Fascinating Authors

Book Review
by
John H. Manhold

SITE 39, BLUE ORB by Otis V. Goodwin III
ISBN 9781419699375, Paperback, 224 pages

Mr. Goodwin, in his author’s forward, explains that he once had wished to write something in the nature of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn in Space or Through Space to Mars, type of books. It never happened, but upon retirement, he realized that he now was “in charge of his own fate” and decided to investigate the feasibility of such action. During his investigation, he discovered that he had missed the fact that so many monsters and so much violence, gore, and sex were extant in today’s literature. His desire was to write “my type of story, a little more genteel”, a story more akin to Robert Heinlein’s Rocket Ship Galileo or, A. E. van Vogt’s Voyage of the Space Beagle. His conclusion was “to write, not a modern Sci-Fi generic novel, but a novel in a futuristic setting that involved historical facts, real science, extrapolated to a reasonable degree, plus a bit of imagination.”

In SITE 39, BLUE ORB, the second in a purported series, he has followed this path. Earth, as we know it, has been destroyed by penetration of a huge meteor. A pod of humans has survived in a well designed and prepared area, and reproduces. Five millennia later, a colony from another planet is allowed to discover the inhabitants of this pod, after the inhabitants discern that it is not a hostile community. The new colony also is given to understand that the meteor did not strike earth by chance. Rather, it was directed by a hostile force. The two groups decide to search for the “enemy agent” responsible.

The story includes allusions to the Big Bang Theory, dimensional levels below that of quantum particles, and energy waves that encounter no barriers so they can travel at speeds greater than that of light. It is further postulated that the state of matter can be altered so that atomic particles can become less than quantum level scale and take advantage of these energy levels. There also is a bit of history thrown in about a very early expedition by the original earth government of the American Colonies, and the integration of this historical fact into the story. The protagonists also are ‘very nice people’ and more ‘genteel, in accord with the author’s stated goal.

In summary, Otis V. Goodman III has attained his goal, and has provided an unusual story “in a futuristic setting that involves historical facts, real science, extrapolated to a reasonable degree, plus a bit of imagination”.