Indie Book Club discussion

Congrats to Jade for winning this months category. Let the discussions begin!

Congrats Jade.

Look forward to the upcoming discussion. :)

Whoot! I'm excited. And nervous.

For those who want to get the book, it's currently on sale at $0.99 (down from $2.99) for the duration of my virtual book tour which runs through March 1st.

You can find it at:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008...

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfection-Un...

Apple iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/perf...

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/perfe...

Diesel: http://www.dieselbookstore.com/ebook/...

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Perfec...

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Sony: https://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/jad...

Congrats Jade on winning!

Just bought it. Sounds interesting!

Hi folks,

Any thoughts/comments you'd like to share/discuss?

Knocked out the first two chapters today. Very engaging start to the book, though I did flash to the X-men cartoon when the mutant registration was mentioned lol.

I grew up on X-Men... :-) Combined with my biology degree, a book on genetic engineering and mutants was somewhat inevitable.

X-Men is a great choice to grow up on. I'm getting a bit further in the book and I am kind of hating Zara for her attitude towards Danyael. I realize it is a result of his shield but it still annoys me lol.

Yes, Zara has tended to annoy people. I promise she'll grow on you though, if not by the end of this book, then at least by the end of the series. :-)

I'm not sure I'll finish this in a timely fashion. I'm dealing with two price-drops from my favorite authors this month.

However, I did read the first chapter of "Perfection Unleashed" and I'm intrigued.

For Jade, if these can be answered without spoilers:

Sci-fi about genetic engineering is rarely designed as a light-hearted adventurous romp, so what were your goals for this novel? What are you hoping the reader will take from it?

Hi Steve,

I hope this novel (and its sequels) will make people ask questions, including (but not limited to):

1. What is the impact of "nature" versus "nurture" on human potential?

2. What constitutes perfection in humanity? Is it perfection of every facet, or perfection in a single critical facet? If the latter, what is that single critical facet that makes humans human?

3. What is the price society will pay to keep the "peace"? Would we sacrifice individual human rights for the "greater good"?

I don't pretend to have any answers. (As a former management consultant, we're trained to answer just about any question with, "It depends...") I just raise scenarios that ask questions... :-)

Of course, people who don't want to deal with the questions can just enjoy the adventurous romp.

Finished up the book. You can be a bit harsh on your characters but I enjoyed the book quite a bit. Still not feeling real good about Zara yet though. I will keep an eye out for the rest of the series so I can see if she does start to grow on me.

Glad you enjoyed it. :-) The sequels, Perfect Betrayal and Perfect Weapon, are available in all e-book formats, and a YA spin-off with Danyael and Zara as main characters comes out in a week or so...

Is your nature vs nurture conflict shown by Danyiel and Jason as brothers or is it more Danyiel and Galahad as a genetic template vs the perfect specimen? Or I guess just more of an overall theme since genetic manipulation seems much more commonplace in the book?

It's intended as an overall theme. As you've noted, the comparisons come up many times between multiple characters. More subtly, it even comes up with Xin, since she is a clone of a famous personality and there is a historical precedence against which to compare.

I had forgotten about Xin being a clone. That does bring a completely different light to the traditional nature vs nurture argument.

this series made me ask a lot of question but what touch me most is relationships between the characters....
danyeal and lucien
danyeal and zara
zara and galahad
jason and danyeal

it made me question perfections and loyalty .....
i love the series..

I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Yes, relationships are always changing in this book. Never a dull moment. :-)

So I'm about 1/3 through, and there's one sticking point. Galahad is frequently referred to as "genetically perfect." What does that mean? Now, I understand that an author may want to leave that deliberately vague so the reader can contemplate one what perfection is on their own time, but surely the genetic engineers who designed Galahad had some definition. Or have I just not read far enough?