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First Contact Last Resort: A Sci Fi Novella 2
A Berkeley professor at the forefront of scientific progress must stand up to violent confrontations in humanity's battle over an enlightened or medieval future.
In the wake of recent astounding discoveries, uncertainty about environmental catastrophe is roiling society. The vitriol leads to an unimaginable backlash against the scientific community, especially the Berkeley professor most associated with the discoveries.
Meanwhile, the nighttime use of a prototype medical device by one of the professor's students leads to a breakthrough—that will be an abomination to some. When the leader of the biotech company developing the device realizes the breakthrough's life-saving potential, he'll risk death threats, prison, and his company's survival to use the device before it's proven safe.
This second story in the First Contact Last Resort soft sci-fi series dramatizes how our society and leaders cope with massive progress and upheaval. Some will be heroic. Others vile.
In the wake of recent astounding discoveries, uncertainty about environmental catastrophe is roiling society. The vitriol leads to an unimaginable backlash against the scientific community, especially the Berkeley professor most associated with the discoveries.
Meanwhile, the nighttime use of a prototype medical device by one of the professor's students leads to a breakthrough—that will be an abomination to some. When the leader of the biotech company developing the device realizes the breakthrough's life-saving potential, he'll risk death threats, prison, and his company's survival to use the device before it's proven safe.
This second story in the First Contact Last Resort soft sci-fi series dramatizes how our society and leaders cope with massive progress and upheaval. Some will be heroic. Others vile.
- GenresScience Fiction
160 pages, Paperback
Published June 27, 2023
6 people are currently reading
1 person want to read
About the author
Singularitive Ranch
4 books1 followerMike’s full-time job is the director of innovation ecosystem development at UC Berkeley, where he works with researchers to commercialize the technology they invent at the university (http://ipira.berkeley.edu/mike).
During nights and weekends, Mike writes speculative fiction under the pen name, Singularitive Ranch. He uses an organization's name instead of an individual's name to acknowledge that (as with starting companies) developing stories is a team effort.
Mike’s speculative fiction series of novellas, First Contact Last Resort, is about future trailblazers who make technological breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and social movements that have an abrupt and profound impact on our world—such that humanity is never the same.
His crisply written epic stories about trailblazers and their advances illicit a captivating arc of emotions and provoke reflection—at the personal, global, and galactic levels.
During nights and weekends, Mike writes speculative fiction under the pen name, Singularitive Ranch. He uses an organization's name instead of an individual's name to acknowledge that (as with starting companies) developing stories is a team effort.
Mike’s speculative fiction series of novellas, First Contact Last Resort, is about future trailblazers who make technological breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and social movements that have an abrupt and profound impact on our world—such that humanity is never the same.
His crisply written epic stories about trailblazers and their advances illicit a captivating arc of emotions and provoke reflection—at the personal, global, and galactic levels.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 9, 2023
Get ready to blast into inner space.
In novella 2, instead of physics and astronomy, we delve into physiology. With all the new discoveries, I would've loved to have spent more time with explorations of these technologies and the characters that make them reality, but they both come "future fast" exactly like the pacing of this series.
Still, don't let all the mind-blowing scientific advancements of Mbolic Biosciences lull you into a false sense of security--especially when they use human medical research surrogates. This novella's rocket barely gets a chance to lift off when "apocalyptic religious group[s]" with their "medieval devout vision" for the world come on strong, hellbent on derailing the narrative.
Speaking of the narrative, don't expect a single plot like in novella 1. Even while staying focused on Lita as the heroine, the story line fires its thrusters of complexity via a sleeper subplot that comes to its astounding fruition by the end of this novella.
Hold on to your Sleeping Bear goggles, girls and boys--it's going to be wild ride into inner space!
In novella 2, instead of physics and astronomy, we delve into physiology. With all the new discoveries, I would've loved to have spent more time with explorations of these technologies and the characters that make them reality, but they both come "future fast" exactly like the pacing of this series.
Still, don't let all the mind-blowing scientific advancements of Mbolic Biosciences lull you into a false sense of security--especially when they use human medical research surrogates. This novella's rocket barely gets a chance to lift off when "apocalyptic religious group[s]" with their "medieval devout vision" for the world come on strong, hellbent on derailing the narrative.
Speaking of the narrative, don't expect a single plot like in novella 1. Even while staying focused on Lita as the heroine, the story line fires its thrusters of complexity via a sleeper subplot that comes to its astounding fruition by the end of this novella.
Hold on to your Sleeping Bear goggles, girls and boys--it's going to be wild ride into inner space!
July 12, 2023
the second novella in the First Contact Last Resort series surpasses the first in ever way. You can see and feel the characters evolving and growing closer together as a team. "singularity ranch" continues to showcase grounded science in the exploration for contacting our nearest alien neighbor, with many of the possibilities rooted in real science from today. ties to current day politics and technologies (and how they evolve) continue to be realistic from both terms of our current day and continuation of the world built in the first novella. several awesome new characters or existing ones greatly expanded on.
chapters are lightning quick reads, just the perfect length for binging long stretch's of the book at a time. intrigue, thrills, mystery, philosophy and danger are mixed throughout the book, often finding myself cheering or concerned about what is happening to the protagonists (all in good ways).
i was honored to be a beta reader for this book and saw it evolve into the fantastic piece of near term sci-fi it is. this is a unbiased review.
chapters are lightning quick reads, just the perfect length for binging long stretch's of the book at a time. intrigue, thrills, mystery, philosophy and danger are mixed throughout the book, often finding myself cheering or concerned about what is happening to the protagonists (all in good ways).
i was honored to be a beta reader for this book and saw it evolve into the fantastic piece of near term sci-fi it is. this is a unbiased review.
July 9, 2023
So compelling! This Second novella in the series is even better than the first. I've been drawn in by the intriguing and quirky characters and the non-stop plotting. I also really enjoy the imaginative world-building and gadgets of the future. Give me a cog as a pet any day of the week! I can't wait for the third story. Keep them coming...
January 15, 2024
I read this thinking it might redeem the first installment. Nope. Same review as the first one: Reads like an AI wrote it. I know that "Singularitive Ranch" is supposed to be a collective of writers, but geez. Every character is a stereotype of itself. And the story can be encapsulated in a paragraph. And the First Contact part is non-existent.
July 16, 2023
Awesome follow-up to the first novella. Continues the story in an interesting way, adding more to the world and plot. It's a fantastic near-future world with great characters and ideas.
March 17, 2024
Much better than the first one, in my opinion. A lot of ideas that can be explored further.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews