Blue Shift Reviews
"Blue Shift" review and article in the Warsaw Times Union - September 19, 2002
NOTE: This is a reprint of the review. Words in italics are Howard Johnson’s added for clarity.
‘Blue Shift’ appeals to the space lover by Teresa Smith - Times-Union staff writer
I’ve always been a science fiction fan. In the last few years, the genre has departed from scientifically supported scenarios to life on other planets, advanced space travel and strange aliens."Blue Shift: A Discovery Beyond Imagination, A Future Beyond Horror, Book I of a Trilogy" is a satisfying return to the basics.
The setting, characters and situation are exotic enough. The main setting is Hawaii - the Gemini Observatory on the big island of Hawaii near Hilo. The main characters are of Mohawk or Hawaiian ancestry and their cultures are explored. The situation concerns the possible destruction of the Earth. That’s the fiction.
The science is based on present-day astronomy - stuff a college student who took three semesters of astronomy 20 years ago, like me, can understand. Readers without the benefit of a couple of science classes will be able to grasp the situation, too, because author Howard Johnson describes the scientific concepts behind "blue shifts" so well. We are not talking about warp drives and interdimensional shifts here. We’re talking modern-day observatories and methods.
In "Blue Shift" a former, extremely popular, NFL running back is the main hero in a novel packed with good guys and gals. Angus Thomas has returned to his first career choice - astronomy. He discovers a star traveling at 90 percent of the speed of light and calculates it will reach the Earth’s solar system in 30 years by calculating the shift into the blue end of the spectrum. (A red shift means a star is moving away from Earth.) He figures the star hurtling through space threatens to destroy all life on the planet.
Astronomers, those late-night workers, tend to keep their discoveries to themselves until their work can be published and confirmed. Thomas must confirm his conclusions, too, and does so with the help of his beautiful Hawaiian assistant, Mililani "Lani" Namahoe. Thomas and Lani, their family members and colleagues team up to prepare a series of press releases designed to ease the news to the public in a responsible way.
The enemies include a chauvinistic British astronomer who steals Thomas’s rersearch and OSI agents who want to control the information about the star. It’s full of people with character - intelligent, responsible individuals who hold their families precious.
At first, the dialogue is disconcerting because it’s so, well, good. The characters’ conversations are presented in perfect grammar. Their thoughts are complete; they compliment the contributions of others by acknowledging what they say. After a while we want everyone to speak and just plain get along like the "Blue Shift" characters. They follow through on their plans, think on their feet and strive over adversity.
Their circle includes a highly ethical journalist (imagine that!), loyal friends, efficient co-workers and supportive family members. It takes a while, after one gets used to the superb dialogue, to realize a couple of things are missing from the book - obscenities and the obligatory paragraphs retelling sexual encounters. We know how angry the characters are without any foul language. We know how much the characters are attracted to each other without one function described. The effect is powerful.
So if you’d like to try a little science fiction, not only is Johnson’s book highly recommended, it will leave you hungry for the second installment.
CLICK here to view the first chapter of “Blue Shift” by Howard Johnson
NOTE: This is a reprint of the article. Words in italics are Howard Johnson’s added for clarity.
Johnson’s Novel Is A Sci-Fi Jewel by Teresa Smith - Times-Union staff writer
When Howard Johnson took a creative writing course at Purdue University, his professor took him aside and tried to talk him out of engineering. More than 50 years later, the retired engineer decided to follow the prof’s advice.
Johnson, 74, a Tippecanoe Lake resident has written a great first novel, "Blue Shift." An amateur cosmologist himself, the main character is an astronomer in a return to true Science Fiction. In "Blue Shift," the main character, Angus Thomas, discovers a star traveling at 90 percent the speed of light. Recently, the Gemini Telescopes featured in the novel discovered a star traveling at 68 percent the speed of light. Scientists and astronomers are well aware that a large space rock could come crashing into the earth, an event that could drastically change or end life.
Johnson’s engineering contracts with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force took him around the world. He spent considerable time in Hawaii, as well as the Pacific Rim which is apparent in his descriptions of the island and Hawaiian customs. The "Blue Shift" characters are a composite of people he’s known, with one exception.
"I actually know a Mohawk named Angus Thomas," Johnson said in a recent interview. "He’s an ironworker and one of the strongest men I’ve ever known."
The minister in the novel, Ruth, who has a minor part, is based on his wife, Barbara, former minister of Morris Chapel UMC.
Johnson calls the book a Christian novel. There’s no profanity or wild sex scenes at Barbara’s insistence. While he didn’t have any sex scenes in mind, Johnson thought he had little or no foul language in the book.
"I had to take out 45 words," he said of his editing.
The results are emotions and feelings that are more powerfully described, more acutely felt.
According to her husband, his wife was an English minor in college and a legal secretary. He calls her his precious editor, and, on questioning, admits her proof-editing pen was brutal.
"She was adamant about using good English. It may appear to be too good, but so what?"
"Blue Shift" took eight months to write and fourteen months to rewrite. He works five hour a day. He expects Book II of "Blue Shift" to be published next spring.
Book I arrived when he and Barbara were in California and he made stops at every book store and library in the country they passed on the way home. He received the first of his royalty checks, which are distributed quarterly, and looks forward to more.
While "Blue Shift" is Johnson’s first novel, he has published hopefully some "little books," most recently "Images of Pain - Comments and Responses to the Attack." (9-11) Other titles in this series include, Book I: "Words from the Lakeside," Book II - "Thoughts on the Cultures of Today" and Book III - "The Feudals." The series comes with a warning that the contents are not necessarily politically correct.
CLICK here to view the first chapter of “Blue Shift” by Howard Johnson
CLICK here to view the current Talks, Discussions and Books by Howard Johnson
To contact author, Howard Johnson Click Here!
NOTE: This is a reprint of the review. Words in italics are Howard Johnson’s added for clarity.
‘Blue Shift’ appeals to the space lover by Teresa Smith - Times-Union staff writer
I’ve always been a science fiction fan. In the last few years, the genre has departed from scientifically supported scenarios to life on other planets, advanced space travel and strange aliens."Blue Shift: A Discovery Beyond Imagination, A Future Beyond Horror, Book I of a Trilogy" is a satisfying return to the basics.
The setting, characters and situation are exotic enough. The main setting is Hawaii - the Gemini Observatory on the big island of Hawaii near Hilo. The main characters are of Mohawk or Hawaiian ancestry and their cultures are explored. The situation concerns the possible destruction of the Earth. That’s the fiction.
The science is based on present-day astronomy - stuff a college student who took three semesters of astronomy 20 years ago, like me, can understand. Readers without the benefit of a couple of science classes will be able to grasp the situation, too, because author Howard Johnson describes the scientific concepts behind "blue shifts" so well. We are not talking about warp drives and interdimensional shifts here. We’re talking modern-day observatories and methods.
In "Blue Shift" a former, extremely popular, NFL running back is the main hero in a novel packed with good guys and gals. Angus Thomas has returned to his first career choice - astronomy. He discovers a star traveling at 90 percent of the speed of light and calculates it will reach the Earth’s solar system in 30 years by calculating the shift into the blue end of the spectrum. (A red shift means a star is moving away from Earth.) He figures the star hurtling through space threatens to destroy all life on the planet.
Astronomers, those late-night workers, tend to keep their discoveries to themselves until their work can be published and confirmed. Thomas must confirm his conclusions, too, and does so with the help of his beautiful Hawaiian assistant, Mililani "Lani" Namahoe. Thomas and Lani, their family members and colleagues team up to prepare a series of press releases designed to ease the news to the public in a responsible way.
The enemies include a chauvinistic British astronomer who steals Thomas’s rersearch and OSI agents who want to control the information about the star. It’s full of people with character - intelligent, responsible individuals who hold their families precious.
At first, the dialogue is disconcerting because it’s so, well, good. The characters’ conversations are presented in perfect grammar. Their thoughts are complete; they compliment the contributions of others by acknowledging what they say. After a while we want everyone to speak and just plain get along like the "Blue Shift" characters. They follow through on their plans, think on their feet and strive over adversity.
Their circle includes a highly ethical journalist (imagine that!), loyal friends, efficient co-workers and supportive family members. It takes a while, after one gets used to the superb dialogue, to realize a couple of things are missing from the book - obscenities and the obligatory paragraphs retelling sexual encounters. We know how angry the characters are without any foul language. We know how much the characters are attracted to each other without one function described. The effect is powerful.
So if you’d like to try a little science fiction, not only is Johnson’s book highly recommended, it will leave you hungry for the second installment.
CLICK here to view the first chapter of “Blue Shift” by Howard Johnson
NOTE: This is a reprint of the article. Words in italics are Howard Johnson’s added for clarity.
Johnson’s Novel Is A Sci-Fi Jewel by Teresa Smith - Times-Union staff writer
When Howard Johnson took a creative writing course at Purdue University, his professor took him aside and tried to talk him out of engineering. More than 50 years later, the retired engineer decided to follow the prof’s advice.
Johnson, 74, a Tippecanoe Lake resident has written a great first novel, "Blue Shift." An amateur cosmologist himself, the main character is an astronomer in a return to true Science Fiction. In "Blue Shift," the main character, Angus Thomas, discovers a star traveling at 90 percent the speed of light. Recently, the Gemini Telescopes featured in the novel discovered a star traveling at 68 percent the speed of light. Scientists and astronomers are well aware that a large space rock could come crashing into the earth, an event that could drastically change or end life.
Johnson’s engineering contracts with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force took him around the world. He spent considerable time in Hawaii, as well as the Pacific Rim which is apparent in his descriptions of the island and Hawaiian customs. The "Blue Shift" characters are a composite of people he’s known, with one exception.
"I actually know a Mohawk named Angus Thomas," Johnson said in a recent interview. "He’s an ironworker and one of the strongest men I’ve ever known."
The minister in the novel, Ruth, who has a minor part, is based on his wife, Barbara, former minister of Morris Chapel UMC.
Johnson calls the book a Christian novel. There’s no profanity or wild sex scenes at Barbara’s insistence. While he didn’t have any sex scenes in mind, Johnson thought he had little or no foul language in the book.
"I had to take out 45 words," he said of his editing.
The results are emotions and feelings that are more powerfully described, more acutely felt.
According to her husband, his wife was an English minor in college and a legal secretary. He calls her his precious editor, and, on questioning, admits her proof-editing pen was brutal.
"She was adamant about using good English. It may appear to be too good, but so what?"
"Blue Shift" took eight months to write and fourteen months to rewrite. He works five hour a day. He expects Book II of "Blue Shift" to be published next spring.
Book I arrived when he and Barbara were in California and he made stops at every book store and library in the country they passed on the way home. He received the first of his royalty checks, which are distributed quarterly, and looks forward to more.
While "Blue Shift" is Johnson’s first novel, he has published hopefully some "little books," most recently "Images of Pain - Comments and Responses to the Attack." (9-11) Other titles in this series include, Book I: "Words from the Lakeside," Book II - "Thoughts on the Cultures of Today" and Book III - "The Feudals." The series comes with a warning that the contents are not necessarily politically correct.
CLICK here to view the first chapter of “Blue Shift” by Howard Johnson
CLICK here to view the current Talks, Discussions and Books by Howard Johnson
To contact author, Howard Johnson Click Here!
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