As a science fiction author, I’m intrigued by many aspects of science and technology which never reach the eyes and ears of most people. Once I’ve absorbed the theoretical aspects of a piece of contemporary research in science or physics, I try and flesh it out into a novel format.
In my first book The Burning Years I explore the idea of nuclear fusion technology to power my living spacecraft as it travels to Proxima Centauri.
Included in my second and third manuscripts, are references to zero-point energy and the use of the Casimir effect to create propulsion for my Dyson swarm.
If confirmed, the practical upshot of the Casimir effect would be amazing. Solar panels could provide the electricity needed to keep the thruster working, meaning that propulsion would be low-thrust and long-term with virtually no associated cost.
In my second book Rebirth, and in the third Tesla’s Dream, my characters from a climate-ravaged Earth must travel far afield to meet those who will help them discover and implement the Casimir effect and the Dyson swarm.
One of my main characters, Zid, the clone of an ancient alien whose bones were discovered on Mars, gets picked up by extra-terrestrials using an Alcubierre Drive. Put simply the ET spacecraft in my books traverse distances on a network of quantum highways. They do this by contracting space in front of them and expanding space behind them, resulting in effective faster-than-light travel without breaking any physical laws. In addition, they use pre-established wormholes to travel from universe to universe and planet to planet.
