When the topic of a novel is First Contact, as the past thirty-odd Cawdron novels have been, they almost by default have to address the notion of alien intelligence. In his previous novel, “Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse,” Cawdron’s alien was utterly flabbergasted by the notion that intelligence could exist in billions of tiny, bite-sized units, rather than as a vast distributed hive mind. I noted at the time that we were similarly coming to grips with the notion that octopuses were intelligent, and our reaction paralleled that of the invaders in LSAA
Quantum Space is a locked room mystery, a voyage of scientific knowledge, and a first contact novel all wrapped up into one. While trying to find out what became of the cosmonauts our characters encounter a strange shiny silver object, a variation of the Yin-Yang circle. It turns out to be a Rosetta Stone, but one that only someone familiar with advanced quantum particle physics can unravel.
I didn’t do a lot of reviews this past year. Fifty three in all. It was an election year and I write mostly about politics, and I have a backlog going into 2025. Also, if I think something is rubbish, I’m very unlikely to review it. And there was a fair old bit of rubbish that came out last year.
As with most of his work, Cawdron’s Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse is both riveting and sometimes harrowing, and at the same time thoughtful, meticulously researched, well-steeped in philosophy and science, and deeply humanitarian. Cawdron has the rare ability to be fun and intellectually satisfying at the same time, and Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse showcases that.
You Like It Darker Copyright 2024 Stephen King 502 pages, Hardcover. First published May 21, 2024, Simon & Schuster, LLC The first collection of short stories by Stephen King since 2015 (he has over 140 short stories published now), this latest is a bit uneven, ranging from readable to outstanding. Many of them are straight-up …
The Simulacrum ISBN-13 : 979-8328077170 Copyright 2024, Peter Cawdron, 391 pages, English What happens when an AI computer system decides it wants something? Well, it immediately becomes worthless as a computer because there is now an inherent bias. That “want” is also called “volition” and it exists in all known life. A want, …
by Phil Bailey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition Kelvoo’s Testimonial: Surviving the aftermath of human first contact (Kelvoo’s Chronicles Book 1) 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 69 ratings 4.2 on Goodreads 43 ratings Book 1 of 2: Kelvoo’s Chronicles Aliens aren’t what they used to be. Back in the pulp fiction days, aliens were Bug-Eyed …
3 Body Problem Created by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Alexander Woo Based on The Three-Body Problem, Dark Forest, Death’s End by Liu Cixin Music by Ramin Djawadi No. of seasons 1 No. of episodes 8 Cast: Main Jovan Adepo as Dr. Saul Durand (based on the character of Luo Ji)[1] John Bradley as Jack …
Peter Cawdron, 2024, 366 pages. These are frightening times. Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu seem set on a course that could easily lead to wider wars in Europe and the Middle East. We’re already witness to the terrifying impact of drones and artificial intelligence in vast areas surrounding the conflicts in the Ukraine and Gaza, …
Waiting for the Galactic Bus Author Parke Godwin Cover artist Chris Hopkins Series The Snake Oil Series Genre Science fiction Publisher Doubleday Publication date 1988 Media type Print (hardcover) Pages 244 pages Preceded by A Truce With Time Followed by The Snake Oil Wars Yes, I’m writing a review of a book that was first …