Galley City by John T. Cullen

BACK TO CLASSIC READ     ARF!     ©

Another of the first True E-Books Published Online 1997

= Have Blue =

Historical Fiction ARC to Read Free Online for Kind & Honest Review

Historical Romantic Technothriller. This novel is closely based on true historical facts surrounding the development of the F117A Stealth Fighter (actually a bomber) in the 1970s.

Log Line: When a man loves an airplane, it's a matter of calculations. When a man loves a woman, everything is up in the air.

Paul Owens (not the inventor's real name), in the early 1970s, found an obscure Soviet technical journal—which has led him to an inspiration (stealth technology) that would save the Free World (based on true history). Paul falls in love with a beautiful, intelligent young widow named Marsha Kassner, 32, who moves next door with her son Peter, 9.

A brilliant aircraft engineer at Lockheed's Skunk Works, Paul is also a handsome young man tending toward fast cars, long hair, and loud music—all anathema to his stiff-necked supervisors. This is back during the 1960s, when men wore crewcuts and listened to easy listening music. In this fictional treatment of true events, certain mid-level managers conspire to eliminate Paul, in favor of someone as safe, bland, and devoid of ideas as they are. Their mediocrity, and their resistance to change, nearly derails one of the most brilliant inventions of the century.

Have Blue, named after the project that gave birth to this technology that saved mankind from World War III, is a historical techno-thriller with a strong romantic story line, loosely based on the first days of that project. The fictitious hero of this story, a young engineer with a fascination for aerodynamic nosecones, discovers a stunning mathematical secret in an obscure Soviet journal—overlooked by similarly mediocre managers in the Communist domain.

The F117A Stealth Fighter project, originally developed under several code names including Have Blue, was the most top secret US military program since the development of the atomic bomb (Manhattan Project) during World War II. The author of this novel has taken some liberties to deliver a rollicking romantic techno-thriller that gets the main points of the story across. Paul, Marsha, and the rest of the characters are all inventions of an admiring author's imagination.

In 1973, the fate of the world hung on what would eventually become known as the F117-A stealth fighter, as became clear during the so-called Yom Kippur War (October 1973) between Israel and her Arab neighbors. This brief, devastating war was a test run between U.S. and Soviet proxies. One of the key arenas became the war between Soviet-built Egyptian defensive radars and U.S. penetrating attack jet technology—and the latter won, hands down.

In our story, as in real life, the hero discovers an obscure Soviet mathematical paper, which develops principles first developed by the Scottish genius James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) and later mathematicians, and from this creates a technology that makes a B-52 look as small as a child's marble on radar signatures. And, in our romantic suspense thriller, Paul Owens must overcome the obstacles of resistance to change, and downright espionage and treason, to keep the nation secure and restore the world's balance of power.

Now if only Paul Owens could overcome the forces conspiring to keep him from bringing his growing affection for Marsha Kassner through all the opposing radars to win her heart.

click to return to bookstore

The Bookstore Metaphor: Read Free or Buy*

*Recently Modified: Read Half/Try-Buy. It's perfectly logical: nobody works for free, and all of these novels took years of struggle by a hard-working author. It's Economics 101. Think about your bookstore, which is why it's The Bookstore Metaphor. You walk in (free). You can sit all day (free) and read all you want (free). However, you can't just walk out with the book under your arm or alarms go off.

Same here, in the pixel world. You get to read half of dozens of novels, a total of more than a million words of free reading. Halfway through, you'll know whether you like it and want to know the ending. For the price of a cup of coffee, you can buy the book and it's your copy forever. No fuss, no muss, no obligation, no tracking, no cookies, not even a breath mint. Click to start reading:

read free galley onlineClick for HTML Novel & start reading on this site.

We hope you'll like the read, share with your friends (word of mouth, social media, etc.), and give the author an ovation (five stars) at Amazon, B&N, GoodReads, and other sites online. Just by reading half these novels for free, you'll help the author greatly. Please tell a friend. Visit the Amazon page (links follow) to leave a hugely favorable, generously kind review. Post on social media and link from your website. Thank you!

TOP

Browse or Buy at Amazon

The book linked at left is an e-book edition to browse; or buy & download from Amazon for your Kindle reader.
     The middle link is for the corresponding print edition. Most of these are standard 6x9"; a few have added trim sizes available (5x8"). More info at Amazon.com.
     Most print editions are also available at Barnes & Noble online; or call/visit your local bookstore to order.