The Pedestal

by Daniel Wimberley, Meghan Pinson (Editor)

Wilson Abby’s life as a carefree programmer has reached a crossroads. Since birth, Wilson has known unconditional comfort and security in a global super-community. Thanks to the planet’s NEXUS framework, instant gratification is a mere transaction away. But when his closest friend mysteriously turns up dead, Wilson suspects that not all is as it seems.

Peeling back a veneer of half-truths, Wilson makes a startling discovery—one that people will kill to bury, starting with Wilson’s coworkers and loved ones.

As deadly forces close in, Wilson has no choice but to abandon his home for the seclusion of an off-planet research base. There, far from the probing gaze of the NEXUS, a beautiful scientist is busy playing God—with monstrous consequences.

The Pedestal is a thrilling glimpse into a society madly infatuated with integration and endless consumer upgrades. Wilson must battle gangsters, conspiring politicians and hordes of flesh-eating creations before civilization is toppled from its pedestal.

Genres: Science Fiction, Amazon

382 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 9, 2014

About the author

Daniel Wimberley is a professional web developer, moonlighting writer and self-proclaimed voice of the dork. Well, the voice of a dork, anyway. He isn't smart enough for the fraternity of nerdhood, yet he's helplessly drawn to it like an ewok to the Starship Enterprise.

Daniel lives with his wife and children in northeastern Oklahoma. He enjoys the nuts and bolts of website development and integration, application development, audio and video production and photography.

2016 Best Book Awards Finalist
>The Pedestal - Science Fiction;
>The Wandering Tree - Visionary, Religious

Reviews

[Kim Franks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, very thought provoking

I read another of this authors books last week(The Wandering Tree), and it was so great that I looked for more of his work. This one was totally different than last weeks, but just as well written and great.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this novel in a goodreads drawing.

This is an entertaining, but disjointed sci-fi novels, featuring not one, but two dystopias.

The novel starts out with everybody connected to the internet by a computer implant. The protagonist stumbles onto a conspiracy, and tries to unravel it. He is forced to flee to Mars.

Then the other dystopia. Plants bred on Mars make their way to Earth, take over,and civilization falls.

It seems as if the author had two stories and tried to meld them together, by linking them with a trip to Mars. The time spent on Mars might well be a third story thrown into the mix.

On the whole, I enjoyed it, even though, in my opinion, it seemed like all of the villains got off pretty lightly. Sure, a couple of thugs met gruesome deaths, but most of the real villains just went to some country club prison.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doing this one on Audible and between disliking the main character and hating the narration, this is an "abandon" for me.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise of this novel will affect your Being to the core. A must read.

While this novels storyline resides in the future, it's premise could equally represent the past ,present or future. If you aren't into books that give you the urge to read a part of the story again to get a clearer understanding of events; or storylines that require, not only your imagination but gray matter as well, then this isn't the book for you.

More often than not you read a book and feel like you had just finished reading the same book not long before or that it's premise is in every other movie you've seen. While this novel leaves you with flashes from a much older one, War of the Worlds (also made into a movie for those of you who would rather see it in a theater than read the words on paper), the ingenuity and the characters will leave you with the feeling of having just read something that's so powerfully different than what you've ever read before.

Although the premise is not new I found myself seeing our world and our miraculous advances in technology and medicine in a totally refreshing way. And what happens when our lives are no longer being lead by whims or imagination but controlled by the very inventions we created to make our lives simpler and give us more time to "smell the roses".

When you have no health worries because your body has implants that make sure you never get sick, get cancer or have a heart attack; when every second of your life is being recorded so you won't forget a moment of it; when information needed is available at the blink of an eye; wouldn't you think living, loving, working and playing would be so much easier? That we would have so much more time and freedom to enjoy the gifts themes new inventions give us?

Living in a world where the most important work is that of finding new ways to prolong life. New medications created and new computer programming that will administer them directly into our bodies through this implant. Everything done to increase our time here with loved ones; to live happily and disease free. With so much less to worry about wouldn't life be perfect?

This novel explores both sides of this age-old question and what people are willing to do to protect this lifestyle or the one they believe is their right to have. What do you do with the people who don't want every moment of their lives recorded? What if some people don't want a device in their body that controls every emotion they feel or prevents them from living a life that they believe is the life they were meant to live, not one fixed by some computer program?

If there are people willing to do almost anything to live their lives "free", as nature intended...what great lengths will the people who created and control this system be willing to go to protect their investment? How far would you go to protect yourself from what you believe might be a corrupt government? Would you try to warn people when you have no idea who's on the "right" side or if they are part if it? Would you travel all the way to a harsh almost uninhabitable planet, like Mars, just to stay alive until you can figure out what to do? When the people you love most have been dying around you would you kill to protect the only person left that you know you don't want to live without?

This novel has everything you look for in a great read. Suspense, mystery, love, betrayal, corruption, greed, family and a great set of characters that you become intimately connected to. Some of the Good guys are bad...some of the bad guys are good. Some, like most of us, have the ability to be both in then. You don't find out till close to the end who is or isn't who you thought they were.

I gave this book a 5 because it made me really think about which of these two lives I'd rather live if I had the choice. There were a few chapters setting up the storyline and then another when the main character escapes that are a little long and slow to get to where they needed to be. But it was well worth pushing through them. Some of the ideas seemed slightly incredulous at times but they all pulled together to make a fascinating, page turning read that kept me glued to the storyline and the wonderful characters till the eye opening conclusion.

I will definitely read this book again and I recommend it to anyone with a like-minded fascination with what the future could hold for us.

[Melinda Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who cringed with worry the moment they first heard about the Google Glasses: this book's for you. Wilson Abby lives in the realistic future, where computers and smart phones have been shoved aside in favor of implanted technology. Conspiracy theorists are given ample time to rejoice; people have become part of a living, breathing internet where social networking takes life to a whole new level. It's every internet security specialist's nightmare. See, it's not completely secure. It can be hacked...and not just by humans. Wimberley's story really starts where Wilson's Nanoprint, the implanted chip that controls his connection to the NEXUS, ends. Wil, as only his "closest friends" call him, is the champion of all those who were ever at the wrong place at the wrong time. At first it seemed as if fate really had it in for the poor guy. He can't catch a break. However, it doesn't take long for the author to establish that the forces behind Wil's misfortunes are far more sinister than something as simple as bad timing. Before long, both the entire network and Wil's life come crashing down under the attack of mob bosses, crooked superiors, and massive, life-eating plants. The author delights us with Wil's quick sarcasm and displays some seriously smart writing—his audience is certainly in for a treat. What I enjoyed the most about THE PEDESTAL was the fact that the world Wimberley has built is foreseeable. We're already dependent upon technology. Who doesn't live by their smart phone? I wasn't even through the second chapter before I had no choice but to question what my life would be like without constant connection. For the people in Wilson's world, it’s right there: constantly on, hardwired to the brain. And everyone can see everything you do. That's pretty creepy. So in other words, it's sci-fi gold.

[Liquid Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this book as a Kindle freebie. The book takes you to unexpected places and it’s an enjoyable journey. Wimberley’s “The Pedestal” shows the potential evolution of our technological advances, which comically, can be destroyed by nature (well modified nature). Plausible? Yes, in a far-reaching way; but still should provide the reader a moment to reflect on our ‘advancement’.

As a whole, Wilson Abby, the main character is a bit of a slacker and self-defeatist. His redeeming quality is his ethical position, but otherwise he is a cog in a broader group of interesting characters and plot. The reader will enjoy other characters and action, the story, and the conclusion.

The NEXUS framework is parts Google Glass, human implants, virtual reality, Big Brother akin to a communist state, with select capitalism running the show. Even in a quasi-utopian future, power and corruption still pull the strings.

The Pedastal offers the philosophical question: What would an advanced , high-tech society do when the lights turn off?

This is pure sci-fi, with hardly anyone ‘off grid’, alien planets, genetically-modified organisms, betrayal, corruption, and even tosses in one transgender employee that Wilson must navigated around.

[Claire Fogel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pedestal, by Daniel Wimberley.

A very original, thought-provoking futuristic novel. Computer nerds will enjoy the vision of a "Nexus" framework connected to everyone on earth via surgical implants. The Nexus provides a programmed response to each person's needs, whether physical, mental, emotional, or financial. Of course, this is what the future of life on earth could look like in a hundred years or so. However, Murphy's Law still exists, even in such a high-tech world.

The main character is a young programmer with few social skills and fewer friends. When his two closest friends die under mysterious circumstances, he begins to question everything he has always taken for granted in his life. He uncovers corruption at the highest levels that makes him a threat to those in power. He's finally forced to escape to a research lab on Mars where he's faced with unimaginable horrors.

The author's vision of a future life on earth is fascinating, as well as frightening.

[Aaron Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Wimberley's The Pedestal is a realistic journey through an almost certain future inhabited by the human animal as a collective "super-community."

Beneath the shiny millennial façade of the perfect world hides the unquenchable thirst for excess. Wimberley explores the do-anything-for-more mentality we see exhibited by today's youth mutated into the now-anything-is-possible world of tomorrow. The consequences are a slippery slope of failed security, conspiracy, murder, and the prospect of human annihilation.

Wimberley demonstrates that no matter how advanced we become physically the human condition benefits and suffers from the same, innate psychology. His characters are liberated by technology, yet confined to the web spun by those who control the technology—demigods of the internet singularity. The Pedestal is as entertaining as it is scary.

[Nicko · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I read this book with enjoyment. While I was unsure if this was a mystery, a dystopian fiction, or even some insane romance novel, the story is very fluid and tends to follow a logical path towards its conclusion. No deus ex machina for the main character, Wilson Abby, whose naivete is rather irritating at times. But by then you are already invested in this normal man experiencing an amazing adventure.

The book loses one star because the self narrative style sometimes desolves into ramblings and, as a warning, things don't really pick up until chapter 4. That's probably the only bad thing I can say about it.

Overall I must confess a slight disappointment that this does not appear to be at all set up for a sequel. But, due to the wonderful mosaic Wimberley paints and his impressive editors, I look forward to reading more of his work.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won this book through a goodreads giveaway. It was a really cool book. I enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend it.

[Stacey Prince · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise but gave up after very little plot development (25% along).