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The Gatekeepers by Baen Books, Daniel Graham '95HC/DJ/G

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Item number:200403189160
Item location:Arnold, CA, United States
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Last updated on 11:28:44 PM PST, Nov 06, 2009 View all revisions
Item specifics - Fiction & Literature Books
Author: Baen Books, Daniel GrahamFormat: Hardcover
Publisher: Pocket BooksISBN-10: 0671876848
ISBN-13: 9780671876845Subject: Science Fiction
Publication Year: 1995Topic: --
Special Attributes: 1st EditionLanguage: English
Condition: Very Good  
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Detailed item info
Synopsis
Rolf Bernard, the president of a large aerospace company, seizes control of space with a new single stage to orbit spacecraft.

Size
Length:456 pages
Height:8.5 in.
Width:6.3 in.
Thickness:1.5 in.
Weight:22.4 oz.

Publisher's Note
Can one man, using today's technology, seize and control space, then dictate terms to spacefaring nations? Aerospace industrialist Rolf Bernard will try to pull it off in The Gatekeepers. Bernard, president of a large aerospace company sees his new SSTO (single stage to orbit) spacecraft as his last best chance to truly begin the Age of Space. Thwarted by antagonistic bureaucrats, Rolf decides to replace the government's monopoly with his own. Using his SSTO combined with "brilliant pebbles" SDI hardware Bernard can seize control of low Earth orbit. He plots to save his company, humiliate his enemies, secure his place in history - and convince his estranged wife to come back to him. Can he make it happen? Seizing space is one thing; holding on is quite another. The Gatekeepers introduces you to the next twenty years of space development. Last year McDonnell Douglas successfully launched a prototype of the spaceship featured in this novel; SSTO will revolutionize space transportation in the next 20 years, and this is how.

Industry reviews
Pity the novelist who unintentionally shoots his heroes, as well as himself, in the foot as seems to be the case with Graham in this first novel that, apparently inadvertently puts the seamier side of defense contracting on display. Graham's ostensible heroes are Rolf Bernard and his cohorts at BAP, ``the biggest aerospace company in the world.'' Bernard is a businessman who claims to possess a space-oriented technology superior to that employed by NASA. He must battle frustrating federal bureaucracy, however, to deploy his Single-Stage-to-Orbit spacecraft, especially in order to launch ``Brilliant Pebbles,'' a series of satellites designed to shoot down ballistic missiles and to ensure that the U.S. (or at least BAP) controls low-orbital space the way the English used to control the high seas. Bernard and his colleagues the ``gatekeepers'' come up with ingenious technological solutions to further their cause; even when they fail, the gaffes are interesting a spaceship landing on an interstate highway, a short circuit caused by fruit bats. The problem for most readers will be that Bernard isn't much of a hero in order to raise cash, for instance, he's willing to sell planes to a sanctioned China, skirting government regulations by first routing the planes to Bulgaria. Bernard and his crew also tend to treat woman as second-class citizens. Several red herrings involving the entrepreneur's estranged wife add twists to the plot without deepening it, and by novel's end, when Bernard is asking for $1.3 billion plus ``total immunity from criminal prosecution'' for the Pebbles System, most readers will be wondering why he, or anyone else in this novel, deserves to be rewarded for ingenuity or derring-do. (Oct.)
Bernstein 


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Condition is VG - nice corners, no bumps or stains

Dust Jacket is a little worn on edges

Clean inside and out



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I use Media Mail, takes 3-10 days. As per new ruling on Media Mail, anything with ads has to go 1st class. Read descriptions carefully. Email me with questions. I rate - Excellent (like new), Very Fine (hardly any wear) Fine (slight wear), Very Good (some visible wear, Good (worn), Fair (reader copy)
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