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Terror Forming
When all else has failed, Dr. Lylah goes to extraordinary lengths to save her patient. Using untested technology, she undergoes a process of digitization and downloads her consciousness onto a nano craft to explore the ever-expanding tumor pressing against her patient’s brain. What she finds is far from what she expected. An entire universe inhabited by big game hunters, criminal cartels, and timeless monsters.
Suddenly digitalization and ethical dilemmas are the least of her concerns as she searches for a cure within this tenebrous bubble of reality.
"Space Horror at its finest. Artificial Intelligence, space pirates, and bad-ass sapphic heroes!"
Suddenly digitalization and ethical dilemmas are the least of her concerns as she searches for a cure within this tenebrous bubble of reality.
"Space Horror at its finest. Artificial Intelligence, space pirates, and bad-ass sapphic heroes!"
122 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2023
16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 4, 2023
You know the way we usually choose a book to read by its cover, the description, genre its in? The usual way. This book, for me, was a choice based on author only. I decided to read it because Paul is cool… Then, it also appeared that, look, the cover is pretty freaky and nice at the same time, the description is also captivating… and here we are. A scifi horror novella, sure to fit into any hardcore reader’s day, for a ‘one-sitting’ kind of adventure.
I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now… I just don’t think I am able to give an accurate overview of the plot – there were sentences that I had to read twice or thrice to go: oh, yes, yes, yes, I get it! Not because it was confusingly written, not at all. But because I am slow. I. am. slow. There’s some big words and ideas in the book that I don’t normally have any connection to in my daily life, I failed all of sciency type classes during my 14 year education, so for most hardcore scifi readers, it may be easy to grasp, but for me, not so much! 😀 Sometimes I just don’t get it… I blank out! So, you may think, why read it then? Because the stories are still interesting, and maybe something will stick! But, going back to my original point, I may not be able to fully do the story justice. Moving on.
Sheppard has conjured up some really nightmarish stuff. The growth, a tumor, growing in Dr Lylah’s young patient’s brain is itself a scary concept. Something as cruel as a tumor taking away the life of an innocent child is enough to spur Dr Lylah to take the wild leap of downloading her consciousness onto a nano craft to go and explore the tumor at source. And if you think this is wild in itself, buckle up because it’s about to get even wilder and scarier than you can imagine.
I’ll tell you what, this book left more of an impact on me than I realized at first, and I realized the impact after I had a nightmare that was 100% inspired by this book. I don’t generally have nightmares that are very ‘deep’… I see big waves and bears. This particular nightmare however was about the mind and the doors that open to other places and the beings that we release into the world through these open doors.
But when you find an enitre Universe in someone’s head – a realistic, advanced Universe with dangers and lifeforms and droids and… Terrifying. Mind blowing. It’s the idea and theory of multiverse that is at once exciting and unimaginable. A very good element of a scifi fiction, a lot of opportunities… Sheppard put everything into play here. Every word in Terror Forming counts.
There are two things, however, that did make my limited intelligence ponder… 1. The fact that as humans, we are limited by our biological characteristics. See quote from the book above. If our spirits and thinking power weren’t ‘prisoned’ into these meatsacks we wear that spends most of the lifecycle alive towards aging, what, who and how much could we really be? What if we could download our consciousness into a droid, we’d be like AI… BUT we’d be AI with no expiry date on our minds? We’d be immortal to explore, experiment, discover… Okay, that’s freaky. 2. I kind of love this about the few scifi titles that I have read. With all of these out of this world elements, and sometimes things that have not yet come to exist, there is always some connection to the real life, to the human society that we can relate to. Sometimes it’s hidden behind metaphor, other times it’s a bold statement. See the second quote above. I love it. It’s a description of a society in a parallel Universe, but it’s also boldly truthful statement that applies to where you and I are living in presently. If the strange and unexisting can be made relatable in fiction, the author wins.
I mean, also digitization… It’s the norm. It’s the norm for all paperwork, fort all bureaucracy. It’s data centres in oceans. It’s a big, huge thing that still blows my mind – data. The energy used for it, to cool the servers, to keep everything running. We have access to data at all times, smooth limitless data… If you think of it, human minds, real human minds becoming a digital thing, feels like the next logical step to ‘fuck around and find out’ about?!
Did I enjoy this story? I did. Very much so. Would I recommend? Absolutely. Yes, I may have been a bit challenging for me at times, but as I said earlier, that’s on me. This intelligent scifi story has good pace, a good flow and a very good cast of characters. You will have NO doubt that you’re reading scifi for where and how it takes place, the horrors that our characters face, the droids, the space travel… The gadgets. It’s all very imaginative and awe-inspiring to a scifi newb like me, and I am sure hardcore scifi readers will also enjoy the use of modern, advanced scifi elements and ideas that it tackles. This title is definitely leaving the reader with more food for thought than simply being of the entertaining kind.
I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now… I just don’t think I am able to give an accurate overview of the plot – there were sentences that I had to read twice or thrice to go: oh, yes, yes, yes, I get it! Not because it was confusingly written, not at all. But because I am slow. I. am. slow. There’s some big words and ideas in the book that I don’t normally have any connection to in my daily life, I failed all of sciency type classes during my 14 year education, so for most hardcore scifi readers, it may be easy to grasp, but for me, not so much! 😀 Sometimes I just don’t get it… I blank out! So, you may think, why read it then? Because the stories are still interesting, and maybe something will stick! But, going back to my original point, I may not be able to fully do the story justice. Moving on.
Soon her mind would be free of its inherent biological limitations. Free to access a digital stream of limitless and ever-increasing data.
Sheppard has conjured up some really nightmarish stuff. The growth, a tumor, growing in Dr Lylah’s young patient’s brain is itself a scary concept. Something as cruel as a tumor taking away the life of an innocent child is enough to spur Dr Lylah to take the wild leap of downloading her consciousness onto a nano craft to go and explore the tumor at source. And if you think this is wild in itself, buckle up because it’s about to get even wilder and scarier than you can imagine.
I’ll tell you what, this book left more of an impact on me than I realized at first, and I realized the impact after I had a nightmare that was 100% inspired by this book. I don’t generally have nightmares that are very ‘deep’… I see big waves and bears. This particular nightmare however was about the mind and the doors that open to other places and the beings that we release into the world through these open doors.
The sad truth was that they all became automatons, living droids in the modern work model, freelance slaves for the big corporations, measured and valued only for their productivity.
But when you find an enitre Universe in someone’s head – a realistic, advanced Universe with dangers and lifeforms and droids and… Terrifying. Mind blowing. It’s the idea and theory of multiverse that is at once exciting and unimaginable. A very good element of a scifi fiction, a lot of opportunities… Sheppard put everything into play here. Every word in Terror Forming counts.
There are two things, however, that did make my limited intelligence ponder… 1. The fact that as humans, we are limited by our biological characteristics. See quote from the book above. If our spirits and thinking power weren’t ‘prisoned’ into these meatsacks we wear that spends most of the lifecycle alive towards aging, what, who and how much could we really be? What if we could download our consciousness into a droid, we’d be like AI… BUT we’d be AI with no expiry date on our minds? We’d be immortal to explore, experiment, discover… Okay, that’s freaky. 2. I kind of love this about the few scifi titles that I have read. With all of these out of this world elements, and sometimes things that have not yet come to exist, there is always some connection to the real life, to the human society that we can relate to. Sometimes it’s hidden behind metaphor, other times it’s a bold statement. See the second quote above. I love it. It’s a description of a society in a parallel Universe, but it’s also boldly truthful statement that applies to where you and I are living in presently. If the strange and unexisting can be made relatable in fiction, the author wins.
I mean, also digitization… It’s the norm. It’s the norm for all paperwork, fort all bureaucracy. It’s data centres in oceans. It’s a big, huge thing that still blows my mind – data. The energy used for it, to cool the servers, to keep everything running. We have access to data at all times, smooth limitless data… If you think of it, human minds, real human minds becoming a digital thing, feels like the next logical step to ‘fuck around and find out’ about?!
Did I enjoy this story? I did. Very much so. Would I recommend? Absolutely. Yes, I may have been a bit challenging for me at times, but as I said earlier, that’s on me. This intelligent scifi story has good pace, a good flow and a very good cast of characters. You will have NO doubt that you’re reading scifi for where and how it takes place, the horrors that our characters face, the droids, the space travel… The gadgets. It’s all very imaginative and awe-inspiring to a scifi newb like me, and I am sure hardcore scifi readers will also enjoy the use of modern, advanced scifi elements and ideas that it tackles. This title is definitely leaving the reader with more food for thought than simply being of the entertaining kind.
March 18, 2023
Terror Forming is fun, fast paced, strange and attention grabbing. This book is a whirlwind of weird mixed in with nanotechnology, transference of consciousness, and complete worlds and galaxies in the strangest of places.
The story follows Dr. Lylah and working counterpart Dr. Thirty-Seven-C. In order to save their patient Dr. Lylah transfers her consciousness to shrink down and look at the problem from the inside and what she finds there is truly mind boggling. An entire thriving universe inhabited by criminal cartels, big game hunters and terrifying monsters.
This book gave me Star Wars in the miniverse vibes but weirder and more gruesome. I'm a huge Star Wars fan so this was right in my wheelhouse. It was a delight to read, filled with thrills, chills, and action packed instensity.
The story follows Dr. Lylah and working counterpart Dr. Thirty-Seven-C. In order to save their patient Dr. Lylah transfers her consciousness to shrink down and look at the problem from the inside and what she finds there is truly mind boggling. An entire thriving universe inhabited by criminal cartels, big game hunters and terrifying monsters.
This book gave me Star Wars in the miniverse vibes but weirder and more gruesome. I'm a huge Star Wars fan so this was right in my wheelhouse. It was a delight to read, filled with thrills, chills, and action packed instensity.
January 27, 2023
This is a short but scary science fiction book with some truly mind bending sections!
The alien queen in this book is terrifying and becomes even more so when we begin to learn what she really is. And it'll blow your mind. We also have droids that are more human than you might think, action sequences worthy of any sci-fi movie, and an andrenalin fueled pacing that keeps the pedal down throughout.
This book isn't that long so you'll be able to read through it quickly but you'll be disappointed because you want more!
The alien queen in this book is terrifying and becomes even more so when we begin to learn what she really is. And it'll blow your mind. We also have droids that are more human than you might think, action sequences worthy of any sci-fi movie, and an andrenalin fueled pacing that keeps the pedal down throughout.
This book isn't that long so you'll be able to read through it quickly but you'll be disappointed because you want more!
May 22, 2023
While it is challenging to bring forth new concepts in any storytelling format, P. A. Shepherd's "Terror Forming" delivers a plot that's familiar yet distinctly its own. It feels reminiscent of an intriguing mashup between Isaac Asimov's "Fantastic Voyage," the 1987 movie "Innerspace," and the recent "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." Despite these influences, Shepherd's story manages to carve out its unique narrative space.
To provide an objective review, I've divided my assessment into different categories, before sharing my personal take:
CATEGORIES
Originality: 4/5 stars - Although the premise borrows elements from previous works, Shepherd's characters inhabit a uniquely crafted universe.
Character Development: 3/5 stars - The characters could benefit from more distinguishing traits. While we know their genders and whether they're human or AI, it's often challenging to differentiate them based on personality or quirks. The enigmatic Queen, present since the beginning, lacks a clear origin story.
Copy Editing: 5/5 stars - The manuscript is impeccable in this regard.
Narrative: 4/5 stars - Overall, the book is well-written. However, some might find some of the words a little overwhelming, considering the book targets average readers. Not sure if a thesaurus was used or not?
Continuity and Ambiguity: 3/5 stars - Certain parts of the story could lead to confusion. For instance, a character is described as "half-falling and half-climbing." Another was that the Wraith could read minds (memory & thoughts). Example: “Speaking was painful and unnecessary when her captor could read her mind. Not every thought, but anything she planned to say, any words formed inside her head, the wraith automatically understood.” These phrases, while evocative, aren’t entirely clear.
From these categories, the book achieves a score of 19 out of 25 stars, or 76%. This translates to 3.8 stars on a five-star rating system. As neither Amazon nor Goodreads allow such specific ratings, I'm rounding it up to 4 stars.
CONCLUSION
"Terror Forming" spins a yarn about a doctor who, alongside an AI companion, digitally inserts herself into a boy's body to combat a lethal medical complication - a plot device seen before. However, from this point, the narrative diverges into a unique tale filled with fear, gore, love, and universe-protecting, solidly grounded in sci-fi fantasy sprinkled with plausible theoretical concepts.
Despite enjoying the novella, several unanswered questions lingered:
What was the fate of old Earth?
How was the wraith created?
Could we have more backstory on Captain Erik and Dakota? Perhaps some flashbacks?
Who were the Gowlans, aside from being the scourge of the universe?
What became of the boy whose life hung in the balance?
How does the book cover relate to the story within?
"Terror Forming" presents an enjoyable read for those who appreciate a fresh spin on familiar sci-fi themes. However, a deeper delve into its characters and clearer answers to some key questions would enhance its appeal.
Follow me on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IDOBOOKREVIEWS
Medium: https://medium.com/@shaymills1968
Subtack: https://bit.ly/3IwdZcX
To provide an objective review, I've divided my assessment into different categories, before sharing my personal take:
CATEGORIES
Originality: 4/5 stars - Although the premise borrows elements from previous works, Shepherd's characters inhabit a uniquely crafted universe.
Character Development: 3/5 stars - The characters could benefit from more distinguishing traits. While we know their genders and whether they're human or AI, it's often challenging to differentiate them based on personality or quirks. The enigmatic Queen, present since the beginning, lacks a clear origin story.
Copy Editing: 5/5 stars - The manuscript is impeccable in this regard.
Narrative: 4/5 stars - Overall, the book is well-written. However, some might find some of the words a little overwhelming, considering the book targets average readers. Not sure if a thesaurus was used or not?
Continuity and Ambiguity: 3/5 stars - Certain parts of the story could lead to confusion. For instance, a character is described as "half-falling and half-climbing." Another was that the Wraith could read minds (memory & thoughts). Example: “Speaking was painful and unnecessary when her captor could read her mind. Not every thought, but anything she planned to say, any words formed inside her head, the wraith automatically understood.” These phrases, while evocative, aren’t entirely clear.
From these categories, the book achieves a score of 19 out of 25 stars, or 76%. This translates to 3.8 stars on a five-star rating system. As neither Amazon nor Goodreads allow such specific ratings, I'm rounding it up to 4 stars.
CONCLUSION
"Terror Forming" spins a yarn about a doctor who, alongside an AI companion, digitally inserts herself into a boy's body to combat a lethal medical complication - a plot device seen before. However, from this point, the narrative diverges into a unique tale filled with fear, gore, love, and universe-protecting, solidly grounded in sci-fi fantasy sprinkled with plausible theoretical concepts.
Despite enjoying the novella, several unanswered questions lingered:
What was the fate of old Earth?
How was the wraith created?
Could we have more backstory on Captain Erik and Dakota? Perhaps some flashbacks?
Who were the Gowlans, aside from being the scourge of the universe?
What became of the boy whose life hung in the balance?
How does the book cover relate to the story within?
"Terror Forming" presents an enjoyable read for those who appreciate a fresh spin on familiar sci-fi themes. However, a deeper delve into its characters and clearer answers to some key questions would enhance its appeal.
Follow me on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IDOBOOKREVIEWS
Medium: https://medium.com/@shaymills1968
Subtack: https://bit.ly/3IwdZcX
February 24, 2023
This book really blew my mind! I'm not into science fiction at all, but I bought this book as I'm a big fan of Paul Sheppard after reading The Night Crawler which was released by Aphotic Realm. I'll admit some of the science bit went over my head but it is clearly very well thought out.
The plot is just wild, this book is a thrilling ride through space and bodies! The story starts off with a baby who is very sick and only very desperate measures will save them. Then we are introduced to Eve, a woman on the run through space trying to escape with her life she escape from one source of danger only to find herself in an impossible situation.
This is a brilliantly bonkers book. It's so hard to explain the outline of the plot it something you'll have to read for yourself to know. All I can say is that this is a great book that I read in one sitting as it's so gripping and I couldn't put it down as I had to know what was going to happen next!
The plot is just wild, this book is a thrilling ride through space and bodies! The story starts off with a baby who is very sick and only very desperate measures will save them. Then we are introduced to Eve, a woman on the run through space trying to escape with her life she escape from one source of danger only to find herself in an impossible situation.
This is a brilliantly bonkers book. It's so hard to explain the outline of the plot it something you'll have to read for yourself to know. All I can say is that this is a great book that I read in one sitting as it's so gripping and I couldn't put it down as I had to know what was going to happen next!
January 3, 2023
I enjoyed this book, but I might be biased 😎
May 12, 2023
The storyline addresses the age old question of the cosmos: What forms of intelligent life abound in the universe? Given the technological advances made in the last 300 years, if we think that we mortals here on Earth are intelligent, imagine what we might think of ourselves a million years from now, that is, should we survive. How about 100 million years?
The author created a masterpiece of prose with this well-written novel that takes us far beyond the limits of our present understanding of life. The possibilities are endless. This is a must read for those with inquiring minds.
The author created a masterpiece of prose with this well-written novel that takes us far beyond the limits of our present understanding of life. The possibilities are endless. This is a must read for those with inquiring minds.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews