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Merimnae: Outbound
Henry began to feel the memories when he first came out of stasis. The other three were still sleeping. The memories were clear and he could tell that they were not dreams. The problem was that he was remembering scenes he had never experienced. At first it was a distraction, an oddity, a topic for research in his own. Then it became an affliction. How would he tell the others? What would happen in the years ahead - years before they reached their destination?
Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2021
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About the author
William Altmann
20 books6 followersHello, my name is Bill. I write under my full name, William Altmann. So far, I have 17 books completed and all up on Amazon and most on Apple. Most are available as large print paperbacks because that's what my mother can read. My son (kudos to him) has done all my cover designs.
I've had a forty-plus-year career as an electrical engineer, working for companies large and small, established and not out of the womb. It's been fun (at times), interesting (at times), and paid the bills (all the time, so far). It's also provided me with international travel (I will not brag on my country count...), which I love. Put me on a train going anywhere, and I'm happy.
I've semi-retired and moved to Austin, Texas from California. I enjoy bike riding (road, not trail), hiking (trail, not road), reading, collecting books and slide rules.
I had dreamed of writing a book for more than 20 years. I started a couple, and they're still in the "incomplete manuscript" stage. Then, in Spring of 2020, with not enough to do except stare at the keyboard and curse viruses (bio, not techno), I said to myself, "Why not now?" I cranked out a four-book series beginning with Emperor First and continuing through 3 more novels, about a few Presidents, one-after-the-other, with more or less success in their endeavors. In parallel, I wrote seven (so far) shorter 'novellas' as "cozy friction", The Mary Jane Gang, each set in a senior citizens' residence complex. This one was prompted by phone calls with my mother... Guess which character she is! Then, in the fall last year, my son and I dared each other to write a sci-fi novel each. I finished mine: In On a Comet. When my wife got tired of me rolling my eyes at the evening news in January, I wrote a satirical fiction novel: about a leader trying to escape justice. It has four alternate endings, all in one volume: Escape Pod. And, turning a news story into a short novel, I wrote The Blossomfield Affair, and set it near my home town.
Since 2022, I've added five novels in a sci-fi saga. They tell of an interstellar mission where things go wrong, not outside the spacecraft, not inside the spacecraft, but inside the head of one astronaut. See: Merimnae: Outbound, Merimnae: Inbound , Merimnae: Unbound , Merimnae: Rebound , and Merimnae: Homebound .
I've uploaded a set of short stories to my page on https://vocal.media/authors/william-a....
I have lots more ideas. And I'm having lots of fun.
I've had a forty-plus-year career as an electrical engineer, working for companies large and small, established and not out of the womb. It's been fun (at times), interesting (at times), and paid the bills (all the time, so far). It's also provided me with international travel (I will not brag on my country count...), which I love. Put me on a train going anywhere, and I'm happy.
I've semi-retired and moved to Austin, Texas from California. I enjoy bike riding (road, not trail), hiking (trail, not road), reading, collecting books and slide rules.
I had dreamed of writing a book for more than 20 years. I started a couple, and they're still in the "incomplete manuscript" stage. Then, in Spring of 2020, with not enough to do except stare at the keyboard and curse viruses (bio, not techno), I said to myself, "Why not now?" I cranked out a four-book series beginning with Emperor First and continuing through 3 more novels, about a few Presidents, one-after-the-other, with more or less success in their endeavors. In parallel, I wrote seven (so far) shorter 'novellas' as "cozy friction", The Mary Jane Gang, each set in a senior citizens' residence complex. This one was prompted by phone calls with my mother... Guess which character she is! Then, in the fall last year, my son and I dared each other to write a sci-fi novel each. I finished mine: In On a Comet. When my wife got tired of me rolling my eyes at the evening news in January, I wrote a satirical fiction novel: about a leader trying to escape justice. It has four alternate endings, all in one volume: Escape Pod. And, turning a news story into a short novel, I wrote The Blossomfield Affair, and set it near my home town.
Since 2022, I've added five novels in a sci-fi saga. They tell of an interstellar mission where things go wrong, not outside the spacecraft, not inside the spacecraft, but inside the head of one astronaut. See: Merimnae: Outbound, Merimnae: Inbound , Merimnae: Unbound , Merimnae: Rebound , and Merimnae: Homebound .
I've uploaded a set of short stories to my page on https://vocal.media/authors/william-a....
I have lots more ideas. And I'm having lots of fun.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 14, 2021
+1 for indie book,
+1 for subject matter!
I really enjoyed this novel. First of all I am probably biased since it cut near to the topics of my own debut novel No Lack of Sunshine. I loved how it covered a less trodden path about an essential aspects of interstellar travel, the gut biome. No tropes here, this is all new hard sci-fi!
Secondly the main character's (Henry) monologues engaged me. What could it mean, and was 'the gut' *actually* trying to tell them all something important, or had he lost something very *human* by his upbringing?
Strange, new, and a good part 1 in which I want to read a part 2.
+1 for subject matter!
I really enjoyed this novel. First of all I am probably biased since it cut near to the topics of my own debut novel No Lack of Sunshine. I loved how it covered a less trodden path about an essential aspects of interstellar travel, the gut biome. No tropes here, this is all new hard sci-fi!
Secondly the main character's (Henry) monologues engaged me. What could it mean, and was 'the gut' *actually* trying to tell them all something important, or had he lost something very *human* by his upbringing?
Strange, new, and a good part 1 in which I want to read a part 2.
September 2, 2022
Hard sci-fi...but next thing I know, folks be sleeping for 30 years with no explanations how. KSR managed to address it a bit in Aurora though...alright, I shouldn't expect too much in that department though. Seems the "hard" part of this sci-fi is all about memory chemistry...or, is it?
Ok, so, maybe I've read a lot of sci-fi more than the Henry dude in this book, but, if I'm the one that wakes up in the future and I start having "memories" I've never had before, the first thing I'm going to assume is that all that's happened is that someone implanted them into my brain. I mean, memories are just mere chemicals, aren't they? Nothing special about that. 🤷🏿♂️
And, oh, look. He takes some certain medicines (duh, brain chemicals) to sleep accurately. 🤷🏿♂️
Dude believes these memories (or thoughts, for all we care, honestly. He even calls them "feelings") are false. And he keeps asking, how did they get into me??
My eyes.
The personal way the narrators address us...I don't fancy. This stuff is supposed to be ship log, isn't it? Especially when Constance seemed to get all meta about it, almost breaking the fourth wall to reach out to the hard Scifi reader...
The other bits of science (space travel) seemed forced in...until I realised at the end of the book where the REAL destination of the story lay...
Why does Henry insist those things are memories but insists that they never happened to him in the past? Why not call them hallucinations or flashes or sensations then?? Because...he absolutely knows that those things didn't happen, right? So, why call them memories?? There are even points he says he has them while sleeping! Then he wakes up anxious. Those aren't memories, they're dreams, gaddemit!
That sudden switch of emotions at the end of chapter 27...whutt??
(soms editing errors I noticed, first person vs third person: Frederick had continued. “I spent days and days on the design. Then Henry and I reviewed it and he agreed with my specifics.” He'd looked over at me, and I'd smiled proudly. “We initiated the 3D print jobs last week, and today I have started up the chemical jobs. We should be ready for extravehicular assembly by next month.” It was clear to Manuela and Constance that Frederick – and Henry – could hardly wait to go outside.)
Also: (I was not worried about the ship’s performance. The designers had put in place so many points of measurement that he and the computer could monitor its health thoroughly.)
Also: (Although we had not had this intensity of meeting in all the years of their voyage, we remembered the training exercises.)
The main irritant for me about this book are those experiences that Henry keeps having and insists on calling them memories. That absolutely fell. It didn't work. Memories are things you KNOW you've gone through, whether real or false (implanted: see movies *Total Recall*).
All in all, I felt taken for a ride that I did NOT sign up for. Title says Memories, yeah? Yeah. Yes, there were some attempts at memory science, but the ending, the appendix, made it crystal clear that author was more concerned with space travel science than memory science. There's nothing wrong with space travel science, heck, I love that trope...it's a staple of hard Scifi. In fact, it can be said to be THE staple of hard sci-fi. So, you can imagine my pleasant surprise to see a book that initially sort of seemed like it would deviate from the cliché (a sweet lovable cliché, mind you) of hard sci-fi by dealing with memory science...only to end up back with tropes we're all used to, sigh.
That said, now that I know exactly what to expect in book 2, I might read it and I may probably prefer it to book 1. The memory science was just a prop, and not properly utilised.
Ok, so, maybe I've read a lot of sci-fi more than the Henry dude in this book, but, if I'm the one that wakes up in the future and I start having "memories" I've never had before, the first thing I'm going to assume is that all that's happened is that someone implanted them into my brain. I mean, memories are just mere chemicals, aren't they? Nothing special about that. 🤷🏿♂️
And, oh, look. He takes some certain medicines (duh, brain chemicals) to sleep accurately. 🤷🏿♂️
Dude believes these memories (or thoughts, for all we care, honestly. He even calls them "feelings") are false. And he keeps asking, how did they get into me??
My eyes.
The personal way the narrators address us...I don't fancy. This stuff is supposed to be ship log, isn't it? Especially when Constance seemed to get all meta about it, almost breaking the fourth wall to reach out to the hard Scifi reader...
The other bits of science (space travel) seemed forced in...until I realised at the end of the book where the REAL destination of the story lay...
Why does Henry insist those things are memories but insists that they never happened to him in the past? Why not call them hallucinations or flashes or sensations then?? Because...he absolutely knows that those things didn't happen, right? So, why call them memories?? There are even points he says he has them while sleeping! Then he wakes up anxious. Those aren't memories, they're dreams, gaddemit!
That sudden switch of emotions at the end of chapter 27...whutt??
(soms editing errors I noticed, first person vs third person: Frederick had continued. “I spent days and days on the design. Then Henry and I reviewed it and he agreed with my specifics.” He'd looked over at me, and I'd smiled proudly. “We initiated the 3D print jobs last week, and today I have started up the chemical jobs. We should be ready for extravehicular assembly by next month.” It was clear to Manuela and Constance that Frederick – and Henry – could hardly wait to go outside.)
Also: (I was not worried about the ship’s performance. The designers had put in place so many points of measurement that he and the computer could monitor its health thoroughly.)
Also: (Although we had not had this intensity of meeting in all the years of their voyage, we remembered the training exercises.)
The main irritant for me about this book are those experiences that Henry keeps having and insists on calling them memories. That absolutely fell. It didn't work. Memories are things you KNOW you've gone through, whether real or false (implanted: see movies *Total Recall*).
All in all, I felt taken for a ride that I did NOT sign up for. Title says Memories, yeah? Yeah. Yes, there were some attempts at memory science, but the ending, the appendix, made it crystal clear that author was more concerned with space travel science than memory science. There's nothing wrong with space travel science, heck, I love that trope...it's a staple of hard Scifi. In fact, it can be said to be THE staple of hard sci-fi. So, you can imagine my pleasant surprise to see a book that initially sort of seemed like it would deviate from the cliché (a sweet lovable cliché, mind you) of hard sci-fi by dealing with memory science...only to end up back with tropes we're all used to, sigh.
That said, now that I know exactly what to expect in book 2, I might read it and I may probably prefer it to book 1. The memory science was just a prop, and not properly utilised.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews