Dennis MeredithRecensioni

4.5 out of 5

I love a good sci-fi book, that much is well known. But what about a sci-fi book that puts forth the idea that all the mythological creatures from Earth's history (fairies, pixies, werewolves, vampires, etc) are actually alien species exiled to our planet as punishment for crimes made on their own planets? Well, a book like that would be right up my wheelhouse. That's exactly the kind of book that Dennis Meredith's Mythicals is. It's also a very good one, too.

Mythicals is a delightful book that starts out seeming like it's going to be more of a political thriller (involving mythological creatures) that ends up becoming something more epic than that. And it really works. There is honestly no reason for this book to work as well as it does. I mean, it's the kind of premise that seems sort of absurd, but it's one that is just so sci-fi that I can't believe this isn't something we see more often. There's something undeniably fun about this book. It starts off a little slowly as all the various pieces are moved into place, but once the story really gets going, it quickly becomes a page-turner that you really don't want to put down. It starts off seeming like Jack is going to spend most of the book trying to prove that these Mythicals exist, but by about the 1/4 mark, that all changes into a different plotline that later morphs into another one. Each plot is well-developed and well-concluded and it's all a very satisfying read.

Mythicals is written by Dennis Meredith, a "science communicator" who has worked with a number of universities and has published a number of nonfiction books about science in addition to his work as a novelist. You can kind of tell that Meredith comes from more of a science background in the way he's written this book, and I mean that as a good thing! This world of this book has clearly been meticulously plotted out by Meredith and he does an excellent job at explaining all the various elements of the world to his readers without descending completely into sci-fi jargon. This world makes sense. Yes, it's foreign and magical and there are a lot of aliens and a lot of futuristic technology, but Meredith explains it in such a way that it all seems totally believable and mundane. Not much time is spent on characters reacting wildly to it; they get a moment of surprise and then the novel moves on with it. It's all handled very well.

The story itself is also thoroughly entertaining. It tackles a number of subjects - primarily climate change and the impacts we are having on our global environment - with a surprising amount of poise and nuance for a book that seemed, on the surface, to be a kind of b-film romp of a sci-fi book. I was not expecting these deeply important issues to be such a focus in this book. That's not to say that it's a preachy story; it's not. There's plenty of fighting between the Mythicals and world building and fun, sci-fi goodies. But it's always nice when sci-fi books have something to say and it's clear that Mythicals had a lot to say.

As I mentioned early, the book is plotted very well. I must commend Mr. Meredith for how well-paced this story is. There are a lot of characters in this novel, and, while it does occasionally feel overwhelming, he's able to juggle all those characters with immense talent and care, ensuring that each of our main characters has some kind of arc and journey to go on. Jack is, for all intents and purposes, our main character, but the Mythicals that end up surrounding him are just as well-developed as he is. And, let me tell you, Jack is very well-developed. I started out the book thoroughly disliking his character, and by the end of it, I truly adored him. There's an excellent twist involving his character that happens about 2/3 through the novel, and it honestly flips everything on its head in the best possible way. It's the kind of twist that makes perfect sense while still being totally surprising and I love it.

All in all, Mythicals is an excellent book. It's got a great premise that's explored masterfully by an author who clearly put a lot of time into developing it. It features characters that are interesting and well-developed. It focuses on some important issues currently plaguing our society, and actually has something to say about them. It's well-written and well-paced and is a thoroughly enjoying read that I would recommend to anybody who's a fan of sci-fi or fantasy. You won't be disappointed by this book.

In The Rainbow Virus, the FBI and CDC are chasing a bizarre virus unleashed by Arthur Lupo, a strange little scientist. Instead of unleashing chaos and killing millions, the virus changes the color of the infected person. The colors are varied, across all spectrums of the rainbow (hence the name). The two primary people on the chase are FBI agent, Bobby Loudon, and CDC scientist, Kathleen Shinohara. It was clear from the beginning that these two would eventually become a couple, something that was too obvious and telegraphed from the beginning of the story. Their belief is that the change in colors is only the beginning, and that Arthur Lupo has mass extinction as his intent.

The writing in the novel was pretty strong. It was professional and competent, and I don’t have much to quibble about it. I really liked the whole concept of the Rainbow virus. Typically in novels of bioterrorism, the antagonist is sinister from the jump, but in this novel, the initial viruses were more light-hearted in nature. After all, nobody was truly getting hurt unless they were particularly offended by their shade of color. Although I generally like the characterization in this novel, I didn’t find Arthur Lupo to be a particularly credible character. His motivation for doing all he did was thin. It was explained that his parents died at an early age. Well, many people have their parents die but they don’t attempt to infect the world with virus. I also didn’t like “the faction”, which was a stereotypical nameless, faceless government organization with unbound ruthlessness consisting of high ranking members of government and law enforcement with nefarious intent. The good guys were better developed and more resembled real people with real motivations.

There was good tension and this novel was overall a fun read that I would recommend.

Carl Alves - author of The Invocation

Malign Artificial Intelligence (MAI), woo-hoo I just invented an acronym, is definitely within Pandora’s Box and getting a grip on the sides, everybody knows it, but what can we do apart from assume that computer scientists, governments and corporations will have safeguards in place (hilarious) and, in the Gremlins sense of “never give them food after midnight”, not give powerful and potentially self-aware AI an internet connection. AI is an integral part of The Internet of Things (that’s a thing) and we compete to give the customers bigger and better, so this is inevitable. That’s online life though, but what about the matter of portable units which can be mistaken for human? Of course, that’s inevitable too because we make things in our own image – favourite subject – so we would be wide open to infiltration.

Again, this rebellious situation could actually happen one day and, if that happened, the change would be very fast indeed so the story has that welcome undercurrent of prediction. This author has previously predicted science fiction ideas for the very first time in print (the physical opportunity to steer wormholes from the other end was an Arthur C. Clarke-class suggestion), so you have to listen to him seriously. However, although there is a real sense of dramatic story-telling, this particular idea has been explored rather famously before, e.g. Terminator. That’s not a problem because flying in a space ship has been described lots of times since Jules Verne and it’s still possible to set the story up differently.

What was good or weak? Well, I did like the sci-fi factory-production scenario and the way the antagonists were described according to the way their thought processes and build materials limited them (literal, daily routines [no variation for the sake of it], hive mind, vulnerability to OS upgrades, the trade-off between waterproof functionality vs realistic appearance) and thought the prediction that human greed would repeat its mistakes was probably true, but I groaned like a whale after Christmas dinner at the totally unoriginal solution; but then the story redeemed itself with a neat worrying touch at the very end.

On the whole it was a good adventure around the subject of Artificial Intelligence (AI) swiftly switching from a utilitarian servitude to pose a threat to human life (or at least humanity’s position as the dominant species). The AI have based their characters (best fit for survival) on old-time Chicago hoods or modern Russian gangsters, which was unusual to read and provided tension. It also incorporated the ever popular dichotomy of the emergent consciousness claiming its right to survival and equality with its ‘betters’ (see Lt. Data of Star Trek, as inspired by Hamlet, also Merchant of Venice – “if you wound us, do we not bleed?” Why does it always come back to Shakespeare?). Should humans set an example to their creation with their fairness and welcome them as equals or should they prioritise number one and beat the living diodes out of them? Whatever the humans choose to do, that decision will inform others about them forever.

The thing I didn't align with (and I should find a way to say this without forgetting the good bits) is that the scenario of wheeling a retired special forces person and their old US forces buddies out to fire guns at any given problem (yelling hoo-ya) is very tired plot line now because it's been used hundreds of times, especially in the Nam-obsessed 1980s (A-Team, Stargate, Lethal Weapon, Predator and every second Schwarzenegger film ever made). Too much gung-ho, rootin’ tootin’ six-shooter stuff can be anathema to the non-US market because these archetypes aren’t humanity’s champions, just America’s champions, and the author might not know the reader has entered a quandary, considering changing sides. I finished Neuromorphs (retired American SEAL team blows up AI) and picked up a different author’s Alien Blood (retired American SEAL team blows up aliens) and started to get irked by this seemingly being the only solution authors come up with to any given sci-fi problem. Isaac Asimov solved things with brains or diplomacy and others have used wit, which are all harder to do but the audience would appreciate it more and the author would be remembered for it. However, I have to acknowledge that there is still a teenage-led commercial demand to see this type of crash-bang entertainment or movie studios would have changed policy.

Yes, I still got on well with the story and thought the characterisation of the MAI and the suspense or fear they built outweighed the one note of dissatisfaction. In the sense of Jaws putting people off swimming in the sea, this book genuinely did put me off ever having a robotic domestic servant. It’s just creepy to have this brain watching you, recording and assessing you, never forgetting and with the power to over-ride the off. I particularly approved of the thought that the author put into the Turing Test ideas of how an artificial mind could be identified by the behaviour pattern it presents or the inability to detect irony or sarcasm, how it might struggle to assess human reaction and work out what it’s doing wrong. That’s quite a fun game to play with an artificial mind, even encouraging the AI to do things that don’t make sense, like taking a journey for the sake of it, saying something silly in a funny voice, having an early night, choosing an open top car just to feel the sensation of driving through Paris with its hair blowing around, whatever you do on a whim. Humans are whimmers, AI are not. I look forward to chatting to and thereby confusing super-intelligent machines in my old age. I think that’s a challenge I’d find interesting.

If you are a techno thriller fan than you will be in for a real treat with this book. While, a majority of the characters may be robots aka neuromorphs; they did a good job of interacting with the humans. In fact, they may have performed better than some of the humans. The robots may have pulled off existing as humans if it was not for the "small" matter of Garry catching one of them in the action of murder. Together Garry teams up with Patrick and his wife to stop the neuromorphs.

What made this book intriguing besides the great, refreshing storyline was the idea that this could become reality. We are moving towards robots now in our workforce. It is predicated that in the future that more and more jobs will be performed by robots or computers. As we relay more on technology, we lose our ability to think and perform for ourselves. If you are looking for something new and thrilling to read, you have to pick up a copy of this book.

I started the book with a belly laugh…picturing her struggling to get into her skintight bodysuit. The weirdest part is what king of body suit she’s wearing. I figure I can’t go wrong with a beginning like that and I am more curious than ever.

This is a hard review to write, because I don’t want to risk spoiling all the deliciousness inside. We have every kind of magical creature you can imagine.We have vampires and all the supernatural creatures too. Even angels. And…lets not forget the aliens.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s a fairy. And that UFO you think you see in the sky? It could very well be fairies making love.

Jack spies a fairy and exposes their secret to the world. It’s a good thing no one believes him and they are determined to reinforce the people’s disbelief.

This story is out of this world and at times funny. The underlying danger is always there and it comes from more than one angle. The magical and supernatural creatures will protect the humans and themselves at all costs. There is too much at stake.

This is one of those books that takes our lackadaisical attitude towards Earth ecology and puts us in jeopardy because of it. There are those who think the only way to save it is to eliminate us.

