Showing results by author "Jack L. Knapp" in All Categories

Are the mysterious aliens the solution? Or are they the problem? Immortality? Um...be careful what you wish for! But first, humanity needs to avoid going extinct from the greatest threat they've ever faced....

An experimental training program produces a psychokinetic, a man who can move objects by mental power alone. He has other abilities as well. But is he too powerful? What if the Special Talents decide to go their own way?

World War III is about to break out. As if that wasn’t dangerous enough, the enigmatic extraterrestrials called the Flickers have returned with a warning: do not venture beyond the moon. Faced with the ultimate threat, can humanity put aside their differences and unite to face the common danger?

Building a spaceship that uses Nicola Tesla's revolutionary space drive is only the beginning. From a new industrial revolution to the brink of global war, restless humanity presses onward, eventually to the first contact with an alien species.

The joint NSA/CIA school worked, although not as its designers intended. Some did, indeed, develop usable telepathy. Others were partially successful, able to communicate mind-to-mind, but only with others like themselves. And some gained abilities the school’s designers never intended - psychokinesis or the ability to move objects by mental power alone; levitation, which in practical terms, is the ability to fly; and much more. Much, much more.

Edward Jennings grew up during the turbulent years after the Texas Revolution. While still a teenager, he found himself responsible for two enormous tracts of land and the well-being of two families. And then came secession. Ed, like many in central Texas, voted against the ordinance only to be overruled by east Texas cotton-growers. The resistance led to a declaration of martial law, followed by an order that every able-bodied male must join the Confederate Army. Will he obey the law? Or will he risk everything rather than betray his principles? What will Ed do?

Could you abandon a lost child, leaving her to her fate? Or, would you ignore the danger and do everything you could to find her? But how? Best guess: She's somewhere in the American West, but also in the past. But how far in the past? Impossible! One man, an esper, might be able to do it. But time is critical. The past has never been kind to children, particularly little girls. Lost, with no money and no clothing other than what she was wearing when she vanished. No matter. Ray will make the attempt.

Are the extraterrestrial Flickers what they seem to be? They're outwardly friendly, sometimes more than that. But troubling questions have emerged: What of the destroyed village on the Flicker world Alpha Orionis 8? Is there an acceptable explanation for the adult humans living on Flicker worlds, who were taken up by flying saucers as infants? And the biggest questions of all: What drew the Flickers to the solar system in the first place, and are the communities on Mars the first wave of a Flicker invasion? These are just some of the questions troubling Mac and Chuck, and there's more.

Is Magic real? And how is it different from paranormal abilities such as telepathy, psychokinetics, and levitation? T and the other espers have always insisted that their paranormal abilities are based on scientific fact. But how to explain what the group of women have done? And what of the "wizard" who wants to punish them? Is he real? Or simply deluded? Zombies? Ridiculous! Right?

The New Mexico Territory of the 1870s - 1880s was as wild and dangerous as any part of the American west. Murders were commonplace. Corruption was the norm, and the Santa Fe Ring controlled the courts. Every man went armed and bad whiskey was commonplace, as was over-indulgence. Rustling was, for many, a way of life. But it was a way of life that threatened the honest ranchers and herdsmen of the time. Liam Clancy, Irish immigrant and recently-discharged veteran of the Union Army, had lost his young wife and unborn child to cholera. Grieving, he sold his homestead and headed west.

Wilderness survival? With nothing but a knife and hatchet? When you're alone, and the wilderness is Earth at the end of the ice age? Not all the dangers come from predatory animals.

Darwin's World is still a sparsely-settled Eden, but things are beginning to change. Nature is no longer the overwhelming challenge it was before. People are joining with others, towns are being established. But growth leads to conflict. Can Home's residents protect themselves from the slave raiders? Saber-toothed cats, lions, cave bears, dire wolves? Dangerous, to be sure. But humans are still their own worst enemy.

Darwin's World is still untamed, glorious, and dangerous. It's a world of cold and hunger, of huge beasts and humans who are just as predatory. The colonists begin an epic journey, hoping to find safety.

People interact largely through personal communicators, a 25th century version that combines the personal computer and the cell phone. Much of the interaction is done through the worldwide semi-sentient computer net known as Central. Prime's population is declining. The primary cause of death is self-termination. Few children are being born. The futurists, aided by Central, conceive a desperate gamble: retrieve people from the past, from a time when populations were growing. Reconstitute their failing bodies, then winnow out those who might have the qualities Prime needs.

Jake was born during a time that was as turbulent as any in American history. Mexico claimed Texas, but the American settlers who'd recently flooded in were more independent, and when the dictator Santa Anna set aside the Constitution of 1824, he launched a series of changes he had not foreseen. With his partner Jean-Louis Lafitte, Jake worked when he could, fought when necessary, and in the process, began a career that would make him one of the most well-known men on the Texas frontier.