Emergence

Here Comes Earth #1

by William Lee Gordon

Where did mankind really come from? Why are we here?

We can’t understand the past until we embrace the future.

These critical mysteries take center stage as Earth emerges into a Galactic Society that is far more complicated than anyone could have imagined. Our situation is far more perilous than we could have known. Can a few brilliant minds find a way out for Earth?

One saving grace is that there are those that believe ancient clues foretell that Earth has a destiny, and if we can survive our present difficulties we might just find out what that destiny is…

Dr. Mark Spencer was a young and up and coming history and anthropology professor who was all too familiar with what happens to less advanced civilizations when suddenly exposed to others of considerably higher technology. There’s only one survivor and the culture witnessing magic isn’t it.

When modern day Earth suddenly finds itself on the losing end of that proposition a team of the world’s best scientists is put together to find a solution.

Of course the advanced society being friendly, Earth’s citizens uniting, and the world’s politicians working together for the common good would help tremendously, but… what if none of that were true?

Genres: Science Fiction

317 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

Science Fiction allows an author to opine on all aspects of the society we live in, from the unfairness of racial, gender, or age discrimination, to the dishonesty of political leaders, to the questions of religion and a spirit that never dies.

It also allows us to explore how future technology might find answers for all of these questions.

Such are the thoughts and worlds of William Lee Gordon.

Reviews

[M Hamed · Rating 1 out of 5]

another interspecies sex bonanza,mutually falling in love after couple of hours .soldiers sexing scientists because they want some comfort ,and sex isn't that big a deal

sending incompetent soldiers and scientists in a spaceship to meet aliens and decide our fate
because ,POLITICS

a fucking disgrace

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is boooooring. And I don't mind sex in books if it's written well. "I was irresistible to women" and "the alien men didn't like sex but humans did" of course the extent of the sex scenes is "so and so was in my bed and was soooo satisfied because I'm so skilled."

Sir... have you ever pleased a woman? I'm skeptical.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

With these books I finally gain an understanding of why some people like Twilight. These books were fun pulpy novels. Nothing more, nothing less. Every character is a Mary Sue. Every. Single. Character. It's sci-fi and even the human race is a Mary Sue- absolutely unique in the universe and while there are species that are technologically more advanced it's obvious that we're the best at everything. The entire galaxy is watching our birth into the stars. The heroes are without flaw and the villains are obviously evil and stupid. The women are gorgeous and the men are handsome. The main protagonist (the book is 1st person but rotates characters every chapter) is brilliant, right about everything, and no woman can resist his charms and he beds them within 24 hours. Seriously, even Ian Fleming would tell this author to tone it down a bit. I'd quit if the story weren't actually pretty interesting but no amount of suspension of disbelief will make you forget you're reading a book. 95% of it is really cool universe and an extremely well thought out political system and religion. 5% is weird neck-beard views on romance and libertarian rants.

[Darrell Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book with thousands of missiles flying back and forth. It has plenty of action, but it also has plenty of character depth and does what good science fiction should do: it makes you question why things are the way they are. It unfolds almost as a mystery as to why galactic civilization is the way it is and if you enjoy plot twists, surprises, and real people in impossible situations you will love this book.

[Ken Selvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly liked the story, except for the pointless christian apologist arguments, and Spencer's sexist attitudes. Obama's fault no doubt. Point of view regularly switches from Spencer and Reagan. It would have been nice if narrator Kafer would have made some effort to differentiate the voices of the two. Most of his male characters sound like drill sergeants, which probably colors my impression of Spencer's personality and lack of humor.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

The 1-star reviews on Audible were more entertaining than this book. The concept seems cool but wow... If you love reading how women are objectified by a man who clealy has issues with coming across a "big man, I can has sex" then maybe you'd like it. No surprises why Audible is giving it away for free.

[Bryant Wall · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story has potential but it was hard to get past the chapters long diatribe of what is a poor attempt by the writer at trying to not so blatantly project his geopolitical views and political biases on his readers through character dialog.

Throughout the story, I felt like I was being ushered from one scene to another without proper transition and scene building which made it difficult to follow along. couple that with the massive amount of "telling" vice "showing" and you have a book that could have been so much more but isn't.

I finished the book because I'm not a quitter, however, I will not be buying any additional books in this series.

[John Randolph · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concepts and overall story are decent but the characters are straight out of a 1950s detective novel. It's distracting how poorly their inner monologue and dialogue come across.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Got two thirds through the book when I decided it just didn't work for me.

The line between good and stupid can be fine sometimes.

The tipping point for me was when the author decided that indiscriminate murder by a higher tier group against a lower tier group was viewed by galactic society as somewhat frowned upon.

There are other issues.

The author sets out to make Libertarianism the basis of galactic society, then puts everyone into goups of various levels. There is no government and no hierarchy. Except there is. Everyone belongs to some sort of "social club" and this determines your status and your place in the hierarchy.

The author uses alien meddling to explain things like the biblical flood, people in the bible living for 100s of years and other religious issues. This just doesn't work and ends up annoying nonsense.

The sex, or rather the implied sex. The protagonist is very good at sex, we know this because the author says so, repeatedly. The protagonist is also irresistible to women, we know this too because the author says so, repeatedly. Why the author feels the need to impress this on us I have no idea, it does not seem to add anything to the story.

[John Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is some pretty normal SF stuff with a little HFY added. I’ve seen complaints on here about it having a lot of sex scenes in it but there’s mostly just very explicit innuendo. What we do get is a little Uplift with a little To Serve Man. It’s not the greatest but it’s still a lot of fun and I like where it’s going.

[Douglas Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, but the switching between 1st person and 3rd person when changing characters became a little trying. Also a little bored with Earthlings always having an advantage over others in the universe.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok for the high level story. However some of the writing and characters are just not great. You will learn about the history of the human race and galactic civilisation along with how good one of the characters is at sex, repeatedly for no reason.

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

I made it through half of chapter one before giving up on this alpha-male chauvinist crap. I was strong competent heroes and glaring sexism prevents a hero from seeing the tools his team has to work with.

[Thorbjørn Sølver Lange · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring to the degree I fell asleep.

The promising tropes didn't lead to what I had hoped for.

[Jared McIntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it.

[Rick York · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun but Flawed

Gordon has written an intriguing and well plotted book. I have issues with his libertarian mind set, but took little away from the pleasures of reading the book.

What degraded that pleasure were the innumerable spelling, grammar and syntax errors. I'm sure none were deliberate, but this book is in dire need of proofreading and copy editing. Were those errors less common, I would have given the book a full 4 stars.

If Mr. Gordon reads this, I would be happy to help him with proofreading and light copy editing. Free

[scott stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting journey

This author needs some proofreaders, but the story is sound enough. At first I wanted to pull my hair out, it dragged horribly. I stuck it out and was mildly amused by the authors comeback. First efforts, are always a rollercoaster. My suggestion would be to work on your action storylines as well storytelling tactics. This adventure could be so much more with a little adjustment.

[Ty Strange · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice concept, intriguing, but misses on storytelling. It drags far more than I'm used to when it comes to sci-fi. At times, especially early on, it reads more like a magazine interview. The action is nice, but limited. It really seemed like a lot of talking heads sitting around discussing their plight. Perhaps because I started skimming the last 1/3 of the novel to see how the story played out explains the reason that I'm not likely to read the sequel.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book! Worth reading.