Apoidea

by Douglas Thompson

F A C T :
In October 2009, in response to the global deterioration in the health of bee hives, the American National Science Foundation awarded Harvard University ten million Dollars to research the creation of robotic bees. One third of all human food production relies on bees for crop pollination.

F I C T I O N :
In the near future, bees have died out through disease brought on by human over-exploitation and industrialised farming. Global famine and conflict threaten. But one US-based technology company (“Apoidroids” from the Latin classification Apoidea) have leapt to global prominence through their invention of a replacement: …silver android bees that they have sold to every country on earth to take over the pollinating role of their organic forebears. But when the tiny robots begin to acquire unexpected intelligence and independence, their wealthy inventor finds himself drawn into an extraordinary odyssey of discovery about himself, humanity and the world he thought he’d conquered. In his search for truth he will lose everything but regain his soul…

211 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Douglas Thompson's short stories have appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies, most recently Ambit, Postscripts, and New Writing Scotland. He won the Grolsch/Herald Question of Style Award in 1989 and second prize in the Neil Gunn Writing Competition in 2007. His first book, "Ultrameta", was published by Eibonvale Press in August 2009, nominated for the Edge Hill Prize, and shortlisted for the BFS Best Newcomer Award. His critically acclaimed second novel, "Sylvow", was published in autumn 2010, also from Eibonvale. A third novel "Apoidea" was released from The Exaggerated Press in 2011, a fourth "Mechagnosis" is due from Dog Horn in September 2012, and a fifth "Entanglement" is due from Elsewhen Press as an e-book from August 2012, and as a paperback from November 2012,

Reviews

[Seregil of Rhiminee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A while ago I read Douglas Thompson's Sylvow and liked it very much, because it was a bit different kind of a science fiction book. Apoidea is also a different kind of a book, but it isn't as weird a book as Sylvow (Apoidea is more accessible and much easier to read than Sylvow).

Before I write more about this book, I'll mention that I enjoyed reading it. It's great that The EXAGGERATED Press has decided to publish this book, because big publishers tend to avoid publishing this kind of intelligent "indie science fiction".

Here's a bit of information about the story:

Apoidea is a fascinating book about Gert Villers and a near future world without bees. Because all the bees died, they were replaced by specially designed robot bees, apoidroids. Pollination is now handled with robot bees. Gert is the inventor of robot bees and he has profound moral views about how his invention should be used to make mankind's life better and what shouldn't happen. He is a rich man, because he has earned a lot of money with his invention. Military is very interested in using the apoidroids for military purposes and other companies are interested in developing the apoirdroids further to take care of several things. Gert's life changes when Del Freemont, an ex-employee of the Apoidroid company, tries to control the bees with a virus and begins to change things. Gert thinks that Del is responsible for the new behaviour of the bees. He becomes a prisoner and he has to ponder several different things. He notices that it's difficult to trust certain people and his life changes completely...

The disapperance and death of the bees is an interesting and also challenging concept, because bees are vital to humankind's survival. We'd be in serious trouble if the bees were to vanish off the face of the Earth, because bees take care of crop pollination etc. Albert Einstein has said that human race would last only four years in a world without bees and that's undoubtedly true, because the survival of human race is directly linked to the survival of bees.

Apoidea is basically a near future science fiction thriller, but in my opinion it's also much more than that. It's a story about one man's life, his choices and his ideas. It's interesting that Gert compares himself to great historical figures and worries about what's going to happen when things go wrong and how his robot bees are going to be used to different purposes. Douglas Thompson gives the reader several hints about what might happen when good creations fall into wrong hands and they're used to evil purposes.

Douglas Thompson has clearly spent a lot of time gathering information about bees and technology before writing this book. His research has paid off, because Apoidea is intelligent fiction for adults. Although Apoidea is a short book, it's full of good fiction and that's why it's almost possible to call it "high literature".

The author writes sophisticatedly about the new inventions and handles philosophical elements in a perfect way without preaching. He also writes fluently about Gert's family life and his relationship to his wife, daughter and son. The conversations between Gert and Marielle (Gert's wife) and Gert's conversations with the robot bees are interesting. During the course of the book these and other conversations reveal how Gert thinks and feels about several things.

I noticed that the author mentioned two major software companies, Lemon and Winterra, in this book. They were led by Steve Dobs and Bill Yates. These names were amusing, because I'm sure that everybody knows where they come from.

After reading Sylvow and Apoidea I can say that Douglas Thompson has his own literary voice. In my opionion Douglas Thompson is an author to watch, because he writes fascinating and intelligent science fiction books.

Apoidea is a fast-paced, exciting and thought-provoking science fiction book, which will be of interest to several fans of quality science fiction. It's a fine example of an intelligent and interesting near future science fiction book, because the author writes philosophically about politics and technology.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've previously read some of Douglas Thompson's work (in fact, I've published some of his short stories) so I approached this book with interest. Unlike some of his other books (Ultrameta, for example), Apoidea is much more concerned with story over style making it a more accessible read even if sometimes it could have done with some descriptive prose to give the story greater depth. Set in a near future where bees have become extinct, Gert Villers has invented an android alternative: bee robots which pollinate the Earth and have saved it from starvation. However, whilst his project was designed to benefit the whole of mankind, government agencies now want to put their own spin on things. Whoever controls the bees, of course, effectively controls the world...

Having made his fortune by the start of the novel, Gert is happy to oversee his operation from the comfort of his luxury home. However as the government makes tentative enquiries in secret meetings it appears that a rogue operative who had worked on the project has devised a means to takeover the bees and use them for his own ends. Gert is placed in a position where he cannot choose his allegiance, and is thrust into an adventure that will change his physicality as well as his state of mind.

Reading like an old fashioned pulp novel in terms of being fast paced and full of ideas, Apoidea is an interesting and probable examination of what could possibly be a near future reality. If there is a fault then it lies in the execution: Thompson feels a little out of his depth in running with a fully working plot, his work previously less clear cut in terms of design and more intricate in execution. This is evidently a plot-driven book and it feels at odds with his usual style. Nonetheless, it's a storming read, and if the ending is a little ambiguous and flat the ideas it leaves behind in the mind will resonate for a while to come.