In Space Available, my current writing project, one of my plot points is that faster than light travel is possible, but very difficult.  In 2097, the graviton and the Higgs boson have been unified into the Higgs-graviton, and we now understand gravity, mass, and the nature of the structure of space.

Space itself is the most rigid substance in the universe, and it takes something the size of a planet to bend it enough to be detectable in the electromagnetic spectrum.  But in the HG spectrum, the gravitational effects of a straight pin can be detected.  And because we can now detect the “stress field,” or the rigidity of space, it is possible to build devices that are capable of bending the stress field in useful ways.

David Gerrold (who friended me on Facebook!!) wrote in Yesterday’s Children that while it is not possible to move matter faster than the speed of light, it is possible to create pocket universes by bending the stress field completely around an object like a ship.  Then, if you manipulate the pocket universe in such a way that there is an unequal force on the pocket universe in relationship to our universe, you can get the pocket universe to move at very high rates of speed–faster than the speed of light, in fact.

They say amateur writers plagiarize, and professional writers steal.  It is my intention to steal David’s general concept and use it as one of the core plot points in Space Available.  Consider this your official notice, David!