The Astral Imperative Vol. I: The Dream
Review I Synopsis I Sample Chapters
Destiny meets the Starship Aelita . . .
A remarkable journey across the galaxy begins in 2037 as Earth emerges from a ruinous decade of war and terrorist activity. There is a widespread shortage of energy and a surge in global warming. And even while at peace, old loyalties and animosities between countries rack the political landscape. The first manned mission to Mars in the Starship Aelita—a technological marvel commanded by the heroic but deeply flawed Captain Adam Sietzer—proposes to further unify the world and lead the way into a harmonious and robust future.
But then an unnerving string of events, including sabotage, an attempted murder, and the emergence of the first sentient machine, challenges the crew to look within themselves for the courage and, wisdom to survive. Enormous sacrifices are made until their path to self-discovery is joined to the interplanetary quest for knowledge.
The Astral Imperative: To traverse the heavens, to unite at the heart and penetrate the mind of God.
The Astral Imperative Vol. II:The Machine
Earth is in Peril, Mars is in Turmoil
While the survivors cling to life on Mars, the prospects for peace on Earth have become increasingly diminished. A seismic event in the North Atlantic, accelerating the release of methane gas into the atmosphere, now threatens violent climate change. The discovery of a new form of life on Mars has raised questions about the origin of man, but has done nothing to lift the spirits of humanity. The Dream Machine, the first computer to ascend to consciousness, is unable to communicate.
After more than two years of political and religious wrangling on Earth, a second team of astronauts has been sent to Mars to rescue the stranded astronauts. But tensions between the rescuers and the survivors are inevitable, and an epic battle looms between the emissaries of Earth-bound dogma and the heroes of a space-based future.
Humanity is on the verge of implosion when an unexpected turn of events begets an even greater mystery in the far reaches of space.
The Astral Imperative Vol. III:ReGenesis
Available Spring 2010
Humanity faces Extinction
Twelve years have passed since the second manned mission to Mars. A colony of several hundred people is thriving in the surface. But interest in the Dream Machine, and its promise of salvation, has waned. Humanity is wallowing in a self-perpetuating malaise until its existence is again threatened by catastrophic climate change.
Yuri Popovitch, the only survivor of the first manned mission to Mars, wakes from a twelve year trance and plunges humanity into a frenzy with his mind-boggling vision of the future. Is he enlightened, or is he delusional? Is he living proof of a quantum entanglement, or the personification of evil?
Despair fosters criminality on Earth and on Mars as humanity edges toward extinction. And an unlikely boy genius emerges from the chaos and despair with the answer to the mystery behind the Dream Machine—for the right price.
Will the humanity sell its collective soul for a chance at eternal life? Will it fulfill the Astral Imperative and find the courage to enter the heart of God?
FUTURE BOOKS BY ROBERT DRESNER:
The Coming
Available Summer 2010
It is the near future, and another war in the Middle East poses a greater dilemma for the world. Israel is on the verge of yet another victory when it incurs The Vengeance of Allah—nine terrifying men who hold Israel for ransom and the fate of humanity in their blood-soaked hands. The super powers, preparing to impose their own maddening solution to the problem, are undermined by the machinations of darker forces contemplating greater terror in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
The world is teetering on the brink of catastrophe when Michael Katz, an aspiring American writer, sees the horrifying end in a prescient dream: He is wandering through the rubble of a nuclear holocaust when he meets an old rabbi, who tells him that the dream will become reality without Michael’s help. Returning to Israel on the eve of battle to comfort his family, Michael finally meets the old man from his dream, an unheralded, unanticipated, quirk of divinity who finds hope in the heart of his worst enemy. Working together against the horrifying escalation of events, Michael and the old rabbi attempt to alter the course of history by posing an answer to one fateful question: Is our righteous faith in God worth the death of two billion people?
Given the historical momentum of this conflict, and the current geo-political trend in the Middle East, this harrowing thriller is fiction on the cutting edge of reality. A compelling read for anyone who can imagine a safer and saner world.
Ksatriya
Available Winter 2010
The noble warrior of the spirit
The story of an entire generation who went East in search of something miraculous and found and magic and mystery, and murder and chaos, in the shadow of their quest; it is the untold saga of all the great teachers and teachings that have long since migrated to the West, and all those souls that were lost along the harrowing path.
More than thirty years pass until three dear friends are reunited in New York. As their conversation progresses, the story digresses to India, circa 1969. Their comments and judgments interwoven with the idyllic memories of their youth, their ideals are measured against the reality of middle age.
Through their experience we witness the dawn of the New Age, the onset of war and terror in the Middle East, and the fear of sending a child into battle.
In the end, it is the burden of life to bind these paradoxes and heal the heart in the relentless effort to know itself. KSATRIYA pays homage to that noble quest.