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Seed
What kind of person does it take to build a civilization from the ground up? In this fun, hard science fiction novel, astronaut Nick Burke will have to learn how to be a leader if he wants humanity to survive on a new planet…even if he is no longer a human himself.
Nick Burke dreams of successfully creating the first sustainable space colony in human history. After a third failed mission on Mars, Nick returns to Earth heartbroken. But during the trip home he has an epiphany caused by a near-death experience on how to truly accomplish his dream. Nick launches a billionaire funded startup company that solves the interstellar travel problem. Transporting people in a spaceship without any people aboard. After Nick lands on his new, distant planet, he has to combat his greatest trials yet including raising children and goats while becoming a colony building survivalist. Fans of Andy Weir’s The Martian and Dennis E. Taylor’s We Are Legion (We Are Bob) will find familiar themes of innovative science fiction ideas with plenty of humor and pop-culture.
Nick Burke dreams of successfully creating the first sustainable space colony in human history. After a third failed mission on Mars, Nick returns to Earth heartbroken. But during the trip home he has an epiphany caused by a near-death experience on how to truly accomplish his dream. Nick launches a billionaire funded startup company that solves the interstellar travel problem. Transporting people in a spaceship without any people aboard. After Nick lands on his new, distant planet, he has to combat his greatest trials yet including raising children and goats while becoming a colony building survivalist. Fans of Andy Weir’s The Martian and Dennis E. Taylor’s We Are Legion (We Are Bob) will find familiar themes of innovative science fiction ideas with plenty of humor and pop-culture.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 21, 2020
71 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Matthew G. Dick
1 book20 followersMatthew G. Dick is an engineering professional working at a transportation technology company based in the Washington D.C. area. He has been lucky to have been involved in cutting edge, real-life technology implementations and leading amazing teams over his engineering career. He has been a long time science fiction fan with some of his favorite authors being Phillip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, and Stanislaw Lem. He is also influenced by philosophers such as Camus and Sarte to aid in solving engineering problems. Lastly he is always looking to grow as a leader and build great organizations.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
August 19, 2021
The concept for this story is certainly interesting but the execution leaves quite a bit to be desired. By the end of the book, it had turned into barely more than a civil engineering textbook with group project scenarios for about a middle school level reader. To the point where the main character actually makes this new society come up with what amounts to a corporate vision statement. The dialogue was painfully basic and character motivations and reactions were odd and sometimes quite extreme (“We will never forgive you!”).
The author’s note at the end posed a few questions that will be addressed in the sequel but they were far from the only questions I was left with after finishing the book.
SPOILERS
One of the more egregious gaps has to do with the planning stage of this mission. There is absolutely no information about it at all. We skip all the months (years?) between Nick’s digital clone waking up for the first time until the launch date. How did they pick the planet they plan to seed? Why does it take 3,000 years to get there? Why were all of Organic Nick’s requirements ignored (ship size, number of embryos, etc)? And why wasn’t Organic Nick at the launch? He just flaked on the whole project? Did Jerry kill him?
Then we skip the entire trip to the planet (except for a flyby of Saturn).
When they land, the only tools Nick has are a shovel and a sword and there are zero raw materials or medicines on board. They couldn’t include a pickaxe or maybe a saw? He has to manufacture every single thing from scratch so, phew, it’s a good thing they have literally all the materials they need on this very convenient planet. Including the ingredients to make iodine. I mention that because the author mentioned it. I’m not a chemist but apparently the necessary materials are difficult to find? But Our Hero found them! Yay!
From here until the end it’s a guide to shitty childrearing and how to manufacture building materials. Oh and rock bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The music references were tiresome and the GenX pop culture references were just kind of odd. Nick’s dad “was a kid when Tom Petty died” so why he and his son are so attached to 80s movies and music is a mystery.
After the first few kids are born, we skip ahead 3 years so we don’t have to figure out how this giant robot (who hilariously wondered to himself “you burp babies after feeding them, right?”) dealt with actual infants. But once they’re old enough to run around, how does Nick solve this problem? By building a fenced in yard with maybe some playground equipment? Nope. By tying them to heavy rocks. But it’s funny, right? Because he calls them pet rocks. Later, he berates a 10 year old for leaving the gate to the goat pen open, leading to the gruesome death of Nick’s favorite goat. The death is gruesome because apparently Nick has not a single method for painlessly euthanizing an injured animal so he cuts his throat with the sword.
I cannot imagine why the billionaires and scientists allowed their embryos to take this trip.
