Paul Collins King without an Empire

King without an Empire

Paul Collins

PublishAmerica, 2005

ISBN: 1413747167

In 2050 wealthy media king Michael Bassett and his girlfriend Heather Brody are being chauffeured in his limo when another vehicle crosses the medium and smashes into them. The limo suffers no damage and Michael and his driver are fine; however, Heather, in spite of her seat belt, dies in the crash.

Michael feels making money no longer matters, but instead wants to fly to Mars. He talks with his college crony Vice President Rocky Gagliano who sends him to see Dr. Sterling Bechwith who sends him to Luke Francis, a moonwalker, who envisions a trip to Alpha Centauri, which using modern technology would take fifty years. However, he also points out the oil industry is lethal owning the White House as they have for decades and will not allow alternate energy sources to be developed. Still Michael has the money to talk so that the adventure of a lifetime begins to take hold, but goes way beyond what he envisioned.

KING WITHOUT AN EMPIRE is an intriguing science fiction tale that plays out in three acts. First a distraught Bassett goes from one space expert to another to find someone who can build a ship to Mars. The second part focuses on meeting an intelligent race in the Alpha Centauri System. The final act is encountering Lady Circe who "guides" Bassett to an alternate CIA world with plans for Earth. Thus Paul Collin's book reads more like three interrelated novellas in which any one could have easily been expanded into a stand alone novel. Though too much occurs, fans of a deep thought provoking tale with plenty of action starring an interesting protagonist will want to travel the stars and beyond with Mr. Collins as their pilot.

Harriet Klausner