Review: Where sci-fi and fantasy become one
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 23, 2014
VG Harrison is as much a mystery as the novels that comprise the triptych PROJECT SOLSTICE (SECTION 51 is Book 1, DEPARTMENT 51 is Book 2, and UNIT 51 is Book 3). Searching for Harrison's biography only gives bits and pieces of inspiration for the novels; we do know that Harrison lives in North Carolina, has a day job, and writes books in spare time. Gender: not designated, though the Facebook page refers to VG as `him' - and perhaps that ups the ante on the mystery that pervades this little work that adroitly mixes supernatural/paranormal, science fiction and horror.  The Project Solstice series deals with fact that the government has reengineered the technology taken from a crashed alien spacecraft and transformed it into something extraordinary.Ava, Ian and Elias Frost are triplets. Ava is an empath (an empath is someone with the ability to scan another's psyche for thoughts and feelings or for past, present, and future life occurrences) and when Ian goes missing she discovers in her travels that Ian has been mysteriously murdered. Her search for the perpetrator results in her discovery that Section 51, controlled by the virulent Colonel Briggs, is a facility in which the inhabitants are supernatural creatures - a bizarre crossbreed between humans and aliens. Determined to sleuth her brother's murderer Ava is discovered by Briggs to be an empath and deters her mission with one of his own - world domination. The only window left open for her is the mystery of Ian's disappearance and that leads to an amalgam of intrigue, horror, and fantasy.This is a fine beginning of a series that already has three parts completed.  Harrison writes with language appropriate to the characters and moves the story along as fast as a space ship spinning out of control. Even for those who do not relish sci-fi or paranormal or alien tales, Harrison writes in a manner that remains propulsive. Grady Harp, January 14