Casimir Bridge – Anghazi Series, Book 1

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“Pulls you in from the beginning and never lets go. It’s one of those books that I read until I was bleary eyed before falling asleep, then picked up as soon as I woke in the morning.”

G.R. Cooper – Author, Omegaverse Series

A manned, interstellar survey ship has gone missing. A nuclear terror plot is thwarted just outside Washington, D.C. And it’s an election year.

While on a trip to Africa to connect with her roots, junior reporter Mandisa Nkosi is contacted by an anonymous source who presents evidence that the nuclear material seized from the terror plot will point squarely at one of humanity’s largest companies as the supplier—the source also unveils that it’s a setup and part of a conspiracy that could go to the highest levels of the corporate world and even the government.

Jans Mikel is the CEO Applied Interstellar Corporation (AIC). The company uncovered the secret of interstellar travel decades, if not centuries, before Earth’s brightest scientists thought possible. AIC not only discovered the technology, it also holds mineral rights to the lion’s share of the newly uncovered element that makes it all possible: hyperium. But AIC has too much power and others want a piece—to control the amazing metal and learn AIC’s secrets. More than a decade ago, AIC moved its corporate headquarters off Earth in an effort to gain some distance from its corporate and political foes. But even being located fifty-seven light years from those that would bring it down may not be enough to save it from the biggest conspiracy in human history.

When Mandi gets too close to exposing the conspiracy, she becomes a target. Only intervention from Grae Raymus, AIC’s top security agent, saves her from an unfitting end.  Together they escape, flee Earth, and take the investigation to the stars.

Will she and Grae be able to unravel a plot that not only threatens AIC, but the future of humanity as well?

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Q&A

When did you start writing Casimir Bridge?

The first scenes began forming in my mind more than ten years ago. I visualized them over and over again, developing reasons why they would be happening. From those scenes, I developed the back story, plot, characters, and, finally, the words that tell the story.

What prompted you to begin writing, and why this genre?

There are so many things that happen in the world that we have no control over. Many of those themes have found their way into my writing. It’s my way of trying to do something to combat some of the injustices we face. As to the genre, I worked on Space Shuttle experiments for nearly ten years. I know space technology, and I know a lot about science and cutting-edge/future technology. You should write about something you know about, so science fiction seemed to be a good fit. But I prefer not to think of it as a science fiction novel. Rather, I consider it a thriller that takes place in a science fiction setting. I hope to be able to relate to a broader audience.

Why the name Casimir Bridge?

Hendrik Casimir was a Dutch physicist born 1909 who passed in 2000. I can’t go into details without potentially giving something away, but in the story, it is his theories that lead to certain key technologies. I played around with a number of different names, but none of them felt right. Casimir Bridge does.

Why did you decide to do a series?

There was simply too much story to be put into a single book. When you spend more than ten years working on a back story, you want to share it the right way.

The name of the series, Anghazi, what does it mean?

It comes out in the book, but readers can do a little searching on Google for some hints.

How did you come to the time frame in which the story takes place?

Many science fiction stories take place far in the future. They have to in order to justify the technology. But to me those time frames lack realism. How can anyone really know what technology will look like two or three-hundred years from now? I chose one-hundred years because  it’s close enough that there is a chance to envision the technology, but far enough out that such fantastic things as interstellar travel could potentially be uncovered.

How much of the technology in the novel is real?

I tried to make as much of the science and technology as real and true as possible. Obviously, much must be made up, but for the parts that don’t, I wanted to get it as right as I could. I interviewed nuclear forensics experts, scientists, particle physicists, and, of course, I drew off of my own space technology knowledge.

 

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