David Feintuch

Take the British Navy circa 18th century, move it two centuries into the future from our own time, to a world suffering from overpopulation, almost universal illiteracy, where space travel is possible but as slow as the sea voyages of ages ago, where the known world is governed by a theocratic United Nations, corporal punishment rules the Navy, and the Captain on an inster-stellar voyage is the next thing to god. Fast-paced action with intense personal observation of the main character, Nick Seafort, the Seafort saga is an incredible piece of work. Here's a list of titles in my Feintuch collection.

The Seafort Saga

Midshipman's Hope (1994)

Nick Seafort is a lowly Middy on Hibernia on her seventeen-months long voyage to Hope Nation. A freak accident leaves the unwilling and inexperienced teenager in command of the vessel. Nick has to contend with mutiny, computer malfunction, rebellion, and alien attack as he faces challenges he has never been prepared to tackle. Despite his many errors, he acquits himself with astonishing ability and dignity. He will order executions, impress children into service, alienate everyone, including his closest friends, all in his unwavering sense of duty and the belief that he must do what a Captain must do to uphold the oaths he has sworn. An astounding debut.

Challenger's Hope (1995)

On his second voyage to New Hope, Nick loses his family to the aliens and just when his feverish efforts to manage the unravelling discipline on his ship are about to meet with success, a treacherous admiral leaves him stranded in space, in command of a wrecked ship, with dwindling supplies and without friends to face the mysterious aliens, rebellious crewmen, and no hope of survival. His commitment to his personal honor and the oaths he has sworn again put him on a collision course with everyone else... this time including himself.

Prisoner's Hope (1995)

Nick is back to Hope Nation and reeling from the psychological scars of his first two voyages. When the Admiral assigns him some makework duties, Nick finds himself deep in the affairs of the disgruntled and near-rebellious planters. After the Navy retreats in shambles following a particularly devastating attack of the mysterious aliens, Nick has to face a revolution along with an alien invasion. In the final desperate act to save the colony, Seafort must violate one of the most important laws of the U.N.

Fisherman's Hope (1996)

Nick is now a Commandant of the Naval Academy as in charge of training the next generation of officers. As he wrestles to master the ropes of this assignment, he recollects his own experiences from childhood and as a raw cadet. Just when things appear to settle after a frantic rescue mission in which he retrieves Annie from the slums of New York, the fish suddenly attack Home System and rapidly begin to overwhelm the fleet. As Earth lies defenseless, Nick has to make one last attempt to divert the aliens, but for this he has to make a terrible sacrifice.

Voices of Hope (1996)

Nick is a retired former Secretary General of the U.N. and tries to live out his remaining days in seclusion with wife Arlene and genius son Philip Tyre. However, when P.T. disappears in the streets of New York during a search for his troubled friend Jared Tenere, Nick has to confront the one responsibility in which he truly did fail and hear the neglected voices of the trannies. The narrative is told from give different viewpoints (none of which is Nick's) and works surprisingly well. As New York erupts in gruesome violence, the trannies must unite or lose their freedom... and Nick must help them and perhaps lose his life.

Patriarch's Hope (1999)

As the SecGen for a second time in his life, Nick confronts one of his greatest, and most painful, challenges. When an extremist environmental organization makes several attempts on his life to force a change in economic policy, the seemingly minor threat turns into a major political upheaval that threatens to unleash civil war on Earth... and this time Seafort's beloved Navy is also arrayed with the forces against him, along with the powerful Church. To save Earth from impending disaster and avert the tyranny of an arrogant Navy, the crippled Nick must risk not just his life, but the lives of those he holds most dear.

Children of Hope (2001)

The conclusion to the Seafort Saga sees Nick back on Hope Nation. When nearly killed by Derek Carr's confused teen son, the Captain must not only heal the young boy and save the nation he helped make independent from the clutches of the voracious Church, but he must face his nemesis, the Fish whom he mistakenly had thought had been killed. As he tries to rectify his mistakes and undo a genocide he'd committed, Nick must deal with his own faith in God. Told through Randy's eyes, the novel is a fitting conclusion to this worthy saga.