is even a 'Twilight Zone' episode centred on a town of mind-slaves and robots lost in time.

Logan saves the universe and the earth and stops a nuclear confrontation between the US and China while remaining the supreme patriot to his country. Yes, a total throw-back to the adolescent scifi of the last mid-century and utter and absolute nonsense. But fun in its way. show less

Each book in this series gets a little more bizarre than the rest. In this episode of the story, Captain Maddox accidentally enters a portal that results in him traveling 200 light years to the other end of the galaxy where he is immersed in a primitive human solar system. Getting ahead in this culture is achieved by killing your superior. Maddex ultimately discovers that Metusula Women Myers is in the system with plans to revive a Builder whose plan is to abolish humanity. Using his show more cleverness, Maddox succeeds in outsmarting Myers and getting the entire solar system's human population back within the protection and resources of Earth. There are other events and side stories that further support my opinion of the book's questionable scientific possibilities. The book is entertaining and, with some knowledge of the universe that Vaughn Heppner created in the series' previous books, is an easy read. show less

A teen is snagged from an underground ghetto due to his psychic abilities. He's subsequently schooled further in those abilities and history by an overpopulated Earth government. With others who have his ability, he volunteers to psychically power a spaceship on its voyage to a distant star system. Two habitable Eden-type planets occupy the supposedly unoccupied star system but, when they arrive, they are captured by the system's dominant alien dinosaur-like race. The teen manages to escape show more into the bowels of the space station he's brought to for processing and is recruited by the resistance.

This is not a stand-alone book; but only the first in the Fenris trilogy. I've already purchased the second and third books in the series as I find the story compelling. Written from the teen's perspective, the narration is cerebral with sufficient action to keep it interesting. show less

The lost starship series continues to hold my interest despite having gone on for 12 books at this point. I usually lose interest in a series over time as the main character’s exploits and experiences become unbelievable, going far beyond what a normal human being could sanely deal with. The Lost Intelligence has Captain Maddox venturing out to the Eril world where he sees into the immediate future recognizing a threat to Earth’s Star Watch Intelligence Service. Maddox returns to earth show more to deal with an ancient alien AI whose aim is to take over earth’s leadership and ultimately extend his control to rule the galaxy. After much intrigue, Maddox uses bold trickery to destroy the AI.

Captain Maddox has saved earth from annihilation multiple times in this series, becoming a recognized hero. It’s a wonder that by book 12 he’s still only a captain. While I’m being cynical, this is a good series that I continue to enjoy and recommend to others. show less