AES: Gamers and Gods I

by Matthew Kennedy

A demigod fights for Earth's freedom -- in the mind of a computer -- as two pantheons fight for the right to guide the future of humans. But can Asklepios -- Homer's "Blameless Physician" -- defeat the The Devourer of Millions? AES is the story of a man who wakes up after 3,000 years to find himself thrust into a fight for the independence of Earth from the control of alien superbeings. His battle is real and the stakes are real, but he will fight in a simulated battlefield -- in the memory of an online gaming computer. He is as real as his comrades, but while they have real-world bodies, his self-driven avatar is all he has -- an incarnation as living software. For the mortals who log in to help him, the prize is freedom from the aliens who want to control humanity's development to further their own power. For Aes himself, the reward for success is his own apotheosis -- the right to dwell with the superbeings of Olympus. His only chance is the help of Darla Kaplan and her gamer friends. In this struggle for the freedom of mankind, the most powerful weapon of all may be the love of a woman for a man who is only a ghost in the machine.

Genres: Amazon

390 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 28, 2014

About the author

Matthew Kennedy co-invented the hypercube loudspeaker (US patent 4,231,446 11/4/1980) on the way to earning his BS Physics in 1981. After physics graduate school he pursued a career of teaching and doing software development. His work in Active Server Pages has served Sylvan Learning Systems and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Reviews

[Debbie Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!

Even though I am not a gamer, I was totally engrossed in this book. Two different alien species that we believe to be mythological gods are competing for control of humans. Their battlefield is inside the virtual reality of a hypercomputer game some twenty years in the future.

[Wendy Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best books don't just tell a story - they grip you right at the start, carry you along,  teach you something along the way and leave you wanting more. AES, the first in Matthew Kennedy's Gamers and Gods trilogy, does all of these and more. In this installation, Kennedy introduces characters from the near future and the distant past and then mixes them together in an intriguing adventure that wouldn't let me put it down. This world is fantasy to some while reality to others and both are true in ways that prove to be believable, exciting and ultimately frightening.  The story draws on the deep textures of ancient mythology and the fast-paced realms of online gaming to craft an adventure that moves quickly from chapter to chapter, climaxing with anending that doesn't disappoint. If you're new to either of these, you'll enjoy learning as the story unfolds.  I'm glad that I won't have to wait to read the next two books - they're both available now and I've started the second already.

[David Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and I'm already reading the 2nd in the series.