About Tracking the Trailblazer (Colony Ship Trailblazer Book 1):
Janae and Ken are part of the remnant of humanity which lives in Dome 17, surrounded by the radioactive, toxic wasteland of a dead Earth. The leadership of the dome has sent out adventurers to explore the other domes, but all they have found are failed domes, and deadly ruins. Some of those adventurers have self-terminated upon return from those grueling missions. Only Dome 17 survives, but now, Dome 17 is facing its own failure.
Looking to history, they come up with a plan to try to find the seven lost generational colony ships which left Earth a century before. Those ships had biomes filled with the flora and fauna of Earth, as well as people who would live all their lives inside those ships. However, the colony ship program was considered a failure. Nothing is known about the condition of those huge ships, but they might offer a possible way to save the people of Dome 17. If they still exist. If they can be found. If the people can somehow get to one of them. The Committee designs a plan using two unproven technologies, faster-than-light scout ships—which can only carry two people—and teleportation.
Will this attempt to find one of those colony ships work? What will be found? And, what threats are waiting, both from Dome 17, and from the Colony Ship Trailblazer? Janae and Ken set off to track down the Trailblazer, but will they find hope, or more death and destruction?
This is book 1 of the Colony Ship Trailblazer series, another exciting sci-fi adventure set in John Thornton’s Colony Ship Universe. A parallel series to the Colony Ship Eschaton, the Colony Ship Vanguard, the Colony Ship Conestoga, and Battle on the Marathon.
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Author Bio:
Hi everyone,
The books are out in audio format done by excellent, professional narrators! Please check out those options! The narrators have done a superb job. All of the books in the Colony Ship Universe will be made into audio books. I sure hope you listen to those.
I have developed a board game, Divided America: the Next Civil War which you can play on VASSAL. The rules and scenarios are available on Amazon. This game has been in my mind since the 1970s.
And, I am working on a Role Play Game (RPG) based in the Colony Ship Universe.
As to me, I have read science fiction since I was a small child. For over thirty years I have been making notes, writing outlines, and drawing deck plans of various colony ship. These jumbled ideas have finally coalesced into book form in my writing.
I guess I was inspired by many works in sci-fi which cover the idea of colony ships. Damon Knight’s “The World and Thorinn” and Robert Heinlein’s “Orphans of the Sky” showed me how bizarre and interesting a generational space ship environment could be and how so much could go horribly wrong. Those books, and many others in that same genre, have given me hours of pleasure in reading. There also have been board games and video games which cover similar situations. There are so many variations on the lost colony ship theme it almost seems like a trope. So, now I have added my own contributions to this genre of adventure fiction.
I worked as an RN for 10 years in various critical care units—cardiac, surgical, and medical. I saw lots of people die, and I also listened to some really amazing people share their life stories with me. I have worked part-time as a visitation pastor for my church for twenty years now.
I graduated from a variety of colleges, all of which helped shape and mold me into what I am today. After finishing a doctoral degree, I decided to focus on informal educational endeavors. I still love to learn.
I enjoy reading very much. I read all kinds of literature (romance, mystery, historical fiction, science fiction, dystopias, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, theology texts, to how-to books). Did I miss any genres? Oh, here is a pet peeve of mine. Science fiction and fantasy are SEPARATE GENRES! Forgive me for yelling, but I am sick of seeing two unique genres lumped all together under “speculative fiction.” To me, and I could be wrong, but putting fantasy and science fiction in the same box is like putting romance novels in with erotica.
And as you may be about to discover, I also like to write.
My first project was the Colony Ship Eschaton series, which is finished with its ten books.
The second project was a parallel series, The Colony Ship Vanguard. That series is finished with eight books.
The third series is the Colony Ship Conestoga, which is complete with eight books.
One of my books is somewhat different. Hey, some people will say all my books are different, and I think they do not mean that in a good way. Well anyway, “The Battle on the Marathon” is written in first person. That book is stand-alone work, and while it is in the same universe as the other works, is not as directly connected as are the other series. Or is it? Well, check it out and let me know.
The Colony Ship Trailblazer is a great addition to the Colony Ship Universe. The eighth book, and the series finale, was completed in October 2019. The series is out in audio format.
The Colony Ship Warren is my current series. The first six books are completed, and I am writing the seventh (as of January 2022). I plan on having eight books in this series. The plan is to have the series completed in 2022.
And yes, I am planning on making all seven of the colony ships into books. If you have read my work, you will know what that means. Ideas for these books have been bouncing around my mind and in scribbled notes and campaigns since the 1970s.
I also have plans for a series of books which take place during the Jellie War.
If you are new to my works, you can start with any series, or “The Battle on the Marathon” and I think you will enjoy the series no matter which order you read them in. Some readers have discussed which series is their favorite to start, but that is all personal preference. They are all set in the same “universe” or “alternative reality” or “cosmos” I invented. I call it the “Colony Ship Universe” but I hope you call it a fun read!
Back to reality. I have four grown-up daughters, a delightful wife, a silly cat, and two goofy dogs (as of January 2022). Over the years we have had numerous dogs and cats. We did have two ancient cats, but they have departed now after eighteen and nineteen years of life. In the summer of 2018 our beloved dog of fourteen years died, and our miracle cat died in fall of 2018. May their new adventures be thrilling and fun for them.
I live in the Northern Plains of the USA, so I experience the cold and bitter winds of the winter, and the blistering hot and dry of the summers. I also live with a chronic associate, a painful form of degenerative arthritis. I have lots of mechanical parts inside my body (nine total joint replacements), and in some ways, I truly am a cyborg.
I hope you enjoy my writing. Thanks for reading my stuff!