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Jim Proctor
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Veronica Phoenix: Phoenix Series Book 1 Kindle Edition

by Jim Proctor (Author), Cynthia Shepp (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 40 ratings
Carl Wilkins, a successful man with a thriving business, loses everything and has to start over from scratch. His dogged determination quickly deteriorates when he finds that even his reputation is gone. With barely enough money to buy a cheap bottle of booze, and no prospects for employment, things look bleak until he receives an unusual job offer from a stranger who turns up just as Carl hits rock bottom. The perilous space salvage job is more than just a chance to rebuild his broken life. It is also a chance to strike back at SACOM, the people who ruined him. Carl, the best space salvage operator in the star system, bets his life that he can complete the job. Setting out in the Phoenix, a specially modified space freighter, Carl begins a dangerous mission to find and collect missing cargo pods from the dense asteroid belt. Struggling to remain alive in the belt while avoiding detection by SACOM ships, Carl learns that he may have as much to fear from the people who hired him as he does from SACOM. His chance to rebuild his life turns into a desperate race across the galaxy in hopes of finding a safe haven where no one will ever find him.
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  1. Book 1 of 2
    Phoenix Series
  2. Print length
    290 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    February 27, 2015
  5. File size
    2.3 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00U490ZG6
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 27, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.3 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 40 ratings

About the author

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Jim Proctor

Jim Proctor

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Jim Proctor has worked as a research engineer and scientist for more than 42 years. An avid reader of science-fiction and fantasy since high school, he began writing his first novel around 2009. He also enjoys writing short stories, and loves a good plot twist.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
40 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers enjoy this science fiction adventure for its fast-paced narrative and complex plot. The book features well-developed characters and realistic human interactions and dilemmas, with one customer noting the strong scientific conceptualizations. Customers praise the writing quality.

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13 customers mention "Story length"11 positive2 negative

Customers enjoy the length of the story, describing it as an excellent fast-paced complex science fiction tale.

"Veronica Phoenix is a science fiction story with a healthy dose of some of my favorite ingredients: adventure, suspense, greed, and love...." Read more

"...The story is paced just right with sufficient action, dialogue and twists to keep the reader engaged...." Read more

"Jim Proctor creates a unique and complex science fiction tale in Veronica Phoenix, one with all the complexity of a political drama mixed with..." Read more

"...The writing is good, the story had/has potential, if only it hadn't spent so many chapters covering Carl's time in space recovering the lost cargo,..." Read more

8 customers mention "Character development"8 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the well-developed characters in the book, with one customer noting the realistic human interactions and dilemmas.

"...It's science fiction with realistic human interactions and dilemmas. Underlying is a life lesson that makes the ending very satisfying...." Read more

"...The characters are genuine, allowing the reader to become attached…you want to see what will happen to them as the story progresses...." Read more

"...The characters are intricate and well developed; this point is best proven through the titular character of Veronica, who is nothing more than an..." Read more

"...-fi galactic space tale of intrigue creatively focuses on character introspection and interaction, from corrupt machinations to empathetic emotions,..." Read more

5 customers mention "Believable storytelling"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the believable storytelling in the book, with one customer noting the strong scientific conceptualizations.

"...World building in the book was simple, yet creative, and completely believable and easy to understand, and therefore very satisfying...." Read more

"...The characters are intricate and well developed; this point is best proven through the titular character of Veronica, who is nothing more than an..." Read more

"...The scientific conceptualizations are strong enough to maintain a realism to the action in space...." Read more

"...Typically I feel like I get lost in SciFi, but this all felt so believable and Iike the author actually added some of his own technical knowledge to..." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well written, with one mentioning it's a quick read.

"...All in all, I felt this was a well written book and would recommend it to any Science Fiction fans out there." Read more

"...The writing is good, the story had/has potential, if only it hadn't spent so many chapters covering Carl's time in space recovering the lost cargo,..." Read more

"A great story with a nice twist of an ending. It's a quick read, I finished it over a weekend, but it's quick because it keeps moving...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Jeremiah
    5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying Space Adventure
    Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Veronica Phoenix is a science fiction story with a healthy dose of some of my favorite ingredients: adventure, suspense, greed, and love.

    The Protagonist, Carl, is easy to like and Proctor's development of this character was outstanding. That isn't to say he doesn't have some flaws, but don't we all?

    World building in the book was simple, yet creative, and completely believable and easy to understand, and therefore very satisfying. Some sci-fi books have you lost in the minutiae and checking back to review what was what...did not experience that at all.

    Space travel was fun. I particularly enjoyed the role of AI in the novel.

    It's science fiction with realistic human interactions and dilemmas. Underlying is a life lesson that makes the ending very satisfying.

    Nice work, Mr. Proctor!
    5 Stars
    One person found this helpful
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  • Mike Wolff
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Science Fiction Story
    Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Veronica Phoenix was a good Science Fiction story. I enjoyed it throughout. Carl Wilkins is a salvager that is employed to collect items from SACOM cruisers that were nearly destroyed in an ambush. What Carl doesn’t know is that he is being set up.
    The story follows how Carl deals with a major loss in his life and whether or not he will make the ‘right’ choice when faced with the facts. The story is paced just right with sufficient action, dialogue and twists to keep the reader engaged. The characters are genuine, allowing the reader to become attached…you want to see what will happen to them as the story progresses.
    As I read the story, I felt I was going to be disappointed in the ending, but with a few keystrokes, the author threw in a twist that changed my preception of how it would end. I was satisfied with the outcome, although I felt the ending was sort of abrupt. All in all, I felt this was a well written book and would recommend it to any Science Fiction fans out there.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jon Messenger
    5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising complexity in an inanimate character
    Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Jim Proctor creates a unique and complex science fiction tale in Veronica Phoenix, one with all the complexity of a political drama mixed with strong elements of a murder mystery. The characters are intricate and well developed; this point is best proven through the titular character of Veronica, who is nothing more than an AI program. Yet, despite being a set of codes and predictable responses to inquiries, Proctor creates a brilliant tete a tete between her and the human protagonist. The book's third act takes an unexpected but enjoyable turn. When I heard he was writing its sequel, I wasn't sure where it would go considering the ending of book 1, but that just intrigues me all the further to pick up the next book.

    Exceptional work and I look forward to book 2!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jim Rice
    3.0 out of 5 stars Got Bored.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    The start of the book was fast and exciting, started off with a surprise attack that left the SACOM fleet decimated. The captain of one of the vessels is the focus of the beginning of the book and the mistakes he made during the battle. His last act was to falsify information about the security of his vessel. Jump to Carl, a professional salvage operator. He is offered a once in a lifetime contract to salvage certain items from the SACOM fleet by none other than the previous captain mentioned earlier. Things go wrong, very wrong. Carl ends up losing his ship, his business and all his money all because the previously mentioned captain set him up. Carl is approached with a new chance to turn things around, here is where the story started to get boring. He is given a ship piloted by an AI to retrieve some cargo that SACOM lost. Taking the job, Carl spends months in space hunting for the cargo while his ship keeps falling apart around him. Granted the ship falling apart was amusing in a twisted sense of the term, over all the story got down right boring. I found that I was forcing myself to continue to read, but I just gave up. Now an earlier post indicated that the story might pick up, but I don't know and I can't bring myself to finish the book. The writing is good, the story had/has potential, if only it hadn't spent so many chapters covering Carl's time in space recovering the lost cargo, it might have kept my interest. Since I never leave a book completely unread, I will most likely try this book again in a year or so, but as of right now I just got to bored with it to finish.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Kerry L. Reis
    4.0 out of 5 stars Corruption and Betrayal in Sci-Fi Space Tale
    Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    After a SACOM fleet of spaceships fend off an ambush by Xetian spaceships out beyond the asteroid belt, Carl Wilkins’ salvage team is hired by a SACOM department to head out and recover valuable pods and materials from the damaged ships at the ambush site. However, he is unaware that he is heading off with false information and a shady contract, which winds up killing four of his team and sets him up under a false conviction that closes his business and leaves him bankrupt. So when Carl is hired under suspicious circumstances to fly a Phoenix spaceship to secretly recover valuable material still trapped on the damaged ships, he decides on a different course of action. This sci-fi galactic space tale of intrigue creatively focuses on character introspection and interaction, from corrupt machinations to empathetic emotions, in order to drive its engaging plot. The scientific conceptualizations are strong enough to maintain a realism to the action in space. However, some elements are lightly explained or over-coincidental to make them appear to be forced plot elements, but they are not the main force in a very engaging science fiction story of action, corruption, and redemption.
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  • ValleyGirl
    5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    There were so many things I liked about this book, and that’s saying a lot considering I almost never read this genre. I’d read the short romance by this author and liked his writing style and storytelling so I gave this one a shot. Typically I feel like I get lost in SciFi, but this all felt so believable and Iike the author actually added some of his own technical knowledge to his imaginative world. The story kept me interested and though there were multiple parts, it was still easy to follow. Carl, the main character, was fun and likable, and I loved how the story showed how his life turned out. It was definitely not what I expected.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Brian Kitchen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Sci-Fi
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I had read and thoroughly Jim Proctor’s Novella ‘Made in the Stars’ and on the strength of it, got ‘Veronica Phoenix’ the first book in the ‘Phoenix series to read. I was not disappointed and thoroughly enjoyed it. The storyline was very good, as was the main character, Carl Wilkins, a successful businessman who loses everything and has to start all over again from scratch. I won’t spoil the book for potential readers by giving the plot away, but will only say that I was engrossed in it. I can thoroughly recommend the book and am very much looking forward to reading the ‘Search for the Phoenix’, the second book in the series
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  • Rebecca Pavia
    4.0 out of 5 stars A good, easy read.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Sci-fi isn't my first choice in books, so I started this one with an expectation that I wouldn't find it easy to read. However, I can now say that I might consider this genre more often.
    This wasn't so technical that you had to have a degree in astrophysics to read it. The characters were easy to get to know, the world easy to understand, and the plot easy to get in to.
    I struggled a bit through the first chapter as the pace was quite fast and a little jumpy. However, after that I found myself hooked and keen to see what happened to the main character; a man I found myself sympathising with very quickly. The author made me invested in his life - and that's always a winner for me.
    Overall, a nice, comfortable book to read and as I said, one that just might make sci-fi go a little higher up my reading list.
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  • Tribalchick
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good sci-fi read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Bad judgement by Captain Benjamin Segal, ordering the space cruiser Callaway to turn and face a Xetian attack, begins the sequence of events that brings Carl Wilkins, reportedly the best salvage operator around, to sign a contract for one million credits, changing his life forever.

    The characters in this book are well conceived, I especially liked Lansing and Forbes, and the story is crafted beautifully, allowing the reader to feel themselves upon the ships as they forge into space. Carl Wilkins is a likeable protagonist and I loved his interactions with Billy and Veronica.

    I thoroughly enjoyed this book, had trouble putting it down at times and I really hope there is a sequel as I wanted more by the end. If you're looking for a sci-fi read, not too heavy on the tech but with a cracking story and great characters, look no further!
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