Here are three quarterfinalist reviews for full reads for Team 1.21 Gigawatts for the first round of SPSFC#5 by team judge Wick Welker. For more information about the team and our progress, please go to the team update page here.

Cold Blooded by Rohan O’Duill

Mech corporate warfare.

This is a military sci-fi action story that takes place at the rim of the solar system where the social structure has degenerated into corporate rivalry over scarce resources. The economic interests of the corporate entities are defended by mech warriors. This book is full of war games, raiding parties and salty characters. The narrative is tight and the writing was fun. It’s a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously and because of that, the serious parts work really well. While the settings and elements were a tad derivative, the crown jewel of the book are the characters and their relationships. Mint is a middle aged mech marine with plenty of attitude but of course an endearing heart of gold that comes out later in the story with a surprising gesture she makes to someone with whom she has a complicated past. The action was solid and the violence gratuitous. If you’re a fan of military sci-fi, this is a home run.

Time Traitors by Eli Donovan

Time Traitors is a fun adventure book focusing on a team of scientists that go into the past to study dinosaurs, their rival poachers, and the history between them. The writing is clean and economical and the story doesn’t get lost in the weeds of exposition or over-explaining. When we’re talking about a time traveling industry that gets almost on the same level as civilian air travel, I don’t really need too much explaining about how this works because I’m already showing up with my disbelief suspended and the author does a good job of laying down the necessary but scarce details. All I needed is that “time tubes” are doing the time traveling heavy lifting and that’s what I got. The author moves along quickly with two POVs: one a PhD who is trying her best to study dinosaurs and a poacher. These two characters are deeply connected and their relationship is one of the main drivers of the story. There is a dash of budding romance which is welcomed alongside the action that bursts out about halfway through the book. The storytelling is tight and no energy is wasted. The tension, characterization and pacing were all very well done and I was never bored. This is a thriller that I found worthwhile to read although I don’t think it offers much profundity beyond the action. At any rate, I recommend it for fans of thrillers and romance and a dash of dinosaurs.

ab initio by Jacob Terracina

A brilliant book about the humanity and morality of AI

I’ve got a lot to say about this book but my take home is that this is an impressive science fiction novel by any standard. The fact that it is self-pub and a debut novel only adds the accomplishment of Ab Initio. If you had told me Neal Stephenson wrote this book I wouldn’t have doubted it for a moment. This book does everything right and I immensely enjoyed it. Make no mistake: Jacob Terracina is a talented author and knows exactly what he’s doing.

This book is about a group of tech researchers who develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) and the social and philosophical implications. So what? Aren’t books like that a dime a dozen? Yes, but rarely do they succeed with such engrossing story telling, characterization, tension and impact on not only the reader but that real life implications of such a technology being unleashed. The story is told through several POVs but only two timelines: the events leading up to AGI being developed and the inevitable court aftermath of the social implications of the AGI, namely the AGI’s question of civil liberties. These two timelines were a great choice to explore AGI from two ends of this spectrum.

The characters are the crowning achievement of the book. Every character matters, has depth, personality and actually drives the plot. Raz, the evolutionary biologist turned engineer, is an endearing and inviting character and I loved his relationship with Mei—there was some serious and thoughtful development that went into the complex relationship between these two characters. Getting to know Mei and Markus (wow what a character) through the eyes of Raz was also a delight. The dynamic developed between these developers, their achievements and neurosis was all masterfully done. And then the other POVs—the dueling lawyers of the prosecution and defence—were also such a treat to read. A lazier author would’ve made these characters little more than plot devices. But not Terracina. He fleshed out the lawyers and even more—he made their personalities and struggles a major factor in the climax and resolution of the book. I can’t stress it enough: this is a character driven plot.

This book is also funny.

Work Chat was for communication. Speaking was apparently just an audio alert signal for the chat.

Chemistry existed well before you Plancks and your Bohrs and your Heisenbergs and you Schrodinger’s dropped a heavy quantum turd on the party.

Every page seethes with a dry and self-deprecating humor. The humor brings the characters to life and makes the reader sympathetic. This is particularly well done with Raz who steals the show with his neurosis.

The plot is compelling. You want to know how the AGI is being developed and it’s just so cool how quantum computing paired with the ab initio development of a real simulated brain is laid out here. The suspension of disbelief was very well done and the thrust of the book is always moving with wit, tragedy and complexity on every page. Not only do you get great science fiction writing from someone who understands science and engineering but you get great storytelling as well. If all of that weren’t satisfying enough, the climax and ending were profound

SPOILIES:

The main conflict of the book is if the AGI, a little girl named Abbi, should have autonomous rights. The matter is handled in a trial of the century. The prosecution is about to win at the end but the lawyer grows a conscience and realizes that if the AGI loses civil rights, it will be subsumed but a tech overlord company and she will be copied and enslaved for eternity.

Immortality minus the protections we seek here today will be a living, truly inescapable hell.

The dubious solution? The AGI must have mortality. Programmed death is the only way for the AGI to obtain the same rights as a human being and I got to say: WOW. What an incredible conclusion. It was a great resolution that also felt right. How could a sentient being expect the same human rights when they live forever? So the trade off is the AGI is either an eternal slave or lives a fleeting but free existence. Really awesome stuff. The thought that went into the morality of AGI is astounding. Bravo.

Like the author says in his afterward: It takes guts to read a self-published debut from some no-name dipshit I would say the gamble here paid off. I highly recommend this book.

These reviews are also all posted on Wick’s Goodreads profile. Wick’s website is here.