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The Stolen Future #1
The Signal
A mysterious signal, A start-up that wants to change the world, A future that no longer belongs to us.
When a stranger with a high-tech implant is found in the remote Finnish wilderness, neurosurgeon Bill and his computer scientist friend Steve see an opportunity. But they don't know what powers they're up against. They soon must ask themselves what moral boundaries they're willing to cross in order to succeed.
Ten years later, the world has changed. Airships roam the skies, strange plants grow in the forests, and entire swaths of land are deserted.
In the midst of this alien world, a father and daughter struggle to survive in the mountains of Montana and avoid being discovered by "The Others." One thing is clear: Humanity’s future depends upon deciphering the mysterious signal.
Click to start reading now and uncover the truth!
"Joshua T. Calvert has a gift for making nail-biting science fiction that you can't put down. Get ready for some sleepless nights!" - M.A. Rothman, USA Today bestselling author
When a stranger with a high-tech implant is found in the remote Finnish wilderness, neurosurgeon Bill and his computer scientist friend Steve see an opportunity. But they don't know what powers they're up against. They soon must ask themselves what moral boundaries they're willing to cross in order to succeed.
Ten years later, the world has changed. Airships roam the skies, strange plants grow in the forests, and entire swaths of land are deserted.
In the midst of this alien world, a father and daughter struggle to survive in the mountains of Montana and avoid being discovered by "The Others." One thing is clear: Humanity’s future depends upon deciphering the mysterious signal.
Click to start reading now and uncover the truth!
"Joshua T. Calvert has a gift for making nail-biting science fiction that you can't put down. Get ready for some sleepless nights!" - M.A. Rothman, USA Today bestselling author
- GenresScience FictionAudiobook
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2021
267 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
Joshua T. Calvert
51 books240 followersJoshua T. Calvert has traveled the world--on foot, by Jeep, by bicycle, by motorcycle, and lots of other ways besides. As you might imagine, he's seen many things most people never see - including an Iranian prison cell, from the inside! In Kyrgyzstan, he fared slightly better, narrowly avoiding being kidnapped for ransom. Skydiver, scuba diver, martial artist, adventurer - his goal is to experience everything possible, and then make it real to you in his books. And he's made a good run of it so far: in the Philippines, he did police training on multiple types of firearms (despite being no fan of guns himself); dove in Asian waters among sharks and shipwrecks; and patrolled with Sumatran jungle rangers.
That's what defines Calvert's approach to method writing: pushing himself beyond his own limits, to experience first-hand what his characters experience, to make your immersion in his stories as deep as it can be.
For Ganymede Rises, after a slight detour with some smugglers in the deserts of Uzbekistan and the steppes of Mongolia, he traveled by dogsled and snowshoe to the Arctic Circle to experience first-hand what it's like to be utterly isolated in the coldest place on Earth. For his book The Fossil, he sat with professional pilots in flight simulators for Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft to learn what it's like to fly a passenger jet. His latest adventure: a parabolic flight with European Space Agency astronauts, to experience zero-gravity. All so he can describe it to you, in his own words.
That's what defines Calvert's approach to method writing: pushing himself beyond his own limits, to experience first-hand what his characters experience, to make your immersion in his stories as deep as it can be.
For Ganymede Rises, after a slight detour with some smugglers in the deserts of Uzbekistan and the steppes of Mongolia, he traveled by dogsled and snowshoe to the Arctic Circle to experience first-hand what it's like to be utterly isolated in the coldest place on Earth. For his book The Fossil, he sat with professional pilots in flight simulators for Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft to learn what it's like to fly a passenger jet. His latest adventure: a parabolic flight with European Space Agency astronauts, to experience zero-gravity. All so he can describe it to you, in his own words.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 11, 2025
The Signal
By Joshua T. Calvert
This is truly unique in the plot and scope of science fiction. It is suspense mixed with mystery, then throw in mind control. It's a very scary novel. Not what I was expecting but terrific.
By Joshua T. Calvert
This is truly unique in the plot and scope of science fiction. It is suspense mixed with mystery, then throw in mind control. It's a very scary novel. Not what I was expecting but terrific.
January 8, 2022
No one (everyone) told you it was going to be this way.
This was a fairly good page turner, even though it was predictable. I’m starting to wonder why so much sci-fi hits the wall at the big climax; it seems as if the writing or the concepts become incomprehensible. I guess if they were clear, they wouldn’t be very climactic.
My only other objection was to the name of the implant—“BrainWiz.” Really? It made me think of Cheez Wiz the whole time. Urgh.
This was a fairly good page turner, even though it was predictable. I’m starting to wonder why so much sci-fi hits the wall at the big climax; it seems as if the writing or the concepts become incomprehensible. I guess if they were clear, they wouldn’t be very climactic.
My only other objection was to the name of the implant—“BrainWiz.” Really? It made me think of Cheez Wiz the whole time. Urgh.
January 11, 2022
A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:
Oof. This was not a great read.
First off, the writing feels like something a talented high school student might turn in for NaNoWriMo. Some of the similes, word choice, and dialogue are very juvenile, despite the actual age of the author. I think this works its way out with time and an editor. But if the ideas in the story are good enough, you can overlook inadequate prose, right?
There is nothing new in this story. The "twist" is something taken from any conspiracy website and you see it coming from the beginning. I mean, most of us read The Odyssey at some point, right? And the amount of time it takes to get there is frustrating and yet the book ends without any conclusion. You have to make everything a trilogy, right? Ugh.
Skip it!
Oof. This was not a great read.
First off, the writing feels like something a talented high school student might turn in for NaNoWriMo. Some of the similes, word choice, and dialogue are very juvenile, despite the actual age of the author. I think this works its way out with time and an editor. But if the ideas in the story are good enough, you can overlook inadequate prose, right?
There is nothing new in this story. The "twist" is something taken from any conspiracy website and you see it coming from the beginning. I mean, most of us read The Odyssey at some point, right? And the amount of time it takes to get there is frustrating and yet the book ends without any conclusion. You have to make everything a trilogy, right? Ugh.
Skip it!
December 1, 2021
If you’re not reading Joshua Calvert, then you are missing out! His next contribution, The Signal, is an excellent piece of Sci-Fi which is co-written with his brother. The story is set in Finland and Montana (two connected story threads), and involves a giant leap forward in neural-net technology. As the story progresses, we are treated to the subtle twists and turns of which Mr. Calvert is a master. The tension builds as the characters evolve in unpredictable ways. To say this novel is a page-turner is a gross understatement. Be sure to set time aside to immerse yourself into this special universe. Finally, when the story is over, you will be left with questions (I like this in a book) which will be explored in the next installment. This is the beginning of a grand adventure into the near future!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2022
This is a page turning combination of mystery, suspense, and sci-fi based on the idea of melding AI with the brain. By the structure of the story, the authors keep the reader in suspense for much of the story if not nearly all of it.
If you like action, the ending will be satisfactory. This reader, though, thinks it's too quick and not up to par with what came before. The ending sets up a sequel, but this book can be read as a stand alone story.
If you like action, the ending will be satisfactory. This reader, though, thinks it's too quick and not up to par with what came before. The ending sets up a sequel, but this book can be read as a stand alone story.
December 2, 2021
The story starts out like a typical story with a bit of a mystery that caught my attention and kept me reading to see what was going on. Then the story got even more interesting as things progressed that kept me reading and thinking. It follows 2 sets of people as things change and kept me guessing and reading to the end. A mix of mystery, suspense and some great scifi. And some good twists too. Had to see how it all fit together.
February 4, 2023
This is not a bad book.
But for some reason I couldn't connect to it. Too many things sounded... convenient.
The Good
In and of itself, the premise has a lot of potential. The parallel timeline system worked for me.
The Less Good
I couldn't build rapport with any of the characters. Not one. Maybe it was the narration.
The Bad
The tech didn't work for me . I couldn't believe for a second that anyone with any sense (let alone a scientist) would claim, use or market some unknown tech without ever questioning its origin or it's purpose. The story fell apart right there for me.
The Conclusion
This book feels like a failed opportunity to do something interesting. It was heading somewhere but kind of lost its way.
But for some reason I couldn't connect to it. Too many things sounded... convenient.
The Good
In and of itself, the premise has a lot of potential. The parallel timeline system worked for me.
The Less Good
I couldn't build rapport with any of the characters. Not one. Maybe it was the narration.
The Bad
The tech didn't work for me . I couldn't believe for a second that anyone with any sense (let alone a scientist) would claim, use or market some unknown tech without ever questioning its origin or it's purpose. The story fell apart right there for me.
The Conclusion
This book feels like a failed opportunity to do something interesting. It was heading somewhere but kind of lost its way.
December 27, 2021
A physician and researcher on mind-to-machine interfaces goes beyond Hippocratic Oath - 5 stars
For most of the book, we alternate between the years 2020 and 2031. In the earlier year, an injured man is found in Finland. This person has some kind of disk behind his ear that seems to have advanced technology.
Dr. Bill Portit and his nerd-like friend and business partner, Steve Tyopaikkaa, try to reverse engineer the disk and find that there is a lot of technology that can be obtained to assist mental functioning. It might enable prosthetics to be controlled by a person's mind.
In the future setting, a man and his daughter are trying to remain undetected in the Montana wilderness. They are a long-term live-off-the-land success story except for living in fear of being detected.
Between these two dates, mankind has seen changes that would normally take multiple centuries or even eons, not just a decade.
The story glosses over medical ethics and presents a very fast development of the disk technology. A revolutionary future results in solving global warming, eliminating war, eliminating disease, and pollution-free energy and makes for a stress-free life. Could there be a downside?
A second and possibly third book in the series is planned to consider the after-effects.
For most of the book, we alternate between the years 2020 and 2031. In the earlier year, an injured man is found in Finland. This person has some kind of disk behind his ear that seems to have advanced technology.
Dr. Bill Portit and his nerd-like friend and business partner, Steve Tyopaikkaa, try to reverse engineer the disk and find that there is a lot of technology that can be obtained to assist mental functioning. It might enable prosthetics to be controlled by a person's mind.
In the future setting, a man and his daughter are trying to remain undetected in the Montana wilderness. They are a long-term live-off-the-land success story except for living in fear of being detected.
Between these two dates, mankind has seen changes that would normally take multiple centuries or even eons, not just a decade.
The story glosses over medical ethics and presents a very fast development of the disk technology. A revolutionary future results in solving global warming, eliminating war, eliminating disease, and pollution-free energy and makes for a stress-free life. Could there be a downside?
A second and possibly third book in the series is planned to consider the after-effects.
January 14, 2022
While I enjoyed reading this book, I struggled with the idea that two very smart men would find themselves reverse engineering a brain interface that is clearly very advanced technology without questioning where it came from. While this is revealed towards the end of the book, it didn't satisfy the motivations of the principal characters for me. Also, it was largely glossed over how they were able to understand the highly advanced technology in the brain interface device they found. As someone who has been designing electronic products for over 40 years, there was a big credibility gap there. I guess there was just too much magic hand waving and not enough good hard science fiction for me.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the character writing and the core concepts of an AI neural interface and how far it could go. It was clear at the end of the book that there was a second one planned, and I am reading that now. There's so much to explore in the metaverse concept I'm looking forward to seeing what the authors do with it.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the character writing and the core concepts of an AI neural interface and how far it could go. It was clear at the end of the book that there was a second one planned, and I am reading that now. There's so much to explore in the metaverse concept I'm looking forward to seeing what the authors do with it.
January 19, 2025
A man is found in the Finish wilderness. He has a metal implant in his head that is way ahead of anything known so far and this very much interests a neurosurgeon and a computer specialist who are doing research in the field. It advances their research exponentially but there is a black box element they worry about but hope will be resolved in time. There is so much that is good about this book. The idea is interesting, and the story-line alternates between the two scientist as their research advances towards their final discovery, and a father and child living in hiding in the wilderness of Montana many years later following the catastrophe that has occurred because of that discovery . Great, but it doesn’t work as well as it might have for me. I can’t quite put my finger on the reason but have suspicions about the use of so much dialogue to advance the story lessening the tension and suspense. Still and all, it’s entertaining sci fi.
April 14, 2022
You Lost Me, Man
It was a great beginning! Well written, wonderful characters, an intriguing storyline. But when we got to the MetaWorld... you just plain lost me.
I admit I am behind the times - so this won't hold for everyone, I'm sure. I'm not a gamer, but I have serious gamers in my family - and I'm sure they would have been more 'at home' with the last couple of chapters than I was.
All together, I think your story is very evocative of the times. Yep. Well, they're losing me, too. Oh, well. It's the signs of the times, I guess.
I wish you luck with the younger generations - I think you will do well (all things considered ; ~ ]
It was a great beginning! Well written, wonderful characters, an intriguing storyline. But when we got to the MetaWorld... you just plain lost me.
I admit I am behind the times - so this won't hold for everyone, I'm sure. I'm not a gamer, but I have serious gamers in my family - and I'm sure they would have been more 'at home' with the last couple of chapters than I was.
All together, I think your story is very evocative of the times. Yep. Well, they're losing me, too. Oh, well. It's the signs of the times, I guess.
I wish you luck with the younger generations - I think you will do well (all things considered ; ~ ]
April 21, 2022
Liked it at first, then didn't.
The writing in this book often seemed rather stilted and awkward. And for some reason the author's continued use of the word "erm" for umm drove me nuts. However, The first third or so was compelling and the alternating chapters bouncing back and forth between time periods worked quite well. But the second half was a real letdown, both in plotting and execution. By the end I didn't care what happens. And certainly will avoid the unnecessary sequels.
The writing in this book often seemed rather stilted and awkward. And for some reason the author's continued use of the word "erm" for umm drove me nuts. However, The first third or so was compelling and the alternating chapters bouncing back and forth between time periods worked quite well. But the second half was a real letdown, both in plotting and execution. By the end I didn't care what happens. And certainly will avoid the unnecessary sequels.
March 30, 2022
A warm-up for what promises to be a great sci-fi read.
This is a very interesting take on salvaging the world, though whether the architects of the plan have humanity's best interests at heart remains to be seen. There are some plot twists - One of which will have you slapping your forehead. It's a good read.
This is a very interesting take on salvaging the world, though whether the architects of the plan have humanity's best interests at heart remains to be seen. There are some plot twists - One of which will have you slapping your forehead. It's a good read.
July 12, 2022
Overall, it was a good read. The plot explores a fascinating theme, that of technology in general and AI in particular. The book was well-written and well-crafted. The climax came as a real surprise to me after trying to figure out the connection between the two time-lines/plot-lines. I’m planning to read future installments of this series!
December 14, 2021
A novel concept.
I thought I had an inkling of what this novel was about by its title, but I was not prepared for the novel concept of what the implants mentioned in the story really were. I’m eager to see where this goes next, so bring on the sequel.
I thought I had an inkling of what this novel was about by its title, but I was not prepared for the novel concept of what the implants mentioned in the story really were. I’m eager to see where this goes next, so bring on the sequel.
December 20, 2021
Awesome book and story
Wow. This book was amazing. I could not put it down. It is original, well-written, and engrossing. I didn't realize this was the kind of SciFi I have been needing until I read this book. I am very excited for the next book!
Wow. This book was amazing. I could not put it down. It is original, well-written, and engrossing. I didn't realize this was the kind of SciFi I have been needing until I read this book. I am very excited for the next book!
August 13, 2022
A little slow to start
The first half of the book is a bit slow developing and some what confusing but then it picks up and becomes progressively more clear. Will definitely read the next book.
The first half of the book is a bit slow developing and some what confusing but then it picks up and becomes progressively more clear. Will definitely read the next book.
December 20, 2021
Fascinating read.
Scary and when you realize we spend so much time on screens it becomes all to possible. Well worth the read and thoughts created.
Scary and when you realize we spend so much time on screens it becomes all to possible. Well worth the read and thoughts created.
January 7, 2022
Fascinating
This kept my interest better than any book in last 2 years. Fast paced and no boring droning on of endless descriptions. This is a good read try it out.
This kept my interest better than any book in last 2 years. Fast paced and no boring droning on of endless descriptions. This is a good read try it out.
March 1, 2022
Too close to being a possibility for comfort
Unusual but plausible time line with a plot that is scarily possible...In a few years anyway...looking forward to the next installment.
Unusual but plausible time line with a plot that is scarily possible...In a few years anyway...looking forward to the next installment.
March 31, 2022
A Five star book
The story line/s are original yet interlinked I look forward to the next book hopefully it won't disappoint too much
The story line/s are original yet interlinked I look forward to the next book hopefully it won't disappoint too much
April 14, 2022
A great ride awaits the reader.
A great story line, interesting characters, and some good science fiction. The ending left me ready to start the 2nd book right away.
A great story line, interesting characters, and some good science fiction. The ending left me ready to start the 2nd book right away.
April 18, 2022
An interesting SF novel about a breakthrough in brain implants that backfires on a large scale.
May 6, 2022
The Future is here
Takes a while to get going but
worth it just hope the sequel is as good as it is building up to.
Takes a while to get going but
worth it just hope the sequel is as good as it is building up to.
June 5, 2022
There is a good story buried somewhere underneath the clunky writing and the tattered plot. Amateurish with a capital A.
August 2, 2022
love it
I liked it all. Wonderful book I verity good read. Hated putting it down. They should make this into a movie
I liked it all. Wonderful book I verity good read. Hated putting it down. They should make this into a movie
October 31, 2022
Needs less nerdy tech info
A good read although as I have said in previous reviews can Kindle please put glossary at beginning not end.
A good read although as I have said in previous reviews can Kindle please put glossary at beginning not end.
October 31, 2022
An ok read, may get better in book 2.
January 1, 2023
Very good.
January 16, 2023
On my way to book 2
A well developed concept that has been brought to life in a way that compels the reader to dive deeper into the world.
I will return.
A well developed concept that has been brought to life in a way that compels the reader to dive deeper into the world.
I will return.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews