Erec Stebbins's The Anonymous Signal Ready for Movie Production!

Mr. Craig, Sir."

A man in a chauffeur's uniform held a door open patiently. The CEO of Goldman Sachs stalked toward the car. Silver-haired, dressed in a tailored business suit with a golden watch that glinted in the sunlight...Two bodyguards left his side and walked to a second car parked immediately behind.

Jack Craig nodded to the chauffeur and stepped into the limo..."World Financial Center, Miles."

Continuing to stare outside his window, Craig felt a weariness descend. Soon, he knew, they would reach their exist and the nasty courting ritual would begin at the hotel. A presidential speech on financial reform, dutiful agreements from the top managers, handshakes, TV moments, and reporters' questions. Too much money had changed hands for there to be any real concern. They owned the committees. The damn politicians had to trot them out every few years, give them a public tongue-lashing, and then it was back to business as usual.

A black spot in the sky in front of them caught his eye. What the hell? He disengaged the sound suppression.

"Miles, can you see that thing in front of us? I thought it was a plane, but it's something else..." something was wrong. The craft, whatever it was, seemed way to low. Too small... He could see his driver straining upward and nodding...Damn if it's not going to hit us."

The object careened straight for them, slowing its approach until it paced the car. He could see it better now...A mass of spidery arms underneath held what looked like a cylinder, the bottom shining like a large metallis disc. Craig felt a strange unease. It's like some giant insect from Mars...

"Miles, take the next exit...Just do it!" Craig wasn't sure what was happening, but his instincts were never wrong. He had lived too long as a predator and master of the games of power...Right now, his alarms were ringing frantically.

The limo darted across lanes toward the exit to a chorus of horns. The small flying thing matched their motion, and continued to close the distance...Then the impossible! The small craft accelerated and slammed directly onto the roof of the car.

Craig jumped. Shit! "Pull us over, Miles. Now!...Goddamn thing is stuck to the rooftop," yelled Craig, grabbing the handle of his door. He prepared to leap out of the behicle.

A large explosion rocked the corner of 53rd and Sutton Place. Windows of surrounding buildings shattered, facade stone fractured and fell, and debris from a black limo blasted outward with a fireball that set nearby trees and garbage on fire. Smoke surged upward from the demolished vehicle, only a chassis and partial skeleton remaining...

Above the growing chaos, unseen by anyone below, a frenetic buzzing purred. An apple-sized object hovered hundreds of feet above the fire, a propeller whirling above an octagonal hardware collection ending with a downward-pointing lens. The mechanical  insect watched over the scene with a cold stillness. As the first sounds of sirens began to spill toward the carnage, it climbed above the buildings and disappeared into the sky.

~~~

The Anonymous Signal:

Book one of An Armageddon Duology

By Erec Stebbins

Wow! It's probably because I've been working with different types of computer systems all my professional life, that I found the latest by Erec Stebbins to be so fantastic...and horrible... Fantastic because of his details and imagination in concocting the story... And horrible because it could happen in reality to a greater or lesser extent than here in his book... which were truly disastrous events...

Internet Review of Books said of Erec..."Stebbins is the Master of the Thinking Reader's Techno Thriller" To me, when the techies give praise, it is not said lightly. Stebbins is brilliant and uses the expertise he's developed together with his creative genius to move from one book to another in various genres and areas of interest. I've only had the time to read 5 of them over the years, but I did and would still highly recommend all of his books (See link to reviews below combined book trailer video.) But this one...it became my favorite of those I've read...

The First Strike was toward company CEOs and politicians, sometime using

drones. These scary little mechanical creatures had been acquired by the thousands and will terrify you in some of the scenes as completely unmanned machines kill and destroy.

But consider them as merely hors-d'oeuvres to the main meal...An unstoppable worm eating up and through the world-wide Internet... eating through corporate files, government information systems and on to Wall Street and other markets...it was unstoppable... Soon phones were gone, utilities...while money was being moved out of all accounts never to see seen again...

Rioting began in the streets as transportation was dowm and people were going without food...

"Word on the Capitol?"

Lightfoote nodded. "You've seen the footage on the news. Main entrance and steps are blown to hell and back. Few were hurt at this time of night, but the point sure was made. The building is structurally sound, however. It would take a lot more firepower than these little drones can carry to serious damage it."
"And what if they have bigger drones?" asked Cohen.
Angel bit her lip."Then it could be a lot worse. But the scurrying of governmental staff is creating power vacuums. Basically, we're moving to a crisis mode unlike anything except during the Cold War. Not even 9/11 approached this. The apparatus is gearing up for siege."
"This is not going to end well," muttered Savas. "update me on this worm."
"It is hard to get visible, and wow, what a beauty." Cohen arched her eyebrow. "Seriously, Rebecca, this is the Michaelangelo of hackers. The damn thing self-assembled from thousands of computers around the world on some mysterious signal."
"Self-assembled?" asked Savas.
"Yes! We thought that it was hiding on various computers. Only parts of it were. Like the distributed code I mentioned? I didn't realize that the entire worm was networked. In other words, it doesn't exist as a single piece of code on any computer, but like a neural network that's the sum of a bunch of minor worms on millions of computers. It's incredible. Powerful. Unstoppable."
"Unstoppable?" said Cohen.
"Well, I don't know how to stop it. I don't think anybody would. It's unprecedented. It's a distributed AI that's taking over the distributed brain we call the internet."
"But it was activated with the Anonymous broadcast?" asked Savas.
"It ran the damn broadcast, John! I tried to get inside the code that activated, but it quickly detected my efforts and erased itself. Wiped the hard-drive. I'm reinstalling from backup..."
Savas felt his head pounding. He needed something concrete, something practical. "Tell me what the threat is."
Lightfoote looked at him in shock. "John, it can do anything. Write any code, erase data, create data, shut systems down, modulate system function. Turn off the water and lights. Open the Hoover Dam. Drop half the airplanes from the sky. Delete the world's money supply. Anything.
What's the threat? It's fucking digital Armageddon."

