Robert W. Ross Q&A

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What an exciting, if bittersweet moment for fans of Robert W. Ross’ thrilling near future sci-fi series, the Paradigm 2045 Trilogy! The finale is here and trust us when we say Omandi's Daemon is everything fans of the series could hope for... and more! What a ride!

IYKYK, but for the uninitiated, allow us a moment to share what makes this trilogy —or anything by Robert W. Ross— a must read! 

Ross is an award winning author whose writing is fresh, propulsive, and often humorous; and, while decidedly modern, bears the mark of influence of masters such as Heinlein and Farmer. While the epic length of each novel in the series allows for exceptional character development, the stories never flag, keeping readers—you, we hope—on the edge of their seats. 

If you’ve been here a minute, you know we love nothing more than to sit down with today’s best sci-fi authors in order dive a bit deeper into their process and what inspired these novels we love so much. We are grateful that Robert gave us his time in order to do just that! 

DSF: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today! The end of a series is such a big moment and we're really grateful to get chance to talk about it with you. Before we get into Omandi's Daemon, we wanted to ask a bit about the series as a whole. Paradigm 2045 depicts major themes of saving the world from an outside force while strife arises within humanity itself. Did any real-world events inspire you to write Trinity’s Children?

RWR: Great question, and my answer is actually informed by a bunch of reader/listener correspondence and reviews. The first book in the series, Trinity’s Children, came out August 25th, 2020. As I’m sure everyone remembers, 2020 was quite the dumpster fire of a year. We had social unrest, a pandemic, and it seemed America had gone into two separate corners based on whether they wore red- or blue-colored political jerseys.

I had folks contacting me from across the broadest spectrum of personal experiences— race, nationality, political perspective, you name it. Each of them saw something different in Trinity’s Children. One woman—I’ll call her KM—is a firefighter in the US, and she enjoyed the story so much she recommended it to her daughter. KM penned one of my favorite reviews entitled The Brown Girl Superhero We’ve All Been Waiting For, after her daughter came running into the living room while listening to the audio book and exclaimed, “Mom, Charlotte looks like me!” I’ve since reached out to KM; we’ve become electronic pen pals, and her daughter composed the theme music for one of my other books.

That’s just one example, but it illustrates what drove me to write Paradigm 2045 the way I did. I am a child of the 80s, and my father was a career Marine Corps officer. I lived the era of Stranger Things. We had no social media. We didn’t know every aspect of everyone’s lives. I learned to make friends quickly, and we didn’t much care what someone looked like or what their politics were. We worked together, whether that was building a fort, starting a kid-run mini-business, or getting into trouble. My mom can attest to this last part ad nauseam.

I had been seeing this growing adversarial nature both domestically and abroad. I didn’t like it. I also saw how social media algorithms indexed on conflict rather than harmony. I really hated that. I wanted to pen a story that showed a more optimistic view of humanity. I wanted to demonstrably show how the things that bind us together vastly outweigh the things that tend to tear us apart. I wanted to show humanity’s promise, which is why the second book in the series has that title.

Finally, I remember a number of emails commenting on how Trinity’s Children was so timely and asking how had I arranged for it to be published at such a perfect time. I found that so amusing. I am neither prescient nor one who writes message-forward novels. I think we have enough of that already. First and foremost, I write to entertain. If I do a good job there, then maybe, just maybe, I earn the right for some subtle messaging. Also, Trinity’s Children was over 200,000 words. It takes a fair bit of time to write, alpha test, edit, beta test, edit again, then produce an audiobook. In short, I had no clue about 2020 when I started writing Trinity’s Children. What goodness came from its timing has everything to do with providence and nothing to do with me.

DSF: Amazing. Thank you for sharing! No doubt your answer will resonate with a lot of our readers as we hear from so many who are seeking sci-fi with a more optimistic view of humanity and it's not always easy to find.

Okay, ready? Haha. We know this question is often really hard for authors, but who is your favorite character from the Paradigm 2045 series and why?

RWR: Oh, gosh.  Why not ask me which of my three kids is my favorite. Honestly, this will sound like a cop out, but I truly love them all. They speak to me, and I mean that literally. I know that sounds cracked in the head, but when I write, I hear them. I see them. I write down what they do, and it becomes the story. That said, if I’m forced to answer the question, then I’ll do so using the words of Dr. Damien Howard from Trinity’s Children as he took his leave from Captain Charlotte Omandi:

“I love all my children. All of you have bits of me in you, and I’m not just talking about your beautiful eyes. You have the best parts of me, and it is such a joy to see those parts reflected back without the darkness I’ve seen, endured, and made. James is my laughter, Karishma, my diligence, Misha, my righteous anger, Linnea, my empathy, Chao, my wise counsel, and Richard, my compassion.”

Howard patted her cheek, and she felt her own tears begin to fall as his voice caught in his throat. “But you Charlotte...in you I see my idealized self...all the things I could have been, but never was. I am so very, very proud of you.” 

So there you have it: Charlotte is my favorite, but don’t anyone tell the others.

DSF: We knew we were putting you on the spot with that! Well done! Paradigm 2045 is perfect for fans of The Expanse, Blade Runner, and Ready Player One. If you had to write a crossover novel between Paradigm 2045 and one of these titles, which would you choose and why?

RWR: My heart would say Bladerunner, but my head and author-sense would demand The Expanse. When I conceived of Paradigm, I wanted some of the gritty realism of The Expanse but also some of the handwavium you find in more futuristic sci-fi like Star Trek, Dune, and Star Wars. I would love to see James Branson lifting a pint with The Expanse’s Amos Burton, only to end up in an epic bar fight. Not with each other, of course, with them. You know, the “them” foolish enough to pick a fight with James and Amos.

DSF: Haha, yes! We'd love to see it! Your character Dr. Damien Howard left behind gifts of wealth, technology, and genetic superiority to his nine children. From all of Damien’s resources, which one would you choose to have for yourself and why?

RWR: Well, in terms of physical gifts, I would definitely want the TSS Bladerunner. I mean, who doesn’t want their own starship? A close second would be Howard’s underground lair. I always wanted an underground lair, but yeah, a starship would be cooler.

In terms of genetic gifts, I would want to be like Linnea Sorenson. She has heightened environmental senses, telepathy, and a few other surprises that I won’t give away here, but, yeah, if I could have the capabilities Book 3 Linnea is rocking, that would be awesome.

DSF: How did you research topics in genetic engineering and artificial intelligence to write Paradigm 2045? Do you have a specific background in these subjects?

RWR: The genetic engineering bit was really just a whole bunch of reading, which definitely impacted my writing speed. Even with all that research, I still screwed up a few things. Fortunately, one of my beta readers is a university professor who is well versed in the subject. He fixed several things related to telomeres and gene-dominant versus recessive alleles. With respect to artificial intelligence, I led a team of AI and data scientists for about five years. There’s nothing like being surrounded by super-geniuses to raise your game. A lot of what I learned during those years informed the Daemon within Paradigm 2045.

DSF: What is the most surprising thing you discovered while writing this series?

RWR: The short answer is Charlotte Omandi, and the varied listener reactions to her. I alluded to this in my answer to the first question. Charlotte has several immutable traits. She’s black. She’s Kenyan. She’s devoutly Catholic. I didn’t intend for her to be any of the three. My characters come to me as they are, and I’ve learned the hard way not to try and change them.

So, here’s the surprising thing. I was unprepared for how hungry people were for authentic, non-recycled, characters who felt representational. As a white dude who grew up in the United States, this certainly was a personal blind spot. Charlotte is the most obvious example, as evidenced by KM and her daughter’s reaction earlier. However, it didn’t end with Charlotte. I’ve had people write me about so many representational things, such as:

  • Main character from Kenya rather than United States and who can rationalize faith with science
  • Asian character in leadership position while also being a devoted father
  • Beautiful Scandinavian character whose value and power has nothing to do with her physical attributes

To be clear, I did not go out of my way to create a representational story. Like I said before, these characters come to me as they are, and I don’t write message-forward novels. I try to write exciting sci-fi and fantasy romps that raise one’s heart rate while also offering thoughtful dialogue among interesting characters.

The fact that so many readers and listeners saw themselves in Paradigm 2045 was incredibly surprising, and even more gratifying.


DSF: July 16, 2045 holds much significance in Paradigm 2045, as that is the day the Armageddon clock is set to strike. Does July 16th hold significance in your own life, or did you pick that date randomly?


RWR: Neither actually.

The premise behind Paradigm 2045 is that spacefaring species exist within our galaxy. Those species have formed a Galactic Confederation that, among other things, watches for emerging sentient species throughout the galaxy and uses the splitting of the atom as evidence for that emergence. Over the centuries, this Confederation has determined that any species that does not develop Faster-Than-Light (FTL) travel within one hundred years after splitting the atom inevitably becomes warlike when they do. Given that, members of the Confederation provide any emerging species one hundred years to develop FTL. If they fail to do so, a pathogen is deployed that wipes out the dominant sentient species. Trinity was the code name for the United States first nuclear test. It took place on July 16, 1945. The events within Trinity’s Children take place just before humanity’s one hundred year grace period runs out. Cue dramatic music…dun…dun…dunnnnn!!

DSF: The third instalment to Paradigm 2045 , Omandi's Daemon, is the finale to this gripping, near-future sci-fi story. Are you able to disclose whether all loose ends will be tied, or will there be room for future spin-offs or extensions?

RWR: Yes and yes.

I wrote about this in one of the author’s notes that I include at the end of each of my books, but I’m a BIG believer in ending stories. I’ve been left high and dry too many times by unfinished series. I’m sure most folks reading this have had similar experiences. So, yes, Omandi's Daemon ties up all the loose ends related to the major arc within Paradigm 2045. However, it also does two other things. First, it tees up the next trilogy by creating a new conflict. Second, it explicitly interlocks the Paradigm 2045 characters with those of my fantasy series Sentinels of Creation. Sentinels is a contemporary fantasy series that concluded just two months ago with the publishing of the seventh and final book, A Final Sacrifice. 

I always loved crossovers as a kid, and I still love them as an adult.  I dropped some early hints in both series that such a crossover might occur and received so much positive feedback that I made it a firm reality in both A Final Sacrifice and Omandi's Daemon.

DSF: So exciting! Crossovers are great. What is your favorite part about writing within this genre, and do you see yourself breaking out of this subject to explore other types of stories?

RWR: I simply love the science side of science fiction. I also like the challenge inherent with balancing science with fiction. Too much science, and you have a text book. Too much fiction, and you have a fantasy. I was once fortunate enough to share a panel with the great Larry Niven. We talked about how handwavium was like salt—it makes almost any dish better when used properly, but an overabundance will ruin an otherwise perfectly prepared meal.

As for other genres, in my answer to the previous question, I mentioned Sentinels of Creation. It was my first published series and falls squarely in the fantasy genre. I have also written a paranormal romance. It’s called One Heart that Beats for Two.  It was probably the most difficult story I’ve ever written, not from a technical standpoint, but rather from an emotional one. Love and loss are often inextricably linked, and so it was with this book. I’ve received lots of correspondence asking me to write another in this genre. It’s not my intention to do so, but I’ve learned to never say never. 

DSF: Finally, every author’s favorite question: how did you get into writing, and why did you choose to become an author?

RWR: Ever since I can remember, I’ve had stories in my head. Five-year-old me played in his backyard living the adventures of Bobby Fantastic vs The Guy. When I grew old enough to write, I did so. Unfortunately, I wrote crap. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t crap technically, it was crap creatively. My writing vacillated between emotionlessness and pretentiousness, neither of which is what I was shooting for.

Bottom line, some authors—like some musicians and athletes—are born. They come out of the womb radiating greatness. I’m not one of those authors. I had to live a life, become a husband and father, raise a family, and experience both love and loss before I could write character-driven stories in Paradigm, Sentinels, and One Heart. I’ve been fortunate, and my stories have found their audience. Each series has become an Audible best seller, won awards, or both. That certainly would not have been true of anything written by twenty-five-year-old me.

I published my first novel in 2016 while still working in corporate America and continued living that double life for three more years. Finally, in 2019, I pushed all my metaphorical chips into the center and committed myself to writing full time.

Why?

Stories connect us, one with the other. It’s how we have formed and shared experiences since before the written word existed. I have all these interesting characters materializing and chattering in my head. They have things to say, teach, and share.  That’s why I write their stories. I write to give them a voice. Fortunately for me, I have the best creative partner and friend in the world, Nick Podehl, as my narrator. While I write to give these characters a voice, he actually does.

DSF: What a wonderful answer. Thank you. And yes to Nick! He is an incredible narrator and we've been so impressed by his work on your previous books. His performance really does make for an exceptional listening experience. We're really excited for our readers! Those who love print and those who enjoy audio are both in for a treat with Omandi's Daemon.

Thank you again for taking the time to talk with us today! We know it's a busy time for you; we really appreciate the chance to discuss your work in a little more depth and we know our readers will appreciate it too! 


As Omandi’s Daemon has been available in ebook format for a few weeks now, we know many fans of the series will have already devoured it! Audiobook lovers: now it’s your turn! We can't wait to hear how much you love both the story and Nick's killer performance. For those of you who are completely new to the series, we hope you’ll be inspired to go grab it and dive in. Do it now. This is not one to miss!

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Want Sci-Fi Books With Incredible World Building? Check Out These Titles!

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Fantasy is probably the first genre that comes to mind when people think of books with incredible world building, but science fiction lends itself well to this too, and as such is a great choice for readers looking for immersive, fully-realized worlds.

This week's blog features sci-fi titles that give the world building of fantasy a run for its money, and whether you're looking for series or standalones, classic or modern, we've got you! 

Ringworld by Larry Niven

Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, RINGWORLD remains a favorite among science fiction readers.

Louis Wu, accompanied by a young woman with genes for luck, and a captured kzin – a warlike species resembling 8-foot-tall cats -- are taken on a space ship run by a brilliant 2-headed alien called Nessus. Their destination is the Ringworld, an artificially constructed ring with high walls that hold 3 million times the area of Earth. Its origins are shrouded in mystery.

Read Ringworld here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold

When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge. A science fiction romance by a Hugo and Nebula Award winning master. Bujold's SHARDS OF HONOR is the first book in her SF universe to feature the Vorkosigan clan, followed by the Hugo award-winning BARRAYAR. The Nebula award-winning FALLING FREE precedes it by internal chronology in the same future history.

Read Shards of Honor  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook

The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks

The first book in Iain M. Banks's seminal science fiction series, The Culture. Consider Phlebas introduces readers to the utopian conglomeration of human and alien races that explores the nature of war, morality, and the limitless bounds of mankind's imagination.

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender.

Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.

Get your copy of Consider Phlebas here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons 

A stunning tour de force filled with transcendent awe and wonder, Hyperion is a masterwork of science fiction that resonates with excitement and invention, the first volume in a remarkable epic by the multiple-award-winning author of The Hollow Man.

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

Read Hyperion  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Zones of Thought Series by Vernor Vinge

Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures, and technology, can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.

Fleeing this galactic threat, Ravna crash lands on a strange world with a ship-hold full of cryogenically frozen children, the only survivors from a destroyed space-lab. They are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle.

 Grab A Fire Upon the Deep here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson

Decades into our future, a stone’s throw from the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has just broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neo-Victorians. He's made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer  Commissioned by an eccentric duke for his grandchild, stolen for Hackworth's own daughter, the Primer’s purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. It performs its function superbly. Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands.

Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes—members of the poor, tribeless class.  Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell.  When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian—John Percival Hackworth—in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer.

Following the discovery of his crime, Hackworth begins an odyssey of his own. Expelled from the neo-Victorian paradise, squeezed by agents of Protocol Enforcement on one side and a Mandarin underworld crime lord on the other, he searches for an elusive figure known as the Alchemist.  His quest and Nell’s will ultimately lead them to another seeker whose fate is bound up with the Primer—a woman who holds the key to a vast, subversive information network that is destined to decode and reprogram the future of humanity.

Get your copy of The Diamond Age here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

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The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Recipient of the Sturgeon Award, Paolo Bacigalupi's writing has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and the environmental journal High Country News. His non-fiction essays have appeared in Salon.com and High Country News, and have been syndicated into numerous western newspapers.

Dive into The Windup Girl here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton

A century from now, thanks to a technology allowing instantaneous travel across light-years, humanity has solved its energy shortages, cleaned up the environment, and created far-flung colony worlds. The keys to this empire belong to the powerful North family—composed of successive generations of clones. Yet these clones are not identical. For one thing, genetic errors have crept in with each generation. For another, the original three clone “brothers” have gone their separate ways, and the branches of the family are now friendly rivals more than allies.
 
Or maybe not so friendly. At least that’s what the murder of a North clone in the English city of Newcastle suggests to Detective Sidney Hurst. Sid is a solid investigator who’d like nothing better than to hand off this hot potato of a case. The way he figures it, whether he solves the crime or not, he’ll make enough enemies to ruin his career.
 
Yet Sid’s case is about to take an unexpected turn: because the circumstances of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to a killing that took place years ago on the planet St. Libra, where a North clone and his entire household were slaughtered in cold blood. The convicted slayer, Angela Tramelo, has always claimed her innocence. And now it seems she may have been right. Because only the St. Libra killer could have committed the Newcastle crime.
 
Problem is, Angela also claims that the murderer was an alien monster.
 
Now Sid must navigate through a Byzantine minefield of competing interests within the police department and the world’s political and economic elite . . . all the while hunting down a brutal killer poised to strike again. And on St. Libra, Angela, newly released from prison, joins a mission to hunt down the elusive alien, only to learn that the line between hunter and hunted is a thin one.

Dive into Great North Road here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Broken Earth Series by N.K. Jemisin

This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time.

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.

This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

Read the first book in the critically acclaimed, three-time Hugo award-winning trilogy by NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.

Get your copy of The Fifth Season here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Central Station by Lavie Tidhar

A worldwide diaspora has left a quarter of a million people at the foot of a space station. Cultures collide in real life and virtual reality. The city is literally a weed, its growth left unchecked. Life is cheap, and data is cheaper.

When Boris Chong returns to Tel Aviv from Mars, much has changed. Boris’s ex-lover is raising a strangely familiar child who can tap into the datastream of a mind with the touch of a finger. His cousin is infatuated with a robotnik—a damaged cyborg soldier who might as well be begging for parts. His father is terminally-ill with a multigenerational mind-plague. And a hunted data-vampire has followed Boris to where she is forbidden to return.

Rising above them is Central Station, the interplanetary hub between all things: the constantly shifting Tel Aviv; a powerful virtual arena, and the space colonies where humanity has gone to escape the ravages of poverty and war. Everything is connected by the Others, powerful alien entities who, through the Conversation—a shifting, flowing stream of consciousness—are just the beginning of irrevocable change.

At Central Station, humans and machines continue to adapt, thrive...and even evolve.

Start reading Central Station here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Terra Ignota Series by Ada Palmer

From the winner of the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Ada Palmer's 2017 Compton Crook Award-winning political science fiction, Too Like the Lightning, ventures into a human future of extraordinary originality

Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer--a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.

The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.

And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life...

Grab Too Like the Lightning  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Here for the first time is the complete suite of five linked stories from Ursula K. Le Guin’s acclaimed Hainish series, which tells the history of the Ekumen, the galactic confederation of human colonies founded by the planet Hain. First published as Four Ways to Forgiveness, and now joined by a fifth story, Five Ways to Forgiveness focuses on the twin planets Werel and Yeowe—two worlds whose peoples, long known as “owners” and “assets,” together face an uncertain future after civil war and revolution.

In “Betrayals” a retired science teacher must make peace with her new neighbor, a disgraced revolutionary leader. In “Forgiveness Day,” a female official from the Ekumen arrives to survey the situation on Werel and struggles against its rigidly patriarchal culture. Embedded within “A Man of the People,” which describes the coming of age of Havzhiva, an Ekumen ambassador to Yeowe, is Le Guin’s most sustained description of the Ur-planet Hain. “A Woman’s Liberation” is the remarkable narrative of Rakam, born an asset on Werel, who must twice escape from slavery to freedom. Joined to them is “Old Music and the Slave Women,” in which the charismatic Hainish embassy worker, who appears in two of the four original stories, returns for a tale of his own. Of this capstone tale Le Guin has written, “the character called Old Music began to tell me a fifth tale about the latter days of the civil war . . . I’m glad to see it joined to the others at last.”

Grab Five Ways to Forgiveness  here on Amazon.

Today I Am Carey by Martin L. Shoemaker

TODAY

Mildred has Alzheimer's. As memories fade, she acquires the aid of a full-time android to assist her in everyday life. Carey. Carey takes care of Mildred, but its true mission is to fill in the gaps in Mildred’s past. To bring yesterday into today by becoming a copy. But not merely a copy of a physical person. A copy from the inside out.

I AM

After Mildred passes, Carey must find a new purpose. For a time, that purpose is Mildred’s family. To keep them safe from harm. To be of service. There is Paul Owens, the overworked scientist and business leader. Susan Owens, the dedicated teacher. And Millie, a curious little girl who will grow up alongside her android best friend. And Carey will grow up with her. Carey cannot age. But Carey can change.

CAREY

Carey struggles. Carey seeks to understand life’s challenges. Carey makes its own path. Carey must learn to live. To grow. To care. To survive. To be.

Grab Today I Am Carey  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.


Have you read any of these exceptionally immersive sci-fi reads? Which ones will make their way into your (e)bookshelf or into your ears? Have a personal favorite sci-fi book with incredible world building that didn't appear on our list? Give it a shout out in the comments here, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group! 

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

Looking for Philosophical Sci-Fi Reads? We’ve Got You!

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Science fiction as a genre is perfect for exploring the "big questions." Sure, it's not always the case that sci-fi books do that—and we like good escapist sci-fi just as much as the next guy—but if you are in the mood for a sci-fi story that plumbs the depths of the human experience and more, we've got you! This week's blog features sci-fi titles that lean into those bigger questions. Check it out! 

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence-a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?

Read Flowers for Algernon here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem

Bringing his twin gifts of scientific speculation and scathing satire to bear on that hapless planet, Earth, Polish author Stanislaw Lem sends his unlucky cosmonaut, Ijon Tichy, to the Eighth Futurological Congress in Costa Rica to discuss the overpopulation problem. Caught up in local revolution, Tichy is shot and so critically wounded that he is flashfrozen to await a cure. But when he awakens in 2039, he is faced with a future unlike any that the Congress could have ever imagined. Translated by Michael Kandel.

Read The Futurological Congress  here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook

Neverness by David Zindell

In an age of exploding stars and other cataclysmic galactic events in which Homo sapiens has long since split into different kinds, Mallory Ringess becomes a pilot of the Order of Mystic Mathematicians and Other Seekers of the Ineffable Flame. His quest to find the Elder Eddas – nothing less than the secret of life embroidered in humanity’s oldest DNA – will lead him from Neverness’s streets of colored ice into the deadly manifold: the “space beneath space” whose topology writhes and twists with hideous complexity like a nest of psychedelic snakes.

In his lightship named The Immanent Carnation, Mallory journeys far across the Milky Way and enters the Solid State Entity: a nebula-sized brain composed of moonlike biocomputers analogous to neurons. There he is tested. In the journeys and war that follow, he begins to grasp the infinite possibilities of evolution and what he will need to sacrifice in order save humankind from destruction and change the course of the universe.

Get your copy of Neverness here on Amazon.

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to reunite the two planets, which have been divided by centuries of distrust. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart.To visit Urras—to learn, to teach, to share—will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts. But the ambitious scientist's gift is soon seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change.

Read The Dispossessed here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside -- the Extramuros -- for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.

Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates -- at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.

Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros -- a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose -- as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world -- as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.

 Grab Anathem here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell 

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.

Get your copy of The Sparrow here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

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Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

Stories of Your Life and Others delivers dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar, often presenting characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—with some sense of normalcy. With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder. An award-winning collection from one of today's most lauded writers, Stories of Your Life and Others is a contemporary classic.

Dive into Stories of Your Life and Others here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Atopia Chronicles by Matthew Mather

In the near future, to escape the crush and clutter of a packed and polluted Earth, the world's elite flock to Atopia, a massive corporate-owned artificial island in the Pacific Ocean. It is there that Dr. Patricia Killiam rushes to perfect the ultimate in virtual reality: a program to save the ravaged Earth from mankind's insatiable appetite for natural resources.

Dive into The Atopia Chronicles here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

The Thing Itself by Adam Roberts 

Adam Roberts turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taut and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenters' The Thing.

Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book - by the philosopher Kant.

As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world they debate Kant, reality and the emptiness of the universe. The come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone.

Get your copy of The Thing Itself here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Semiosis by Sue Burke

Colonists from Earth wanted the perfect home, but they’ll have to survive on the one they found. They don’t realize another life form watches...and waits...

Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that humans are more than tools.

Start reading Semiosis here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Dusty's Diary by Bobby Adair

It didn't happen overnight, not like in the movies.

I mean, it took more than a year before anybody looked up from their smartphones long enough to wonder why so many of their neighbors were infected. Why so many were dying.

The vaccination riots came and went. The grocery store shelves emptied out. The spigots eventually ran dry. That was around the time I moved underground and sealed the hatch on my backyard bunker.

That was a couple of years ago.

Now, my radio hasn't picked up a signal from the world up top since I can't remember when. My exterior camera died in a storm last spring. And the loneliness has set in, gnawing at me, making me think crazy thoughts, including the one that'll change everything.

I have to leave the bunker and see if anyone is left alive.

Grab Dusty's Diary here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

Grab Klara and the Sun here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.


Have you read any of these philosophical sci-fi reads? Which ones will make their way into your (e)bookshelf or into your ears? Have a personal favorite that didn't appear on our list? Give it a shout out in the comments here, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group! 

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

Time to Vote: What Is the Best Sci-Fi Book of 2022 (so far)?

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“Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you'd most like not to lose.” – Neil Gaiman

With so many books being released every day, it can be hard to know which ones are worth your time! Especially  if—like many of us—you already have a TBR list that will outlive you. In these moments, your community of fellow readers has your back! Last week we asked the Discover Sci-Fi community to nominate the books they thought were the very best of 2022 (so far!) and dozens of great titles were added to the poll. 

Now, it's time to decide.

We narrowed down the list of your nominations to the sixteen most voted for, and now it's time to figure out how they rank! This week you only get one vote, so make it count! 

*As alway this list is made up by combining votes from this blog and our Facebook group.  


Voting now closed. See you for next year's awards!