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Starbirth #1
The Starbirth Assignment: Shifter
Librarian's note: This is an Alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B006TWGM6O.
An illegal mind-restructuring drug threatens chaos. A black ops team searches for the source.
Lock Harford is only one of two ‘Shifters’ – capable of moving through a different dimension using the power of thought and invaluable to military and intelligence organisations – at least until Starbirth appears on the streets of America and Britain.
As distribution spreads across the world the results of a Starbirth pandemic are feared as criminal and insane Shifters wreak havoc. Lock and a small unit of covert operatives are given the task of finding the source of Starbirth and shutting it down, but their efforts are hindered by corrupt, ruthless people with their own agendas.
Starbirth Assignment Shifter is the first book in J M Johnson’s Starbirth Series: fantasy adventures set within a contemporary military basis.
An illegal mind-restructuring drug threatens chaos. A black ops team searches for the source.
Lock Harford is only one of two ‘Shifters’ – capable of moving through a different dimension using the power of thought and invaluable to military and intelligence organisations – at least until Starbirth appears on the streets of America and Britain.
As distribution spreads across the world the results of a Starbirth pandemic are feared as criminal and insane Shifters wreak havoc. Lock and a small unit of covert operatives are given the task of finding the source of Starbirth and shutting it down, but their efforts are hindered by corrupt, ruthless people with their own agendas.
Starbirth Assignment Shifter is the first book in J M Johnson’s Starbirth Series: fantasy adventures set within a contemporary military basis.
- GenresScience Fiction
169 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 5, 2016
546 people want to read
About the author
J.M. Johnson
6 books37 followersJ M (Jackie) Johnson is a freelance writer and e-book author based in the United Kingdom (Britain). She has published four books in the Starbirth science fiction and fantasy series:
Starbirth Assignment Shifter (updated 2019)
The Shifter Dimension (updated 2019)
Shadow Team GB (2015, updated 2018)
Shadow Unleashed 2020
J M previously worked in a professional capacity as a podiatrist in the National Health Service but always had a desire to be an author.
She belonged to a spiritual group for eight years, following a particular spiritual lifestyle and making three pilgrimage trips to India. Her involvement fostered a lifelong fascination with powers of the mind. Two decades later she had the opportunity to join a group run by British ex-Special Forces and was a civilian member for six years. During that time she did extensive research into the military and intelligence worlds. These background experiences helped in the creation of her books.
Starbirth Assignment Shifter (updated 2019)
The Shifter Dimension (updated 2019)
Shadow Team GB (2015, updated 2018)
Shadow Unleashed 2020
J M previously worked in a professional capacity as a podiatrist in the National Health Service but always had a desire to be an author.
She belonged to a spiritual group for eight years, following a particular spiritual lifestyle and making three pilgrimage trips to India. Her involvement fostered a lifelong fascination with powers of the mind. Two decades later she had the opportunity to join a group run by British ex-Special Forces and was a civilian member for six years. During that time she did extensive research into the military and intelligence worlds. These background experiences helped in the creation of her books.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 14, 2016
Lock, working with the SAS, possesses special powers such as levitation and teleportation, following exposure to a drug in south America years before. He has the mental power to shift physically to a different dimension, making him an ideal member of elite secret special forces. In this first book in the series, he is presented with the ultimate challenge: a new, unlicensed drug induces the same effects on a host of criminals and deviants. In order to avert ultimate worldwide catastrophe, Lock and his team are charged with the task of finding its source and eliminating it. This great premise results in a gripping story, full of intrigue and brutal action, and with wit and conversational authenticity thrown into the mix. Original, intricate, viable, well-researched and well-written. Highly recommended.
September 21, 2016
This book was such an adventure. From the very start I was hooked and the excitement never stopped. This was the perfect mix of scifi and military science to stay interesting. Either the author has experience in this field or he did his research because it all seemed very legit. The characters are very well developed, you love some and you hate some, but you have your reasons. Can’t wait to start the next book in the series.
February 14, 2017
This book is written in a compelling and engaging style that draws the reader into a “black ops” fantasy storyline. There’s plenty of adventure, intrigue and mind expanding concepts that keep the reader turning the pages. If you enjoy military adventures, this book makes great reading with plenty of enjoyable characters and dialogue.
October 5, 2017
Near-future Superheros in the SAS
“During levi-flying and teleportation – or Shifting as you call it – you use a reverse Casimir force.”
Lock Harford is a very special human being - he has the power to teleport across the globe, even taking others with him. He was not born that way but exposure in childhood to mysterious chemical agent unlocked that and other ‘gifts’ such as the ability to see living auras. He and his friend, Mike Northwood, were the only people in the world with these Shifter abilities. Until the illegal drug Starbirth started handing it out to anyone who could afford a dose. Harford has been using his abilities in the British Special Forces for years, but now he has to come up against people with the same abilities - and some with ones he has never imagined possible.
This is a superhero book with a military slant and the author clearly has a lot of expertise into the special forces style of set up and operation. The technology is fascinating, near-future sci-fi level. Things such as tiny insect-like reconnaissance drones controlled by thought through a headset for example.
"Delta Three, confirmed X-Ray at Two-Three. I have eyeball,"
The book is well written and has well-developed characters. The worldbuilding is excellent - a clearly new-future version of our own world with some very recognisable issues and some wonderful technologies which you can believe in. On the human side, the relationships between the characters are very well drawn and the characters’ reactions to events are well portrayed.
This story is jam-packed full of action and has lots of well thought out scenes to show off the technology and the Shifter skills combined. It goes pretty deeply into the special forces set up and borders onto military sci-fi, but the nature of the hero keeps it firmly rooted in the superhero genre. What is less well rooted is the perspective of the reader in the book - at times it is hard to be sure whose eyes you are sitting behind.
‘A tidal wave of something overpowering engulfed him, racing through his veins, catching the words in his throat and firing him into a frenzy.’
On the downside for me, I always struggle a bit to get into superhero books, especially those like this which try to present a hard science reason for the magical powers of the superheroes. In this case, I really struggled to buy into the idea of a drug somehow enabling people to teleport or the pretty meaningless technobabble about dark matter and alternate dimensions which were supposed to explain it. Things like the side effect of a superpower that causes irresistible sexual arousal in men (for some unexplained reason only women have this particular superpower), seemed to be put in just for the sake of working gratuitous sexual references into the book. On a more human level, Harford was not really believable to me when he was being cast as the ‘maverick superhero kicking against the establishment’ - he was simply too integrated and invested in that system, from his marriage to his clear and strong commitment to his military colleagues, for it to fly.
Those personal gripes aside, if you love superhero books you should snag this at once. It is a completely different take on the theme and is racey, pacey and aces on action!
“During levi-flying and teleportation – or Shifting as you call it – you use a reverse Casimir force.”
Lock Harford is a very special human being - he has the power to teleport across the globe, even taking others with him. He was not born that way but exposure in childhood to mysterious chemical agent unlocked that and other ‘gifts’ such as the ability to see living auras. He and his friend, Mike Northwood, were the only people in the world with these Shifter abilities. Until the illegal drug Starbirth started handing it out to anyone who could afford a dose. Harford has been using his abilities in the British Special Forces for years, but now he has to come up against people with the same abilities - and some with ones he has never imagined possible.
This is a superhero book with a military slant and the author clearly has a lot of expertise into the special forces style of set up and operation. The technology is fascinating, near-future sci-fi level. Things such as tiny insect-like reconnaissance drones controlled by thought through a headset for example.
"Delta Three, confirmed X-Ray at Two-Three. I have eyeball,"
The book is well written and has well-developed characters. The worldbuilding is excellent - a clearly new-future version of our own world with some very recognisable issues and some wonderful technologies which you can believe in. On the human side, the relationships between the characters are very well drawn and the characters’ reactions to events are well portrayed.
This story is jam-packed full of action and has lots of well thought out scenes to show off the technology and the Shifter skills combined. It goes pretty deeply into the special forces set up and borders onto military sci-fi, but the nature of the hero keeps it firmly rooted in the superhero genre. What is less well rooted is the perspective of the reader in the book - at times it is hard to be sure whose eyes you are sitting behind.
‘A tidal wave of something overpowering engulfed him, racing through his veins, catching the words in his throat and firing him into a frenzy.’
On the downside for me, I always struggle a bit to get into superhero books, especially those like this which try to present a hard science reason for the magical powers of the superheroes. In this case, I really struggled to buy into the idea of a drug somehow enabling people to teleport or the pretty meaningless technobabble about dark matter and alternate dimensions which were supposed to explain it. Things like the side effect of a superpower that causes irresistible sexual arousal in men (for some unexplained reason only women have this particular superpower), seemed to be put in just for the sake of working gratuitous sexual references into the book. On a more human level, Harford was not really believable to me when he was being cast as the ‘maverick superhero kicking against the establishment’ - he was simply too integrated and invested in that system, from his marriage to his clear and strong commitment to his military colleagues, for it to fly.
Those personal gripes aside, if you love superhero books you should snag this at once. It is a completely different take on the theme and is racey, pacey and aces on action!
December 4, 2018
Starbirth Assignment SHIFTER will thrill devotees of military fiction, superhero reads, and near-future action adventure. In many ways, this book feels like a throwback to the 1980s hay days of Ludlum and Clancy, with some future tech thrown in. The men are manly, the villains are swarthy, the governments are untrustworthy and double-dealing even their own people, the Colombians are all drug lords or poor, the women magically cause a man unbridled lust that they can barely control. The writing is filled with well-written action, with few pauses for deep understanding of the reasons for all this international rushing about. An engaging read for this category.
January 10, 2019
J.M. Johnson's The Starbrith Assignment: Shifter is a military-style science fiction (or perhaps science-fantasy) superpower novel with plenty of action, complex plot and set mostly in the jungles of South America.
The US and British governments are scrambling to put together and effective tactical response team to combat the rash of crimes following the release of Starbirth - a catalysed from of cocaine that produces wild 'superpowers' including shifting (astral-dimensional travel from one place to the next, seeing auras, altering the body for good or ill, levitation etc.) Special forces operative Lock Harford, along with his friend Mick Northwood, were exposed to the mysterious catalyst as teenagers in the South American jungle, giving them more controlled use of these 'superpowers'. Lock is sent by the British with a unit of special forces to Columbia to find the source of the catalyst and is joined by Jimmie Mackenzie, another SAS trooper inadvertently exposed to Starbirth.
Shifter is strongly based on military undercover (Black) operations with cool tech (plus psychic style powers), prolonged gun battles, gruesome deaths, rogue operations, corrupt drug lords, and a morass of differing loyalties and agendas. The testosterone runs high especially as all the main characters are male (though female characters may take a bigger role in the next book) and the female characters tend to be femme fatales. It took me some time to connect with the characters and their motivations, but Jimmie is a fun character and Lock is intriguing and I enjoyed the Colombian setting.
The premise is an interesting one and there was plenty of action and suspense to keep me reading. No doubt things will heat up again in the sequel.
The US and British governments are scrambling to put together and effective tactical response team to combat the rash of crimes following the release of Starbirth - a catalysed from of cocaine that produces wild 'superpowers' including shifting (astral-dimensional travel from one place to the next, seeing auras, altering the body for good or ill, levitation etc.) Special forces operative Lock Harford, along with his friend Mick Northwood, were exposed to the mysterious catalyst as teenagers in the South American jungle, giving them more controlled use of these 'superpowers'. Lock is sent by the British with a unit of special forces to Columbia to find the source of the catalyst and is joined by Jimmie Mackenzie, another SAS trooper inadvertently exposed to Starbirth.
Shifter is strongly based on military undercover (Black) operations with cool tech (plus psychic style powers), prolonged gun battles, gruesome deaths, rogue operations, corrupt drug lords, and a morass of differing loyalties and agendas. The testosterone runs high especially as all the main characters are male (though female characters may take a bigger role in the next book) and the female characters tend to be femme fatales. It took me some time to connect with the characters and their motivations, but Jimmie is a fun character and Lock is intriguing and I enjoyed the Colombian setting.
The premise is an interesting one and there was plenty of action and suspense to keep me reading. No doubt things will heat up again in the sequel.
January 12, 2019
Starbirth: Assignment Shifter is the first book in a series by author J. M. Johnson. I was not sure that I was going to like the premise: people with mind powers working for British Special Forces (and against them). I am not a big fan of the superhero genre. But the author made it work for me. The fantasy element is placed into a very realistic military adventure. The characters are believable and compelling. The author certainly did homework about what it is like to be imbedded in a covert military operation. That aspect was the most believable and engaging aspect of the story and reminded me of Tom Clancy. The reader truly sees through the eyes of a grunt on the ground the chaos, elation, and terror that can all happen nearly simultaneously in such an operation.
All in all, this was a fun read, and I will certainly pick up the next book in the series.
All in all, this was a fun read, and I will certainly pick up the next book in the series.
December 6, 2017
Don't be like me. I unknowingly read the later books before I read this one. Had I read this first book initially, the rest would have made so much more sense.
Because of a youthful accident, Lock Harford is a man with unique skills, and as such, he's attracted the attention of British intelligence. Now, the advent of a drug called Starbirth has endowed others with similar skills. Harford and his team are tasked with finding, and stopping, the flow of Starbirth into the world's population.
Author J.M. Johnson has created a believable, frightening world of the not-so-distant future. This book is thrilling from start to finish, and, having read the next couple of installments, I know for a fact you'll want to read more. Exciting read, 5 STARS!
Because of a youthful accident, Lock Harford is a man with unique skills, and as such, he's attracted the attention of British intelligence. Now, the advent of a drug called Starbirth has endowed others with similar skills. Harford and his team are tasked with finding, and stopping, the flow of Starbirth into the world's population.
Author J.M. Johnson has created a believable, frightening world of the not-so-distant future. This book is thrilling from start to finish, and, having read the next couple of installments, I know for a fact you'll want to read more. Exciting read, 5 STARS!
June 13, 2017
Saying this was poorly written is giving it too much credit.
November 14, 2018
Military Action for the future
From the opening flurry of action to the high-tension final crisis, “Starbirth Assignment – Shifter” by JM Johnson satisfies everything a reader might expect from a military and espionage narrative. In a science future world, where genetic modification has become a strange weapon that can give serious edge to political powers, confrontations still involve soldiers, spymasters and drug barons.
Thoroughly grounded in contemporary military realism, the novel explores the idea that humans may one day develop the psychic ability to transcend place, if not time. It is a fascinating speculation, and is the fundamental theme which underpins the extended narrative
Although the novel lacks the imaginative world-building, characteristic of classic SciFi writing, it offers a very interesting and sometimes riveting look into the lives and work of highly trained special forces soldiers, written from a background of meticulous research.
Sometimes the supporting details take over and description flows at length in a search for authenticity as the backdrop for the consistently exciting action. But this will be an attraction for some readers to whom the specifics of processes and places matter.
So far as characters are concerned, Johnson has the ability to hit the ground running. Even the very minor players have an immediate individual strength which provides depth to the events. The main characters are fully rounded, and the fact that they are not greatly developed does not detract from the richness of the narrative, because the book’s dominant feature is the vivid and often gritty action.
Various settings, including the Scottish Highlands, the espionage agencies of London and the rainforests of Colombia are a strong element in the storyline, and the presence of a secretive world-wide power cartel adds a further dimension to the plot, which is multilayered, very fast-paced yet always under the writer’s control.
“Starbirth Assignment – Shifter” offers a high level of enjoyment, brought about by the excellent quality of writing and the quick pace of the action, which is not so fast that essential details of setting and event are missed. The narrative is presented in an easy and attractive style, and is very highly recommended to a general adult readership.
From the opening flurry of action to the high-tension final crisis, “Starbirth Assignment – Shifter” by JM Johnson satisfies everything a reader might expect from a military and espionage narrative. In a science future world, where genetic modification has become a strange weapon that can give serious edge to political powers, confrontations still involve soldiers, spymasters and drug barons.
Thoroughly grounded in contemporary military realism, the novel explores the idea that humans may one day develop the psychic ability to transcend place, if not time. It is a fascinating speculation, and is the fundamental theme which underpins the extended narrative
Although the novel lacks the imaginative world-building, characteristic of classic SciFi writing, it offers a very interesting and sometimes riveting look into the lives and work of highly trained special forces soldiers, written from a background of meticulous research.
Sometimes the supporting details take over and description flows at length in a search for authenticity as the backdrop for the consistently exciting action. But this will be an attraction for some readers to whom the specifics of processes and places matter.
So far as characters are concerned, Johnson has the ability to hit the ground running. Even the very minor players have an immediate individual strength which provides depth to the events. The main characters are fully rounded, and the fact that they are not greatly developed does not detract from the richness of the narrative, because the book’s dominant feature is the vivid and often gritty action.
Various settings, including the Scottish Highlands, the espionage agencies of London and the rainforests of Colombia are a strong element in the storyline, and the presence of a secretive world-wide power cartel adds a further dimension to the plot, which is multilayered, very fast-paced yet always under the writer’s control.
“Starbirth Assignment – Shifter” offers a high level of enjoyment, brought about by the excellent quality of writing and the quick pace of the action, which is not so fast that essential details of setting and event are missed. The narrative is presented in an easy and attractive style, and is very highly recommended to a general adult readership.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews