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Carlos R. Tkacz
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The Void Within: The Cluster Saga Book One Kindle Edition

by Carlos R. Tkacz (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 183 ratings
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The 25th century. Humanity has discovered a new form of energy, the Source, derived from the very basis of life itself. Using this power to travel instantaneously through space, humans have spread through their corner of the galaxy and coalesced into two groups: the Coalition and the Inner Cluster. They are held in an uneasy economic and cultural relationship by their reliance on each other, the Coalition with the technology of the Source and the Inner Cluster with the materials to make it a usable form of energy. When rumors of conquest, political undergrounds, and alien contact threaten this balance of powers, it falls to three individuals to find the truth of the conspiracies swirling through their governments and to stave off a disastrous war. What they find in the process will change the course of humanity forever.

Praise for The Void Within:

"[A]n excellent work of science fiction that will surprise the reader with its freshness and new ideas."

"The dialog was interesting and believable. I enjoyed it and also the seriousness of the writing. It was ‘real’ without being technically laborious."

"[B]eautifully written."

"This is a book that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys space sci-fi, but who also craves a fresh look at space conflicts and ways to solve the problems with travel in the vastness of the universe."

"I was captured into the story by the ease of reading this dramatic, exciting and enthralling story which moves at a fast pace with massive, intriguing and very dramatic events."

"This book was a pleasure to read with an unexpected and extremely exciting ending. Highly recommended!"


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Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 3
    The Cluster Saga
  2. Print length
    270 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    March 13, 2019
  6. File size
    1942 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

From The BookLife Prize assessment:
Plot: This novel is a very well-wrought old-school space opera. It presents its characters with a problem to solve at the outset--an impending war between the independent Inner Cluster and the unified Coalition provoked by suspicious causes--and through their individual efforts to uncover the truth it elaborates a future in which humanity has exploited imaginative new technologies to colonize the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Its pieces fit together neatly and accommodate a number of unforeseeable twists.

Prose/Style: Tkacz's prose style is simple and direct, which serves his story well. The author has a considerable backstory about humanity's future to fill in over the course of the story, but he reveals it organically through the activities of his characters. This story never feels burdened with exposition or information dumps.

Originality: The broad themes of this story--the sanctity of individualism versus the benefits of organized society, military versus diplomatic responses to a threat--are common to much classic space opera fiction, but the author finds novel ways to express them through the incidents and events specific to his plot.

Character Development: The personalities of Tkacz's main characters are largely defined by the function they serve for the plot, but the author gives each an important role to play. Admiral Raasch is the military leader skeptical of the motives of the politicians he serves; Q'biin Khalihl, representative of the Inner Cluster, is an outsider to the Coalition forces represented by Raasch; and mediator Aasben Meiind is a diplomat endowed with a wild talent. The personal differences they demonstrate and their coordination as an integrated team underscore the novel's the themes of juxtaposed themes of individualism and community.

From the Author

While I have your attention, and before you get bored enough with my book to set it aside indefinitely, I'd like to say a few things. I promise I will keep this brief: THANK YOU! As a writer, I like telling stories and that presumes an audience. Thank you for being that audience, for even opening my book at all. This means the world to me, and, self-deprecation aside, I hope you find something in the next few hundred pages that interests you, sparks your imagination, makes you think, or, at the least, is just a good story.

-Carlos R. Tkacz

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07PML8NTJ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Self-Published (March 13, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 13, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1942 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 270 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 183 ratings

About the author

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Carlos R. Tkacz

Carlos R. Tkacz

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Carlos R. Tkacz is a teacher and writer from California and currently based in Las Vegas, where he is completing his PhD in English. When he isn't studying and teaching English or lost in a sci-fi world of his own making, he's probably traveling around looking for rocks to climb.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
183 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mark Schultz
5.0 out of 5 stars This story is quite mind blowing! I loved it.
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2019
Verified Purchase
What an elegant meal, Carlos serves up in this story. This galaxy-spanning saga delivers a very satisfying six-course meal. There is military action, multiple planets of diverse kinds, a touch of romance between enemies, and a hard look at human nature.
I have always promised no spoilers and this will be no exception, but it will be quite difficult to keep that promise. I don’t think I have ever picked inner dialogue as my favorite aspect of a book. This time, yes. I loved the action and the scene-setting was marvelous, not too much, just the right amount. I enjoyed the dialogue also, the characters stayed true to form.
The ending caught me by surprise. It has been several decades since reading Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, I was reminded of that larger-than-life story while reading this tale.
I award The Void Within 4.9 stars!
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Barry Melius
4.0 out of 5 stars Inviting world building, expansive plot, came close to a haunting ending
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2019
Verified Purchase
The Void Within in one of the more refreshing space operas I have read recently. In the midterm future unpopular religions of our present era have benefited from a energy source that is clean, inexpensive and and powerful enough to enable faster than light travel basically ending want and poverty and, as a bonus fueling a diaspora to the stars by many of those persecuted religions. After humanity had spread out and settled in, differences with old earth caused the most deadly war in humanity's history. The Admiral commanding the home planet force, the Coalition, took a big chance and offered an olive branch to the opposite side, the Cluster, and peace unexpectedly resulted. Years later the same Coalition admiral who saved so many lives received a message from an Coalition intelligence analyst warning of a major threat to the current uneasy peace. Just before he was murdered by his own Coalition space forces the analyst also gets off the same warning to two other people, a high ranking, highly regarded officer in the Cluster fleet and an obscure Coalition dispute mediator. The message gives details arranging a clandestine meeting between the three. All show up and set off on a fast paced ride that will challenge them to the inner core of their beings. The pace starts out slowly, pauses frequently for background or to philosophize until the last third where pace picks up dramatically (don't worry, what space opera worth its oats doesn't have a shoot 'em up, slam bang space battle for the ending). The world building was superb with a plot that grabbed me and left plenty of room for expansion into sequels. While the characters were not cookie cutter having depth and breadth, for some reason they never quite came alive for me. A little more humanity, a touch more warmth, a bit less stilted and the ending would have gone from good to one approaching haunting. The good news is that the back part of the book already has a sample for entry two in the series, although it is not for sale yet. I will be there when it is.
$.99/book price divided by Amazon typical read time of 4 hours, 23 minute=$.23/average hourly reading cost
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Allison Boyle
5.0 out of 5 stars Sci-Fi for the non Sci-fi Reader! Loved it!
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2019
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I don't typically read sci-fi, but picked this book up off of a recommendation from a friend, and I have to admit that I really liked it! Carlos Tkacz is an excellent writer and his book laid out this thrilling sci-fi story in such an engaging way. I may be converted to read more sci-fi now. Definitely recommend!
4 people found this helpful
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Cybershopper
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent well crafted space opera
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
Just finished book 3 of The Cluster Saga I can thoroughly recommend them. Can’t wait for the final installment. Great story with some very deep issues and insight carefully hidden behind the facade of sci-fi. Loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. So good that some of them could be real. Got to encourage a new author.
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Alf Fry
4.0 out of 5 stars Well-crafted space opera
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2020
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I am into existentialist and absurdist science fiction so don't often read space opera because they usually revolve around themes of wars and battle strategies and tactics and little else. The Void Within goes a little bit deeper into the ruminations and other aspects of characterisation of the three main characters than most, which I enjoyed. I felt connected with the three main characters throughout, with the storyline moving amongst the sometimes separate and sometimes joined stories of these three.

I don't want to give away any spoilers, so will just say the story was engaging throughout, despite some moderately lengthy passages of characters' 'internal monologues'. I found the plot predictable but well delivered. There were only a very few places where I stumbled because of a small missing word, or where there was a 'the' in place of a 'to', or a 'counties' instead of a 'countries'. The sense of place (surroundings and cultural context) were clear and interesting throughout, and the connection with characters' thoughts and feelings was good throughout.

Ultimately, it was another 'battles in space' space opera, with the expected tensions and drama, with every scene ably portrayed. So, if you thirst for space opera, with issues of tension between interstellar cultures with dependency upon the resources of one-another, with a theme of disquiet about independently operating AI war machines, then you're likely to get absorbed in this story.
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C. A. KNUTSEN
3.0 out of 5 stars Well written, but...
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2019
Verified Purchase
There was a lot of religious and philosophical material attached to the story. It was all well written but much of it got in the way of the action. I found myself either ignoring a lot of it or speed reading through it. The story gave an honest view of the worst aspects of humanity. I subscribe to a more optimistic view of the possibilities for our race.
3 people found this helpful
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Lance K. Mertz
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely fun and very interesting
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2019
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I found the premise of the book and the twists to keep my attention. This is epic science fiction at its best. The characters are well drawn and the universe building excellent. If you like hard sci-fi with a heart this is the book for you.
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Alexander Brooks
5.0 out of 5 stars Sci-fi as sci-fi should be
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2019
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Sci-fi has always done two things; brought its reader into an amazing universe feeding the imagination, and asked that reader questions about what it means to be human. When sci-fi does these two things it is at its pinnacle. The void within sucks you into a beautiful universe, one rich with history and detail, one which you want to explore, while probing the human condition with a keen eye and thoughtful insight.
This is what sci-fi should be.
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Top reviews from other countries

Ziggy Nixon
4.0 out of 5 stars An extremely well-written if not also equally extremely complex book
Reviewed in France on June 12, 2021
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"The Void Within" is an extremely well-written if not also equally extremely complex book that covers not only the history behind man's conquest of space but the theological, sociological and philosophical aspects as well. As you can imagine, this book is more akin to some of Asimov's weightier tomes than it is to authors we know of in today's best-selling lists. I point this out not as a criticsm but I think everyone who picks up a copy of this book should know what they are in for. I was not quite as prepared as I should of been and it was a struggle to make my way through really the first half of the book, where almost no action occurs and we are left to chase mysteries and complex political machinations along with primarily 3 major players. The writing is elegant, yes, but there were times things became so introspectively complex that I was flailing a bit. Otherwise put, this is about as complex a plot as you'll find in a space opera. The characterizations carry all of this quite ably but a lot of that also has to do with their own LENGTHY self-reflections in terms of their faith, abilities, or lack of any of those. The science is complex as well, yes, but not overwhelmingly so. But goodness, when some of those plot holes are slammed shut. Oh my.
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Ann Marie
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2019
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Loved it
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