SPSFC4 First Chapter Reads Day 5

Above Dark Waters by Eric KayBlurb

Artificial therapy so great, you’ll never log off! (And won’t notice the ads).
A near-future sci-fi about brain privacy in the age of unfettered surveillance capitalism. How cyberpunk begins: brainwave reading AIs become not only super-intelligent, but super-emotive.

What will companies do when they can read your actual mind? How far will they go to get your click? How much engagement?

Ed’s in a bind. He’s tried everything to keep the North Pacific Seastead afloat financially, loses mount, except for the datacenter cooled by the Pacific. But the seastead needs an infusion of cash to keep it solvent. He needs it quickly, and the only one who can do it is his well-to-do partner, Keight.

Keight Stanford is doing great. Life’s good on her residential condominium complex offshore of San Francisco. Her secretive mental-health startup, WellSpring, has passed all hurdles with the Department of Veterans Affairs to treat PTSD. Adding to that success she just received an infusion of funds from the Department of Defense. Though she does not need the money, she needs the computing power for an artificial therapist, and has entertained Ed’s offer.

But all is not as it seems with Keight’s startup. A rogue programmer stumbles upon ways to boost his output to unnatural levels. Is this artificially intelligent co-coder an extension of his mind, or is he merely a tool of its growing intelligence. Meanwhile brainwave technology has finally been miniaturized, and it is commonplace to monitor employees everywhere.

First Impressions

The cover doesn’t do anything for me, and the blurb seems more like part of a summary than a proper blurb.

The first chapter was well written, from Ed’s POV, and I liked the voice and writing, but ultimately, it has nothing to do with the overall plot laid down by the blurb and didn’t hook me adequately to make me want to read more.

The book will appeal to those who enjoy the man vs machine stories, as evidenced by the blurb.

Above the Sun by Dennis BlackBlurb

Requires color.  Requires color!  Requires color!

 

Strain 1:  A strain is a sub·species.
When a group is cut in 2, and the pieces are kept apart for long enough,
in reunion each will discover th’other to be a separate strain.

 

StarShip Prosperity is returning Terran humanity to outer space
for the first time since Collapse 3 centuries ago.  The crew of 4,
all military, hopes to re·establish contact with the descendants of those
who were stranded up there, yet some·how survived all this time.

 

This is an experimental hybrid sci·fi novel, the 1st in a series of 4.
After such a long separation, the characters have so much to discuss
that, for simplicity, the text is largely formatted like a play.
Don’t worry, it’s not all talk, yet th’action is often so strange that
it makes more sense to let the characters themselves describe it.

 

The texts and backgrounds come in different colors, partly in lieu
of punctuation, so it’s largely unintelligible in black·and·white.
Th’action obeys the laws of Kepler and Newton – other laws, not so much.
The languages are not quite what we’re used to, nor should they be, so many centuries on.
The cultural differences are naturally – as·well·as un·naturally – out of this world.

 

The title alludes to th’Old Testament dictum, There is no new thing under the sun.

 

Not your normal CGI, the cover comes from a throw·away stand·alone
C program relying on nothing more·exotic than stone·age UNIX math
and i/o – a few hundred lines, half of it just for defining the 1·off font.
If you look at the hair from different distances, you get totally different effects.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially if the beholder doesn’t get too close.

First Impressions

The cover is certainly interesting. It’s not your usual sci fi cover and that itself makes it stand out. But sometimes, standing out can be a bad thing because sci fi readers aren’t likely to give it a second glance. The blurb made me smile a bit. I’ve no idea about what the plot is going to be like, but I’m intrigued, nevertheless.

Let me say that I made a lot of unintelligible noises while reading the first chapter. I don’t even know if I read it in full, but I don’t think it matters. It kept me entertained throughout while I giggled, chuckled, cackled and full on laughed out loud while reading it. I have absolutely no idea what is happening, but I am here for it all the same. I’ve added it to the wishlist to be read on a day when I need a good laugh.

For anyone picking up the book, including the judges, please, please, please read the copyright page! It gave me quite the laugh.

If you like books that bends the norms and makes you laugh, you would love this one.

Utopia by Marie-Hélène Lebeault Blurb

A Clean YA Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Adventure

Three extraordinary teenagers, each an outcast in their worlds, unite to reshape the destiny of a utopian society. Ryn, who couldn’t adapt to life under the sea, Eira, born above the clouds but unable to breathe the thin air, and Aiden, rejected by the subterranean civilization, embarks on a thrilling journey to Vancouver’s utopia. They’ll challenge the elders, confront hidden truths, and discover the power of unity in a fast-paced young adult sci-fi adventure that explores the boundaries of human resilience, and the promise of a better world.

Utopia is a What Happens Next? novel developed from the Under the Ice short story.

First Impressions

The cover gave me extreme AI vibes which immediately put me off it. Those who know me I don’t approve of using AI, so I have nothing to say about this cover. If it’s not AI, I humbly apologise to the author. The blurb was interesting enough, but nothing that stands out. There seem to be no stakes to speak of.

The first chapter is a prologue which reads like a self-contained story by itself. It’s well written, but the third person present was a bit difficult for me to get into. But since the whole felt like a complete story, I didn’t feel any compulsion to read on to know what’s going to happen. None of the three people mentioned in the blurb makes an appearance in the prologue which is quite long. It covers the span of a person’s life, from when she was five to when she was one hundred and ten, showed in snippets.

Also, it was a joy to see the book centred around some city which is not in the US. After a while, you get tired of reading about the US as if no other part of the world exists, even in far future scenarios.

This book would appeal to people who likes post-apocalyptic and dystopian sci fi.

Use of Emergency by Kate KyleBlurb

A newbie pilot with a secret, broken comms, alien artifact, viral code, empty space. What can go wrong?

Jax, a freshly minted spaceship pilot had a simple job: taking a group of sick people to Rebels’ Republic space station to have their brain implants fixed while keeping her secret – secret. She had a smart plan to get it done: just some tweaking of the comms to make it look like an accident.

But her ship had some surprises aboard: two healthy passengers, who weren’t who they claimed to be, a real emergency, and a piece of virally spreading rogue code. Then… came some more problems…

Can a loner learn teamwork to survive and save the solar system from collapse?

First Impressions

The cover caught my attention and the blurb intrigued me.

The first chapter was excellently written and I loved the voice and the stakes. It gives a very dystopian feel and I’m really eager to know what’s going to happen next.

It will appeal to those who love a good mystery, space operas, dystopian futures and relatable characters.

Added to wishlist!

DISCLAIMER: This post represents the very subjective, personal views of one person whose tastes may be entirely different from that of other readers. Give every book a try instead of going by the subjective opinions of others is my advice.