"...an admixture of science, chemical research, love, evil corporate officials, and unscrupulous academic types..."Ben Barnes had been looking forward to graduate work in chemistry at the Atlanta Institute of Technology, but things aren't what he expected. First he almost gets run over by an armored silver Mercedes driven by a fellow graduate student. Then he supposedly "fails" all five graduate placement exams, and he knows he couldn't have. He's nearly blown up--twice. And he discovers and loses (or does he?) a formula that could solve the worlds energy problems and prevent global warming, only to find a long-lost secret buried deep in his own heart.
Set in Atlanta in the near future, Tom Rybolt's science-based novel Forbidden Light follows the activities of Ben Barnes, a new graduate student who accidentally discovers the ultimate chemical reaction that would solve major energy and environmental problems, but would also disrupt and threaten current industries.
Review: "...enjoyable reading for scientists and non-scientists alike."
-Michael A. Duncan, Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry, University of Georgia
"With an admixture of science, chemical research, love, evil corporate officials...Rybolt has crafted an intriguing mystery."
-James A. Ward, Guerry Professor, History, University of Tennessee
"Mix together equal amounts of Isaac Asimov and Michael Crichton, add a touch of Ursela K. LeGuin and then throw in a smidgen or two of Tom Clancy and Stephen J. Gould, and you have Tom Rybolt, a bold new eco-novelist whose writing is full of adventure and intrigue."
-Poet and Essayist John Harper teaches legal writing at Florida A & M College of Law
”An engaging story of mystery and self-discovery in an unusually realistic scientific setting. The challenge of developing sustainable energy sources is a key scientific problem of rabidly growing significiance”
-David Sherrill, Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Bio: TOM RYBOLT has published 50 scientific papers in professional journals, written 7 encyclopedia articles, and co-authored 17 science experiment books. A professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he has taught since 1981, Rybolt earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
