Legacy

Stellar Heritage #1

by Bob Mauldin

Witness the rise of man’s first galactic federation: The Terran Alliance. 

When Simon and Katherine Hawke stumble upon an alien shuttle that has landed on earth, it’ll not only change the course of their lives, but of the entire world. Taking the shuttle into orbit, they discover a much larger ship left adrift with no one on board. Commandeering it, they confirm that we’re not alone in the universe and must prepare the human race for what is about to come. 

Recruiting from all over the world, they begin to expand their fleet and build a federation to give humans a foothold in the galaxy. Thus the Terran Alliance is formed, led by Simon, Kitty, Gayle, and their new comrades. 

Everything is going according to planned as they construct more ships, but the governments of the world are vying for control of these technologies. To make matters worse, their second encounter with an alien species is not one of peace. After the attack, they are left with more questions than answers as they face resistance from, not only outer space, but their home planet as well.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Amazon, Fiction, Aliens

710 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 14, 2019

About the author

Bob lived in Montana for over thirty years, since late '85. He fell in love with the state almost instantly (who wouldn't after spending the previous twenty or more years trapped in Houston, Texas). Out in the Big Sky Country, he found the “elbow room” he didn't even know he was looking for. He lived quietly with his two cats and library of nearly two thousand books--about ninety-five percent sci/fi. He discovered that he liked to write as well and could often be found doing just that. Bob passed away in November of 2019 and is survived by his younger brother. Before he passed, he finished his writing project of more than a decade, The Stellar Heritage series, and he will live on in the hearts and minds of his readers.

Amazon Central- https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07NTRS9RQ
Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/BobMauldin

Reviews

[Red Tide]

Rubbish. Rating: minus 5

I forced myself to finish the book for the first hand experience of a White Nationalist space fantasy. The writing is bizarrely poor, the racial superiority theme is not muted but shouted at the reader on every page and the "natural" US hegemony is one of the cornerstones of the story.

I recommend a scan of other reviews. A "rogue" Goodreads tech does not "Allow" me to see other reviews, to see commenter names, to remove Dr Susan Hamilton (my last lurker), sometimes grays out my "like" buttons and has not responded to query or complaint for three years. 🤔🤔

I may open my pages soon and have removed all lurkers but the one. Susan Hamilton posted nothing for over two years since her friend request and has not responded to five requests that she unfriend me. 🤔

I hope that she does not find me fascinating. It would be sad because I am not that interesting, as my siblings love to remind d me. 🤗🤗

Apparently when I wrote a brutally honest review of a "badly written salute to the January 6, 2021 hero", a "rogue" Goodreads tech sudden!y decided that my being a communist is a bad thing. Quelle surprise. 🤗

For more Goodreads, see my review of "Leviathan's War", a boom-boom spacey-space book or Powers of the Earth (a badly written salute to the salute to the January 6, 2021 hero) and the comments from a Claes Rees Jr/cgr710 (a self-identified NeoNazi and US patriot).

To Claes Rees Jr/cgr710
Don't be a numpty. Be a smarty. Come and join the Communist Party.

US patriots (Tucker Carlson, Claes Rees Jr and US Republican Party, for example) are odd ducks, cheering on the Russia which is threatening their own country. I imagine that gold bars trumps their patriotism. In any case.

SLAVA UKRAINI !!! -----TA----- SLAVA GEROYAM !!!

I asked Amazon/Goodreads to create several neat new categories, US hegemonic space fantasy, Ethnosupremacist space adventure, Libertarian Sociopathic future fiction and US White Nationalist space fiction. They have not responded. 😐

It would be so much easier for the sane reader to then avoid psychologically damaging print offerings, whilst directing their target audience to their poorly written racist fantasies. 🤗

There is no real world building as usual for these low end works. Work is probably too generous a term for a book that illustrates how little thought or effort is committed to the sleazy and racist fantasies.

This is a book for the likes of Claes Rees Jr/cgr710, JP/Corcoran (writer of Powers of the Earth), Trish, Br1cht and Bruce McKay. If racism is not a selling point and the female sociopath as queen of space is not empowering, this is not a book that you will enjoy.

With no world building and with being a racist fantasy for poor US white males, there is no need or room for character development. The dialogue is bad but it is revealing. The plot is ...., is ..., it .. isn't. The writer inserts exposition directly because -----Reasons? Or lack of writing skill. Or that underpaid editor.

White US males control space because of some technology that only working class males of the right ethnicity can master. This is because ----- Reasons. Or magic. Or .......? 😑

Any white working class male from the american Midwest and West Coast who may or may not be literate are eligible for citizenship in space. This is spelled out in direct exposition. I did warn you that this is a work of pure racism. 😁

White american males do not need any skills because they have the "right values". Direct exposition again. 😀

Non whites are allowed to work in space and do all the actual labor but are sent back to mudball Earth after each project. Non whites from ethnicities which are "natural!y inclined to suicide bombing" are excluded, which makes sense. Direct exposition again. "Mudball Earth" or the "mudball" is a term used by white nationalist writers to describe the brown person infested planet. Not a fit planet for an Aryan, don't you know? 🤔🤔

We are reminded that these are very moral settlers, which is inserted just before a discussion of whether they are strong enough to take some resource from the Martian colony. Trade is not in their vocabulary apparently. 😑

The US government is evil because of its nature? Or history? Or they get in the way of libertarians?
For whichever of those reasons, these settlers are preventing anyone of whom they do not approve into space. 😂

Corporations are evil? It is not clear but would seem to be contraindicated given the settlers ideology such as it is. 😃

Non whites with the sale price of the space condos are allowed into space, even Asians. I am certain that the writer would be more specific if he realized that South Asians are the brown skinned Indians. 😑

I strongly suspect that the writer does not realize that Thais, Bengali, Cambodians, Malaysians, Filipinos and Indonesians are Asian. If he does, I do not think that he realizes that they have different features and above all skin color to the Han. 😂

"Because they do not discriminate", the settlers will set up embassies in "Switzerland and probably somewhere in Asia". Some English speaking Europeans and rich Asians will be allowed to emigrate.😄😄😄

The above constitutes a novel. 😅😅

The masked commenter below is Br1cht, whom I discovered in a comment on another book, loves to pretend to be a military tough guy and is drawn to the paedophilia of John Ringo's Zombie series. This is the member whose opinion should matter? What a site this is. 🤗🤗🤗

This book is standard for the low end US science fiction, which seems to make up 90% + of the bulk of print. With low end US science fiction being so dismal and marketed alongside the more worthwhile titles, it is a chore finding fiction fit for purpose. I watch rather then read my science fiction at the moment.

Oddly the streaming services provide better written and more entertaining science fiction than the print, while often providing fantasy that is somewhat inferior to the print. There is also a large selection of multinational offerings through Netflix. There are even science fiction productions from Amazon but the proven bad treatment of employees and partners does not encourage me to search the corporation's catalogue.

I began searching YouTube a little more than two years ago for science fiction recommendations and news. I found them and then all the myriad other special interest channels. The educational channels introduced me through sponsored segments to the surprising world of dedicated documentary sites. These sites also host the best essayists.

My first visit was to Curiosity Stream/Nebula at a cost of about $15 USD for a yearly subscription. I think that all of these sites are worth a look.

At last, I stumbled upon the book channels. It was love at first video. 😍😍 There is such a variety of creators that between them are covered every aspect of the bibliophilic experience. The reader communities which they foster are splendid. They are thoughtful, curious and above all are enamoured of all things bookish. It is obviously the direct opposite to the Goodreads/Amazon experience.

I recommend a visit to several book channels for any reader and have listed some below.

My YouTube picks of the moment.

UATV, Mia Mulder, Mandy, Tulia, Tom Nicholas, Northern Narrowboaters, Munecat, Jessie Gender, Dave Channel, Emma Thorne, Breaking Points, David Graeber, Tibees, Gutsick Gibbon, Book Furnace, Traveling K.

As for Goodreads, Please consider treating this site as potentially hostile. 😐

Ominous music begins,🙂 I suggest minimizing profile information, removing all lurkers, screenshot the odd and the ugly, being mindful that "rogue" techs are willing to break laws and expect no response to query or complaint until you reach higher corporate offices. Ominous music ends. 🙂

Seriously, please protect yourself. May we all find Good Reading. 😊😊

Some of my favorite YouTube channels are.

Lindsay Ellis, Zoe Baker, UA Courage, Second Thought, Big Joel, Sarah Z, Lady of the Library, The Amber Ruffin Show, Munecat, Tom Nicholas, Tara Mooknee, Alayna Joy, Philosophy Tube, Alize, Art by Annamarie, Noah Samsen, Lily Alexander, Double Down News, Novara Media, The Juice Media, Some More News, Mrs Betty Bowers, Janelle Kayla, Lady knight the Brave, We're in Hell, Jake Tran, IzzzYzzz, Emmie, Alice Cappelle, Life of Lit, Alison Pregler, Merphy Napier, I'm Rosa, Renegade Cut, Noelle Gallagher, Hello Future Me, Maggie May Fish, Melodie Rose, Serena Skybourne, Books with Chloe, Atun Shei, Sabine Hossenfelder, Ali Abdaal, Christy Anne Jones, Elena Taber, History Hit, Storyworldling, Jessica Gagnon, Natasha's Adventures, GK Reads, Bookslike Whoa, What Vivi did next, Lilly's expat life, Books with Brittany, Make Better Media, Ana Psychology, Task and Purpose, Hailey in Bookland, Between the Wars, Narrowboat Pirate, Weir on the move, France 24, Answer in Progress, Peruse Project, Thirdworld Booknerd, Patrick is a Navajo, Brittany the Bibliophile, SandRhoman History, Cruising Alba, Austin McConnell, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, Joe Scott, Camper Vibe, Traveling K, Practical Engineering, Jabzy, A Clockwork Reader, A Cup of Nicole, The Armchair Historian, Historiograph, Books and Lala, The Irish Reader, Spacedock, Quinn's Ideas, Between the Lines, Northern Narrowboaters, Autumn's Boutique, AI Universe, Jenny Nicholson, Cari can Read, Jack Edwards, Katie Colson, Bovington Tank Museum, Ship Happens, Indigo Gaming, With Olivia, Kitty G, v Dead Good Books DW News, Boat Time, The Shades of Orange, Jill Bearup, Swell Entertainment, Cold Fusion, Dr Becky, Three Arrows, Abbie Emmons, Kelly loves Physics and History, The Leftist Cooks.

I sincerely wish you the best morning, the most fun afternoon, a relaxing evening, a splendid night and may we all continue learning.

When a challenge demands Agreement, no Conversation can be had.
Torquemada

[Justin Cherry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needs a LOT of editing.

Needs a Lot of editing. This story has potential, but the writer has a.d.d. too much is repeated & than contradicted.

[James Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story.
Completed the series through book #3
Looking forward to book 4!!

[Joshua Chadd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great first book by an awesome up and coming author! A must read for sci-fi lovers! Simon and Kitty take a dream and make it a reality and the journey they take is fun to follow along with!

[Don Hinckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of action. Good Sci-fi with intrigue. I look look forward to the next book.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing first time for this writer. Intriguing with plenty of action to keep you reading. Loved it and can’t wait for the next book.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am always interested in a turn at the trope of alien ship lands on Earth. The presmise this time around sounded interesting, taking a bit of a twist with human civilians taking off with the ship before the secretive government types show up. But I couldn’t get past the stilted writing and odd way of declaring the expertise of the characters.

Our campers are a married couple of retired DIA agent and MIT PhD who happens to know space shuttles. They must be middle aged due to the time spans tossed around, but come across as a youthful, young couple.

What really turned me off was how the story was written. Every page or two facts are repeated. The author attempts to take in everyone’s perspective, which makes for a constant adjustment of figuring out who is speaking and thinking in the paragraph. To get through a scene, pages are taken up to walk the reader through each character’s head. It didn’t flow as a story should.

