SŬBMARINE-ËR: 30 Years of Hijinks & Keeping the Fleet Afloat
(Lieutenant Commander Jerry Pait’s semi-autobiographical c...)
Lieutenant Commander Jerry Pait’s semi-autobiographical collection of sixty stories compiled by Robert G. Williscroft, recounts his thirty years in and around the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet. Ranging from light-hearted to wrenching, all are poignant inside looks at naval operations rarely seen by outsiders. Topics include the real story behind the shuttle Challenger tragedy, risking his own life underwater, discovering a Soviet spy living across the street, surviving when a DELTA Rocket engine ignites, critical missions, and the everyday lives of men and women of the fleet. Dive into Sŭbmarine-ër for hijinks and breathtaking adventure with this poignant memoir by a true American hero.
(Following the dramatic events in The Starchild Compact, t...)
Following the dramatic events in The Starchild Compact, the starship Starchild departs on a 185-year interstellar journey. Meanwhile, the Iapetus Federation in cooperation with the Founders, descendants of the people who originally constructed Iapetus, expands to include the Mirs Complex at L-4, the Lunar Complex, a new habitat being constructed at L-5, the growing Mars settlements, and several asteroids including Daphne and Ceres.
On Earth, America turns away from its world leadership position to focus on internal matters and the idea of an all-inclusive, multicultural society. Saeed Esmail, the stowaway Jihadist who played a significant role in The Starchild Compact, becomes the guiding prophet of a new form of Islam that quickly dominates the vanquished Persian Caliphate territories, and threatens the rest of the planet. Aided by Founder Asshur, the besieged Israelis reluctantly forge a new homeland on Mars, while the United States balkanizes into a half-dozen smaller units dominated by the Lone Star Conservancy under the leadership of Texan Sam Houston, who had earlier established the Lone Star Settlement on Mars.
Science does not stand still. Founder researchers develop a longevity treatment that has the potential to extend human life indefinitely. The Starchild Institute, headed by former U.S. President Marc Bowles, develops advanced spacecraft, and a new form of transportation based on artificial wormholes. As the global Jihad on Earth heats up, most of the planet falls under the domination of Saeed Esmail, with only the Lone Star Conservancy, Columbia Freehold, Australia, and New Zealand left as independent territories. The Institute opens evacuation portals between Earth and Iapetus to rescue as many people as possible.
While Earth sinks into medieval barbarism, the focus of human activity shifts from Earth to the Iapetus Federation as humans settle virtually every potentially habitable spot in the Solar System and begin planning for expansion into the rest of the Galaxy.
(Are we the children of starchildren?
The Starchild Co...)
Are we the children of starchildren?
The Starchild Compact is an adventure of heroic proportions, commencing on a planet 500 lightyears distant, arriving here just a few years from now, and ending up in the far distant expanses of the Universe.
Is Saturn’s moon Iapetus an artifact? To find out, Jon Stock takes his international exploration team on a 1.4 billion km journey to Saturn, but will Jihadist stowaway Saeed Ismail succeed in sabotaging the mission? On Iapetus, Jon Stock and his team meet the Founders. Where are they from? How did they get here? How will they impact Earth and the Solar System?
Will the Founder’s presence signal the end of humanity, or will it pave the way for a joint push to the distant reaches of the Galaxy?
The Starchild Compact is hard SciFi reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke or James P. Hogan, with a geopolitical twist worthy of Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler.
(A story about using Special Relativity to your advantage....)
A story about using Special Relativity to your advantage. Baby Billy is born into the circle that includes Starman Jones and Space Pup. They want to take Billy with them on their journeys throughout the universe. But Baby Billy needs to be older. So Starman Jones and Space Pup journey to Sirius and back, traveling very, very fast. The result is that when they return, they arrive on Billy’s 9th birthday, although they, themselves, have barely aged. Thus, they become Billy’s Relativity Birthday Present. Endorsed by Dr. Frank Drake of SETI fame.
The Chicken Little Agenda: Debunking "Experts'" Lies
(Dr. Robert G. Williscroft firmly establishes that the sky...)
Dr. Robert G. Williscroft firmly establishes that the sky is not falling. By using scientific research and solid reasoning, he explains some of the most disturbing problems facing our nation including global warming, the safety of nuclear power, the politics of education, and the oxymoron of government efficiency. With a clear message, he discerns what is true from what is merely Chicken Little gibberish.
(Programmed basic SCUBA instruction keyed to various divin...)
Programmed basic SCUBA instruction keyed to various diving manuals.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00071E66Q/
1984
Advanced diver (PIT diver series)
(Programmed Advanced SCUBA instruction keyed to various di...)
Programmed Advanced SCUBA instruction keyed to various diving manuals.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00071E670/
1984
Diving Book
You Can Dive
(A book about the essentials of scuba diving. Information ...)
A book about the essentials of scuba diving. Information on equipment and training.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015M0ANY/
1985
Mac McDowell Mission Book One
Operation Ivy Bells
(A super-secret, off-the-books spy organization; a securit...)
A super-secret, off-the-books spy organization; a security-clearance starting at Top Secret and going up from there; an attack by giant squid during a thousand-foot dive while breathing an exotic gas; a cat’s whisker escape from death during a three-day decompression – and that’s just the first two chapters of Operation Ivy Bells, before the action really gets underway.
In a fast-paced, personal narrative, J.R. “Mac” MacDowell details a breathtaking series of events during a super-secret intelligence gathering operation at the height of the Cold War. Riding the nuclear submarine Halibut, Mac and his saturation diving team surreptitiously enter the Soviet-controlled Sea of Okhotsk on a proof-of-concept mission. They install a tap on an underwater communications cable at 400 feet, and narrowly escape death when a storm snaps Halibut’s anchor cables. They retrieve missile parts from a Soviet missile-test splash-zone, getting caught in a sonar-web set by the crafty skipper of an old Soviet diesel submarine. Mac’s divers temporarily disable the sub, and Halibut escapes to Guam, dogged by the sub Skipper.
Having proved the concept, they return in a Halibut outfitted with skids so she can sit on the bottom to attach a 12-thousand-pound pod to the cable for future retrieval. In the missile splash-zone, they lock in deadly underwater combat with Soviet divers. With the free world at stake, they capture one and kill the rest. Halibut’s submariners and saturation divers finally return home without ever publicly revealing their crucial contribution to winning the Cold War, receiving an unpublicized Presidential Unit Citation.
(After Mac McDowell recovers from serious injuries he rece...)
After Mac McDowell recovers from serious injuries he received in Operation Arctic Sting, he is assigned as Executive Officer on USS Teuthis. ComSubLant tasks Teuthis and Mac with a new mission: Lay SOSUS arrays in the southern Atlantic and off Thurston Island, Western Antarctica—Operation White Out. While laying the Atlantic SOSUS array with the Orca Borysko’s help, Teuthis tangles with hostile Argentine subs. Later, after laying the second SOSUS array off Thurston Island and bringing the cable ashore, Mac and his team place the SOSUS data transmitter on a nearby mountain peak, aided by a helicopter from Palmer Station, but the chopper is shot down by a missile fired from a Chinese Han-class sub. Teuthis discovers a Taiwanese underwater oil operation near Thurston Island. A Taiwanese AIP (Air Independent Propulsion) sub, the ROC Hǎi Bào, that was working the wellhead, exchanges fire with and disables the Chinese sub on the seafloor, suffering damage herself. Teuthis assists Hǎi Bào, and they rescue survivors from the stricken Chinese sub. ComSubPac directs Teuthis to escort Hǎi Bào and an underwater tanker to Taiwan under the cover of the largest military marine exercise since World War II—PacEx89. Despite the protection provided by three U.S. fast attack subs and two surface combatants, during the transit, another Chinese Han-class sub and a previously unknown North Korean AIP sub attack Teuthis.
Will Mac and Teuthis complete their mission, or will they finally meet their watery graves on the Pacific Ocean abyssal plain?
https://robertwilliscroft.com/operation-white-out
2023
Mac McDowell Missions Book Three
Operation Arctic Sting
(While Mac McDowell is with his sweetheart, Kate, in Kodia...)
While Mac McDowell is with his sweetheart, Kate, in Kodiak, Alaska, they are attacked by a Soviet sleeper cell and nearly killed because of Mac’s involvement in the take-over of the stranded Soviet Alfa sub off Pt. Barrow, Alaska. Mac and his team return to the stricken Alfa on the nuclear sub USS Teuthis. Using the DSRV Mystic, they board and assume control of the Soviet sub. For the next 31 days, they drive the nearly automated sub through the Arctic ice pack, harassed by Soviet subs whose mission is to retake or sink the Alfa. With a non-functional reactor, they are forced to recharge the Alfa’s batteries daily while submerged under the ice pack, using divers from Teuthis. They confront determined Soviet sub skippers, Soviet Spetsnaz divers, hostile marine life—Orcas, Polar Bears, Greenland Sharks, and a harsh Arctic winter under the ice pack.
Their survival depends on overcoming all these obstacles, and making it out alive is not guaranteed.
(A super-secret, off-the-books submarine operation during ...)
A super-secret, off-the-books submarine operation during the Cold War. In a fast-paced, personal narrative, J.R. “Mac” MacDowell details a breathtaking series of events during a super-secret acoustic array laying operation under the Arctic ice pack at the height of the Cold War. Riding the nuclear submarine USS Teuthis, Mac and his saturation diving team surreptitiously enter the frozen Arctic waters to place two Top Secret SOSUS arrays on the seafloor under the ice pack. They face a giant Camaneroceras (thought to be long extinct), polar bears, Greenland sharks, Orcas, and other hungry marine critters. They are dogged by a high-performance new Soviet nuclear submarine that is determined to prevent Teuthis from laying the arrays.
Mac and his team find themselves in an under-ice, hand-to-hand battle with Soviet divers that results in the surreptitious capture of one of the Soviet subs inside U.S. territorial waters.
(Braxton Thorpe has discovered a threat to the entire Sola...)
Braxton Thorpe has discovered a threat to the entire Solar System, but he has a problem: he's dead.
Frozen at death, he awakens to find himself uploaded into an electronic matrix. Exploring beyond the matrix and the larger GlobalNet, he discovers the Oort, a distributed electronic entity older than humanity, with an unnerving secret: aliens wiped out nearly all life on Earth once, and are coming back to do it again.
The mathematical entity that is Thorpe has to find a way to convince humans of the threat, and in time to do something about it. But how, and what?
If you've read Niven's A World Out of Time or Taylor's We Are Legion, the opening of Icicle will only seem familiar. Buckle up for a wild ride; you ain't seen nothing.
(Can you drop from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with just a hards...)
Can you drop from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with just a hardshell wingsuit? Navy SEAL Derek “Tiger” Baily and his SEALS Winged Insertion Command (SWIC) develop an experimental Gryphon hardshell wingsuit that can do just that. Eventually, when the presidential front-runner is seized by pirates for ransom, Baily’s 6-man SWIC team must hurtle around the world, staging critical re-entry for a rescue, challenged to solve life-or-death problems with only seconds to spare. Can they survive? Will they effect the rescue? Join Tiger Baily through all four adventures in sci-fi master Robert G. Williscroft’s Daedalus series, now collected for the first time as The Daedalus Files: SEALS Winged Insertion Command (SWIC).
https://robertwilliscroft.com/the-daedalus-files
2020
The Second Oort Chronicle
The Oort Federation: To the Stars
(As the Oort Federation becomes a major force in the Solar...)
As the Oort Federation becomes a major force in the Solar System, Braxton Thorpe passes the Federation chairmanship to former US President John Butler. Thorpe’s group offers humanity virtual immortality, but Isidor Orlov and his Udachny Enterprises oppose their every move. While terraforming Mars for more living space, the Mars Reds prove formidable as resisters. If the Asterian starship fighter pilots are released, will they align with Phoenix or Udachny, and who will develop the right FTL technology? In this tense space adventure, Thorpe, his team, and Max the tabby cat travel to Proxima Centauri and beyond to the Aster system, 84 lightyears distant. Will Thorpe bring together humans and Asterians in their quest for intergalactic travel? Will long life prove more than mere humans can handle?
(Slingshot is a love story—about a man, a woman, another m...)
Slingshot is a love story—about a man, a woman, another man, another woman, some gender bending…and a machine, the largest ever built.
Slingshot is a mystery—about a missing aviatrix, a conspiracy, a true-believer. Slingshot is an adventure—about following a dream, the ocean-deep, outer space.
Slingshot is about constructing the first space launch-loop stretching 2,600 km between Baker and Jarvis Islands in the Equatorial Pacific. It’s about high finance, intrigue, unlimited ambition, heroism, fanaticism, betrayal…and about opening space to the common person.
With a cast of 69, Slingshot takes you from Seattle’s world financial district, to the ocean bottom at 5,000 meters off Baker Island, to the edge of space 80 km above. You play with dolphins and battle sharks. You fly and sail and dive, you work and play and love across the vast panorama of an Equatorial Pacific being put to leash to serve humanity’s surge into outer space.
While its accurate science and precise engineering will appeal to hard science-fiction buffs, Slingshot’s major focus is the grand journey, the opening of outer space to the common person by men and women who loom larger than life as they work, play, and love.
Retired submarine officer, deep-sea and saturation diver, scientist, author of 20 books and hundreds of articles, and a lifelong adventurer. Holds degrees in Marine Physics and Meteorology and a doctorate for developing a system to protect SCUBA divers in contaminated water.
Background
Dr. Robert G. Williscroft, son of Paul and Gladys Williscroft. Grew up in Germany. Enlisted in US Submarine Service as sonar tech. Advanced through Lt. Transferred to NOAA Corps. Spent 22 months underwater, a year in the equatorial Pacific, 3 years in the Arctic ice pack, and a year at the Geographic South Pole. Following retirement, ran several businesses and eventually became a full-time writer—a prolific author of nonfiction, submarine technothrillers & science fiction. Lives in Centennial, Colorado, with the girl of his dreams & her 2 cats
Education
Bachelor of Science in Oceanography and Meteorology, University Washington, Seattle, 1969. Master of Science in Engineering, California Coast University, Santa Ana, 1983. Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, California Coast University, Santa Ana, 1983.
Career
Enlisted United States Navy, 1963, advanced through grades to O-3, retired, 1986. Sonar technician United States Navy—USS John Marshall (SSBN-611B), Groton, Connecticut, 1963-1966. A-weapons officer, comm officer United States Navy—USS Von Steuben (SSBN-632B), Charleston, South Carolina, 1970—1972.
Navigator, operations officer United States Navy—USS Ortolan (ASR-22), Philadelphia, 1973-1974. Operations officer, 1st Lieutenant United States Navy—USS Pigeon (ASR-21), San Diego, 1974-1976. Officer in Charge,Test Operations Group United States Navy—Submarine Development Group One, 1976-1977.
Officer in charge, West Coast National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration diving program National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, Seattle, 1978-1980, Officer in Charge, East and Gulf Coast National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration diving program Norfolk, Virginia. 1980-1981. Officer in Charge of Atmospheric Research, National Science Foundation, Amundson-Scott South Pole Station, 1981-1982. Fire marshall National Science Foundation, Amundson-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica, 1981-1982.
Chief Executive Officer Romar Books, Seattle, 1986-1991, Manuscripts International, Dayton, 1986-1991. Chief Staff Officer Hyperbaric Technologies, National City, California, 1991-1993. Series 7 stockbroker Morgan Stanley, Los Angeles, 1997-1998.
(Slingshot is a love story—about a man, a woman, another m...)
2018
Membership
Vice president Chamber of Commerce, Dayton, 1987—1988; State committeeman Republican Party, 1988—1990; Member of Kiwanis International (1st vp 1988-1989); Adventurers' Club Los Angeles (board member 2005-2010, editor 2005-2009); Mensa (life, Magazine editor 1992—2002); Free and Accepted Order of Masons (32° Scottish Rite Mason 1988); Colorado Authors’ League; Independent Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Authors; Science Fiction Writers of America; Libertarian Futurist Society; Military Officers’ Association of America; American Legion; and the NRA (life).
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
Physically fit despite numerous back operations.
Quotes from others about the person
"Dr. Robert G. Williscroft is a living Jack Ryan—a damn fine writer who has been there and done that."—Bob Luthan, VeteranCrowd.
Interests
Diving, writing, reading, travel
Connections
Married D. Christine Leidl, 1964 (divorced 1991). Married Viviana Amzel, 1994 (divorced 2001). Married Jill S. Mayer, 2011. One stepdaughter, Selena, two stepsons, Arthur and Robert (twins), and one biological son Jason.
Decorated Good Conduct medal United States Navy, National Service Defense medal, Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Patrol Pin (9), Unit Citation (2) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Antarctic Service medal with Winterover Pin. Recipient Special Achievement award, United States Department of Commerce, 1982.
Decorated Good Conduct medal United States Navy, National Service Defense medal, Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Patrol Pin (9), Unit Citation (2) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Antarctic Service medal with Winterover Pin. Recipient Special Achievement award, United States Department of Commerce, 1982.
Diver of the year—1988,
Washington State
Named Diver of the Year, Washington State Scuba Diving Council, 1987-1988.
Named Diver of the Year, Washington State Scuba Diving Council, 1987-1988.