~~~

A thousand years scarce serve to form a state: An hour may lay it in the dust.                                          --Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Stebbins begins his book in the midst of of United States Armed Forces Special Tribunal, which is the Plaintiff, versus John Savas, Defendant. Set before The Anonymous Event Commission...

There is a certain arrogant attitude established by the writer right at the beginning. You see, the very people who worked diligently and had "saved the world" were now being put through "hell" because of the way they handled things. OMG, Bureacracy at its finest..."Thanks for saving the world, but now, we need to pick all of your actions apart to cover those of us who couldn't--save the world that is..."  Stebbins' outstanding choice to frame his book in this fashion lends so much more credibility to what happens--again leading readers to the horrors of the "possibilities..."

Special Agent John Savas is the head of the team that some were saying had gone rogue... Duh, so while all communication was down, the bureaucrats expected to be totally kept in the loop on what the assigned group was doing to stop the disaster. I loved the sarcastic and emotional amazement expressed by those giving their depositions...

CBD: Thank you, Mr. Miller. You understand that your testimony here is on the record, and your words might later be used to charge and try you as an enemy combatant of the United States?     Mr.Miller: No, I don't understand that. [REDACTED] Have you not been informed of your rights and requirements under the new Tribunal Act?     Mr. Miller: Yes, sir. But none of this makes any sense to me. {REDACTED] You have been informed of the law?     Mr. Miller: Yes, Jesus.

Be prepared for a complex, fast-paced, story that still provides readers with detailed information on what was happening and what was being done to investigate who was behind everything. 

I enjoyed John Savas as the leader and coordinator but there were three exciting heroes who actually responded to the primary activities. One was a brilliant computer genius and a husband-wife team that had earlier been declared criminals and wanted by the government who were brought in by Savas... Kinda supports many of our concerns about actions of government officials, since those three heroes disappeared after all the work they'd done, without any praise or thank yous...in fear of their lives...

What I'm trying to point out is that in the creation of the book, I believe Erec Stebbins has done everything possible he could do to make the story one of the most realistic books you may ever read. It my opinion, it would make a Armageddon techno-thriller movie that would prove to be a major success! And extremely believable, given the time frame and technological advances and connectivity now present across the world.