Mythicals by Dennis Meredith crosses many genres, the paranormal and supernatural, science fiction, fantasy,and romance. It is a refreshing, captivating, thought provoking tale that gripped me from the beginning and never let me go.

The world building made the scenes come to life in my mind. The characters were fully developed and I am amazed at the depth and detail of their personalities. After all, we are talking about non humans, for the most part. I can’t even pick a favorite, because the peripheral characters were as fun and amazing as the main ones.

The intrigue grows very deep. The amazing concept twisted and turned, giving me surprise after surprise, and I reveled in it. Sadness and laughs, I felt them equally.

All this and I am only 56% into Mythicals by Dennis Meredith.

WHOA! I sure didn’t see that coming! Now everything I was thinking was coming will have to be changed.

I love how ecology plays a role in the story. Florida. Oh my!

I was swept away, engrossed by the treachery, the battles, the loves and the loss, and I would only hope we would treat aliens better than depicted, but….

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Mythicals by Dennis Meredith.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

Dennis Meredith really gets terrestrial sci-fi because, unlike so many others, he knows that the key is to look at what cutting edge technology can do now and then add a strong idea that’s going to skip it an extra stage into the future. In his other book Wormholes, he invented a new use for them which I think no one had thought of before. In this novel, he’s back in the groove with a credible advance in a practical world. That step ahead is like a stone flying into the pond that pushes out a complicated pattern of ripples, side effects and consequences that make up the novel. People react, business reacts, governments react and the hero can emerge. SCIENCE fiction, you see? It begins with a leap in science. Not fantasy. He gets it.

This novel explores the consequences of something small, just a flimsy, harmless little microchip. Not just an ordinary chip but one that parks in the bloodstream and monitors bodily chemistry, communicates with its parent company, exchanges information and can (in the latest version) whack you full of hormones. Ibiza beware. The sales pitch is quite attractive; “we’ll tell you if you like something or not and then quantify it”. Just imagine the scene: “I love you Benjy”, “Oh Daphne, how much though? How much do you love me?”, “14.26, it says here. I put out for anyone over 13.7”. Taste and emotions now have scores, so I guess that’s the death knell for critics and bad products. When corruption sets in and corporate malfeasance bites, the fun begins. Let’s go!

Would you let someone tamper with your body? (apart from whatever version of Benjy you keep at home). Well, it’s already started. Years ago a professor at Reading implanted a chip into his body so he could walk around his building and see all the doors open ahead of him without having to take his hands out of his pockets. Even in my own university, there’s a department of Hybrid Biodevices (Biology, Life Sciences, Optoelectronics). Most of that research is of real benefit to the human race, such as heart pumps, internal organ monitors and other internally implanted machines that help to keep people alive, broadcast alarm signals or dispense regular doses of medication. The other side of this research is super cool, but we should be nervous enough to hover our fingers over the stop button: Flies with backpacks! Titchy cameras, comms devices. Companies and governments will queue up to fund that kind of R&D because the shareholders and public all like it. Think about this though. What else would you want to deliver that’s as small as a drop of water, very high impact and would fit in that insect’s backpack do you think? Something radioactive? How about a neurotoxin? Forgive my paranoid speculation – I’m sure I’m the only one who’s ever, ever thought of that.

The point is that technology can be used for good or bad depending which set of hands it falls into. Nefarious uses pay more though and it you had to find a way around ethical boards to make the breakthrough, it’s easy to believe that some folk might go the whole hog, piglets, trough of swill and subscription to Farmers Monthly by chasing the gleam of gold. They have to really or it would be a damp squib of a novel. Therefore, to make a good narrative, you need a credibly evil, murderous and scheming baddie – and this story has one who probably took Tony Blair’s correspondence course.

The story is entertaining, of full value length and I found it credible in all but two places. The first is when a former electro-mechanical scientist is suffering at the hands of her implant but doesn’t know that it can be made inert by magnetism. She didn’t know that? I knew that in prep school. So there I was, reading this book and any lip reader could tell you silently mouthing “MRI, EMP, Physics dept. lab, rail gun, wind farm generator, electricity sub-station, tape on some rare Earth magnets even”. Then I thought this was probably the writer being clever and the character might have dropped the MRI solution because it wouldn’t just turn the chip off but it would also super-heat it and potentially pull it through the artery wall, through the soft tissue and out of the body. Gush, splurt, no thanks, yuck. An electromagnetic pulse would be best but hard to arrange, so a brief buzz in the MRI would surely be enough. She studied electronics, right? The second thing I wasn’t sure about was the role the Chinese played in the story and how they failed to retain a single chip to study. I suggest they might, on their own home ground, be better at managing situations that this. Having said all that, I have to grow up and accept that this it is a fictional entertainment story and it would not have worked as well if those two things were to have the boring brown wand of reality waved over them. There are all sorts of reasons why Jurassic Park couldn’t have dinosaurs, for example, but the book would be utterly pointless without them. Ignore this entire paragraph then as I withdraw the observations in deference to poetic license. If they’d told Aristophanes that a chorus of frogs sounds silly, there’d be no such thing now as satire.

The Happy Chip is a dependable sci-fi thriller that fulfils expectations, all the more worrying because it could happen soon and almost certainly will happen in this century. Think twice about the fashions you’re caught up in, please. Changing your mind about a tattoo could make you anxious, trusting a driverless bus is something you will eventually get used to and the fear of being filmed in the shower by a robot fly is pathetic but getting a chip put inside you that can control your body, sluice or withhold hormones and a complete stranger is holding the remote control… that’s where the fun isn’t funny anymore. Another story well told from the imagination of Dennis Meredith.

