Month: March 2015

Review: “Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2”
Nemo's World: The Substrate Wars 2

Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2

Now available from Amazon as a trade paperback in lavish (and kinda pricy) 6″x9″ format.

Kindle format here.

A new review by book blogger Chris Pavesic
:

5.0 out of 5 stars

There is an interesting line in Jeb Kinnison’s new novel, Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2: “The reward for succeeding is more work.” KInnison wrote a terrific sci-fi dystopian novel, The Red Queen. His reward for this success was writing the next novel in the series, Nemo’s World. Kinnison’s hard work paid off in the form of a wonderful and engaging sequel that anyone who is a fan of speculative fiction, particularly science fiction/dystopian fiction, will enjoy.

***Spoilers Ahead***

The novel picks up immediately after the events of The Red Queen. The students, along with a few older advisors, have escaped Earth, but the major governments on the planet are working to duplicate the technology and create more quantum gateways. They need to hunt down the rebels to stop the spread of the new technology. The governments are afraid that readily available gateways will open up a million habitable planets for colonization. Once people leave the Earth, the established governments will lose control (and power).

As the US government draws ever closer to making its own gateway, it fights the rebels with a propaganda campaign designed to make them appear to be terrorists. But the rebels are not without resources of their own, and soon the President and the security agents find themselves under surveillance by the very technology they created.

I read this novel in one sitting—something I do not always do—but every time I thought about putting it down, I wanted to find out what happened next. It is the type of book where you start thinking “I’ll just read a few pages more,” and then realize that another hour has passed and you are almost at the end, so you can’t quit now. I really wanted to find out about the wedding between two of the main characters, the baby in the works (so to speak), and the results of the court case as well as the outcome of the rebellion, the near civil war, and if the new colonies will succeed or if the attacks from Earth will destroy them.

I think that everyone who enjoyed The Red Queen will agree that Nemo’s World is just as interesting as the first novel. (You can read my review of The Red Queen HERE.) Like the first novel, I really enjoyed the A.I. (artificial intelligence) chapters and laughed out loud where they start using humor. There is something wonderful about one A.I. “dissing” another one with the expression “your momma.” This is a five-star enjoyable read!

If you haven’t read the first in the series, Red Queen: The Substrate Wars 1, it’s best to start there.

“Substrate Wars” Orientation

Welcome to Substrate Wars, the series about how one group of scientific rebels reform their world through discovery and courage.

Book 1, Red Queen: The Substrate Wars 1, followed a group of freedom-oriented radicals and grad students on a California campus after they discover quantum gateways and come to the attention of Homeland Security. In Book 2, Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2, the rebels defend themselves from attacks from Earth, then strike back to free humanity from weapons of mass destruction and the great powers that use them to control the world. Shrivers: The Substrate Wars 3 takes up ten years later, when a prosperous and expanding human civilization is confronted by alien exterminators sent by the original inhabitants of the substrate.

 

Also, take a look at my website covering attachment and relationship issues, JebKinnison.com — I split SubstrateWars.com from it as the amount of material grew too large. The relationships site is about human beings, attachment, health and social policy issues. There will be some overlap, but at SubstrateWars the emphasis is on science fiction, politics, and story.

My books on relationships are on Amazon: Bad Boyfriends: Using Attachment Theory to Avoid Mr. (or Ms.) Wrong and Make You a Better Partner, and Avoidant: How to Love (or Leave) a Dismissive Partner. If you’re looking for your first or second partner, Bad Boyfriends is the one to read; if you have a partner but either you or your partner is reluctant or unable to enjoy closeness, Avoidant is most useful.

I respond to all reasonable comments and invite you to add your email to the mailing list or add the RSS feed to your reader so you’ll see new posts.

Reviews, New Paperback: “Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2”
Nemo's World: The Substrate Wars 2

Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2

Now available from Amazon as a trade paperback in lavish (and kinda pricy) 6″x9″ format.

Kindle format here.

Two more reviews today:

5.0 out of 5 stars
A thrilling continuation of the Red Queen.
March 19, 2015
By M. Cunningham

Red Queen left me wanting more – especially wanting to find out if the young, idealistic rebels win out over the existing government. Nemo’s World answered my desire and more. I found it an engaging read that had plenty of action but also well-thought-out details of what might make an ideal system of governance which would grant the most freedom to the most people and really allow the human race to reach its fullest potential. We can only hope that the future will bring us young rebels as envision by the author’s wonderful tale.

5.0 out of 5 stars Red Queen on Steroids March 19, 2015
By Donald W. Campbell
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

A great sequel. Action starts right off, and doesn’t stop until the last page. Often times the sequel is a little less, and frankly, when I started this one, my thought was after all the clever ideas in Red Queen, there couldn’t be a lot left, just plot/character development…

I was wrong. This volume takes off from the ending of Red Queen, and fully fleshes out the skeleton of ideas from the first volume. You start out wondering how they could possibly make things work, and they succeed. Great expansion of both the hard science and the social science, epic struggle between Darkness and Light, and just enough teases to make you eager for the next installment.

Must read!

If you haven’t read the first in the series, Red Queen: The Substrate Wars 1, it’s best to start there.

Interview with Jet Weasley on “Red Queen”
Red Queen: The Substrate Wars

Red Queen: The Substrate Wars

[An interview prepared for Jet Weasley’s book blog, The Book Detective.]

Q: How did you come up with the idea of the Red Queen Effect? 

There’s an excellent book on the evolutionary psychology of sex, The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley, which explores the “Red Queen Effect” in human evolution of sex differences and behaviors. The effect is widespread and occurs whenever you have an evolutionary arms race, and by analogy can be seen in, say, the Cold War between the US and the old Soviet Union. The effect is named for the Red Queen from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, who led Alice on a running race which kep tthem in the same place.

Q: What made you decide to set the story in future American instead of America of present? 

All the political repression visible now is exaggerated in the near-future world of Red Queen, which allowed me to draw the dramatic differences in bolder strokes. People are used to the system we have now and it would be harder to present it as something so bad a rebellion would be justified unless it gets a few degrees worse. Many of my readers are barely aware virtually everything I write about is already happening in academia and surveillance by the state.

Q: Now, as many readers have stated, your book is full of scientific fact and diction. How did you manage to research all of this and incorporate it into your book? 

My background is very similar to the main characters’, and I worked on computer science research under DARPA contracts when I was about their age. The science and engineering are also relatively easy for me since I studied physics and computer science at MIT. I did have to do some research to get up-to-date on quantum computing, but I was already familiar with most of the science in the book.

Q: For me this would have been the most difficult part of writing such a story; how did you manage to make the ideas so realistic? Could the Red Queen Effect actually happen? 

I was striving for realism. The breakthrough that enables quantum gateways is fiction, but the working out of the details and the engineering follows logically from that, and the behavior of the characters is more true to the reactions of believable intelligent grad students than your typical thriller characters. This means it may be less accessible as a story than standard thrillers featuring spies and military types, but there are plenty of those. I wanted this to be different. And the Red Queen Effect is very common in any competitive evolutionary scenario.

Q: If you were in Justin’s position, would you go about things the way he did in this book or would you react/act differently?

Justin is a fictional character, so I suspect he suffers far less self-doubt, laziness, or conflict-avoidance than any real person. I certainly would not have accomplished as much when I was his age than he does in the book. But like his scientific genius friend Steve, he’s much faster than most real people so the plot can move along at a good pace. It would not be interesting if he took some time off in the middle of the plot to practice his video game skills….

Q: What inspired you to start writing Science Fiction? 

I’ve been reading it since I was 7! For people with a problem-solving, engineering bent, the working out of future science is another exciting part of the story, as they follow the logic while reading. Science fiction can be very educational, and one of my goals was to demonstrate some interesting corners of physics and computer science for those who might want to pursue it as a career.

Q And finally, will you be working on any novels that are separate to the Substrate Wars in the near future? 

I just finished the second book in the Substrate Wars series, Nemo’s World. There are two more to follow, most likely, and then I have an idea for a comic murder mystery set in the artsy-Hollywood community of Palm Springs, where I now live. This would be fun and let me satirize some obvious targets for everyone’s amusement.

First Review: “Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2”
Nemo's World: The Substrate Wars 2

Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2

It makes me nervous waiting for the first review, which often sets the tone for others that follow. So I’m happy to see someone stepped forward to toss me this bouquet:

5.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting, Well Detailed, More than a Space Opera
March 17, 2015
By Akiva
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

The Substrate wars continue! Will Justin, Steve and Samantha’s breakthroughs succeed in leading humanity to a new age and spreading throughout the galaxy, or will Dylan and the existing government complex – a United States that takes current trends to their logical conclusions of a hyper-tech-enforced surveillance state and politically correct state where deviant opinions, even in science facts, are criminal – will they nuke our freedom and liberty minded heros and regain control? The author includes some Heinlein style cultural and political moralizing, but keeps it short enough and sufficiently within the story context to not be overbearing.

The story moves along at a nice pace, keeping me interested enough to lose some hours of sleep. The tech details are well fleshed out and detailed, which might be slightly off-putting to those without a tech or science background, but as someone who works in hi-tech I thoroughly enjoyed.. Cool that the author actually provides footnotes with references at the end of the book to explain science and tech concepts and details that are important ideals in the story. Really puts the Sci in SciFi. The story definitely is more than your average space opera.

The story reaches a solid conclusion, but then includes a few surprises…the openings for the next book. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next volume in the series.

If you haven’t read the first in the series, Red Queen: The Substrate Wars 1, it’s best to start there.

“Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2” – Now on Amazon
Nemo's World: The Substrate Wars 2

Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2

Nemo’s World: The Substrate Wars 2 is now available in Kindle format on Amazon.

In Red Queen, student rebels discovered quantum matter transmission and used it to escape US Homeland Security. Nemo’s World has them battling the governments of the Earth to dismantle the doomsday devices and police states that are suppressing freedom and endangering humanity’s future.

Marketing blurb:

In this thrilling sequel to 2014’s Red Queen, the student rebels have escaped Earth, but the US and Chinese governments continue to try to copy their discovery of quantum gateways to find them and destroy the threat they represent to security interests. The rebels hold off Earth government attacks and continue to develop the new technology, which will change life for everyone and open a million habitable planets for colonization.

Samantha and Justin are the romantic couple at the center of the rebellion, and their fellow rebels include anarchist cyber-geeks from the Grey Tribe and some of their former professors. The rebels recruit a PR specialist from London, Daniella Pink, and begin a campaign to fight the propaganda governments have used to paint them as dangerous terrorists. When the US effort to copy their technology, led by Samantha’s former boyfriend Dylan, gets too close to success, the rebels destroy his multibillion dollar secret lab carved into a Colorado mountain. The Homeland Security surveillance the rebels suffered under in Red Queen is reversed, and the US President and security agencies discover they must go to great lengths to avoid the rebel’s listening ears.

Nemo’s World continues the cat-and-mouse game with the governments of the world as young rebels learn to use the weapon that will change the world, and unlock the universe for mankind. If they live long enough to use it!