Genre:
Science Fiction
Description:
“Electric
Wizard...Mad Scientist...Public Enemy Number One!
Nikola
Tesla has a unique affinity for electric current...he can visualize
the unseen...he speaks with beings of light. In 1899, he receives a
message from “Mars”. …Then things start to go wrong – and he
and his brilliant colleague Clara must go on the run. … At the same
time, Nikola must learn to tap into the cosmic forces and face his
own demons. …A classic-style SF novel that blends real history with
fantastic gizmos, far-out space wonder, and hair-raising adventure.”
About
Tesla: “The Serbian-American scientist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) is
the developer of the alternating current electrical system which the
world has used for over 100 years. Thus, he can rightly be called
‘the father of the industrial age’. And yet until recently, his
name was virtually invisible. When I first learned his story, it
seemed so incredible that I said ‘this is a science fiction story
that practically writes itself!’ … Some of the devices and
theories depicted here are loosely based on Tesla’s documented
work, while others are based on the more ‘legendary’ aspects of
the Tesla story. Still others are sheer fancy. … The basic ideas of
this novel – that Tesla had otherworldly visions, and claimed to
have received signals from Mars – are documented in all of his
biographical material.”
Author:
“L
Woodswalker (Laura Todd) was raised in State College, Pennsylvania,
where her father was an engineering professor at Penn State
University. Her family enjoyed hiking on Tussey Mountain and the
surrounding hills of Central Pennsylvania. She is a lifelong hiker
and woodswalker.
At
college her favorite subjects were Art and Biology. She later worked
as a nurse and graphic designer. She became interested in electricity
after learning to wire simple LED circuits.
Woodswalker
has attended the Philadelphia Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop for
many years. Her short fiction has been published in Marion
Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine
and The
Magic Within
anthology.
When
she is not writing, Laura might be composing ambient electronic
music, which she performs at the Electro-Music Festival in Huguenot,
New York. Some of her other creative outlets include art and video,
DIY crafts and steampunk gadgetry.
Laura’s
grandmother Ida Epstein came to America from Kostopol, Ukraine, in
the early 1900s. To Laura’s knowledge, no one from this side of the
family was a Theremin player or an electrical genius. As for Jake
Flint, it is possible that he, or another ancestor, may have been a
bootlegger.”
The
author admits that there might be a sequel to Tesla’s
Signal
in the works. To keep apprised of L. Woodswalker’s latest writing
projects, visit her website or Facebook page.
Appraisal:
You get a
lot of bang for your buck with this book. I picked it up because I
knew so little about Nikola Tesla. I only heard about him properly
when British telly had a brief flirtation with the excellent
‘Warehouse 13’
SF series. And it is certainly true that I know a lot more about him
now. How much of what I’ve learned is true is another matter.
So
the bangs you get for your buck are these: lots of information about
Tesla’s life and inventions (although you have to decide for
yourself what of this is fact and what is fiction); two sorts of
aliens – the Alu (all of whose names begin with an ‘A’ –
which made them pretty interchangeable for this reader) and the
U’jaan; a well-drawn, kick-ass, super-bright, female colleague and
love interest in Clara Eps; Theremin concerts (if you’ve ever
wondered whether, after Sheldon Cooper’s assault upon it, the
device is capable of making actual music); all wrapped up in a
well-written, old-fashioned, rip-roaring SF romp along the lines of
HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, or Robert Louis Stevenson. And you get
Woodswalker’s enormous enthusiasm for her subject on every page.
That’s a
lot to fit into one book. It is, therefore, unsurprising that the
book has sprawled a bit. There are places where the story loses focus
briefly, and some unnecessary repetitious material appears.
Furthermore, I did wonder about the vast numbers of electrical things
that Tesla and Eps made in very small amounts of time – the most
sensational being a flying saucer invented and constructed in days.
On the
other hand there are many lovely passages like this:
“… he
had seen the whole system in his mind: magnets and coils of bright
copper wire, the color of earth’s blood, drawing out the electrons
into a miraculous dance. And then further refinements to control and
guide the current, braiding them as Mother’s fingers twisted the
yarn on her knitting needles.”
If you want
to know more about Nikola Tesla, and/or enjoy SF novels from the turn
of the twentieth century, then I think you will enjoy this book.
Format/typo
issues:
On the file
I read there were some, minor, proofing errors and a recurring
formatting infelicity.
Rating:
**** Four Stars
Reviewed
by: Judi Moore
Approximate
word count: 145-150,000 words
