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Aether #3
Quantum-C
Read the entire series free on #KindleUnlimited for a limited time!
Zero. In a neon-lit world where the line between human, reality and machine is blurred, there lived a girl who was a nobody...
Storyteller and visionary, Bibiana Krall takes us to 2121, a grim-dark world that has been ravaged by greed and negligence. What do we become without the human touch and the healing powers of nature?
Can one person's selfless sacrifice repair the damage in time to save us all?
Travel with Minerva to a place where everything you fear has become truth, but something incredible is in store for everyone… if they can only find the courage to leap.
Welcome to the Aether Series by Bibiana Krall
A collection of short fiction speculating on the future. From cults to A.I. and beyond...you will find these stories surreal, modern and realistic enough to make you wonder if this Dystopian world is what waits for us on the other side.
All the important questions we want to ask, but no one can answer exist in the Aether.
Zero. In a neon-lit world where the line between human, reality and machine is blurred, there lived a girl who was a nobody...
Storyteller and visionary, Bibiana Krall takes us to 2121, a grim-dark world that has been ravaged by greed and negligence. What do we become without the human touch and the healing powers of nature?
Can one person's selfless sacrifice repair the damage in time to save us all?
Travel with Minerva to a place where everything you fear has become truth, but something incredible is in store for everyone… if they can only find the courage to leap.
Welcome to the Aether Series by Bibiana Krall
A collection of short fiction speculating on the future. From cults to A.I. and beyond...you will find these stories surreal, modern and realistic enough to make you wonder if this Dystopian world is what waits for us on the other side.
All the important questions we want to ask, but no one can answer exist in the Aether.
- GenresDystopia
76 pages, Paperback
Published May 5, 2023
2 people want to read
About the author
Bibiana Krall
34 books199 followersJoin her free list (become Literati) and get an exclusive story, Witchhaus. as her personal thank you for subscribing. Bibiana has been publishing since 2015! Celebrating ten amazing years of storytelling, www.bibianakrall.com/freebook
Thank you for your support. Happy New Year!
Thank you for your support. Happy New Year!
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 7, 2023
“Life Is But A Dream.”
Wow! If you are a fan of dystopian Sci-Fi movies like The Island, The Silo, Cloud Atlas, The Dark City, and THX 1138, then you will love Bibiana Krall’s Quantum-C, the third edition in the Aether Series. Mrs. Krall’s writing, as usual, is descriptive, captivating, and imaginative, taking the reader on a journey they’ve never been on—to a futuristic world in 2121 where life is nothing but a dream. In a world where artificial intelligence controls humanity, humans communicate behind avatars in their protective cubes (cells). The outside world is poisonous, bleak, void of a healthy ecosystem, “not even a brown patch of dirt.” A virtual wasteland.
From their computerized cement cubes, an embedded dictum within the walls of their confines, their minds control their every waking (or sleeping) hour:
Minerva, the story’s heroine, seeks to escape the cubes to the wasteland after she receives a computerized request from her deceased grandmother to bury her ashes beyond the cubes. Disobeying the laws of the land, Minerva escapes into the desolate wasteland. What she discovers will change her life and perhaps save humanity as she embarks on the journey of her life.
I loved this short story and its many messages. Quantum-C is fiction but a reality that may not be so distant with advancing technology. Are we just a dream? Mrs. Krall, thank you for this spectacular read!
Wow! If you are a fan of dystopian Sci-Fi movies like The Island, The Silo, Cloud Atlas, The Dark City, and THX 1138, then you will love Bibiana Krall’s Quantum-C, the third edition in the Aether Series. Mrs. Krall’s writing, as usual, is descriptive, captivating, and imaginative, taking the reader on a journey they’ve never been on—to a futuristic world in 2121 where life is nothing but a dream. In a world where artificial intelligence controls humanity, humans communicate behind avatars in their protective cubes (cells). The outside world is poisonous, bleak, void of a healthy ecosystem, “not even a brown patch of dirt.” A virtual wasteland.
From their computerized cement cubes, an embedded dictum within the walls of their confines, their minds control their every waking (or sleeping) hour:
“1. Obey 2. Do not fraternize 3. Questions are forbidden 4. We are watching you 5. We are one.”
Minerva, the story’s heroine, seeks to escape the cubes to the wasteland after she receives a computerized request from her deceased grandmother to bury her ashes beyond the cubes. Disobeying the laws of the land, Minerva escapes into the desolate wasteland. What she discovers will change her life and perhaps save humanity as she embarks on the journey of her life.
I loved this short story and its many messages. Quantum-C is fiction but a reality that may not be so distant with advancing technology. Are we just a dream? Mrs. Krall, thank you for this spectacular read!
February 8, 2023
Interesting admixture of science fiction and fantasy.
I think this book is about freeing the human spirit from the yoke of mundanity. Our heroine exists in a world with simple, but inviolable rules which we are repeatedly reminded of. It feels like a dystopian future, but could equally be a parallel universe.The text reminds us of things we might lose and only value or treasure when they are absent. The fantasy comes in when our heroine encounters someone who not only helps her against expectations, but facilitates her transformation. The connection between the two is asserted, but not explained how it happened. This is one reason for holding back the full five stars.
Another reason is that I suspect this text will polarise readers into love or hate relationship. If using psychedelic substances is against your approach to life, you may hate it. I was intrigued by it. I may need to re-read it to understand it better, but it is a short text so won't take long.
I received a free advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I think this book is about freeing the human spirit from the yoke of mundanity. Our heroine exists in a world with simple, but inviolable rules which we are repeatedly reminded of. It feels like a dystopian future, but could equally be a parallel universe.The text reminds us of things we might lose and only value or treasure when they are absent. The fantasy comes in when our heroine encounters someone who not only helps her against expectations, but facilitates her transformation. The connection between the two is asserted, but not explained how it happened. This is one reason for holding back the full five stars.
Another reason is that I suspect this text will polarise readers into love or hate relationship. If using psychedelic substances is against your approach to life, you may hate it. I was intrigued by it. I may need to re-read it to understand it better, but it is a short text so won't take long.
I received a free advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
May 15, 2023
"Hope is a bi-product of chaos. Not in the beginning, but after the air-locks close and someone, somewhere finds a way to blast through the noise."
The world as we know it has certainly evolved in the year 2121, with many changes for the masses. The natural beauty of trees, water, and mountains has been replaced with concrete and indoor, container living. Human nodes are connected to the all-powerful system that tracks and governs everything you do. "Time is units. Units are time. We are one." Brief escapes to the metaverse, Delirium, offer a brief respite from the sanitized existence, but are carefully monitored. Minerva is about to risk everything for a chance at another way of living. Is there any way to break free from omnipresent governance? Or, will her desires and life be snuffed from existence?
In this third book of the Aether Series, Author Krall weaves a masterful and prophetic glimpse of the future, laying out a world of circumstance that may become a reality sooner than we think. Technology rules every move--will humans rebel? Or be sucked into an artificial existence filled with bizarro entities and transient pleasures? If given the choice, what would you choose? Quantum-C is a techno-thriller drama with chilling scenarios...and the choices humankind faces in the not too distant days to come. A highly recommended read!
The world as we know it has certainly evolved in the year 2121, with many changes for the masses. The natural beauty of trees, water, and mountains has been replaced with concrete and indoor, container living. Human nodes are connected to the all-powerful system that tracks and governs everything you do. "Time is units. Units are time. We are one." Brief escapes to the metaverse, Delirium, offer a brief respite from the sanitized existence, but are carefully monitored. Minerva is about to risk everything for a chance at another way of living. Is there any way to break free from omnipresent governance? Or, will her desires and life be snuffed from existence?
In this third book of the Aether Series, Author Krall weaves a masterful and prophetic glimpse of the future, laying out a world of circumstance that may become a reality sooner than we think. Technology rules every move--will humans rebel? Or be sucked into an artificial existence filled with bizarro entities and transient pleasures? If given the choice, what would you choose? Quantum-C is a techno-thriller drama with chilling scenarios...and the choices humankind faces in the not too distant days to come. A highly recommended read!
May 6, 2023
"Quantum-C" is a short story that takes us to a future where the human race only exists because machines were smart enough to collect our DNA and clone us. And that's just for starters...welcome to a future where humanity, for the most part, exists in sterile cubes where all interaction takes place through avatars and virtual reality. The heroine of this story, Minerva, dares to disobey the rules (2121 is all about rules) to bury her grandmother's "remains" after receiving a cryptic message. What happens next is a mind-bending trip through Minerva's exhausted dreams, which are fueled by the overstimulation of a world filled with AI and virtual reality. When Minerva is woken up to face the consequences of her disobedience, her story of heroism truly begins...and it calls for a huge leap of faith. "Quantum-C" begs to be read more than once, as it's messages carry so many nuances of truth. Kudos to author Bibiana Krall for unflinchingly taking things up yet another notch in her amazing Aether series. Highly recommended reading to fans of speculative fiction.
May 29, 2023
The opening of ‘Quantum-C’ carries echoes of George Orwell’s ‘1984’:
“Socially conditioned humans are incapable of living in wonder. Truth is subjective. Perspective when it arrives, a killer tsunami.”
This is the third volume of Bibiana Krall’s ‘Aether’ series, in which dystopian vision is informed by AI and the limitations of short-sighted, self-harming humanity. The prose – often poetic – is at times almost hallucinogenic, recalling for me visual elements of ‘The Matrix’, and the cult writings of Jeff Vandermeer.
Like many of Krall’s other works, ‘Quantum-C’ rewards, and indeed requires, thoughtful reading; and a surreal treat for those who venture open-minded into its pages. In short, it’s the literary equivalent of a consciousness-expanding acid trip.
“The story we tell ourselves is incomplete, it is so much less than what we are.”
“Socially conditioned humans are incapable of living in wonder. Truth is subjective. Perspective when it arrives, a killer tsunami.”
This is the third volume of Bibiana Krall’s ‘Aether’ series, in which dystopian vision is informed by AI and the limitations of short-sighted, self-harming humanity. The prose – often poetic – is at times almost hallucinogenic, recalling for me visual elements of ‘The Matrix’, and the cult writings of Jeff Vandermeer.
Like many of Krall’s other works, ‘Quantum-C’ rewards, and indeed requires, thoughtful reading; and a surreal treat for those who venture open-minded into its pages. In short, it’s the literary equivalent of a consciousness-expanding acid trip.
“The story we tell ourselves is incomplete, it is so much less than what we are.”
May 29, 2023
Dystopia comes full circle, back to destruction and beginning. The despair of a colorless, emotionless, sterilized future surges from the pages of Quantum-C. The fascination of modern and futuristic technology is a stark contrast to the lack of hope in Earths citizens in 2121, brought on by constant monitoring and the admonishments of all-powerful, faceless rulers.
I cheered for Minerva, every step of the way, for breaking the rules and detaching from the crushing sameness of life in a building of cubes. Bibiana Krall has imagined the extreme of societal change as populations withdraw inside and human contact is quashed. The conclusion provided vindication, relief and, most of all, hope to the numbing laboratory existence into which humans had devolved.
Quantum-C, the third book in the Aether Series is a fitting capstone to Bibiana Krall's dystopian work.
I cheered for Minerva, every step of the way, for breaking the rules and detaching from the crushing sameness of life in a building of cubes. Bibiana Krall has imagined the extreme of societal change as populations withdraw inside and human contact is quashed. The conclusion provided vindication, relief and, most of all, hope to the numbing laboratory existence into which humans had devolved.
Quantum-C, the third book in the Aether Series is a fitting capstone to Bibiana Krall's dystopian work.
February 15, 2023
I'm not quite sure what to make of this book and that's the truth.
I really wanted to like it but I found it very difficult to read. It's almost poetic in its language, or as though the author swallowed a dictionary and regurgitated as much of it as possible in every sentence. Maybe that will suit some people but, for me, I found it distracting and it simply took too much effort to find the meaning amidst the words so the story never quite came together for me.
It doesn't help that I read Quantum-C as a stand-alone short story when it is, in fact, apparently, the third book in a series. Maybe if I'd read more of Bibiana Krall's work I might have found this one a bit easier.
For me, too much like hard work and not the relaxation I usually get from reading. It's certainly interesting and it does deserve the three stars I've given it. For some people this will be excellent but I'm just not one of them.
I really wanted to like it but I found it very difficult to read. It's almost poetic in its language, or as though the author swallowed a dictionary and regurgitated as much of it as possible in every sentence. Maybe that will suit some people but, for me, I found it distracting and it simply took too much effort to find the meaning amidst the words so the story never quite came together for me.
It doesn't help that I read Quantum-C as a stand-alone short story when it is, in fact, apparently, the third book in a series. Maybe if I'd read more of Bibiana Krall's work I might have found this one a bit easier.
For me, too much like hard work and not the relaxation I usually get from reading. It's certainly interesting and it does deserve the three stars I've given it. For some people this will be excellent but I'm just not one of them.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews