Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Book Review - The Berkelium Mass - Book 1
This book by Doug Talbott is a fascinating concept. A person creates an AI Digital assistant with whom they partner to develop a new type of power source, a perpetual motion power generator, and a reactionless space drive, enabling space flight. The story starts pretty techy, so some readers may get lost on what is being covered, but it settles down later in the book. There were some things indicated in the story that I had to research to validate if they could even exist as we know them now.
This is book 1 of a 3 part series.
I know Doug personally as I was stationed and roomed with him in the U.S.Air Force at Ellsworth AFB, SD. When I roomed with him back in 1979, his house had multiple bookcases of sci-fi books, which you can see reflected in his writing and background. He is also passionate about 3D printing, a key factor in this book, which explores how they produce new power sources and reactionless space drives.
If you are into tech sci-fi, I recommend this book.
The final chapter of this 12-book Space Opera. The final Battle against the ultimate evil, The Darkening. Daniel has assembled his team, comprising his pack of Super soldiers. Also, he has new allies who have fought the Darkening in the past at significant cost, Earth's Artifact Guardians who have gone insane, and creatures of old mythology, to take the war to end the threat against the galaxy. The battle comes at a high cost. Not everyone is going to survive. 
This is book 11 of the 12-book Space Opera series Forsaken Mercenary. Daniel and his team of super soldiers, Aliens, and Regular humans continue the battle against the ultimate evil, the Darkening, who has plans to take over the universe with the help of other humans who are conspiring against their kind. The challenge now is that Daniel and his team must also contend with a rogue leader who has turned the very government they are trying to protect against them.
Continuing on the Series of the Forsaken Mercenary.
This was an excellent series. It was about a mercenary who had been enhanced with Super Soldier Serum, which allows him to heal quickly. He is a member of a Pack of Other super soldiers, each with their own abilities, who are the enforcers for their organization. The series begins with him on the moon, losing his memory and knowing nothing about his past, and being asked to go to Earth, which is now a dead planet. What he has to go through is nothing short of Chaos at its best.