Masterfully crafted by Jeff W. Horton, ‘Cybersp@ce’ is the first installment of a now three-volume series, thrusting readers into a chaotic sci-fi espionage story of international intrigue, artificial intelligence, alien technology and even a hint of romance. In an all too real-world imagining, Russia’s obsession with reemerging as a world superpower and imminent, deadly Chinese cyber-attacks are on the verge of igniting a global holocaust, with too little time for the U.S. to develop effective technological counter-measures. But hope does exist, however, in the form of a top-secret project involving alien technology. Horton’s creation frighteningly straddles current global events and societal epidemics; with critics hailing it “A riveting knuckle biting sci-fi adventure” and “an awesome mix of sci-fi/fantasy with a very cool twist on today’s current events”.
High Point, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/13/2015 -- Watching today's evening news does share an uncanny resemblance to a science-fiction movie; China exploiting the United States' vulnerability through cyber-attacks, Russia working tirelessly to regain its dominance over the world, and an uncomfortable feeling that the entire planet could be shut down with the click of a mouse. Ironically, it is also science fiction; the subject of a gripping and thought-provoking series from author Jeff W. Horton.
'Cybersp@ce' is the first volume of a series with the same name. It features the reverse-engineering of alien technology, the safeguarding of secrets that could save the world, and one man's attempts to halt global destruction – with undercurrents that could be pulled directly from today's headlines.
Synopsis:
From inside his home located in the small town of Corona, New Mexico in 1947, a young boy named Henry witnesses an alien spacecraft falling from the sky during a freak electrical storm.
Many years later, cyber analyst Nick Reynolds is appointed as the head of a Cyber Command taskforce established to deal with the increasing cyber warfare threat from China. Soon afterwards a new, disturbing type of cyber-attack emerges, just as Nick learns that an imminent massive Chinese cyber-attack against the United States infrastructure is imminent. When the evidence suggests that the threat is real and that the attack will kill millions of people, Nick discovers that his team will not have enough time or the technical resources to stop the incredibly advanced attack when it comes.
Nick soon learns of another top-secret project, however, one that might offer a way to stop the attack and spare the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
Dr. Summers works with his scientist daughter, Kate, inside Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada. After years of trying to reverse-engineer an alien spacecraft, the team has a breakthrough when they discover how to interface with an alien ship's computer using a cybernetic helmet, which they use to enter a fantastic, virtual world.
"What is really striking, and not wholly-intentional at the time of writing, is how the book's premise has become something of a reality," explains Horton, who has released six other titles, including Frontiers, the second novel in the Cybersp@ce Series, and New Beginnings, the third novel in the series. Linked with Cybersp@ce by the protagonists' relationship to one another, Frontiers chronicles humanity's emergence into interstellar travel, while New Beginnings imagines Earth's first colonization of an alien world. "Cyber warfare between opposing states is now fairly commonplace, with attackers employing increasingly sophisticated levels of artificial intelligence.
What we should be most concerned about is whether we'll be ready when the next major attack comes."
Continuing, "As the series progresses, the science-fiction elements become more and more aggressive, fused with the action, suspense and romance that have kept the series popular since first hitting the shelves in 2012. Whether these books are prophetic or not only time will tell! If they are, I hope they give the world plenty to think about."
Since its release, the novel has garnered a string of rave reviews. Eduardo Aduna comments, "Horton does another marvelous job of tapping people's current subconscious fears to weave an action-packed yarn. The story is gripping, the action fast-paced and the characters driven towards their own individual goals."
Steven Beltzer adds, "This title was an awesome mix of scifi/fantasy with a very cool twist on today's current events. The freaky part was how while reading this book, I saw on TV and read in the newspaper, things so similar to events in this book."
Elizabeth Seckman found the narrative to be vastly different from other books in the genre. She writes, "I'm not usually a sci-fi fan, but I do like a good book and I enjoyed this story. It's not so loaded with jargon and superficial twists and turns that make a reader dizzy...it's just a good solid story with likable characters you can root for."
'Cybersp@ce', from World Castle Publishing, is available now: http://amzn.to/14lNuRi
For more information and to learn about the series' other books, visit:
http://www.hortonlibrary.com
About Jeff Horton
Jeff Horton was born in North Dakota, the youngest son of a career Air Force Master Sergeant, where he spent the first four years of his life before moving to North Carolina. A voracious reader growing up, he read everything from comic books to The Bible, including stories by many popular authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Jeff Horton's novel, The Great Collapse, a story about the coming of the pulse and the end of civilization, was published in 2010. He is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network. When he's not penning his next novel, he enjoys reading, going to church, and spending time with his family.