Creations

by William Mitchell

Earth in 2040 is on the brink of environmental disaster. International controls affect everything from who can travel by air to who can start a family. Meanwhile the rift between science and religion is growing as some turn to technology for answers, while others blame it for the catastrophe. And for biological engineer Max Lowrie, whose efforts to see evolution taught in schools have led to him receiving death threats, the fact his wife’s staunchly religious family also see him as the enemy only adds to the strain. So when Max gets the job offer of a lifetime it’s hard to say no. He’ll be halfway around the world, safe from any danger, and he and Gillian will be able to get the treatments they need to start a family. The only problem is the project. It’s supposed to pave the way for humanity’s self-replicating machines that can mine materials from the harshest environments at no cost, opening up as yet unheard of resources in the sea, on land, and ultimately on the Moon. Everyone seems confident that the machines will be easy to control, but Max isn’t so sure… WILLIAM MITCHELL works as an aeronautical engineer. He writes horror and science fiction, and has published several short stories. He lives in East Sussex with his wife and two children.

345 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2014

About the author

I've been writing Science Fiction & Horror for a few years now, with a number of publications in various anthologies and short fiction magazines. Then, in 2012, I was a winner in the prestigious "Writers of the Future" contest, with my winning story "Contact Authority" appearing in volume 28. My first SF novel "Creations" was published a couple of years later, and the sequel "Eradications" came not long after that. Since then I've gone back and forth between Science Fiction and Horror - I like reading them equally so it makes sense I'd want to write them both too. You'll find plenty of examples of both listed here.

Away from writing, I live in the south of England and work in aerospace research doing things like writing the software for flight simulators, future concept design for air & space vehicles, and development of A.I. autopilots. So if you like your SF to be plausible and realistic, and written by someone who knows how all the tech stuff really works, that's what I'm into too.

For more info, go to www.wmfiction.com

Thanks!

Reviews

[Lee Belbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was a good example of SF’s “What if …” applied to the evolution of ‘machines’. Given it is 2025 and we have witnessed the amazing evolution of AI, the scenarios in this novel were a sobering experience. I greatly enjoyed the philosophical aspects, e.g., ‘Can the creator create something more ‘sophisticated’ than itself?

[Alan Trent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book after seeing an interview with the author in the Huffington Post, talking about space exploration and colonization, and radical technologies such as self-replicating machines. The interview was plugging the book based on its technical accuracy and plausibility, something I tend to look for in science fiction. And having read it, I was not disappointed.
Max Lowrie is a kind of design consultant who uses his university department's supercomputers to simulate evolution and design things (robots, buildings, etc) by simulated natural selection. He gets called in on a project to create self-replicating machines for mining and construction, initially in the oceans, later on the moon. Yet out of the whole team he's the only one warning that they might be creating something dangerous. The way he's brought into the programme though, and the way the company keep him there, is very clever indeed. So when he's proved right, and the team loses control of the ever-growing machine population they've created, it falls to him to risk his life to stop them.
This is a story of space exploration, hidden corporate agendas, and the way in which building replicating machines might take humanity to the next level of technology. The parallels between machine life and biological life are at the heart of Creations though, right up to the brilliantly satisfying ending which I never saw coming but was kicking myself about afterwards.
The technical accuracy is another plus point. Reading the scenes set on the moon I actually found myself wondering if the author had been there for real. The way Max and the other characters get there, the way the bases and settlements are described, even the spacesuits they wear and how they use them - the author's knowledge and attention to detail come through on every page, but without slowing the action. The way the replicating machines are designed and built is the same - you really get the feeling that this technology is just a decade or two away (all without needing to resort to nanobots or other wild technologies).
The characters were very three dimensional too, and all had distinct voices - I could easily imagine them as real people rather than just cut-out characters tasked with moving the plot along, something where a lot of science fiction fails. I think of all of them Safi was my favourite - it's not often you read a character you wish you could meet in real life. And the fact that Creations put so much emphasis on technical accuracy did not dampen the action at all ("scientific" SF books are often slow burners). The action sequences toward the end had me hooked so much I actually missed my stop on one occasion while reading on the train.
In short: great ideas, sound science, an action-driven story, and ending I should have seen miles off but loved it all the more because I didn't.