Books with author Christopher L. Bennett

It's the year 4173. Humans mastered space travel a long time ago and left Earth to find greener pastures on faraway planets. Before they left, however, they created thousands upon thousands of super intelligent robots. Sadly, the robots were left behind on Earth by their former human companions, so they did what any group of super intelligent robots left behind on Earth would do—they cloned dinosaurs to be their friends! Did I mention that when they cloned the dinosaurs they gave them bigger brains so they could talk? Well, they did. So there you have it—it's the distant future, in a world of robots and dinosaurs.

Set in a reverse world where humans and animals swap places, this book is the sequel to 'Dreamcats' and finds the four young cousins, Elsa, David, Oscar and Arthur back in their Felinestow 'dream' as pets in cat families. Felinestow is now run by the benign cat, Mayor Tina, but evil ex-Mayor Claptrap still has a thirst for power. No sooner do Elsa and David find themselves in ex-police cat George's home, George's brother Harry arrives. He is visiting Felinestow to chair a religious conference, comprising the Felinestow faith, the Siamese religion, the pig's belief in Porcianity, and the sheep's Secular faith. But before the conference opens, a disaster strikes. As Felinestow struggles to keep the peace, Mayor Tina sends George and Claptrap on a diplomatic mission to Porcineville, the Siamese, and to the beavers to seek help. Oscar and Arthur get involved in the mission... Meanwhile, Elsa becomes a phenomenon in Felinestow when the cats are amazed to discover that she plays the piano.

This sequel to Dreamcats finds the four young cousins, Elsa, David, Oscar and Arthur back in their Felinestow ‘dream’ as pets in cat families. Felinestow is now run by the benign cat, Mayor Tina, but evil ex-Mayor Claptrap still has a thirst for power.No sooner do Elsa and David find themselves in ex-police cat George’s home, George’s brother Harry arrives. The charismatic Harry is an odd combination of philosopher and television celebrity. He is visiting Felinestow to chair a religious conference, comprising the Felinestow faith, the Siamese religion, the pig’s belief in Porcianity, and the sheep’s secular faith. But before the conference opens, a disaster strikes. The sheep’s homeland, Lambton Flatland, is inundated and the entire sheep nation pour into Felinestow as refugees – coinciding with an influx of pig and Siamese cat tourists for the conference.As Felinestow struggles to keep the peace, Mayor Tina sends George and Claptrap on a diplomatic mission to Porcineville, the Siamese, and to the Beavers to seek help. Oscar and Arthur get involved in the mission… Meanwhile, Elsa becomes a phenomenon in Felinestow when the cats are amazed to discover that she plays the piano. She is summoned to play before Queen Tracy at the palace on a cat-sized piano.In this allegory of contemporary ‘populist’ politics, crowded with action, comedy, moral, religious and political challenges, the reader will discover resonances with the real world. A populist leader, ex-Mayor Claptrap, advocates building a wall on Felinestow’s border to repel foreigners. There are religious conflicts, racism, greed, excessive pride and fear of the unknown.Christopher Best lives in Hertfordshire. He based the characters in this story around his young grandchildren who he has dedicated the book to.

The Starship Rhea has discovered a cluster of carbon planets that seems to be the source of the quantum energies rippling through a section of space. A landing party finds unusual life-forms inhabiting one of the planets. One officer, Lieutenant T'Ryssa Chen -- a half-Vulcan -- makes a tenuous connection with them. But before any progress can be made, the Rhea comes under attack from the Einstein -- a Starfleet vessel now controlled by the Borg. The landing party can only listen in horror as their comrades are assimilated. The Borg descend to the planet, and just as Chen accepts that she will be assimilated, the lieutenant is whisked two thousand light-years away. A quantum slipstream -- instantaneous transportation -- is controlled by these beings in the cluster, and in the heart of the cluster there is now a Borg ship. Cut off from the rest of the Borg collective, the Einstein cannot be allowed to rejoin it. For the sake of humanity, the Borg cannot gain access to quantum slipstream technology. Starfleet Command gives Captain Picard carte blanche: do whatever he must to help the beings in the cluster, and stop the Einstein no matter the cost.