There may be an interesting story in here, but it needs a strong editor to smooth over the rough writing.

[Soima Traian · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment

Slow paced with annoying repetitions of the same facts by multiple people, the government people are basically mentally retarded, the plot is as thin a spider silk, and the end is just plain bad. Not worth it.

[Rick York · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read, but way too long. Very good for a first effort, but it could use a sharp edit to reduce redundancy and move it along more quickly. I'm looking for ward to the next volume..

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good space opera—nothing extraordinary, mind you, but a solid read. Earthlings find an alien spaceship, and all the aliens are dead except for one, who happens to transfer the ship's "captain command" to one of our main characters, Simon and Kitty. The ship's computer, recognizing a new captain and somehow understanding basic English already, begins to assist Kitty and Simon in "commandeering" the ship. They decided the best course of action is to take over the ship instead of turning it over to the US government. Then the drama starts. Kitty and Simon take over the ship and learn how to operate it. The ship's main computer instructs them, sort of like the “Computer” on Star Trek (there are many similarities to Star Trek in this book), and the humans somehow fully understand everything the ship says and become spaceship pilots almost instantly (huh?)

The story turns into a fight between the newly formed Terran Alliance and the suspicious United States government. The Terran Alliance is formed by the trio, Simon, Kitty, and their friend Lucy, who took over the alien spacecraft and the 1000s of people they recruit over time. The US government is pissed off that these US citizens did not turn over the craft to the government. Fearing World War three would break out, Simon and Kitty tell the US they are keeping the ship and will share what they learn about the technology with all the governments, in effect all of the people of Earth, not just the US so no one country gains a military advantage that another country would see as an apocalyptic threat. This becomes the main conflict in the story.

I won't recount the rest of the story to avoid spoiling anything, but the action is mostly at the end. One thing I kept wondering the whole time is what alien race presumably loses contact with a fully functional colony-building spaceship and leaves it? One of the events at the story's beginning hints at what may have happened to the ship's original crew, but the story takes place over several years, and we are left wondering why no aliens have come to Earth to collect their spaceship!

The middle part dragged a bit (was painful at some points with mundane actions) with the ongoing day-to-day of building colonization and military spacecraft, but the interactions between the characters kept me reading. Kitty, Simon, and Lucy were all well-developed characters and their interaction with other characters is enjoyable to read.

The ending gives us a shocking and unexpected twist, at least for me. And I am not 100% certain that the setup for book two is a good enough hook, but I'll find out if I decide to read on in the series.

One thing that was hard to get past was how fast the people on the ship, even with the ship's computer, were so easily able to build more spaceships and adopt the technology. That part was a bit too "perfect," I think it made the weight of the story a tad less believable for a Sci-Fi space opera.

Overall, I liked the story. The audiobook had a preview of the next book in the series, which was a bit more of a hook to read book two than the events at the end of the book. Most likely, I will continue with the series since the opening chapter of book two provided a few answers about the aliens who originally built the captured spaceship.

If you have some time and don’t want a book you will read through in a single day but want to enjoy a good space opera, I recommend giving this book a chance. Stick with it if you sort of drift in the middle, as near the end, it gets picked up again.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a frustrating read, to be honest.
I really liked the premise and was looking forward to how it would develop, but throughout, on a very regular basis, I found myself shaking my head at stupid and (to me at least) illogical decisions a lot of the characters kept making.


For one, and this is not a huge spoiler, but still: A pair of normal people find a spaceship and manage to escape from the authorities with it into space. Great. But then they build this entire space navy, one ship after the next, recruiting thousands of people, making their friends immediately commanders and captains - without hiring a single person with military experience. None, not one!

I like that they hire sci-fi nerds, because they have dreams and excitement etc, but then they give them command over spaceships and crews, doing battle with aliens, commanding thousands of other volunteers... and no one thought "Hm, maybe someone who had actual navy or military command experience could be useful here"?

Then the main characters and leaders of the new outfit keep arrogantly talking down to outsiders, like teenagers who have found a tank and now think they are better than everyone else.
Infantile, emotional, undisciplined... and it's not done on purpose as far as I can tell. It's just portrayed as justified superiority, simply because they have the power.
One decision after the other is made that I would attribute to teenage kids playing at "space captain".
There's lots more examples, but they all boil down to this. The heroes of this story are clueless bullies and it kept urking me throughout this book.


Now, it's pretty long for a standard military sci-fi series book, but that's not a problem, there were lots of interesting consequences of the new found space-fairing capabilities, which were interesting to explore.

So yes, I'm reading the second one as well. But if the heroes of the story don't start growing up a bit, I think I won't read the third.

[Matthew Sampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad start.

Pros:

I like the story line, and the path chosen by the author.

Loving the part where we have to deal with woke socialist doctrine so comments in today's authers.

Cons:

As person who was once part of the us military, I am well aware of how heavy handed it, and its sister agency's can be.
the lack of professionalism re the behaviour of our suits and military personal is not realistic. people like this do exist, but they do not get the plush career making assignments represented in this book ( we save them 3 rd world county's). Following procedures, professional ism, and an awareness of what public image is expected at any given setting is required for these positions. they CA be cutthroat, but they will do it with polite/ political nature, A smile, and warm body language( trained to put the public at ease).

3rd world country in this day and age do not have starvation and poverty because a larger nation took all the resources available. The box lens are internal, with corrupt people controlling/ hoarding the resources avalable. This corrupt ion prevents education and technology that would allow the comment fold to have better lives. this education and technology would also rob the Despots running things of their power and control.

[Colscimitar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiler warning:











I have this rated at a four star until about the last 3% of the book, rarely do books pull a bait and switch that I enjoy, when they do I hate it which caused me to drop it to a two-star.

Moving on to the second book now and if it's able to redeem itself I may come back and adjust.

I didn't like everything about the book leading up to the last two or three percent but for the majority I was entertained. I just really hate it when authors think they need to throw a twist.

Okay so I'm a couple dozen pages into the second book and the author has been able to redeem what I found so atrocious about the ending of the first book so I will continue to read the series, but I was so pissed I have almost decided not to read the second book and I'm glad I did continue on.

[Mauricio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I generally loved this series. While I did find a couple of inconsistencies, I feel that they didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story. This book starts a short series (by today's standard of sci-fi indie publishing) of four books with great characters and creates a very likable universe.

The end of the fourth book, the last in the series, leaves many open threads in this universe but brings closure to the story arc of the main characters in a way that was not surprising or disappointing in my view.

I do believe that the author was setting up the universe for spin-off stories with open threads. Still, unfortunately, he passed away, and we will miss the opportunity of enjoying those untold stories. Please, don't let this keep you from enjoying the four stories that we did get.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Horrible Ending (SMH awful)

The story was entertaining, in spite of the many grammatical errors, until it just wasn’t. The last few pages of the last chapter absolutely destroyed the storyline, as far as I was concerned.

The sudden change in character direction, the devastating slash-and-burn action was unexpected and unacceptable. Without that last action this would have been a 4.5 star review. The MCs deserve better treatment than that last, sloppy ending.

Yes, there is a postscript following the book mentioning one should read book 2 because it does make sense of the ending, but the reviews for book 2 don’t give me any promise that it will.

[Jefrois · Rating 1 out of 5]

.
Too many wurds and names for my pea-brain to absorb.

A horrible book.

I hate it.

“…He remembered the necklace and its silvery setting, entwined with the sigil of Rami’s minor house at the bottom. She had placed it around his neck herself on their wedding in the little chapel overlooking the port city of Quillas the night before the Dalgor Kreth left on its mission. The gava stone center was almost two inches across and showed the esteem that she and her house were held in by clan sel Garian. Once, he’d been proud of the associations that one piece of jewelry had entitled him to. Now he saw it as evidence….”
.
.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A BM. SYFY. Action Adventure Novel (L) (SHB. - 1)