"Jen, What the hell is your son doing at my
computer?"
The black hair of a young boy popped up from
behind a monitor, his eyes wide behind oversized
 glasses. Several books were positioned around
him on the desk, and his hand clutched a computer
mouse in an iron grip.
A red-faced man stood in the doorway to the home
office, his teeth bared, high-end casual clothing
draping an athletic form. A woman rushed past
him into the room, placing herself between the
boy and the man, hands up as if to ward off a blow.
"Now, Richard, he just wanted to try some
programming. It's for his class presentation."
She smiled wildly. "His will be so much better
than all the other children's! He's a genius,
you know!"
...His stepfather didn't like anyone to use his
things. His stepfather's computer was important.
The things on the computer were serious work.
Maybe it was true, maybe he didn't know how to
code like a grown up yet. He wasn't sure. No one
would teach him at school and his programs
didn't always work like he wanted. He knew he
needed to learn more.
But he could delete files. He knew how to do that.
He could delete ALL his stepfather's files.
He opened a terminal window and began typing.
~~~

The only thing that breaks the realism is the villain...because he is just a flawed, even though brilliant, human.

And that's what makes the book fun!

Readers gain sufficient background about this character to learn that he was born a genius, well beyond the capability of his parents to control him... And unfortunately he turns out to be a psychopath with, perhaps, a god complex... In any event, I loved the connection developed between the hero computer whiz and the villain computer whiz... Because, no matter how he had been prepared, and no matter what hardware and software he had acquired, she beat him every time! After meeting the Daughter of Time in his trilogy, I have come to greatly admire Erec Stebbins for his strong female characters. He has continued that recognition in this novel with my and, I am sure, other women's gratitude. 

In fact, one of Stebbins greatest abilities in his writing is in his character development. While at the same time, his brilliance and expertise brings forth some of the most unique science fiction stories I've ever enjoyed. They are intense, dynamic and complex enough to force the reader directly into the world he's created. If you don't plan to enter in right at the beginning, you might as well forego starting his books because he'll leave undisciplined readers behind...He's that good!

But don't let me scare you, for those who are into Computers? This is a must-read! Could you beat the anonymous signal that may end the world?!

GABixlerReviews

Erec Stebbins is a biomedical researcher who writes novels in a variety of genres, focusing on thrillers and science fiction. His work has consistently been praised for its action and thrills alongside a deeper, often philosophical angle. 

His novels have been called "unique" and "pulse-pounding" (THE RAGNARÖK CONSPIRACY), "altogether profound, reminiscent of Bradbury and Dan Simmons' Hyperion" (DAUGHTER OF TIME TRILOGY), and "startlingly dark" (EXTRAORDINARY RETRIBUTION) with five star ratings in Foreword Reviews, San Francisco Book Reviews, Portland Book Review, and others. 

Author Website: http://www.erecstebbinsbooks.com/

Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5990247.Erec_Stebbins

And Check out My Reviews of...
Extraordinary Retribution
The Ragnarok Conspiracy
Reader
Writer
Maker:Daughter of Time

Maker: Daughter of Time by Erec Stebbins--Destined As A New Classic Science Fiction Trilogy!

It is the year 3000 - We are still alive - Sitting watching old classic movies--The Daughter of Time Trilogy. It's played at least once a year since the middle of the last century, when word had spread across the world of how far-seeing the author, Erec Stebbins, had been. Far beyond Star Trek, Star Wars, and even A Space Odyssey, and all the other futuristic science fiction books, which have now gone into the archives, rarely brought out to be seen or experienced. A new level of scifi had been created... Writers were still trying to envision something beyond what Stebbins had created...the ultimate science fiction story... 

The Entire Trilogy is now available in one book. This review is of the final book.

http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2013/12
/brilliant-story-from-future-reader-by.html

http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2014/07/
erec-stebbins-presents-epic-speculative.html

If you haven't previously read the reviews for the first two books, you may want to do so to begin to understand what has happened prior to now... There are other reviews for Erec during the same time period as well as articles from him during an author spotlight time that you might want to check out as well...

Maker:
Daughter of Time Trilogy

By Eric Stebbins

Erec Stebbins' imagination is so...beyond, that it would have been impossible for me to even consider how the Trilogy would end. Words like stunning, exhilarating, amazing, all seem to fall short--this trilogy is an experience you must enter into yourself...

For one, the narrator for the final book is Waythrel of XIX, a planet out there somewhere.... We met Waythrel from the very beginning and he has been at Ambra's side during most of our journey with the Daughter of Time

Prologue. I was called Waythrel of Xix. In a time and space that no longer exist, in a cosmos that has been remade, in two books that have infiltrated and altered your minds, my character was part of a grand and terrible quest. One that failed utterly yet, in that failure, triumphed where it had never sought to succeed. You knew me as an alien to your humanness, a monstrous form of heightened symmetry to your bilateral arrangement, with sixfold projections of limbs and visual organs and a cognitive cluster buried deep within our core. 
You followed our discovering of Ambra Dawn and her unique mastery of space and time, her cruel life and rise to power in the Dram Wars, and her eventual fusion with our artificial intelligence. There you witnessed the gestation of the proto-Orb as she defeated the forces of the Anti and Dram aggregating around New Earth. Reader, the recursive loops of space-time and causality have permeated the structure of your minds—not only the hormone- and blood-soaked lodged within your human endoskeleton, but also more deeply, into the mind that is the space-time field created by and creating your sentience, the soul that will live on after your flesh decays, to be lost in the emptiness of space or gathered in the Great Harvest. 
Many of you prayed earnestly to save Old Earth, to funnel the latent Writer powers of your species across time, all that Ambra and we might amalgamate them, focus them, and undo a planetary massacre. Many of you instead scoffed, yet continued to read through the exhortations of the second novel as you were even asked to consider the Gathering of Souls. Even so, here we lost many, for the story became increasingly strange by your standards—the characters’ experiences remote from those a human animal might ever encounter. The voice was no longer that of your beloved heroine but instead that of her consort, as he spoke through the growing mind that projected his thought across the void and dictated the inspiration of the book’s author. Thus you have been primed. 
Now all that is left is the final and most absurd step in the journey: to destroy all belief and memory and be born anew. And so I am here to convey the true end, which is instead a beginning, to the impossible story of Ambra Dawn. I am here to reach across space and time, across divergent universes separating and uniting us, with fields and waves of thought to inspire this writer of your age. He will struggle one last time to transmit ideas that I myself do not comprehend, because conveying the experience is beyond me. He will take from my own distorted thoughts only a sad caricature, and his primitive mind will then further blaspheme it through the terribly limited medium of your writing system. 
Thus ideas deeper than the most profound thoughts of the greatest minds of our galaxy will be painted in primitive languages at ridiculously low resolution with a small brush set of syntax and vocabulary, warped through your current incarnations of culture and prejudice, gutted of their essence and recast as grayed mockeries with all the colors washed away. This is how you will receive the terrible and beautiful story of our Ambra. 
Do not expect coherence. You will have none. Do not look for consistency. There will be mostly nonsensical paradox. And yet, those paradoxes and absurdities that you read will be far closer to the truth of this universe than anything in your science or religion. And yet every word a lie. Know also that this is a story of symmetry and symmetries broken, the chronological invariance of the laws of physics shattered by the arrow of time. The perfect balance of particles and their inverse properties wrecked to produce our fractured cosmos nearly swept clean of one aspect of matter, and thus witness to the genocide of the mental superstructure it would have engendered. 
This is a story centered within an endless fractalled universe that builds and builds, and also devolves and devolves, from and into entities of smaller and larger structure without reference point, without center, into a bottomless abyss of reductive constituents and launched asymptotically toward an infinitely realized synthesis. This is a story of symmetry repaired and the utter annihilatory creation that is its offspring. In such a tale, there cannot possibly be only an Ambra Dawn. 
It is required that there be an anti-Ambra, an antithesis, a force in essence, development, and complexity that mirrors yet is not its symmetry mate. She is of course the clone who took me on Dram—a fabrication of the Anti who escaped their myopic control and launched herself on a quest neither she nor I understood at the time. It was a journey that, in the end, would bring a primordial pair full circle, like a proton and antiproton hurled about in opposite directions through the magnetic bowels of a synchrotron to collide, transforming the fundamental structure of matter and energy—indeed, of our universe itself. 
And so I step back into the memories of an existence that now never was, to the moment in an unmade eon when you lost me in the second book, when I crouched within a bubble of space-time under the wild and furious assault of a thousand clones of the Daughter bent on our destruction. It was to be my last true moment with Ambra Dawn, the human creature I cherished above all others.

~~~

Stebbins has taken me beyond anything I've previously seen, read, or imagined. Without a science background, I've struggled through some of the parts of these books, and especially, this last one. The only way I can think of to help you understand what happens is to refer to the computer... At any time, we can use the computer to bring up information about a past, sometimes even of our own lives, and it allows us to "trigger," our minds as indicated in Thomas Kemp's poem this morning, and we return to experience sad or joyful times over again, even if only in our imaginations.

Consider, now, that those times are really but another location that exists at the same time, and with the ability, we can move from one time to another. Yes, time travel as you've experienced before in other books. But this is beyond that, you see, because everything has been destroyed. Scattered. Matter and anti-matter... I don't even know whether that would be saying it correctly...

What I do know is that Waythrel was kidnapped some time ago and taken away from everything that previously existed. A clone stole him away. To help them communicate, her name became Klone...a clone of Ambra... somewhat like she was at one time. Thousands, if not millions, of Ambra had been created. Klone was the one that was uniquely different, just as Ambra had been.

In order to find out what and where it had happened, Klone plans to locate and visit her former self... Waythrel must go with her, to fill in information when he can and/or to react to what happened at that time. You see, it was the XIX who had never become part of all the wars of the past. They had served to help, to try to regain what had been lost and work toward good. But Waythrel had lost his mate, as well as Ambra--what good was living through all of that again?! We see a disappointed, frustrated Waythrel far from what he was before everything was gone.

If I would try to express myself about this book, the best that comes close is the theme from Space Odyssey--the book is musically out of this world! We hear the music in our ears, but our eyes are seeing parts of Klone's life... What had happened then...and then...or maybe before that...or is it Ambra's life, not Klone's because Ambra is often there where they are visiting. She speaks to Waythrel, sharing her feelings of missing him...But she is no longer the same...

 Readers, I advise that you do not read this without reading the entire trilogy in order to get the full affect of living through the first two trips that you experience. With that background, you will enter seamlessly into the final story. Heed Waythrel's words in the Prologue, prepare to be confused, to wander and to wonder across time, worlds and worlds that may not even exist...And yet, in the end, we know...

This last book challenges everything you ever thought you knew, you believed, only to have you realize...ahhh, I see...

By the year 3000, all of this will have been the turning point. We will know...
Or will we? Dare you read the Trilogy? I did. I'm glad I did... In 3000 A.D. I'll be gone. Will you be watching this classic movie, or reading the trilogy on the latest technology to "read"? Highly recommend you get prepare and read it now! LOL Stebbins might be already creating... But what could possibly follow The Daughter of Time Trilogy?! Science Fiction like nothing from the past...


GABixlerReviews

Erec Stebbins is a biomedical researcher who writes books in a variety of genres, including thrillers, mysteries, and science fiction.
Born in the Midwest, his mother worked as a clinical psychologist and his father was a professor of Romance languages at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. In fact, his father's specialty, old Romance languages and their literature, is the source of the strange spelling of his name: "Erec." It is an Old French spelling, taken from an Arthurian romance by Chrétien de Troyes written around 1170:Érec et Énide.
Erec has pursued diverse interests over the course of his life, including science, music, drama, and writing. His academic path focused on science, and he received a degree in physics from Oberlin College in 1992 and a PhD in biochemistry from the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1999.

Erec Stebbins

erecstebbinsbooks@gmail.com

Website: http://www.erecstebbinsbooks.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5990247.Erec_Stebbins

Amazon Author Page: 

http://www.amazon.com/author/erecstebbins

Erec Stebbins - Presents EPIC Speculative Fiction--A Cosmic Romance! A Galactic War!

When one being comes to know and love another, a new and beautiful thing is created,

namely the love. The cosmos is thus far and at that date enhanced...Olaf Stapledon

"Your brain activity after your concussion was highly unusual." Wouldn't it be? The Xix turned a host of eyestalks back to monitors and equipment, keeping several on me. "In predictable ways, yes. Your brain scans were not like anything we have ever seen." "I'm not a Reader, doctor, if you are wondering. Tested three times. Believe me, my parents hoped so much I'd turn out to be one like my cousins. Since the Calamity, the only thing better than a doctor for Indian parents is becoming a Reader." My smile faded, the humor apparently lost on the alien.

"We need to understand as much as we can about you, Lieutenant. Your heroics have made quite an impression. I have been informed that you are in consideration for a special transfer."

My heart nearly stopped. Could it be? After two years of failed applications? After devoting myself to the MECHcore training with a passion matched only by that of my dearest hope--had I succeeded? "Do you mean...?"

"Appointment to the Temple Guardians." The Xix seemed to know what was in my heart. A few moments passed in silence. "You will receive a visit from your superiors as soon as I clear you medically. As soon as we are satisfied that your vitals are acceptable..."

Troops were already marching on board. Most were infantry to be deployed at one of the six Cities surrounding the Temple in the middle of the Sahara. Six Cities to house the human and alien engineers operating the massive network of power plants and more esoteric equipment used by the Daughter to commune with the Orbs...

We entered an enormous room located directly below the gargantuan tower reaching toward space.

 The tower loomed above us constantly, impossible to grasp in its height and our path soon within the five-mile radius of 

the supporting base.

We passed the massive columns of a strange Xixian metal that plunged underneath  the desert sands. The base supports themselves were as wide as buildings. The webbed shadows of the structure fell across our path from the setting sun. We came to rest at the entrance of a beautiful building, some well-realized combination of human and Xixian tastes blended harmoniously.

The structure rose to a height of seven or eight stories like some strange plant or deep-sea creature. A large portion was at the top, a toroidal curvilinear solid that looked something like a sphere that had been pressed in deeply from the top. It seemed to float above the desert sands but in fact was supported at six points by tapering columns that became ellipsoids at their apex. The larger top portion was therefore resting on smaller round objects that appeared to almost flow into the desert floor. The material seemed to be the same indestructible concrete found in the buildings in the Six Cities, the tan color blending into the sands around us.

Most strikingly, the walls seemed almost porous in places, complex, flower=like geometrical patterns of different sizes arrayed across the surfaces of the bulbous toroid.  As our local star dipped below the horizon, the day faded quickly in the Sahara and a golden light radiated outward from those thinner regions of the walls. It was like looking at some enormous Japanese lantern, or perhaps some strange bioluminescent jellyfish from the depths.

~~~

His name is Nitin Ratava and he is a MECHcore Lieutenant. But he is more than that...He knows he was born to love a goddess...  

"False Dawns, Captain Ratava." We all exchanged

confused looks. "Biological clones of the Daughter

constructed from the eggs stolen from her when she

was a prisoner of the Dram two hundred years ago.

Eggs that have been used to create, to breed, to

engineer--we don't know exactly what has been done

a number of replicas that have been raised effectively

to recapitulate many of her powers.

                                      ~~~

After that first attack, Ambra Dawn knew

that she would have to investigate what was

happening. She chose to take Captain 

Ratava and his team. His team by the way

was an interesting group. Two  of them had

a religious connection to her, while the 

others had not much experience or thought

about the person they were to guard,

but they did notice the relationship between

the Captain and Ambra Dawn.

It has been 300 years since we learned about Ambra Dawn, a human who had become...more... She saved and created the New Earth and has become more and more powerful since then. She now lives far away from the people on Earth--on and above the Sahara Desert. We learn that through dreams, Nitin and Ambra have already met and professed their love for one another...But this was not necessarily a good time for starting a relationship! Indeed, Nitin had been seeking and finally had been awarded a position to help guard the Temple, but lately there has been much turmoil and it seems to be moving toward her Temple! 
            It had been the Dram that had been forced off of Earth and now they were back... with unbelievable help! Somehow, they had discovered a way to create False Dawns! And these biological clones were coming off production in the thousands... And then there were the shadows...ghosts... And not long after Captain Ratava and his team arrived in the desert, the Dram had arrived through a transport tunnel, with the False Dawns. Both, or all, of them were quickly defeated, but then the shadows came...which they soon learned was anti-matter which sought to destroy all matter! 

"Their attack has been long planned. Once they seized the
central Time Point, multiple attacks across the Time Tree occurred simultaneously. Nearly every system targeted has fallen."
"Oh, my God." whispered Kim behind me.
"Our forces find themselves unable to repel the attacks
and hardly able to communicate anything useful about
them.  We only have strange reports, contradictory
statements that even the XIX do not know how to
interpret..

~~~

One of the first things she offered was the ability to merge thoughts! Only one refused, but later capitulated. 

The ship created might have been something like this, so that the crew could stand up, see outside but still be invisible unless they wanted to be seen. The exterior could be changed so that they could, for instance, encompass a False Ambra Dawn right off an enemy ship which is exactly what they did...

When Ambra Dawn had seen all of her clones, she was naturally affected--were they all bad or

could they be salvaged? Unfortunately her entering the false Dawn's mind quickly told her that they  were not able to be saved...Now, there was nothing to do but kill all of the thousands that had been created!

For those who read Stebbins' first book, Reader, it might have seemed that his creative imagination had been surely spent on that first book! NOT SO! This book is far superior in content and Stebbin's imagination seems to be unstoppable. One amazing thing for me is that because of the scope of the book, Erec has still spent considerable time on detailed descriptions of the various creative equipment he presents for readers' enjoyment.

The ending and climax is truly out-of-this-world! Can you image 10,000 readers merging into one mind, using the power of their brilliance to bring about what needed to be done!? Me, I'm already wondering how Erec Stebbins can surpass this second book. Will he? Or will it be used to close out what is to happen to Earth sometime in the far future. And will Ambra still exist? And, oh, by the way, a small giveaway...Ambra and Nitin got married! Will they remain as a married couple, that just happens to be a part of...one mind...

Weird, fascinating, Beyond Belief...and yet a page-turner that even with over 400 pages leaves you wanting to know what's coming! Don't Miss  this incredible SciFi Fantasy Thriller!

GABixlerReviews

Related articles

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• Reader: Eric Stebbins
• Talking with Erec Stebbins About His Writing...His Books...and World Issues In His Fantastic Novels!
• An Email From Ambra... Star of Erec Stebbins' Reader!
• Extraordinary Retribution by Erec Stebbins
• #AmReading - Extraordinary Retribution by Erec Stebbins
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Talking with Erec Stebbins About His Writing...His Books...and World Issues In His Fantastic Novels!

Erec Stebbins

erecstebbins@gmail.com

Website: http://www.erecstebbins.com

Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErecStebbins

Twitter: https://twitter.com/erecstebbins

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5990247.Erec_Stebbins

Amazon Author Page: 

http://www.amazon.com/author/erecstebbins

Author Events: http://www.togather.com/erecstebbins

I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to meet and get to know Erec Stebbins, author extraordinaire, here at  Book Readers Heaven. His latest book, Extraordinary Retribution, is just out and is somewhat of a sequel to his Debut thriller, The Ragnarok Conspiracy...

Erec, Chris Brookmyre, an author that was quoted on the back of your book, used the word "subversive" in his review blurb for The Ragnarok Conspiracy... I was intrigued that you used it on the cover of your novel... Do you see your first book as subversive?

To begin, the main reason I used Chris' quote was the incredible enthusiasm he had for the story. It's not often one gets called "outrageously entertaining". He also uses the word "compassionate". So, "subversively compassionate" might work!

To be fair, subversive is a bit strong given the traitorous connotations often associated with the word. My books always come from a sincere perspective of writing for a better nation and better treatment of people more in lines with the Bill of Rights. Sometimes, however, that puts my perspective in conflict with that of many who believe their approach and actions are protecting the nation. Therefore, my words might be considered as an effort to "subvert" that position. Since these others also earnestly believe their approaches to security are indeed protecting the nation, it's a simple logical deduction that I am a "subversive".

Of course, my response is that one could argue that many of the things America has done that I implicitly or explicitly critique in my novels, in fact "subvert" the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Things like indefinite detention, torture, denial of right to trial, execution without a trial, etc: I find these things far more subversive of America than anything I have dreamed to write. In some ways, if we continue down this path, those who wish to destroy America may achieve that far more deeply by inducing us to burn our Bill of Rights than by killing us.

I knew there was a reason I've become a fan... In truth, I've become more subversive in my retirement than ever before, maybe because I have the time to see things clearly! I certainly agree with what you've said... 

I was also intrigued that you acknowledged Javed Ahmad, the individual I consider your main character in Extraordinary Retribution, in your formal "Acknowledgments" in the book. I don't think I've ever seen that done. Further, you state that you "heard his voice (and others) and could not get it out of your mind, calling the book an exorcism...

Now I "kinda" know what you meant, but are you willing to be more specific related to this book being an exorcism?

Two topics here, I think, and I'll try to deal with each in its turn.

(1) Acknowledging a character

Javed Ahmad, a.k.a. the wraith, is not so much acknowledged as mentioned as someone who could have existed. He is a composite of several real men - with several heapings of imagination -  who were rendered and tortured and then released without anything ever being charged against them. In some rare cases, there was some admission of "mistakes" by the authorities. 

But what is labeled by some as "collateral damage" that is unavoidable in a war (on terror), is to the unjustly tormented a far more personal reality. I tried to put myself in their shoes. I felt a desire for revenge in that scenario. That gave birth to a character in my mind who demanded punishment, who burned in a madness of wrath for the injustice that was done, and then took it upon himself to become the agent of retaliation.

I mentioned this in the acknowledgment to help explain the genesis of the novel, and to point out that just because it has not happened (such revenge) doesn't mean it didn't have to, or still won't in the future.

Finally, I'll also just point out that in Reader I dedicate the novel to an imaginary character, Ambra Dawn. Due to the nature of that story, there are a lot of fun recursive mind-games in that, but I'll let the readers discover it on their own.

(2) Exorcism of characters

For me, characters with lasting power - the kind that generate full length novels - are ghosts haunting my awareness. We all carry multiple versions of ourselves in our minds, and those who have acted on the stage know what it is like to "assume character," to become someone often utterly different from ourselves. How do we do that? I think the answer science is revealing is that there is no single locus of "personhood" in the brain, and that in fact the seemingly unified "mind" that comes from the physiological construct of the brain is more an illusion than a reality. What we call ourselves is the interaction of multiple and distinct mental regions that reveal themselves in neurological studies often to have "minds of their own," so to speak. I think artists channel this truth and that lets them assume characters in drama or write it in books or convey moods etc in the graphics arts and music. We're basically high-functioning multiple personalities!

When characters take a life of their own in my mind, they speak, act, and I imagine actions they undertake. Sometimes those personalities stay with me a long time, and telling their story is a way to get them out of my mind, down on the paper, so that the story is told and done with. That is what I mean by "exorcism". Like the ancient idea of a being infiltrating the soul/mind of another, and being removed or excised, there is something a little bit like that with writing down the stories of characters that "burn" with passion in my own. And after one hundred thousand words, multiple rewrites, critiques, etc - believe me, I am very ready to move on from the character at last!

Let's hope and pray that Javad never becomes a real individual, but do you see a correlation, to some extent, to those who become suicide bombers?

I think the roots of something so extreme as a suicide bomber are very hard to get at. It overrides so many strong biological imperatives that it's amazing it happens at all. That is to distinguish it from "in the moment" self-sacrifice, which one can explain away more easily. But premeditated murder and suicide, premeditated self-destruction when there is often months to years to back out of it - that requires a level of override in the brain, a fanaticism so powerful. However, the thing people often fail to appreciate is that the bomber is always "striking a blow" for something. Might that be pure revenge? Possibly, although there need not be suicide with that - why not just a bomber? I think the suicide bomber has to combine (1) a consuming anger, (2) a sense of helplessness to achieve goals even through normal violent means, and (3) a religious justification, transcendence that allows their minds to override the "I'm killing myself" by the thought that this is not really the case, that heaven awaits and thus their existence is not truly ending. That's my dime store psychological take on it anyway.

So to summarize, I would say that pure vengeance isn't near enough to make a wronged person a suicide bomber (except perhaps on a very short term "crime of passion" type reaction).

Erec, do you feel that The Patriot Act, is part of where your concern comes from? Certainly what happened in this book "could" have evolved from its implementation?

Even the name, Patriot Act, has a kind of Orwellian ring to it. How can you be against something with that name? Unless of course there are things that are very unpatriotic about it. For The Ragnarök Conspiracy, the genesis was the conflict of the two opposing forces in the narrative, and my own identification with each one after 9/11. But the backdrop to so much, and the character of Husaam Jordan - a devoted Muslim CIA agent - is very much tied to the Patriot Act, or, more broadly, the fearful mindset that gave birth to it. When we curtail basic rights in the name of security, we are not patriots, we are setting fire to the foundational principles of this nation. Similarly, when we demonize a group of people out of fear and treat innocents as guilty because of that, we are ignoring the protections against tyranny that informed the formation of this nation. In Extraordinary Retribution, that backdrop is taken to a logical conclusion in two ways. One is the idea of our committing wrongs against innocents out of our fear (engendering a backlash), and the second is powerful people with access to the new laws we have put in place  - these security laws designed to protect us when used with the best intentions - whose intentions are less than the best. We erect this Patriot Act/NSA/drone assassination infrastructure at the peril of generations to come.

Whew! Well said! Let's hope more people begin to speak out...and more importantly, Americans and those involved realize what is happening...

Somewhere I read that your range of genre writing is based upon issues for which you are passionate...Could I ask that you delve into that deeper as well:

As I mentioned The Ragnarök Conspiracy, it was the attacks of 9/11 that engendered two divergent responses within me. One could easily be summarized with the question I often asked: "Why hasn't there been an American bin laden?" There are many rich and powerful Americans who could stage and fight their own war in the world much like the former Saudi royalty. A character grew in my mind along these lines, and a counterpart - both having suffered losses on 9/11, both taking opposing paths that bring them into conflict on the world stage. 

In Extraordinary Retribution, I took some of my own anger and disgust at the suspension of basic rights and the use of "enhanced interrogation" (hello again, Orwell!) - in other words, torture of many kinds beyond water boarding - and combined those with a horror at those innocents that were rendered to dark cells at "black sites" across the world. It always astounds me that people will rail against government incompetence or threat, talk about health care or food stamps like it was some Armageddon-like scenario, and yet these same people will entrust the same government with far more frightening things such as the right to kill, to kidnap (extraordinary rendition), to torture, to wage war based on evidence that everyone should have seen was more full of holes than Swiss cheese. When Healthcare.gov is down, it's a problem. When innocents are rendered to Syria - without trial, due process, rights of any kind, detained indefinitely, tortured, perhaps even killed - we have legalized the transferal of one of the outer layers of Hell to Earth. All these things came together in the character of a tortured innocent who brought the wrath of justice to point of madness. Combined with disillusioned but honorable members of the government who pursue justice, a story plays out in which some of the darker possibilities that might arise from our security compromises come to life.

Exactly, we are instinctively selfish and worry about what affects us, but then when something happens, a tornado, for instance, Americans rush in to help... What I just don't understand is why they can't see the present--the daily abuse of the rights of those innocents, including for instance American teens who are being kidnapped into human trafficking. How can we spent money on wars such as Iraq and yet have our own citizens stolen?

I think there are many reasons why we ignore evil (when we aren't busy participating in it, sadly!). And yes, to some degree, it is all about selfishness. Ignoring human rights violations in the war on terror often comes because of fear and the idea that we need to do bad things to be safe. It puts our well-being over the well-being of others. "I don't care about the Geneva conventions and terrorists!" many shout. But the point is - and surely people know this but don't want to know it - that until there is a trial, until some sort of due process comes into play - not kidnappings, confessions from torture, indefinite detention without due process - we actually don't know if the people we are tormenting have done anything wrong. And it's clear in some publicized cases that they haven't. People scream about the horrors of government incompetence or corruption for welfare or healthcare, but want to hand to the government the power to judge without jury, jail without hearing, torture, and kill by decisions made behind closed doors?

"Collateral damage," some respond, "is the price of war." That is always true, and yet always evil. Just because wrongful death is the only way (often necessary) wars can be won doesn't mean the wrongs are "absolved." Tell that to the wounded and dead, and their mourners, before the Judgment. But in this case it goes beyond that ethical problem. When we set up a state machinery that is given the green light to risk great wrong through rights violations, we tempt the fates that this system will be co-opted and used against us all. And that comes out in Extraordinary Retribution as well.

My science fiction stories are drawn from a very different well, but require no less passion, no less characters that haunt my mind, than my thrillers (or any of my stories). Reader, the first novel in the Daughter of Time series, was born when Ambra Dawn started speaking to me on the shores of Greece. I had been letting my imagination run wild to create a story for my teen-aged daughters. I wanted a female protagonist that would have amazing adventures, unusual ones, and of course she would have to save the world! That's the best I can map it out: suddenly a story and a voice began to form in my mind, one that took on several iterations over a few years until something consistent came together (and my daughters had grown up quite a bit over that time, and the tone of the story changed). Ambra Dawn needed me to tell her harrowing story, and so I did.

Fifteen years ago, I wrote a novella called Junk Man. This is technically my first book, although The Ragnarök Conspiracy was my first published book. When I wrote Junk Man, it was in the 1990's, I was knee-deep in graduate school studying biochemistry, and I didn't imagine that much about publishing it. But again, I had to write it. This idea also came to me while in Greece (my wife is Greek, and our children spent many summers there with the family). Laying awake at night, the two central characters in the story suddenly came into being in my mind, and spoke and acted, and told their story over several days. I just had to write it down. 

My storybook, The Caterpillar and the Stone, is perhaps the most personal of all the books I have published. Written as a short story again in the 1990's, it is an exploration of a personal loss that transformed my life in a number of ways - a real monsoon of emotion and confusion. I tried many ways to deal with it over the years (with only partial success). One way was to create a myth, or fairytale version of events, and let some of the issues I was struggling with play out as metaphors. It sat around for nearly two decades and then with the modern miracle of digital publishing, I decided to turn it into an illustrated storybook. One big problem was that I can't draw to save my life. What I ended up doing was running some photographs I've taken over the years through digital processing to give them an illustrated look. A bit hit-or-miss, but I was satisfied with the result. 

Erec, your professional career is in the sciences--did any of your scientific knowledge and background lead to your writing? More specifically, what did happen to get you started to write? Has it been a recent experience or were you always thinking about stories to share?

I would say my interest in writing and interest in sciences developed around the same time. I might actually trace both of them back to a great communicator and author who was also a scientist: Carl Sagan. From the time I read his book Cosmos as a twelve year-old on cross-country trips, I became hooked on ideas and expressing ideas. This led me to science fiction especially, and I found the mind-opening worlds of some of the great writers of that genre to be very inspiring. So, I would say that my work as a scientist and writer have always been in parallel. Of course, being finite, it is a challenge to do both and there have been periods in my life when it was impossible to pursue everything that I wanted to. But as the old books I mentioned show, even in the midst of some of the most intense scientific research in my life, I also wrote. 

In The Ragnarok Conspiracy, we find what you referred to as the American bin Laden--and his followers. Besides the obvious assumption that he was evil, there seems to also be a parallel in your story illustrating that a leader's passion, gone wrong, does not mean an entire country, religion, or any type of group can become synonymous with that of the larger group from which they come. Obviously we Americans would not want to be "tagged" along with those who looked to Thor's Hammer for their terrorist actions. Am I also correct in assuming that we Americans also cannot tag all Muslims as followers of bin Laden?

I'm probably one of the least "tribal" people I know. I see good and bad not only in all cultures, but in each individual. I also take a long view of civilizations, remembering that it was during the European Dark Ages that Muslims kept the light of knowledge burning, that it was less than 100 years ago that we deigned to allow 50% of our population to vote, less than 150 years ago that enslaving human beings was legal in this nation. It is indeed simply looking within myself that I can understand how easily Americans could be terrorists like bin Laden: after 9/11 I felt wronged, and the crimes William Gunn perpetrates in the novel are ideas I easily came up with for revenge. So, my ideas of the unity of humanity - that we are all far more alike than different - truly come from seeing into the darkness of my own heart, and, not too differently, the anger and fear that seethes in the comments, actions, and attitudes of my fellow citizens. The steps to large-scale evil are never short and simple, and each step appears justified to the one taking that path. it reminds me of Saruman's speech to Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring:

"We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means."

Innocent until proven guilty. Trial by jury. No cruel and unusual punishment. We are threatening those means. And it is my belief that the ends don't justify the means, but the means give birth to the ends.

More importantly, Erec, why does it take somebody and everybody to say this type of truth over and over and some still will not accept that... Do you have some thoughts on that?

I've always sympathized with Pontus Pilate asking Jesus: "What is truth?" And yet, to quote from the Lord of the Rings again: "'Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves, and another among Men."  I have a strong strain of "radical doubt" that runs through my thoughts of truth and ethics. I often wonder "what is truth?" and yet at the same time feel passionate about "what is right?" So, I'm not sure I'm right. But I feel I am. That doesn't answer your question, but I feel especially unqualified to judge the state and motivation of others especially when I so doubt myself. I can only speak to what I believe. 

Erec, I feel like I've met a friend with similar "multiple personalities"! Except, I've only come to similar thoughts now in my 60s! I'm thrilled to know that there are young people who are looking with opened minds at where America may be going... One of my personalities also has developed that "radical doubt" and it is haunting me often--maybe more so than you, since I've always been faithful to Christian beliefs. Those who speak with forked tongue on behalf of religion are so obviously creating or initiating actions which just are so wrong, that the whole basis of faith has been corrupted for me and perhaps others…

I try to keep separate the idea of revealed religious truth and the actions and words of people. Of course, it's hard to, because it's usually people who are claiming to know, speaking for a Divinity about what is truth. And it seems hardly even two people can agree! I also try to separate cultural constructs/fads/biases from what a given religion may or may not be saying. There are many Islams depending on whether you are in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, India, or the United States. There are many Christianities. The common theme is that a given group tends to reflect the cultural norms around them in their interpretation and practice of a given faith. Not that this is anything new. The warnings against "false prophets" is an old one. But maybe the better guide is not so intellectual: "By their fruits will they be known."

Again, well said...

Your thoughs to create a scifi for your daughters is somewhat surprising for me, since I see it more as an adult book--and you surely can't have adult children, LOL! Your use of psychic parents--obviously leads me to ask, simply, do you believe that there are some people with psychic abilities? Kidnapping children from across the world surely would have been noticed by the law at some point? Or was there no real law enforcement at the time of your story?

My daughters were middle schoolers when I started writing Reader. Now the oldest is about to head to college. So, I had initially aimed for a Young Adult novel. But the tone irked them, and I realized that "writing down" to kids is rarely a good idea. So I rewrote the novel trying to let it tell its story. Some of the initial tone remains, especially in the earlier chapters, but it gets darker and more adult quickly. Perhaps a kind of The Hobbit to Lord of the Rings transition!

As for psychic abilities, it depends on what one means as to what I think. If there is a supernatural world - a reality outside the physical world a naturalist would consider "the real" but that can enter into this bubble of reality, then all bets would of course be off. I would say that in my life I have not seen it. But I have seen a lot of charlatans. So, as Carl Sagan said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." I've never even seen remotely "ok" evidence so I remain a skeptic (with an open mind). But I like this quote from Lovecraft:

"What do we know … of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature. With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have."

So I combine both an emotional "mysticism" with an intellectual "skepticism." Since both in the naturalistic world view come from the same squishy organ called my brain, I really have no way to say which garners truth better. But I think I tend to side with Olaf Stapledon in this quote from Last and First Men:

“There is much in this vision that will remind you of your mystics; yet between them and us there is far more difference than similarity, in respect both of the matter and the manner of our thought. For while they are confident that the cosmos is perfect, we are sure only that it is very beautiful. While they pass to their conclusion without the aid of intellect, we have used that staff every step of the way. Thus, even when in respect of conclusions we agree with your mystics rather than your plodding intellectuals, in respect of method we applaud most your intellectuals; for they scorned to deceive themselves with comfortable fantasies.”

You indicated that Ambra will also become a Writer in the future.... as the Daughter of Time. For those who have not yet read Reader and to give us a little insight on your next novel, how would you explain what being a Writer and Reader of Time means, for purposes of your novels?

In the Daughter of Time series, I use a conceit (in the literary sense of the word) that the dynamics of space and time (tied together to matter and gravity by Einstein), much like electromagnetism, can be sensed by biological organs. Our eyes can detect electromagnetic waves, producing the amazing vision that we have, which gives us tremendous power over the environment around us. For space and time, I imagine that such organs can also evolve in lifeforms, and has begun to do so in humans. My protagonist in Reader, Ambra Dawn, is unusual in that this nascent space-time "eye" in the brain - a minor cyst in a small percentage of the population, weak and hardly useful - has become overgrown because of her genetics. She has a benign, but large, tumor in this region. Therefore, the sense organ is dramatically developed beyond other humans, and, as it turns out, beyond all the other alien species in our galaxy. This vision in space and time allows her to see in to the past and future - perhaps somewhat like we can gaze far and near - making her prescient. The term used in Ambra's time for such people is "Reader", as in reading the future.

But even in the novel Reader, Ambra goes beyond this. She is able to alter space and time. Perhaps like a bioluminescent fish that sees photons through its eyes but also produces photons that change the visual landscape around it, she is able to change space and time through her unique organ. She goes beyond reading, to writing, changing the nature of space and time. She is the first Writer, and that is the name of the second novel. But she is not all-powerful. Like the glowing fish, altering the universe requires energy, and she is just an Earth woman in most respects. In fact, it is the energy problem that informs the unusual ending of Reader.

One of the reasons I so admire many writers is your (and others) abilities to take knowledge of science, math, physics, etc., and adapt it into a story that we who lack that extensive background, can still understand and learn from! All three of your novels captured my attention, yet in so many different ways... It seems so small in comparison for me to say, well done! But...

Can you give us some idea when Writer will be available for your fans? Also, has your passion honed in on a new topic and are you working on something you are able to share with us?

My hope is to publish Writer this coming summer, 2014, perhaps in September. I have several other novels - thriller, scifi, and some very different things - that are in the queue, but time limits how much can be accomplished!

Erec, thanks once again for spending such great quality time here at Book Readers Heaven. Your attention and response to my simple non-scientific questions are greatly appreciated, while at the same time you've revealed such  mastery exhibited in all three of the novels I've had the opportunity to read thus far. Ambra touched me as a character, so I'm looking forward to reading Writer! Don't forget to keep in touch!

~~~