Book description
Robert Metzger writes classic hard SF but he does so in a way that
emphasizes excitement and adventure and which shows the science in a way
that makes it accessible and fascinating. In PICOVERSE, a team of
physicists in 2007 is trying to develop fusion power via a new
development in plasma physics, a Sonomak, but accidentally stumbles on a
method to create new, smaller-than-usual universes, which they call
picoverses. These replicate everything in our universe but on a smaller
scale. A disastrous test of the Sonomak machine shakes things up and a
new project director, previously unknown to the group, is appointed.
Alexandra has her own secret priorities and one of them is to escape
from her superiors into one of the picoverses. To do this, she needs the
researchers to execute her plan. Unfortunately, things go amiss and the
team finds itself stuck in a picoverse duplicating 1920s Earth, but with
its own version of a Sonomak, vacuum tubes and all. Among the local team
are Werner Heisenberg and Albert Einstein. As the pace of the story
accelerates, the original team races from one picoverse to another,
trying to return to their home base and thwart Alexandras plans. In a
clash of alternate realities, the fate of Earth and the entire universe
hangs in the balance. Cosmic rabbits need to be pulled from alternate
universe hats before this tale comes to a satisfying--and scientifically
rigorous--end. Robert A. Metzger has spent his entire life in the Los
Angeles area, including his stint at UCLA where he received a Ph. D. in
Electrical Engineering, and his current stint at the Hughes Research
Laboratories in Malibu where he grows thin film materials for high speed
transistors by a process called Molecular Beam Epitaxy. His short
stories have appeared in Aboriginal SF and Weird Tales, and he writes a
science column called "What If?" which appears in Aboriginal
SF. He lives with no cute pets, has no endearing hobbies, and hates
yogurt with a passion that most people reserve for ax-murderers. He
reads supermarket tabloids, refuses to wash his car, and has managed to
convince several people that lettuce is his favorite food. He sold
PICOVERSE, a major science fiction novel, to Berkley Publishers.
