Warp Speed (Warp Speed #1)

I have read science fiction for quite a few decades, and I cannot recall a book that was more of a disappointment to me than Warp Speed.

The author's solid background in science (PhD in optical science, Masters in physics, aerospace and astronomy) and collaborations with John Ringo had me looking forward to a true science fiction book (with emphasis on science). The science side is the most solid part of the book... and yet one is asked to believe that creating a warp drive is a matter of Dr. Anson (the male lead - smarter than Einstein, amazing martial artist and wannabe astronaut whose grating first person narration is at delivered using a 8th to 10th grade level vocabulary and style) having a revolutionary insight during a painkiller induced blackout during which his mumbling about miniature pistons is heard by one of his PhD students who goes into the lab with another PhD candidate and within 36 hours have the theory solved AND a prototype of a perpetual energy generator ready for testing...or that this radical new 10 nanometer wide component which explodes with catastrophic results when not perfect is outsourced for scale-up production to a clumsy "local printed circuit board company" with weak quality control and processes - because that how DARPA would have you manufacture an energy source that generates 10 to the power of 20 joules (more energy than everybody on earth generates in an year).

I am willing to suspend some disbelief when reading a SF book - but the plot and the character development are also atrocious. The characters work on this technology which can change the world and completely turn the world economy on its head in "secret", but bring in random PhD candidates and hire random admin people off the street... the main male character becomes a NASA payload specialist for no particular reason other than that his girlfriend is the shuttle commander...falls asleep and snores for hours during the preflight checks, but nobody wakes him up until he needs to confirm that he is a "go" at 9 minutes before take-off... his shuttle commander girlfriend either romances him or is ordering him around during the flight in a random fashion... etc.

The book bottoms out at page 264, when the Dr. Anson's first meeting with the president in the wake of a warp weapon attack that destroyed Colorado and killed 50 million US civilians starts with the following line from the president: "This is a fine damn mess you've caused, fellows! There are over 50 million people estimated dead and what am I to tell the public?" Believing that the president of the USA would bring the egg-head that bungled creating the technology so badly that the Chinese easily got everything and are using it to secretly destroy parts of US at will to ask him for advice on how to handle that kind of crisis... and on the same page just agree to keep this whole thing secret by blaming it on an asteroid strike and just engage in a "secret war" with the Chinese in order to destroy the evil leaders, ruin their economy then bring the joy of capitalism to them in the form of economic aid does not require suspension of disbelief - it requires one to completely turn their brain off. Oh... the page ends with the president of the USA remarking saying "Jesus, son. I'm glad you are on your side.", then handing over full power (including control over the army) over handling this political crisis to Dr. Anson, then presumably going to Amazon.com to buy a copy of this book to see if he did the right thing... On the bright side, all the nonsense that follows in the remaining 110 pages seems less painful by comparison - thank God for small blessings.

To summarize - the author starts with an interesting premise but wastes it with a poorly designed, lazily written book that seems written as a stream of consciousness dictation with essentially no review or editing, clumsy dialogue, cartoonish single dimensional characters and a plot relying on one person to stumble from one crisis to another and promptly solve them through its genius, sheer awesomeness and magnificent redneckness. Did I mention that by the end of the book he gets the girl and casually discovers life on a planet around a nearby star? And in just one paragraph, he wonders how come that the vegetation pollinates without insects... but promptly figures out that the wind must be good enough. The author seems to believe that this kind of reasoning is more proof of Dr. Anson`s genius. It also is the reason why I will pass on buying another one of Mr. Taylor's books.

Someone once said that if you want to be a good writer you should write what you know. "Warp Speed" by Travis S. Taylor shows that not only does he have a good eye for story telling, but also that he knows a lot! The book is written in the first person perspective following Dr. Neil Anson Clemons, Physicist, Engineer and a University Professor. Anson, as his friends call him, is working on developing alternative propulsion systems for the space program. In other words he's trying to find a way to make space travel more practical than strapping people to giant rockets and shooting them into the sky. Specifically he is working on developing a warp drive to allow faster than light travel.

The book takes a lot of interesting turns. In most science fiction that I've read the technologies are more of a back drop that facilitates the plot. "I want my character to fly like Superman so he has the Dyson 3000 anti-gravity belt", or even more simply, "my character has a sword made of energy, never mind how, he just does". In Taylor's book, the technology he uses starts almost with where we are today. It's set a few years in the future, but nothing seems extraordinarily out of place, no ray guns or teleportation. As Anson's work on the warp drive progresses a number of new technologies are brought into play besides the warp drive but the reader is not asked to simply accept them, rather, they become a part of their logical development. In fact it all was introduced so realistically that I'm surprised we haven't already developed many of the things Anson and his team discover.

The focus on the technology in "Warp Speed" doesn't mean the characters are skipped or glossed over. The character of Anson Clemons is brought into very clear focus as a "renaissance man" with a number of talents and interests that blend together to complement each other and help explain his motives and thought processes. The other characters are well rounded, but they are seen through Anson's eyes which colors them more to how he perceives them. One does pick up on an endearing bit of absentmindedness from Anson, as he "forgets" to mention significant developments in his life, only to have them pop up in the story with an "oh yeah, did I mention that...".

Don't let me fool you, "Warp Speed" isn't just a book about the development of a new propulsion technology. This is good science fiction with plenty of action to keep the reader hooked. In fact, at times the action comes so fast you almost can't get your breath as the characters are thrust from one situation to another with no breaks. One minute they are in space, then they are in a forest with tornadoes, then they are facing terrorists, it almost makes a person dizzy, but it still manages to flow well.

I recommend "Warp Speed" by Travis S. Taylor. It is a real page turner that makes some of the science behind science fiction come alive. This is the first in a series with the second book "The Quantum Connection" due out in paperback soon. To quote author John Ringo "Flubells away!" which will make much more sense if you read the book. Check it out!

The characters are not well developed; the women are particularly unreal. The story is not interesting. The writing is not good either. Need I say more?

It is too bad to give away, I can hardly believe I actually read the whole thing hoping it would improve.

I bought it because of the blurb by Ringo on the cover but I will never buy another book due to a Ringo blurb since either he is a sell out or a very poor judge of quality.

As a first novel, I continue to be astounded that this reached publication, let alone kicked off a successful writing career.

As the author is a NASA scientist living in Huntsville, AL, the main character is so clearly a wish-fulfillment self insertion that it is painful to read. Anton, our protagonist, is an intrepid engineer who has garnered respect from NASA and the academic community, runs his own successful consulting firm (allowing him to spend all of his time playing with high-tech toys), is genius enough to marshal two Ph.D. students, as is, of course, a karate master.

Even worse, the story of this ubermensch is told with bland, unappealing dialogue, in first person, in the present tense. The entire book could be sumarized as "Watch me do this awesome thing!" ad nauseum. By about 100 pages in, I literally wanted to beat the main character to a pulp.

Worse, the entire first half of the book is set in what may was well be present day, before our hero and his stable of geniuses manage to single-handedly invent shockingly advanced technology, virtually overnight. The techno-babble, while perhaps on par with a shoddy episode of Star Trek, merely serves as an excuse for yet more self-aggrandizement and bragging. The previous chapters are magnified by the unstated question: "Hey, what if I had all that awesome stuff from earlier AND God-like techno-powers?"

This escalates to other insistent questions, such as "What if I met the President?" and "What if I was the only person who could save America? Wouldn't that be badass?"

The absolute lowest point of this novel takes place in a throwaway line in half a paragraph during the anticlimactic war with China. Before our erstwhile hero can save the day, it is mentioned that U.S. Special Forces soldiers heroically give their lives to protect America... by hijacking civilian airliners and crashing them into Chinese population centers. Immediately after this, the hero uses his magical space-ship to finish the job in roughly five minutes, making their sacrifice and inclusion in the book count for absolutely nothing. However, for such an otherwise jingoistic novel, this plot point seems both unnecessary and offensive. Techno-thrillers from the 90's can get away from that crap, but when you feel alright cribbing story ideas from one of the most horrifying events in national history, there is something wrong with you.

tl;dr: Save your eight bucks. Ask a ten-year-old to tell you about the most awesome thing ever, and you'll get the same effect.

This is a very silly book in many respects but it does have a few redeeming features. The Science Fiction style is of the Doc Smith variety and anyone expecting a hard sci fi novel of great literary merit will almost certainly be disappointed.

Dr Clemons is a physicist working on a NASA advanced propulsion grant and with the help of his colleagues invents the fabled warp drive. He meets and falls in love with a NASA astronaut and with her help manages to arrange a test of his warp drive aboard the space shuttle. During the test the space shuttle is sabotaged but Dr Clemons and his lady friend manage to get back to earth where they discover that a member of their team has sold the warp drive secrets to the Chinese. World war III then happens as the evil Chinese and Russians try to destroy the USA with warp drive technology but Dr Clemons and his team manage to save the world though.

The most redeeming feature of the book is that the author at least attempts to explain the science involved although it often sounds like Star Trek techno-babble. The worst feature is the characterisation where the main characters are so ridiculously stereotyped and spout such absolute nonsense that I often thought that the author was being deliberately satirical. There is a lot of time spent on irrelevant martial arts fights and mountain biking episodes that could have been left out or severely cut. The other thing I didn't like was the thinly veiled preaching about the ultimate goodness of American foreign policy and the criticism of anyone that happens to be the slightest bit left leaning.

This is one of those books that would rate zero stars if you are looking for a work of literature but as a pulp novel isn't all that bad. I eventually decided on two stars as it's just not quite good enough for three.

Warp Speed (2004) is a standalone SF novel. It takes place in the near future, when NASA has funded a low cost program on warp drives under the Breakthrough Physics Propulsion program. Contractors are exploring the concept and conducting experiments.

In this novel, Neil Anson Clemons is a professor within the Physics Department at the University of Alabama at Huntsville and founder of a company working on the warp drive. Two Physics PhD candidates work for his company. Anson is also a mountain biker and holds a black belt in karate.

Jim Daniels is one of the graduate students working for Anson on the warp drive. Jim is also Anson's best friend. He is working on his brown belt at the same studio as Anson.

Rebecca Jean Townes is the other graduate student working on the warp drive. 'Becca is an orphan and has worked her way through college and graduate school. She is also working on her brown belt.

Tabitha Ames is a Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, and a NASA astronaut. She is well known in the space industry and among space fans.

In this story, Anson wins a karate tournament, but at the cost of two broken ribs. His ribs are taped and he is taking pain killers, but it hurts when he sneezes or laughs. He is self-medicating with beer on the flight to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Luckily he has enough frequent flyer miles to upgrade to first class.

He vaguely recognizes his seatmate and finally realizes that she is Tabitha Ames. She also recognizes him for some reason. They are both going to the BPP workshop.

When he reaches the conference, he discovers that Tabitha is the new BPP program director and that the schedule has been rearranged. He now has the first presentation of the day. After the scheduled talks are finished, Tabitha announces that BPP is being redirected toward more immediate research. Apparently the change is mandated by executives higher than the NASA hierarchy.

Anson is still not feeling well and the disappointing news convinces him to leave early. He flies back to Huntsville on the first available flight. When he reaches his house, he has seven messages on the answering machine. Two are from his mother and one is from Tabitha. He starts to call Tabitha, but the phone rings and Jim fills him in on recent developments in the lab.

Jim and 'Becca have made significant progress on a power supply for the warp drive. Anson approves of their work, but the Casimir effect cells are still too big and too weak for the drive. They brainstorm on the design and come up with an improved version.

Tabitha is in Huntsville and Anson invites her over to the lab to see their newest design. Then Anson, Jim and 'Becca investigate a puzzle in their warp experiments. The electrons are disappearing from the experiment and they don't know where they are going.

