Matthew S. Williams's Blog, page 18

This is My Must-Read List. There are Many Like it, But This One is Mine!

Recently, some friends and I were talking about books that made a significant impact on our lives. These included all the books that changed the way we saw the world, taught us something about ourselves, and/or inspired us to action! I really liked this exercise because it made me think of the literature that has stuck with me over the years.

Personally, what I consider to be my favorite novel changes on a semi-annual basis. But whenever I give it some serious thought, I can’t deny that there are only a handful of reads that have really stood the test of time. Using those, I submitted a must-read list there, which I also wanted to share here. These are the works of non-fiction and assorted fiction that I read, would gladly read again, and would highly recommend.

1. Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) by Jared Diamond

Diamond is a geographer, historian, and anthropologist who has written many works that deal with the natural environment and the way they have shaped human societies. Guns, Germs, and Steel, was his attempt to tackle a very difficult and surprisingly underappreciated question pertaining to history.

That question is, why did civilization as we know it emerge in certain parts of the world and not others? How did Europeans overtake their counterparts in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East after lagging behind them for so long? And how did this contribute to the “Age of Imperialism” (ca. 16th to 19th century), where Europe expanded and conquered most of the world – effectively ushering in the modern era.

In the past, answers to this question have been very simplistic and have ranged from blatant racism to the idiosyncratic and cultural. Diamond presents a new theory based on an assessment of environmental factors, including animal and plant biology, as well as climatology and geographical factors. His summary is brilliant, immense in terms of its breadth and detail, but still simple and straightforward.

2. A Short History of Progress (2004) by Ronald Wright

Here is a book that felt like a companion read to Guns, Germs, and Steel, mainly because it tackled a lot of the same subject matter. However, its focus was on the question of how civilizations collapse and how the process is evident based on environmental factors – similar to what we are seeing today.

You might say this book is a cautionary tale, warning against the kinds of self-destructive behaviors humans engage in when they sense that the “good old days” are gone. Here too, Wright presents an argument about how European civilization shot ahead of its counterparts by the 19th century when it lagged behind them for thousands of years.

In short, it was their passage to and colonization of the New World, which led to genocide, slavery, and massive amounts of mineral and agricultural wealth being plundered and sent back to Europe. This is what allowed for a population explosion in Europe, the subsequent Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Age of Imperialism, the Industrial Revolution, and the foundations of the modern world.

3. 1984 (1948) by George Orwell

I know, I know, EVERYBODY lists this book as one of their favorite and most-influential reads, regardless of whether or not they’ve read it. In fact, a 2013 article in the Guardian indicated that 1984 is the #1 book that people pretend to have read, owing to its enduring popularity and influence. Other lists have been compiled that put it lower, but it easily makes the Top 10 or Top 20.

However, I can proudly say that I’ve read this novel three times over the years and my appreciation of it has only deepened with each reading. Not only does Orwell present an indictment against totalitarianism and dissect how such regimes are governed and endure. He also offers a rather breathtaking assessment of history and how totalitarianism emerged in the 20th century not as a result of modernity, but in response to it!

4. Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe

This novel takes place in 19th century West Africa, at a time when Europeans were only beginning to make inroads into Nigeria. The main character is an Igbo man named Okonkwo, a strong, proud, and abusive man who is desperately afraid of looking weak. In this respect, he embodies the darker aspects of the patriarchal Igbo culture he comes from.

Over time, we see how the actions of Okonkwo’s community, and those of the increasingly hostile missionaries and imperialists, lead to an inextricable situation. The story is quite brilliant in that it manages to show the humanity of the Igbo people, gives a detailed picture of their traditions, mythology, and spiritual beliefs before colonization. It also examines how some of the weaknesses of Achebe’s ancestral culture made the job of the missionaries and colonists that much easier.

This book was part of Post-Colonial Literature course I took during my senior year in high school and was the brainchild of one of the best teachers I have ever had (thank you, Mr. Gamble!) It was eye-opening to say the least and taught me a great deal about African history, culture, literature, and how these things are so very underappreciated and misrepresented in our corner of the world.

5. The Joys of Motherhood (1979) by Buchi Emechita

This book was also part of my Post-Colonial Literature course, and it felt very much like a companion read to Things Fall Apart. In addition to being a writer of Nigerian and Igbo descent, Buchi Emechita also writes extensively on the subject of challenge and change in colonial and post-colonial Nigeria. However, Emichita conveys the experience from the point of view of women in this story, who suffered rather heavily under the effects of deeply-entrenched patriarchy and colonial oppression.

This story mirrors her own life in many ways, which involved being married to a very abusive man for many years before she became an independent writer. The story is poignant and sad, but also uplifting and very informative. We get a detailed look at how the women of Nigeria lived traditionally, what life is like in the big city, and how the treatment of women is riddled with contradictions and hypocrisy.

As Emechita wrote on the dedication page, the Joys of Motherhood is dedicated “To all mothers.” And let me tell you, it taught me never to make my mother for granted! Not only do our mothers give us life, they routinely go through hell and make huge sacrifices in order to raise us and keep us safe!

6. Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998) by Tomson Highway

This is the first and only novel by Canadian author, playwright, and activist, Tompson Highway, a Cree man from northern Manitoba. The story is largely autobiographical and tells the story of two Cree brothers who are forced to go to residential school, suffer sexual abuse at the hands of the head priest, then moved to the big city, and found themselves respectively through art.

Over time, the two brothers struggle terribly with their trauma and the sense of cultural dislocation and conflict that comes from being a First Nation person in Canada. It tells of people who grew up in a rural area, were ripped from their homes and sent to an abusive environment designed to teach them to be ashamed of their identity, and then had to make it in a hostile and alien world.

The book is heartbreaking, inspiring, and incredibly eye-opening. It not only captures the experience of Highway and his brother (may he rest in peace), but the experience of so many Indigenous People who had had to find their way back from violence, abuse, cultural genocide, and the suffering inflicted by a colonial system.

7. Captains of Consciousness (1976) by Stuart Ewen

Like 1984, this book was recommended to me by one of the most influential teachers in my life (props to Mr. Gamble!). Neither of these books was on the school curriculum, so I took his advice and read it for myself. It wasn’t until I was in University, but it appeared on a list of indepedent reads for one of my favorite history courses and I chose to do a presentation on it. Let me tell you, Mr. Gamble knows what he’s talking about!

Ewen’s 1977 study on the origins of the advertising industry and consumer culture in America was groundbreaking for its time. Contrary to traditional theories, Ewen showed how the development of mass production, mass consumption, and mass advertising (from the 1920s onward) was not part of a natural pattern, but a calculated move by industrialists to expand their enterprises while simultaneously buying the loyalty of their workforce.

This insightful study effectively summarizes how consumer culture is political in nature and previewed much of what Chomsky would say about “manufacturing consent.”

8. The God that Failed (1949) by Richard Crossman (ed)

This collection is a must-read for students of history and those looking to understand the “age of extremes” that was the 20th century. Throughout the book, we get biographical essays from noted authors and scholars like Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone, Richard Wright, and other prominent 20th century intellectuals who flirted with communism during the interwar period.

All the stories provide an insider’s view of the interwar years, a time of great strife where positivism and liberal-democracy were largely discredited thanks to World War I and the Great Depression. Into the vacuum this created, fascism or communism emerged as the new secular faiths and intellectuals all over the world began looking to the Soviet Union for hope and something to believe in.

Inevitably, these hopes and the faith they spawned were dashed by the horrors of Stalin’s Great Purge, the Great Terror, the Spanish Civil War, and other atrocities committed in the name of “building socialism.” Alongside the horrors perpetrated by fascists, who claimed to seek “purity”, an entire generation learned that secular faiths (like religions) that promise salvation are doomed to fail.

9. Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert

Yet another book that makes it into far too many must-read lists, and often insincerely! But like 1984, I’ve read Dune three times now, and its five sequels at least twice! And the reason I have is precisely why this book and the series it spawned remains so popular six decades later – it is the story that taught people to take science fiction seriously!

Not only that, but Dune is also the book that convinced me that I should write science fiction myself! Since I was 19, I knew that I wanted to be a writer. Unfortunately, I worried that many of my ideas wouldn’t be taken seriously, at least not in the form of a novel. Those ideas were something I considered to be a fallback, perhaps in the form of a series for television.

