Parker's Folly

T'aafhal Trilogy #1

by Doug L. Hoffman

TK Parker is a driven man. A retired oil billionaire, he has been obsessed with an object called the "artefact" for nearly three decades. From that obsession has come new, advanced technology that has enabled him to build a spaceship on his ranch in Texas. As the ship nears completion news of his private space program has leaked to the press--and the government. Ready or not, Captain Jack Sutton and the crew of Parker's Folly are about to be launched on the adventure of a lifetime.

Parker's Folly, the first book of the T'aafhal Inheritance trilogy, follows the adventures of Captain Jack Sutton and his crew as they discover the world shattering truth behind a war fought long ago among the stars and how things on Earth were forever changed by its outcome.

Genres: Space Opera, Science Fiction

354 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2012

About the author

Doug L. Hoffman has worked professionally as a mathematician, a computer programmer, an engineer, a computer salesman, a scientist, and a college professor. Hoffman earned a BS in Applied Mathematics, from the Florida Institute of Technology. He has performed hydro-acoustic work for the U.S. Navy, and helped develop environmental models for the Saudi Arabian government. In the 1990s, he earned a Masters degree and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There he did research in Molecular Dynamics Simulations and helped develop high-speed comparison methods for RNA, DNA, and protein sequences. Since 2000, he has been working in industry as a Computer Scientist for a major information processing company. Dr. Hoffman has continued to teach at Hendrix College and the University of Central Arkansas. He is currently working on M'tak Ks'fek, the third book in the T'aafhal Inheritance trilogy.

Reviews

[Doug Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It started with Air Force nuclear detection satellites picking up radiation from the middle of West Texas, and rumors that an eccentric oil billionaire was building a spaceship in an old abandoned dirigible hanger. A TV news team, a squad of Marines and a bevy of law enforcement personnel soon converged on TK Parker's ranch, forcing the crewmembers on board Parker's Folly to depart hastily, trapping the news people and Marines aboard.

With a skeleton crew, Captain Jack Sutton managed to reach orbit in time to rescue three stranded cosmonauts from the International Space Station before a massive solar eruption killed them. From there, the ad hoc crew continued to the Moon where they found something no one expected: aliens--hostile aliens. The adventure for Captain Sutton and Lieutenants Curtis and Bear is only beginning, as they discover the fate of humanity and all life on Earth is in their hands.

Parker's Folly is a space opera in the tradition of Heinlein and EE Doc Smith that delivers speculative science, a bit of romance and lots of action. I hope that you enjoy reading Parker's Folly as much as I enjoyed writing it (yes, I am Doug L. Hoffman the book's author).

[Stan Halfacre · Rating 5 out of 5]

An edge of your seat science fiction adventure! Masterfully crafted characters, a riveting story line, and more than a few unexpected turns make this a real page turner and one that leaves you wishing for more by the time you get to the end. The good news is the second book in this series, Peggy Sue, is due to be released any day now. I can't wait!

[Keith Carscadden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lot's of fun in this one, looking forward to the sequel.