Kimberlin, Wade A.
ELECTRONIC ECHOES OF THE MIND
Wade A. Kimberlin
Mundania Press 2005
TP 173 pages ISBN-13:978-1-59426-108-4
eBook edition ISBN-13:978-1-59426-109-1
Action/adventure humor in the science-fiction
mold of a Mars space station shuttle pilot with a problem AI. In a
word: Fun!
Captain Jake Turner wakes one morning to a day
gone bad from the start. He's late to work, a weirdo Priestess from
some cult calls him with prophetic mumbo-jumbo, and this guy Bob is
bothering him again about making a little extra cash on the side.
At least the artificial intelligence unit Jake carries with him is
helpful: Sage gets the shuttle up and running and soon Jake drops
down to Merced Colony on Mars for a routine cargo haul. But when he
tries to pick up Bob's package the words "bad day" gain an entirely
new definition: Jake is shot, beat up, kidnapped, and tortured, and
that's just for starters. His ship is impounded and he's labelled
outlaw. There's something very bizarre going on and Jake discovers
his dead ex-girlfriend has put him in the center of conflict between
a power hungry mega-corporation, the Independent Trader's
Association, and a cult that calls themselves the Temple of Digital
Bliss. And just when he needs her most, Jake's AI goes
schizophrenic on him!
This is definitely a fun fast read, though not
recommended for science-fiction purists who are bothered by the use
of today's jargon in a futuristic model. Most readers, however,
will find the conversational tone and first-person perspective quite
engaging. ELECTRONIC ECHOES OF THE MIND is full of action. The
characterization is good. The editing is good. And the
world-building (with the exception of today's jargon) is good too,
unless you also take exception to an AI using a contraction . . .
but hey! maybe that's symbolic of what happened to Jake's AI. Want
to find out more, you'll have to read the book....
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