The Methuselan Circuit — Christopher L. Anderson

Alexander has never been in space, zooted around in zero-G, scored a goal in Z-Crosse or fired a legionary battle rifle. He's never thought of standing guard on the bridge of the famous U.S.S. Iowa, which everyone says is haunted. Even though his parents are Citizens, life on post war Terra isn't easy: few of the anti-grav units work anymore, the food synthesizer broke years ago and there are no spare parts, and labor-robots were outlawed in the last wars. Alexander lives the life of a nineteenth century farmer on 23rd century Earth, doing chores from dawn to dusk with school squeezed in between -- at night he gazes at the stars, looking forward to the day when his father lets him go on his interstellar freighter runs. Everything changes on Service Day, when an officer from the Fleet visits school and hands him an appointment to the Space Academy. Thrilled, Alexander puts on a space suit and leaves the farm behind, but his excitement is tempered when he discovers that he's the key to a galaxy-wide intrigue that involved his father -- his father the farmer and freighter captain, or could he be something else?

For more on Alexander's adventures go to www.dragons-and-dreadnauts.com or the author's blog at www.christopherlanderson.wordpress.com