Touchstone
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
A more immediate threat than climate change, the energy shortage dilemma inspires reclusive multi-billionaire Lyman Dysart, called “The Stockholder” by his solely owned comany's numerous employees, to forward the development and advent of controlled nuclear fusion power generation. One plasma constituent of the patented fusion process, an ultra-scarce helium isotope found in quantity only in Luna, necessitates expensively strip-mining the lunar regolith. Semi-panic ensues in the minds and wallets of OPEC and other members of the petroleum cartel led by Vonex International Chairman Belkin Reichert, who employs behind-the-scenes political influence to suborn the increasing usage of fusion technology by promoting solar energy, and then urges the U.S. to nationalize the adolescent fusion industry. The battle of wills, tactics and counter-tactics climaxes when Dysart attempts to defeat the congressional effort to nationalize the fusion industry by holding hostage his lunar mining venture. His propaganda message to the voting public poetically describes fusion as, "A plasma containment shell, at its heart a dervish burning so furiously as a semi-vacuum that it emulates temperatures reigning at the center of the Sun, yet gives forth no light, but presumes to light the world in a beneficent, utopian glow."
Customer Reviews
TOUCHSTONE
Reviewer: Kevin Freeman
Palmetto Reviews 09/24/2012
Very good scifi! I truly enjoyed reading "Touchstone" for quite a few reasons. First, I am a scifi junkie, but I'll have to admit that much of the scifi I have read was a bit hard to follow, or even downright boring. "Touchstone", though it gets off to a bit of a slow start, captured my interest right away as it played out a possible scenario in which fusion power can finally be generated, but the fuel source needed is extremely rare on earth - but not the moon. I've always thought it would be extremely cool to be one of the colonists slated to live on the moon in the near future [if all goes as planned, anyway], and love a good read that involves this scenario in some way. The plot is very intriguing, the characters are certainly well drawn, the dialogue is genuine, and there are a few twists that I didn't see coming, which always delights a veteran reader. Downsides? As I mentioned, the plot does start out a bit slow in this one, but it has a kind of steadily increasing rhythm, which increases over time until you're turning pages rapidly and never realized when the change took place - to many, this is a great thing, but some just want to read something that satisfies their action craving right away, and for those I would say that this isn't the book for them. Aside from that, there are a couple of small details in the story that didn't seem quite right as far as the physics behind them went, but I must also issue a disclaimer that I am no expert in these realms. All in all, "Touchstone" rates 4 stars in my opinion, and I'll be looking forward to reading even more from William Walling, a truly an excellent writer!