I don’t think I realized how much this book bothered me until I started writing this out so I’ll stop here. Based on other reviews, a lot of people seemed to really enjoy this book and that’s great so if anyone reads this far and still wants to read the book, go for it and I wish you well. I can certainly see the influences of Andy Weir, Dennis E. Taylor, and Ernest Cline, but I’m not seeing the hard science or the heartfelt character development of those stories. I didn’t especially like any of the characters in this book because none of them have anything approaching normal human personalities.
Side note to author: Not all women want to have babies. Amy wants to leave Mars to have children. Emma can’t wait to name her sons after the founding members of Pink Floyd. Just stop.
The author’s note at the end posed a few questions that will be addressed in the sequel but they were far from the only questions I was left with after finishing the book.
SPOILERS
One of the more egregious gaps has to do with the planning stage of this mission. There is absolutely no information about it at all. We skip all the months (years?) between Nick’s digital clone waking up for the first time until the launch date. How did they pick the planet they plan to seed? Why does it take 3,000 years to get there? Why were all of Organic Nick’s requirements ignored (ship size, number of embryos, etc)? And why wasn’t Organic Nick at the launch? He just flaked on the whole project? Did Jerry kill him?
Then we skip the entire trip to the planet (except for a flyby of Saturn).
When they land, the only tools Nick has are a shovel and a sword and there are zero raw materials or medicines on board. They couldn’t include a pickaxe or maybe a saw? He has to manufacture every single thing from scratch so, phew, it’s a good thing they have literally all the materials they need on this very convenient planet. Including the ingredients to make iodine. I mention that because the author mentioned it. I’m not a chemist but apparently the necessary materials are difficult to find? But Our Hero found them! Yay!
From here until the end it’s a guide to shitty childrearing and how to manufacture building materials. Oh and rock bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The music references were tiresome and the GenX pop culture references were just kind of odd. Nick’s dad “was a kid when Tom Petty died” so why he and his son are so attached to 80s movies and music is a mystery.
After the first few kids are born, we skip ahead 3 years so we don’t have to figure out how this giant robot (who hilariously wondered to himself “you burp babies after feeding them, right?”) dealt with actual infants. But once they’re old enough to run around, how does Nick solve this problem? By building a fenced in yard with maybe some playground equipment? Nope. By tying them to heavy rocks. But it’s funny, right? Because he calls them pet rocks. Later, he berates a 10 year old for leaving the gate to the goat pen open, leading to the gruesome death of Nick’s favorite goat. The death is gruesome because apparently Nick has not a single method for painlessly euthanizing an injured animal so he cuts his throat with the sword.
I cannot imagine why the billionaires and scientists allowed their embryos to take this trip.
I don’t think I realized how much this book bothered me until I started writing this out so I’ll stop here. Based on other reviews, a lot of people seemed to really enjoy this book and that’s great so if anyone reads this far and still wants to read the book, go for it and I wish you well. I can certainly see the influences of Andy Weir, Dennis E. Taylor, and Ernest Cline, but I’m not seeing the hard science or the heartfelt character development of those stories. I didn’t especially like any of the characters in this book because none of them have anything approaching normal human personalities.
Side note to author: Not all women want to have babies. Amy wants to leave Mars to have children. Emma can’t wait to name her sons after the founding members of Pink Floyd. Just stop.
October 8, 2020
I was in the middle of the Dune trilogy when I took a ‘break’ to read this book. I found it by coincidence and was excited to read a sci-fi book written by an engineer, being one myself.
I must have been in the mood for it, because I devoured it. Or maybe it’s the fact that I was projecting myself as the author given that I’ve had similar writing ideas as him, mainly space travel using incubators and seeds. I personally found interesting how a big part of the book focuses on the ‘how-to’ of planet colonization; and the troubleshooting. This is a style of writing I’ve never experienced before and I liked it. At the same time, I can see how certain people might dislike it.
I can’t say that this book is a great book. The characters development is shallow, the intrigue is not based on the characters, but on the actions. What is the next step that he should do to succeed? That is what I was looking for when reading this book.
But what I can say is that is it a good book. The science behind it interested me. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to think about the how of things. Tailored to engineers it seems. I’m curious where the sequel will take us! Maybe the focus will change with experience of the author.
I must have been in the mood for it, because I devoured it. Or maybe it’s the fact that I was projecting myself as the author given that I’ve had similar writing ideas as him, mainly space travel using incubators and seeds. I personally found interesting how a big part of the book focuses on the ‘how-to’ of planet colonization; and the troubleshooting. This is a style of writing I’ve never experienced before and I liked it. At the same time, I can see how certain people might dislike it.
