In a distant galaxy known as the Cosmic Sea, Baron Seti Aljyk has caused the Second Psychic War by seizing Najura, the last of the ancient swords of power, and usurping the imperial throne from Sakara Rey, the True Emperor.
On Earth, young schoolteacher Roman Doyle remains unaware he is Prince Armon Sakara, heir apparent of the True Emperor. That is, until he encounters Chi-Ro Jin, a Veteran of the Psychic Wars.
Chi-Ro’s mission is to return Roman to the True Emperor, but Roman believes that Chi-Ro is crazy.
When Roman’s wife, Soraya, is abducted by the Baron’s assassins, Roman is forced to make the epic journey to the Cosmic Sea.
However he does not go alone. He is joined by his shamira Chi-Ro, Nuri Nemsys a beautiful secret agent, Anah Sadaka the mysterious captain of the Starglider Sanura and Roman’s friend, Zachary Silverman, a quantum physicist.
With his dormant psychic and astral abilities awakened by an alien drug and pursued by the Baron’s assassins, Roman, his friend, and the Veterans of the Psychic Wars face evil and danger in uncharted space and on alien worlds.
Roman must overcome his fears, master the martial art of Hatari Ikou, and learn the secrets of astral projection, in order to rescue his wife, retrieve the sword of power, and bring the Psychic Wars to an end.The inspiration for this book came from a conversation I had with my mother when I was quite young. I was nine or ten years old when I complained that I felt that I didn’t belong. I said, “I think I’m an alien.” My mother replied, “Yes, you’re an alien.” We both laughed and the conversation moved to other things, but I always thought about what she said. I didn’t actually believe I was alien (at least I would never admit to that publicly) but I started thinking: what if a young man grew up believing he was a normal human being, only to find out one day that he was actually an alien from another galaxy? Wouldn’t that explain his feelings of alienation? Wouldn’t that make an interesting story?
‘Star Wars’ meets ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ is a fine description of Veterans of the Psychic Wars, as long as you realize that the hero isn’t a wimp like Luke Skywalker and that the amazing warriors of Crouching Tiger would be toast before this story hits its stride.
By Clayton Clifford Bye (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
Roman Doyle is an ordinary guy. He’s a 25 year-old British school teacher in a situation many will remember quite fondly. Roman is out on a 1 a.m. run for peanut butter and ice cream for his pregnant wife. But, mere moments after grabbing some cash from a banking machine he finds himself battling for his life against 5 intergalactic thugs. Knocked silly and forced to begin strangling himself at the psychic command of one of the thugs, Roman is rescued by Chi-Ro Jin, a veteran of the Psychic Wars. After rescuing him, Chi-Ro Jin (fu manchu mustache and all) insists that Roman is really Armon Sakara, who must now be returned to his father, the Emperor Sakara Rey. But first they must steal the enemy’s space ship in order to get off the planet, and then they must further avoid the minions of Baron Seti Aljyk, Armon’s evil uncle, who has usurped his father’s throne and brought about another Psychic War.Okay, so it does sound like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Obi-wan and The Force. The choking thing sure seems like a nod to Star Wars, doesn’t it? But let me assure you, this is no made-for-the big screen, spoon-fed, pottage. In this story, we don’t have The Force. Instead, virtually every soldier is scientifically enhanced for psychic warfare and various forms of deadly martial arts. Like real life, some are good at what they do and some aren’t. The elite can create astral forms or become astral beings with the power to smite almost anything. One of the characters, a physicist, even postulates that the astral forms may be connected to black matter. As for others, the technical can only bring out and enhance what talent is already there.
In Star Wars, an overwhelmed Luke must quickly learn to use the “mysterious” force or perish; in Veterans of the Psychic Wars, Roman is already a master in several disciplines of the martial arts but finds them terribly inadequate for the challenges he faces: real science must help him multiply his inherent talents. And when Roman’s psychic power reaches a certain level, it’s only then he becomes a force to be reckoned with. One example of this is the ability to glean knowledge telepathically by sharing minds with his teacher, Chi-Ro Jin and later in the story, with his many enemies.
Okay, enough Star Wars and such. Writers borrow structure (plots) and ideas (androids, for example) all the time. Its what they do with them that matters. So, lets proceed on this basis: why should you buy and read Veterans of the Psychic Wars? First and foremost it’s science fiction all the way. It’s also strong story telling from someone who’s used to being behind a camera. Trotman, a veteran film maker, uses this experience to take us from one scene to another with blazing speed and precision. Unable to show us (visually) what’s in his view screen, Trotman must show us with words. This is something that’s all-important and that I think he does very well. Because, even though this is science fiction, good story telling comes first.
With what must have been strenuous effort and research, Trotman ties his story inextricably to Earth’s human history, builds a realistic but distant galaxy where we’re introduced to all sorts of people, embroils us in close-up and planetary scaled battles and bombards us with information—not just as it would come to the character in the book, but from within the minds of many.
Trotman has also created a language (maybe he borrowed one, but I can’t tell) for his book. Character names, spaceship names, planets, animals, phrases, etc. are all presented in this unknown language, and it took me most of the book before these alien words were rolling off my tongue with ease. This is something that will turn off many potential customers but should delight the true science fiction buff. Trotman doesn’t deal with “machine technical” unless absolutely necessary, but his attention to “language technical”is every bit as deep and intriguing as the former. An example of this would be the naming of each of the numerous and differing martial art forms and the way he describes some of the moves.
So, while I confess to having difficulty with the first third of Veterans of the Psychic Wars: the author throws us headlong into a complex alien war that’s waged with weapons and techniques so advanced they seem like magic, and he expects us, at the same time, to follow a strange language which peppers the pages… It all works in the end: it’s as if we’re Roman, dropped into an alien life, and our heads are spinning with the newness of everything. We’ll come around in a while. And I’m just fine with that.
Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2011
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