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EQUINOX Blends Science Fiction And Amateur Radio

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by N4ECW, May 10, 2019.

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  1. N4ECW

    N4ECW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Here's a copy of the cover.
     

    Attached Files:

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  2. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    The book is fine.

    Everyone's a critic. :-(

    Try doing something creative, and you will discover the only one who pats you on the head is mommy or daddy ;-).

    Reminds of of my early music biz dealings....most of the A&R guys either secretly played the demos for their kids, or were young enough themselves to bury themselves in white powder (almost all of them killed themselves with drugs within 5 years).

    When the 'kids' were asked their opinion , and passed, the expression was: 'Snot happenin'.
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2019
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  3. G3SEA

    G3SEA Ham Member QRZ Page

    Limited Alien Invasion ? :eek: Amen :cool:
    I'll never look at a solar cycle the same way again ! :cool:
    Good luck with the book DM

    G3SEA/KH6
     
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  4. KL7KN

    KL7KN Ham Member QRZ Page

    LOL

    Several of my World of the Chernyi series feature the Amateur radio service in a big way...

    In the Tales of the Chernyi, the protagonist is hired because of his radio operating skills... This is expended in in the next book of the series - Aftermath.

    In the second book of the series (Going Home) WWV is co-opted to warn of incoming pieces of the moon - via SKYSPOT.

    All great fun to write - so don't sweat the critics.

     
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  5. KL4VG

    KL4VG Ham Member QRZ Page

    Thanks for the explanation Dennis.
    And thanks for the courage for writing and publishing a book....I have not yet worked up the nerve.
    Congrats on the interest from Hollywood, I truly hope you rake in a fortune.

    Other posters are correct, everyone is a critic. I truly try not to be, and just enjoy the book, however the spacing errors are very distracting.
     
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  6. KJ7WT

    KJ7WT XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I absolutely agree - the very first page was very disappointing to read, with missing punctuation (particularly commas) and odd spacing (I'm hoping that these may be a result of the conversion to Kindle format, but I doubt it, as I have not seen this particular problem in other books). I also agree that the writing is (sad to say) fairly typical of a lot of the sci-fi books recently published by Amazon. The dialogue is often awkward and somewhat stilted - as you read it, it almost seems as if the author has not really listened to how people actually speak.
    I do believe that authors SHOULD pay attention to the critics, particularly when specific issues/errors are listed. There is a difference between, "I didn't like this book, and the author is an idiot!", and, "The book has numerous grammatical, spelling, and factual errors (and one would list some examples here) but has potential if the writing can be cleaned up and edited better."
    I plan to read further than what I have so far, but I really wish that more effort had been put into editing. Good luck to the author!
     
  7. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    How The HECK does a work of FICTION have FACTUAL errors>>??

    You wanna pick at STAR WARS... ?? "Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs"... Go 'chewie' on that.

    BTW old fossil ops, like myself --were -- called 'sparkers'. Its a way of saying you are an old fart.

    Jeez! If you wanna dis 'for free', then heaven help us if you PAID for it!

    'Snot happenin'!!
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2019
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  8. KN4KP

    KN4KP Ham Member QRZ Page

    Well Folks, having read SciFi for some 60 years my report is, I liked it. Dennis is not a Robert Heinlein nor Isaac Asimov, but it was a very enjoyable read. Being a Floridian who is transplanted from TN, I liked his accuracy of TN cities etc. The plot was a little different from the plethora of Doomsday books that seem to dominate the SciFi lineup these days.
    All in all, it was an enjoyable book. BTW, my kindle reader on my ipad had all the run together words and missing punctuation but I am used to it.
    Keep up the good work Dennis.
     
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  9. K3RLD

    K3RLD Ham Member QRZ Page

    There is a difference between fiction and fantasy, you know. The movie "Red Dawn" is fiction, but it wouldn't have been even half as popular if the Cubans and Russians invaded with Mustangs and Corsairs....
     
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  10. N4ECW

    N4ECW Ham Member QRZ Page

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  11. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Heheh! :)
     
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  12. N9AXL

    N9AXL Ham Member QRZ Page

    I read this last night. I thought the book was fine. I would take issue with the plot point where the President simply dissolves Congress. Our system was deliberately set up from the beginning so that the president couldn't do this -- as opposed to the British system where the chief executive could (and did) dissolve Parliament when it suited their ends. But, again, that's a nitpicky point.

    My other observation is that early in the book they have someone using a Hallicrafters on "battery" power. If an EMP took everything out -- which seems to be the implication -- wouldn't the inverter have been fried? And if it wasn't -- say the guy put that in a Faraday cage -- wouldn't he sensibly have stashed an FT-817 or similar rig in the cage also? My assumption is that the Florida operator was using something like a Hallicrafters SR-150 which did have the PS-150-12 mobile power supply -- but that had transistors in it which, presumably were also fried. Not a big deal but being a boatanchor guy it caught my attention.
     
  13. N4ECW

    N4ECW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Your comments are appreciated.

    Regarding the book:

    N9AXL said, "I thought the book was fine." An author, especially a science fiction novelist, hears beautiful music when a reader makes that statement! It was truly appreciated.

    Regarding the constitutional comments:

    pages 8, 9 say, "In September 2020, SETI astronomers picked up a signal in the 1400 MHz band . . . The alien message was an ultimatum. The earth must prepare for their arrival and governance. Any resistance would result in annihilation."

    From the context of pages 10 thru 50 if appears that the President, Attorney General, Congress, and the Supreme Court regarded the alien ultimatum as a demand for complete, possibly unconditional, surrender. The six months temporary suspension of Congress was apparently by consensus.

    page 48 says, "All agreed that in times of national emergency the powers of the president expand greatly."

    Question: What happened to the government of the Confederacy when the Civil War ended? It was dissolved / suspended. Where would our Constitution stand in the midst of a surrender to an overwhelming enemy force. It's like the guy who wouldn't veer into another lane when approached by a tractor trailer. His epitaph on his tombstone read, "I had the right-of way."

    Regarding the EMP comments:

    page 13 says, "a blast that has shorted the grid and done extensive damage." I think we all assume that there was an EMP; however, it does not refer to an EMP but sounds more like a conventional blast that damaged the power grid and did property damage.

    page 14 speaks about amateur radio transmissions from "across the state." Again, less of an indication of an EMP and more of a conventional type blast rather than something nuclear or EMP weapon.

    page 34 remarks "The ham signals seem to be more sporadic and are originating farther and farther from the Melbourne epicenter." Again a huge nuclear blast or a EMP weapon does not seem to be in play.

    Therefore, your observation about the inverter is correct IF there was an EMP or nuclear device involved.

    Hope this helps!

    73,

    Dennis / N4ECW
     
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  14. N9AXL

    N9AXL Ham Member QRZ Page

    I just hope there's a sequel.
     
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  15. KE5ES

    KE5ES Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    I saw the spark gap reference but in that situation I don't think I would not worry about the FCC.
     
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