Jim and 'Becca add cameras to the test sphere and they try again. Now they notice that the electrons are emitting Cerenkov radiation during the experiment, indicating that they are traveling faster than light. Apparently they have demonstrated FTL travel without knowing it.

Later 'Becca has an accident while constructing power cells for the drive. After rushing her to the hospital, Anson and Jim study the wreckage and consider possible causes for an explosion. They discover an inherent instability in the energy cells.

This tale is much like an early space opera. Not in the space voyages, but in the quickness of new discoveries. Within a few months, they have a working warp drive and then the possibilities increase almost exponentially.

The story starts with a karate match and then ramps up the action from there. By chapter five, the action becomes increasingly frantic. Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Taylor fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of experimental science, wholesale destruction, and a touch of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

By the time I finished reading Warp Speed and its sequel, The Quantum connection, plus Von Neumann's War (with John Ringo), Into The Looking Glass and The Vorpal Blade (with John Ringo), I had experienced the most enjoyable and exciting science fiction binge in many years. I have read a great deal of science fiction over the last fifty some odd years, as well as having written a fair number of science fiction novels myself. I simply do not understand anyone giving Travis S. Taylor's books, either his single author titles or his collaborations, less than four stars at the very least and all except possibly The Vorpal Blade (four stars) should have five stars. Shucks, even my wife, who normally prefers British murder mysteries loved all these books. I would absolutely love to see more science fiction novels as good as these. Warp Speed actually should rate six stars if I was allowed to rate it that high. Darrell Bain.

One of the worst books I've ever read. The main character (who is really a Mary Sue of the author), monologues and rambles for page after page about things as bizarre as trash talking the entire field of medicine (when he's an engineer with obviously no experience in medicine whatsoever). The plot, characters, and dialogue are beyond atrocious. Avoid at all costs.

I just hit page 195, and may not go any further. I strongly advise against anyone else making this purchase. Maybe give it a try from the library. Spoilers abound, so be warned:

The narration feels less like a story and more like a streams off consciousness conversation with the protagonist where he's going "duuuuude! I have an awesome idea for a book." Not good.

I could tolerate all the action and science up until page 195. I could tolerate sabotage or the Chinese destroying the shuttle, or... A lot of things. I could roll with it.

Then there's an Epic Spaceship Crash and Impending Cataclysmic Explosion coincidentally locate right outside Eglin AFB. Our Daring Hero and Fearless Damsel get what they need to fix the Impending Cataclysmic Explosion, delivered by a Marine Corps Harrier which can apparently carry two people and a generator, and which our Air Force Fearless Damsel can fly to the disaster site because she was married to a guy who taught her to fly them and so she has a thousand hours in the aircraft. Or something.

clown 1 and clown 2 fly back the disaster site (Fearless Damsel has cracked ribs for all this, by the way), and land only to discover than the Daring Hero's recently (sometime within the last few years, since the book does a terrible job of dealing with the concept of time and I have no idea how long it took) hired secretary has betrayed America in service to China, blown up the shuttle, and somehow managed to get to this crash site with a helicopter carrying all the equipment and crew he needs to shut down the Impending Cataclysmic Explosion and steal the technology for China, a task he accomplished in like an hour even though no one had any idea this thing was going to end up hurtling towards the earth, that it would successfully land, let alone that it would do so in Florida. I think he may be a magic secretary. At one point Colonel Fearless Damsel clown has a very memorable line asking him "why would you do this, do you want your children to grow up communist?"

Also, I loved the part where the Daring Hero meets a Chinese astronaut working for the Japanese space agency, and the guy tarks rike a tellible lacist joke from the 80's, because protagonist is kind of a jerk.

Fast easy read. I stayed up late two nights getting through it. Fun fast paced Wish fulfillment. 'If only I had an ultimate power source I could do `X `with my gizmo -'Y' ~ and then he does, over and over . Constantly thinking of new things to do with it that always seem to work and in super-fast, record time, no matter what. And he does it all in a `suspend-your-disbelief-and-you'll-have-fun' flair that he is so good at. Recommended. Something like Ringo's "live free or die" on a smaller, more human scale.
I liked it.