"BEMs: Bug Eyed Monsters: Book Four, the New Frontiers Series" by Jack L. Knapp

"BEMs: Bug Eyed Monsters: Book Four, the New Frontiers Series" by Jack L. Knapp
    https://www.amazon.com/BEMs-Eyed-Monsters-Book-Frontiers/dp/1083070010/
Book number four of a eight book science fiction space opera series.  I reread the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2019.  I have all eight books in the series and am rereading them now with the number seven and eight books that I just bought from Big River.
Wow, great story with lots of character development and action.  An older engineer buys a bunch of Nikola Tesla's journals in an old chest and spots a design for an "electric turbine" that was never built.  He builds a working version of the electric impeller (a device that converts electricity into motion) after many restarts and has an anti-gravity device.  The rest of the story concerns project funding and building various containers for the electric impeller and various peoples trying to steal the design.
This book is specifically about the aliens nicknamed the Flickers introducing themselves to the humans.  The Flickers have much more advanced technology than the humans including FTL and totally automated space ships.  But the Flickers are not the only aliens out there.
The writing of the story is a little bit rough, a little more editing would have been good.  But for me, the story is always the most important thing.  This is my second read so that makes it a five star book for me.
BTW, this is not the first time that a story has been written similar to this.  Several stories have "magical" engines for space drives.  A very similar book is John Varley's most excellent "Red Thunder" which uses the squeezer drive.
     https://www.amazon.com/Red-Thunder-Lightning-Novel/dp/0441011624/
The reason why I like these stories so much is that it is not just the new drive device, it is also the design and work to build the container around the new device.
My rating:  5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating:  4.4 out of 5 stars (187 reviews)
Lynn