Laurence E. Dahners, one of my favorite indie writers, dabbles in speculative science fiction. I say "speculative science fiction," except he makes his castles in the clouds seem so plausible I'm tempted to call what he dabbles in "speculative science" minus the fiction. What he does best is extrapolate, spin a tale of imagination triggered by a what-if in the field of physical sciences. He did this with his Ell Donsaii series and his Vaz series. Yeah, in his writing, he isn't shy about covering familiar territory. I'm cool with it since all his stories make for engrossing reads.
Dahners writes characters who are geniuses yet incredibly flawed. This makes the reader relate to them more. High schooler Myr Sevii isn't as socially challenged as, say, Vaz Gettnor. Her difficult personality doesn't fall somewhere in the Asperger's/autism range like Vaz's does. What Myr is, is obstinate and surly and suspicious. She suffers no fools gladly. She's the heroine in Discovery: Proton Field #1. We first meet her the same time as her future benefactor, Arlan Miller, as he attends a science fair in Kansas as a judge. He's drawn to Myr's exhibit, the sign for it claiming: "A New Field Which Supresses the Electrostatic Force." Miller suspects a hoax but can't figure out the trick. The other judges don't give Myr's project a second look. Sucks for them. Miller hands a wary Myr his business card and watches her as she loads her equipment into a beat-up old car.
Myr may be prickly, but Dahners is savvy enough to ground her in a warm and loving family environment. You can't help but sympathize with what the Seviis are going thru. The mother is a single parent and a nurse pulling double shifts whenever she can to afford the care of Myr's younger brother who has muscular dystrophy. Myr herself has a bit of a learning disability. She's good at figuring things out before anyone else, but she can't retain the process. Faced with later troubleshooting the same problem, she has to start from scratch again. Her school grades won't wow anyone.
Like the Vaz and Ell Donsaii books, the Proton Field series is set in a very near future where AIs act as disembodied, voice-activated butlers. We actually have this service now, what with Siri, Alexa, Cortana, etc. Anyway, this writer puts the science back in science fiction. Admittedly, my IQ doesn't allow me to easily follow whenever Dahners dives into heavy scientific exposition. My clearest comprehension of Myr's discovery is encapsulated in the book's wicked cool cover, my biggest take away being that the suppression field causes your hair to awesomely stand up. It speaks of Dahners' talent as a storyteller that I'm willing to slog thru what to me is essentially multisyllabic gibberish. He's made me care about the characters.
As a manly man and a sports buff, I appreciate that Dahners doesn't make his protagonists strictly cerebral. Just as Vaz is a demonic wrestler and Ell a physical marvel who effortlessly masters any sport, so, too, is Myr a formidable athlete, in fact, an exceptional hoopster. To make extra cash, Myr enjoys conning guys at the gym into playing (and betting on) a game of Horse. What these jocks don't know is that Myr is a veritable Jamila Wideman. Put the crossover on them, Myr.
But hoops is only a side excursion, even if tremendously satisfying. There's also satisfaction in how Myr and her colleagues go thru the highs and lows of the process of scientific experimentation. It's sweat and endless repetition and failure upon failure before achieving even a smidge of success. Dahners also has a habit of introducing an element of villainy, this time in the guise of industrial espionage as the baddies begin to take Myr's imaginary, pie in the sky discovery more seriously. Dahners is so good at this. He gives you the wide-eyed wonder. He infuses you with a love of - or, if not love, then appreciation for - science and the propulsive value of curiosity. He throws in enough human drama and personal interplay to invest you in his characters. He then throws these characters in harm's way which then amps up your investment in them. It's a nice trick.
Discovery: Proton Field, Book 1
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Customer reviews
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Kindle Customer
Yet another winner.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2017RuaridhW
Another series with great potential
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2017The old man
You can see this girl
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2017
