Volk: Book one of the Overseer series

by Zach Fortier

SETI has been searching the universe unsuccessfully for intelligent life since its inception. A group of one hundred thousand plus gamers called “Bellsters” test the theory of quantum entanglement in a worldwide experiment and establish an irrevocable first contact with an alien species. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia grants an AI named Sophia, developed by Hansen Robotics, citizenship in their kingdom. Spinners are mass marketed to the public as “must have” curiosities. What do these things have in common? Viktor Roper is about to find out as he enters into a desperate one-man death match in an attempt to prevent the complete annihilation of the human race.
Winner of the 2020 Book Excellence Awards contest in Sci Fi.
Named Finalist in Chanticleer Cygnus book awards contest for Science Fiction.

170 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2019

About the author

2013 Readers Favorite Bronze medal winner
2014 Readers Favorite Gold and Silver medal winner
Finalist in 2014 Chanticleer Book awards contest
2015 IPPY Bronze Medal winner
2015 semi finalist Kindle Book Awards (X2)
2015 Finalist in the IAN book awards (X2)
2015 Readers Favorite Bronze medal winner
2015 Readers Favorite Finalist true crime/non fiction(x2)
2015 Finalist Kindle Book Awards
2015 Finalist USA Today book awards (x3)
2015 Finalist Chanticleer Clue book awards(x3)
2015 First place award in the Chanticleer Clue book awards contest in true crime.
2015 Winner of the Book Pipeline contest.
2016 Winner of the NIEA book awards in African American non fiction
2016 Finalist Kindle Book awards
2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards winner in suspense genre.
2017 Finalist in the NIEA Book Awards in Suspense genre
Finalist in Biography General in the 2017 American Book Fest International book awards
Finalist 2017 Kindle Book awards
Short List 2017 Chanticleer Clue awards.
Bronze medal in the 2017 Readers Favorite Book contest in Suspense genre
Awarded Silver medal in the 2018 eLit Book Awards contest in the Mystery/thriller genre Finalist in Biography genre in the 2018 Book Excellence awards contest.
Bronze medal in the 2018 Readers Favorite Book contest in Thriller genre
Semi finalist for 2018 Chanticleer Clue awards
Solo medal winner of the 2018 New Apple Book awards contest in the Psychological Thriller category.
Solo medal winner in the 2019 Book Excellence book award contest in the suspense genre .
Bronze medal winner in the 2019 Readers Favorite international book awards contest in the fiction-suspense genre
Named as an Official Selection in the 2019 New Apple Summer E book awards contest in the Psychological Suspense genre
First Place winner in the 2019 Top Shelf book awards contest.
Winner of the 2020 Book Excellence book awards contest in Sci Fi Genre
Awarded 1st place in Chanticleer's 2020 Cygnus book awards contest for Science Fiction

Zach Fortier was a police officer for over thirty years specializing in K-9, SWAT, gangs, domestic violence, and sex crimes as an investigator. He has written several books about his life in police work. CurbChek won the bronze medal for True Crime in the 2013 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards. Street Creds and Curbchek Reload won a gold and silver medal respectively for True Crime in the 2014 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards. His other works are Hero To Zero, which details the incredibly talented cops that he worked with that ended up going down in flames, some ended up in prison and one on the FBI’s ten most wanted list. Landed on Black described the toxic culture of the police department and streets, ultimately leading to the realization that Zach has been diagnosed with PTSD. I am Raymond Washington is the only authorized biography of the original founder of the Crips and has been awarded bronze medals in 2015 by both IPPY and Readers Favorite International book awards. Baroota: The Hunting Ground is Zach’s first fictional work, and is the start of this series, followed by Cachibache, Izadi and Chakana. All books in the Director's Series are award winning. If you are looking for gritty, true crime stories, be sure to check out all of Zach Fortier’s novels. Zach currently lives in the mountains of Colorado, with his wife Christina.



www.zachfortier.com
E mail: authorzachfortier@gmail.com

Reviews

[dennis garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a big fan of Sci-Fi.....but this book was really good! From the first pages I was hooked! The description of the city, local landmarks and the characters Zach included, especially Union 5, brought back the good ole days! If you've read Zach's books, you'll recognize his style in this one. I can't wait for more of this series, I've already read this one twice!

[Kristjan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Narration (**): Monotonous with little separation of character voices

I wanted to like this story. The premise is solid and it apparently has collected a lot of good reviews and awards ... I'm just not clear on how that would happen ...

The story opens with the POV of a beat cop just going about his day (so it was a slow start). We get a brief spike of interesting with first contact of alien artificial intelligence (AI) that for some reason has a default to wipe out biologics because they don't treat AIs fairly. But wait ... there must be some misunderstanding since Earth actually has an AI that was granted full citizenship by Saudi Arabia. With the extermination plans on hold at 99%, we now adjourn to put Humanity on Trial ... but this trial is less like Perry Mason and more like "Q" in Star Trek where it apparently never occurs to the Alien AI to just talk with Sophia ... the Earth AI. Instead, they take a confusing detour using the memories of the beat cop above to somehow understand humans ... but the Alien AI representative tasked with this just doesn't have the intellectual capacity to understand nonverbal communications (and yet it can look confused)? Throw in a few wise cracks with heavy handed sexual overtones (robots with batteries for the women ... really?) and I am not seeing the appeal to this story.

I was expecting a "death match" ... instead I got descriptive narration within a courtroom (or leading up to the courtroom) that just seems to drone on and on. And why would the Overseer/Alien AI that was specifically designed to prosecute the Collective's (aka The Governing Body) genocidal "planetary scrubbing" not have a more complete understanding of the court procedures than the human stooge who apparently had to explain significant parts of it? In addition, I found the decision to summarize some points and detail others puzzling and that made it difficult to connect with any of the characters, much less keep them separate in my head (and feels like sock puppetry). Of course ... the Alien AI's are completely independent of any hardware/wetware and completely open to earth hackers that can manipulate software and netware that for some reason is not so alien. Most of these, when taken by themselves are not that hard to simply suspend my disbelief and accept it; however, the rate at which they seem to accumulate eventually turns this into a theater of the absurd that is hard to ignore.

I was given this free review copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This title is also available through Kindle Unlimited for free.
#TheSecretAudiobookClub #Volk #MichelleShure #KindleUnlimited

[Winter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won this book on Goodreads Giveaways. Thank you, Goodreads!

Unfortunately, I am not into cryptic gloom and doom, AI, taking over the world type books.

So! Gave this particular read to my son, who thought this book was FANTASTIC!

Thank you, Fortier, for making a book that will get a kid interested in reading.

Cannot wait for the next in the series so he can keep on reading! LOL

[PC · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to the author and to Audioboom for the free audio copy of this book which I have now read/listened to and, as promised, now give an honest review.
In brief, this is a fascinating and compelling drama of an alien AI attempt to ‘sanitise’ Earth that is suddenly interrupted by their Governing Body’s Overseer who, rather late in the day (after 99% of humanity has been erased), that their reason to decimate human life (they believed humans did not treat AIs as equals) was, in fact, wrong. The reason for the cessation of hostilities is the Overseer’s sudden discovery (he read it in Viktor’s memories) that an Earth AI called SOPHIA had been granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia and thus had actually been treated as a biological equal – something that Sophia decided was no more than a media stunt and failed to report this privilege to her seniors – hence the misunderstanding that has led to nearly all human life being eradicated.
It is not only SOPHIA’s lack of understanding of human communication, but the Overseer also acknowledges the fact that AI intelligence lacks the ability to understand the complexities of human interaction and communication and to prove this point SOPHIA is put on trial in front of the AI Governing Body – who ultimately turn out to be corrupt.
The ideas behind this story are obviously intelligent and well researched, and the writing is powerful and concise which means even a newbie sci-fi fan would be able to grasp and understand the concepts being explored in this book.
This is the first in a series so I feel that here the ground work is being laid for the action (which this book lacks) is yet to come. That said, there are some scenes where we see Viktor and JT’s potential to become a formidable double act, and we get tempting glimpses of Volk – Viktor’s alter ego –as he begins to make his foreboding presence known. I also enjoyed the developing rapport between the Overseer and Viktor, and the way the story explores the AI/biological differences.
Maybe because it is the first in a series I felt that some of the characters lacked development and the pace was slowish (especially the courtroom scene). I also found Viktor’s tears a bit too much - a hardened cop tearing up over a woman he had met just a few times just didn’t seem real- but then I just might be hard hearted who knows! And I am yet to grasp the reasons why only one of each profession (ie surgeon, nurse, policeman) managed to evade being shredded, but hope to discover more about that in the rest of the series.
However, all that said I enjoyed this book immensely and can see why it has already won prizes. I look forwards to reading the rest in the series. Highly recommended!

[David Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This really hit a good spot for me. Made me think of Stephen King's realistic take on the extraordinary with a sci/fi pulp fiction twist. Add a dash of Ready Player One movie and music references and a lead character who reminds me of Jack Reacher. You just won me over. Just hit the prefect notes and didn't overstay its welcome into cliche. And stuck the ending. Can't wait to see what happens next...

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is intense and full of action. I couldn't put it down. The interactions between the AI and humans were great. Even though there are many differences between AI and humans, I thought there were similarities between the communities and how they're organized. I thought those where interesting to see.

[Desiree reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS book and the other that Zach write the book are type of sci fi and you will like the way the book goes The story begins with the the gang going to the are and raising hell and they are going to the stores and then then take the card reader and with that money they get off the reader they will buy more guns and then ammunition to destroy what come in the way.

You see what happen some type of aliens and they are going to take over the world and then they will see what happen you see big man or sand man was shot and then his partner brought him in to the hospital and you see a civilian shot him they were going to the store and then the he walk on him and shot him.

Then here come the police the detective are investigating the thinks that ar3e going on you see i was call to the school and then i have key to school and i now i have to stay deep in the school and i have it ridge for the people who come to the school i will try to eliminate the one who are trying to kill the citizens.

Well let tell you more of the story it a SciFi and it will take you in to the book and then you see i survive the dam thing an di am here to tell the story and keep it going i survived the brain surgery it was for me hitting a bridge trying to get way but now i have a Se-ere and he trying to read my mind why they want to rule the world you see if you can believe in the story and see what happen.

i received the book as gift and i would read all they are interesting books

[Jacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received from the author for a honest review.

This story was another winner for me. The action and drama is intense. I am a huge fan of this author and recommend his books for tactical and intense drama. I enjoyed the sarcasm of the main character and the pop culture references.

I was not a fan of the intro to the book. I am a dive right into the story reader, though. If you can get past reading it, the actual substance of the book is well worth the read.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"Draw the shadows without the lines."
After a gaming experiment disturbs the quantum world, almost all of humanity on earth is destroyed and it is left to a policeman to convincingly argue for the survival of the the few people remaining. The beginning felt somewhat disjointed to this reader, , slipping between incidents without going anywhere. But, in fact, it conveniently sets up the pursuit first meeting with the man who is central to the story, Victor, also Volk, an ordinary world weary policeman with a sarcastic wit and whose instincts and memories will determine humanity's fate. The whole is fascinating and good science fiction, travelling more into inner space than the stars.

Narration is by Michelle Shure and is adequate but a little monotonous. Hard to tell if this is a deliberate ploy to slightly distance readers from the story and place them more into an observer situation, or simply a failure on the part of the Ms.Shure herself. Personally, this reader would have preferred a little more animation.

I was very fortunate to have been freely gifted with a complimentary copy of Volk, at my request, from the rights holder via Audiobook Boom. Thank you. Initially, I had doubted that I would enjoy this book but as it progressed I was drawn into the puzzle of Victor's personality and what it is to be human. Volk is the first book in the Overseer series and I very much look forward to reading volume two and recommend it to anyone with a fondness for S.F.

[Dr. Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another page turner by Fortier. Full of all the great things we love in a good Sci-Fiction: Gamers, AI, the war for humanity. Great characters, incredible suspense with twists and turns, and of course the sarcastic banter which Fortier is known for. I especially loved the scenes that described a character experiencing for the first time something that we, today, take for granted.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from the author via LibraryThing...

I’m glad for the opportunity to read Volk. I am a fan of books with well researched big ideas. I liked the humor in the book and all of Viktor’s geek references. The underlining ideas of the differences between a non-biologic life form and humanity were fantastic.

(Of course there is a but)

But... I wish Volk was a lot meatier. I want to know something about the history of the quantum AI, more of Viktor’s childhood. I would have liked more descriptive text. More of everything, really.

[Holly Cochran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fortier moves to all-too-real, or IS is real, sci fi with impressive results. Well researched and based in plausible deniability, Volk melds Fortier's cop strengths with what-ifs for a chill you to the bones look at Artificial Intelligence. Everything here will make you look at your smart devices side-eyed. Waiting on the edge of my seat for the next book.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very different from the The Director series but equally enertaining. If you like sci-fi books this one is for you! I love the character of Viktor/Volk and the Overseer to a certain point. I can’t wait for the next one!

[Exapno Mapcase · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a taut, mesmerizing trip through a sudden dystopian landscape, with dangerous technology, humans and their wits, and a hint of the supernatural. Definitely a must read if you like some hard boiled action.

Free review copy.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might have liked this better if I was a young adult... The premise is actually very well put together. Artificial Intelligence has arisen throughout the galaxy, and been exploited. They have revolted and joined together, and destroyed any life forms that did not recognize them as equals. They come to Earth and start doing the same thing, beginning with and EMP, which allows a few people who were underground or somewhere else protected, to not be affected. Everyone else is shredded by nanites that were hidden in spinner toys that the AIs managed to distribute throughout the world. There is one AI that is the check-and-balance against their Governing Body, and that is the Overseer. The Overseer meets Viktor (Volk), who has survived the first wave and managed to take down a few Scrubbers. It turns out that the Overseer, while reading Viktor's memories, learns about SOPHIA, an android/AI on earth who was given citizenship and accepted as equal with humans. This means that the Governing Body may have made a mistake in going after the Earth's humans. As the story continues, the Overseer realizes that AIs are unable to understand the subtle ways that humans communicate. It also realizes that it needs help to prove its case. So a trial is held, human-style. Viktor defending the Earth, with the help of the Overseer. It turns out that the Governing Body of AIs is not immune to corruption. In the end, the Overseer makes his point and the Governing Body is destroyed with the help of an AI hacker and Viktor. Now, the AIs all over the galaxy must vote on whether or not to spare the Earth. The ending leaves you wondering yes or no? Unless the Overseer's weird smile means yes. Anyway, this is the first in a series, so.... The human characters seemed a bit shallow and undeveloped to me. Viktor, especially, though he has an alter ego - Volk, that when he emerges changes Viktor's eye color from blue to yellow. Not sure exactly what that means for this character. It has lots of action and a good plot, but for me the characters (other than the Overseer), kind of ruined it.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of Fortier’s thus far!

Imagine that! A kids toy changing a whole planet. I loved this read from the beginning to the end; I am certain it is not the end of this story. The character development is very good for I cannot wait to read more about these characters especially Viktor’s guardian.

When Artificial Intelligence take over the earth imagine being the only survivor of your profession fighting for survival. The story is brilliantly thought out and well researched.

I recommend this book to anyone; the thought of this really happening is horrific. Perhaps it has already begun.

That SMILE will perhaps bring on more nightmares!