I can’t say that this book is a great book. The characters development is shallow, the intrigue is not based on the characters, but on the actions. What is the next step that he should do to succeed? That is what I was looking for when reading this book.
But what I can say is that is it a good book. The science behind it interested me. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to think about the how of things. Tailored to engineers it seems. I’m curious where the sequel will take us! Maybe the focus will change with experience of the author.
November 9, 2023
I don’t remember when or why I added this book to my TBR.
It began with a pretty interesting premise and I was drawn in. About half way through it turned into Minecraft Steve building village from scratch. I should have probably bailed at this point but I was interested to see how it played out so I powered on. The last quarter of the book had a fairly interesting twist but then quickly turned into a Scholastic middle school instructional manual about building a new society.
It started as a classic sci-fi planet colonization story and slowly evolved into a boring children’s book. I’m certainly confused about who is the intended audience.
It began with a pretty interesting premise and I was drawn in. About half way through it turned into Minecraft Steve building village from scratch. I should have probably bailed at this point but I was interested to see how it played out so I powered on. The last quarter of the book had a fairly interesting twist but then quickly turned into a Scholastic middle school instructional manual about building a new society.
It started as a classic sci-fi planet colonization story and slowly evolved into a boring children’s book. I’m certainly confused about who is the intended audience.
February 21, 2025
Generally a really enjoyable book (My girlfriend bought me a paperback since i love Andy Weirs work). It is a somewhat short story (220 ish pages) and I would love if the parts where Burke re-trained the blacksmiths was elaborated more, talking to Peter and other about their struggles and so on. I found the whole retraining extremelt entriging (also for other professions). Also, note that on page 171 there are cobwebs in the barn? Alien spiders?
On the last note, giving this book 5 stars since I cant wait for "Sprout" and want to encourage this author, in reality it is still above 4 for me 😊
On the last note, giving this book 5 stars since I cant wait for "Sprout" and want to encourage this author, in reality it is still above 4 for me 😊
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2023
Couldn’t finish. The author struggles with understanding basic engineering and survival skills that the characters would obviously have. There are plot holes everywhere that made me struggle to get into the situation and empathize with the characters.
July 20, 2022
This is a story about a robot yelling at children. And colonizing a planet.
It's written by a first-time author, and it shows. The book could have used some editing. For example, the protagonist says it's the first time he's killed an animal (goat) when previously he'd killed was an lobster-fish and an orc. The writer seems to have forgotten what he wrote, or written it out of order.
There's a weird fetishization of music, and at one point someone gets a stay of execution because he played music. I don't get what that theme was trying to say. Seems idiosyncratic to the author and not very relatable for me.,
There are some decent hard science fiction ideas in this book. If you like post-human narrators and alien worlds, it's worth a read.
One part was very anti-scientific that I want to mention here. The protagonist is powered by an RTG. And he's worried that after his death it will be dangerous to the whole village full of people. This fear seems to come from an irrational fear of nuclear power.
It's written by a first-time author, and it shows. The book could have used some editing. For example, the protagonist says it's the first time he's killed an animal (goat) when previously he'd killed was an lobster-fish and an orc. The writer seems to have forgotten what he wrote, or written it out of order.
There's a weird fetishization of music, and at one point someone gets a stay of execution because he played music. I don't get what that theme was trying to say. Seems idiosyncratic to the author and not very relatable for me.,
There are some decent hard science fiction ideas in this book. If you like post-human narrators and alien worlds, it's worth a read.
One part was very anti-scientific that I want to mention here. The protagonist is powered by an RTG. And he's worried that after his death it will be dangerous to the whole village full of people. This fear seems to come from an irrational fear of nuclear power.
September 25, 2020
This 'hard Science' aspect of this book appears to be well researched. I am happy to say I learned some things along the way. The humor and music references were enjoyable also. Very good first effort from this author! I'm looking forward to the sequel to see the growth of both the story and the authors skills.
September 13, 2020
I liked this to a point, but the hardassedness didn't really sit very well with me, nor did the finite lived yet physically impervious robot-bodied hero. Fun to turn my brain off for a few hours but not an author I will revisit unless there's more warmth and a deeper sense of believability.
August 17, 2020
Fantastic story!
Great sense of humour for a fantastic story idea. It's been a while since I sat down and read through a book barely stopping. Absolutely worth the read!
Great sense of humour for a fantastic story idea. It's been a while since I sat down and read through a book barely stopping. Absolutely worth the read!
September 4, 2020
Decent read
It is a good read an interesting concept and something I would love to get to the bottom of in the sequel. Hope you finish it soon.
It is a good read an interesting concept and something I would love to get to the bottom of in the sequel. Hope you finish it soon.
September 25, 2020
Good read
This was a really creative sci fi novel. I enjoyed it from cover to cover. I hope he comes out with a second book with some new adventures.
This was a really creative sci fi novel. I enjoyed it from cover to cover. I hope he comes out with a second book with some new adventures.
November 30, 2021
Plot holes a mile wide and an MC I found unlikable.
January 25, 2025
Might have deserved a 2nd star, had it not compared itself to my all time favorites.
Right from the start the MC pissed me off. Blaming tech/AI for problems instead of thinking of them as tools to use to best of one's abelites & blaming the user/dealing with situation rationally. Then the real story kicks off with MC's grand idea (GRRRR: as if he was the 1st to think of it or that its a good one) is for his mind to be downloaded into an android & (since no squishy meat sacks) be shot off into space to colonize. Unless i missed something 16 embryos & AI(wikipedia) is the extent of his supplies, everything that might have made sense was waved off because of budget concerns. 0 training or backup. Seriously seems they did no planning for the mission. 75% of the book is the 1st few months of starting a colony. Not the fun tech details, but the taking care of goats & ?~10year old? kids details.
Unfortunately I predict I will remember this one, but only for how OK yet BAD it was.
Right from the start the MC pissed me off. Blaming tech/AI for problems instead of thinking of them as tools to use to best of one's abelites & blaming the user/dealing with situation rationally. Then the real story kicks off with MC's grand idea (GRRRR: as if he was the 1st to think of it or that its a good one) is for his mind to be downloaded into an android & (since no squishy meat sacks) be shot off into space to colonize. Unless i missed something 16 embryos & AI(wikipedia) is the extent of his supplies, everything that might have made sense was waved off because of budget concerns. 0 training or backup. Seriously seems they did no planning for the mission. 75% of the book is the 1st few months of starting a colony. Not the fun tech details, but the taking care of goats & ?~10year old? kids details.
Unfortunately I predict I will remember this one, but only for how OK yet BAD it was.
March 17, 2022
I fell off after main character commented on how annoying his companion AI was for the 10th(?) time in a row. Overall book seemed rather like a good draft, the parts without communication I liked best.
Ultimately, It has some fun for a brain stimulated by engineering type problems and solutions, but having read a lot of sci-fi, and rarely being able to find truly novel ideas or takes on the genre, its characters that, in my opinion allow for "suspension of disbelief", and in this case I happened to find the characters quite annoying.
Hope to see the author keep refining their craft, there seems to be a lot of people who have enjoyed the book, I'd love to join the fanclub one day☺️
Ultimately, It has some fun for a brain stimulated by engineering type problems and solutions, but having read a lot of sci-fi, and rarely being able to find truly novel ideas or takes on the genre, its characters that, in my opinion allow for "suspension of disbelief", and in this case I happened to find the characters quite annoying.
Hope to see the author keep refining their craft, there seems to be a lot of people who have enjoyed the book, I'd love to join the fanclub one day☺️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2021
When I started this, I was sort of expecting to find that this was similar to a couple of other books I've read over the past couple of years; in particular, The Martian. The beginning was a bit slow for me, although the Audible narrator did a fabulous job, and he sounded like he was just having a conversation with me, which was awesome. Then, in Chapter 5, it took an unexpected turn that I was totally not expecting, and from there I was hooked. I'm really looking forward to the sequel when it's released!
April 2, 2024
Mismarketed disappoint
I came into this book looking for some good hard science fiction. Something with appropriately nerdy explanations and scientific theory, physics, chemistry to explain what was happening. After all the title does claim this is a hard science fiction novel. It's not. It's written at 7th grade level for kids who have never taken an advanced science class before and are interested in space. My attitude towards this would be completely different if the title was different. Of course then I probably never would have tried it in the first place
I came into this book looking for some good hard science fiction. Something with appropriately nerdy explanations and scientific theory, physics, chemistry to explain what was happening. After all the title does claim this is a hard science fiction novel. It's not. It's written at 7th grade level for kids who have never taken an advanced science class before and are interested in space. My attitude towards this would be completely different if the title was different. Of course then I probably never would have tried it in the first place
August 20, 2020
SEED a book well planted! And a story that grows on you.
Good book, it gets better and better as it goes along. I found myself in tears at the end. I wasn't expecting to feel such an emotional connection to a story about a robot bootstrapping a civilization but it snuck up on me , and clubbed me over the head with deep feeling in the end.
I look forward to book # two , see the continuing evolution of the Character of Nick and of the civilization he created.
Good book, it gets better and better as it goes along. I found myself in tears at the end. I wasn't expecting to feel such an emotional connection to a story about a robot bootstrapping a civilization but it snuck up on me , and clubbed me over the head with deep feeling in the end.
I look forward to book # two , see the continuing evolution of the Character of Nick and of the civilization he created.
July 10, 2021
Fun concepts and ideas. Some major logical flaws on human behavior that occure regularly distract from the story. From the story I was thinking the author must be lacking basic science and engineering knowledge, after looking up the authors bio I'm guessing it's intentional? Disagree with the "hard science" description.
Writing is generally good, and it was a fun read overall, will likely try what the author produces next.
Writing is generally good, and it was a fun read overall, will likely try what the author produces next.
October 3, 2022
Good book. The plot twist was predictable but where it took the story was not. The afterword mentions a sequel but I don't see one published yet. That's unfortunate because I definitely would have read it.
I won't say this is classic sci fi (it's way too involved for that) but it's archetypal modern sci fi.
Do recommend.
I won't say this is classic sci fi (it's way too involved for that) but it's archetypal modern sci fi.
Do recommend.
January 3, 2024
Fun
I'd recommend this story either to a younger audience, or to anyone looking for a light read. I was looking for hard science fiction. This isn't it, but I still read and enjoyed it, even though the prose is somewhat lackluster, and even... maybe the term would be "amateurish", or maybe it just needed one final revision. In any case, I liked it.
I'd recommend this story either to a younger audience, or to anyone looking for a light read. I was looking for hard science fiction. This isn't it, but I still read and enjoyed it, even though the prose is somewhat lackluster, and even... maybe the term would be "amateurish", or maybe it just needed one final revision. In any case, I liked it.
October 7, 2020
Great break out sci-fi
I picked thus book up from an Amazon recommendation. I was not disappointed, it was a well written, well thought out first novel. I would find myself getting list into how relatable the main character is to myself.
I picked thus book up from an Amazon recommendation. I was not disappointed, it was a well written, well thought out first novel. I would find myself getting list into how relatable the main character is to myself.
November 30, 2021
The book was promoted as something The martian readers would like.
So I have it a try.
It was good. It taught me how should I raise my children. It also told what all needs to be thought about if you are going to raise a new human colony.
So I have it a try.
It was good. It taught me how should I raise my children. It also told what all needs to be thought about if you are going to raise a new human colony.
January 28, 2022
One of the only book I could not finish. The premise is great. But absolutely no conflict happens. It’s a diary of everything going fine for literally thousands of years (at least up to 80% of the book where I stopped)
Come on! At least 1 or 2 things breaking during the travel! No ?
Come on! At least 1 or 2 things breaking during the travel! No ?
February 20, 2022
Tons of promise in the concept but the execution leaves so much to be desired. The principal character is far too robotic. The author may be on the spectrum but failed to capture the deep emotional life that even those who are perceived by the outside world as emotionless feel inside
September 13, 2023
Enchanting
Surprisingly thoughtful and vivid. Unsurpassed character development and story arc. I really thoroughly enjoyed this book... Hard to believe it's a debut novel.
Absolutely lovely. Thank you for writing it.
Surprisingly thoughtful and vivid. Unsurpassed character development and story arc. I really thoroughly enjoyed this book... Hard to believe it's a debut novel.
Absolutely lovely. Thank you for writing it.
November 7, 2023
Very interesting twist
Great twist I didn't see coming. Great as a standalone book. The characters are developed just enough for you to care. Definitely "hard sci-fi" with a majority of the book explaining minute details
Great twist I didn't see coming. Great as a standalone book. The characters are developed just enough for you to care. Definitely "hard sci-fi" with a majority of the book explaining minute details
January 8, 2025
Interesting story hope to see a sequel
Decent pacing. Has some good twist, but I saw them coming. Look forward to sequel. I can imagine them all landing on same planet just spaced out through time
Decent pacing. Has some good twist, but I saw them coming. Look forward to sequel. I can imagine them all landing on same planet just spaced out through time
April 24, 2021
No me esperaba que un libro con una premisa tan sencilla y mil veces escrita (colonización) fuera a emocionarme tanto.
June 10, 2021
I loved how the writer keeps making turns I never would have expected!
That and how it seems that the author really did his homework! Sign me up for the sequel!
That and how it seems that the author really did his homework! Sign me up for the sequel!
March 23, 2022
4 that goat
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews