TILT

The author sent me an autographed copy of his novel to read and review:

Is it too difficult to get one of the five major publishers to publish your novel? From what I’m reading...it is very tough. So thank God for the Indies, because I just read one of the best original sci/fi novels that I’ve scrutinized in a long time. How can an author get the reader to root for the citizens of Tilt (the planet's name) and it’s attackers (the Swarm coming from light years away) at the same time! Well, first time author Todd Simpson did it...at least for me. This scenario reminded me of the 1961 Twilight Zone episode named The Invaders, starring Agnes Moorehead, who hardly said a word during the entire show. It’s the classic catch-22 paradoxical situation: Do I side with the attackers or the citizens of planet Tilt? The citizens believe their planet is only 590 years old because that’s all they remember. The attackers, called The Swarm, said they were on Tilt 750 years ago. Who does the planet belong to? Are they telling each other the truth?

Why do the citizens of Tilt  believe either a spark or a God (the Creationist) or a Reboot (the Continuist) started their planet? These two theories caused a lot of angst on Tilt. And what about the Central computer that controls life on Tilt? Where did that come from? Is it like Arthur C. Clarke’s computer, Hal, who controlled the spaceship, Discovery One, in 2001 A Space Odyssey? The Swarm turn out to be humans, just like the ones being grown by the Citizens of Tilt. Where did the citizens get human DNA? And what’s goo, the only food the citizens serve the human clones? And how and why do the citizens recycle some of the home grown humans? These are only a few of the question you will ask yourself as you read this brilliant novel. One of the few mistakes the author made was not having enough (just a few near the end of the novel) cliffhanger chapter endings. With all that goes on in this novel, it should have been a paramount goal. The other minor dislike for me was the somewhat annoying tech talk between tri-protagonists Ayaka, Millicent, and Brexton near the end of the novel (if you are rooting for the home team).

I personally had a soft spot in my heart for four of the cloned humans on Tilt...Blob, Grace, JoJo, and Blubber. There are many characters, but the reader doesn’t get confused as to who is who. You would think there should be a roster of characters in the front of book, but no...it wasn’t needed. I don’t want to tell you too much about this novel because I want you to go out and buy your own copy. I’ll leave you with these facts. The Swarm (a group of spaceships) were spotted many years ago and were heading directly for Tilt. The citizens of Tilt and the Central computer didn’t know if they were friendly or hostile. After many years, the Swarm is finally close enough to contact the citizens of Tilt. “A virtual screen popped up in front of Ayaka...the screen flickered slightly as the signal was locked on.” As you can imagine the citizens were shocked…"How was it possible that entities (Stems) that we had grown in our labs were broadcasting from a ship more than one light year distant?" A Stem is what the citizens called the DNA cloned humans on Tilt and the people on the spaceship looked exactly the same as Tilt’s Stems (were they?) “They were so similar that the odds of them coming from anywhere else were almost zero.”

The Swarm's opening salutation to Tilt was on video: “System FJ-426. Greetings. A Stem covered with strange cloths was looking directly at us and speaking - in English! We’ve been traveling a long time, and a long distance, towards you. We hope that we find you well, and that your experience on FJ - 426 is a pleasant one. It’s been many years since our last contact, and we are eager to catch up on new developments. With your permission, we’ll refine our trajectory to directly intersect with you, whereupon we can discuss topics of mutual interest. Please signal your consent. My regards. Remma Jain, Captain. Signing off.” Tilt’s Ayaka, Millicent, and the Central computer are stunned. “But...this is impossible,” Millicent said “We’ve only been growing Stems in the lab for a few hundred years (Tilt’s lab personnel believe Stems lack intelligence and speed). To my knowledge, we’ve never sent a Stem into space, let alone a Swarm.” Okay you got a review of the first 45 pages of this near brainiac sci/fi novel...I highly recommended.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I have so many favorite sci/fi novels that it would impossible to rank them in any order of fondness, but here are three:

Larry Niven’s 1970 novel, Ringworld, winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus awards. The novel spawned eight other related novels. A expedition of some very strange characters are sent to investigate the gigantic artificial ring that is a million miles wide.

Arthur C. Clarke’s 1973 novel, Rendezvous with Rama, winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards. A group of explorers are sent to study a thirty four mile long and twelve mile diameter cylindrical starship that entered the Solar System. Three other related novels were generated from the original Rama.

Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel, Cat’s Cradle. The children of one of the developers of the atomic bomb, the late Felix Hoenikker, possess their father’s invention of Ice - Nine, which freezes water on contact. And you can guess what happens to the world’s oceans. Ouch!