An enjoyable read; fast-paced and with a fresh, intriguing idea. I particularly enjoyed the first 2/3 or so of the book which takes place in the United States - I found this part to be the most believable and genuinely horrifying. The "creepiness factor" is ratcheted up quickly in the first few chapters, and I was pleased that the author didn't draw out the revelation of what was going on for too long. It's nice to see a book that respects the intelligence of the readers as well as the characters. I also really enjoyed the colorful character of Kalinsky, even down to his credible and not overdone Russian accent. The main character, Brad, was more of an everyman, so we don't get to know too much about him, but this works for the action/thriller plot. If I have any gripes with the protagonists, it's that they are a little too noble and self-sacrificing to be believable.

This book could easily become a blockbuster movie - it almost reads like a movie script at times (in a good way), and many of the key action scenes (and the suspense scenes in-between) are just begging to be filmed. I hope the author can find a filmmaker interested in turning this into a movie, because the premise would interest many people and I think the novel could translate into a very successful film.

This is a solidly compiled adventure that explores an old theoretical physics model (then science fiction concept) in an entertaining way, with medium paced storytelling, and it then presents a good twist that the reader almost certainly wouldn’t have thought of on their own. I wouldn’t say this book was extraordinary throughout or the only source you ever need to learn about wormholes but I would strongly recommend the author send it to several the main sci-fi archive collections in the world because this may be the first time anyone has put the next step of concept development included here into fiction (I might be incorrect but this isn’t something I can check quickly, so add a comment if you’ve seen the following before). Specifically, this book presents passing through a wormhole, disengaging the Earth end and then steering it from the other end to potentially explore previously inaccessible reaches of our own galaxy. With no inertia, the limits of physical speed would melt and travel distance would no longer be governed by the human life span because you’d only begin travelling through after the wormhole had got there. Count me in please (packs towel and satchel).

As a fictional work on wormholes, this story includes everything the layperson would look for to cover that subject and, importantly, it doesn’t ape other wormhole influences (Pratchett’s The Long Earth, the TV show Sliders, Stargate, Deep Space 9 etc) so the reader is getting something fresh and dare I say it more realistic with this. There are things which are necessarily alike, such as casting two well educated scientist characters: a radical thinker man (similar roles were Dr Fox Mulder in X-Files and Professor Daniel Jackson in Stargate) and a bright, independent woman (e.g. Dr Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park) but I can’t imagine dim or unscientific people would be the first humans to bring such a phenomenon as this under control, so of course it would be people of this type. Dimensionally, I’ve just looked at myself out of the corner of my eye but it probably won’t happen.

In this, the arrival of the wormholes is made as realistic as possible, the leading characters then being drawn together and pulled in, if you’ll forgive a pun. There’s nothing supernatural about this story as it is all published and accepted physics, with the possible exception of magnetic containment working but more on that quibble below. Although the events are arguably US-centred, the author develops the idea at a global level and I think avoids the trap of whenever anything visits Earth it always lands in Central Park and wants to meet the same person (not my leader, thanks).

The author also has a good line in non-terrestrial animal design, avoiding the childish trap of imagining aliens as fitting the standard terrestrial vertebrate pattern (head on top, four limbs, rib cage, central spinal axis), which exists because Earthlings all share a common ancestor – which would not be in common with non-terrestrial life. The author is also correct when he says that any astrophysicist or physicist you ask can tell you there are other dimensions that the ones we see. Mathematically, that’s correct and we can model multi-dimensional shapes with data visualization to get our heads around the idea; add a length scale, add breadth, add height and then add another at a right angle to those. Easier that going around Hyde Park Corner on a moped.

The writing flaws were fairly marginal. I think I just spotted one spelling mistake (it’s/its) in this long book, so that’s pretty amazing by modern standards, i.e. to have a smooth read.

On the mechanical side my flow of consciousness travels into deep, intangible places and I might be badly wrong and tripping over my own brain stem but I don’t think that in our four dimensional reality (length, breadth, height and time) within the two standard physical models, that we could influence a wormhole’s geographical boundary/horizon position using magnetism (or the strong or weak nuclear force) unless it did not involve a separate universe dimension. In other words, yes I’m a nerd, but to use the author’s method of describing dimensions at right angles to our own: If you label our dimensions a, b, c and d and a wormhole opens to another dimension of e, f, g and h, the physical laws are only compatible if it is in another part of our own Universe (folded space) and the Newtonian and quantum settings match exactly (the same settings for physical conditions in separate universes is billions to one). Then again, the settings which allow life to exist in this universe are also fine-tuned to an improbability of a similar magnitude (don’t use the word design, don’t go there). If I’m correct (I could knock on a door at this university to find out if that’s possible, but I owe too many favours already) the scientist characters should conclude that if you can move the diameter of the aperture or the hole’s location with anything, showing the same physical settings across the boundary – even if you’re only testing magnetism, that indicates an immensely high probability that the wormhole must exist within the same universe as us (the other end is far away?). So, why go to the other end to steer it within our Universe if you can do the same thing from this end? If the wormhole is connected from ours to an alternative pocket universe or unique set of dimensions, the framework should collapse instantly (revert to one side, mutual exclusivity). Even if it didn’t collapse, the odds say life there would be impossible (too hot, too cold, matter too dispersed, atoms not holding together, elements not existing…) and any matter coming through would change state because the forces pushing and pulling it have changed.

I know I'm asking for trouble here because I sense the author has a scientific background but I can't help myself when the ball is rolling. I guess what I mean is, is this an extra dimensional wormhole structure which connects two areas of the same universe in which the same laws apply (I think so) or is it an extra dimensional wormhole structure that connects our universe to different universes where different laws apply (I don’t think that works)?

A related problem (okay, same problem, different application) is the rescue mission: A second wormhole is used to reach people stranded by the first. I can’t see any reason why the second wormhole would open in the same universe at all, let alone in any realistic proximity to the end of the first wormhole. Even if it formed comparatively very close, e.g. one solar system away, without a map of the other side it would be hard to bring the two together. If their dimensions are somehow linked to ours, geographical point position in 3D won’t obey quantum superposition rules over in dimension number 2, I think, although that assumes the small scale and large scale will obey the same laws over there (when they don’t here). If it works, in proximal space, this also suggests that the Earth system is rubbing up at right angles against (the same) other area of our own Universe, i.e. that the three dimensional topographic plane has folded and we’re meeting the same place on the other side, two close points here, two close points there – which would explain the rescue hole appearing nearby although I think I’ve said the same thing in four different ways. Congratulations me. So, the author is right, I don’t have to snog a beardy postgrad physicist and I’m free to cool my aching head down in this bucket of water. Whoosh, slosh, splosh and on to the next book.

In 2050, would-be writer Timothy Boatright is driving a cab in New York City. In this future-time tale, scientists have genetically engineered a variety of animals, including the stunning Cerulean cat. When naïve Tim unwittingly gives the cat-napper a ride in his cab, he sees the tip of the Cerulean’s tail.

Suddenly, he finds himself under arrest for the cat-napping the Cerulean, Tim tries to prove his innocence by tracking down the cat and stealing him from the cat-napper. But the situation deteriorates for our intrepid hero when the police accuse him of murder.

Can he find a way to clear his name, rescue his friends, avoid the Nasties, and save the cat? And just what is the Cerulean’s secret, anyway?

This delightful futuristic tale, filled with quirky characters and harrowing situations, is an intriguing mystery. Told with humor, the caper is wildly entertaining and the twisty plot will keep the pages turning.
On a more serious note, readers will find the genomic engineering technology a sobering possibility for the near future and the powerful corporate influences are nothing short of terrifying. Readers will find much to enjoy and to consider in this entertaining, thoughtful tale.

Highly recommended.

The Rainbow Virus by Dennis Meredith is about a bioterrorism attack that turns people different colors - at first the colors blue, red, and yellow, later many more shades and tints including lilac, magenta, chartreuse, egg plant, maroon, pine green, golden, turquoise, etc. While the color change does not appear to harm people beyond their pigmentation, the implications of what is inexplicably happening to people alerts the FBI and CDC. Bobby Loudon, FBI agent, and Kathleen Shinohara, CDC investigator, join forces to try and find who is responsible for the rainbow colored people.

Arthur Lupo is a brilliant young scientist who has apparently decided to turn to bioterrorism. In his personal research Arthur devises a way to insert a change of color into a person's genetic code controlling pigmentation. Loudon and Shinohara soon discover that Arthur has samples of deadly viruses that he has taken from AMRID (Army Medical Research Institute for infectious diseases.) Clearly, Arthur may have a more sinister use of his knowledge in mind. He may be planning to release deadly viruses that could wipe out the human population in a global super-pandemic outbreak consisting of many fatal viruses. Arthur is elusive and cautious, however, and complicating the pursuit is the presence of a mysterious group with another agenda.

While I love virus books of the nonfiction and fiction variety, Meredith does a nice job of keeping it simple for those who value a good action plot over lots of virus details. He explains what he needs to in order to move the plot along. This is clearly an action/adventure novel about bioterrorism and not a treatise on deadly viruses.

There is a point past the half-way mark where the investigation seems to slow down and lose the real feeling of urgency present in most of the book. That could be due to the developing relationship between Loudon and Shinohara. Personally, when a crazy scientist is loose and has found a way to turn people all shades of colors, like designer M&M's, and everything indicates that looming in the very near future is the potential of a deadly bioterrorism attack using this technique to infect people with deadly viruses, I'd like investigators to take the search seriously and set the personal attraction aside until later. But that could just be me. I'm funny that way.

Very Highly Recommended


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of the author via Netgalley for review purposes.

This is an amazing book. It brings up a very excellent question that very well may need to be considered by real life judges in the not too distant future: Do chimps, who share 99.9% of our DNA and who have been taught language and shown to have intelligence, deserve legal rights? The book throws us headlong into a dramatic court case over this very question. The characters are compelling and the chimps are very likeable. Well worth a read as well as serious consideration of the controversial issue it presents.

