World, Writing, Wealth discussion

Our first group read (1 of 2 because of a tie) of 2018 is science fiction.

Please join us in reading Ian S. Bott's Tiamat's Nest

Weather forecasting is a life-or-death profession, and hard sciences and technology are all that keep people alive and fed. Anthropologists, soft and useless, rank slightly below politicians and telemarketers on the social scale. This sucks for Charles Hawthorne, Professor of Anthropology.

Worse yet, his research into human behavior has discovered how human history ended up on its current miserable course, and the perpetrator is hell-bent on keeping it hidden.

Worst of all, with everything mechanical under computer control, the most innocuous device is a potential murder weapon to a well-connected villain.

After a series of deadly near-misses Charles flees to the wilds of Greenland where the global network has yet to reach. But to deal with the threat, to save himself and his family, Charles has to confront technology full on and enter the even more hostile world online.

Freeing humanity from a lifetime of slavery comes as an added bonus.

Reading Schedule
(Because we started later than usual, I had to abbreviate the schedule.)

11 - 20 January (Saturday)
Discuss chapters 1 - 22. Do not need to use spoiler tags for content in these chapters.

21 (Sunday) - 31 January
Discuss entire book. Do not need to use spoiler tags at all.

I bought my copy.

Thanks Alex. Just want to mention that I've dropped the price to $0.99, and I think it's showing across all markets. Kindle, Nook and Kobo definitely. For some reason iTunes is showing $1.99 which is neither the old nor the new price but that may be because I'm viewing the Canadian site. Those of you in the US may see something different.

Yes; it’s $0.99 on Amazon, but that’s not the main reason why I’m going to read your book. It’s because it’s in my area of interest, internet of things and hacking. Plus since you’re a software engineer, your book’s is probably grounded in technological reality more than most.

LOL, Alex, I'm hoping people will read because they are interested and want to read. I just mentioned the price so people are aware they shouldn't be paying the full price in case it hasn't filtered all the way through to all the outlets.

May be grounded somewhat in reality but I hope you're not looking for technical details. In fact, most of it is told through the point of view of a devout technophobe :)

Added reading schedule. (Because we started later than usual, I had to abbreviate the schedule.)

11 - 20 January (Saturday)
Discuss chapters 1 - 22. Do not need to use spoiler tags for content in these chapters.

21 (Sunday) - 31 January
Discuss entire book. Do not need to use spoiler tags at all.

We can start discussing chapters 1 - 22.

End of Chapter 1: Not much prep--a little opening scene IRL only hinting at the dilemma and then we're thrown right into the game. I like it.

Interspersing the IRL scenes with VR scenes fulfills the book description's promise that Charles will have to "enter the even more hostile world online." (Maybe in that way Ready Player One? (which I haven't read, btw.))

Hi Alex, I'm loving the comments in your status updates. I'm really hoping the questions on your mind get answered to your satisfaction eventually.

There's a whole discussion to be had around collective cultural memory, but it's too early yet. I don't want to taint your reader's perspective by talking about my thought process just yet.

I looked back and at least the academics know about the global catastrophe.

We can now discuss the entire book w/o having to use spoiler tags.

@88.0% - Excellently believable showdown b/w the gamer clan leader and the online-inexperienced real-life professor.

97% - Excellent action scene, merging the VR and the IRL. But they're dead now, right? After all, you can't outrun a tactical nuke.

100% - A short and effective conclusion and a sweet epilogue. Although Joseph's reaction might have been expressed in more detail, it still brought tears to my eyes.

Aw, Alex! I did want the epilogue to provide a touching ending, but tears? Mission accomplished beyond expectations!

Thank you so much for reading.

I hope the small nuke thing made sense in the end. I did a lot of research on blast radius, thermal effects, overpressure etc. and I think the scenario is plausible for something in the sub-kiloton range. Question is whether it came across credibly enough to overcome natural disbelief.

In the popular imagination, any nuclear explosive is likely to evoke images of utter destruction. So anything nuclear always requires a bit more explanation even if the warhead was only 500 lbs. of TNT. In my mind it was plausible after that bit of knowledge, but I’m more of a military hardware geek than most.

I've just started this one, and so far, I'm really enjoying it! Looking forward to reading the rest.

Hi Leonie, thanks for the encouraging words. Hope it continues to hold your interest. And I'll try and hold off on any discussions that might reveal where the story goes, although I think we've already let slip that there's a bit of an explosion mixed in there somewhere :)

Well, I'm up to the bit with a crashing snow plough...

Oh yeah, there's a fair bit of mayhem before things go nuclear :)

Oh good!

Leonie wrote: "Oh good!"

How did you like the gaming scenes?

Which character did you like the best?

Well, I'm now 61% through, and really finding this a gripping read. I'm just at the spot where the gamers are about to distract Tiamet, and Tinman has just regained his avatar, so I'll reply properly in about 24 hours 😊

That's really good to know, Leonie. My goal was to make this a fast-paced and suspenseful story.

Alex, I'd be curious to put your question back to you - what did you make of the characters, favorite (or least favorite)?

So, I finished it this morning, and really enjoyed it. It had a nice fast pace, and I liked the characters. My favourite was Tinman, with Pink a close second.

I really liked the Pink reveal at the end, as I had a bit of a bet with myself as to 'who' she was. (Was half right.)

I also enjoyed the gaming scenes. I do a little gaming myself, but our youngest is a gamer, and having watched and listened to him game, and watched some gaming comps with him, I felt that the gaming scenes rang true.

Nice story, Ian!

We can still continue to discuss this book, but I wanted to take a moment to thank Ian S. Bott for allowing us the privilege of hosting your novel as our book of the month read.

For those of you who read his book, I encourage you to leave a review.

I'll think on my favorite character.

Thank you Alex for setting this up, and thanks Alex and Leonie for reading and commenting.

Ian wrote: "Thank you Alex for setting this up, and thanks Alex and Leonie for reading and commenting."

I really enjoyed it, Alex. I'll be popping up a review shortly.