Techno-Thrillers discussion

Conn, Sonar! Crazy Ivan!

Just unilaterally decided to do a novel and a novella each month.
A novella is a short story--not a full novel--usually only 70-160 pages.
Just unilaterally selected Summer Frost by Blake Crouch as the May 2024 novella. It's 75 pages.

I know I'm going to blow through that Michael Crichton book in the first week it comes out in June. So, ... let's line up a techno-thriller novella for June 2024 as well ... one that's not my unilateral pick. Reply with those nominees. I'll take all the nominees and start a group poll for the June novella on May 20th.

Just nominate 1 novella by posting: Book, Author, & Why
Like the following:

Book: Delta-V
Author: Daniel Suarez
Why:
- His books are well rated on lists.
- I haven’t read any of his work before.
- This is recent (2019) & has a 2023 sequel.

That’s not an actual nomination. Delta-V is a full novel, not a novella. Just an example of how you could do it. Not necessary to format it bold or italics and such.

I’m not finding lots of techno-thriller novellas. Maybe this novella of the month notion will wither on the vine and die. I’ll nominate this one.



Book: Artificial Condition
Author: Martha Wells
Why:
- Loved the whole Murderbot series
- Like the cyber-attacks/-defense & humor
- Quick little treat, couple intense moments

No one has forwarded a 2nd nomination yet for a June novella. I want to have at least 2 options for the group to vote on, so I’ll offer a 2nd.



Book: Net Force: Eye of the Drone
Author: Jerome Preisler
Pages: 118
Duration: 3 hours 49 minutes
Why:
- Novella is a bite-sized taste/sample of the series
- 2020 reboot of Tom Clancy’s original Net Force series
- Decent average rating at 4.06.

I tend to listen to Audiobooks ~1.5X faster than normal. Ranges from 1.25 to 2X faster, depending on the speed of the narrator and interest in the book. If it’s boring … instead of abandoning, I’ll get on the gas and listen at 2X speed to get it done, not worrying if I miss a phrase occasionally due to speed. Anyway, at my average 1.5X pace, this would only be a 2.5 hour listen.

I'm going to throw a few more in the mix, since no one else nominated anything. I admit, it is not easy to find a well-rated techno-thriller novella to nominate.

Vote on June 2024 Novella of the month poll. Click on the Polls link, or scroll to bottom of group page (appears at midnight today). Use a browser, if on phone, select desktop view at bottom of the page. Using an app ... you won't see half the features on the site.

The poll for June 2024 Novella of the Month is over and the group chose Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. That Murderbot series is addictive.

Publisher's Summary
Artificial Condition is the follow-up to Martha Wells's Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, New York Times bestselling All Systems Red.

It has a dark past―one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself Murderbot. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks...

Just reread it. Only takes a couple hours. Good stuff! Finally wrote a review. It’s like being inside the mind of the Terminator, if the Terminator was a sometimes lazy teenager, and sometimes geeky get-after-it hacker. He just decides … hmmn, let me run over here, way faster than any human possibly could, catch a bad guy by the collar, and we’ll just break his arm … crack! … and throw him over here, and grab the other guy and do give him a quick nearly fatal beat down. Nothin’ but a thing for the Murderbot. Of course the hacking is probably my favorite part, but when he lays the lumber on some bad guy … that’s pretty good too. In future books, the things are combined in far more intense situations. Love that Murderbot.