H2LiftShips by Bob Freeman

These four volumes contain some 1,100 pages of sci-fi tech fun and excitement. The series is designed from the ground up in contrast to the standard tropes in the Star Wars/Star Trek series. No flaming swords, no blasters, no exploding computers and no aliens, if you don’t count the octopuses. Solar Sail cargo ships ply the heliosphere without the use of the M-FTL (Magical-Faster Than Light) rockets, which exist only in movies and TV shows.

I had three goals in the books:

1) use the word ‘‘dogarrhea’ in a sentence.
2) modify Einstein’s seminal equation as any good sci-fi story should.
3) design a space launch system that doesn’t require rockets or magic to leave Mother Earth.

The series has been compared to “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” and “The Expanse” by various reviewers. For further details, see h2liftships.com.

I have build complex sci-fi worlds, added a few interesting characters, and let them have at it. Unfortunately, our nice, friendly space opera mutated into a full-fledged HiveWar, pitting semi-sentient A.I. tablets controlling algal rocket ships against the Heliospheric Navy and the sentients inhabiting the rocks travelling around our galaxy in Sol’s heliosphere.

The space stories are done for a while. My current work-in-progress follows an independent explorer as he tries to break through the timewall and see what is past.

Books with the tagline “A Tech Manual for a Future” will have a lot of tech in them. You’ll find interesting stories with action, humor, and sarcasm, but if you can’t have fun with sci-fi tech you probably won’t enjoy these books. These space stories take place in Sol’s heliosphere. They contain real science, pseudo-science and stuff pulled out of thin air.

No blasters. No FTL drives. No computers blasting fireworks. No physical violence. No sex, except for a little kerfuffle with canines and their pheromones. Some Death issues on the Mort Asteroid, but after living on Sol’s rocks, we all die eventually. Gambling, some drinking, passive-aggressive families, lying, stealing, and double-dealing, e.g. normal sentients, mostly nice. But watch your back. Scientific names (Genus/species), puns and unique spellings abound.

Written in English with a few French, Yiddish, Spanglish, Latin, and Doglish words thrown in. Knowledge of octopus color languages and Morse code are not required but couldn’t hurt.

Bob Freeman is a retired Public Health Microbiologist/Lab Director/LIMS software designer and a confirmed science geek. He has taken a long path to publishing his sci-fi H2LiftShips space opera. He began writing sci-fi in 2021 at the tender age of 70 and has published four volumes of the H2LiftShip saga as well as short stories in various online magazines.

A graduate of Humboldt State University, receiving a BA in 1972 and completing a two-year Master’s program in four short years. He started our college career at UCLA, lasting two quarters before being asked to leave. On the positive side, weekends climbing in Yosemite and its environs were almost as educational as learning from a book.

With expertise in anaerobic microbiology and writing an exorbitant number of tech manuals and protocols, the only logical path going forward was to write sci-fi.

For more details about books by Bob Freeman visit h2liftship.com. You can also follow @twit.social@H2Lift on Mastodon and @H2Lift on Twitter, or visit his pages on Facebook or LinkedIn.

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