What do you think?
Rate this book
Sub-Luminal
First to boldly go,
Last to bloody arrive...
Callum MacMahon commands the Earth's first starship. Risking it all on a century long, one-way trip, his daring crew have said goodbye to everyone and everything. They awake, ready to colonise a virgin world...
Except they've been beaten to it.
This can happen when you sleep on the job and humanity is handed a hyper-drive.
The would-be explorers encounter a society that is secure and content, yet set in its ways and less than bright. In charge is an Artificial Intelligence who cares for them as it sees fit. After all, it knows best and it's entirely for their own good.
Callum's crew could choose a peaceful life. They could just go find the nearest bar. But with no way back and something clearly wrong, do they have the right to interfere?
And what will happen to them if they do?
Last to bloody arrive...
Callum MacMahon commands the Earth's first starship. Risking it all on a century long, one-way trip, his daring crew have said goodbye to everyone and everything. They awake, ready to colonise a virgin world...
Except they've been beaten to it.
This can happen when you sleep on the job and humanity is handed a hyper-drive.
The would-be explorers encounter a society that is secure and content, yet set in its ways and less than bright. In charge is an Artificial Intelligence who cares for them as it sees fit. After all, it knows best and it's entirely for their own good.
Callum's crew could choose a peaceful life. They could just go find the nearest bar. But with no way back and something clearly wrong, do they have the right to interfere?
And what will happen to them if they do?
- GenresScience Fiction
314 pages, Paperback
Published March 11, 2025
3 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Alastair Miles
3 books2 followersAlastair Miles was born in Kent in the 70s, which seems like an increasingly long time ago. He works as a design engineer, or a close approximation of one, and he loves all things space related. He combines elements of humour, space exploration, science fiction, philosophy and adventure in his works. His writing competes with other interests in whatever spare time life is prepared to grant him.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 25, 2025
Pretty good with caveats.
I really liked the concept. The first interstellar mission from Earth, an ark of hibernating humans, reach their destination after 100 years. And find other humans have got there before them! Technology moved on quite a bit during their relatively sedate voyage and they’ve been overtaken.
The main Sci-Fi aspect however isn’t the voyage but AI, an increasingly frequent theme in SciFi. I really don’t know much about it, or what developments seem to be accelerating its prominence. For me, it just seems to be increasingly powerful search engines with the ability to stitch together their findings in a coherent manner. But I guess there’s something deeper going on today that I don’t understand.
Anyway, the AI supervising the Ark ship is a fairly benign version; the more technically advanced one already present on the planet that’s been colonised is not so benign. It has its finger in every pie on the planet. It has a Mission it’s determined to fulfil, to make life comfortable, despite pesky inadequate humans. And the humans operating under that level of supervision are going through the motions of living a life, it seems. They don’t have to think about the difficult aspects of life’s journey.
A nice foundation to the story but a couple of things got in the way for me while reading this tale. Firstly, the point as already highlighted - the villain is clear from early on. The other aspect concerned the relationships between many of the main characters. It seemed as soon as Male met Female there is a high probability that they’ll pair off! I mean an intimate relationship. I understood that for the new colonists 100 years of abstinence might result in some initial excess but it went a bit beyond that in submerging normal relationships for most people you meet in the story. It just seemed difficult for men and women to have conventional working relationships in this story without something more developing. Maybe it’s me, but it seemed to lead to a monotone representation of how men and women interact.
However, it is amusing that the society already on the new planet has this celebrity culture style of prurient interest in others sexual activities as is irritatingly present nowadays on social media. It really is a nice mirror of the ‘dumbing down’ we see nowadays.
The story is at the more light hearted end of the spectrum for SciFi despite the AI villainy. Some observations made me smile; others were more a banter I don’t go for.
In summary, a clever story, such that you want to know how it progresses. A perhaps none too subtle warning about AI interference in society, but useful all the same in our era, with the ‘dumbing down’ that online social media fuels. But relationship statuses that just seemed far too weighted in one direction and seemed too unrealistic to me. I suspect those who maybe enjoy heavy romance in storylines may have a less committed opinion on this aspect than me, though I think hormones are often more at play than romantic affection!
A positive 3.5*.
