The accident that almost claims Stella's life turns out to be the start of something wonderful. Refitted with a 70% mechanical body, Stella is given the command her caste would deny her but for the Empire's guilty conscience. She soon finds herself in the heat of a war her side is losing by quantum leaps. On her way to join what should be a critical engagement, her ship, Space Ranger, meets one of the enemy ships, and inexplicably is invited to board. After a heated battle, they come face to face with the top slug. With grit and luck, Stella's people are able to defeat it and capture the first enemy ship ever; moreover, Stella somehow mind melds with not only the slug, but its All Mother, making her either the most valuable or deadly person in the galaxy.

As Space Ranger and the captured ship come to Loran Base, they are met with both suspicion and honor. The boy emperor's arrival only turns up the negativity a notch, forcing them to make a desparate escape, taking a hostage along. Knowing all the risks ahead, Stella finds herself allying with a rouge pirate as she goes against a queen B with delusions of godhood in a battle that will end it all, one way or the other.

While futuristic novels often seem so remote that the reader can not identify with anyone, this is an exception. Situations and characters live and breathe. Complex issues and people make this a riveting novel that has some elements of classic sf, yet an originality that is undeniable.

As a writer living in the Hampton Roads section of southeastern Virginia, I like to keep up with the news of other local authors and literary events in the area. Imagine my surprise when I learned that a local author by the name of John B. Rosenman was also writing science fiction for NovelBooks, Inc., the very same publisher that released my first novel, GUARDER LORE, in March of 2002.

I later came to find that this author serves his community as an English Professor at Norfolk State University (located not too far from where I live) and that his first novel, THE BEST LAUGH LAST, won McPherson and Co's First Novel Prize when it was originally published in 1981. Since then much of Rosenman's fiction has appeared in several of the major speculative fiction magazines, he has served as an editor on various projects and a collection of his short stories titled, MORE STATELY MANSIONS, was published by Dark Regions Press in 1999.

With a major talent like this living in my very same area of Virginia you can bet that I ordered a copy of his science fiction novel, BEYOND THOSE DISTANT STARS, as soon as it became available. Now that I've had the chance to read this book, it turned out to be a wise purchase indeed.

BEYOND THOSE DISTANT STARS is the story of Stella Singlethorne McMasters, a former Nav-Comm Officer for the Empire Of United Worlds who, as a reward for loyal service, had been relegated to Radiation Protection Supervisor of a reactor complex on the planet Warren. A routine job, to be sure, and one that McMasters felt was a waste of her talents but that all changed when a freak accident in the turbine building ravaged her body, exposing her with mega-doses of rad contamination, leaving her as close to being dead without actually dying as one could possibly be.

Fortunately for Stella, the medical establishment was able to save her...or, to put it better, save about 30% of her. The other 70% was replaced with artificial parts, man-made fabrications, syn-blood and a duroplast heart. Her arms, eyes, lungs, all artificial. Even her skin had to be replaced with a fibrous polymer resistant up to 500 degrees. All of this might have held some people down, caused them to wallow away in self-pity. But Stella McMasters was made of sterner stuff. She used her physical enhancements and turned them into her very first Command. A dream come true for the former Nav-Comm Officer, she became the Empire's very first physically enhanced Cyborg Commander. With movements at least nine times faster than a normal human being and much greater strength to complement her abilities, Stella assumed Command of the Spaceranger, eager to join the Empire's war against their bitter enemy, a race known simply as the Scaleys. The war was not going well for Stella's side, the Scaleys always coming out on top. Resources were running thin and most battles were won by their opponents, leaving the Empire in bleak times as the war drew on.

The Empire desperately needed a break in their string of heavy losses. A break of any kind to restore morale to the troops, give their people an edge, make them feel like they could win this thing. Then the Spaceranger launched for the very first time under the Command of Stella McMasters...and that break that was so desperately needed by the Empire managed to sneak up on her and her crew...

With a long list of very colorful characters: good decent people, evil villains and those unfortunate few stuck by circumstances between the two, BEYOND THOSE DISTANT STARS is a tale of an Underdog making good. In the grand tradition of Space Opera, this book takes us on a quest across the galaxy as Stella and her crew clash with a Scaley Ship, learn the awful secret of just who is pulling the strings behind the enemy's war effort and take whatever steps are necessary to bring the Empire out on top.

Join this impressive cast as Stella falls in love with the disembodied brain that pilots her ship, a man whose body lies waiting for the re-implantation of that organ when his duty is done. Join Doctor George Darron, the Spaceranger's burly psyche-physician, as he forges into battle with his Commander. Join Thunderheart, the lone survivor of a Dek-Path, a unit of the Emperor's Arm, an elite society of soldiers sworn to protect the Emperor at all costs. Join the child ruler of the Empire, twelve year old Kolanera the Fifth and his evil Regent Protector Malek as the true power behind the Empire is revealed. Join General Gage, the fearless Commander of Loran Base, as she assists Stella in what she knows in her heart is the right course of action. Join Colonel Pierce Powers, the General's right-hand man, as he carries on the General's mission in her absence. Join the evil Major Lovejoy, the despicable Communications Officer of Loran Base, responsible for propaganda and the Base's Public Image. Join the charismatic pirate captain, Pancho Villa, as he lends his assistance to McMasters in her quest to overcome the enemy. For, with the answers to the entire mysterious puzzle of how to beat the Scaley's nestled firmly within her rebuilt brain, Stella finds herself having to battle her way through her own people in order to get the job done. An unenviable job to say the least but one that Stella McMasters uses every ounce of her being to complete.

When I was done with this wonderful tale of adventure, I was glad to read the 'About The Author' Section on the very last page and learn that John B. Rosenman has several other science fiction books in the works, including a proposed sequel to BEYOND THOSE DISTANT STARS. My only advice to Professor Rosenman after reading this news-get yourself to writing!

Synopsis
A radiation accident nearly kills Stella McMasters, but she is saved and changed into a cyborg-human. Now in command of her first ship, Stella must find a way to defeat the monstrous aliens, to maintain authority on her own ship, and to reaffirm her own humanity and sexuality.