Synthesis Alpha

by Tim Arthur

Not all machine rebellions are programming gone wrong. Synthesis Alpha tells the story of AI like it's never been told before.In the year 2246, Robert Rellis creates ferrankind, a new race of intelligent machines to live alongside man as equals. He designed them to be a mirror to humans, a way to show people that life can be achieved with nothing but wiring and code, and that it is not as special as we think. His ferrans exist to teach us the truth about ourselves, he says, and to lead us to a new age of enlightenment bereft of souls, spirits, and mysticism.But when a car bomb takes his life, and a suit called Frank Harris takes over Rellis Industries, things take a turn for the worse. Ferrans are relegated to servitude, becoming a slave class of synthetic workers to engineer man's first real steps into the colonisation of space. When several decades later a ferran called Virtue ignites a global rebellion as a response to his people's mistreatment, it seems that the machines have risen up, and that the story told a thousand times in a thousand cautionary tales has at last become a reality.But as the conflict rages on, there are those ferrans who reject the path of violence. And there are those humans who see the war's predictability as writing on the wall. What if the 'machines' are not the enemy after all, and there is an invisible current steering mankind into an early grave, the same one that was responsible for the death of Rellis, and the rise to power of his successor?When fighters from both sides of the conflict come together to unearth the truth, they learn that when Virtue sparked the uprising, he knew something no one else did.He knew that the stronger mankind grows, the more likely the universe is to die.Synthesis Alpha is an action-packed sci-fi adventure with a philosophical edge, that takes the reader from the shores of Panama to the dense urban jungles of Shanghai, and the soaring peaks of the Siberian Altai. If you enjoy the explosive spectacle of Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, or the scale and scope of Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, Synthesis is a must-read.

394 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

Born and raised in the Netherlands, and very much happy in his quirky little country, Tim Arthur has nevertheless always had a great appreciation for English-language fiction, specifically science fiction and fantasy. As a child, his head was always stuck in alternate realities instead of the actual one, which is a trait he carried over effortlessly into his adult life.

Besides writing scifi from a passion born from the genre, Tim is an avid futurist and AI supporter, a transhumanist at heart, and passionate about the way science and technology are transforming 21st century civilisation.

When he's not writing he's either out on lengthy bike tours, having a beer with his friends while playing Xbox, or studying philosophy and history.