ZZ Adams's Blog

View in browser Leave a Review

Hey everyone! Andrew here.

Quick update on the eye situation before I get into this week’s topic. Things are looking better (pun intended). The headaches are still there, but they’re manageable. More importantly, the laser surgery seems to have worked. No new holes in my retina. I’ll take that win. Thanks to everyone who wrote in with audiobook recommendations and support. I read every message, even if I’m slower than usual getting back to you.

Let’s talk about something weird because I was thinking about it in the shower. The smell of books.

I know, I know. But hear me out. I was reorganizing my bookshelf this week (procrastinating on writing) and I picked up my old copy of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. The smell of old paper hit me. There’s a touch of vanilla in it I never realized was there before. It took me back in an instant to when I was fourteen reading the book for the first time. z

We talk a lot about immersion in sci-fi and fantasy. We obsess over worldbuilding details, arguing about how the technology works, and whether the magic system is consistent (and most importantly, whether the economics make sense). Those things matter (trust me, as someone currently wrestling with The Master’s Munificence, I know how much they matter). But we don’t talk much about the physical experience of reading.

I’m pretty much consistently reading on Kindle these days. I need to use it to blow the font up big after my eye issue, but I’m not naive enough not to know that there’s something lost in the digital reading experience. You can’t smell a Kindle ( I mean…if you can, there’s something really going wrong). You can’t feel the weight of an 800-page door-stopper epic in your hands.

The physical book has a presence. It’s a reminder of the world you’re in the middle of visiting. You can lend it to a friend, not just recommend the title. Real books have history. They become history. What will ebooks become? When I think about this, I get a little sad.

Ebooks are incredibly convenient, and they’ve made reading more accessible for a lot of people (including me). But I am saying there’s value in the physical object that we sometimes forget about in our rush toward efficiency and convenience.

So here’s my question for you: Do you still read physical books? If you’ve gone fully digital, do you miss anything about the physical experience? And for those of you who still maintain physical libraries—what makes you choose paper over pixels for a particular book?

Maybe I’m just being sentimental because I nearly lost my eyesight last week and I’m feeling grateful for every aspect of the reading experience. Or maybe there’s something here worth preserving.

Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

All the best,

Andrew (ZZ)

Zero-Point Awakening – The Complete Series Books 1-8

It is somewhat surprising how a series of this length can continue to maintain its pace and the readers interest. Recommended read.

– Amazon 5 Star Review

Read this Box Set Promos

Check out these bargain and discounted reads from our fellow speculative fiction authors!

Earth is dying. Ravaged by disease, hunger, climate change and world wars. Can humanity unite to avoid extinction?

FREE

Creatures in your basement? Undead spooking your castle? Infestation of goblins? Beast Be Gone will clear out those pesky pests and save your health and business

FREE

A broke ex-captain. A weapon that could shatter the stars. Tredd Bounty’s only chance at redemption—armed with one impossible gift: he can stop time.

Check this out Do you still read physical books?
Mostly, yes. Screens can’t replace the feel of a real book

A mix of both

Only if someone lends or gifts me one

No, I’ve fully gone digital
Survey Result

And now, let’s take a look at last week’s poll results. We asked, “Which character from sci-fi would you absolutely not want to be stuck with on a survival mission?”
Here are the incredible results:

Creepy. We’ve seen enough to know how this ends –> 40%Depends who’s in charge.  –>  27%Exciting. But I’ll keep one eye on the off switch –> 24%Other –> 7%Ask me again after my AI makes me coffee perfectly –> 2%

Andrew: As always this is fascinating and slightly terrifying in equal measure. 40% of us think AI surpassing humans is “creepy” and you’ve “seen enough sci-fi to know how this ends.” I’m right there with you. Every time I read about a new AI development, part of my brain immediately starts plotting dystopian scenarios. We’ve been warned by Asimov, Gibson, and countless others. We should have learned by now…

What strikes me about the 27% in the “depends who’s in charge” camp is how practical that is. Because really, that’s the core question, isn’t it? The technology itself is neutral. It’s the implementation and control that matters. In The Master’s Munificence, I’m dealing with similar questions about magic—who gets to wield power, and what safeguards exist when they abuse it? Same questions, different technology.

And to whoever voted for “Ask me again after my AI makes me coffee perfectly”—I feel you. I’d probably trade a small amount of existential dread for a perfectly made coffee every morning. Priorities, right?

Li, thank you for the audiobook recommendations! I struggle with audiobooks. I’m in the “I want to believe” camp, hoping I can enjoy the experience but also knowing I am more likely to end up daydreaming than I am listening to the story. We will see!

Ryen, your experience with Ender’s Game audiobook sounds incredible. Serious immersion, which to be fair is exactly what we’re chasing as writers. This is the age-old battle between wanting to disappear into a story and having responsibilities in the real world. I hears you on that!

Kris, I am hoping your shivering in horror was in response to my eye ordeal and not a reaction to my prose writing. If it is the former, please don’t worry. I am fine now and recovering well. If the latter… um… sorry?

View in browser Leave a Review

Hey everyone! Andrew here.

Sometimes things happen that you can only hope are making you a better person in the long run. This week I learned two things about myself. First, I can take a bit more pain than I thought I could and second, staying hydrated is really important, particularly as you get older. So what am I talking about? Well, this week, dear reader, I nearly lost the sight in my left eye. Thanks to having an eye structure that is particularly prone to glaucoma, my eyes are not handling aging well and as a result, I ended up with a hole ripped in my left eye retina earlier this week. I knew immediately that something was very wrong and I went to the ophthalmologist who rushed me into emergency laser surgery. I went into the clinic at 5:30pm and ended up back home at 10:30pm the same night with a new-found respect for other people’s pain tolerance and for the general importance of
water. Long story short, I can see, but it will be a few days before we know if this worked or not. I have another appointment on Wednesday. I will keep you posted on how it goes and whether I should be measuring up for a pirate eye patch or not. Needless to say, there was not much writing done this week so I have no update on that front. I am also trying to stay off devices to let my eye recover. I’m thinking about audiobooks but honestly, I don’t enjoy the “reading experience” as much when I listen to a book as I do when I read it myself. In any case, I will experiment with it and may get myself an Audible account and see if I can train myself to listen better. Do you use audiobooks? I’m pretty sure I polled this group before and most of us don’t… so you may not be the best folks to ask, but if you do have advice, please do write in and tell me.

All the best,

Andrew (ZZ)

Zero-Point Awakening – The Complete Series Books 1-8

While it’s definitely very busy with a lot of plot lines, it also takes the time for a good, strong twist here and there to keep the hooks really digging into you. And the books only get better as the series goes along.

– Amazon 5 Star Review

Read this Box Set Promos

Check out these bargain and discounted reads from our fellow speculative fiction authors!

Earth’s Hegemony controls the surrounding alien civilisations with ruthless force. Its aim: dominate the galaxy to protect humanity.

FREE

Hunted across the stars and betrayed by every government, smugglers Devon and Jadsia flee in a battered warship. Their last hope: the ashes of Krylon IV.

FREE

When the world ends, you adapt or die. Can two strangers trapped in a zoo survive as zombies close in around them?

Check this out

Four kids. Four disabilities. Four new superpowers. Nothing about therapy was normal anymore.

Check this out window.survey_rules = window.survey_rules || {};window.survey_rules['38'] = [];window.language_direction = "ltr"; AI surpassing humans: brilliant speculation or nightmare fuel?
Pure genius — bring on our robot overlords!

Exciting, but I’ll keep one eye on the off switch

Creepy. We’ve seen enough sci-fi to know how this ends

Depends who’s in charge — the humans or the code

Ask me again after my AI makes me coffee perfectly

Other (Tell us your deep cut!)
Survey Result

And now, let’s take a look at last week’s poll results. We asked, “What’s Your Favorite Time of Day?”

Here are the results:

Late-night cozy vibes → 38%Morning coffee time → 33%Afternoon reading hour → 10%Golden hour → 10%Other → 10%Dinner time → 0%

Andrew: We’re a community of night owls and early birds with very little in between! 38% of us are “late-night cozy vibes” people. Do you like reading when the rest of the world is asleep? I cannot sleep myself without reading for a bit. It’s always been how I wind down. My wife will read but she does it before going to bed. Not me, I have to read in bed and then get sleepy. 

What does surprise me is how close the morning coffee crowd came in at 33%. I love my morning coffee and I also read at breakfast before going to work. So I guess I read…all the time. I prefer reading at night though.

The fact that dinner time got zero votes is hilarious. Either nobody in this group eats dinner, or you’re all too busy reading to notice meal times. I’m going with the latter.

I got a few wonderful emails about this one, and I want to share something really special that happened. Yaakov wrote in response to Starla from last week’s poll about spacewalking pain-free: “To Starla. I have constant joint pain, even with a morphine pump, working 24/7. Yes, to diminish my TBR would be wonderful and I would be out of cell range so I couldn’t buy anymore! I would teach my new friends to read the best literature, science fiction.”

Yaakov, your vision of teaching space friends to read the best sci-fi literature while finally getting through your TBR is a lovely idea. Being out of cell range is probably the only way any of us will ever finish our reading lists!

Mr.E also wrote in as well. Thank you! I hear you re body clock, although mine works pretty well. I get discombobulated when I travel internationally. Jetlag really messes me up. 

Thanks for sharing your preferences with me! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go rest my eye before my next appointment. Wish me luck!

Hey everyone,

We’ve been keeping something special under wraps, and today we’re excited to finally share it with you! Check out the official cover for Anthropoid, our upcoming novella in the Starborn King universe!

This isn’t just any adventure—Anthropoid is a prequel novella that dives deep into the origins of Elion, a human-like “anthropoid” with an AI companion. Set against the backdrop of a galaxy on the brink, this story is packed with action, mystery, and the rich world-building you’ve come to expect from us.

For those of you who have been following along with our journey, you know how much this project means to us. Now that we’re in the editing stage, we couldn’t be more excited to give you a sneak peek at what’s coming. And here’s the best part: we’re giving Anthropoid away for FREE to all our newsletter subscribers. That’s right—all you need to do is subscribe to our weekly newsletter, and this action-packed novella will be yours.

This is just the beginning of what’s shaping up to be an epic journey in the Starborn King series. Keep an eye on this space for more updates, including pre-order information for the first full novel in the series.

Get ready to embark on a journey beyond the stars.

Stay tuned, ZZ Adams

We were featured on Savage Planets! A big shout out to Keith with apologies for not responding quickly enough to do more. That’s on us. It’s a big honor to be featured on Savage Planets. You can check it out the article here.

If you don’t know Savage Planets (you should!), it is a quarterly sci-fi publication “bringing together the best of science fiction stories, speculative poetry, and multimedia, reviews”. And it does all that while looking visually stunning.

When I get some time later this week I will consider writing a response to the piece. That could be fun!

“Wunderkind” have been featured on eBookDaily.com on 24th Nov!!

It was surprising news for us but we’re so greateful about this.

This is the page you can find the book. Check it out!

Wunderkind is free until Monday, so if you have not read it or want to know what happened to set the Zero-Point Awakening universe going, this is a great chance!

eBookDaily emails you the best 1-day $0 Kindle book freebies, personalized for you every day. Each ebook is free for 1 day only.

From lab to battlefield. Intelligence Unleashed

When Stanley, an intelligent orangutan, is thrust into a battle for his own survival, he uncovers a deadly conspiracy at the heart of the corporation that created him. In a future where genetic experimentation has led to the creation of uplifted animals, Stanley finds himself at the center of a dangerous experiment by the powerful Hellinix Corporation. As his mind and body are pushed to the limits, Stanley must navigate a world of politics, greed, and betrayal as he fights for not only his freedom, but for his very survival.

With action-packed thrills and thought-provoking commentary on the ethics of genetic manipulation, this science fiction novella will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you’re looking for an exciting sci-fi story with a powerful message, don’t miss Stanley.

Take the journey and discover a future you won’t soon forget. Pick up your copy today!

I’m releasing this first chapter of the story into the wild for you to enjoy. Please let us know what you think. If you’d like the rest of it, let us know.

NB: This is an unpublished first draft of the first chapter of Super Time Tokyo Zombie Party, a novella (or a novel?) in the Zero-Point Awakening series. This story comes after Counterpunch (Book 5) and before Beach Head (Book 6) in the reading order.

This is unedited draft, so you are reading it at your own risk. 🙂

Chapter One – Rina

The missile struck Shimbashi on a Thursday. Rina Jin had just clambered onto a stool to perform her spinning owl dance for a couple of dour-looking forty-somethings in matching salmon pink sports jackets, when a light bright enough to pierce the edges of the hoarding over the front window stunned her into silence. A few heartbeats later, the room rocked like it was a level three earthquake.

“Why are you stopping? Come on, we’re paying for this.” The guy had a greasy mustache. Rina knew the type. She’d never date them, but they paid well. Neither man seemed concerned by the flash of light or by the shaking. A light swung slowly back and forth above the table. Shadows spread and retreated, advanced and retreated.

“I’m so sorry,” said Rina. “I lost my concentration. Please let me start over.”

The other man waved a hand. “Let her alone. Just get on with it. If we’re late for the presentation the customer is going to hate us.” He checked his watch, frowned, then reached below the table where he’d placed a portable dog kennel. Even through the black cloth that covered it, and the wooden table, the growl of the animal within was unmistakable. It creeped Rina out. By rights she should be asking them to take the dog out of the store. It was owls only in here, after all. But it was in a cage and there were few enough customers as it was. And he was a paying customer. And that was that. If Sasaki-san fired her, she’d never afford her own apartment.

Rina bowed to the customers, low and deep, eyes pointing directly at the table top. Even after she straightened, she kept her head tilted down, the picture of demur obedience and innocence. This she had perfected after two years of working in the Sugar Owl Cafe, a seedy maid joint on a poorly-traveled back road of Akihabara. It wasn’t even Akihabara proper; it was closer to Okachimachi, but you’d never know that from the signs on all the buildings around it. All of them were proud to claim the Akihabara title despite being over fifteen minutes from the station. The place was squeezed into the gap between two far newer buildings and looked ready for demolition. It reeked of old cigarette smoke and stale food. It was really a wonder anyone came in at all.

“Well, go on girl. Let’s see the dance.”

She was about to recommence, she’d even positioned her hands just right—it had taken her hours to perfect the proper angle of her arms to approximate the spread of an owl’s wings—but then the sirens blared and a series of police patrol cars and fire engines screamed by on the main road. She stopped. “Please forgive me, but I really should check to see what that is.” All the hairs on the back of her neck were standing to attention. She backed away and raced to the back room where Sasaki-san had his head down, an excel spreadsheet on the screen of his grimy laptop.

“What do you think that was?” she asked.

“Huh? Aren’t you supposed to be hitting those two up? Come on. Get some more drinks out of them at least. They haven’t ordered a caramel Owl Pachino, have they? You were supposed to sell at least one today.” His eyes didn’t lift from the screen. His fingers hovered languidly over a dirt-encrusted mouse.

“There were sirens. And a flash. Something’s happened.”

“None of our business.” Sasaki looked up. His hair was a grimy mess of bedraggled curls, and a fringe so long it was hard to see his eyes. His cheeks were pock-marked and his mouth seemed to curve to one side so that he always had a skeptical expression. “You need to get back out there. Go on. Go!”

“Yes. Of course. Sorry.” Rina turned and fled. She was prepared not to show how flustered she was when she made it back to the table but there was a different siren, the one reserved for emergencies. An announcement followed. It was almost impossible to make out the words but she heard enough. It was the local ward office emergency center. They were being told to evacuate. Immediately vacate to the closest evacuation center, had been the order.

 Her customers were already standing, making their way towards the door.

“I want a discount,” one of them said. “We never got that dance.”

“Go. Go,” said the other. “It’s an evacuation. No need to pay.”

The two barely looked at her as they left. Rina stood silently long after the door had stopped swinging, listening to the sound of the panic outside. Sasaki-san didn’t appear to be worried, but then he never seemed to worry about anything. If it were her, she’d never get any sleep thinking about how they could make their monthly rent repayments. She’d once heard a rumor that Sasaki’s grandmother owned the building. Nothing else made much sense. They certainly didn’t have enough custom in the cafe to pay for other staff.

A deep growl came from beneath the table.

“Oh,” she said. They’d forgotten their dog. She bent and scooped up the cage by the handle on its top. It was surprisingly heavy. “I’ll just get you to your owners.” There was one final soft growl, then the animal quietened. “Sasaki-san!” she called. “Those customers left something behind. I’m going after them.” She did not expect a response and did not receive one. Instead, she headed out onto the street with the cage in hand.

Outside, the sky was tinted a dirty orange. The sun was already mostly hidden behind patchy rain clouds, but it was high enough that light was still flooding between the buildings like incorporeal reaching fingers clawing through the dusty air. More police cars roared past. Someone shouted. There were people on the streets as there always were but few of them seemed concerned. Old ladies made their way along the footpath. Touts handed out brochures and tissue packets. The two men with their awful jackets were nowhere to be seen.

An announcement blared out from loudspeakers. “Please move to the nearest evacuation point. This is not a drill.”

Rina looked back at the grime-coated grey walls of their building. It was five floors of ancient, poorly engineered earthquake fodder as far as she was concerned. She didn’t want to go back there and have it fall on her head, especially not with the customer’s pet. Sasaki-san would yell at her for that. The thought of actually evacuating to a shelter was alien. She shuddered at the thought of all those stinky salarymen huddling with wide, panicked eyes while octogenarians handed out out-of-date bottled water and packets they probably didn’t realize contained space blankets. The apartment she shared with her mother was within walking distance. She could go home. She was pretty sure their lease didn’t allow animals but her mother—she was supposed to call her by name, so Junko—probably wouldn’t notice until later and by then she would have figured out a solution. Junko had never been a particularly perceptive person even when she wasn’t wiped out from a night hostessing at the club. Rina held up the cage and whispered to it. “What do you think? Home?”

The answering growl was barely audible, but it was enough. Rina turned her back on the cafe and the deepening yellow glow in the sky and began to walk.

Splice now just 0.99c!

Some great news! Splice (book one of the Zero-Point Awakening series) is now 0.99c, less than the cost of my replacement worry beads. In case you don’t know the story: A corrupt corporation has secretly harnessed alien technology, leading to an invasion that threatens to wipe out humanity. Enter our two unlikely heroes: Elliot, a wunderkind assassin, and Arthur, a D-list celebrity struggling with unexpected genetic modifications. As they join forces to save the Earth from total annihilation, can they navigate their personal demons and overcome their differences or will they allow corporate greed and the aliens to prevail? Don’t miss this thrilling, action-packed military sci-fi novel–remember, it’s now just 0.99c! Get your copy, help me validate my existence as an author and join the fight to save the planet!

Shop Now

Get it now on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited!