Emergence

by Nick M. Lloyd

The Gadium have been ruling the galaxy for millennia, manipulating probability to ensure their continued domination.
On Earth, Jack Bullage survives a horrendous car accident.
Reporter Louise Harding has a score to settle with Jack. Against her editor’s orders, she investigates all the options, even the most unbelievable ones. How did he get to be so lucky?
The Gadium have the answers. They know why Jack is special. It’s just evolution; he’s developing the ability to ‘ride the parallels.’
This could herald Earth's Emergence, a new era, an end to its isolation in the galaxy – but Gadium approval is not assured and Jack may be evolving too fast for their plans.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

400 pages, ebook

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

Nick Lloyd is an independent author living in London. He writes Science Fiction in contemporary Earth settings. His stories are purposefully designed to have moral uncertainty, and mostly deal with the use (or misuse) of power.

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He has four full-length standalone novels.

"The Lay of Sargon"
Published January 2023.
Joy Cooper has created Vince, Earth’s first self-aware Artificial Intelligence.

Recognising that big business or government forces would undoubtedly abuse his abilities, Joy and Vince remain in hiding while together devising a plan for him to be truly safe.

The plan is ruined when the Onari (an alien species of computers) abduct Vince, accusing Joy of enslaving him.

With help from an underclass of biological aliens, Joy chases after Vince and soon becomes enmeshed in a conflict that has spanned millennia.

But the balance of power has changed because something Joy did during Vince’s creation means that he has developed powers unmatched across the galaxy … Biologicals now wonder if they no longer need to be the underclass.

***
***

Immortal (February 2019)
Having had no contact with any alien species before, humanity receives a radio message from approaching aliens ('the Ankor'). They warn Earth that a huge supernova blast is going to hit within a year and this will be an extinction level event. However, the Ankor are prepared to help ... if humanity launches the required materials for a shield into orbit.
Are the Ankor to be trusted?


Emergence (October 2014)
Earth is being scrutinised by an alien civilisation who maintain their dominance across the galaxy through manipulation of probability. Among the aliens, whole religions have sprung up related to interpretation of this apparent control of 'luck'. On Earth, a single human starts the transformation required to exert this control himself ...


Disconnected (April 2017)
Political activist, Asha Kharjal, has mastered the mysterious science of directly manipulating the subconscious. He can literally rewire people. And for the good of mankind, he's going to. Whether they like it, or not ...

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclosure: I received my copy of this book for free for review. I’ve split my review into two parts - part one is without spoilers for those that haven’t read the book and don’t want the details. Part two is full of spoilers because I wanted to add the “what I did and didn’t like” with specific examples.

Overall, Emergence was a good book, it held my interest and there were a few times that I had trouble putting it down down. I enjoyed the story about an advanced civilization that act as stewards to other planets as those planets approach 'emergence' with a focus on Earth’s own approach to emergence. I loved the complexity of the Gadium civilization, not least of which was their extended life spans and the complications that arise from living so long combined with the ability to utilize stasis whereby extending chronological lifespan significantly.

The plot was interesting and readers are given a good background on the advanced civilization of Gadium. The Author's writing is straightforward and easy to follow. There are a few places that I felt a deeper understanding of a few subjects should have been provided to the reader earlier in the book, but it didn't significantly detract from the overall story because by the end some of these subjects were resolved.

I think the character development could be stronger; I didn't feel a connection to any of the characters until I was about 65% into the book. The story itself makes up for much of this, but I would have liked to identify better with the characters earlier in the book. I like that there is no clear cut main character; the book focuses on a group of characters, but that may contribute to why wasn't able to relate well to any specific character for much of the book.

The group of people on Earth are clearly the protagonists in the end, but of the Gadium characters I felt there was no clear cut protagonist by the end, but I think if the author had clearly identified the good guy I might have disagreed. There was definitely conflict, but I couldn't decide whose side I was on at the end. Maybe that’s the point. It seems there’s more of this story to tell; but whether or not this book was the first of a series, I don’t know.

Again, to reiterate, I really enjoyed reading Emergence and if there is another book added to this story I will definitely read it. I would recommend it to those who enjoy science fiction and perhaps those I would like to see give more thought to Hegemonies in general.

Now to the nitty gritty--
I like that this book gave me some thinking moments, not the least of which was the conundrum of morality behind whether to follow the One Path philosophy or the Many Worlds philosophy. I say philosophy, because in the end, it was clear that it was a choice rather than provable fact. I appreciate that Emergence was able to present an idea that I've never given much thought to and make me actually care about the significance of that idea. It was done without being heavy handed and I never once felt that the author had a specific agenda behind the philosophy except to allow the reader to puzzle out their own beliefs.

I also enjoyed the parallels that I drew (intended or not) between Gadium’s galactic policies of stewardship and the similar roles of ‘stewardship’ towards emerging countries played by the real world’s few hegemonies on earth. I use the word stewardship with some misgiving because I don't think it’s the right word to describe what happens here on earth, but the parallel was there for me nonetheless. I found that I was only slightly less undecided about Gadium’s policies as I was about real world ‘stewardship’ roles.

Of the earth characters, I felt that Jack Bullage and Louise Harding deserved more development than they were given. I never connected with Louise throughout the entire book and when she had her brush with death, I found I didn't care if she died. I did connect with Jack Bullage, finally, when he took his fateful walk around the neighborhood and turned out the lights. Of the Gadium characters, I felt most sympathetic towards Justio and Commander Jenkins, both of whom seemed to be protagonist's for much of the story. By the end, I was left wondering about Commander Jenkins and his actions on Vantch. As for Justio, well he became the antagonist to the earth character’s at about 75% of the way through and I was undecided about his conflict with Aytch whose character I never identified with and frankly didn't like. Aytch felt like a puppet through most of the book; his purpose to help explain Gadium civilization, history and politics to the reader and as Sharnia’s less deadly mouthpiece on the mission. The heroic role he momentarily filled at the end felt out of character for him.

There were several plot points / subjects through the book that I felt were not addressed well enough. Specifically, the historical conflict between Louise and Jack was never fully explained. I felt that contributed to my lack of connection to Louise and added to my doubts about Jack. I would have liked to understand their earlier history more completely rather than with two vague references to what Jack might have done to some old people “left to rot in their own piss and shit” in a home in chapters 4 and then 51. The ‘piss and shit’ quote is the most explicit understanding given to the reader and that doesn't occur until chapter 51, more than three-fourths of the way through the story. I also felt that SISR--Single Instance State Reduction--could have been better explained both earlier and in general. Overall, it was not clear to me what being a Triple Alpha really meant. Is is simply that a Triple Alpha can use their mind to make real physical changes to events / people? Can they do anything else? Can they move between the parallels? I was never sure, it didn't seem like it in the end, but there were a few instances on Vantch that left me wondering. Also, what’s the big difference between Alpha and Triple Alpha? I noticed that Triple Alphas are able to intuit certain choices and paths, but are Alphas able to make the same intuitive leaps? Given that the Triple Alpha state is one of the most enjoyably intriguing ideas presented in the book, I wanted more details about what it meant and how it worked.

Knowing that this is the Author’s first book, I look forward to reading more by Nick M Lloyd and feel confident that his writing will only improve and become even more intriguing. Even though I gave this book 3 stars, I felt it contributed to my overall quality of life and how I see my place in the world-which is no small feat. Usually books that can do that fall in my 4-5 star rating range (see my profile for details), but the few issues I mentioned above is what caused my slightly lower rating.

As a side note: there is an extra word “be” at location 2180 (for the mobi version). It’s just a minoring editing mishap and the only one I noticed throughout the book.

[Russell Libonati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emergence is a good book with an interesting main topic, that a transformation to a higher mental state could and inevitably will happen on a global scale. I really like the scientific way in which the first inklings of the transformation were characterized by the researchers. I also like the way things tie in at the climax when the secrets to what is going on are revealed. The reason I couldn't give the book five stars is because there were a few things I felt were missing.

The book features aliens and any time a book has aliens I find myself insatiably interested in everything about them. What do they look like? How heavy are they? What is their culture? How do they mate? How do they communicate? And so on. The book reveals only a few of these things. Throughout the book I felt like they were just humans for the longest time. Eventually reptilian descriptions are given, but I still have no idea how far that extends. Are they cold blooded? There was no mention of this in the book. What details were given were doled out throughout the book, which I liked because I don't like it when there are long pages of set-up to wade through with no story advancement. There were just too few details regarding them. Another thing I felt was missing was the motivation for the characters. Sometimes I felt like they jumped to conclusions a person in their position would not have jumped to. A little more intimacy with them would help too. There were mental powers presented in the story but few boundaries were given. How far do these powers extend? And finally I didn't care for the tech in the book. I don't believe I have any spoilers thus far. All of this was in the synopsis, and I don't want to add one describing why I don't like the way the tech was handled.

There was one other thing I found odd. The author used single quotes when people talked. I have read books written in English (as opposed to American) and I don't recall ever seeing this. It bothered me a bit because they are harder to see while reading and I found myself sometimes going back to make sure something was said and not part of the narrative.

I do recommend the book, because I think the average sci-fi reader would enjoy it. There is nothing overtly offensive in the book (language, torture, hardcore sex, religion, etc.) I received the book free from the author for an honest review. I hope this helps someone.

[Andy Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A SIMPLE MAN'S REVIEW:

Look, I've never written a book, so you'll have to take what I say with a grain of salt, but I find a common theme with many self-published authors is the lack of a really good editor. I don't get hung up on a couple of typos, but when the ideas and storyline seem scattered, it makes for a tough read. This book could have been fantastic if it was cut down by one third and had a few plot points and characters tweaked.

The story offered an interesting perspective on alien intervention: a race of stewards helping other sentient planets "emerge". What does "emergence" look like? Well, that is one of the problems with the book. For most of the story, this process is described as an individual having better luck than normal. Of course there is plenty of quantum and classical physics jargon thrown in that direction, but ultimately, not really anything extraordinary or exciting. Eventually the story ends up with the "many worlds" idea, but that should have been the driving force all along.

And then we get to the characters. I'm not even concerned with the aliens. They can act however they want, since they're aliens, right? But the humans are one dimensional and seem to be children masquerading in the bodies of adults. Grown people do not act that way! Louise is completely unbelievable as a character as are her husband and friend. They became a distraction from the story because they were completely unrelatable.

In its present form, I can't recommend reading this book. It takes entirely too much work and time to get to the few diamonds hiding amongst so much rough.

[Mike Milligan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very hard to get settled into the storyline.

[Dan Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emergence is the debut novel by British SF novelist Nick M Lloyd.

There are two main settings in which events take place: firstly Earth, through the central human characters of journalist with a grudge Louise, her physicist hubby Jeff Harding, their other physicist pal Mike, and Jack Bullage, a shady businessman, car-crash survivor and the subject of Louise’s grudges; and secondly a nameless spacecraft, stationed somewhere a hundred miles above our planet, where a crew of seemingly emotionally-unstable reptilian humanoid creatures known as the Gadium act as benign dictators, or stewards, for various intergalactic planets, of which Earth is only one. The Gadium see it as their duty to shepherd a planet to Emergence – a state of the alteration of that planet’s population akin to a giant evolutionary leap, allowing the planet’s inhabitants to use increased psychic gifts. If this sounds like something cooked up in one of David Icke's more paranoid daydreams, the reality is more like a John Grisham style thriller, and brings the strengths of other genres to SF.

The idea of the Emergence is a neat one, and elevates the story from being another humdrum conspiracy thriller into a real SF-thinker, bringing in wider themes such as the morality of physics (particularly free will versus predetermination, which is worthy of its own article) and the imposition of huge centralized state surveillance (in the form of both the Earth Governments and the aliens) versus good old fashioned liberty. Lloyd’s love and enthusiasm for theoretical physics and quantum theory is clear, and he helpfully uses a number of clever analogies to explain some of the weirder theories (Many Worlds, Copenhagen etc) to the layreader. Having said that, he fails to explain Jeff’s Dragon’s Door analogy, which left me a little disappointed… come on, Nick, tell us what it is!

The dichotomy between the settings also marks a kind of dichotomy of tone and pace as well. The Earth scenes are terrific – they are pacy, humorous, and the chemistry works really very well between all the characters concerned. Supporting characters like academic Bob and reformed gangster Willis are written well and don’t feel one-dimensional, although Willis seemed a little underused for my taste.

Contrarily, the Gadium scenes are a little stiff, especially in the early scenes. I postulated upon this, and decided that, from a personal perspective, I found it very difficult to care or sympathise with either Aytch or Justio, the two Gadium leads, even though they are revealed to have very different motivations and justifications for.., their actions towards the end. I think this is because both creatures are non-human, and both represent a sort of sprawling, not-benign statism which runs contrary to ideas of human liberty. So, even though their characters are different, I found their differences to be overwhelmed by their sameness.

This sameness made the middle sections of the book sag ever so slightly, because I found it difficult to care about the backstories of Aytch and Justio, and there are a couple of chapters where the writing threatens to veer into info-dump territory; luckily, Lloyd is quick to return to Earth each time, where the conflict, threat and humour is something the reader can believe and empathise with much more easily. And, after the halfway point, the book picks up in pace in a big way, and accelerates towards a very tense and taut action-packed climax, where events both on and above Earth intertwine in a satisfying resolution, and there’s a tantalizing clue as to the direction of where the intergalactic story goes next.

From a technical viewpoint, some of the Gadium dialogue jars slightly – they seem to dispense with Earth colloquialisms slightly too often for my liking – would a reptilian refer to himself as being painted into a corner? Unless they’ve built their galactic empire based on painting and decorating, I’d say not. Furthermore, the number of POV characters seems to swell inexplicably around the halfway point, with some characters given only a paragraph or two of POV, third-person close narration time, and then it’s taken away, which seems stilted and pointless.

Still, the presentation of the book, the professional polish and the neat, pacy writing voice that Lloyd brings to Emergence make it, as I have already stated, the best independent book I have read so far, and I would highly recommend it to any lover of SF, conspiracy thrillers.

[J.L. Dobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every once in a while there is a book that just grabs my attention and keeps it. I hadn't quite expected that from Nick Lloyd's Emergence. It seems to be written in the style of a procedural suspense thriller. This tends to create the air of Hard Science Fiction and thankfully not the difficult kind of hard. Well, maybe some difficult if you try to include the many worlds interpretation. I almost thought it would slip away from me when I was forced to focus heavily on the alien race. The world of Jack and Louise was becoming so entertaining that I didn't really want to take a break to examine the Gadium in the ship above Earth and certainly not the ones far off in space at other worlds.

There are a number of ways to handle alien races in a Science Fiction novel. One of those ways is to try to make everyday life and dialogue sound like us. Sometimes that choice can make the story a bit less than palatable. In Emergence it helped a lot, because there's a lot to get to know about these aliens before the climax of the story. What brings them here; and why they have come all this way only to watch. Much of this gets answered and even more questions the reader hasn't thought to ask. The procedural nature of the story is not limited to the Earth half of the story and the reader should be ready to learn a lot about the procedural nature of the aliens who watch.

But, to be honest, what I liked about Emergence is the characters. I had resolved that I was going to be concentrating on the colorful characters of all the Earth Humans. The animosity between Jack and Louise drive the story. Louise might not have begun her investigation, but for the conflict she'd been having with Jack. The dynamic duo of Jeff and Mike as college professors and the main researchers within the story are a good foil for Louise's hard nosed investigative reporting. But that was quickly derailed by the scenes depicting the initial discomfort between the aliens Aytch and Justio, which expands as the reader finds there are dissenters in the most perfect ranks of the great race.

At one point I was almost ready to let the story guide me into the look and feel of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But this never got to the level of silliness of Douglas Adam's work. This seems to stay in the more serious vein perhaps like X-files. One would think that since the aliens are mostly there to watch that it would be pretty boring. For the most part the reader is initially led to believe it is pretty sedate; but soon, with the potential for internal strife, things begin to get interesting.

It takes a while for the reader to come to grips with the rules that the Gadium must abide by while observing the Emergence. It's those rules that set the stage for most of the story's conflicts. It's those rules and the Gadium belief that they are doing the right thing that lead to some pretty strange occurrences. Eventually everyone will be in a race against time to complete missions that all seem to be at odds with each other.

It's easy to start picking sides but it becomes confusing when the reader has to take into consideration that one or the other of the Gadium factions has to dominate and when that happens then the conflict becomes between them and the humans and neither of the former two are a good choice for that ultimate conflict and the humans are being set up to mostly lose in any situation.

When it gets to the final solutions the readers is left satisfied; but the final judgment will be that there will likely be more to this story.

This is well written well paced Procedural Science Fiction that waxes Hard most of the time though the seeming theoretical nature of Many Worlds Interpretation will stretch some readers suspension of disbelief.

You need to read this to see what I mean and you shouldn't be disappointed.

J.L. Dobias

[5ngela · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I finished my last book. To be honest the cover doesn't really appeal to me, but somehow it makes me check the blurb and I am glad I did it. It turned out the story was much better than the cover.

First I want to say that there are several main characters. Don't let the blurb make you think Jack is the only main characters. Actually I thought Gadium commanders are the main one. People who watch anime Tytania will understand what I mean. On one side we have earth people like Jack, Louise, Jeff, Bob, James, etc. On Gadium side we have Justio, Aytch, Jenkins, Sharnia, etc. Their lives interact and influence each other. I will be honest the science part is too deep for my brain (or maybe I am just too dense to understand it ? LOL). Anyway, I just skip it and continue with the story. I don't know whether my lack of science knowledge affect my understanding of this story or not. But, certainly it would be better if the author make the hypothetical science much more simple.

Anyway, the story itself is very interesting at least the premise. It just that there are too many characters with different point of view but lack of function. I mean it feels like they are there just for the sake of being there (or to scramble our brain ??? LOL). I always love story with different point of view from different characters, as long as it doesn't make the story too long. Unfortunately in this case, I feel the story was dragged because of unnecessary different point of view that led to nothing. Basically it sacrifice quality for quantity. Even I believe it affects the ending. After certain pages, you become impatient with the story and just want to know how it will end. There are certain things that was not explained clearly. Maybe you need to reread it again and again to completely understand it. Or maybe you don't because that's just plot hole. I don't know.

For all of it's good and bad, I still recommend this book for science fiction lovers because it was unique and well ... still quite mainstream. Cannot wait for the sequel because the conflict certainly intriqueful and the author left the ending open for next installment.

My rating : 4 of 5 stars

www.sharing55tories.blogspot.com

[Dave Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a début novel, Emergence is pretty damn good. It's clear that the author put a great deal of time and thought into it, as it shows in the details. As with any work of fiction there are good and bad points, though as I worked my way through it I couldn't help but find more bad points than good. However, just over half way through the balance shifted in favour of the good.

A few things bothered me a little, but none of them were enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story. There are a few spoilers here.

If the ship orbiting Earth can view live streams, hack into global communications, and receive emails, along with communications from many light years away – it shows the Gadium have a wealth of technology way more advanced than humans, and yet whilst monitoring Louise, Jeff, Jack etc, why would they have to wait for their ships systems to compile and assimilate information? This seems counter to their technological abilities and for no reason other to keep the plot moving more slowly than it needs to. It’s understandable that it keys in with the Gadium mistrust of AI, but doesn’t feel right.

I either can’t remember or it wasn’t made clear, but I don’t recall reading a good reason why Gadium is so against AI. The same goes for the Beta, Alpha and Triple Alpha issue. There is logic behind it that makes sense to Gadium, but it’s not entirely made clear to the reader.

I had to assume that humans in the basic state are referred to as Beta’s and that once some began to discover certain powers, ones we would refer to as luck to some degree, they can become Alphas, thus in turn seeming to infect those around them and thereby increase the number of conversions from Beta to Alpha. I guess if you think of it in terms of superhero’s it makes more sense – Betas are us, Alphas are X-Men. However, why and how a Triple Alpha (a mega superhero) would prevent Betas from becoming Alphas isn’t made clear and I often found that annoying.

The overall plot and flow of the story I found both annoying and rewarding at the same time. Part of me wanted to rip out all the slow political stuff, the constant bullet points Aytch reads, endless council meetings on Gadium and drawn out discussions between Louise, Jeff and Mike, and reduce the story to a slimmer, leaner read that gets where it should without procrastination. Lots of these scenes seemed unnecessary, especially where Louise, Jeff and Mike are concerned – they spent way too much time meeting in pubs, talking and explaining things to the reader in order to provide a flimsy basis for their sudden and unnatural desire to research luck and its implications, all of which come from Jack being in a car crash.

However, on the other hand I really enjoyed the political story line as it made the overall feel of the story more epic in scope. The constant reminder to the reader about the vast distances involved and how Gadium operated over hundreds of thousands of years, gave their civilisation a very different feel to that of Earth. That being said, I was irked by some of the Gadium names because after the author had spent considerable time crafting a word, and indeed a galaxy, it was somewhat let down by giving Gadium aliens very human names, like Jenkins. When I came across that I thought it had to be a mistake. Surely an alien would have an alien sounding name? Even Aytch borders on laziness as it’s simply the phonetic sound to the letter H. Justio sounded a little too Latin and Sharnia a little too Asian.

Names aside, the characters were well crafted and easy to recognise by their speech, body language etc, so that part is indeed a win.

On the subject of Aytch and his screens with many bullet points and narration – this form of exposition began very well as it gave the reader a sense of Gadium history and why they do what they do, or have done, given their longevity. However, as the story progressed the bullet points and narration became tedious and to some degree pointless. Removed, the story would have moved along without them, and it felt that the author had painted himself into a corner by having a habitual chunk of exposition to explain why Gadium operates the way it does. Whilst reading these sections I felt my eyes slipping further down the page without taking in much of the information because it felt like it was there for the benefit of Aytch alone, and not the story or the readers sense of enjoyment.

Again, on the other hand, I appreciated how the author had taken a lot of time working out these policies and snippets of Gadium history that Aytch reviews. As with the vast distances across space and time, these scenes reinforce that alien culture. About half way through I realised this isn’t just a story about the next stage in human evolution being managed by galactic caretakers, but more of an epic saga that spans many issues, from political to moral and technological – as with the use of AI. I found that the story was reminiscent of Dune by Frank Herbet, in that the scope encompasses many elements and stretches beyond mere characters on Earth and gives the reader a real sense of time, distance and alien cultures.

About half way through the plot begins to pick up pace and the desire to turn the pages is much stronger, indeed the writing is leaner and there’s an edge to the story that adds a thriller layer to the sci-fi style. Reading through what I felt was a slower first half certainly pays off as the pace shifts into a higher gear as events begin to culminate toward a finale.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Emergence, but I'm glad I took the time to read it because the scope and scale of the plot and characters is huge, well deserving of a follow up novel. There's enough subject matter to expand into a considerable series, covering many worlds, characters, political issues, moral implications and so on.

My initial doubts concerning the rather slow half of the book were quashed by the pace and flow of second half and the understanding that this isn't a quick and easy sci-fi tale, but the start of something bigger. Emergence is complex at times, but not complicated. If you're looking for a well written blend of science fiction, thriller, political wars, moral and ethical debates, then give this a try. I'm glad I did.

[shannon Stubbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was ok

The story was ok. The beginning kind of reminded me of an Arthur C Clarke story I've read. Kind of like extraterrestrials trying to watch and shepherding the humans until they evolve to a certain point. After this point the story gets a twist. It starts with the extraterrestrials fighting over morality of what they are doing.

[Harry Delong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual but interesting

A first novel. I would definitely read more by this author.
The story integrates quantum mechanics, two explanations of how it works, religion, alien government disagreement, UK government military (could be anywhere). I does this while discussing how aliens could be controlling earth governments in a believable.

[Tara Hanratty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have read the preview before I even started this. There may be an amazing premise to the book but the writing on the first couple of pages was just so very poor that I didn't want to bother getting invested in the characters. I agree wholeheartedly with the review pointing out that self-published authors often suffer from a lack of a good editor. Enough said.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morality

Not the easiest book to read but very interesting from of scientific point. One universe or many? The question is what happens to the souls in many universes,are
there many souls or one stretching between them?

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A better idea than the end result. Dragged a bit at times then a sudden quick ending. Average sci-fi but, for a debut novel it was okay, although I expected it to be better.

Ray Smillie

[Merrill Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guns, Germs, and Big Bossy Boots Bureaucrats in the Sky: My Review of Emergence by Nick Lloyd



In 1967, Star Trek introduced the concept of The Prime Directive in "Return of the Archons," one of the series' best episodes. There's some dispute over whether STOS's most productive writer Gene L. Coon, or Theodore Sturgeon came up with the idea (my vote is for Coon), but the concept has proved to be one of Sci-Fi's most durable memes.

In the Star Trek universe, the Prime Directive states that it is forbidden for members of the United Federation of Planets to contact or interfere with the development of "pre-warp" civilizations unless the needs of the plot or to whip up another morality episode requires it. No Star Trek series has failed to mention the PD or to drag elements of it into their episodes, much to the happiness of the different screenplay writers. It's a given, in Star Trek, that if you introduce light bulb technology to a species too soon, they'll promptly use the extra reading time to prematurely create fusion reactors and melt down their planet.

Screen play requirements aside, there is good reason to take elements of the PD seriously. In one of my favorite history treatises, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, author Jared Diamond describes in stunning detail why Pizaro was able to defeat on the battlefield Inca forces that outnumbered his own 300-800 to one.

Still, when you put the germs under the sociological microscope, the issue becomes a bit muddier. Suppose, through some twist of history, it had been the Aztecs who developed iron working technology and blue water sailing ahead of the Spaniards. Driven by distant tales of a people who worshiped a strange blood god, the "Chyrstos," and legends of fabulous temples filled with gold and treasure devoted to assuaging the wrath of this god and ensuring his continued beneficence, the Aztecs land on the west coast of Spain and march on Madrid. What would have been the likely outcome? We know what happened in the reverse case.

What probably would have happened was that 90% of the invaders would have died before they reached any of the treasure temples. You see, what actually destroyed the foundations of pre-Columbian civilization was disease and plague. In facing "Stone Age" Spaniards, the Aztecs may have been able to bring superior technology to the fight, but inferior immune systems (ask the Martians from War of the Worlds how this can put a crimp in your plans to conquer all mankind. (And yeah, yeah, I know, most diseases don't cross species boundaries. Except when they do. Ask the influenza virus and your local duck).

Europeans, because of their interaction with different groups and nations and their domestication of populations of fowl, cattle, swine, dogs, cats etc., all absent in North America, were epidemiological supermen in contrast to the Aztecs. If any of the invaders had survived to flee back to Tenochtitlan, they would have returned carrying catastrophe and despair. (And the more you know about the Aztecs, the less inclined you are to feel sorry for them. Especially after seeing those on-velvet paintings of Aztec warriors and princesses that are popular in Mexico City.They always leave out the heart-yanking bits.)

I've also always been skeptical of the absolute moral posturing of the PD. For instance, despite much hand wringing and revisionism about native American Indians and their regard for nature, the overwhelming evidence seems to be that when Chief Seattle's ancestors crossed over the land bridge from Siberia to the New World, their immediate reaction to the undiscovered continent's mega-fauna was "Let's Eat Em!" And for the next several thousand years, it was Giant Sloth ribs on the grill and McMastodon burgers to go.

As for the Incas, they thought transporting children up steep mountains for ritual slaughter was a splendid idea. A picture of one of the dead children is here. Looking at this, you wonder. Who held the high moral hand in Pizaro's and Atahualpa's deadly game?

This issue, and others, are examined in Emergence, a fascinating new novel by Nick Lloyd. Set in the present, we discover that a highly advanced alien species, the Gadium, a race of burly lizards, with the females weighing in at about twice their male counterparts, are sure it knows what's best for Earth. Official Gadium policy is to actively intervene, guide and manage (with the help of an occasional planetary orbital bombardment), all with the very best of intentions, the course of thousands of civilizations throughout space. As long a you do what you're told, life under Gadium suzerainty is pleasant, with advanced technology being provided to the compliant at regular intervals. Step out of line and you can consider the aforementioned orbital bombardment alternative.

Rest of post up at: http://www.rule-set.com/ricks-blog/gu...

[Norm Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I understand it, Emergence is Nick M. Lloyd’s first novel. That said I applaud him for the unique, creative story it tells.

Earth, and indeed the universe, is being overseen by a race, the Gadiums, who have the ability to enhance, or hinder, a world’s evolution (Emergence.) The catch is that the inhabitants cannot learn of those who emerge early or of the fact they are being watched and controlled.

Lloyd’s narrative is divided between the earth, a spaceship and Gadium. He manages to introduce each chapter in a manner that explicitly brings the reader to the appropriate locale. Well done.
The story moves along nicely and has enough twists, turns and surprises to make it an enjoyable read. The plot is interesting and quite well developed in my view.

Where it falls a bit is in character development, more specifically in the creation of individual voices for each. I didn’t have a problem getting to know them, but it seemed that many spoke the same. It was nice, however, to see a strong female among the protagonists.

One thing that threw me was the name of one of the aliens. While others had monikers such as Aycth, Justio, and Sharnia, the one I view as the alien protagonist is named Jenkins. For some reason, that bothered me throughout the story. There are also some copy-edit issues, although nothing dramatic.

All things considered, I recommend this book. Overall, reading Emergence was fun and entertaining. I hope Lloyd continues writing and sharing his worlds with us.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Norm Hamilton, Writer, Copy-Editor, Proofreader
Author of From Thine Own Well , Sarah’s Embrace , The Digital Eye
Website
Email

[Michael Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really good scifi book.

I liked the general idea of emergence, the alphas, betas and triples. I liked the politics, the multi-plot coming together in one narrative thing. I liked the characters. Adults, normal seeming and they behave like real people do. They don't do stupid or outrageous things just to move a plot along and aren't hysterical. The university professor setting is cool too, it allows for the sciency discussions to slip in without being hamfisted exposition.

There's action, intrigue and some philosophizing with science. It is a page turner of a book.

I have a few minor quibbles and one big one. Firstly there are too many male names beginning with the letter J. Jack, James, Jeff etc. It's annoying. Then the aliens aren't alien enough for my tastes. They might as well be people. Okay they're lizards but they wear clothes and have names like Jenkins (another J name) and so on.

My major problem was the ending. The book was rich and detailed and I liked reading this world. And the ending is far too abrupt. It's like the author either got bored and just stopped or he wanted to leave the rest for a sequel. Which would be fair enough, there is a lot more to cover in this story but you do still have to wrap up each book in it's own right and give readers a sense of conclusion.

[Noel Coughlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Gadium Emergence Committee ‘manages’ the transformation of other planets to a higher evolutionary state. When a group inspired by a survivor of a car crash threatens to discover this process too early, the team assigned to manage the Earth’s ‘emergence’ has to try to stop them. To further complicate things, another faction on Gadium is bent on perverting the process.

It took a few chapters to grip me, but once it did, I couldn’t put it down.

The book is reminiscent of the Culture Novels in that it involves a clash between the Earth and a far more advanced Alien society. At the start, some of the early conversations on Gadium were a bit opaque, but as the story unfurls, its society and its political shenanigans flesh out in a satisfying way. In the meantime the antics of Louise, Jeff and Mike kept my interest. They were engaging, believable characters.

The names of the some of the aliens were peculiarly human. Some terms like beta, alpha and triple alpha were never explained fully though their general meaning are relatively easy to infer. However, these minor quibbles didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the book.

[Chris Guillory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emergence was a great read with elements that I was very much in-tune with. It blended and built upon existing alien conspiracy theory. What was interesting here was that it shared the point of view of the aliens, and their reasoning as to why humans were not yet ready to be exposed to life on other planets.

At the same time, Emergence was an origin story. The author set a perfect stage where one of the protagonists discovers his unique power, leaving the imagination to think of the limitless possibilities in which it could be applied. What I loved most, however, was the grayness of the characters. There is no archetypical villain that sits in a chair stroking his cat. Each of the protagonists and antagonists have goals, beliefs, and familial bonds with reasons that support their actions.

By the end of the book I felt that there were literally galactic changes on the horizon, and I truly hope a sequel is underway to reveal what’s to come.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read a Sci-Fi book for over ten years as the whole fantasy element puts me off. So it’s fair to say, having been recommended Emergence by a friend, I was slightly apprehensive as to whether I’d enjoy it. In short, I needn’t have worried. The story rattles along at a decent pace and strikes a good balance between the ‘Earth’ storyline and the traditional sci-fi stuff. It kept me hooked throughout and has opened my eyes to a previously ignored (by me) genre. As a previous reviewer mentions, there are a couple of storylines that have been left slightly open which hopefully points to a potential sequel - this would go straight on to my ‘to read’ list

[Marsha Levelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A writerto watch

Well done science fiction. A clever premise and realistically drawn characters.

Spoiler alert for following comments...

I would have liked to see Emergence drawn a little more clearly early on, and effects shown.

Aliens were fun but I wish they were a little... more alien?

[freja50msn.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy it, you will find it to be the best read of sci-fi on Amazon.

Gripping story line, characters are well thought out. Great read. Author hit a home run.
This book should be in hard cover .I will be looking for his next book,and I would not mind
paying top price for it. John from concord n.h.pork

[Barbara L. Castells · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

I really enjoyed the book. The story line was very intriguing and complicated enough to tweak my brain. I can't imagine the next book; stay with these people or move 500 years into the future. Hmmmm.

[John R. Goyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had higher hopes for this one. A good premise but overall the story just didn't flow well and I was easily distracted from it. The interactions between characters just didn't work for me and I think having more thought and editing would have helped a lot.

[Carolyn Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complicated with realistic scenarios.

Very complicated backgrounds to explain actions on realistic situations on Earth.. Drama on Earth very catching and interesting, also possible with imagination. Background information could be less complicated.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictable

Mostly social commentary concerning galactic suppression of alien species. Predictable ending. Fairly mundane reading. Two stars only for the unique treatment of aliens

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but would of liked more details.

[Colleen Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, suspenseful

Much better than most of the independent writers out there. Only a few typos! Odd that the aliens spoke colloquial English, however.

[Sarah Sapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read

i was captivated from the first page although it took a little bit to catch on to the aliens story

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I enjoy this book. It keep me asking is this possible? Are there aliens out there? If you live Scifi this book is a must!!!! Good luck Nick M Lloyd on your next book

[J.L. Dobias]

Every once in a while there is a book that just grabs my attention and keeps it. I hadn't quite expected that from Nick Lloyd's Emergence. It seems to be written in the style of a procedural suspense thriller. This tends to create the air of Hard Science Fiction and thankfully not the difficult kind of hard. Well, maybe some difficult if you try to include the many worlds interpretation. I almost thought it would slip away from me when I was forced to focus heavily on the alien race. The world of Jack and Louise was becoming so entertaining that I didn't really want to take a break to examine the Gadium in the ship above Earth and certainly not the ones far off in space at other worlds.

There are a number of ways to handle alien races in a Science Fiction novel. One of those ways is to try to make everyday life and dialogue sound like us. Sometimes that choice can make the story a bit less than palatable. In Emergence it helped a lot, because there's a lot to get to know about these aliens before the climax of the story. What brings them here; and why they have come all this way only to watch. Much of this gets answered and even more questions the reader hasn't thought to ask. The procedural nature of the story is not limited to the Earth half of the story and the reader should be ready to learn a lot about the procedural nature of the aliens who watch.

But, to be honest, what I liked about Emergence is the characters. I had resolved that I was going to be concentrating on the colorful characters of all the Earth Humans. The animosity between Jack and Louise drive the story. Louise might not have begun her investigation, but for the conflict she'd been having with Jack. The dynamic duo of Jeff and Mike as college professors and the main researchers within the story are a good foil for Louise's hard nosed investigative reporting. But that was quickly derailed by the scenes depicting the initial discomfort between the aliens Aytch and Justio, which expands as the reader finds there are dissenters in the most perfect ranks of the great race.

At one point I was almost ready to let the story guide me into the look and feel of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But this never got to the level of silliness of Douglas Adam's work. This seems to stay in the more serious vein perhaps like X-files. One would think that since the aliens are mostly there to watch that it would be pretty boring. For the most part the reader is initially led to believe it is pretty sedate; but soon, with the potential for internal strife, things begin to get interesting.

It takes a while for the reader to come to grips with the rules that the Gadium must abide by while observing the Emergence. It's those rules that set the stage for most of the story's conflicts. It's those rules and the Gadium belief that they are doing the right thing that lead to some pretty strange occurrences. Eventually everyone will be in a race against time to complete missions that all seem to be at odds with each other.

It's easy to start picking sides but it becomes confusing when the reader has to take into consideration that one or the other of the Gadium factions has to dominate and when that happens then the conflict becomes between them and the humans and neither of the former two are a good choice for that ultimate conflict and the humans are being set up to mostly lose in any situation.

When it gets to the final solutions the readers is left satisfied; but the final judgment will be that there will likely be more to this story.

This is well written well paced Procedural Science Fiction that waxes Hard most of the time though the seeming theoretical nature of Many Worlds Interpretation will stretch some readers suspension of disbelief.

You need to read this to see what I mean and you shouldn't be disappointed.

J.L. Dobias