SOLAR WHISPER By Cameron Cooper
Hammer Down 1.0
Space Opera Novel
More books by Cameron Cooper
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A city of peace. A whisper of chaos. A legacy at stake.
Lyonesse is a beacon of unity in a fractured galaxy, a space-based city-state built on the dream of integration and peace. For Danny Andela, it’s not just home—it’s her mission. As a fierce advocate for dissolving old feuds, Danny has spent decades working to unite the Carinad, Terran, and Bai worlds.
But something is wrong in Lyonesse. A series of weird malfunctions—some laughable, others deadly—hint at deeper troubles within the city’s core. As whispers of unease ripple through its gleaming domes, Danny battles growing paranoia, questioning allies, and doubting the systems she once championed. Her fight for peace becomes a desperate race to uncover the truth before a catastrophic failure silences Lyonesse forever.
Or should she? Is Lyonesse the shade of an old enemy? Danny must confront ghosts—and the terrible echoes of the war she thought she’d left behind. Will she stop the chaos in time, or will Lyonesse become the spark that reignites the galaxy’s divisions?
Solar Whisper is the first book in the Hammer Down space opera science fiction series by award-winning SF author Cameron Cooper. Hammer Down is a spin off from the acclaimed Imperial Hammer series and the Iron Hammer series, and features many of the characters and situations from both series.
The Hammer Down series:
1.0 Solar Whisper
2.0 Rogue Star
3.0 Total Eclipse
4.0 Dawn’s Crucible
5.0 Hypernova
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Space Opera Science Fiction Novel
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Reviews
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What an excellent story! Old, familiar characters are back in a brand-new series, along with interesting new ones to pull you into their story. It's a solid, well-plotted tale, with enough mystery and suspense to keep me turning the pages right through to the final paragraph. I loved it!
If you're new to the characters and don't want to have to read the two previous series to get an understanding of the background surrounding the characters, the information included at the beginning of the book is a life saver.
I can definitely recommend it to anyone who loves great storytelling. I can't wait for the next book to come out.
Danny Andela is trying to help peace along at home but of course things happening and causing a lot of trouble. A great story and start of a new series, wonderful characters, and a situation that grabbed my attention and had me glued to the end to watch it all play out. Lots of trouble, drama, surprises and questions that kept me entertained.
Mysterious accidents are happening in Lyonesse. Retired General Danny Andela suspects that she’s a target. Most of her friends and family seem to think she’s become a bit paranoid. Could Danny really be slipping after such a long, illustrious life? You know what they say; “If they’re really out to get you, it’s not paranoia!”
I have been waiting with great anticipation for this series. Lyonesse is not just home for Danny Andela, it is her project. But should it be?
The Hammer Down space opera series is an amazing start to this new series which follows Danny’s life.
A new Danny Andela story that immediately threw me back into Danny’s universe. At first I was thinking perhaps there was something different with Danny. A new story, a new series, a new Danny? Nope. Everything I liked about Danny is still there. What a joy to read another story about her. She is still one of my all time favorite characters in books I have read. I really cannot wait for the next books in this series and more stories about Danny and her new adventures.
A welcome offshoot from the Iron Hammer and Imperial Hammer series. While I recommend reading those series, this story gives you a detailed overview, and even an index in case you need it for characters and past events. I believe this story stands on its own, but knowing all the past history makes it all the more tantalizing.
Danny Andela is our main character. She has been a general, world-saver, warrior, legend and target of many. Now she is working for peace for the four main worlds that currently exist. Odd events seem to target her peace, but those around her assure her this cannot be so.
A high-tech world of AI, shipminds, clones, where even death is transitory. An important conference sees events escalate, and a major setback for Danny. A stunning world that will pull you in.
If you are new to the universe of Danny Andela, welcome! You are going to have a real rock-’em, sock-’em experience with “Solar Whisper,” the first book in the new Hammer Down space opera series. If you have read the Imperial Hammer and Iron Hammer series (I have), you are going to love this new and unexpected stage in Danny’s long, long life. By the time I’d read the novels and shorter works that make up the first two series (and I gobbled them up like popcorn, which I adore), I was fully invested in this amazing and fascinating universe. But I was also feeling a little whiny. Isn’t there any more? I want to know what happens next! Now there is more, and I am so excited about this new series. Unless you have read (or re-read) all of the previous books recently (I hadn’t), I highly recommend the excellent index in the front matter of this book, and also the recap of the “story up to now,” or, as we still say laughingly in our house, “previously on Hill Street Blues.” This short section is a great refresher, and it is very much worth taking the time to get your head back in the game. However, “Solar Whisper” stands solidly on its own merits and is an excellent entry point in the Danny Andela saga. (Warning: if this is your first experience, brace yourself for a sudden and uncontrollable urge to read all of the previous books!) P.S. I’m already looking forward to the next book in this series. Who knows where that will take us?
It's as intricate and complex as I have come to expect from the two previous Hammer series' and Danny's worlds of experience.
The story slowly built to the point where I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was causing all the problems for Danny. As the start of a new series there's some slower world-building and situational stuff leading up to the climax, which I enjoy because that's how you get to know the characters, their motivations and get insights on what's going on around them which influences them and their world.
I enjoyed Danny's time spent relaxing and calming herself with her Parawolf, Dusk. I love how they communicate.
I also thoroughly enjoyed all the supporting characters: lots of familiar ones and some newbies to frustrate and challenge Danny too.
I really appreciated the summary and recap at the start of the book. As a dedicated fan of the Imperial and Iron Hammer series', but also the owner of a goldfish memory, I really needed the synopsis of the two previous series' and the 'People Places Things' summaries. I found them especially insightful and invaluable as it was the author's own words and not just a summary of the events of the books.
I highly recommend Danny's latest adventure and, as Cam Cooper stated at the start of the book, this story is much richer in detail if you have already read (or re-read) the Imperial Hammer & Iron Hammer series too.
Solar Whisper, by Cameron Cooper, is the first installment in the third series of Hammer stories, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it without having read the other two series. Cooper includes a synopsis of each prior series, plus a directory of important people, places, and events for reference to anyone just joining the saga.
Danny Andela, now retired and working feverishly to create peaceful coalitions with the Bai, keeps encountering odd happenings on the domed station where she currently lives. No one believes her that events are not always just coincidences, and the consequences are devasting, both personally, and to the domed city.
Cooper’s universe is intense, and well thought out in great and exacting detail. The reader feels the cold of space and the rancid smell of dirty socks, the complexities of alien-race relations, memories from a long life, and the emotions that accompany that long and varied life. It’s so exciting to start another arc in the story of Andela and all the other characters that feel like old friends. Such a great universe, and a delightful series. If you haven’t read the previous Imperial Hammer and Iron Hammer series, now would be a great time to do it.
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Excerpt
EXCERPT FROM SOLAR WHISPER
COPYRIGHT © CAMERON COOPER 2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I stalked back into the central courtyard of the house, trailing steam, and went straight over to my office, and settled behind the terminal. It took a few minutes waiting in line for a connection, then the call went through, surprising me at it always did, for I was tapping on the shoulder of a Personage. Dalton had teased me about being one myself, yet Tidrick was the real deal. The Bai Committee for Policy had no head. Not officially. If there had been one, Tidrick would have been it.
Tidrik’s face appeared, and I blinked, adjusting to his new, youthful appearance. Tidrik had clearly taken advantage of Carinad regeneration therapies recently. That was unusual among the Bai. Carinad Athanasia therapies and technologies weren’t proscribed by the Bai, although their culture made it awkward to use them. It was considered cheating, there, to use external therapies, when their own disciplined lifestyles could extend a human life almost as effectively. Almost. And sometimes the discipline and time needed to achieve that longevity wasn’t possible.
If anyone could plead too many competing priorities to spend the time needed to restore and rebalance their health, it was Tidrik.
It was also Tidrik’s open-mindedness about contact with the other worlds that had driven the Bai to reach out and make contact with me during the Terran-Carinad war.
Tidrik was a fellow traveler. Philosophically, at least.
I took in his dark, wavy hair, coppery-colored, unlined face, and the trimmed beard framing his sharp chin and clear jaw. “Wow.”
Tidrik smiled briefly. “Thank you.”
“Do the Committee pull their robes aside as you pass?”
His smile this time was broader, as he ran a knuckle over his jawline. “I’ve had some interesting roundabout conversations with several of them. They try to express their dismay while also trying to learn more about the process.” His eyes twinkled. “Sometimes, you must force change.”
“Your appearance will tap upon the vanity of many,” I told him. “Those who are feeling the draft of time running out will be easily swayed, too. Just walking among your people will crack the door open a few more centimeters.”
“That is the exact and only reason I did it,” Tidrik assured me, his tone flat with false sincerity.
I laughed. “At least you’re aware that you have human weaknesses, Tidrik. I can’t say that for some of the Bai.”
“A step at a time, Danny,” Tidrik said. “We can’t drop from our lofty, isolated heights all at once. Not safely.”
“Safe and slow is the only way to do it,” I agreed, for we had had this conversation in the past, more than once. “Fast is how revolutions and wars begin.”
He nodded. “Are you not supposed to be in the council room, next door, for the planning meeting?” He pointed over his shoulder, to the room behind his office in the Committee building.
“That’s why I’m calling,” I told him. “I tried to cross over about twenty minutes ago, only my visa has been revoked.” And I watched his face closely.
A slight furrow appeared between his brows. “That cannot be.”
I hid my relief. If Tidrik didn’t know about this, then it was likely just a system error somewhere. There wasn’t a conspiracy among the Bai who didn’t like me to stop me from completing what I had started. Although, if there was a conspiracy, would Tidrik be part of it?
We didn’t advertise how closely we coordinated our efforts, he and I. His moderate and open policies caused enough dismay among the traditionalist Bai. Adding in a close association with me, the Carinad who had helped bring the Bai out of isolation after the war, might damage the considerable influence Tidrik had over the Committee.
So, we stayed down low. Tidrik had not been part of the sub-committee who had bargained over the contract to hold their policy conference here on Lyonesse and had also declined to be part of the planning committee, too.
As far as most Bai were concerned, we were nodding acquaintances only. If there was a get-Danny conspiracy out there, it was highly likely he would have caught wind of it. Tidrik heard everything of importance on Haven, sooner or later.
“I told the travel agent it had to be a mistake,” I said. “Agents can’t override the bridge hardware, so…” I shrugged, trying to make it look like I wasn’t steamed about this, merely delayed.
Tidrik knew me too well. He held up a hand. “I apologize for the disruption this has caused you, Danny. I will have an assistant inform the planning committee that you have been delayed and why. They might open the shields so that you can attend remotely, instead.”
The shield preventing remote communications was a form of Faraday cage that the Bai had put around their Committee room, which was the reason I wasn’t talking to the committee chair, the far-too-polite Cassan.
“Or delay the meeting until I can step across,” I said. “I think I would prefer that, than to try to read faces through a screen.”
“Let me see what I can do,” Tidrik said. “I will have this visa matter investigated. It is a curious thing.”
Curious wasn’t the word I would have used, yet it would do, if it was enough to get someone on Haven to restore my visa.
“Who should I talk to about this, in future?” I asked.
Tidrik didn’t question why I was asking for another contact. The less we directly communicated, the better. And Tidrik would not investigate himself. People might ask why Tidrik was interested in matters concerning Danny Andela, the Iron Hammer and pro-integration Carinad. He would direct someone he trusted to dig into it and fix it. That was the name I wanted now, because I had no intention of sitting around my courtyard waiting for the Bai to let me back into Haven. The Bai were good at passively stalling until you ran out of patience and gave up. I would hound them into fixing this. I had work to do.
Tidrik rubbed his jaw again, this time thoughtfully. “Ask for Selis,” he said at last.
“Ambitious?” The ambitious ones were eager to please Tidrik and impress him with their acumen.
“Great-grandson.” He smiled. “So, very ambitious.”
If Selis was Tidrik’s family, then ambition was in his DNA, along with the political savvy needed to service that ambition.
“Selis,” I repeated. “Thank you.”
“A pleasure as always, Danny.” Tidrik inclined his head in a seated bow—which revealed his true age. Younger Bai didn’t bow or nod at anyone, anymore. “We should find time to dine together, sometime soon.”
I laughed, because I knew what he was not saying. He wanted to eat chocolate—the type of chocolate only Carinad food printers could produce anymore. Soil-grown carob beans just didn’t taste the same. “You have the metabolism to work off a pound of chocolate, now,” I pointed out.
“A fact I would like to test. Thoroughly.” He lifted his hand in a wave and disconnected.
I sat back. My relief had tamped down the seething frustration a little, yet I was still edgy. Who else could I reach out to and shake to get things moving to fix this? There was no one among the Bai I trusted, who had the connections or position to do anything to help me. I had to wait for Tidrik and Selis to get moving on this.
Which meant I was going to miss the first meeting. I knew damn well that Cassan would not reschedule the meeting. He was in the I-hate-Danny camp, although he hid it well.
Damn, damn, damn!
The talk of chocolate had tapped upon my subconscious and stress did the rest. I went into the dining room and asked the food printer for a big cup of hot chocolate. While I waited for it to cool enough for me to drink, rather than sip and wince, I let the problem roll around in my mind.
Was this just a mix-up? Had someone accidentally included my visa number among a batch they’d cancelled? Had an AI somewhere taken its orders literally and without question?
Or was there more to it than that? Cassan was not the only Bai…or Terran or Carinad or Xavien, I guess…who would find it pleasing if I couldn’t step over to Haven anymore. Especially today, and also into the future.
It wasn’t smart to say it aloud anymore, because most people didn’t like the old-fashioned bigotry, yet there were still many people out there who believed that the four races should remain on their own side of interstellar borders that existed only in their own minds. They couldn’t say so aloud, yet that didn’t stop them from acting upon those biases if they thought they could get away with it.
And for them, I was a big fat target—a perfect symbol of everything they hated.
Was someone trying to target me?
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