From Publishers Weekly
In the near future, an old-fashioned space race begins. Earth's energy crisis is coming to a head, and conventional alternative energies are falling short. There is increasing interest in the idea of high-orbit solar satellites that would collect the sun's direct, undiluted rays and beam energy down to the planet, but no one has yet successfully designed and launched one. Cash Carlson, a cowboy of the first order, hopes his Lone Star satellite will be the first. In his favor are incredible charisma, a top-drawer security expert, world-class press agents, money magicians, a mysterious computer genius known only as Max and Cash's new leading lady--a beauty with a mind for science and a love of space as great as his own. Cash has much to contend with, however: a proposition in the U.N. to internationally control any launched energy satellites; an aristocratic Frenchman--Jean-Claude Du Mont--with a severe Napoleonic complex; the leaching of funds by another competitor; and a great deal of serious sabotage, along with the usual problems of any space adventure. And looming in the skies may be an even greater threat. Dipping in and out of astrophysics lecture mode, the narration is light and fast paced. The characters are instantly recognizable but are not caricatures. While the ultimate outcome is never in any real doubt, each skirmish adds excitement, and the setting and technology are believable. With their fine storytelling skills and irredeemably good-guy hero, this space adventure from Kotani (a pseudonymous astrophysicist) and Roberts, coauthors of four novels including Act of God, will thrill even the most Earth-bound reader. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Each skirmish adds excitement, and the setting and technology are believable. With their fine storytelling skills and irredeemably good-guy hero, this space adventure from Kotani and Roberts will thrill even the most earthbound reader." --Publishers Weekly

"The authors have buffed up the chrome and tinted the windows to wow an audience segment more oriented to glitz and gore-and succeeded pretty well." --The San Diego Union Tribune


Review
"Each skirmish adds excitement, and the setting and technology are believable. With their fine storytelling skills and irredeemably good-guy hero, this space adventure from Kotani and Roberts will thrill even the most earthbound reader." --Publishers Weekly

"The authors have buffed up the chrome and tinted the windows to wow an audience segment more oriented to glitz and gore-and succeeded pretty well." --The San Diego Union Tribune


Book Description
Eric Kotani is a pen name used by a world class astrophysicist. He was the head of the astrophysics laboratory at the Johnson Space Center during the Apollo and Skylab missions and has since served as director of a NASA satellite observatory for fifteen years.

Kotani and John Maddox Roberts, an accomplished SF and mystery writer, join forces on Legacy of Prometheus, a thriller that tackles the biggest question the world will face in the coming century: an energy crisis.

Conventional methods for harnessing power are failing, but technology is racing to tackle the problem, seeking to generate energy with solar power. When the government announces it will guarantee a market for the first company to beam a gigawatt of energy to the planet, Cash Carlson and his Lone Star Space Systems get a jump on their rivals by constructing Prometheus, the solar powered satellite. Cash eventually teams up with the beautiful young journalist, Sachi Sasano, to play a dangerous game with desperate men. And it's not just control of the world's energy market at stake. It's also their lives.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Eric Kotani is a pen name used by a world class astrophysicist. He was the head of the astrophysics laboratory at the Johnson Space Center during the Apollo and Skylab missions and has since served as director of a NASA satellite observatory for fifteen years.

Kotani and John Maddox Roberts, an accomplished SF and mystery writer, join forces on Legacy of Prometheus, a thriller that tackles the biggest question the world will face in the coming century: an energy crisis.

Conventional methods for harnessing power are failing, but technology is racing to tackle the problem, seeking to generate energy with solar power. When the government announces it will guarantee a market for the first company to beam a gigawatt of energy to the planet, Cash Carlson and his Lone Star Space Systems get a jump on their rivals by constructing Prometheus, the solar powered satellite. Cash eventually teams up with the beautiful young journalist, Sachi Sasano, to play a dangerous game with desperate men. And it's not just control of the world's energy market at stake. It's also their lives.

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews

A ham-handed, sophomoric thriller about the international race to orbit solar-powered satellites and the struggle to keep outer space open for free enterprise. Pseudonymous astrophysicist Kotani and science fiction writer Roberts, veterans of four previous collaborations (Act of God, not reviewed, etc.), presumably get the science right. The problem is, all the technical stuff about rocketry, space stations, and solar energy is delivered by a cast of stiff characters in equally stiff dialogue. Cash Carlson, former government spook and hit man, is now the owner of Lone Star Space Systems. Committed to solar power because Earth's resources are dwindling, he's also vehemently in favor of privatizing all the technologies needed to make feasible the use of solar power. Ol' Cash—who likens himself to Buck Rodgers—also digs the fierce competition with Preston Reid, chair of Space Technologies, and the ultra-aristocratic Jean-Claude du Mont, head of the European Space Enterprise. Not only is du Mont determined to make France the world's dominant space power, but he also wants back his girlfriend, Sachi Sasano. A science writer and descendant of samurai, Sachi has hired on to work for the dashing but humble Cash. No `simpering coquette` she, Sachi can still erupt into "girlish giggling` at Cash's boyish charm. She's not laughing, though, when she realizes that du Mont has been behind the attempts on their lives and the sabotage of Cash's rockets. `Oh, Cash,` she says, `What kind of mad man are we dealing with?` Well, du Mont gets his via Cash's chief security guy, Jack Parker, grandson of Comanche chief Quanah Parker. (The number of scalping jokes should raise anyreader'shackles.) In the denouement, all the competitors simultaneously launch their SolarSats and rush to get there first. A slow-motion, hokey space opera.