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Daclaxvia: Book 1: Nascent
You need two things to make it through this book with your mind and nerves intact: A thinking cap and a seat belt.
"Daclaxvia" is not for the reader with a short attention span nor is it for those who are looking for a typical "show-don't tell" structured novel. This is all about show and tell intentionally written as a docu-drama using exposition interspersed throughout to lay down technical information in propositional descriptions of cyber-biotech, quantum physics and real-life current advances in science, communications and information technologies.
The overlying story is a crazy ride through the implications of the world under the control of an evil entity who has all human tech immediately his finger tips.
The deeper story, though, gives insight into the timeless core issues of mankind's relationship to God. The backstory of each character's life explores how we as humans wrestle with relationships, faith, the unseen, belief and ultimate meaning.
Much of the dialogue in this book is something other than a coffeehouse conversation about commonalities. There's no time for that as all the action in this book happens within about seventy two hours along three intertwined story lines revolving around the main characters as they are either being chased or on the chase themselves.
This is a "Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness) meets C. S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy)" book that involves the spirit world and the physical world intersecting and interfacing with one another through a labyrinth of earthly, lunar and dimensional locations and the restricted, and sometimes breached, passages between them.
In the end, this book is both an exposition and and expedition into what the near future may look like when the Anti-Christ rises to meet his Maker with humanity caught in the crossfire.
So, strap on your thinking cap and adjust your seat belt...this is going to be a crazy ride through a labyrinth of impossibilities from here to the moon and back, via passages between dimensions, down to the depths of Hell and upward to the Highest Heaven.
"Daclaxvia" is not for the reader with a short attention span nor is it for those who are looking for a typical "show-don't tell" structured novel. This is all about show and tell intentionally written as a docu-drama using exposition interspersed throughout to lay down technical information in propositional descriptions of cyber-biotech, quantum physics and real-life current advances in science, communications and information technologies.
The overlying story is a crazy ride through the implications of the world under the control of an evil entity who has all human tech immediately his finger tips.
The deeper story, though, gives insight into the timeless core issues of mankind's relationship to God. The backstory of each character's life explores how we as humans wrestle with relationships, faith, the unseen, belief and ultimate meaning.
Much of the dialogue in this book is something other than a coffeehouse conversation about commonalities. There's no time for that as all the action in this book happens within about seventy two hours along three intertwined story lines revolving around the main characters as they are either being chased or on the chase themselves.
This is a "Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness) meets C. S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy)" book that involves the spirit world and the physical world intersecting and interfacing with one another through a labyrinth of earthly, lunar and dimensional locations and the restricted, and sometimes breached, passages between them.
In the end, this book is both an exposition and and expedition into what the near future may look like when the Anti-Christ rises to meet his Maker with humanity caught in the crossfire.
So, strap on your thinking cap and adjust your seat belt...this is going to be a crazy ride through a labyrinth of impossibilities from here to the moon and back, via passages between dimensions, down to the depths of Hell and upward to the Highest Heaven.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 9, 2019
2 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
D. John Cliffson
3 books4 followersD. John Cliffson is a pastor of a small church in rural Wisconsin and he has been in the ministry for over thirty five years. He has been married to his wife for over 36 years and they have thirteen children and fourteen grand children.
Cliffson is a fan of all things science, the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Fishing, Bow Hunting and anything fried on a stick...of course the last five on that list are redundant with regard to the earlier disclosure that he is from Wisconsin.
He is a follower of Jesus.
Cliffson is a fan of all things science, the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Fishing, Bow Hunting and anything fried on a stick...of course the last five on that list are redundant with regard to the earlier disclosure that he is from Wisconsin.
He is a follower of Jesus.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 27, 2020
4.5 stars
D. John Cliffson’s Daclaxvia is a powerful, imaginative possibility for the not-too-distant future. Cliffson has done a phenomenal job with world building using the combination of in-depth knowledge mixed with creativity in the development of technology/biology/physics and history in relation to spirituality. I’m no science pro so have no idea where the facts stopped and the fiction started, but it all made a very plausible scenario for the ramp-up to the biblical end times.
Several reviewers criticized Cliffson for the dreaded ‘info dump’ and violation of ‘show, don’t tell.’ But he says in the blurb to his book that it is intentionally written as exposition, and it is indeed expositional. However, I would suggest to the author that the story would be more effective if he used a little less of this and gave some of this information to us through action. Especially the lineage of the main family would have worked well shown through flashbacks or a parallel timeline interwoven with the main story, instead of told to us through conversation.
Most of the information that was relayed through exposition related to the technology aspect, and I can understand why that would be difficult to “show,” however it was a lot to absorb at once and made me aware of myself as the reader, that this description was for my benefit. It would require lengthening the novel (and I realize this is only part one of the series) to develop some of this information naturally through the plot, but I think it would improve the readers’ retention of the vast amount of information if done this way to some degree.
My absolute favorite part of this novel is the author's recognition of the fact that things that are spiritual are actually of a physical nature. It may be a physics different than ours or one that we cannot observe with our natural senses, but it is just as solid and real as our own existence. Christians often seem to have this sense of something spiritual as being ethereal or less substantive because we cannot outright perceive it. But when the prophets in the Bible have visions of heaven, they are seeing things that are physical. Spiritual should not be the opposite of physical, but possibly in contrast to terrestrial. Cliffson totally gets this, and it is fascinating to see how, through his imagination, he can explain the spiritual physically.
I greatly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to those who are curious about the nature of spirituality and possible scenarios to the end of times.
D. John Cliffson’s Daclaxvia is a powerful, imaginative possibility for the not-too-distant future. Cliffson has done a phenomenal job with world building using the combination of in-depth knowledge mixed with creativity in the development of technology/biology/physics and history in relation to spirituality. I’m no science pro so have no idea where the facts stopped and the fiction started, but it all made a very plausible scenario for the ramp-up to the biblical end times.
Several reviewers criticized Cliffson for the dreaded ‘info dump’ and violation of ‘show, don’t tell.’ But he says in the blurb to his book that it is intentionally written as exposition, and it is indeed expositional. However, I would suggest to the author that the story would be more effective if he used a little less of this and gave some of this information to us through action. Especially the lineage of the main family would have worked well shown through flashbacks or a parallel timeline interwoven with the main story, instead of told to us through conversation.
Most of the information that was relayed through exposition related to the technology aspect, and I can understand why that would be difficult to “show,” however it was a lot to absorb at once and made me aware of myself as the reader, that this description was for my benefit. It would require lengthening the novel (and I realize this is only part one of the series) to develop some of this information naturally through the plot, but I think it would improve the readers’ retention of the vast amount of information if done this way to some degree.
My absolute favorite part of this novel is the author's recognition of the fact that things that are spiritual are actually of a physical nature. It may be a physics different than ours or one that we cannot observe with our natural senses, but it is just as solid and real as our own existence. Christians often seem to have this sense of something spiritual as being ethereal or less substantive because we cannot outright perceive it. But when the prophets in the Bible have visions of heaven, they are seeing things that are physical. Spiritual should not be the opposite of physical, but possibly in contrast to terrestrial. Cliffson totally gets this, and it is fascinating to see how, through his imagination, he can explain the spiritual physically.
I greatly enjoyed this novel and recommend it to those who are curious about the nature of spirituality and possible scenarios to the end of times.
May 3, 2020
It's hard to describe this book without giving away too much of the plot. The author describes it himself as "Frank Peretti (of This Present Darkness fame) meets C.S. Lewis." And I caught myself flashing back to many of the images that impressed me about C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy, especially Perelandra. In this book, Cliffson, takes us on a journey that involves cutting-edge genetics, nanotechnology and medical science, interdimensional travel, artificial intelligence, Mensa and the step above, referred to as the triple 9s. In case you don't know, that's the group who's IQ scores higher than 99.9 percent of the general population. And it all ends with a sinister, demonic plot that threatens the entire world.
