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Acid Suite #1
Transmit
Her death is just the start of her journey.
In seven hours and twenty minutes Grace Jordan will be dead. Will she have abandoned her family in vain, or is this the start of a new journey and her chance to save us all?
Transmit is a short story about an epic odyssey into the unknown.
This book can be downloaded by signing up to the authors mailing list:
http://freestory.craigleagordon.com/t...
"A thought-provoking, original and thoroughly absorbing concept... fantastic."
"It’s a page-turner. I was hooked right away when I read the first line and just breezed through. The plot unraveled at an enticing pace, I was very excited to find out what was going on. The writing is top notch, a real pleasure to read."
"For such a short story you did a great job establishing an emotional connection to the main character."
In seven hours and twenty minutes Grace Jordan will be dead. Will she have abandoned her family in vain, or is this the start of a new journey and her chance to save us all?
Transmit is a short story about an epic odyssey into the unknown.
This book can be downloaded by signing up to the authors mailing list:
http://freestory.craigleagordon.com/t...
"A thought-provoking, original and thoroughly absorbing concept... fantastic."
"It’s a page-turner. I was hooked right away when I read the first line and just breezed through. The plot unraveled at an enticing pace, I was very excited to find out what was going on. The writing is top notch, a real pleasure to read."
"For such a short story you did a great job establishing an emotional connection to the main character."
10 pages, ebook
Published May 23, 2016
2 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Craig Lea Gordon
12 books102 followersSubscribe to Craig's email list for a free copy of Hypercage, a Cyberpunk-Techno Thriller, with 4.3 stars from 33 reviews on Amazon US...
http://freestory.craigleagordon.com/h...
Craig Lea Gordon fell in love with Science Fiction at a very early age. His earliest memory is of bawling his eyes out on a Saturday morning when a shabby looking robot called Metal Mickey appeared on TV. It wasn't anything to do with the low budget production values, but instead because it had displaced Battle of the Planets, his favourite sci-fi program.
Shortly after he insisted that his parents christen their Ferguson Videostar by recording Battlestar Galactica. From the age of six, a good Christmas was defined by whether or not Star Wars was on TV. At 12 he made his Mum rent him a copy of Robocop, and he has never been the same since. Some say he has a hidden prime directive to create stories of a possible future.
http://freestory.craigleagordon.com/h...
Craig Lea Gordon fell in love with Science Fiction at a very early age. His earliest memory is of bawling his eyes out on a Saturday morning when a shabby looking robot called Metal Mickey appeared on TV. It wasn't anything to do with the low budget production values, but instead because it had displaced Battle of the Planets, his favourite sci-fi program.
Shortly after he insisted that his parents christen their Ferguson Videostar by recording Battlestar Galactica. From the age of six, a good Christmas was defined by whether or not Star Wars was on TV. At 12 he made his Mum rent him a copy of Robocop, and he has never been the same since. Some say he has a hidden prime directive to create stories of a possible future.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
June 10, 2016
Transmit is the debut story release from British sci-fi author Craig Lea Gordon and it shows a real love and understanding of the genre.
A commander prepares for a mission. As a reader we are thrown into the story and from the get-go tasked with working out just what is happening. The commander has left her family on Earth to take part in a mission of extreme importance and Gordon does a great job of fleshing out his central character.
Traditional sci-fi themes are tackled with enthusiasm and there is a pleasing emotional tone to the execution. Transmit takes in the grand and intimate scalings of the pioneering aspects of human endeavour.
This is an enjoyable mainstream sci-fi story and I look forward to more from this author.
A commander prepares for a mission. As a reader we are thrown into the story and from the get-go tasked with working out just what is happening. The commander has left her family on Earth to take part in a mission of extreme importance and Gordon does a great job of fleshing out his central character.
Traditional sci-fi themes are tackled with enthusiasm and there is a pleasing emotional tone to the execution. Transmit takes in the grand and intimate scalings of the pioneering aspects of human endeavour.
