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Doopy the omicron Doople; science fiction vehicles in the Rocket McGee Series

Doopy the omicron Doople; science fiction vehicles in the Rocket McGee Series for kids, Rocket McGee:Back in Trouble! Book Two. Doopy is an omicron Doople.

Copyrighted Material from Rocket McGee: Back In Trouble!: “That name came from duple, a word meaning double or having two parts. Dooples were like deep-dive atmospheric exosuits, like the one developed in Canada by Nuytco Research Limited, complete with working arms and legs, except that a Doople was about twelve meters tall and had a double cockpit where an exosuit’s helmet or viewport would be.
The so-called double cockpit was actually two separate one-person mini-subs set side-by-side atop the Doople’s shoulders. They could detach from the main body for independent operation and either one of them could drive the Doople by itself. Inside the duple cockpit, it looked like the two capsules were joined into a single, larger cockpit, but that was just a holographic illusion created on the mini-subs’ interior panels.”

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Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble! Rocket tries to save the pilot of the Backfin

Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble! Rocket tries to save the pilot of the Backfin.

Brain configures Doopy to float on the ocean and Rocket rushes to help the pilot of the Backfin escape his cockpit after he crashes into the Doople. A Doople is like a deep-dive atmospheric exosuit, like the ones developed in Canada by Nuytco Research Limited, complete with working arms and legs, except that a Doople is about twelve meters tall and has a double cockpit where an exosuit’s helmet or viewport would be.

Copyrighted Material from Rocket McGee: Back in Trouble!: “Brain stopped ‘treading water’ with Doopy and let the Doople’s torso rise to float flat on the surface, face up, knees doubled under so his heavy plods wouldn’t pitch the bottom part of his torso back down in the water. In that position, the counterweight of the submersibles on his shoulders created a nice, level, and relatively flat deck about four meters long by four meters wide. The natural waterline was just under a meter from the surface of the deck. That could be adjusted, but if not, then Doopy’s torso would normally extend another two meters or so below the waterline.”

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The View from Faraway: The Kids’ Own Blog Is Coming Soon!

Robbie, Amelia, Chad, and Brain will soon post to the pages of RocketMcGee.com, under the Rocket Likes category; transcripts of conversations they had in person, or in the omninet. The kids really like to refine their understanding of things by sharing and talking them through. And, when they share the things that they really like and are meaningful to them, they want to share them as clearly as they can – and with a view from Faraway.

Chad once shared with them the beauty of the brainstorming process he’d observed at the University on Faraway, where he’d witnessed diverse frames of reference and points of view tangle into tapestries that none of the participants would likely have envisioned on his own. The kids wanted to try to capture that energy; that creative power.

The audio of their first conversation was quickly transcribed by a Scribblebot, and they could have just shoved that out into cyberspace, but they’ve continued to work on it with the help of a publishing AI, to include a description of their non-verbal interaction – like their facial expressions and gestures, grunts and groans, giggles and guffaws. Those were all very important parts of the conversation that wouldn’t be relayed in transcripts of audio alone. And now they find themselves in further discussions – now that they have to agree on what those non-verbal overtones actually were, or were meant to be, too…

“No… I did not ‘grin wryly and softly chuckle in quiet, knowing agreement’ – I grimaced and pointedly scoffed at that notion!”

See what I mean? It takes time. But, the kids have all agreed to let the publishing AI be the final arbiter for how best to characterize their non-words, […]

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Kids emerge from the Dymaxion Map Mural in the omicron Chairman’s office, in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling

The kids emerge from the Dymaxion Map Mural in the omicron Chairman’s office, in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling.

The Dymaxion Map Mural on Faraway Island is described in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling. The entire east wall of the Chairman’s Office on Faraway Island is a mosaic of Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map. The Dymaxion Map shows our world as one great island chain – almost a single island – strung across one great ocean. You may note that the Dymaxion Map in the Chairman’s Office is sort of upside down and a little bit canted compared to how it’s normally shown. But, what is up or down or canted in the universe? You can learn more about Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map at the Buckminster Fuller Institute.

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Cutaway view of a Golden Caterpillar Pod from Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling

Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! aka the Flight of the Golden Caterpillar features the Magnetic Levitation Vacuum Train (Maglev VacTrain) built by the Hephaestus Corporation to run through tunnels they dug deep into the earth to connect one city directly to another, anywhere in the world, and get there in as little as forty-two minutes! Here’s a rough illustration: a cutaway view of a Golden Caterpillar Pod from Rocket McGee:-Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling, as it makes its way towards the center of the earth, and the kids make their way towards the front of the train.

Cutaway view of a Golden Caterpillar Pod from Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling.

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Faraway Island – from the Rocket McGee Series

Faraway Island is fast becoming home base for most omicrons. It’s featured in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! – the first book in the Rocket McGee Series, written for kids aged 10 to 14 by Roan Reedling. Read the book to find out more about Faraway and the omicrons through the experiences of  four well-schooled and well-traveled but lonely young people about 12 years old who forge a reluctant and rocky alliance in a perilous, high-tech adventure to save one of their parents. Along the way, they discover friendship, a place in the world, and the super-human power to work together. Get a Virtual Tour of Faraway Island. It starts right here, at the Rocket McGee Blog, right now!

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Rocketwhoosh Releases Paperback Edition of Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble!

On 30 August 2014, Rocketwhoosh published the first Paperback edition of Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble!, Book One in the Rocket McGee Series geared for tweens and young teens. It’s available at Amazon.

 

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Faraway Island Video Tour based on excerpts from Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling

Here’s a Video Tour of Faraway Island, based on excerpts from Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling, Chapters 12 and 16: Faraway and Picnic. Just between you and me? These can be some of the drier passages in the book, but Chad insisted on taking the kids out for a tour and a picnic!

Check out the rest of the story in Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! available at the Amazon Kindle Store.

This Faraway Island Video Tour is narrated by our friend John O’Grady, from the publisher, Rocketwhoosh!

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Roan Reedling’s Review of Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! Review by the Author on Goodreads.com

Rocket McGee: Avoiding TroubleRocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! by Roan Reedling

Roan writes:
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I give it FOUR STARS out of five. Why so high, you ask? Well, I’m the author. Why not five stars, then? Ah, well! Read on, please!

I enjoy sharing books with bright young kids who are open to the wonder of the world we live in. I pre-read juvenile literature before I share it, of course. That’s my excuse for enjoying juvenile literature (and I’m sticking to it). Heck, that’s how I got into Harry Potter: pre-reading it for my niece just after it crossed the pond. Still, I appreciate a science and technology bent over magical fantasy – even if the technology is quite magical itself. And gifted, as I am, of a bright and shiny niece, I appreciate books that portray young women as strong, smart, and competent leaders. This book, as it turned out, makes the grade for me on both counts, with a good bit of fantastic technology (though nothing groundbreaking) and at least two strong female characters. The boys aren’t bad either.

I think the book has a nice action-adventure storyline too. You may find the line of action somewhat interrupted by development of the world it takes place in, but that often informs later goings-on. Still, sometimes it’s just plain old world-building. I hope you find that understandable, acceptable, and even entertaining in the first book of what’s intended to be a long series. I’m looking forward to the next book myself, and getting back into that world. Here’s a related tip: the book contains ongoing descriptions of Faraway Island. There’s a useful illustration […]

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Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! on Amazon Kindle!

Get Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! on Amazon Kindle!

On June 14th Rocketwhoosh! published Book One in the Rocket McGee Series: Avoiding Trouble! or Flight of the Golden Caterpillar. It’s currently available at the Amazon Kindle Store. If you’re the parent of a tween or young adult who likes to read, or just know one, check out Book One: Rocket McGee: Avoiding Trouble! at the Amazon Kindle Store . We, here at Rocketwhoosh! like to pre-read the books we share with our friends that are kids, and we recommend you do too. Not everyone’s tastes are the same!

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