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The Jellyfish Device
The year is 2054 and technology has given us smart contact lenses, retinal holographs, green power, but also fanaticism, and DIY nuclear weapons.
Kevin is a hacker and veteran of the second Ukrainian war who wants a better life. Jade is a devastatingly beautiful Chinese-Canadian ex-gangster who wants to leave her troubled past behind. Both are irresistibly drawn to each other, but Jade has a secret she fears will scare him off.
Kevin’s luck is improving when he is hired by a billionaire robber baron to find his kidnapped son. In the process, he and Jade discover a plot so sinister, it threatens civilization.
The timer is set, the clock is ticking, 400,000 will die in a flash. Can Kevin and Jade stop the Jellyfish Device?
"William Marshall has a very engaging and visual style!"
—Robert Sawyer, author of The Oppenheimer Alternative and 25 other novels and recipient of every major science fiction award, including the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He won Canada's Prix Aurora award nine times, including their Lifetime Achievement Award. He received Canada's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada, and also the Order of Ontario.
Kevin is a hacker and veteran of the second Ukrainian war who wants a better life. Jade is a devastatingly beautiful Chinese-Canadian ex-gangster who wants to leave her troubled past behind. Both are irresistibly drawn to each other, but Jade has a secret she fears will scare him off.
Kevin’s luck is improving when he is hired by a billionaire robber baron to find his kidnapped son. In the process, he and Jade discover a plot so sinister, it threatens civilization.
The timer is set, the clock is ticking, 400,000 will die in a flash. Can Kevin and Jade stop the Jellyfish Device?
"William Marshall has a very engaging and visual style!"
—Robert Sawyer, author of The Oppenheimer Alternative and 25 other novels and recipient of every major science fiction award, including the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He won Canada's Prix Aurora award nine times, including their Lifetime Achievement Award. He received Canada's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada, and also the Order of Ontario.
234 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 1, 2022
3 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
William Marshall
2 books5 followersI have a degree in MIS from the University of Alberta, in Canada. MIS is half computer science and half business.
I was a bookworm when I was a kid and Tolkien made me want to write when I was a teen.
Raising kids and building a career took a lot of time, then I started reading again, which leads to writing as surely as marijuana leads to heroin. (There's the Borroughs influence) Then I read Neuromancer and it blew my mind.
I started writing The Jellyfish Device sometime before 2018, then we moved, and I spent a year doing DIY and hired renovations in our fixer-upper and then forgot about writing for a year after that. The Jellyfish Device kept calling me and I started it again.
I was a bookworm when I was a kid and Tolkien made me want to write when I was a teen.
Raising kids and building a career took a lot of time, then I started reading again, which leads to writing as surely as marijuana leads to heroin. (There's the Borroughs influence) Then I read Neuromancer and it blew my mind.
I started writing The Jellyfish Device sometime before 2018, then we moved, and I spent a year doing DIY and hired renovations in our fixer-upper and then forgot about writing for a year after that. The Jellyfish Device kept calling me and I started it again.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 25, 2022
This is a frighteningly well-researched and futuristic book about our not too distant future. It covers several exciting new technologies such has smart contact lenses, retinal projection holographs, wearable cellphones, drone cellphone networks, and DIY nuclear weapons. The two main characters are troubled people who want to rebuild their lives, but get caught up in a conspiracy by an evil cult who is building a nuclear bomb. The cult is very realistic too since it is a fictional and exaggerated version of an actual popular religion. Truth is stranger than fiction, but even better when it is mixed with fiction.
August 7, 2023
Overall, this book was a little rough but as you keep reading it, there's a lot to notice and enjoy.
First, this story takes place in Canada. You know, that country to the North of us that we don't think about? I actually like reading about places that I haven't visited enough or would like to know more about. This book was right up my alley.
It starts with something that should at least feel at home for Americans: a right-wing take over of the government. I know that there's a lot happening in the U.S. with the Democrat government trying to convince people that Trump was leading an insurrection that was trying to do just this but the evidence is flimsy to non-existent. Gratefully, the author didn't go deeply into the politics.
He did provide a religion basis for the rebellion and again, gratefully, rather than pinning it on "Christians" (who don't in any sense of the word behave like the Christians of the Bible), his religion group was a radicalized offshoot of the LDS (Mormon) church called "The Apostles" (not behaving like proper Mormons either). At first I thought that it might be a mainline Evangelical cult until the words "stake" and "ward" appeared; nope, not evangelicals, Mormons.
By the way, throughout the book it mentions a device called a "WON". By the way, if you don't want to do what I did (in contacting the author directly on Twitter), at the back of his book is a section called the "Author's Notes" where he explains the WON and other terms he uses.
The author was so kind when I reached out and provide me the following information:
How many authors would do that? Thank you, Mr. Marshall.
The next paragraph contains details that could be construed as spoilers. Continue reading at your own behest.
The I.T. details were solid. Since even weapons of mass destruction have computers to control them, Kevin re-flashed the computer the Apostles used with a remote access program that he called "Avocado"; I suspect that he may have been obliquely referring to Apache Guacamole. Every so often, it appended its IP address to a log file on a server that Kevin owned. That allowed him to remote into the bomb's server and issue commands.
The novel also deals with gender changing and the awkwardness of any relationships that follow that. The author dealt with the subject in a sensitive manner.
Now it's time to read the next book in the series, "POX".
First, this story takes place in Canada. You know, that country to the North of us that we don't think about? I actually like reading about places that I haven't visited enough or would like to know more about. This book was right up my alley.
It starts with something that should at least feel at home for Americans: a right-wing take over of the government. I know that there's a lot happening in the U.S. with the Democrat government trying to convince people that Trump was leading an insurrection that was trying to do just this but the evidence is flimsy to non-existent. Gratefully, the author didn't go deeply into the politics.
He did provide a religion basis for the rebellion and again, gratefully, rather than pinning it on "Christians" (who don't in any sense of the word behave like the Christians of the Bible), his religion group was a radicalized offshoot of the LDS (Mormon) church called "The Apostles" (not behaving like proper Mormons either). At first I thought that it might be a mainline Evangelical cult until the words "stake" and "ward" appeared; nope, not evangelicals, Mormons.
By the way, throughout the book it mentions a device called a "WON". By the way, if you don't want to do what I did (in contacting the author directly on Twitter), at the back of his book is a section called the "Author's Notes" where he explains the WON and other terms he uses.
The author was so kind when I reached out and provide me the following information:
"WON" stands for "wear-on". ... it's a touch sensitive and voice activated flexible device about the size of a cellphone that curves around your writs. The screen detects your eyes so the centre of the image faces you even when you rotate your wrist.
How many authors would do that? Thank you, Mr. Marshall.
The next paragraph contains details that could be construed as spoilers. Continue reading at your own behest.
The I.T. details were solid. Since even weapons of mass destruction have computers to control them, Kevin re-flashed the computer the Apostles used with a remote access program that he called "Avocado"; I suspect that he may have been obliquely referring to Apache Guacamole. Every so often, it appended its IP address to a log file on a server that Kevin owned. That allowed him to remote into the bomb's server and issue commands.
The novel also deals with gender changing and the awkwardness of any relationships that follow that. The author dealt with the subject in a sensitive manner.
Now it's time to read the next book in the series, "POX".
October 28, 2022
"They finished the champagne and enjoyed the evening and each other's company. Still, Kevin felt uneasy with himself confabulating with billionaires while the Apostles were busy planning Armageddon."
The year is 2054 and we embark on an atomic adeventure with Kevin, a hacker and veteran, and Jade, a gorgeous and dangerous Chinese-Canadian girl working in a bar and trying to put her past behind her.
The Jellyfish Device is near-future sci-fi injected with a powerful shot of noir and political thriller. Above all, it's an exploration of a Canadian dystopia. There's no far-fetched stretch of the imagination in this novel. William Marshall's plot is action-packed and entertaining, but the canvas used is merely a logical extrapolation of the social, political, and technological trends of today...insatiable billionaires, the religious right, growing poverty, and rampant drug addiction. The fact that this novel is set in Canada and reflects issues specific to the Canadian experience also made it very interesting, and while I'd recommend it to fans of dystopian sci-fi from anywhere in the world, I'd particularly recommend it to Canadians.
This is a promising first novel from William Marshall and I'm eager to discover what he offers us next.
The year is 2054 and we embark on an atomic adeventure with Kevin, a hacker and veteran, and Jade, a gorgeous and dangerous Chinese-Canadian girl working in a bar and trying to put her past behind her.
The Jellyfish Device is near-future sci-fi injected with a powerful shot of noir and political thriller. Above all, it's an exploration of a Canadian dystopia. There's no far-fetched stretch of the imagination in this novel. William Marshall's plot is action-packed and entertaining, but the canvas used is merely a logical extrapolation of the social, political, and technological trends of today...insatiable billionaires, the religious right, growing poverty, and rampant drug addiction. The fact that this novel is set in Canada and reflects issues specific to the Canadian experience also made it very interesting, and while I'd recommend it to fans of dystopian sci-fi from anywhere in the world, I'd particularly recommend it to Canadians.
This is a promising first novel from William Marshall and I'm eager to discover what he offers us next.
April 21, 2022
Don't be fooled by the label of science fiction, this is definitely not that. This is some sort of lgbtqrst and green party manifesto that the author labeled as science fiction to get it read. I admit to reading about 15% thinking it had to get better - but it didn't. That's time off my life I will never get back.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews