Ledman Pickup

by Tom Lichtenberg

The world's most sophisticated gadget falls into the wrong hands - its own - and leads its creators on a most unpredictable chase. One thing leads to another when the newly sentient package gets lost in transit.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Ebooks

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 13, 2010

About the author

I've written a lot of stories, and one thing I've learned is that stories have a life. They want to be read, and they're brought to life by readers. Readers give them meaning, give them substance and fulfill their destinies. Stories aren't picky about who reads them. They welcome everyone. Money means nothing to them - they don't care how much the reader paid and they equally don't care how much the author made. Stories want to live and they want to be a part of your life. I often think of them as like paper boats you place upon a stream. You never know where they'll end up!

I tend to go for speculative fiction, sci-fi, satire, magical realism, post-modernism, eclectic lit, and generally stay away from horror, romance and paranormal unless there's some good humor in it. I like a light touch, with real ideas.

While a few of my stories are on Wattpad, lots more can be found (and all for free) at Smashwords.com, Feedbooks.com, Barnes and Noble, and the Apple iBookstore. If you really want to, you can also buy them cheaply on Amazon Kindle.

Reviews

[Robert Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been interesting

Early in the story our character stated "blah blah blah" as data was streaming concerning a missing package, I have to be honest I highlighted many passages and noted them as she had "blah blah blah", the backstories were so boring, though I was near the end upon the introduction of a new character and start of yet another boring history I left the book, some strange device with an artificial intelligence that reads minds can place thoughts in a person's mind change a person's personality, a reasonable plot you might think, shame.

[Paul Samael · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world of personal devices (smartphones, PDAs etc), how personal is too personal? Zoey Bridges makes her living testing gadgets – but on this occasion, the gadget she’s been sent doesn’t seem to do anything. She sends it back, only to discover (to her horror) that it’s got lost in transit. She and the gizmo’s obsessively secretive designers then try to track it down - but it seems to have developed a mind of its own. Aside from the gadget (and one or two other details), the world of the story is recognisably our own – and there is some enjoyable satire of high-powered corporate types and their more lowly minions.

A well written, entertaining and thought-provoking story – especially when you consider that the number of personal devices is already close to exceeding the world's population (see http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/14/the-... ). Worth a read even if sci-fi is not usually your thing.

For a longer review, see: http://www.paulsamael.com/blog/ledman...