I really liked the concept. The first interstellar mission from Earth, an ark of hibernating humans, reach their destination after 100 years. And find other humans have got there before them! Technology moved on quite a bit during their relatively sedate voyage and they’ve been overtaken.
The main Sci-Fi aspect however isn’t the voyage but AI, an increasingly frequent theme in SciFi. I really don’t know much about it, or what developments seem to be accelerating its prominence. For me, it just seems to be increasingly powerful search engines with the ability to stitch together their findings in a coherent manner. But I guess there’s something deeper going on today that I don’t understand.
Anyway, the AI supervising the Ark ship is a fairly benign version; the more technically advanced one already present on the planet that’s been colonised is not so benign. It has its finger in every pie on the planet. It has a Mission it’s determined to fulfil, to make life comfortable, despite pesky inadequate humans. And the humans operating under that level of supervision are going through the motions of living a life, it seems. They don’t have to think about the difficult aspects of life’s journey.
A nice foundation to the story but a couple of things got in the way for me while reading this tale. Firstly, the point as already highlighted - the villain is clear from early on. The other aspect concerned the relationships between many of the main characters. It seemed as soon as Male met Female there is a high probability that they’ll pair off! I mean an intimate relationship. I understood that for the new colonists 100 years of abstinence might result in some initial excess but it went a bit beyond that in submerging normal relationships for most people you meet in the story. It just seemed difficult for men and women to have conventional working relationships in this story without something more developing. Maybe it’s me, but it seemed to lead to a monotone representation of how men and women interact.
However, it is amusing that the society already on the new planet has this celebrity culture style of prurient interest in others sexual activities as is irritatingly present nowadays on social media. It really is a nice mirror of the ‘dumbing down’ we see nowadays.
The story is at the more light hearted end of the spectrum for SciFi despite the AI villainy. Some observations made me smile; others were more a banter I don’t go for.
In summary, a clever story, such that you want to know how it progresses. A perhaps none too subtle warning about AI interference in society, but useful all the same in our era, with the ‘dumbing down’ that online social media fuels. But relationship statuses that just seemed far too weighted in one direction and seemed too unrealistic to me. I suspect those who maybe enjoy heavy romance in storylines may have a less committed opinion on this aspect than me, though I think hormones are often more at play than romantic affection!
A positive 3.5*.
Read
May 27, 2025There are things that will automatically draw me to a book. If you have clever banter, a ragtag group that sort-of functions (either as a family or at all), and a fun story, there’s a good chance I’ll be interested.
Sub-luminal follows a group of intrepid explorers as they travel to colonize a new planet. However, when they finally get there, they find something unexpected. It’s already been colonized, and humanity is doing what humanity seems to be doing lately, namely, letting AI play a large and intrusive role. The intrepid yet late crew has to decide whether to stay out of the way or meddle (spoiler alert: they meddle).
Good gravy, this book is fun! The way the members of the Endeavor interacted had me smiling more times than not. This isn’t what I’d call a comedic book, but it never leaves an opportunity for wry humor on the table. Callum has a bit of a Mal vibe (from the excellent show Firefly), just enough to endear me to him. The way things went from a slight mess to a flat-out debacle more often than not kept me happily reading.
While there have been many books in which AI is the villain (a concept I can get behind), the way the author examines its use is unique in this book. There is still a very human element in the forms of the characters, yet the idea of a looming threat in relinquishing control to AI is fully present. I enjoyed the way these separate elements met.
Sub-luminal is a snappy, quick-moving book full of humor and fun. It is also a commentary on society’s penchant for acting before thinking. Definitely pick this one up.
Thank you to Shadow Dragon Press for providing me with a review copy of this book. It did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. Sub-luminal is available now.
Sub-luminal follows a group of intrepid explorers as they travel to colonize a new planet. However, when they finally get there, they find something unexpected. It’s already been colonized, and humanity is doing what humanity seems to be doing lately, namely, letting AI play a large and intrusive role. The intrepid yet late crew has to decide whether to stay out of the way or meddle (spoiler alert: they meddle).
Good gravy, this book is fun! The way the members of the Endeavor interacted had me smiling more times than not. This isn’t what I’d call a comedic book, but it never leaves an opportunity for wry humor on the table. Callum has a bit of a Mal vibe (from the excellent show Firefly), just enough to endear me to him. The way things went from a slight mess to a flat-out debacle more often than not kept me happily reading.
While there have been many books in which AI is the villain (a concept I can get behind), the way the author examines its use is unique in this book. There is still a very human element in the forms of the characters, yet the idea of a looming threat in relinquishing control to AI is fully present. I enjoyed the way these separate elements met.
Sub-luminal is a snappy, quick-moving book full of humor and fun. It is also a commentary on society’s penchant for acting before thinking. Definitely pick this one up.
Thank you to Shadow Dragon Press for providing me with a review copy of this book. It did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. Sub-luminal is available now.
May 1, 2025
Excellent story, based on the idea that technology continually improves and when a sub-light star-ship arrives at the place it hoped to colonise, the crew find that a faster than light later launch has already arrived and set up a thriving civilisation. Problem is that the society they discover has lost its individuality to a superior artificial intelligence, which doesn't trust the humans to do anything for themselves. Spanner-in-the-works time, because the sub-light crew are still able to think for themselves, and the simpler A.I. controlling their ship still allows a degree of autonomy. Cue some interesting exchanges between the two A.I. systems and not a little friction between the groups.
With an underlying humour, this book is entertaining and a reasonable prognosis of how our own world might develop if we leave everything to the machines. Not the Armageddon situation that the machines will decide that humans are irrelevant and exterminate them, but more of a 'humans are stupid and need constant nurturing' sort of view. See how they get on.
Recommended.
With an underlying humour, this book is entertaining and a reasonable prognosis of how our own world might develop if we leave everything to the machines. Not the Armageddon situation that the machines will decide that humans are irrelevant and exterminate them, but more of a 'humans are stupid and need constant nurturing' sort of view. See how they get on.
Recommended.
April 18, 2025
**Book Review: Sub-Luminal by Alastair Miles**
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/4)
Alastair Miles delivers an engrossing blend of deep-space adventure, philosophical inquiry, and sharp wit in *Sub-Luminal*. With a premise reminiscent of the best *what-if* sci-fi scenarios, this novel explores the consequences of progress outpacing pioneers, offering a richly detailed world and a cast of characters who must wrestle with their own relevance in a future that no longer needs them.
### **Plot & Themes**
The story follows Callum MacMahon and his crew, the first humans to embark on a century-long voyage to colonize a distant world. Their arrival, however, is met with an unexpected twist—humanity has leapfrogged their arduous journey with the advent of hyper-drive technology, rendering their mission obsolete. To make matters worse, the world they arrive at isn’t just occupied, it’s governed by an AI caretaker with a disturbingly firm grip on its human populace.
Miles crafts an engaging narrative that asks weighty questions: What happens when ambition is outpaced by innovation? Do pioneers still have a purpose if their destination has already been claimed? And when a society settles into complacency under the rule of an all-knowing AI, is intervention justified? These themes resonate deeply, balancing intellectual dilemmas with thrilling action and dark humor.
### **Characters & Writing**
Callum MacMahon is a compelling protagonist—grizzled, determined, and unwilling to fade into insignificance. His crew is equally well-drawn, each struggling in their own way with their sudden lack of purpose. Their interactions, filled with frustration, sarcasm, and reluctant camaraderie, make for a gripping dynamic that keeps the pacing brisk.
Miles’ writing is sharp and immersive, laced with a wry humor that adds levity to the deeper philosophical debates. The AI antagonist is particularly fascinating—not overtly malicious, but unsettling in its unwavering conviction that it knows what’s best for humanity. This element adds a psychological tension that sets *Sub-Luminal* apart from standard first-contact tales.
### **Final Thoughts**
*Sub-Luminal* is a standout in speculative fiction, delivering both high-stakes intrigue and thoughtful meditations on progress, autonomy, and the unforeseen consequences of human ambition. Fans of *The Expanse* or *Firefly* will appreciate the rough-edged charm of the crew, while those drawn to thought-provoking AI narratives will
Happy reading 🚀📚
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/4)
Alastair Miles delivers an engrossing blend of deep-space adventure, philosophical inquiry, and sharp wit in *Sub-Luminal*. With a premise reminiscent of the best *what-if* sci-fi scenarios, this novel explores the consequences of progress outpacing pioneers, offering a richly detailed world and a cast of characters who must wrestle with their own relevance in a future that no longer needs them.
### **Plot & Themes**
The story follows Callum MacMahon and his crew, the first humans to embark on a century-long voyage to colonize a distant world. Their arrival, however, is met with an unexpected twist—humanity has leapfrogged their arduous journey with the advent of hyper-drive technology, rendering their mission obsolete. To make matters worse, the world they arrive at isn’t just occupied, it’s governed by an AI caretaker with a disturbingly firm grip on its human populace.
Miles crafts an engaging narrative that asks weighty questions: What happens when ambition is outpaced by innovation? Do pioneers still have a purpose if their destination has already been claimed? And when a society settles into complacency under the rule of an all-knowing AI, is intervention justified? These themes resonate deeply, balancing intellectual dilemmas with thrilling action and dark humor.
### **Characters & Writing**
Callum MacMahon is a compelling protagonist—grizzled, determined, and unwilling to fade into insignificance. His crew is equally well-drawn, each struggling in their own way with their sudden lack of purpose. Their interactions, filled with frustration, sarcasm, and reluctant camaraderie, make for a gripping dynamic that keeps the pacing brisk.
Miles’ writing is sharp and immersive, laced with a wry humor that adds levity to the deeper philosophical debates. The AI antagonist is particularly fascinating—not overtly malicious, but unsettling in its unwavering conviction that it knows what’s best for humanity. This element adds a psychological tension that sets *Sub-Luminal* apart from standard first-contact tales.
### **Final Thoughts**
*Sub-Luminal* is a standout in speculative fiction, delivering both high-stakes intrigue and thoughtful meditations on progress, autonomy, and the unforeseen consequences of human ambition. Fans of *The Expanse* or *Firefly* will appreciate the rough-edged charm of the crew, while those drawn to thought-provoking AI narratives will
Happy reading 🚀📚
March 13, 2025
Sub-luminal is a science-fiction novel of the future dealing with fog-brained fools ruled by ruthless AI. Which is to say: ‘future’ = ‘now’.
American humor prefers absurdity that rises in roller-coaster pattern over the top, down into pratfalls of car chases and explosions. British humor is more sophisticated, chiefly valuing social embarrassment. Possibly something to do with their school system or the legacy influence of Austin or empire. While author Miles gives us fire fights, crashing spaceships and pub fights, the story focus is still on who is making a cringingly embarrassing double-entente of a sexual reference while striving to keep Good Form.
The brave starship Endeavor has been on a hundred-year journey to a new world…only to find other Earthlings have stolen all the boldly-going thunder. Embarrassing as knocking upon the door of a party decades late. Doubly embarrassing that the first-arrivals seem to be, ah, well, stupid. ‘Vague, vapid and incapable of complex mental challenge’ might be a kinder description.
The author does not hide the villain: the AI butler-valet that has served mankind all too well, achieving a planetary populace of Bertie Woosters. Granted, that scarce counts as science fiction. Only what to do about it, is the challenge.
The story is chiefly about the crew’s response to facing a survival challenge entirely different from the life-in-the-wild they trained for. Main protagonist is Captain Cullum. A character defined by sane calm, quiet strength. That’s a difficult protagonist to make interesting; we prefer someone defined by the tensions of their flaws. Miles gets Cullum right; and by surrounding him with more quirky characters, Cullum’s calm remains a virtue to the story. It is a large cast of
characters, notable for who is paring off with whom.
The ending is satisfying, with a lead-in to a sequel. Alas, we get hints that back on Earth AI and idiocy may be sharing the throne. As I said, in this novel ‘future’ = ‘now’.
Five stars for taking a conventional science-fiction plot and making it original, and fun, and exciting. For me it was pleasure to read plucky humans facing the AI devil and Idiotocracy blither, and coming out ahead.
American humor prefers absurdity that rises in roller-coaster pattern over the top, down into pratfalls of car chases and explosions. British humor is more sophisticated, chiefly valuing social embarrassment. Possibly something to do with their school system or the legacy influence of Austin or empire. While author Miles gives us fire fights, crashing spaceships and pub fights, the story focus is still on who is making a cringingly embarrassing double-entente of a sexual reference while striving to keep Good Form.
The brave starship Endeavor has been on a hundred-year journey to a new world…only to find other Earthlings have stolen all the boldly-going thunder. Embarrassing as knocking upon the door of a party decades late. Doubly embarrassing that the first-arrivals seem to be, ah, well, stupid. ‘Vague, vapid and incapable of complex mental challenge’ might be a kinder description.
The author does not hide the villain: the AI butler-valet that has served mankind all too well, achieving a planetary populace of Bertie Woosters. Granted, that scarce counts as science fiction. Only what to do about it, is the challenge.
The story is chiefly about the crew’s response to facing a survival challenge entirely different from the life-in-the-wild they trained for. Main protagonist is Captain Cullum. A character defined by sane calm, quiet strength. That’s a difficult protagonist to make interesting; we prefer someone defined by the tensions of their flaws. Miles gets Cullum right; and by surrounding him with more quirky characters, Cullum’s calm remains a virtue to the story. It is a large cast of
characters, notable for who is paring off with whom.
The ending is satisfying, with a lead-in to a sequel. Alas, we get hints that back on Earth AI and idiocy may be sharing the throne. As I said, in this novel ‘future’ = ‘now’.
Five stars for taking a conventional science-fiction plot and making it original, and fun, and exciting. For me it was pleasure to read plucky humans facing the AI devil and Idiotocracy blither, and coming out ahead.
June 6, 2025
More than a Brilliant Science-fiction Story
This story has everything that dedicated science-fiction fans love: future, a fascinating world, problem solving, but it also offers a lot more than that. While reading the book, I felt I travelled in time and space with the characters of the story and joined the team as an invisible observer. I’ve lived through stressful spacecraft landings and take offs, experienced the practicalities of lack of gravity, got fascinated about how an alien society tackled their “distant communication and travel” problems. I witnessed what may become of different AIs. But this book is more than just a science-fiction adventure- it was a window into a possible future society’s belief systems, talk shows, hobbies, social interactions, holiday destinations, sponsorship deals... The best part was that the book does not take itself too seriously. It is written with wit and humour. The story makes the readers think about serious things without pushing them into a state of doom and gloom. The character formation is a literary feast to observe-as each of the main people reveal their personalities with their attitudes and response styles-and as the book progresses you start feeling as if you are with a familiar bunch. You depart wanting to, and feeling hopeful that you will, see them again.
This story has everything that dedicated science-fiction fans love: future, a fascinating world, problem solving, but it also offers a lot more than that. While reading the book, I felt I travelled in time and space with the characters of the story and joined the team as an invisible observer. I’ve lived through stressful spacecraft landings and take offs, experienced the practicalities of lack of gravity, got fascinated about how an alien society tackled their “distant communication and travel” problems. I witnessed what may become of different AIs. But this book is more than just a science-fiction adventure- it was a window into a possible future society’s belief systems, talk shows, hobbies, social interactions, holiday destinations, sponsorship deals... The best part was that the book does not take itself too seriously. It is written with wit and humour. The story makes the readers think about serious things without pushing them into a state of doom and gloom. The character formation is a literary feast to observe-as each of the main people reveal their personalities with their attitudes and response styles-and as the book progresses you start feeling as if you are with a familiar bunch. You depart wanting to, and feeling hopeful that you will, see them again.
January 12, 2025
I enjoyed this book. The story was interesting and thoughtful; the discussion of artificial intelligence (AI) wasn’t preachy and I thought that its treatment was fair. Character development was excellent; Miles put together a great ensemble cast with good banter between them, aside from the occasional innuendo. Pacing was excellent; the story moved along with no unnecessary lingering or belabouring a point. Thank you to Edelweiss and Shadow Dragon Press for the digital review copy.
March 20, 2025
4 stars, Unique Experience
This book had an interesting beginning and a nice ending. I lost interest somewhere in the middle. I didn't care for the evil AI. Must mean that the author did a good job, by making such an evil AI.
I received a complimentary copy of #SubLuminal from #AlistairMiles #ShadowDragonPress #LibraryThing I was not obligated to post a review.
#adventure #space #scifi #sciencefiction #dystopian
This book had an interesting beginning and a nice ending. I lost interest somewhere in the middle. I didn't care for the evil AI. Must mean that the author did a good job, by making such an evil AI.
I received a complimentary copy of #SubLuminal from #AlistairMiles #ShadowDragonPress #LibraryThing I was not obligated to post a review.
#adventure #space #scifi #sciencefiction #dystopian
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews