The Red Rover: Origins

By C.E. Whitaker III

Humanity has always possessed a fascination with the unknown. More specifically the universe.

In the case of thirteen-year-old, ORION MOORE, it literally was all he had ever known. Since birth, Orion has lived amongst a group of over five hundred Earthlings on the Rover Base Alpha, a gigantic space-station that left the Earth decades’ prior in search of a new home. In a matter of weeks, the Base’s leadership put a plan into action that would send their Rover teams to foreign galaxies in hopes of securing a planet suitable for colonization.

At the same time, Orion and his fellow classmates were expected to begin their exploration training, an intense military program designed to take them from neophytes to cadets. Sent away on the Red Rover, it was during this training exercise that these young people would learn the survival skills needed to cope with the harsh conditions that many of the uncharted worlds in the galaxy already possessed.

Unbeknownst to Orion and his friends, their lives were about to be irrevocably changed forever, forcing them to band together in an epic adventure for survival. For them, this was only the beginning. Some say that destiny cannot exist without a journey... and for the members of the Red Rover, they’re about to see exactly how prophetic that statement really was.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Darn Pretty Books
• Release date: May 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781733862004

C.E. Whitaker III

A writer/director/producer based out of Los Angeles, C.E. is in development on the eighth installment in his sci-fi action-adventure book series, THE ROVER SERIES UNIVERSE, entitled LABYRINTHINE. The first seven are all available in e-book, paperback and hardcover.In 2021, he was a finalist in the PGA Create Producing Intensive sponsored by the Producer’s Guild of America. In 2016, C.E. was selected as a finalist in the Warner Bros Emerging Film Director's Workshop. In recent years, he has optioned a sports feature with Flavor Unit Entertainment as well as a political drama pilot with Oscar/Emmy-winner, Regina King, attached to produce. He has also written, directed and produced two (2) short films.In 2019, he worked in London on the Guy Ritchie-directed feature, THE GENTLEMEN, for Miramax/STX and the Sir Kenneth Branagh-directed fantasy adventure, ARTEMIS FOWL; 2018, saw him work on the Jessica Chastain led-feature, AVA, directed by Tate Taylor in Boston; 2017 was busier with the Dan Gilroy-directed film ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ., the Chicago-based feature, WIDOWS, directed by Steven McQueen, and the live-action re-imagining of Disney's DUMBO directed by Tim Burton in London.Follow him on Instagram: @mrwhitaker3

Reviews for The Red Rover

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy reading sci fi stories. Well I can tell you that this book is worth a look by sci fi fans. Not sure what the targeted reading audience is for this book/series but I will say that it readers for young adults. Not to say that adults would not enjoy reading this book. It just is my recommendation that this book would be better appreciated by the younger readers. This is because this book was kind of giving me Ender Games vibes with the young cast of characters. Which the characters are engaging and likable. Ones that you are cheering for. In the beginning I was not sure about their teacher, Dr. Donovan Marius but he grew on me by the end of the story. For most of the story, there really is not a lot of action happening. However, I was fine with this. Mainly due to Orion and his crew mates. It did give me a chance to get to know them. Yet, the last handful of chapters is where the story did pick up only to leave me seeking to want to read book two to continue this space journey.