This is an enjoyable mainstream sci-fi story and I look forward to more from this author.
May 15, 2020
A lot of scientific techno-jargon which didn’t help make the book easy to read.
January 6, 2017
This is the second book I review today. Oh well, this is a short story but it counts anyway!
My rating is 4 out of 5 stars only because..... *drumroll*.... THIS IS TOO SHORT! Only 10 pages, seriously? The premise of this book is amazing!!! It deserves a better development, this needs to be a novel. Like... This could easily be the synopsis of the book (a longer one than usual, but still... You got it). So yeah. We need more pages. Please!
My rating is 4 out of 5 stars only because..... *drumroll*.... THIS IS TOO SHORT! Only 10 pages, seriously? The premise of this book is amazing!!! It deserves a better development, this needs to be a novel. Like... This could easily be the synopsis of the book (a longer one than usual, but still... You got it). So yeah. We need more pages. Please!
June 9, 2018
Very interesting short story, it almost feels like a trailer for a full length novel.
It is a sci-fi and the technical side of things is written in such a way that you can quickly grasp what is going on.
It also has a great ending that leaves you hoping for more.
Well worth checking out.
It is a sci-fi and the technical side of things is written in such a way that you can quickly grasp what is going on.
It also has a great ending that leaves you hoping for more.
Well worth checking out.
August 7, 2018
It was quite intriguing and keep you glued to the story till the end with steamy scenes and intricate challenges.
December 8, 2018
a unique and very interesting alternative story
September 17, 2016
An engaging read!
Wish there was more!!!!
Wish there was more!!!!
December 25, 2017
A lot of scientific techno jargon but underneath a lot of mystery which is eventually resolved.
October 9, 2017
Transmit is an incredibly brief short story but it’s good all the same. I decline to write a review that threatens a higher word count than the story itself and it is a challenge to say enough about it without conveying the whole plot and making people feel they needn’t read it. It’s the kind of thing where you start reading and guess it will be something that’s been done/said before but then a few new angles emerge and it becomes memorable. The science fiction aspects are:
(i) an exploration of teleporting information plus consciousness. I’m a little confused and might have to read this again but what was the body was constructed from if, presumably, the original was destroyed when its information was encoded?, or was the body reconstructed and sent there while the consciousness was in a holding pattern, which would explain the 16 years elapsed? I think there must be a machine that does the physical compiling (which happened before the subject woke up, so they didn’t know or think about it), in which case, why not send them immediately and then there wouldn’t be any lost years? Alternatively, were they dismembered and transmitted aged 34 and a conveniently younger body was supplied to them? The latter idea would not only be useful but would open up the option of immortality and leaving an old and diseased body for a clean and new one, changing gender, appearance, breast enhancement, escaping the law and all sorts of other applications. Could the same individual be re-compiled six times? The physical reality is probably that the original body and consciousness is killed and the new one is born as a copy because only the design moves in information transfer (which is still fine in this story’s context, as it’s about continuation of the species as a whole, not individuals) but dreams of immortality are dashed by the getting completely, totally killed on departure problem.
and (ii) what would humanity do if the whole species were threatened? – as, on planet Earth, all our genetic eggs are in one basket. Would we also help the species around us as, after all, we live in a co-dependent ecosystem? This is a useful issue to explore, as one of many types of extinction event could happen (think Yucatan), although this particular type of extinction is considered highly unlikely in the next 200 years (according to the near Earth object plotters). What would we do? Would we cooperate? Would our actions be fast enough? Where else could we go? The alternative cradle of humanity in this tale is not the obvious one, particularly for climatic reasons, so perhaps that’s the hook. If you want to see how the author explains the feasibility of surviving in this proposed new place, you’ll have to go and buy the next full novel in this series.
As a taster though, it’s good. The writing flows well, the ideas are there and after the last two weekends I’ve had, anything that wipes out the planet is fine by me.
(i) an exploration of teleporting information plus consciousness. I’m a little confused and might have to read this again but what was the body was constructed from if, presumably, the original was destroyed when its information was encoded?, or was the body reconstructed and sent there while the consciousness was in a holding pattern, which would explain the 16 years elapsed? I think there must be a machine that does the physical compiling (which happened before the subject woke up, so they didn’t know or think about it), in which case, why not send them immediately and then there wouldn’t be any lost years? Alternatively, were they dismembered and transmitted aged 34 and a conveniently younger body was supplied to them? The latter idea would not only be useful but would open up the option of immortality and leaving an old and diseased body for a clean and new one, changing gender, appearance, breast enhancement, escaping the law and all sorts of other applications. Could the same individual be re-compiled six times? The physical reality is probably that the original body and consciousness is killed and the new one is born as a copy because only the design moves in information transfer (which is still fine in this story’s context, as it’s about continuation of the species as a whole, not individuals) but dreams of immortality are dashed by the getting completely, totally killed on departure problem.
and (ii) what would humanity do if the whole species were threatened? – as, on planet Earth, all our genetic eggs are in one basket. Would we also help the species around us as, after all, we live in a co-dependent ecosystem? This is a useful issue to explore, as one of many types of extinction event could happen (think Yucatan), although this particular type of extinction is considered highly unlikely in the next 200 years (according to the near Earth object plotters). What would we do? Would we cooperate? Would our actions be fast enough? Where else could we go? The alternative cradle of humanity in this tale is not the obvious one, particularly for climatic reasons, so perhaps that’s the hook. If you want to see how the author explains the feasibility of surviving in this proposed new place, you’ll have to go and buy the next full novel in this series.
As a taster though, it’s good. The writing flows well, the ideas are there and after the last two weekends I’ve had, anything that wipes out the planet is fine by me.
February 15, 2019
I didn't quite understand it. The writing seemed very technical, with a lot of jargon. The medical terms seemed well researched.
On entry, I am seeing ETI: 377... Time to impact, we find out later at " the new star"
(literally, I thought this was supposed to be "a new star" entering the solar system. Not an asteroid.)
So the new star is an asteroid-
Glowing, like a comet?
Reflected light?
Is it ice or rock?
If it is "a new star", it is going to be daylight bright...
THen a discussion of multiple times, hours, heads up display time.
377 hours, 7 hours, what time it is.. last night...super confusing that there are so many time terms, and Time to Impact is abbreviated.
I tried to copy it for reference, but the popup on kindle said I was copying more than the publisher would allow.
She refers to her kids as "little horrors."
2nd point of not identifying with this protagonist.
Later she says she will miss them... so, is it a love/hate thing?
Telling about how her brain will be sliced up. She's getting a new 18 year old body... it wasn't clear.. i guess she is cloned on Mercury?
I am guessing that this is so that humanity foesn't need a space ark?
The last line... first and last? Not clear.. is she alone now? The last human alive, yet a clone?
Because earlier it said her family would go after NASA personnel.
The whole way through, I felt like I am reading a description of her life as an astronaut, very technical language.
It all feels like launch procedures, but it is her being murdered and recreated via a clone. All too easy tech. She has some physical problem, but it is easily solved.
No sense of the moral questions potentially underlying the situation.
Yet Earth is going to be blown away by a space rock in two weeks or so.
Why is she chosen? What of the rest of humanity? Nasa goes first? Why Mercury?
So she escapes, and ironically, is the sole survivor?
It felt a lot like the whole story is a thing that is going on behind the curtain of technical procedures, and happening to a woman that I really do not care about.
It's a story trick.. she will be dead in 7 hours, except, no... she will be cloned in 7 hours. Except no, planet earth will be dead in 15 days?
I feel zero attachment to her. Zero attachment to Earth, which mostly seems to be people volunteering to hold hands and watch the end, along with "AR tracking stations."
Lots of tech, not a lot of feeling, or empathy for the protagonist.
On entry, I am seeing ETI: 377... Time to impact, we find out later at " the new star"
(literally, I thought this was supposed to be "a new star" entering the solar system. Not an asteroid.)
So the new star is an asteroid-
Glowing, like a comet?
Reflected light?
Is it ice or rock?
If it is "a new star", it is going to be daylight bright...
THen a discussion of multiple times, hours, heads up display time.
377 hours, 7 hours, what time it is.. last night...super confusing that there are so many time terms, and Time to Impact is abbreviated.
I tried to copy it for reference, but the popup on kindle said I was copying more than the publisher would allow.
She refers to her kids as "little horrors."
2nd point of not identifying with this protagonist.
Later she says she will miss them... so, is it a love/hate thing?
Telling about how her brain will be sliced up. She's getting a new 18 year old body... it wasn't clear.. i guess she is cloned on Mercury?
I am guessing that this is so that humanity foesn't need a space ark?
The last line... first and last? Not clear.. is she alone now? The last human alive, yet a clone?
Because earlier it said her family would go after NASA personnel.
The whole way through, I felt like I am reading a description of her life as an astronaut, very technical language.
It all feels like launch procedures, but it is her being murdered and recreated via a clone. All too easy tech. She has some physical problem, but it is easily solved.
No sense of the moral questions potentially underlying the situation.
Yet Earth is going to be blown away by a space rock in two weeks or so.
Why is she chosen? What of the rest of humanity? Nasa goes first? Why Mercury?
So she escapes, and ironically, is the sole survivor?
It felt a lot like the whole story is a thing that is going on behind the curtain of technical procedures, and happening to a woman that I really do not care about.
It's a story trick.. she will be dead in 7 hours, except, no... she will be cloned in 7 hours. Except no, planet earth will be dead in 15 days?
I feel zero attachment to her. Zero attachment to Earth, which mostly seems to be people volunteering to hold hands and watch the end, along with "AR tracking stations."
Lots of tech, not a lot of feeling, or empathy for the protagonist.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 18, 2017
My first exposure to Craig Lea Gordon was via Hypercage, another short story. My partner was talking to me and I didn't hear a word she was saying as I was absorbed in reading about a guy who was so absorbed in a game he was ignoring his wife. So it goes, Anyway I had to reread it immediately as it left me slightly feverish, in a good way. That's the great thing about a brilliant short story, like a gem you can roll it around and get different perspectives, and maintain the marvel without having to invest a huge amount of your precious time.
Transmit actually took three reads, due in part to the timeline it was written along, but also the depth and breadth of information. It's not a difficult read, I got the premise straight away, but it deserved more of my attention. It deserves yours too:-)
Transmit actually took three reads, due in part to the timeline it was written along, but also the depth and breadth of information. It's not a difficult read, I got the premise straight away, but it deserved more of my attention. It deserves yours too:-)
June 19, 2017
I don’t give reviews like all the others, for if you want to read what the book is about, read the 1st few chapters.
Don’t really care about grammar or syntax or stuff like that for your brain misses half of that in any event, filling in the blanks automatically. However, it does help if a "typo and grammar dictator" give it a once over. :-)
The stars given, on the other hand, gives a better idea for it is per individual, not like movie reviews where one individual / or a few, rates a movie really bad yet the masses love it.
For me it is all about the feelings / ideas / fantasies / "living it" a book gives you, when you “get” into the story, it having grabbing your attention. THOSE are the best books in my opinion. The deserve the STARS.
This book grabbed my attention. Wish there was more. :-)
Don’t really care about grammar or syntax or stuff like that for your brain misses half of that in any event, filling in the blanks automatically. However, it does help if a "typo and grammar dictator" give it a once over. :-)
The stars given, on the other hand, gives a better idea for it is per individual, not like movie reviews where one individual / or a few, rates a movie really bad yet the masses love it.
For me it is all about the feelings / ideas / fantasies / "living it" a book gives you, when you “get” into the story, it having grabbing your attention. THOSE are the best books in my opinion. The deserve the STARS.
This book grabbed my attention. Wish there was more. :-)
December 21, 2017
Commander Grace Jordan has volunteered to be a new sort of astronaut-- she'll be transported from Earth to a colony planet electronically. But this is primitive transporter tech-- nothing like Star Trek. In this case the person to be transported is microsectioned at the transmitter and rebuilt (think 3D printer on an atomic scale, or something like that) by the receiver. Join Grace as she submits to the procedure, not knowing whether she'll wake up at the other end or not, and find out why it was being done.
A lot of ideas are packed into a few pages in this short story. As many here have said, it would be an interesting basis for a longer work. The story is now in good shape from a reading standpoint, proofed and edited well. It's quite engrossing for the few minutes it takes to read it.
A lot of ideas are packed into a few pages in this short story. As many here have said, it would be an interesting basis for a longer work. The story is now in good shape from a reading standpoint, proofed and edited well. It's quite engrossing for the few minutes it takes to read it.
September 30, 2018
This is not a full-length novel or even a novelette. This is a short story. I gave it a 5 because it was awesome. It read well and the story was captivating and even though it is a short story, I happen to love short stories, by the way, it is a full-complete story. While it could be a prequel to a future story for the commander, it does not have to be. Further, it was longer than 10 pages although it is difficult to tell on my iPhone since it shows 179 pages (but you have to subtract the author's notes and other non-story beginnings and endings. But really, if you pick this up and read it like it is, a short story and don't expect anything that was not promised to you, you will love this story.
I received this book as a freebie on a short-story giveaway but I am voluntarily providing my honest review.
I received this book as a freebie on a short-story giveaway but I am voluntarily providing my honest review.
January 9, 2018
I loved this story. It was very short, so I felt really badly for not having read it sooner and for not having posted a review sooner. This story reminds me so very much of the earlier works I used to read by Clarke and Asimov and other older works of speculative fiction that made me love the genre in the first place. I connected with the character from whose point of view the story is told. I understood some of the science, but I also learned some science from the story. It felt like it was taking place in the future, which greatly delighted me. It is worth a second read because it has nuances that will hit me when I am in a different mood. This is a truly solid piece of work and Mr. Gordon has a furture in the genre!
October 27, 2018
This was a short and poigniant story but was a really great read. It was sadly only a brief look into a new beginning and a tragic colossal ending in the life of the main character Grace Jordan. To be the first to transmit to a new world, how exciting. I felt for her as she said goodbye to her family to head into an uncertain future, possibly to never see them again.
The level of detail in this book was very good and it made the story far more realistic and believable. The imagery it painted was great, I could totally see things happening in Grace's world in my minds eye as I read along.
I would very much like to read more about Grace Jordan. This taste of this authors talents has shown me that he is a really good writer and I will be looking to read more of his works.
The level of detail in this book was very good and it made the story far more realistic and believable. The imagery it painted was great, I could totally see things happening in Grace's world in my minds eye as I read along.
I would very much like to read more about Grace Jordan. This taste of this authors talents has shown me that he is a really good writer and I will be looking to read more of his works.
February 3, 2019
"Hat. Chair. Chicago."
Short stories are notoriously difficult to get right: to provide enough body to keep the reader invested in the story yet still bring it to a fulfilling conclusion. And this short - very short - story does all of that. From the first sentence that Grace Jordan will die in just over seven hours to the dramatic conclusion, the reader is taken on a journey of hope, expectation and fears.
It left this reader forgetful that the story had been only a few pages in length, satisfied, yet still wanting more.
Good character building, visual impact and excellent S.F. Definitely recommended.
Short stories are notoriously difficult to get right: to provide enough body to keep the reader invested in the story yet still bring it to a fulfilling conclusion. And this short - very short - story does all of that. From the first sentence that Grace Jordan will die in just over seven hours to the dramatic conclusion, the reader is taken on a journey of hope, expectation and fears.
It left this reader forgetful that the story had been only a few pages in length, satisfied, yet still wanting more.
Good character building, visual impact and excellent S.F. Definitely recommended.
July 27, 2018
Craig Lea Gordon has taken the "doomed planet" SF trope to an aching yet hopeful place with this short story. Told from the point of view of one woman/virtual astronaut/colonist, the story of the end of Earth and the beginning of humanity as a space-colonizing species is framed perfectly by her personal hopes and fears, as well as her iron-willed discipline and sense of the historic. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review: Five future-oriented stars.
December 20, 2018
Review of Transmit by Craig Lea Gordon
Electronically move a live person from earth to mars and make her younger. 3 stars
When someone seems to volunteer to be the first human to be disassembled in one place and sent to another, I perked up.
The author makes sure that you are not clear why there is a first of a kind or where this is going. But the mini-book ends too early with more unanswered questions than answers.
It is more a teaser of what could have been the introduction to a longer story or a space opera.
Well written but disappointingly short.
Electronically move a live person from earth to mars and make her younger. 3 stars
When someone seems to volunteer to be the first human to be disassembled in one place and sent to another, I perked up.
The author makes sure that you are not clear why there is a first of a kind or where this is going. But the mini-book ends too early with more unanswered questions than answers.
It is more a teaser of what could have been the introduction to a longer story or a space opera.
Well written but disappointingly short.
November 9, 2017
This was an exciting story. It was about a woman who was killed and then later revived when she was sent on a journey to Mercury. It was expected she would be the first person of a colony that was to be established there. It ended not as I expected. The writer had you feeling like you were there with her as she was prepared for the journey and then sent on to Mercury. I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a short story.
September 16, 2018
The self-described new author has penned a very descriptive tale on at least three levels. First he pulls the reader into the heartrending inevitability of an impending tragedy, as the days and hours count down. Next there is the personal loss to the Commander as she faces separation from her family and third the possibility of new life after the tragedy as the scientific experiment proceeds. All in all a sterling beginning and a must read.
July 7, 2017
What an interesting and catchy way to grab the reader's attention right off the bat. Loved the story line but am definitely hoping Mr. Gordon develops the premise into at least a novella, as the short story was way tooooo short, even though it told what needed to be told to develop and hold the suspense. This is a voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy of the story.
May 31, 2018
This is a great short story and a wonderful idea for a full length novel. Either the story itself could be expanded, or it could follow on from the story here. Even a series of books could be envisioned! But this is a nice little sci-fi teaser to start off with!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
June 27, 2017
A short story that only gradually reveals what it is about. Thought-provoking - and I definitely belong to the camp that wants to hear more from/about Grace and her venture into the unknown. An excellent introduction to this writer.
July 20, 2017
A great short story, depicting a fascinating and dramatic scenario as it plays out, from an enigmatic start through an emotional rollercoaster as seen through the protagonist's eyes.
Definitely worth a read - looking forward to seeing more from this author!
Definitely worth a read - looking forward to seeing more from this author!
August 6, 2017
From the first few lines the reader is intrigued, a story that gallops from start to finish leaving you wanting more and to know ' what next'.
I hope that Craig revisits this story and makes it into a full novel or carries on from where it left off.
A prequel coud also be a great read .
I hope that Craig revisits this story and makes it into a full novel or carries on from where it left off.
A prequel coud also be a great read .
September 4, 2017
I'd like to see this story in a movie; love disaster movies. But it also shows the possibilities of way-out-there technology that intrigues the mind. Will humanity ever achieve this type of technology; are the scientists already working on it?
March 14, 2017
great little quick read!!!
June 18, 2017
A fast read with a very interesting premise. I'll definitely be interested if more is done with the storyline.
September 3, 2017
This is a short well written book. I am not a great fan of scifi, but this was absorbing. It made me think and brought in larger, more universal issues. I would recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews