Oltion, Jerry. The getaway special.

Tor. 400p. c2001. 0-312-87778-1. $15.95. SA

Traveling faster than the speed of light? That's for amateurs--and mad scientist Allen Meisner. Stowing his hyperdrive engine aboard a US spaceship, Allen whisks the crew to Saturn and beyond in a matter of minutes. Of course, he's never test-driven his invention, so he has to calibrate warp speeds and directions while literally "on the fly." While up in space, Allen also triggers an e-mail and video that tell the world how to build these portable hyperdrives "on the cheap." For that action, the crew expects tickertape parades, but is, instead, charged with treason and other nefarious crimes. The ship's captain, Judy Gallagher, and Allen escape capture for the moment, and crash in Wyoming where they are picked up by an independent but friendly trucker couple. With their help, and the money from a moral bank robber. Allen and Judy transform a yellow septic tank into a cozy spaceship, and get away to explore new worlds.

Now if this sounds "camp" and a bit unbelievable, wait until Allen and Judy meet up with an intelligent butterfly with micro-camcorder and sentient trees. Oh, yes, Earthlings are starting to populate other worlds, fishing with aliens as pretty as you please. Meanwhile, those who stayed back on Earth are pitted against each other and ready to destroy themselves completely. This is all within a week of the original maiden voyage of the hyperdrive. Guess it's time to create a Galactic Federation ... It's quirky, it's cute; it's got just enough logic to help the reader suspend disbelief. The mad scientist is actually one of the saner, more conservative of the bunch, but by now that should be obvious. Sprinkle some lighthearted Harry Harrison, Libertarian ideology, and curiosity that could almost kill a cat, and one gets a bit of the idea of this book's tone. Only the cover, with its traditional space shuttle voyaging among the planets, is misleading. Dr. Lesley S.J. Farmer, Lib. Svcs., CSULB, Long Beach, CA

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.