This is the first time I have tried one of Dennis Meredith's novels and I have to say he has a new fan. I was enthralled with this novel right from the beginning. The main premise of the novel is simple. Do chimpanzees have the same legal rights as humans do considering that 99.9% of human and chimpanzee DNA is the same?
Dennis Meredith explores this thought provoking question in the form of Solomon, a very bright chimpanzee who has learned from a very young age to communicate by the use of computer images that symbolize language. The question arises when Solomon's owner mistakenly allows him to be sold to a millionaire who wants to harvest Solomon's heart for his own use. What follows is a fast paced and well thought out story that examines the ethical issue of whether our closest living relative deserves the same respect and dignity that humans have.
I found the novel brought to life this very important issue and I became so involved in the story that I had tears in my eyes after staying up to read it to the finish. Highly recommended. I received this novel for free in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

I loved Solomon since the first chapter. The careful description of the character and how much the humans around him evolve to understand and protect him was captivating. I am very drawn towards legal dramas and that is why I requested this book for review. The legal part wasn't the strongest point of this drama, so if you are looking for a Grisham's style, this might not be for you. But if you want a compelling fiction story that keeps the heart on animal care and respect, then buy this book and you will enjoy it.
Abigail's father started to teach language to Solomon and she continued the labor. Solomon's communication skills are beyond what you will expect and I actually was eager to learn more about the way chimpanzee's can learn to communicate.
The lawyer William “Bobby” Colter takes you into a love/hate the character situation. The style of ride that not even the last sentence of the book was able to stop.
The billionaire Walter Drake is a revolting character yet so desperate and sad that you can decide whether to disconnect him or to understand that transplants are not a luxe and to stick to the human side.
Enjoy the story!

I received a signed ARC copy of Solomons Freedom from the by Dennis Meredith in exchange for an honest review of this book- this is my honest opinion of his book. This book is so compelling and written so amazingly. It is so close to my heart, It has you seeing Solomon actually doing the sign language, the lab where they do the experiments on him. The scenes are so well described. The scientific parts of this book is so well defined that it makes one wonder if it actually happens now.
This being said let me take you on a ride with my friend Solomon and his freedom ride. The story starts out at as a young lady by the of Abigial Philips rushes up to an flamboyant trail lawyer by the name of R William"Bobby" Colter trying to hire for Solomon. She explains that they are going to kill him just to take his heart and that not right as he has a sole. See Solomon can has feelings and understands what is going on - he can communicate (talk).
The man that was and need the heart of Solomon is ailing Billionaire Walter Drake. He plans on harvesting the heart of Solomon.
This story is very moving an inspiring. I have not told you the out come on purpose as I want you to read this story. The way that Dennis Meredith has written is extremely excellent and you can tell he has done a lot of research. This book is os my opinion is so heart warming , moving & compelling !! You can feel the pain that Solomon is going thru and actually see him , and the scenes. This story is so believable it is remarkable. Therefore I give this book a rating of 30 out of 5 stars and recommend to all.It is available on at Amazon. SO GO GET YOUR COPY NOW!!!
But before you do . I asked the author a few questions and here are his answers.

How did you come up with the story of Solomon??
I began exploring research on chimp intelligence and saw the huge gap between what scientists knew about how advanced they are and the complete lack of that recognition in their legal standing. So, I began to think of a story that would dramatize that chasm. And I knew that, although it would be quite legal to use a chimp heart for a transplant, it was deeply immoral. So, that was the origin of the story.

The characters for solomon do they take after any one??
The character of Abigail Philips is modeled on dedicated chimp researchers like Jane Goodall and others who have found that the subjects of their research are in such great danger of extinction. In creating Bobby Colter, I wanted a character who had no interest at all in chimp rights, but finds himself taking up the cause when he learns the facts and gets to know chimps.

I had a chimp name sammy and I see alot of him in your chimp so did you use any characteristics of another chimp for solomon?
I based Solomon on some of the chimps I met when I hung out (pun intended) with the chimps at the Ohio State Animal Laboratory, where another dedicated researcher, Sally Boysen, was exploring their intelligence. The lab in the book was modeled after hers.

I should also point out that almost all the human characters in the book are named after her chimps. It is a sad irony that the chimp Bobby died after the book was written, while being transferred to a retirement facility.

From your bio I see you used to be a professor - so when did you know that you wanted to write?
When I was in high school I entered writing competitions, and I starting writing in earnest when I got to graduate school. I've been writing about science for some four decades, and during that time I also began writing novels.

Is there anything that you would like to tell your readers about this book or upcoming books??
Well, as you know, my next book, The Cerulean's Secret [www.ceruleanssecret.com] is also about animals, specifically genetically engineered ones. I'm excited about that novel because, besides being a cool sci fi adventure, it explores what genetic engineering might lead to in the next decades, in terms of treatment of animals.

Is there anything you would like to tell us about yourself??
I am a total science geek who loves to tell stories that get people excited about real science!

I was once given a definition of good science fiction. I was told "In good science fiction, it's hard to tell where the science ends and the fiction begins." I found that hard in several places in this story. Some of it was a little far fetched but for the most part, the author had my mind stretching to the limits imagining what if?????? The characters were well written and very believable. I think I've known each of them at one time or another. I recommend reading this one.

Dacey Livingstone, a geologist, is sent to investigate an unusual sinkhole but stumbles upon a bigger mystery. Gerald Meier is an astrophysicist that explores theories no one else wants to deal with or acknowledge. The strange phenomenon appears and disappears in random places from Oklahoma, New York City, San Francisco, and Atlantic Ocean to name a few places. Gerald stumbles upon a stunning idea that will rock the scientific community. It's a race against time to stop this deadly menace. Will Gerald and Dacey come up with a plan? Will they be believed? What is the deadly menace? Your answers await you in Wormholes.

I was surprised by how my scientific information was discussed that didn't leave me feeling dumb for not knowing this information. I appreciated this very much because it kept me engaged in the story. I love the mix of science and out of the box type of thinking presented here. I would definitely consider reading more books by this author.

Book Info: Genre: Speculative Fiction
Reading Level: Adult (there is also a YA version available)
Recommended for: fans of speculative fiction
Trigger Warnings: mention of domestic violence in the past

My Thoughts: All in all, this is a fairly entertaining book. I'm no physicist, so I can't tell you how accurate the science is, but it seems plausible in a rather fantastical way.

