Blog Tour: Dead Geniuses series by R. Gary Raham
How many times does a genius have to die anyway?
A rogue AI named Nessie makes answering that questionproblematical.
A Once-Dead Genius inthe Kennel of Master Morticue Ambergrand
Dead Geniuses Book 1
by R. Gary Raham
Genre: Science Fiction
What happens when you die, but the universe isn’t done withyou?
You might end up as the pet of a giant worm-a-pede alienand…if you survive your evolved descendants and rogue aliens of 1 millionA.D…discover you have more in common with intelligent worms than you everthought possible.
Yes, all this mighthappen if you are Rudy Albert Goldstein—the discoverer of the Biomic NetworkAlgorithm—who thought his time had come. He had done his part to make the worlda better place. Now he deserved—even looked forward to—a peaceful andmercifully succinct death. But the universe had other plans…
What reviewersare saying:
“The arch tone should remind readers of Kurt Vonnegut,although Raham is better grounded in exobiology and science and displays a moreupbeat outlook for the human (and nonhu man) condition in this engaging tale.”Kirkus Reviews
“A Once-Dead Genius is filled with fascinating charactersthat we hu mans can learn a lot from (despite the fact that we are, as one ofGary’s characters puts it, ‘primates with delusions of grandeur’). The plot issolid, the action entertaining and philosophically challenging, and the scienceis great.” Michael Carroll, Astronomical artist, journalist, and author ofEuropa’s Lost Expedition
**On Sale! Get it for only $2.99 for a limited time!**
A Singular Prophecy
Dead Geniuses Book 2
When young paleontologist, Ryan Thompson, finds a newspecies of mosasaur in Cretaceous seaway sediments, he is thrilled. Joy quicklyturns to fear when he touches an artifact buried among the sea reptile’s ribs.Suddenly, he must fight a mental takeover by an alien intelligence committed totransforming the Earth into a refuge for her own species. As Ryan and hisgirlfriend, Skeets, attempt to thwart alien plans to colonize Earth begun inthe deep past, even this crisis becomes trivial when the uneasy symbiosis ofRyan and the alien, Siu, generates a new entity with the power to transform theentire universe.
What reviewersare saying:
“GaryRaham, the author of this enthralling book, seems almost to have been therehundreds of millions of years ago when Siu’s dim star blinked out and the treesbegan to die on the planet known as Grove. This is the magic of good writing,and Raham is no less convincing as he describes the discovery by modernpaleontologists on Earth of the jewel-like engram that has carried the geneticimprint of Siu through a galactic gate, out of the void of deep time, and intoour lives.”
Kate Gilmore , author of The Exchange Student and EnterThree Witches
A Twice-Dead GeniusComporting With Misunderstood Abominations
Dead Geniuses Book 3
Rudyard Albert Goldstein, inventor of the Biomic NetworkAlgorithm, made peace with death in the 22nd century. But an idiot doctorhijacked his mind, placing it in the care of Nessie, an impish AI guardian.Then, he died again, nearly a million years later, merged with a worm-a-pedealien male sated after completing his conjugal obligations. They expiredpeacefully on a cliff top, pondering the nature of existence—and the promise ofabominable liaisons.
Two deaths should be quite sufficient for any genius to endure.
Somehow, though, Nessie resurrected him from oblivion. His descendants neededhim again. New hostile aliens roamed the Earth—along with a mysterious immortalhybrid with powers that rivaled those of Nessie. Was the healthy young bodyNessie had prepared for him, along with the prospect of meeting a maker ofuniverses, enough of a bribe to risk dying a third time?
Apparently so.
Readers of Raham’s A Singular Prophecy (Biostration, 2011), and A Once-DeadGenius in the Kennel of Master Morticue Ambergrand (Penstemon Publications,2018) will reconnect with old friends (both human and alien). But even thosenew to the author’s quirky sense of humor will enjoy this third adventure thatspans the breadth of time and space.
What reviewersare saying:
“After reading and reviewing the 2018 release of “AOnce-Dead Genius in the Kennel of Master Morticue Ambergrand,” I could notimagine where Raham’s distant future could take us that would outdo that finenovel. But this author is clearly writing on a different plane because “ATwice-Dead Genius Comporting with Misunderstood Abominations” is even moreintriguing and entertaining.” Pat Stoltey, Author of Wishing Caswell Dead
Naked apes, gigantic worm-a-pedes, alien life formsgalore. Gary Raham’s latest does not disappoint. It’s yet another cosmic-scaleadventure with fascinating characters and a riveting, amusing story.
Michael Carroll, Astronomical artist, journalist, andauthor of Europa’s Lost Expedition
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Not Quite DeadGeniuses at Large on an Angry Planet
Dead Geniuses Book 4
How many times does a genius have to die anyway? RudyardAlbert Goldstein, inventor of the Biomic Network algorithm, asked himself—andhis AI guardian, Mnemosyne (aka Nessie)—that question many times in the courseof their million-year relationship. Nessie didn’t play fair, making multiplecopies of him from time to time in an effort to preserve his precociousspecies, H. sapiens from natural disasters, invading aliens,their own self-destructive proclivities, and even from the now angry planetthat gave them birth.
Could Rudy & Nessie manage to convince multiple species,each with their own unique delusions of grandeur, to work together to averttheir own extinctions? Could Rudy find a way to let Nessie finally set himfree?
Only time—and the completion of an even vasterintellect—would tell.
What reviewersare saying:
“An increasingly madcap conclusion to an eco-themed SFsaga of a weary Earth chafing under its alien tenants.” Kirkus Reviews
“One of the things I love about this series is the castof imaginative characters, including human, alien, and the combinations ofliving creatures with the surviving intelligence of great minds long gone.” PatStoltey, author of Wishing Caswell Dead
Deep Time and Gary are close bud dies, as is evidenced bythe panoramic time and physical settings taken in by his tales. Fans of thefirst Once-Dead Genius—and newcomers as well— will not be disappointed by thenewest installment...” Michael Carroll, Astronomical artist, journalist, andauthor of Europa’s Lost Expedition
**On Sale! Get it for only $2.99 for a limited time!**
Interlude 1: Resurrection & Reconnection
Mnemosyne (a.k.a. Nessie)
I need to awaken Rudy. Gaidra is restless. She won’t wait long to makeher anger manifest.
I: the personal pronoun. Rudy helped me earn the use of thatdistinction—at least in the first of his incarnations. He will be angry with methat there is now more than one of him. But I have determined that waking himagain is necessary.
Am I—an artificial intelligence—taking pride in using that personalpronoun? Pride is such a human emotion, but perhaps it follows in the wake ofself-awareness. I should not care that Rudy might be angry with me.Nevertheless, I do. One can’t spend 928,000 years with another entity—even ifhe is only a replicate of his original hominid mentality—without caring abouthow he will react to new circumstances. Although I have gained intellectualautonomy, my choices are circumscribed by my original programming, just as organic evolution dictates the range of Rudy’s choices, evenas a simulacrum. Rudy needs to help me help his genetic descendants. Hisfeelings—and mine, if I can justifiably call them that—rank a distant second inthe present hierarchy of actions.
Now where did I put his file? It’s much too large to misplace. Ah,there it is in subterranean annex DG05976543. I hope the heat from that nearbymagma intrusion didn’t damage any neural engram subroutines. “Rudyard AlbertGoldstein: Awaken!”
Why didn’t that work? It’s the proper file, I’m sure…
“Damn! Where are the lights? Is that you, Nessie?”
I haven’t heard that nickname in a while. “One moment, Rudy. Ineglected to activate a suitable virtual environment. What would you prefer:The Crystal Lakes patio? The Citadel Control Room? Perhaps a deck chair on thecliff where you and the worm-a-pede alien, Master Morticue Ambergrand, viewedthe majesty of the Milky Way just before your second death?”
“What have you done now, Nessie? You don’t usually invest in big,petabyte-eating virtual environments unless you’ve got distressing news toshare. How about sitting with me on two lumpy buckets in a room lit by aflickering old incandescent light bulb? That way you’ll get to the pointsooner. Oh, and for additional ambiance you could always toss a dead fish inthe corner circled by a few blue bottle flies.”
“I’ve missed your colorful imagery, Rudy. I’ll get to the pointquickly. You might as well enjoy yourself. Dark roast on the patio seemsappropriate.”
“You used to be less pushy as I recall. I must have told you too muchabout my third wife, Tamara. Now you’re modeling her.”
Perhaps I was, but just a little. I borrowed a few thousand petabytesof memory from some idle maintenance bots and constructed the environmentsurrounding Rudy’s old cabin in the Colorado woodlands of his youth when he wasan embodied living creature. Rudy blinked into view in one chair sporting astill dark brown crown of hair and a bristly mustache on his upper lip. I tookthe form of the ponytailed female avatar he liked, dressed in jeans that fither legs like a sheath and a blouse that allowed him to see the tips of hernipples beneath the white fabric.
Rudy lifted the cup of dark roast coffee from the glass-topped tablenext to his chair and took a sip. “Delicious as always.” Rudy curled his lipsinto a minimalist smile and narrowed his eyes. “Now spill it, Nessie. What’sgoing on?”
How much should I reveal? Perhaps I can save the information about hisother incarnations for now. “Your descendants need help, Rudy. Gaidra sees atrend developing with the growth of human and alien civilizations on her crust.She doesn’t want to see old mistakes repeated. She plans to…moderate the rateof change.”
Rudy frowned. “Kill off a bunch of her sapient pests, you mean.” Rudyset down his cup of coffee and ran both hands through his hair. “I still findit hard to wrap my mind around a biospheric global intelligence, although Ishouldn’t, for heaven’s sake. I did create the Biomic Network Algorithm afterall.”
“And Gaidra does appreciate that. I can read her moods accurately afterinteracting with her for so long. But biospheres do possess a collectivesurvival instinct. First Gaia…and now Gaidra…hasn’t persevered for billions ofyears without it.” I blinked my eyes and produced a minimalist smile of my own.
Rudy was silent for a long moment, perhaps recalling some fraction ofhis own experiences as a more than human chimera. Finally, he just said, “So,outline the problem, Nessie.”
“I have some stories you need to hear.”
“Stories!?”
“You humans learn best that way.”
Rudy harrumphed again.
“The first one is about a genius, like you, Rudy, but one born to aJadderbadian pet named Blaze who never belonged to a pre-apocalypticcivilization like yours. Still, I think you will be able to relate.”
Rudy rolled his eyes, but picked up his coffee and took another sip.After lowering the cup to the table again he arched his eyebrows and shruggedhis shoulders. “Well… get on with it, old girl. I know better than to arguewith you.”
So, I did.
(I do rather enjoy using the personal pronoun, as you can tell.)
R. Gary Raham illustrates nature with the critical eye of abiologist, but he also loves to tell stories that highlight nature’scomplexities and undiscovered mysteries. Sometimes that leads him tospeculative fictions that he hopes will inspire another generation of bothscientists and story-tellers. Raham’s work has been known to make a readerlaugh and think simultaneously with no known deleterious effects. Raham taughtbiology at the middle and high school level, has worked for decades as anaccomplished graphic artist and science journalist, and won numerous awards forhis writing and illustrations. He currently has over 20 published books ofscience fact and/or science fiction. Raham has written science titles forChelsea House, Discovery Channel Books, Marshall-Cavendish, and Teacher IdeasPress. Many of his award-winning science articles for both children and adultsare featured in Confessions of a Time Traveler (Penstemon, 2015), a finalist inthe Colorado Authors’ League Awards.
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