Book Description
Jon Moore: A nanotech-enhanced warrior who wants nothing more than a quiet life and a way back to his strange home world. Lobo: An AI-enhanced Predator-Class Assault Vehicle, a mobile fortress equipped for any environment from the seabed to interstellar space. Two wolves in a galaxy of larger predators
Jon Moore wanted only to relax on the pristine planet of Macken--but Macken was the secret battleground of two mega corporations, both determined to control the local jump gate and the riches of an undeveloped world. Moore was too valuable a tool not to be used, whether or not he was willing. What the corporations didn't realize was that Moore had a mind of his own and a conscience that wouldn't let him quit until he'd righted the wrong they'd tricked him into making. And Moore had Lobo--or just possibly Lobo had Jon Moore, because this Assault Vehicle had a mind of its own. . . .
Finding allies and enemies among terrorist groups and elite mercenaries, gun-runners and the only kind of government possible on a frontier short on rules and long on riches, Jon and Lobo fight to a climax with a corporate army that can't afford to leave any witnesses. Exotic settings, fast action, real tech, mechanically-enhanced animals-and a beautiful woman who's as deadly as a cobra!
One Jump Ahead: the first novel in the Jon & Lobo series.

Usually when I read the publishers blurbs for a book, I tend to more or less 'take it with a grain of salt.' I mean, they are paid to write fancy words and try to sell us the book. Therefore, I find it best to not always accept what they write, and to read the book to see if it is up to what I would like to call par.
Mark L. Van Name is almost on a par with Robert Heinlein and Keith Laumer. That is a tough mountain to climb for just one of them, much less both. "One Jump Ahead" is a rip-snorting story of a super-soldier who just want to take it easy and relax for awhile but the life he has lead and the lifestyle he chooses just won't let that happen.
Vacationing on the pleasure planet Macken he is hired by Ron Slake to rescue a young girl from kidnappers.
Since Slake is one of the executives of the two companies bidding to control Macken, he is able to offer Jon a great deal of money. Being the businessman that he is, Jon is also able to convince the local representative of the FC (the Frontier Coalition) the closest thing to a United Nations the universe seems to have to sell him a PCAV or Predator-Class Assault Vehicle with an Artificial Intelligence system nothing short of amazing.
Jon and Lobo, the PCAV, are able to communicate for the same reason Jon is able to communicate with virtually any other intelligent machine in the galaxy, he has been fitted with a number of nano machines which not only help him to win friends and influence..uhm.. Toasters and such, but is also quite useful in everything from keeping him healthy and giving him a very long life to being a deadly weapon.
It is not long before Jon and Lobo have successfully rescued the girl, returned her to a grateful slake and have made their way off planet to another world, this one for the purpose of purchasing a weapons module to bring Lobo fully back online.
It is here that Jon finds the situation to be not at all what he was looking for. From here on out, the story reads as much like a good thriller as a classic Sci-Fi novel.
This is a first novel from Van Name and I pray to all the Gods of Science Fiction and Bolo's that it is not the last one, nor is it the last one with these characters.
I also hope that Van Name continues to write in the same way he has here. While many of the situations are 'adult' in nature, the term here is used to convey a higher level of writing, not 'dirty' as many other writers do.
This is a book that almost anyone could pick up and read without a parent having to worry that their kid is reading something complete inappropriate. And some parents do worry about stuff like that.
It is refreshing to see an author write and show characters with anger and not using what I have heard called "F" Bombs every few sentences. Van Name writes even his lowest characters with an intelligence that is surprising and thus much more entertaining.
Along with Jon Moore we are introduced to Tristan Earl, Moore's former commander in a mercenary outfit known as SAW, Sgt. Gustafson who helps Moore out during much of his adventures, and Allissa Lim, a hard as nails warrior who is not only a part of Jon's military past, but she is as deadly as a pissed off tiger, but a tiger would avoid her if they know what is good for them. God, that sounds corny. I should erase that line, shouldn't I?
In addition, Lobo is a 'character' himself; his AI unit makes him sound almost human. I picture him as sounding like a cross between the robot servant Marvin from "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" when he and Jon are just talking and a deranged Cylon with a ticked off attitude during battle.
Lobo is a good second cousin to Keith Laumer's Bolos, the thinking and self-aware battle tank of the future. He is a combination space ship, ground tank and submersible vehicle and troop carrier in one as well as a fighter.
I think it will be a lot of fun reading more about Jon and Lobo. I really want to know what the heck happened on Aggro and the Plinkelplonker system. With luck, those stories will open up more in the future books.
Hear that, Van Name? I want future books about these two. Thanks.
Return to your lives now.