Showing results by author "Ken Barrett" in All Categories

A story of survival… Twelve-year-old Alan Smith had everything going for him; he was athletic, popular, and excelled scholastically. The only problem was that his parents were criminals. The lies he was forced to tell to protect his parents isolated him; his entire life was based on deception. On April 23, 1967, the lies ended. That night, the police kicked in the door to his home and took his parents away. With that, every relationship in his life fell apart. His extended family abandoned him out of shame, and friendships based on dishonesty crumbled and collapsed. Alan soon found ...

An uninformed choice… Eli Thompson lived an idyllic life as a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park until an innocent fling with a divorced woman delivered a vengeful husband to his door. Can change… Convicted of manslaughter, Eli is sentenced to a life of hard labor on the Moon. In time, he settles in and meets Anna, and a budding romance begins. Everything… When alien creatures rise from beneath the lunar surface to annihilate a remote mining expedition, an exploratory mission is mounted to investigate. With nothing to lose, Eli and Anna volunteer. What they find is beyond ...

Throughout the universe, life hangs in a delicate balance. An unstoppable robotic horde is marching through space, extinguishing every civilization they come across that is unlike their creators. Earth has already fallen, and it’s up to Cody and the crew of the Pioneer Starship to save the survivors. In the exciting conclusion of the Plague of Stars trilogy, Cody and the Pioneer crew will lead the Earth armada to the edge of the galaxy and beyond. On their way, they befriend advanced alien races and gain alliances that come together, hoping to defeat an enemy that has already eradicated ...

The year is 2340; nations have fallen, and the world has emptied. In North America, the last remnants of civilization are a few walled city-states ruled by autocrats. In Nash City, Kyle and Lara live a double life. During the day, they work at the technology center as engineers, while at night, they meet with the resistance movement working against the government. In their jobs, they are tasked with building a time machine that their leaders intend to use to alter the past and change the present. But the physics of time travel won’t bend to appease their rulers; those they send back will ...

Within cyberspace, an escaped entity awaits. Mike Collins isn’t part of the Silicon Valley cool crowd, but that’s about to change. He’s created a product that will revolutionize society and make him rich, the only downside is that it’s haunted by a ghostly little girl hiding within the internet. Melissa Taylor is an attractive socially gifted project manager with a successful boyfriend. Her life seems perfect, but something is missing, and maybe her friend Mike is part of the answer. FBI Agent John Ripley is dedicated to protecting the government status quo. He has been tasked with ...

The Invasion Arrives An enemy armada is on the way to Earth, intent on erasing humanity. Returning home with bad news is hard, especially when 458 years have passed since their departure. Time dilation from traveling beyond the speed of light has extended their lives, but the world they left behind and hope to save has forgotten them. The Pioneer crew must convince the government to build an armada of ships so a portion of the population can escape the robot incursion. Their celebrity status helps, yet they can only spirit away a tiny portion of society. The rest must burrow deep into ...

A stand-alone novel, 2nd in the Extinction series. Throughout decades of military service, Earl Koke has never met a challenge he couldn’t surmount or an enemy he couldn’t pummel into submission. Now, with his career nearing its end, he looks forward to retirement and enjoying a peaceful easy life. When a massive solar storm threatens to reduce the Earth to ashes, Earl is among the last few to reach the safety of the ark starships waiting in orbit. As the vessels prepare to leave, mankind’s survival seems certain, but sabotage to their navigation system sends them millions of ...

A stand-alone novel, 4th in the Extinction series. As an escaped slave, Oscar believes his troubles are over, but from across the universe an omnipotent alien intellect has other plans. The lost progeny of a scorched Earth barely survives aboard ancient decrepit starships, lost in outer space. Street gangs and slave markets rule the ships, while Oscar guards a safe haven for others fleeing bondage. As gangs battle for supremacy, their ship is plunged into darkness. A Signal from deep space has taken control and will force the crews onto a dangerous path of contrition and reunification. To ...

Humanity’s first contact with an alien race occurred in 2177. Oddly, it took the form of a rebroadcast of an Earth radio show from 1924 that was transmitted from a star 200 light-years away. Cody Cogan, an engineer working at the Austin Space Center, dismisses the transmission as a prank. However, his opinion changes a year later when the radio show is abruptly replaced with alien plans for a faster-than-light spaceship. Political leaders believe the new data is an invitation to visit their stellar neighbors. Cody is selected as part of the crew that will bring government representatives ...

A stand-alone novel, 3rd in the Extinction series. We may survive the fires of heaven, but can we escape ourselves? No one knows that Liam Collins is an android. How could they? He’s completely human in every aspect and fully self-aware. Like many others, he has recently taken refuge in a subterranean enclave high in the Rocky Mountains. War and famine have ravaged mankind, but he’s safe for the moment, but that won’t last for long. A massive solar flare is about to consume the surface of the planet, and a new religion is rising that worships the cleansing fire that will purge the ...

A tale of a dying man riding a motorcycle across America, hoping to recapture the happiness of his youth. Logan’s life began the day he died. He wakes in the hospital and is told he has a short time to live. Leaving the wreckage of his life behind, he strikes out across the USA on his motorcycle, intent on recapturing a time of happiness from his youth. Along the way, he meets Sarah, a long-lost love that is also on her way home. As their relationship rekindles, disturbing memories of the accident that drove them apart return. Each believed the other died and had lived in sorrow for ...

A stand-alone novel, 1st in the Extinction series. Liam Collins was just an engineering geek, not the stuff of heroes. After centuries of war, nations have fallen and civilization is on the verge of collapse. Within the state of Colorado, only two walled city-states remain. To the south, Pike City is at war with a loose confederation of tribes ensconced within the Rocky Mountains, while in the north, Flatiron City strives to remain neutral by selling weapons to both sides. In Flatiron City, Liam develops the technology that is bartered to keep the peace. But his simple life and the delicate...

War has come to Whiskey Gulch. Alan Smith (aka Rat) exists at the edge of society. He has lived on the streets since he was a young boy and owes his survival to a refuge for discarded children in Whiskey Gulch run by an outlaw motorcycle club. As an adult, Rat lives within two realms, that of an outlaw biker and as a competitor in the violent world of underground martial arts. His history has isolated him and continues to push him toward the life of a criminal, and yet his greatest desire is to escape his fate and find normalcy in an everyday life. After a car accident causes a near-death ...

Liam, Rose, Jack, and the rest of the android family return for the conclusion of the Extinction series. Do androids dream? They shouldn’t, but a vision compels Liam to travel west to a city that stands above the western sea, surrounded by the ruins of a forgotten civilization. Upon arrival he is asked to build more of his kind, but will they be slaves or free people? Left behind, Rose becomes the matriarch of a family founded by the son of her best friend. But after 200 years, the birthrate has fallen, and the progeny she cared for is gone; without a purpose, what will she do? In a ...

A city under siege; as armies clash, two broken people will rise to reclaim their humanity. Vegas City is among the last fortified cities in America, but it’s in peril. Despotic leaders oppress a starving population, while outside the gates an anarchist horde prepares to attack. Within the city, Eris Johnson is called the Witch; her police force monitors the citizenry and hangs those suspected of sedition. Driven by an abusive childhood, she seeks safety and will crush anyone that gets in the way of her rise to unassailable power. Beyond the wall, Tom Deimos works for the invading tribes ...

The conclusion of the TimeStorm series: Kyle and Lara returned from the past, but can they survive the present? In Nash City, only five years have passed while they lived rich and fulfilling lives in the Neolithic Era. While they were away, the Nash City emptied, and the previous aristocratic government was replaced by fascism. They must escape the city but will first destroy their time machine, then bargain with the enigmatic mole people for a route through the decaying subway tunnels beneath the city wall. Once free, they find themselves in a landscape rife with violence, pockmarked with ...

The TimeStorm Series continues: Opposing tyranny has a cost, and life in 4000 BC will be their sentence. Captured by the Nash City Police, Kyle and Lara are sent back to the Neolithic Era via the time machine they invented. The process will erase their memories and force their spirit to merge with an existing host body. Separated by hundreds of miles, will they find each other again? In the far north, Rald wakes at the edge of a stream after a ghostly spirit touches his mind. Perhaps it is an omen that he is on the right path to the lost city of Atlan. If he finds it, the trade goods he ...

In this podcast Russell Kilbourn, Professor of Literature and Film at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario discusses classic Italian movies, old and new with Ken Barrett, host of the Brainland podcast, visual artist and former neuropsychaitrist. Each episode focuses on one film. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brainland the podcast navigates the boundary between neuroscience, the arts and humanities with the occasional tangental trip. It began by the neuro-historical background to the Brainland the opera and is a Brainland Collective production. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.