Pangaea: Eden's Planet Review

Title:  Pangaea: Eden’s Planet

Author:  Tom Johnson

Publisher:  First Realm Publishing

ISBN:  10-1497340748

           13 978-1497340749

Genre:  Science Fiction

4-Star Rating

A team of scientists led by Colonel Evelyn Peterson is headed for Mars to scout sites for future settlements. Earth has been devastated by a nuclear war and much of it is now a wasteland. The future of humanity can only be assured by setting up a new home on Mars.

Trouble arises shortly after the flight has lifted off, trouble in the form of a strange storm. This was something they were totally unprepared for and had little hope of survival.  However, they did and when they come out of It, they find their destination is no longer Mars. In fact they are stranded back in time.

How they handle their new problems is guaranteed to keep you reading. This reader found the combination of time travel, space flight, a visit to Earth’s past, and living conditions irresistible. It kept me wondering how things would work out and will there be future tales about this place and people as they settle in. I loved the descriptions of the animal life and plants growing in various areas of the place their ship landed.

This is a story any sci-fi fan will truly enjoy. The talented author, Tom Johnson, has crafted a believable world; new terrors for characters dropped into it, and pulls the reader into the story so we become one of the members of this crew.

I am very pleased to recommend Pangaea: Eden’s Planet as a fun read you won’t want to put down. Not only will it teach us about our prehistoric periods, but have us looking for other books by this imaginative author and wanting to know what will happen next on Pangaea.  Will we get to see it decimated by meteor storms or will volcanoes split the large continent into smaller ones that we would come to recognize as our homes of today?

Enjoy. I sure did.

Anne K. Edwards

Three Go Back

“Three Go Back” by Tom Johnson. YA fiction. Great cover by Teresa Tunaley. When their teleport vehicle malfunctions, becoming a time machine, it sends three young girls back in time on a journey of discovery they never expected. From the Ice Age through the Cretaceous, Permian, Carboniferous, and finally to the beginning of the Earth's evolution of life, they experience their world's prehistoric past in all its splendor and terror, coming away with the joy of knowledge and adventure! Tom introduces us to the 24th century, where people travel by teleportation vehicles. The wealthy live in bubbles floating thousands of feet above ground. The story opens with three young girls leaving for school in their teleport vehicle. Because of a massive magnetic storm, their vehicle accidentally becomes a time machine, taking them thousands of years into the past. Despite repeated attempts to return to the 24th century, they travel farther and farther back millions of years into prehistoric times, experiencing adventure and danger in the age of giant reptiles. The girls wonder if they will ever return to their familiar world. Available in hardback for 24.26 http://www.lulu.com/shop/tom-johnson/three-go-back/hardcover/product-20654639.html Paperback for 11.66 here http://www.amazon.com/Three-Go-Back-Tom-Johnson/dp/1937769232/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359475719&sr=1-1&keywords=Three+Go+back Kindle for $3.99, or order hardback and paperbacks from Tom.

Eden's Planet Concept

Pangaea: Eden’s Planet

Pangaea: Eden’s Planet was a concept I came up with several years ago while looking for a possible book proposal to submit to Hollywood Studios. Yes, I’ve submitted several proposals without success yet, but I keep trying. I’ve actually gone through two agents that were not hungry enough to sell my books to Hollywood. Basically, Pangaea: Eden’s Planet is a character-driven novel and focuses on seven astronauts on a mission to Mars to begin a terra-farming project after a nuclear war on Earth. But problems arise when they enter a space anomaly that disables their ship, sending them back in time. The planet’s gravity pulls them back to Earth, where they crash land on an alien world 250 million years in the past. Their mission now turns into a survival situation, as fierce reptiles of the Permian Period, as well as explosive nature, endangers their very lives.

The seven astronauts are scientists in special fields that will be needed to fulfill their mission on Mars. This includes Colonel Evelyn Peterson and Major Adam Cooper, the pilots of Galileo Two; Colonel Peterson is the leader of the mission, the major is her second in command.  I gave each character individual personalities. The subplot was a romance building between Peterson and Cooper. When I first conceived the story, Evelyn was black and Cooper white, which I figured would be one of the problems keeping them apart, but later I changed my mind about pursuing this element of the story, and dropped all reference to her race. After all, her responsibility of keeping those under her command alive in a harsh environment is concern enough. Besides, in the 21^st Century race should no longer be a stumbling block to romance.

My love of biology and study of paleontology and other zoological areas of science has always been a driving force in my writing. In Pangaea: Eden’s Planet, I fill my world with known creatures from the period, as well as a few from my own imagination. Sixty million years before the dawn of the dinosaurs, there were still predators as menacing as T-Rex. Colonel Peterson and Major Cooper were the only ones armed, and that consisted of small caliber pistols, each holding 15-round clips of ammunitions, and they were faced by incredible odds. Their survival would require ingenuity and fearlessness. We have seven people alone in a world of fierce reptiles, volcanic activity, and danger from the heavens.  But yet love will also find a way.

Readers that enjoy a story with action and danger, with a light touch of romantic tease will find Pangaea: Eden’s Planet a work of fiction both entertaining and, hopefully, memorable. There is drama and humor as the characters face each situation, good and bad, with the knowledge that life or death could be ahead of them. Their survival may depend on their next action. You will find laughter at times, and cry at others, but I believe you will come to know and love the characters, whatever their faults might be. Happy reading.

Three Go Back

Three Go Back by Tom Johnson. When their teleport vehicle malfunctions, becoming a time machine, it sends three young girls back in time on a journey of discovery they never expected. From the Ice Age through the Cretaceous, Permian, Carboniferous, and finally to the beginning of the Earth’s evolution of life, they experience their world’s prehistoric past in all its splendor and terror, coming away with the joy of knowledge and adventure!

Pangaea: Eden's Planet

This is the story that truly begins the Jur series. It is here where the Ancient Ones originate, during the Permian Period, 60 million years before the Jurassic and dinosaurs. Pulp adventure returns to science fiction in “Pangaea: Eden’s Planet”.

Seven astronauts en route to Mars encounter a time warp in space that disables their ship. Crash landing on Earth, they discover an alien planet sixty million years before the dinosaurs. Pangaea, the super continent, is filled with danger and terror, as they must survive against fierce reptiles that ruled the Earth 250 million years in the past!

Available for $2.99 on Kindle, and print for $13.50 from the author at fadingshadows40@gmail.com