Review: Some sci- in the sci-fi lacking, but a fun story all the same!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 23, 2013
Before I explain my scientific objections, let me first say I downloaded this book for free, but I would have paid $2.99 for it...it's a sci-fi thriller with a lot of entertaining qualities.  Other people have commented on the protagonists and the villains, so I'll summarize: they're a bit larger than life, a la Tom Clancy, but tight, interesting characterization all the same.  And the plot shines, except for one small detail.While ZPF is a real part of QM (QFT, to be precise) and I was originally attracted to the book because of the coincidence of title with my own past research in physics, morphing the Casimir effect to large-scale applications is very much in the realm of sci-fi (I use it myself in the second volume of my own sci-fi trilogy as a source of energy).  However, longitudinal EM waves are fantasy, not sci-fi.  There's a mathematical proof they don't exist!  [See J. Scientific Exploration 16(3), 359-362(2002).]There are also a few horrendous typos (interned for interred, for example), but most readers will not even notice them.I don't know Mr. Fairchild personally, but I sure hope he writes more sci-fi thrillers.  I had fun reading this one.