No one expected the oil to last forever. How right they were ....
A geopolitical miscalculation tainted the world's major oil fields with radioactivity and plunged the Middle East into chaos. Any oil that remains usable is more prized than ever. No one can build solar farms, wind farms, and electric cars quickly enough to cope. The few countries still able to export oil and natural gas -- Russia chief among them -- have a stranglehold on the world economy.
And then, from the darkness of space, came Phoebe. Rather than divert the onrushing asteroid, America captured it into Earth orbit.
Solar power satellites -- cheaply mass-produced in orbit with resources mined from the new moon, to beam vast amounts of power to the ground -- offer America its last, best hope of avoiding servitude and economic ruin.
As though building miles-across structures in space isn't challenging enough, special interests, from technophobes to eco-extremists to radio astronomers, want to stop the project. And the remaining petro powers will do anything to protect their newfound dominance of world affairs.
NASA engineer Marcus Judson is determined to make the powersat demonstration project a success. And he will -- even though nothing in his job description mentions combating an international cabal, or going into space to do it.
About the Author
A physicist and computer scientist, Edward M. Lerner toiled in the vineyards of high tech for thirty years, as everything from engineer to senior vice president. Then, suitably intoxicated, he began writing full time.
His novels run the gamut from near-future technothrillers, like Small Miracles and Energized, to traditional SF, like the InterstellarNet series. Collaborating with NY Times bestselling author Larry Niven, Ed also wrote the Fleet of Worlds series of Ringworld companion novels. Much of Ed's short fiction has been collected in Creative Destruction and Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise. His nonfiction articles on science and technology centerpiece Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought: Essays and Stories on The Big Questions.
Industry Reviews
Praise for "Fool's Experiment" Edward M. Lerner gives us a fascinating view of how awesome these threats could soon become.--Vernor Vinge, Hugo Award-winning author of A Fire Upon the Deep The age of spiritual machines is almost upon us, and Edward M. Lerner is our advance scout. He's already been where the rest of us will soon be heading and gives us fascinating, compelling, exciting glimpses of what lies ahead. A terrific book by a terrific author.--Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Rollback "Edward M. Lerner gives us a fascinating view of how awesome these threats could soon become." --Vernor Vinge, Hugo Award-winning author of A Fire Upon the Deep"The age of spiritual machines is almost upon us, and Edward M. Lerner is our advance scout. He's already been where the rest of us will soon be heading and gives us fascinating, compelling, exciting glimpses of what lies ahead. A terrific book by a terrific author." --Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Rollback Edward M. Lerner gives us a fascinating view of how awesome these threats could soon become. Vernor Vinge, Hugo Award-winning author of A Fire Upon the Deep The age of spiritual machines is almost upon us, and Edward M. Lerner is our advance scout. He's already been where the rest of us will soon be heading and gives us fascinating, compelling, exciting glimpses of what lies ahead. A terrific book by a terrific author. Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Rollback" Praise for "Fool's Experiment" "Edward M. Lerner gives us a fascinating view of how awesome these threats could soon become."--Vernor Vinge, Hugo Award-winning author of "A Fire Upon the Deep""The age of spiritual machines is almost upon us, and Edward M. Lerner is our advance scout. He's already been where the rest of us will soon be heading and gives us fascinating, compelling, exciting glimpses of what lies ahead. A terrific book by a terrific author."--Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of "Rollback "
