Children of Occam
2 primary works
Book 1
As Earth's ability to support human life diminishes, the Global Space Agency is formed with a single mandate: protect humanity from extinction by colonizing the solar system. Venus, being almost the same mass as Earth, is chosen over Mars as humanity's first permanent steppingstone into the universe. After a puzzling accident, Arik Ockley -- part of the first generation to be born and raised off-Earth -- wakes up to find that his wife is three months pregnant. Since the colony's environmental systems cannot safely support any increases in population, Arik immediately resumes his work on AP, or artificial photosynthesis, in order to save the life of his unborn child. His new and frantic research uncovers startling truths about the planet, and about the distorted reality the founders of the colony have constructed for Arik's entire generation.
Book 2
A delicate balance exists between humankind on Earth and the Coronians, the descendants of terrestrial scientists who were marooned aboard the space station Equinox. In exchange for raw materials crucial to expanding their off-world home, the Coronians provide precious space-based solar power to an Earth obscured by greenhouse gasses. But distrust runs deep between the two races, with each yearning for freedom from their mutual dependence yet both terrified of perishing without the other’s help.
Now, their future rests in the hands of Ayla Novik, an itinerant smuggler desperate to survive the menacing world in which she plies her trade, and Luka Mance, a drug-addicted technician determined to save his planet and his people from deadly betrayal by their extraterrestrial cousins. When Ayla makes a devil’s deal to take human hostages in a Coronian power play, her mission sparks a revolt that will force an ultimate confrontation between earthbound and space-born…deciding once and for all whether two races will rise to coexistence or collapse in devastation.
Now, their future rests in the hands of Ayla Novik, an itinerant smuggler desperate to survive the menacing world in which she plies her trade, and Luka Mance, a drug-addicted technician determined to save his planet and his people from deadly betrayal by their extraterrestrial cousins. When Ayla makes a devil’s deal to take human hostages in a Coronian power play, her mission sparks a revolt that will force an ultimate confrontation between earthbound and space-born…deciding once and for all whether two races will rise to coexistence or collapse in devastation.