Adventures In Spacetime [Paperback] by Neill, Derrick; Olmsted, Bob (Editor) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

I was born in Tucson in 1958 but consider Sierra Vista, Arizona, my home town. I have a B.S. from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and an M.A. from United States International University in San Diego. From playing the lead in dinner theater comedy and instructing a month-long wilderness backpacking expedition for the National Outdoor Leadership School, to studying wild killer whales in the Puget Sound and scaling the heights of California's Mt. Whitney, I enjoy a wide variety of pastimes. I still make Sierra Vista my home base where my wife, Martha, and I teach in a public middle school. The teaching team I work with is using "Adventures In Spacetime" as an intercurricular teaching tool in science, social studies, English and math.

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This science fiction novel tells the story of dinosauroid starpilot, Gekko Troodahn, who as a result of an accident in hyperspace, finds himself lost in an alternative timetrack populated by beings that are aliens to him...and the aliens are us.

All Gekko wants to do is find his way home, but thwarting him at every turn is his nemesis, Shang the Maljugador, a gremlinlike creature from a distant star cluster. Due to Shang's meddling, an unlikely mix of Earthlings becomes inextricably involved in Gekko's plight.

Embarking on an odyssey through time that takes them from the frenzied halls of a small town middle school and the sheer rock cliffs of a towering granite peak to the underwater realm of the mighty killer whale and the all-too-violent era of the legendary mountain men, Gekko and the Earthlings struggle to overcome Shang.

Finally, there is a showdown. Amidst the most cataclysmic event in Earth's history - the comet collision that ended the reign of the dinosaurs - Gekko and Shang duel with giant cyborgs as weapons to determine not only their fates, but also the fate of the Earthlings and the fate of the planet itself. In the end, only one prevails.

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From Chapter 1:
Suddenly, starship Skorpios rocked violently to starboard and the lights on the bridge dimmed. "We are under attack, Gekko Troodahn!" Skorpios exclaimed. "Shang is here!"

An enormous saucer shaped vessel materialized off Skorpios's stern, so vast it eclipsed the globular star cluster.

"Defensive posture!" Gekko roared, manipulating the pilot seat cybernetic controls. Instantly, maneuvering thrusters spun Skorpios about to face the intruder. At the same time, the starship's bionic claws separated, angled down and locked. The segmented tail section curved upward to a position directly over the bridge. Now the starship mirrored its namesake but, silhouetted against the monstrous saucer, it looked ridiculously like a common arachnid struggling to repel a dinosaur.

"You have stolen us from Shang," Skorpios reminded Gekko. "Now Shang wants us back. To resist is futile."

"Check your memory banks, Skorpios," Gekko hissed. "Shang abducted me, remember? I have no misgivings about borrowing one of his toys to regain my free..." He stopped speaking. He was losing his equilibrium.

"We are experiencing gravitational tides and radiation flux," Skorpios confirmed. "We are entering hyperspace." At the last moment, Gekko Troodahn saw an intense beam of blue energy emanate from the saucer and impact Mowza Tor's navigation chamber. Then everything went black as the starship Skorpios vanished, escaping into the fourth dimension.