The Magnetic Anomaly – A Science Fiction Novel
The
novel version of The Magnetic Anomaly is now available on Amazon
(ebook, print version).
This novel began life as a short story, with a similar name, though not exactly
the same: The Magnetic Anomaly – A Science Fiction Story (note “the
novel” vs “story”). Some reviewers were interested to know
where the short story would go, if it was expanded into a novel.
To
be honest, I didn’t know myself, until I started writing it. But
often the process of writing takes on a life of its own. I think it
turned out quite nicely, in my humble but obviously not disinterested
opinion. Fortunately, my beta readers agreed with that assessment.
I hope other readers agree as well.
Summary
Below
is an excerpt from the short story, which
is also the first chapter of the novel:
“A
geophysical crew went into the Canadian north. There were some
regrettable accidents among a few ex-military who had become
geophysical contractors after their service in the forces. A young
man and young woman went temporarily mad from the stress of seeing
that. They imagined things, terrible things. But both are known to
have vivid imaginations; we have childhood records to verify that. It
was all very sad. That’s the official story.”
As the
summary above indicates, the main characters,
geophysicist Alex and geologist Mary, survived their ordeal in the
northern exploration camp. However, there was much more involved,
behind the scenes, than they could imagine at the time.
The novel version of the story expands greatly on this.
Alex and Mary get caught up in a vast
conflict and exciting adventure, one of literally cosmic proportions.
During this time, they encounter a variety of enigmatic persons, as
well as other entities, all of whom are also engaged in this
struggle. With some of them they end up allying; with others, they
contend in deadly conflict. The struggle takes them around the
world, and eventually to the far reaches of the solar system.
During this time their relationship
continues to evolve and deepen. Circumstances demand that they grow
in courage and confidence, though within the scope of (mostly) normal
people, as has been the case for countless people throughout history.
The story also showcases some
historical events, relating to different versions of what went on in
Antarctica, shortly after World War 2. Several versions of these
events, official history and unofficial UFO lore are given. This becomes a
springboard to much of the action. Some philosophical and
scientific ideas are also explored, though not in such a way as to
get in the way of the action, at least not for long.
Below is a Table of Contents, to give some hints of where the
story goes.
Table of Contents
Chapter
1 –
The Magnetic Anomaly
Chapter 2 – The Radioactive Anomaly
Chapter 3 – The Battle of the
Tableland
Chapter 4 – Fight and Flight In the
Alien Tunnels
Chapter 5 – Special Ops
Chapter 6 – Jack and the Underground
Base
Chapter 7 – Debriefing
Chapter 8 – Flight from the Base
Chapter 9 – Evasive Manoeuvres
Chapter 10 – Orbital Mechanics
Chapter 11 – Crash Dive
Chapter 12 – A Walk in the Snow
Chapter 13 – Phillipe
Chapter 14 – Operation High Jump, the
Official Story
Chapter 15 – Operation High Jump, the
Unofficial Story
Chapter 16 – Operation Tabarin, the
Secret SAS Mission
Chapter 17 – Treason and Murder
Chapter 18 – A Cold Goodbye
Chapter 19 – The Surprise
Chapter 20 – The New Base
Chapter 21 – Preparations
Chapter 22 – Another Debriefing
Chapter 23 – Phillipe’s Dossier: The
Threat from Below
Chapter 24 – Are we being Followed?
Chapter 25 – Locating the AI Base
Chapter 26 – Into the Adit
Chapter 27 – Planning to Take Out the
Trigger Weapon
Chapter 28 – Connections and Mergers
Chapter 29 – Descent
Chapter 30 – Prodding a Magnetic Mine
Field
Chapter 31 – Aftermath
Chapter 32 – Respite on a South
Pacific Island
Chapter 33 – The Threat from Above
Chapter 34 – Preparing to Embark on an
Interplanetary Mission
Chapter 35 – On the Theory of
Diverting An Asteroid
Chapter 36 – An Encounter with a Beast
and a Shepherd
Chapter 37 – The Ultimate Kill Shot
Chapter 38 – A Visitor, then Home
A Note on Sources for The Magnetic
Anomaly
Amazon:
U.S.:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
France:
https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Italy:
https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Netherlands:
https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Spain:
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Japan:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Mexico:
https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Australia:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Germany:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
India:
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
Brazil:
https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0F9J3HHFW
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The Magnetic
Anomaly, The Novel: Some Covers and Illustrations
And lastly, here are a few alternative covers that I played around
with (based on different chapters of the book):