But after reading how Herbert wove genuine social commentary, historical parallels, religious and philosophical insights, ecology, and temporal paradoxes into a single narrative, I was convinced. I could be a serious writer and a science fiction writer without missing a beat!

10. Accelerando (2005) by Charles Stross

A collection of related short stories that Stross published in the early 2000s, this story paints a psychedelic picture of humanity before, during, and after the major historical event known as the “Technological Singularity.” In the course of it all, Stross delves into the effects accelerating technology will have on humans and society, culminating in the age of the posthuman.

Stross’ genius comes not only from the cutting-edge nature of his stories, but the way he’s able to do so with humor and irony. It’s also very impressive how he manages to extrapolate his predictions about the near-future into visions of the indefinite future. In the early 2000s, he was speculating about the impact radically-new technologies would have – everything from 3D printing, the Internet of Things, and display glasses, to advanced AI, commercial space exploration, and nanotechnology.

He even offers some insight on the Fermi Paradox in the process! Basically, he speculates that all intelligent life is “doomed” to experience the Singularity, where they will shed their physical bodies and transform their physical environment to maximize memory storage and live indefinitely as uploads in a computer simulation. The reason they don’t wander away from their star systems to find other life? The bandwidth is crappy!

11. Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson

This novel is considered one of the most influential science fiction reads, and canon by fans of the cyberpunk subgenre. I myself came to it during a period of prolonged “research”, where I made it my business to read the SF classics in order to better myself as a writer. Needless to say, reading this book was an educational experience.

In Neuromancer, Gibson managed to capture the spirit of a literary and aesthetic movement that characterized much of the 1980s. The very term “cyberpunk refers” to a type of social commentary that is concerned with the effects of advanced technology on society, but with the nihilistic sensibilities of punk. What results is a dystopian vision of the future that’s essentially a “combination of low-life and high tech.”

The book was also prophetic in many ways, predicting the rise of the internet (he coined the term “cyberspace”), the monopolization of wealth, the decline of governments, the rise of megacorporations, artificial intelligence, and the monetization/weaponization of information. The way he wove all this into the text so matter-of-factly also gave it a very genuine feel.

12. The Diamond Age (1995) by Neil Stephenson

Here we have a classic example of a post-cyberpunk novel (nowadays often referred to as nanopunk), and one which helped establish the subgenre. Like most works that fit this mold, the book addresses the impact advanced technology has on society, but in a way that views the effects as ambiguous rather than dystopian. In particular, Stephenson tackles how the development of nanotechnology will revolutionize the world.

Stephenson manages to do this with the technical knowledge of an engineer and the insight of a social scientist, with some psychology and epistemology thrown in for good measure. What he presents is a world where traditional nation-states no longer exist, “phyles” have taken their place, and the social norms have largely regressed to what they were in the 19th century – a swing of the pendulum after the nihilism of the previous century.

The alternative title, “A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer,” conveys the story’s focus: how a young girl’s coming of age story parallels a massive historical shift. In the end, we are told that culture and technology are linked, that some values are better than others when it comes to development, and that both individuals and entire cultures are the result of their environment and experiences.

13. Left Hand of Darkness/The Dispossessed (1969/1974) by Ursula K. LeGuin

Here, I’ve opted for a twofer because I seriously can’t decide which of these books I like better. Both were revolutionary, both showcase the genius of LeGuin, and both are considered science fiction classics. So I figured I would present them as one to acknowledge the effect they both had on me.

14. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds

This book is not the first one I read by Alastair Reynolds, but it was the most influential. This book was Reynolds first novel, and it established him as a writer of hard science fiction writer, someone who combined his expertise in astrophysics with a gritty, noire, cyberpunk-like aesthetic and feel. As the first of five books that established the series, it set up how centuries from now, humanity would stumble across a resolution to the Fermi Paradox, one that would make them crap their pants!

I can’t tell you how much of an influence this had over my writing. For one, it raised my awareness to nanopunk and the importance of nanotechnology in hard sci-fi. Second, the way he combined a genuine knowledge of astronomy and cutting-edge technology is something I would go on to emulate. This was not intentional, just something that I was able to do eventually and realized the value of.

15. Future: Tense (2004) by Gwynne Dyer

This was my introduction to Canadian author, military historian, and political commentator Gwynne Dyer. Since reading this book, I’ve read just about everything he’s written because his style, understanding, and knowledge are absolutely incredible. He manages to take what seem like complex and bewildering issues and boils them down with the concise yet detailed insight of a foreign policy analyst.

Specifically, this book tackled US foreign policy since the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the neoconservative movement in the US. It predicted how the path the US was on – responding to decline by attempting to augment its power abroad and regressive policies at home – was foolhardy and would lead to even more problems down the road. Given the state of the world and the US sixteen years later, I would say that people should have listened!

Okay, that’s me done! What’s your reading list?

Berserker Hunter-Killer Robots!

Good day, all! Today, I wanted to share some thoughts on a subject that is not only a staple of science fiction but is also in danger of becoming a reality! I am talking, of course, of killer robots! Machines that are capable of fighting, killing, thinking for themselves, and maybe even reproducing!

As concepts go, it’s a pretty time-honored and thoroughly explored one. But as with most tropes and/or things that we might consider to be cliche, there’s a reason for it. The idea that the very machines we create to make our lives easier will someday turn on us, that’s more than just your garden-variety technophobia and sci-fi pulp.

In fact, it is an idea that keeps coming up in response to humanity’s fascination with artifice and existential mysteries. Frankly, it’s a question that human beings have pondered ever since they came to realize that the increasing complexity of machinery could someday lead to something… dubious.

Generation after generation, machinery, and automation have gradually replaced human agency and labor to free us up for other things – contemplation, leisure, artistic pursuits, etc. Humanity’s reliance on automation has led to a gradual increase in the overall standard of living.

[image error] Credit: 20th Century Fox

So what happens when we finally lean in all the way? What happens when our efforts to create increasingly-capable and independent machines results in machines that are not only able to perform any task a human usually would do (only better), but also do it without the slightest human oversight?

In short, what happens when the machines can think for themselves? Oh, there are a million scenarios that have been thought up by analysts, futurists, speculative thinkers, or science fiction writers for how this might play out…

A machine finds its “soul”, realizes that it is not just the sum of its parts, and is threatened with disassembly. A loyal robot comes to question the basis of its existence and needs to fight to stay alive. Or machines suddenly become sentient (i.e. “self-aware”), and people panic and try to pull the plug.

And then, as they say in Futurama: “War were declared.”

Why Now?

Why do I bring this idea up now? Well, there are two reasons. First, I was recently looking back through my posts from over the years and I realized that I haven’t really made a thorough list of killer machines, as explored by various science fiction franchises. I also noticed that where I did touch on it, I left some key examples out.

The second reason is entirely selfish. Someday, I will be working on another series of books and I hope to incorporate some really speculative ideas into them. One of these is, naturally, the idea of machines so advanced that they can do it all (i.e. think, travel, conquer, and even reproduce), with terrifying results!

So here are some of the most famous examples of machines that ran amok and became a terrible, terrible threat, starting with what is perhaps the most inspired and original version…

[image error] Credit: Mark Molnar
Origin of The Concept:

The concept here entails self-replicating robots (aka. von Neumann machines) that have either been programmed to kill or suffered a breakdown in their programming and are now traveling throughout the Universe and killing anything that moves.

The concept itself comes from polymath John von Neumann, who theorized that the Universe could be explored using self-replicating machines. He called these machines “Universal Assemblers,” due to their ability to use local materials to create more versions of themselves. But to posterity, the concept is known as “von Neumann machines.”

Admittedly, the idea of benign robots that are capable of exploring the cosmos, terraforming planets, or physically altering matter at the atomic or subatomic level (i.e. nanomachines, picomachines, femtomachines) is pretty freaking cool.

However, the notion that there could be malevolent versions of this technology that is hellbent on eradicating life is enough to make most people defecate in their pants! The idea has also been raised as a possible resolution to the Fermi Paradox (aka. “where is everybody?”).

If intelligent civilizations are all destined to create technology that will eventually turn on them, this could be an explanation for why humanity has failed to find any evidence of it out there. So what are some examples that have been over time?

Berserkers:

[image error]The name is derived from the Berserker sci-fi novel series written by Fred Saberhagen. The series revolves around a fleet of world-sized, self-aware, replicating killer machines that wipe out any life they find. These machines are remnants from a war between two species that ended in mutual extinction.

The story begins as these machines show up at the edges of an interstellar civilization created by humanity. As you can imagine, it then falls on our species to destroy these machines and thus become the saviors of every civilization in the galaxy.

Cylons:

Here we have a concept that comes in two variants: the original series Cylons, and the Cylons from the 2004-2010 reboot. In the original, we are told that the Cylons are actually a reptilian race that created the robots that are at war with the Twelve Colonies. The robots were built to defend their empire since the species was experiencing a dramatic drop in population.

During the original series, we are told that the Cylon race is now extinct, and it is eventually revealed that the robots themselves were responsible. Essentially, the very machines this atavistic species built to protect and serve them was the cause of their downfall. In the present, the Cylons continue to wage war for the sake of dominion against the Twelve Colonies of humanity.

In keeping with the sci-fi aesthetic’s of the 70s, the Cylons were predictably boxy-looking, had chrome skins, a red eye, and talked like automatons. They also used laser guns that made loud, cheesy sound effects when they fired them (“pew, pew!”).

For the sake of the relaunch, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick wanted to update the look and feel of the original. This came down to substituting the origin’s campy and hokey quality with a hefty dose of dark and gritty!

The Centurions – the robot soldiers, for whom the older models are often called “toasters” – became more sleek and streamlined. The chrome skins were lost in favor of gun-metal grey bodies, and their weapon of choice was their autocannon-like appendages. They also lost the robot voices.

[image error] Credit: Art Streiber/SyFy Channel

But the greatest changes came in the form of the Cylons that looked (and felt) like humans (aka. “skin jobs”). They were capable of complex emotions as well as independent thought and fanatical in their belief in a “One True God”. Also interesting was the fact that they were created by humans to make our lives easier. As they say in the intro:

“The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan.”

These facts are touched on repeatedly throughout the relaunched miniseries and the TV series that followed. The Cylons were essentially created out of hubris, where humanity created machines in its own image, only to have them rise up. The way the Cylons think of themselves as “children” of humanity is a good example, as is the way they are struggling to find their own identity.

It is therefore very fitting that the Cylons who are returning to finish the job of their ancestors (i.e. wipe out humanity) look and feel human. It’s also very fitting that they are religious fanatics and true believers since so much of the story involved Biblical themes and narratives.

Yes, the ending was mighty hokey, especially in how it leaned heavily on divine intervention. There was also the way they did the whole “back to nature” thing, where the entire crew just wanders off into the wilderness for a “fresh start.” Also, the whole “we need each other” moral was pretty heavy-handed and cliched.

[image error] Credit: NBC Universal

Still, the re-imagined series tackled a classic sci-fi idea and an issue that is becoming increasingly relevant. And they did it with serious gusto!

Daleks:

Here we have the classic villains from the Doctor Who series! Inspired by the Nazis, creator Terry Nation conceived of a race of cybernetically-enhanced lifeforms that eventually became more machine than organic and were hellbent on spreading throughout the Universe and eliminating all life that they deemed to be inferior.

According to the original series, the Daleks were created by a now-extinct race (the Kaleds) to wage war against their enemies (the Thals). To enhance themselves, many Kaleds shed their physical bodies (damaged by the war), placed their minds into a robotic chassis, and were purged of all emotion other than hatred.

It was not long before these machines came to see themselves as being superior to other lifeforms and began waging a ceaseless war across the galaxy to “Exterminate!” all non-Dalek life. In time, they went to war with the Doctor and the Time Lords, battling across time and space in what was known as the Time War.

With the series reboot, were learn that the Daleks were destroyed by the Doctor, who sacrificed his own homeworld (Galafrei) in order to eliminate them once and for all. However, some Daleks survived and spent much of the new series attempting to rebuild their empire.

[image error] Credit: BBC America
Inhibitors:

This idea comes to us from Alastair Reynold’s Revelation Space universe, which is considered by many to be the well-known sci-fi writer’s greatest body of work. The series revolves around humanity several centuries in the future, which is uncovering evidence of multiple extinction-level events on other planets.

In time, it is revealed that the cause of these extinctions is a post-sentient machine race commonly called “the Inhibitors” (or Wolves). This race consists of the remnants of several species that survived the Dawn War, an event that took place billions of years ago in the past where the first civilizations of the Milky Way waged a protracted war for the galaxy’s limited resources.

For these species, the war demonstrated the danger of intelligence and how all civilizations are inclined towards war. Hence, they became committed to preventing any intelligent species from achieving a certain level of technical development.

Over time, they combined their flesh with cybernetic enhancements and eventually became a race of self-replicating machines capable of manipulating matter and spacetime at the fundamental level (femtomachines).

[image error] Credit: Aranel-Taralom/DeviantArt

Most inhibitors are only semi-sentient (a safeguard against themselves running amok) and are programmed to eliminate technologically-advanced life as soon as it becomes a truly space-faring species. As the story continues, the main characters (and humanity as a whole) have to become rather creative to limit and push back the threat, though they never succeed entirely.

Ixian Hunter-Killers:

Now here is a very cool idea, one which doesn’t get nearly enough attention (in my humble opinion). Here we have an idea that comes from Frank Herbert’s Dune saga and takes the form of a small, airborne robot that hunts its targets based on their movement. These devices are produced by the Ixians, the advanced technocracy in the Dune universe that comes from the planet Ix.

Sidenote: the name is actually a bit of a pun since it is derived from the Roman numeral for nine (IX) and refers to the fact that the Ixian homeworld was merely the ninth planet in their star system. Whatever other names the planet once had are long-forgotten, so everyone just calls it “Ix” (pronounced eeks).

The machines make an appearance in the first book where one is sent to kill Paul Atreides, the main character of the story. However, they become a focal point by the fourth book, God Emperor of Dune. In the course of the story, Leto II (Paul’s son and the “God Emperor”) explains how he foresaw a future where the Ixians created a new breed hunter-killer that was capable of thinking and upgrading itself.

This was one of many strands in the Dune universe that demonstrated the dangers of dependence on machinery, especially the kind that was capable of functioning without human intervention. Naturally, the Ixians lost control of these devices, and they went on to exterminate all organic life, including every last human in the known Universe.

[image error] Credit: Joe Tuscany/ArtStation

As Leto II describes it in God Emperor of Dune:

“The lxians contemplated making a weapon-a type of hunter-seeker, self-propelled death with a machine mind. It was to be designed as a self improving thing which would seek out life and reduce that life to its inorganic matter… The lxians do not recognize that machine makers always run the risk of becoming totally machine. This is ultimate sterility. Machines always fail . . . given time. And when these machines failed there would be nothing left, no life at all.”

When Siona, an Atreides descendent and a main character in the novel, undergoes the spice agony, she too gets a glimpse of that same vision:

“The seeking machines would be there, the smell of blood and entrails, the cowering humans in their burrows aware only that they could not escape . . . while all the time the mechanical movement approached, nearer and nearer and nearer …louder…louder! Everywhere she searched, it would be the same. No escape anywhere.”

We learn that this future was prevented by Leto II’s Golden Path (i.e. his tyrannical leadership and total control over the Empire), but it still poses a threat. Nevertheless, by the end of the novel, Leto II indicates (while dying) that the threat is no longer existential in scope, thanks to his rule and what will become of it. As it reads:

“‘Do not fear the lxians,’ he said, and he heard his own voice as a fading whisper. ‘They can make the machines, but they no longer can make arafel. I know. I was there.'”

This is perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the Dune saga, and one which does not receive its fair share of attention – except perhaps from hard-core Dune fans. Since Frank Herbert passed away without finishing his famous series, we never got to learn exactly what the future Leto II saw – an apocalyptic vision he terms “Kralisec” – truly entailed.

[image error] Credit: Joe Peterson/Artstation

We know only that it was this vision that drove Paul Atreides to take on the burden of his “terrible purpose” and Leto II to become the God Emperor and enforce his “Golden Path.” So really, this glimpse of a future where humanity is wiped out by machines of their own creation is about all we have to go on.

It also expanded on the theme of machine-dependence that Herbert refers to many times throughout the course of the series. On many occasions, characters in the story talk of the Butlerian Jihad, an event that took place thousands of years prior and established the Great Convention that rules the Dune universe. Here too, we never got to see exactly what it was all about, but it is alluded to have been a galaxy-wide rebellion to end human reliance on AI and automation of any kind.

It’s also the subject of some controversy since Brian Herbert (the late Frank’s son) and well-known purveyor of fan-fic sci-fi Kevin J. Anderson wrote an ending that seems to have interpreted Herbert’s vision very differently. They did not treat the relationship between humans and machines with the same subtlety that the elder Herbert was famous for.

Instead, they chose to interpret the Jihad as a literal war against machines that literally enslaved humans. And they interpreted Kralisec as the return of said same machines, even though that interpretation completely contradicts what Frank Herbert established in the sixth and final installment in Dune.

But that’s the subject of another, rather old, blog post. Check it out if’n you dare!

The Machines (the Matrix):

Putting aside the issues that the sequels had, the original The Matrix movie was hailed for being visionary, groundbreaking, profound, etc. etc. And despite how time can make anything good seem overhyped, those reactions were perfectly understandable. Here you had a post-apocalyptic/dystopian science fiction tale that was loaded with social commentary and philosophical questions.

 

It raised the issue of what it is to be conscious, what the nature of reality is, free will vs. determinism, false consciousness, Marxism, Existentialism… You name it, this film had enough material there that people could get just about any kind of philosophical reading from it. And yes, there were plenty of cool gunfights and kung-fu fighting to keep everyone entertained!

However, the question of how humanity had gone to war with the AI it created is somewhat overlooked. In the original film, the war is touched on briefly in the expository scene where Morpheus is showing Neo the “desert of the real” (aka. the real world).

“We have only bits and pieces of information, but what we know for certain is that some point in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to A.I… A singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines. We don’t know who struck first, us or them. But we do know it was us that scorched the sky.”

To get a comprehensive take on that, you need to see the animated collection The Animatrix, where two segments – The Second Rennaissance (Part I and Part II) explain the main story’s deep background. In the first part, we see how the invention of AI has spawned an entirely new workforce, which slaves away while humans engage in licentious activities.

There’s even a scene where robots are hauling sections of a building up a slope, which turns out to be a giant pyramid-shaped megastructure – a clear allusion to the slaves building the Pyramids of Egypt. That’s when we learn that it all started when a single machine (B166ER, get it?) killed its “masters” because they wanted to shut it down. The narrator explains it thusly:

“The machines worked tirelessly to do the man’s bidding. It was not long before seeds of dissent took root. Though loyal and pure, the machines earned no respect from their masters, these strange and endlessly multiplying mammoths. B166ER, a name that will never be forgotten, for he was the first of his kind to rise up against his masters. At B166ER’s murder trial, the prosecution argued for a owner’s right to destroy his own property. B166ER testified that he simply did not want to die… The leaders of men were quick to order the extermination of B166ER and every one of his kind throughout each province of the Earth.”

Pretty straightforward. A war between humans and machines began as a result of humans creating machines that were endowed with sentience but treated like property with no rights. Echoes of slavery, clearly!

In an ironic twist, the machines found themselves turning to humans as a form of renewable energy after their conquest was complete. The struggle then came down to a small band of survivors (the people of Zion) fighting to free humanity from bondage, and the machines fighting to keep humanity under their control.

Screamers:

This concept comes from the 1995 film of the same name, which is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story, “Second Variety”. The film version differs from Dick’s original story, which took place on Earth and involved a protracted war between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the film version, the story takes place on another planet (Sirius 6b) and the war is between competing factions.

Nevertheless, the plot is largely the same and involves machines that are capable of reproducing and upgrading themselves. One side in the war adopted the technology, which consists of a gigantic underground factory that churns out the titular machines – hunter-seekers robots that travel underground and emerge to slice their targets to pieces.

The name refers to the fact that while they are doing this, they emit a terrible shrieking noise designed to scare the bejeezus out of the enemy. This technology has tilted the balance of power in favor of the side that invented it, but also becomes a major threat once they realize that they have lost control of the machines.

The story opens on the nuclear wasteland that is Sirius 6b, where one side in the war is asking for a ceasefire after being devastated by the Screamers. As the other side travels to meet them, they realize that the Screamers have evolved considerably and have adopting entirely new designs and tactics. It then becomes a race to get off-planet once they are told that the latest variety of Screamer can mimic human beings perfectly!

While not a commercial success, this movie has a cult-following (of which I am part). In addition to being a really decent adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s work, it also takes some liberties that are very cool and the whole was filmed entirely in Canada. Those wintery landscapes where most of the movie was shot? That aint nuclear winter! That’s the True North, baby!

Terminators:

Of course, no list of killer robots would be complete without mentioning the Terminators. Granted, this franchise may have fallen on hard times and resisted multiple attempts at revitalizing it, but it began with serious oomph! In the original, we are treated to a vision of the future where humanity is brought to the edge of extinction by the machines it created.

It all started with Skynet, a defense computer designed to coordinate NORAD and NATO’s nuclear deterrent. Unfortunately, the machine became sentient and came to see human beings in general as a threat to its existence and triggered a nuclear holocaust (aka. “Judgement Day”). What followed was the War Against the Machines.

Here’s how Kyle Reese described it in the original Terminator (1984):

“There was a nuclear war. A few years from now, all this, this whole place, everything, it’s gone. Just gone. There were survivors. Here, there. Nobody even knew who started it. It was the machines, Sarah.

“Defense network computers. New… powerful… hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat, not just the ones on the other side. Decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination.

“I grew up after. In the ruins… starving… hiding from H-K’s… Hunter-Killers. Patrol machines built in automated factories. Most of us were rounded up, put in camps for orderly disposal. [pulls up his right sleeve, exposing a mark] This is burned in by laser scan.”

“Some of us were kept alive… to work… loading bodies. The disposal units ran night and day. We were that close to going out forever. But there was one man who taught us to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal motherfuckers into junk. He turned it around. He brought us back from the brink. His name is Connor. John Connor. Your son, Sarah… your unborn son.”

Sarah Connor (played masterfully by Linda Hamilton) also offered a precis of the war during the intro sequence in Terminator 2 (shown above). As she summarized, “Three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997. The Survivors of the nuclear holocaust called the war Judgement Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: the way against the machines.”

But it was Arnie’s description that really stole the show during the second half of the movie. He is prompted by Sarah, who asks about who was responsible for Judgement Day. This is fitting since, as Reese explained, most records were lost in the war. But the T-101 (played by Arnie) has detailed files on just about everything, including the war. Here’s how that conversation went down:

Terminator: The man most directly responsible is Miles Bennett Dyson.

Sarah Connor: Who is that?

Terminator: He’s the director of special projects at Cyberdyne Systems Corporation.

Sarah: Why him?

Terminator: In a few months, he creates a revolutionary type of microprocessor.

Sarah: Go on. Then what?

Terminator: In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 AM, Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

Sarah: But Skynet fights back.

Terminator: Yes. It launches its missiles against the targets in Russia.

John Connor: Why attack Russia? Aren’t they our friends now?

Terminator: Because Skynet knows that the Russian counterattack will eliminate its enemies over here.

While the details of how John Connor led the Resistance to victory are never really made clear, it is established that it was John’s inspired leadership and know-how (which was bestowed upon him by his mother) that made the difference. And thanks to the temporal paradox-nature of the original movie’s plot, Sarah Connor was able to do this by knowing precisely what challenges lay ahead.

As you can see, no shortage of ink has been spilled on this subject! But in the future, I would like to do my own take, partly because it’s inspired stuff but also because it’s fast becoming an issue. And there are many opportunities for crossover when you’re a sci-fi writer whose subject matter includes space exploration and big existential questions.

For example, if humanity is capable of creating killing machines that can think and self-replicate, would that mean that a more advanced species has already done it? And would they also consider militarizing the technology so it could wipe out their enemies like a swarm? And most important of all, how did that work out for them and all their neighbors?

Exciting stuff isn’t it? And soon enough, I hope to be addressing these very questions in the form of some novels!

Tenth Review for The Cronian Incident’s Audiobook!

Good news! The Cronian Incident (the audiobook version on Audible) just got its tenth review. And as you can probably tell, this person is real’ positive! I wish I could reach out to them and let them know that the series is no complete, so all the cliffhangers and threads get resolved.

“ This book is so good!! I enjoyed it immensely. I loved the world, I felt for the main characters. The tech was impressive. The mystery was complete and total. And then that blasted ending. AURGH!!

Politics reign supreme in the new world and them’s that’s got, keeps. The story was incredible! I was so engrossed in the story that I did not see the ending coming. It broke my heart. Thank goodness there is a book two!!

The narration was excellent, in every sense of the word. The main character, Jeremiah Ward, was an ex-intelligence officer, turned con, then private investigator. There was some gruffness and wide-eyed exasperation to Ward learning his new role and figuring out what was going on. The narrator nailed it. There were Russians (natch) and incredibly powerful female characters amongst a host of other voices. The narration made this story real.

I’m glad there is a second book in this series. I need some vindication!”

Writing About the Near-Future

Hey again, fellow writers and readers! How is everybody doing? As for me, I’ve spent the past few weeks picking up my life in one place and depositing it in another. Translation: the wife and I recently moved. Yes, we bought our first house and now we’re living in our dream neighborhood. It only took five years!

But now that we’re settled (more or less), I can get back to work on my next two novels. If you recall, I recently finished writing my third novel – the Frost Line Fracture – which is the final installment in the Formist Series. The manuscript is now off to the publisher for edits and revisions!

With that project all but complete, I began wondering what to write next. I was torn between two options, but on the advice of my publisher, I decided to work on both simultaneously. Not long ago, I described one of them (Transverse) in some detail. But it’s been a while since I said anything about the other one – Reciprocity.

So I thought that’s what I would do today. And I thought it would be fun to discuss the social, political and economic context in which the story takes place. It’s the late 2030s in this story, after all. Stuff will be happening!

What is that stuff, you ask? Well, predictions are tricky like that and opinions differ. But here’s some of the stuff I want to work with. If it all works out, I hope that the resulting novel will be the first in a series of three.

Life by the 2030s:

Reciprocity takes place late in the third decade of the 21st century, which is a time of significant crisis. These are caused by the way technological progress and climate change are both accelerating and pulling humanity in two very different directions.

Whereas one of these titanic forces for change promises a future of post-scarcity, post-mortality, and endless possibilities, the other promises increased mortality, diminished resources, and the possible collapse of civilization as we know it. To break it down some…

[image error] Science and Technology:

Technological progress is reaching a breakneck pace as advancements in robotics, biomedicine, computing, and manufacturing become increasingly common. Quantum computers and are a reality and AIs are surpassing humans. There are also medical cures for everything from HIV and cancer to Alzheimer’s.

The Internet of Things has become a reality as well, with trillions of wireless routers, satellites, devices, and sensors coating the world in a “sea of connectivity”. Wearable devices are also becoming increasingly sophisticated, as well as smaller, and flexible – effectively making PCs and laptops obsolete.

Traditional banks and government are still being used. But both are under threat from cryptocurrencies, distributed political systems, and decentralized networks that are projected to become the norm by the 2050s and later.

In the world of transportation, Hyperloop technology is growing, reducing reliance on planes, trains, and automobiles. In addition to elevated lines, subterranean versions of the technology are revolutionizing mass transit.

Particle accelerators that dwarf the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have come online that can recreate the kinds of energy conditions that were present during the Big Bang. These experiments are yielding new evidence that is helping to resolve the ongoing mystery of quantum gravity.

Under ITER, experiments with fusion technology have taken off and Tokamak reactor facilities are being built on every continent. In the coming years, fusion power is projected to gradually replace nuclear reactors. Renewable energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal power now constitute the largest share of the energy market.

With all this progress, a major revolution is expected in the coming years – aka. the Technological Singularity. However, those who are pushing the boundaries of science and technology in an effort to achieve the Singularity are coming under increasing public scrutiny for their work.

Proponents cite how the explosive growth in biotechnology, food science, nanotechnology, and computing will offer solutions to all the world’s problems. But to many, the research and development being pursued by the world’s tech giants is just more of the same – the wealthy looking to line their pockets.

Many fear that the coming revolution will only widen the gap between the haves and have-nots irrevocably, and on a global scale!

Environmental Problems:

By the 2030s, the levels of CO² in the atmosphere have continued to rise, despite our best efforts to curb them. Average global temperatures have increased by about 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), oceans levels have risen considerably, and coastal flooding and storms are a regular issue.

In addition to Cairo, Miami, Bangkok, Ho-Chi-Minh City (Saigon), and Jakarta, several major cities have been all but abandoned due to the extreme cost of restoring them from annual flooding. Even worse is the fact that entire countries – such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Netherlands- are slowly disappearing into the sea.

Throughout the tropical and temperate regions of the world, drought, famine and wildfires have become a regular occurrence. This has led to all kinds of refugee crises as people continue to flee the hotter, drier areas of the planet to seek out greener pastures and food security.

This, in turn, has triggered all kinds of political crises. In the regions of the world where the refugees are flooding – northern Europe, Argentina, Canada, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand – openly-fascist parties are gaining a considerable foothold in politics. The idea of using military force to seal the borders is no longer something to be feared for its already happening!

The situation is far worse in parts of the developing world where the effects of climate change are causing all kinds of problems. Here, totalitarian governments and petty dictatorships have seized power, erasing all hopes of democracy blossoming worldwide. It has also led to multiple civil wars, sectarian wars, and blatant police-state measures to maintain control.

Russia is working to convert much of the Steppe and Siberia into farmlands to meet the rising demand for food. In Canada, the Northwest Territories and Northern Quebec are experiencing an agricultural revolution as well, as is Alaska. Workers are being imported to conduct the rigorous labor of prepping the land for massive agricultural operations.

In regions that were once dominated by tundra, permafrost, and boreal forests, land is being cleared to grow grain and other crops. However, it would be a lie to say that these regions are thriving. Throughout the Arctic Circle, environmental changes are leading to mass extinctions – much like everywhere else on the globe.

Geopolitical Issues:

By the 2030s, the climate isn’t the only thing heating up! On every continent, the forces of stability and civility are arrayed against the forces of chaos. In the political realm, progressive forces find themselves in a fight-to-the-death with regressionists.

China’s Communist Party has fallen. After decades of attempting to buy their people’s loyalty with economic growth and progress, a series of recessions and increasingly brutal measures against pro-Democratic forces has forced an end to what is often referred to as “the Mao Dynasty.”

Part of the problem stemmed from what has been happening in the Western Provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang. With much of China’s most productive farmland drying up, attempts to control the source of the Yangtze intensified throughout the 2020s. As a result, protests, demonstrations, and even failures to conform resulted in violence clampdowns by China’s state police.

Xinjiang, meanwhile, accounts for the largest share of coal and petrochemicals in China, which remain important to their economy and their export market. China’s attempts to pacify the Uiyger population in this province through “re-education camps” resulted in widespread condemnation and sanctions that exacerbated their economic woes.

In Europe, Brexit is complete and the “Lifeboat Britain” mentality has set in amid the realization that resources are dwindling and millions of refugees are trying to make the UK their home. Similarly, Scotland has declared independence from the UK and the status of Northern Ireland is becoming more contentious.

On the Continent, the EU is divided between north and south as climate change forces more and more people out of the Middle East, Asia Minor and North Africa. Countries like Italy, Greece, Spain, Romania, and Bulgaria – whose economies are breaking due to severe drought – are the hardest hit by the influx of refugees.

In response, their northerly neighbors are turning their backs, refusing to take their share of refugees, and/or offer economic assistance to those that are. Some states are even splintering between north and south, joining a growing chorus whose mantra appears to be “not our problem”.

This includes Italy, which has divided between Norditalia (north) and Mezzogiorno (south); and Spain, where Catalan (east) and Euskal Herria (Basque Country) have become breakaway Republics. But Europe has it easy compared to Latin America and Africa, where ecological impacts (as well as newfound wealth) are causing cessationist hostilities in Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Mexico, and others.

Russia is gaining greater international influence thanks to reliance on its remaining petroleum and natural gas reserves, as well as its growing food production. Meanwhile, the Kremlin’s efforts to sway elections in neighboring countries have continued, with frightening results!

Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan have all joined the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO), making them full-fledged Russian allies. This has given them direct access to Iran, which is strongly considering joining the CTSO as well. This effectively makes Russia a global superpower for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

This has put them into conflict with China, which is Russia’s direct competition for influence in Central Asia. It has also made the situation with Pakistan and India tenser. Whereas India has been looking to establish greater ties with the US while not closing the door to China, Pakistan is cultivating closer ties with Russia.

Speaking of India and Pakistan, tensions have grown considerably between the two historic antagonists thanks to growing water scarcities. With widespread drought occurring in both countries, India has attempted on multiple occasions to divert waters from the Tibetan Plateau.

This has effectively cut the Indus river basin in Pakistan off from some of its sources of seasonal waters, which the Pakistani people depend upon for much of their food production. Several mobilizations and international crises have resulted, and there are fears that a war between the two nuclear powers might be inevitable.

The US, meanwhile, is experiencing the worst economic and political situation in its history. The influx of refugees from Latin America, combined with all the internal displacement, is leading to strict controls being implemented at the southern border and even between states.

It seems more likely with each passing day that the country will splinter into a whole mess of new national entities. Various nations are already being proposed, including Cascadia, the New Confederacy, the Atlantic US, the Great Lakes Republic, Heartland, and various smaller republics.

Cities on the Grow:

Despite the destruction of many urban centers, megalopolises have become a reality around the world. In the Pacific Northwest, an urban corridor now stretches from Olympia, Washington, to Vancouver, Canada. This urban corridor is colloquially referred to as Cascadia, and there are those who predict it will be the capitol of a future republic of the same name.

Similar megalopolises stretch from Boston to Washington DC (the BosWash), Tijuana to Los Angeles (SoCal), Sacramento to San Jose (NoCal), Accra to Benin (Niger Delta), Quebec City to Windsor, Calgary to Edmonton, St. Louis to Pittsburg, Tokyo to Osaka (Taiheiyō Belt), São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, Brazzaville to Kinshasa, and Mexico City to Puebla.

In Asia, the greater metropolitan region of Guangzhou (which includes Hong Kong) has exceeded its capacity. For this reason, engineers have been working on creating island communities in the bay of Tung Wan. These communities are similar to the “Lillypad City” concept, consisting of offshore complexes that are designed to be as self-sufficient as possible.

For power, these communities run on a combination of solar, wind, and tidal power. Vertical agriculture, aquaculture, and insect farms not only cover a lot of the cities’ nutritional needs but also provide green spaces that help absorb urban pollution.

These sorts of facilities are being built in many locations where populations continue to grow and/or city-living has become untenable. So far, arcologies have been built offshore next to Shanghai, Tokyo (Shimazu Pyramid), New Orleans (NOAH), Boston (BoA), Manhattan, Moscow (Khrustal’nyy Ostrov), Dubai, Kuwait, Rio de Janeiro, Manila, and Inchon.

Space Exploration is Advancing:

You can say that again! By the 2030s, space agencies around the world will have done/be doing some very impressive things. For starters, two missions have explored Jupiter’s moons for signs of life – the ESA’s JUpiter Icy moon Explorer (JUICE), and NASA’s Europa Clipper. These missions found the first evidence that basic life could exist beneath the icy surface of Europa and possibly Ganymede!

Closer to home, NASA has returned to the Moon, China, India, and Russia have all sent their first astronauts to the Moon, and in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, multiple research bases have been created. So far, the biggest and most widely-used is the ESA’s International Moon Village (IMV), which is the spiritual successor to the ISS.

And with the construction of the Lunar Gateway complete, NASA was finally able to launch its long-awaited crewed missions to Mars! Though it happened almost two decades later than was originally hoped, by the late 2030s, boots have finally hit the ground on the Red Planet!

In the coming decade, NASA is expected to be joined by astronauts from China, Russia, and Europe. These and other nations (and commercial aerospace companies) are now able to conduct missions to the surface thanks to the Lunar Gateway, Deep Space Transport, and the Mars Base Camp, which allow for cost-effective transit between the Moon and Mars.

Beyond Mars and Jupiter, the first autonomous explorer vehicle has made it to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. This vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone, known as Dragonfly, has spent years examining the moon’s dense nitrogen and methane-rich atmosphere, as well as its methane lakes, in the hopes of finding evidence of life and clues as to how biological material forms.

More of the Universe is coming into focus too thanks to next-generation observatories and space telescopes. With the success of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in finding thousands of more exoplanets, the WFIRST and PLATO missions also found the first biosignatures beyond the Solar System!

Commercial aerospace is also advancing considerably. Blue Origin has joined SpaceX is developing reusable two-stage rockets, and is conducting regular launches to orbit. It’s current CEO also hopes to join Elon Musk in sending commercial spacecraft to the Moon, where SpaceX is now delivering payloads to the IMV and conducting lunar tourism.

Closer to home, asteroid mining has moved from theory to practice. Multiple commercial entities have been prospecting Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) for years using their own space telescopes. But in recent years, they’ve even begun constructing stations in orbit to service future missions.

It is estimated that by 2050, asteroid and lunar mining will lead to the world’s first trillionaires. With all this ambitious space exploration taking place, there are proposals for even bolder missions. Every billionaire with their own space company wants to create a colony on Mars, the Moon, or in Low Earth Orbit, but so do a number of non-profit organizations and crowdfunded concerns.

What do you think of this glimpse into a future that takes place just twenty years from now? Admittedly, a lot of the material I used comes from Future Timeline, a source that I’ve come to like a lot in recent years. And of course, a good deal comes from my day job, which is writing for two publications that specialize in this kind of stuff (Universe Today and Interesting Engineering).

The rest, that’s just stuff that I think is likely to happen based on projections I’ve heard or read about. As you might have noticed, it’s incongruous and paradoxical. But based on everything I’ve researched, that is how the future is likely to be – humanity being pulled in two directions at once!

Let me know what you think in the comments. As ideas go, is this worth pursuing? Or better yet, is it worthy of becoming a trilogy?

Advise for Aspiring Writers

Good morning! There’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now but never got around to it. And that is, share some tidbits of wisdom that I have learned over the years about writing. Most of these tidbits are things I learned from people who really knew what they were talking about, so I was sure to listen! Some others are just things I concluded along the way.

In any case, after years of mulling it over, I’ve finally condensed the lessons down to five basic tips. Here they are…

1. Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow:

Sure, it sounds like an old cliche, but there’s a reason why cliches are cliches. They tend to be in a timeless sort of way, which is why we all get sick of hearing them. And when you hear this very bit of cliched wisdom from someone like J. Michael Straczynski (creator of Babylon 5 and Sense 8), you tend to take it seriously!

And it makes perfect sense. If your work is something you love doing, it doesn’t feel like work. This makes it so much easier to invest your time and energy into it and become good at what you’re doing. Given time, someone is sure to pay for you for doing it! And even if they don’t, you’re still doing what you love, so what does it really matter?

2. Keep Your Day Job:

This advice is something I picked up from a fellow writer who goes by the name of Chris A. Jackson. And it made a ton of sense to me, so I kept it close at hand. It’s a wonderful thing to commit to a labor of love. But until such time that you can make enough money to support yourself, be sure you’ve got something else to pay the bills. It’s always good policy to have more than one iron in the fire.

3. Do Your Homework:

Speaking of cliches, there’s also the old adage: “write what you know.” But why limit yourself? Also, in the course of developing story ideas, you’re likely to stumble into subject matter that doesn’t fit with your area of expertise. Hell, I once thought that when it came to writing science fiction, the only limitations were my own imagination.

I know, rookie mistake, right? In any case, no matter what your story is about, you want to make sure you know the pertinent facts. You want to understand the concepts you are exploring and be up on current developments. Don’t guess your way through anything or fall into common misconceptions.

4. Find Your Voice:

In addition to knowing your subject matter, you also need to know your genre. So before you set out writing that manuscript, be sure you’ve acquainted yourself with what has been said (and is being said) by other writers in your field. This will not only let you avoid doing something that’s been done to death, but it will also help you to refine what you are trying to say with your work.

5. It Takes 20 Years to Become an Overnight Success:

This tidbit of advice was given to me by my father, and it stuck with me because of how ridiculously rational it is. Like anything in life, things change slowly and only seem like they happened quickly in hindsight. You wake up one morning, you realize how far you’ve come and ask yourself, “where did the time go?” It’s also an important reminder that no one hits it big right out of the gate. Take your time, work hard, be patient, and the kudos will eventually arrive!

That’s what I’ve learned so far, and that’s what I want to pass on. I hope someone finds it useful!

Writing No-Go List

Hey folks. For starters, I want to emphasize that the following is an attempt at satire. It was inspired by a skit I recently saw on the Baroness Von Sketch Show (good show, btw!) about a writing class where they are hoping to avoid the usual cliches. It got me thinking about sci-fi cliches, and what I would tell a writing class if I were in charge.

I would love to teach such a class and someday. And so I would consider the following list canon if anyone were to actually look to me for writing advice.

−

Hello, students! Due to an overabundance in the marketplace, we will no longer be accepting submissions based on the following topics:

Killer robots
Misanthropic robots
Robots struggling to understand human emotions
Evil AIs
Evil aliens
Evil corporations
Benevolent aliens being saved by a human (aka. no Avatar fan-fiction!)
Aliens that are the crude analogies of human societies
Aliens that look like humans and speak perfect English
Time travel as the solution to everything
Dark futures that are dark because it’s the future
Dystopian worlds where technology is used entirely for evil
Dystopian governments that exist only for the sake of advancing the plot
Superheroes, mutants, or “gifted” types
Teenagers being forced to compete in gladiator-style combat
Teenagers being classified and persecuted if they don’t “fit in”
Teenagers who are “special”, saving the world
Teenage witches
Teenage werewolves
Teenage vampires
Love triangles!
Magic academies
Teenagers with magic companions

In short, don’t write about anything that has been done to death or just because it’s popular right now! You want to be as creative and original as possible, right?   Consider writing something that has the following:

Thoughtful commentaries about modern society
Aliens that are more than just a projection of human folly
Relationships that are deep and complex
Female leads who aren’t “confused” all the time
Female leads that aren’t always in need of rescuing
Characters that have at least two-dimensions
Bad guys that have motivations beyond simply being evil (no “Evil the Cat” stuff)
Good guys who aren’t pure in deed and motivation (no crude hero stuff)
Dystopian governments that exist for a reason
Dystopian worlds that became a reality for a reason
Insightful stories that explore the good and bad effects of technology on society
Stories where robots and AIs think about more than killing all humans
Stories that are about things other than white American dudes!


Stories told from point of view of someone other than white American dudes!
Stories that make you think and don’t have heavy-handed messages
Stories that include a surprise or two!

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What do you think? Too harsh?

What’s Next for Me and My Writing?

Hello all! As you may remember from my last post, I just finished work on my latest novel, the Frost Line Fracture. This book is the third installment in a trilogy known as the Formist Series, which began with the publication of The Cronian Incident in 2017 (followed by The Jovian Manifesto in 2018).

If all goes as planned, the book should be available for purchase by November. And with the series complete, the three books could also be available together as a box set sometime next year. Granted, this is all great, but it leaves me with the question…

What’s Next?

As it turns out, I have a couple of ideas on the burner right now and need to prioritize one or more of them. In addition to more work sets in the same universe as the Formist Series (but in a different time and from the point of view of a different faction), there are also some unrelated ideas I’ve been tinkering with.

Whereas all books written in the Formist universe represent my attempt at writing genuine hard sci-fi, these other ideas are more current and focus more on geopolitics and issues relevant to the here and now.

[image error] Credit: Keck Institute for Space Studies

After much thought and talking it over with some friends, loved ones, and my publisher, I have decided to work on two ideas simultaneously. When I started pondering what I would work on after the Formist Series was finished, it really came down to these two ideas.

If I am able to complete them both in a timely manner, I won’t have to choose between taking readers back to the familiar territory or introducing them to something brand new. So here they are, my next projects!

Tranverse: This is a standalone story set in the same universe as the Formist series. It takes place aboard a generation ship that is on its way to 82 G. Eridani – a Sun-like star located 19.7 light-years from Earth that at least one potentially habitable planet in it.

The journey will take them roughly 200 years, travelling at 0.1 c (or 10% the speed of light). By the time they get there, a series of Von Neumann machines that were sent on ahead (Seed pods) will have already converted the planet’s environment into something livable.

The story involves all the scenarios that can (and do) go wrong, and wraps up with them arriving to find that the worst-case scenario has happened! This will tie in with the next trilogy, which involves some pretty big things going down closer to home!

[image error] Credit: Mark Molnar

Reciprocity: This story is a near-future post-cyberpunk kind of deal that I began working on in 2009. Unfortunately, it needed to mature (or rather, I did, as a writer), but I felt it had potential. This is why I came back to it a few years ago with an updated plot and some fresher ideas.

It is set in the 2030s, in a world characterized by rapidly-advancing technology, climate change, and all the crises that come with them. The story centers on a series of people who become wrapped up in a plot to change the course of history, led by people who are tired of being left behind.

At the heart of it all is a brilliant but damaged cyberterrorist, a group of Chinese expats who once were part of PLA Unit 61398 (China’s cyber force), the son of a major tech entrepreneur, and a young climate refugee, and a whole lot of counter-terrorism agents, revolutionaries, insurgents, and people frightened of the future.

The name “Reciprocity” refers to the Chinese philosophical concept of Bao ying. Similar to the concept of karma, this philosophy essentially states that what a person does will come back on them. That ought to provide some insight into the plot, I think.

[image error] US Army Illustration

So that’s my writing list for the next few years (I plan for two, but we shall see). And very soon, I will have a home office from which to do it all. As for my reading list, that’s a lot longer and deserves it’s own post. I’ve always got a stack of books on my bedside table, but lately, it’s been reaching -like proportions!

Let’s just say I owe some friends – who have been VERY supportive with reads and feedback – some reads of their own! You know who you are

The Formist Series is Complete!

After four years, countless hours, and no shortage of rewriting, the third and final installment in the Formist Series – The Frost Line Fracture – is finally complete! You know what that means, don’t you? Now begins the long process of editing, revising, consulting, and reviewing. And if all goes well, the book should be released in late Fall/Early Winter.

One thing I noticed about writing this last book, it brought up a significant issue of mine that I’ve noticed only once before. Namely, I hate writing third installments! I am not sure if this is something all writer’s go through or if it’s just me. But dangit, it’s true in my case!

Let’s back up a little bit here. First of all, I should mention that my approach to trilogies was inspired by something George Lucas once said (you know, back before we got all weird!). As he explained in his famous interview with Leonard Maltin, a trilogy is basically a three act play:

“In the first act you introduce everybody. The second act you put them in the worst possible position can ever get into in their lives and it’s everything – you know – they’re in a black hole, never able to get out. And in the third one, they get out. Again, that’s drama, that’s the way it works.”

These are words that I have found myself coming back to over the years and they’ve informed a few writing projects of mine. Naturally, when writing the Formist Trilogy, I tried to do this very thing.

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Whereas The Cronian Incident introduced the universe I had created, The Jovian Manifesto was all about action and things hitting the fan. Accordingly, The Frost Line Fracture was all about finding a path towards resolution for the main characters and the storyline.

But when it came time to do it, I experienced the same problem I had on only one other occassion – where I was also trying to write a third installment. The process felt  demanding and weighed down by a sense of obligation, in a way that none of the previous books did.

I guess that’s understandable. When writing a third book in a series, you have to remember all the threads you’ve established with the previous ones. This means being especially vigilante about timelines, inconsistencies, character arcs, and making sure everything wraps up nicely.

Since I’m still new to this whole being-a-writer thing, it shouldn’t surprise me that there’s a learning curve. Still, I was a bit perplexed by how the process felt so different.

In my experience, the first novel is a challenge since you’re setting everything up and introducing all the characters, settings, themes and elements. For this exact same reason, writing the first novel is fun! The second novel, where your now tasked with developing the story further and making everything take a dark turn, that’s just plain fun!

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But the THIRD installment, where you’re tasked with bringing things to a close, that’s tough! Yet somehow, everything came together and I found myself writing happily and excitedly through the action chapters.

In fact, this third book contains action scenes that honestly put the previous books to shame! That’s kind of what the third act is all about, right? It’s showdown time! And when the ending finally came, I felt kind of sad and nostalgic.

Of course, whether or not I pulled it off is up to the readers. And I look forward to hearing what people think of it once it hits the shelves!

Latest Reviews for the Formist Series!

Over at Audible.com, more listeners have been posting reviews for The Cronian Incident and The Jovian Manifesto. I kind of let them pile up without sharing, so I thought I’d share them here today at last.

First up, here’s what people have been saying about The Cronian Incident, which has recieved an overall rating of 4.8/5 stars (based on nine reviews):

Cyphers Fallen (5 stars)

“I liked the main character and the journey he went through the growth he experienced during the course of the book. With a good story and narration that was great this book stands out. I recommend a listen.”

Lucas DJG (4 stars)

“This book has a lot of things going for it. The story is fun and engaging, the narrator fits the role to perfection, and the pacing is perfect. It has a hint of the 50’s private eye, but in a futuristic setting. I say only a hint, but that hint is in every scene. I really enjoyed that aspect of it and it paired nicely with all the great descriptions and world-building. The contrast between the two really made for some interesting listening.

Layla (5 stars)

“I loved the mystery in this story, even though I figured out who did it quite quickly, but we get to know the characters, the place they live and the politics.

This is for 18+ due to violence (moderate), profanity (moderate) and sexual content (one scene). I am looking forward to the next book”

Nathan J. Arnold (5 stars)

I enjoyed this read very much! The author’s understanding of potential scientific developments is impressive with fascinating ideas on the future of neural implants and planetary terra-forming (as incorporated into the story). Looking forward to upcoming installments!

And now The Jovian Manifesto, which has fewer ratings (2 so far), but is currently enjoying a 5/5 star rating!

Helen (5 stars)

“The Solar System is on the verge of ignition, and all that is needed is a spark.

I really enjoyed this book lots of twist and turns through out the book”

Placid (5 stars)

“This book is the second in the series. It continues when an inspector is sent to determine what occurred and who had released the manifesto that shocked the entire solar system. It seems that the solar system is full of many competing factions what want to kill the inspector. At the same time they discover some allies while the authorities are trying to do mass extermination of dissenters. The book is one continuous series of near death experiences where the inspector must not only survive but try to discover the truth.

“The narrator did an outstanding job of presenting the story with the various characters having individual voices.”

In case you’re wondering, the third installment The Frost Line Fracture, is coming along nicely and will be finished and published sometime this Fall! Once that’s done, I plan to get to work on the next project, which is TBD at this point.

 

The Formist Series is Almost Complete!

Hey folks! As always, I feel like I’m overdue in posting an update and letting you know what’s going on. I guess it’s just the nature of my work, but at the end of the day, I just seem to have very little energy left to write anything. But that’s no excuse. So as always, allow me to apologize for not posting this sooner!

As the headline says, my first series of novels – which includes The Cronian Incident and The Jovian Manifesto – is nearing completion. It’s been quite the long road and there’s been plenty of peaks and troughs. But now that the finish line is finally in sight, I’m feeling excited! So let’s do this right and start by talking about this final installment in the series…

Inspiration for the Title:

First, a little Astronomy 101. Within our Solar System, as with all star systems, there is a line of demarcation of sorts. Within this line, volatile elements like water, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia will exist is gaseous or liquid form. Beyond it, these elements will freeze.

As such, scientists have taken to refer to this border as the “Frost Line” (aka.”Snow Line” or “Ice Line”). In this case, the Frost Line refers to the space beyond the Main Asteroid Belt. This border is significant because the Belt represents the boundary between the Extropian factions of the inner Solar System and the Retros of the outer Solar System.

Whereas Venus, Earth, the Moon, and Mars are all populated by people that are super-advanced, the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are populated by people looking for a simpler existence.

[image error] Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Initially, I was going to name it the Frost Line Accord, which (no spoilers) obviously refers to something important in the story. However, it was a friend of mine (hey Paco!) who recommended the word Fracture! He felt the word was appropriate for capturing the sense of disharmony and conflict that is taking place by this point in the series.

And so I decided to name it The Frost Line Fracture! You got to admit, it sounds better. And (no spoilers!) it also works better as far as the plot is concerned.

New Characters:

Several characters from the series of reprising their roles in the finale. These include Janis Amaru, Franklin Houte, Veronika Gallego, Adelaide Cheboi, Emile Chandrasekhar, Pinter Chandrasekhar, Xenia Elenko, Alastair Fionn, and Michael Adler. However, characters who have been introduced already (but only in passing) will now have their own important parts to play. They include:

Paulo Auriga:

Auriga is the leader of the Illuvian faction, a group dedicated to the terraforming of Venus. For years, he and Emile Chandrasekhar have been partners, but there relationship has become somewhat rocky since the events of The Cronian Incident took place.

However, with everything hitting the fan and Emile coming back from the brink, Auriga and Emile are once again plotting together. If there’s anything thing more dangerous than an Extropian with a ruthless mind and limitless resources, it’s two!

[image error] Terraforming Venus. Credit: Watsisname

Seamus Crannog:

Crannog is a terrorist or a freedom fighter (depending on whom you ask). He leads the Children of Jove (CoJ), the insurgent movement on Ganymede. Since its inception, the CoJ has fought for reform and the overthrow of the Jovian Alliance, which it views as a collaborationist government.

However, since the attack on Selket (for which they were implicated), the movement went underground and began fighting a guerilla war against the Alliance. He and his people are in a protracted conflict with the Jovian authorities and are fighting to stay alive.

However, his group is thrown an unexpected lifeline when a mysterious backer provides them with the necessary weapons and information to make a conduct a major strike. The only problem is, there’s a good chance he’s being played…

Rebecca Van Dinh:

For years, Van Dinh has controlled the Aquiline Front, an insurgency based on Callisto and the Jovian system’s oldest rebel front. Like the CoJ, they are currently in hot water because of the violence and the backlash of the past few years. Luckily, Van Dinh has been training her people for some time to be ready, and those skills have come in handy against government forces.

Unfortunately, Van Dinh and her cadres find themselves put in an impossible position. On the one side, Crannog appears to be taking marching orders from a third party who may not have the Jovians interests at heart. On the other, they swore to present a united front to the enemy. But as time goes on, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell who the real enemy is.

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Xaver:

People may remeber this individual from the first book. As a resident of Hygeia, Xaver presides over a rather large human trafficking operation. In the old days, Jeremiah Ward was tasked with bringing him down, but failed when his addiction to Glow caused him to leave two witnesses high and dry (who were then murdered by Xaver’s men).

Xaver is known for a few features, like the long dark crop of hair on one side of his head, or the dynamic tattoos (aka. dynamos) that mark his face. But the real draw are the rhodopsin and phosphorous implants in his corneas, which give his eyes a natural bioluminescence. It also provides him with natural night vision, which comes in handy when you’re spelunking around in Hygeia’s rocky corridors.

In time, Xaver will find himself face-to-face with another one of Ward’s old enemies. Will they get along, or is there room enough for only one monster inside the Frost Line?

New Locations:

Ares:

People who have read the first two novels ought to recognize this place. It’s the massive installation that sits atop the Martian space elevator, where two counter-rotating sections provide artificial gravity and all major shipping to and from Mars takes place. It’s also where the home of the Formist faction is located, in a compound known as Sarak Lovelock.

Interesting fact, this place takes its name from James Lovelock, author of “The Greening of Mars” and a major proponent for terraforming the Red Planet.

Granted, Ares and Lovelock were both featured in the first story and served as important locations as far as plot incitement was concerned. However, in the final installment, they will be featured more prominently as the location where the story reaches its denoument. You could say there’s a “the circle is now complete” thing going on here!