The one complaint I had was the method the author used for exposition. He would have one character bring something up that he felt needed explanation and then have another character explain what it meant. The reason this bothered me is that some of the lack of knowledge shown by some of the characters is very unrealistic. For example, Dacey has a PhD (admittedly in Geology), but has no idea what a black hole is? I mean, come on, I know what a black hole is. So, essentially, unrealistic holes in characters' knowledge.

However, other than that I was highly entertained by the story. The characters are all well rounded and developed, and there is plenty of action to keep the reader engaged. If you enjoy speculative fiction, heavy on the science, definitely check this one out.

Disclosure: I received an e-galley from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Something is devouring Earth. . .

A suburban house in Oklahoma vanishes into a roaring abyss. A supertanker at sea suffers a fiery destruction. A blast in China drills a gigantic cavern into a mountainside. A severed arm plummets from the sky in Missouri.

Could these catastrophes possibly be related? Intrepid geologist Dacey Livingstone is nearly killed by her first attempt to plumb the mystery—a perilous descent into a house-swallowing sinkhole. Still determined, she joins with eccentric physicist Gerald Meier in a quest that takes them from the ocean's depths to interstellar space.

What are these exotic "wormholes" that threaten Earth? Can their secrets be discovered, their power even harnessed? Or will they spawn a celestial monster that will annihilate the planet?

Brilliantly original, Wormholes reflects Albert Einstein's famous assertion that, "Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."

Reallly good read. When I started reading I thought this was going to be a flippant, funny sort of book. But as I read on, it really drew me in. The technical aspects were quite interesting. I enjoyed the dialogue between the characters and the author's writing was flowing and enjoyable to read. I thank the author for providing me with the copy of the book.

This was a well done book that was part thriller and part bio-terrism. It was well written and engaging and I enjoyed it. I got a copy of this book from NetGalley to review.

Arthur Lupo at first just seems to be eccentric when he unleashes a genetic virus on the population that turns people a multitude of colors. Then it’s revealed that he has gotten his hands on some of the world’s deadliest viruses and the rainbow virus was just a test. Now two people, Kathleen Shinohara (from the CDC) and Bobby Loudon (a disgraced FBI agent) must race against time to track down Lupo and figure out how to stop the Rainbow Virus along with other potentially more vicious viruses from spreading.

I picked this book up to read for a pretty silly reason...I was participated in a Color-coded reading challenge and needed a book with the word Rainbow in the title. I am glad I read it, although not typically the type of book I read, this was a well done genetic thriller of sorts.

I don’t know a ton about genetics, so I am not sure how accurate some of the scientific terminology was throughout the book. However, none of it sounded all that contrived and it all seemed very plausible and was a very interesting premise. I love the idea of a genetic terrorist who does a “test study” by genetically altering a person’s skin color.

There are some interesting issues brought up around skin color because of all the different skin colors. There is talk of rights for differently colored people and instant rumors of what skin colors make you better at which things. There is also an instant market for makeup and clothing that matches different colors of skins. It is kind of interesting to think about the social implications of a society where everyone is a completely random color.

What really drove the story for me though was the two main characters. Bobby is initially not a very likable characters. He’s a disgraced FBI agent, separated from this wife, and hops from one woman to another. As the story goes on and his past is revealed we found out Bobby has been wronged in a pretty big way. You watch as Bobby tries to solve this case, as he falls in love with Kathleen, and as he struggles to maintain contact with his daughter that he misses horribly.

Kathleen is a very driven woman. She is super smart, works hard, and is absolutely obsessed with infectious disease. Watching her struggle to unravel clues with Bobby at her side, and struggle not to be charmed by Bobby is entertaining. She is an endearing character that I really enjoyed reading about.

There is definitely a thriller element to the book as well. There are a number of very harrowing scenes where people are fighting against the worst enemy of all, a virus. There are also some shootout scenes and the book ends up being fairly action packed.

The book is well written and easy to read. I enjoyed how everything was wrapped up. This is definitely a novel for adults. There is a lot of discussion about sex and some sex scenes.

Overall a well done genetic thriller. I enjoyed the story and the characters. If you are interested in reading about bioterrism I would definitely recommend this book.

When I first read the synopsis for this story, I thought I would be reading something combining all the STARGATE series in one, but sadly this was not the case. If, like me you are expecting STARGATE and all the information involved, this story is not for you.

WORMHOLES opens with an imagination-catching scene. The house disappears, owner and all mysteriously, the main characters are introduced and the story plummets from there, picks up, plummets etc. Although there are some very good portions in the story, for the most part, I found myself skimming the pages wondering when things were going to pick up. Then things would get interesting again and it would once more plummet and I would want the story to end. The characters are not likeable and when they died it didn't make any difference. Although the writing itself is technically proficient, the story is lacking in most other aspects and I thought it could have been much better than what it was.

I put this as a 3 but I would give it a 3.5.

I enjoyed reading this book, it immediately intrigued me from the very first wormhole incidence. There was a lot of scientific detail and explanation, this trend continuing for a good portion of the book with minor incidences occurring which made for a bit of a sluggish and heavy read. Once the book got past all the science, the suspense and excitement returned keeping me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen next. I would certainly recommend this book, the plot is well developed with exceptional detail and characters that are easily related to.

Knowing that the author spent his previous career in the world of science explains why the science in this book is very solid and well detailed. Everything that happens in this novel comes off as completely believable and if I had not known some of the science covered beforehand, the parts of the book where he jumps from actual science into speculation would have all seemed like fact. He also does a good job with the thriller aspects of this book. The chase for answers and then solutions is interesting and at times pushed me to read faster in order to find out what was going to happen next. There are parts of this book that strongly reminded me of Carl Sagan’s Contact, both in the way the science is approached and in how Meredith dealt with the government and scientific community’s reactions to the main characters and their quest.

The author does an excellent job of showing how amazing acts of nature can destroy and wreck our structured environment. Meredith seemed to have a certain glee when writing the scenes of carnage and devastation.

That might be where the real big fault I have with this book comes from. The book takes a very long time to get going. The story didn’t feel like it really started until almost forty percent through reading it, which might be the longest set up I have ever read in a story. While I can understand the need to set up these wormholes and their destructive power Mr. Meredith seems to be a bit over enamored with this setup. We could have done with just 2 scenes showing us their power, say the opening scene and the destruction of the super-tanker. That would have been enough to get what was going on, give the main characters something to investigate, and set the stage. Unfortunately the author felt the need to write many other instances of wormholes causing havoc. I get that he wanted to show the difference aspects of the wormholes in order to set up later events, but those could of have been condensed into just a couple of examples and the result would have been the same. As it is the reader has to slog through the first half of the book waiting for something interesting to happen.

However, if you can make it through all of the setup, once the story gets going it really moves at a fast pace and is worth reading. Dennis Meredith is a good writer and has the ability to keep the reader engaged when he wants to. While not my favorite sci-fi book it was none the less an enjoyable read and one I would recommend to anyone who likes hard science fictions or books like Contact.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Took awhile to finish. Not a bad book but the romance angle wasn't working for me. However, the concept was very interesting and as long as the story centered on the science, this was an interesting book

I'm one of those people who will read any fiction with the biohazard flower on the cover or the word 'virus' in the title so I saved this one to enjoy during vacation. I was not disappointed!

I'm not a virologist so I can only say the science sounds plausible. The depiction of communication problems between various government agencies (and even within individual bodies) is spot on.

People mysteriously start turning vivid colors with only the services of an allergist in common. FBI agent Bobby Loudon and his partner Walter are on the hunt to find missing scientist Arthur Lupo. Their paths cross with CDC field agents Kathleen Shinohara and Doc Smith who are searching for the origin of the color-changing virus.

The most thought-provoking moments are offered by the victims of the virus attack. How much of our identity is based on the color of our skin? Becoming a different color is originally a novelty that confers instant celebrity status and financial gain. Later sufferers face relationship insecurities, racism, and the sense of losing who they are. The public crisis is cleverly paralleled in the growing interracial romantic relationship between Loudon and Shinohara.

Other items for thought: What makes someone become a bioterrorist? Who really holds power? What do they know? Should they be trusted? Are there sufficient safeguards on facilities conducting genetic research?

But this book doesn't have to be an intellectual exercise. The characters are colorful (no pun intended) and the story is well-written. There is plenty of suspense, romance, action, and even some moments of levity. Fans of medical thrillers will love this book and other readers can also find plenty to enjoy within its covers.

This review is based on the Kindle Adult edition.

This review is of the adult edition of The Rainbow Virus.

I am a great of techno-thrillers, but this was my first time trying a novel that was this science heavy, and I was not disappointed. The Rainbow Virus is a very fast-paced thriller that draws you in from the first page with the quirky nature of the virus, but then turns menacing as the nature of what Lupo, the originator of this virus, is capable of becomes clear. The possibility of biological warfare being unleashed on the American public is a very real threat and the author drives that idea home without becoming overly conspiratorial or overtly threatening — a fine line to tread today.

While I cannot speak to the accuracy of the science involved in virology and epidemiology, for a casual reader it was treated well. Everything at least sounded plausible, and the author didn’t feel the need to inundate you with facts and hard umbers. Instead, enough science is given in layman’s terms to allow for an understanding of the processes involved in the virus and the threat that is posed to a large population should any of the known “superbugs” be unleashed. This helped to heighten the excitement of the story as you truly felt the need to stop Lupo before he escalated his threat beyond turning people different colors.

For the storyline and readability this was a standard thriller, criss-crossing the country from Los Angeles to Washington DC to Denver, Colorado. Along the way we get to see the redemption of the disgraced, alcoholic FBI Agent Loudon as well as the softening and humanizing of the over-zealous and methodical Shinohara of the CDC. Both of these story lines are becoming a bit cliche in thrillers, but were treated well overall. There is an underlying love story that both these characters are involved in that does seem forced, however. I felt that the character development and ultimate changes in both could have been accomplished without the relationship going as far as it did.

Despite the nature of this being a biological thriller, I felt that the best part of The Rainbow Virus was the philosophical question that it raised — “What would race relations become if all people were every color in the spectrum?” The actual virus from which the book gets its title is benign, except for the fact that those infected slowly change color — colors that range from deep indigo to bright yellow! Unfortunately the way this racial question is treated didn’t really work for me. Suddenly, half way through the book we are introduced to “the Killer” who is hired to assassinate Lupo for attempting to eliminate the white race. Add this to the “black helicopter” government storyline and the overall story is weakened slightly. If you can ignore this little bit and enjoy the ending action, however, then it’s well worth the read.

The Rainbow Virus has also been published in a Young Adult edition that cleans up some of the language, violence, and adult themes in the book, while still retaining the overall story, science, and action of the adult version.