Braxton Thorpe has discovered a threat to the entire Solar System, but he has a problem: he's dead.    " There's interstellar travel, wormholes, aliens, and the threat of inter-planetary war, which, together with Braxton's personal and wider quest, adds up to one hell of an adventure. Not bad for a dead man! " — Sebastian J. Brook, Editor of Doctor Who Online   Frozen at death, Thorpe 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 nothin' yet! Icicle: A Tensor Matrix , is the first book in the Oort Chronicles by Robert G. Williscroft - a story that holds no bars in its opening prologue. Right from the off we are thrown right into the action as our protagonist, Millionaire, Braxton Thorpe, dies of prostate cancer and is whisked off to have his head cryogenically preserved. And just like that...BOOM!...we head forward in time by 100 years, straight into the 22nd Century, where Braxton wakes and has to come to terms with his new *ahem* life. This is a bold opening gambit from Williscroft, and one that works so well due to the 'matter of fact' drive in which he pushes the story forward. One could be forgiven for drawing comparisons to The Matrix or Tron , where similar themes are explored - however - it is our sincerest belief that Williscroft actually trumps the aforementioned with this thrilling new take on uploading one's consciousness to a digital mainframe. Despite being told in third-person prose, you feel every moment of pain and anguish that Braxton goes through. In fact, anyone has had paralytic sleep, will find a rather eerie parallel in some of the moments our protagonist goes through; being aware of one's body, but physically not being able to move. Let's make no mistake, this is Science Fiction - and really good SciFi at that, but Williscroft's evident knowledge of technology and science, shines through to make this feel more like a foreshadowing of what will come to pass, rather than a throwaway piece of fiction. Every technological detail is described in such detail that it's almost tangible to the reader, which makes this feel all the more intimate a read. If all that wasn't enough, there's interstellar travel, wormholes, aliens and the threat of inter-planetary war, which, together with Braxton's personal and wider quest, adds up to one hell of an adventure. Not bad for a dead man! Sebastian J. Brook - Editor of Doctor Who Online An exciting and fast-paced sci-fi adventure that is sure to entertain and stimulate the reader's curiosity... Icicle is guaranteed to keep devotees awake well into the early morning hours. -- Dr. Dave Edlund, USA Today Bestselling Author, The Peter Savage Thrillers