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Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite
Ray Tabler’s The Diesel-Powered Starship is an action-packed and highly entertaining space opera. The story begins on Earth. Mexican physicist Dr. Ernesto Lopez invents an antigravity contraption that flies off into the unknown when an electrical circuit closes within its antigravity field. Scientists and engineers figure out that the flight of the Lopez device can be controlled by keeping all electric devices off-limits within and outside the craft. The rapid development of interplanetary diesel-powered Lopez spacecraft and diesel-powered Lopez FTL (faster than light) starships follows. Space exploration and colonization expand rapidly. The ubiquitous Lopez technology means strict limitations on electrical devices. The colonies develop 19th-century-based steam-powered and non-electrical technology. Earth works swiftly to control the colonies through a central Commonwealth Government and Navy, creating a Machiavellian plan to direct the flow of money from the colonies to Earth. The movement for independence by colonists takes root, driven by people willing to take on the incredible challenges of living among the stars.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ray Tabler’s The Diesel-Powered Starship for its memorable characters, the detailed Lopez technology, and the space colonies. I particularly liked the sub-stories with different characters, settings, including different countries, following the evolution of the Lopez contraption to diesel-powered FTL starships. The novel flows seamlessly from one character to the next, with vivid dialogues and challenging situations. This book turned into an engrossing and thoroughly entertaining space opera. Great humor flows through the story; dry, witty, sharp, earthy, funny, and outright hilarious. A cast of remarkable characters emerges through the decades, beginning on Earth and onward into space. I particularly liked how two principal characters emerge in the novel, as the colonists move ever farther away from Earth and the core colonies, and are driven by dreams of greater freedom and independence from Earth. I highly recommend The Diesel-Powered Starship to fans of epic science fiction adventures and creative high-powered starship stories.