BM. has penned a SYFY Action Adventure About the discovery of an abandoned shuttle craft from a source other than Earth. Four people use the shuttle to enter the derelict spaceship. They discover the computer is operational and willing to help the new crew as they are accepted. Their objective is to build for Earth and not one government. They make plans but are stabbed in the back by the United States. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS

[Mick Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well the first book of this series has given the readers a interesting start, but not sure how the author is going to get over the last few pages. It does show what I think would happen with the american government, as far has they are concerned , if it appears in the states then it belongs to them, and as long as they can make money from it all the better. But am looking forward to see how the author handles what happened in book 1 during the start of book 2.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legacy, book 1 a good start

Well that was a pretty good start for a new Author of a sci-fi novel. Like many I've read it begins when the hero discovers an alien 👽 spaceship and inherits the ship . As usual he decides to keep it, falling on the wrong side of his governments approval. As he masters the technology aboard he recruits a crew and makes more ships, all standard stuff until the last. When he appears to suddenly for in an atack.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think of scifi, this is exactly the kind of book I think of. If you like space travel, aliens, new technologies, and of course, the ever present battle with the powers that be to keep the new tech free for the masses, then this is the kind of series you want to read too. Great things happen in this book, and promise even more great things in future books. I haven't had this much fun reading a scifi book since I read the NFI series.

[Roh Bawt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this. I think there is a decent story in there somewhere. But I couldnt get far. This is written as though it were intended to be released in tiny episodes over large gaps. Where each epsoide needed to recap the one before it. But sometimes it goes ever board. Just flat out completely repeating all the info in the prior episode. And then when they decided to compile it as one story... No one bothered to edit it into one smooth story. Its unfortunate.

[Logan Horsford · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was a different series (can't remember the name or author, sadly) which took this same exact concept and did it better.

The people in this kept rehashing the same conversations over and over. While for some that might be realistic, it is tedious to read and reread and read yet again.

We get the concept - move on.

Gave up part way in. Perhaps a lot better editor would be of assistance?

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, this is not well written. Facts are repeated three times within a minute or two of the audiobook, information is delivered by having characters think about it (like 'I have a masters degree in this subject and a Bachelor's in that subject and therefore I know that...'). Characters' thought processes and conversations feel contrived and add little, slowing down what should be fast-paced scenes. I stopped listening after 20 minutes.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked how Bob Mauldin showed us how one should care for tech powerful enough to change the world. Well written and thought out, this sci-fi story is one everyone should read, cuz, you know, it could happen to you and it's best to be prepared. Legacy, book 1 in the Stellar Heritage Series, is an easy and fairly exciting start to what I believe will be a great series.

[Daniel Pludek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book ruined by the final 2 chapters

Thus was an excellent book, well written and of a subject I love to read about. The characters are all likable, and believable.

While I can understand a good twist and certain things happening, the last 2 chapters totally ruined this book for me, even going as far as that I now refuse to buy the second book.

[Nick Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book

I loved the book I found it a little confusing until I understood the importance of points of view being explained by the charters . I found the end charged with emotion and found the charters quite human. I am sorry to the author has passed. As for his first book I have read of his I am impressed on his dedication to the work he prduced

[Matthew Picchietti · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bailed on this one after a few hours in. I like the concept and I like the macro political element of the story. The author's style and dialogue leave little to be desired. I love science fiction but just the way the protagonists interacted, the vanilla names, the tropes (Asian woman with experience giving massages) all took away from a cool thought experiment.

[Lourdes Nunez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story of action and adventure

Definitely a must read. Absolutely exciting and entertaining as well as inspiring. The characters are definitely inspiring and interesting as well as the story line. So much learning to intake and such an inspiring and intriguing journey. I am absolutely looking forward to the next book. Excellent writing!

[Michelle L. Reeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you found a space ship? Well Simon and Kitty have one fall out of the sky in front of them. A quick decision has them flying it away! How will the world react? The powers that be? Read this book to find out! Lots of action and excitement!

[Michael Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanderful New read

Well written action pack book, defined imaginative story line if a little too earth base. Still wort the wait for the next installment. Hope sooner rather than later.