And Cliffson does a good job of pulling all of it off. In fact, I was surprised when I finished the book to learn that he was a retired pastor, and not a physicist or a genetics engineer, as I had suspected. The world building is immense and overwhelming a lot of the time, but Cliffson somehow has the credibility so that you believe what he is telling you.
That's the good news. Here's what needs fixing:
First, I suspect this is a first novel, and it shows by the author's over-reliance on exposition. I find myself often sitting back and talking about what is happening as if we are discussing it as armchair detectives, rather than living it vicariously through the characters. Remember: show, don't tell.
Second, the dialogue struggles. Even though the main family consists of Mensa members, the vocabulary is stiff and full of 25-cent words that make my eyes want to glaze over. In addition, rather than there being a discussion where someone says a sentence or a phrase and then gets a reply, far too often the dialogue consists of speeches that go on for several paragraphs. The book's dialogue is there to help us understand what is happening, but in the process, it slows the action down.
Finally, this book really needs an editor. I found grammar, spelling and punctuation issues throughout it. In addition, the author needs to find a good formatter who can help him set up his ebook properly.
The book has a lot of promise, but it needs some work. I understand that it is the first book in a proposed series, so I highly recommend the author latch onto a good editor before he gets too far down the road.
And Cliffson does a good job of pulling all of it off. In fact, I was surprised when I finished the book to learn that he was a retired pastor, and not a physicist or a genetics engineer, as I had suspected. The world building is immense and overwhelming a lot of the time, but Cliffson somehow has the credibility so that you believe what he is telling you.
That's the good news. Here's what needs fixing:
First, I suspect this is a first novel, and it shows by the author's over-reliance on exposition. I find myself often sitting back and talking about what is happening as if we are discussing it as armchair detectives, rather than living it vicariously through the characters. Remember: show, don't tell.
Second, the dialogue struggles. Even though the main family consists of Mensa members, the vocabulary is stiff and full of 25-cent words that make my eyes want to glaze over. In addition, rather than there being a discussion where someone says a sentence or a phrase and then gets a reply, far too often the dialogue consists of speeches that go on for several paragraphs. The book's dialogue is there to help us understand what is happening, but in the process, it slows the action down.
Finally, this book really needs an editor. I found grammar, spelling and punctuation issues throughout it. In addition, the author needs to find a good formatter who can help him set up his ebook properly.
The book has a lot of promise, but it needs some work. I understand that it is the first book in a proposed series, so I highly recommend the author latch onto a good editor before he gets too far down the road.
June 18, 2020
Daclaxvia: Nascent follows the three Manstead siblings and their dealings with angels and demons across the world (and out of it). First, there's Max, the genius, estranged, eldest child, an avowed atheist who is found wanting. Then there's Mark, the middle child who becomes one of the first Nascent-capable, Augmented Intelligence humans but is ambivalent in his faith. Finally, Meghan, the baby of the family, is the bleeding heart Christian who puts off university for missions work.
Part of the description is spot on--'Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness) meets C.S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy), "sci-fi-turns-spiritual" drama' fits this first novel well. On this count of premise and concept, it delivers. Like Peretti's work, angels and demons are physically present and active in the world--they inhabit other dimensions of the universe, but interact with humans via a fifth dimension that intersects with our world at various points. Cliffson then layers this with a Singularity-type concept of merging tech and DNA which turned out to be very intriguing, as well as disturbing. Cliffson presents it with all the related moral ambiguity, starting out with enhanced humans and ending with spiritual and ethical dilemmas of using (or misusing) such tech. (What, then, is a soul?)
Unfortunately, "heart-pounding" and "breathless" is the farthest away from this book that you can get. The entire novel is made up of infodumps interspersed with flashbacks, and a little bit of current action. This makes it super hard to get through and, honestly, a little difficult to understand. If you're not already a science geek (I'm not), you'll probably get very turned around halfway as to what on earth the dimensional and genetic stuff is actually supposed to do or mean. I can't actually decide whether this book was a little too hard-science for my taste (I've been known to skip technical descriptions in hard sci-fi books but still enjoy the story) or whether it really wasn't that technical, but just the way it was written made it confusing (it's not exactly handwaviumish enough to count as space opera-type soft sci-fi).
There's little in the way of organic character development. You're presented with a character doing something or facing an epiphany of sorts, and then there's a backstory infodump to tell you why the character is struggling with that (or not) and then it all moves along. The dialogue is often stilted and relies on a lot of repetition, which goes something like this:
It's very exhausting to read.
Being... Christian fiction, it does cover quite explicitly Christian faith issues plus conversion stories. This may be a plus or minus point depending on your own personal views. There's the usual appearance of Christian "relics", though not quite the holy grail.
Reading this would really be more for Cliffson's take on the Singularity, genetics, and multiple dimensions--plus the coming apocalypse--in an alternate world where faith really is by seeing. Though I guess if you really like very exposition-y books you may like this one.
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author as part of a review programme. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Part of the description is spot on--'Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness) meets C.S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy), "sci-fi-turns-spiritual" drama' fits this first novel well. On this count of premise and concept, it delivers. Like Peretti's work, angels and demons are physically present and active in the world--they inhabit other dimensions of the universe, but interact with humans via a fifth dimension that intersects with our world at various points. Cliffson then layers this with a Singularity-type concept of merging tech and DNA which turned out to be very intriguing, as well as disturbing. Cliffson presents it with all the related moral ambiguity, starting out with enhanced humans and ending with spiritual and ethical dilemmas of using (or misusing) such tech. (What, then, is a soul?)
Unfortunately, "heart-pounding" and "breathless" is the farthest away from this book that you can get. The entire novel is made up of infodumps interspersed with flashbacks, and a little bit of current action. This makes it super hard to get through and, honestly, a little difficult to understand. If you're not already a science geek (I'm not), you'll probably get very turned around halfway as to what on earth the dimensional and genetic stuff is actually supposed to do or mean. I can't actually decide whether this book was a little too hard-science for my taste (I've been known to skip technical descriptions in hard sci-fi books but still enjoy the story) or whether it really wasn't that technical, but just the way it was written made it confusing (it's not exactly handwaviumish enough to count as space opera-type soft sci-fi).
There's little in the way of organic character development. You're presented with a character doing something or facing an epiphany of sorts, and then there's a backstory infodump to tell you why the character is struggling with that (or not) and then it all moves along. The dialogue is often stilted and relies on a lot of repetition, which goes something like this:
A says, "such-and-such revelation."
Random confusion/flashback/infodump, including maybe a side-track from the conversation.
B replies, "Wait, so you mean such-and-such?"
A (or someone else in the scene) confirms it, often by repeating it.
It's very exhausting to read.
Being... Christian fiction, it does cover quite explicitly Christian faith issues plus conversion stories. This may be a plus or minus point depending on your own personal views. There's the usual appearance of Christian "relics", though not quite the holy grail.
Reading this would really be more for Cliffson's take on the Singularity, genetics, and multiple dimensions--plus the coming apocalypse--in an alternate world where faith really is by seeing. Though I guess if you really like very exposition-y books you may like this one.
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author as part of a review programme. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
December 20, 2019
Thrilling page turner
ARC
Just finished book one and can't wait for book two in this trilogy by Cliffson.
Surprises and twists.
Unique, suspenseful and thrilling.
ARC
Just finished book one and can't wait for book two in this trilogy by Cliffson.
Surprises and twists.
Unique, suspenseful and thrilling.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews