Book Synopsis
ASTROPLANING
by Tony W. Arnold
"On the sea that's aquaplaning, in the air that's aeroplaning, and on the land, that's terraplaning. But by gum, sport, in outer space — THAT'S ASTROPLANING."
Florida, 1943. In a mosquito-infested clearing carved out of the Mosquito Lagoon backcountry, a stubborn, credit-financed rocket man named Jack Daff is building something the U.S. government hasn't authorized, insured, or entirely noticed yet: a spaceship. He's got a crew to match — a laconic metallurgist, a biscuit-baking mad scientist, a disinformation specialist who plants UFO stories in local papers for sport, a seventeen-year-old runaway with an engineer's eye, and at least one alien mechanic doing his best to pass for a Floridian.
But the swamp has other visitors. A pair of watchers on a nearby rise are debating whether to sabotage the launch — or simply keep admiring it a little too closely. A telepathic gyroscope is being built in a hospital sub-basement funded by a company that also happens to sell tonics. And somewhere above the frost line, a Council with very patient, very inhuman priorities is counting every month this launch gets delayed as a month closer to their own arrival.
Astroplaning is pulp science fiction the way it used to be written — swaggering, conspiratorial, and gleefully unreliable — a swamp-bound space race run by men who believe in rockets, and watched by beings who believe in something else entirely. Equal parts Rocketeer, backwoods tall tale, and Cold War flying-saucer paranoia, it's a novel for anyone who ever wondered what would've happened if the space program had started in a Florida swamp with duct tape, moonshine, and a very determined biscuit chef.
Buckle in. It's going to be a bumpy launch.
About The Author
Tony Arnold is the cryptonym under which Vernacular Ontologist and Tiki Misanthropologist Dr. Crabbe Rangoon publishes his creative fiction. Serving on renowned explorer Horst von Hesselbrut's last expedition, his subsequent endeavors included procurement journeys into Asia, the South Pacific and The Dark Continent. Distinguished as the Praetor Imprimitor of the Ordinis Orientalium Nasi Templum, he serves as the Intergalactic Attache for the Temple of Scientonomy. He is formally attached to the Ruling Council of The Spear of the Just and is Chancellor of the Ministry of Truth. He holds the Regent Chair of the Knights of the Eightfold Clover, and is an internet influencer. He's a Lifetime Honorary Member of the Slack Key Recessionists, and is also a member of the Dollar Shave Club. Dr. Rangoon resides in a stilt home above the waters near Candor-on-Asperger, where he writes and edits for the White Devil Press, and serves as a consultant to the National Department of Identification in Countercrypto Disinfotainment.