Acts Of The Apostles

Back from his stint in juvenile detention, it's hemos with a review of John F. Sundman's technothriller Acts of the Apostles. And you don't even have to buy it until you're hooked. (Read more to find out why.)

Acts of the Apostles
author	John F. Sundman
pages	400
publisher	Rosalita Associates
rating	8/10
reviewer	hemos
ISBN	192975213X
summary	Fast-paced, impossible-odds story with a grasp of modern technology.

The path that Acts of the Apostles took to get to me is an interesting path to start with -- and that should have been an indication to me what the book would be like.

Rob noticed this guy at April's Geek Pride Festival in Boston. The guy in question was obviously trying to reach Rob and talk to him, but was having a hard time getting there. (CT:I think John and I suffer from the same problem: We're both pretty shy, and this was a really crowded place) When he did finally reach Rob, he gave him the book, asking him to read it -- or pass it on to me for reading.

That's very similar to the opening of the book, in which the book's protagonist has a computer disk dumped into his world, after enduring some interesting testing times. From there, the thriller develops ranging the world, encompassing favorites like nanotechnology gone bad, mind control, multinational corporate intrigue, computer chip design, seances, and running from the law.

The book is purportedly about Gulf War Syndrome and its causes, but that's only the starting point: The plot itself is believable, for a thriller. I've described it to friends as "What Tom Clancy would write if he were smart." The plot devices, the characters and topics are all very familiar to the geek audience, and it's quite refreshing to read a book that understands the mindset its audience will have.

There a few drawbacks to the book -- as the author's bio states, this is Sundman's first book, and that is readily apparent. While it's well written, there are sections of the book that feel stilted and artificial, and portions of the dialogue feel unnatural. But in light of it being a first novel, I think these are forgivable. Lastly, the story line suffers from some too-familar devices, including the overused theme of an evil multinational corporation as bogeyman.

I salute the publisher and author for their decision to put the first 13 chapters online. Acts of the Apostles comprises 7 "books" with 62 total chapters, so the online chapters give you a very good feeling for the book. I will also say that the writing and story get better as the plot unfolds, something worth keeping in mind while reading the initial section of the book. One of the more amusing parts of the book's Web site is the section regarding John's travels. I would imagine he's quite a guy.

Summary: Good book. It's easy to pick up after being away from for a while, but good enough that you'll want to read it straight through. Support small publishing and purchase this book from fatbrain. With summer coming up, and a bit more free time, this is a good book to keep around to read during kernel compiles.

You can also grab the book from Softpro.

'real-world' sf/conspiracy novels

first, let me say that i've also read this book.

i notice that a lot of the comments here involve one of the issues that i had while reading the book: that, in a science fiction/conspiricy novel set in something very similar to the modern day, it's hard to keep separate where the real world setting is supposed to end and where the fictional parts begin. so in this case, while some parts are clearly slighly-modified fact (using the gulf war syndrome example, the fact that the syndrome was reported and its existence and cause questioned and/or denied), and others clearly fiction (the particulars about the cause of gulf war syndrome in the book), there is a third set (such as the assertion that there really is a coverup) which.... well, it's not clear whether they're supposed to be fact or fiction. in these cases, if the particular part is something you don't believe is true in the real world, you'll probably have a negative reaction, while, if the world were more (or entirely) fictional, you'd just accept it as something which happened the the book and go on.

i feel that i should mention this because there are some politics in the book (which you can probably guess from the kaczynski reference) which, while i certainly think are interesting, i don't really agree with overall. as such, i found myself hesitant to recommend the book to others, since i didn't want to advocate the 'message' that may or may not be present in the book.

anyway. that all having been said, it is a really good read, especially for anyone in the tech industry (and if you're in the boston-area tech industry, then doubly so). and it's published by a small publisher and has a good view of copyright and distribution (which are politics i do agree with). so, overall, with the previously mentioned reservations, i'd also recommend the book.

-allen
(too lazy to even create a slashdot account, much less log in)

EGAD!

<sarcasm>
This author is creating a dangerous precedent which will threaten Intellectual Property!

If people can read books for free, all authors will starve!

And what's this "library" I keep hearing about?
</sarcasm>

running from the law

and running from the law

Don't ever run from the law. . . You'll only end up going to jail tired.

the intro is awesome....waiting for my copy....

A friend of mine had actually pointed me to the online chapters a few days ago.. and my copy is already on order.

In a way, I wish I kinda hadn't peeked yet, though, because the way he builds the story is terrific, and I am half-afraid of losing the pacing. Not to mention the HUGE delay (TWO DAYS!) in being able to read more.

My suggestion: If Hemos' review is good enough to get you interested in buying it, buy it blind, and then read it from beginning to end.

Book review

When I saw the title, I thought Hemos was reviewing the Bible or something. Made me look twice, anyway.

You're a sly one, Hemos.

Did anyone notice the subtlety of Hemos' presentation:

And you don't even have to buy it until you're hooked. (

Read more to find out why.)

--

You could say the same about Slashdot

the story line suffers from some too-familar devices, including the overused theme of an evil multinational corporation as bogeyman.

-cwk.

Re:wow better be good.

Whatever you do don't put "cdidisc" in for the discount code or whatever they call it that would be wrong because you don't work for http://www.cdicorp.com so don't do that it will get you free shipping and stuff but that would be wrong.

Online version license

I think my favorite thing about this book that I haven't started reading yet is that if you read it online you agree to:

Feel free to read, save, print, copy and share among your friends in the format as it appears here on screen. When you purchase the printed book, you will find the format much nicer and easier to read.
By proceeding, you are agreeing to these terms.

If I don't find it easier to read do I have to... I don't know, give it back?!

*Nick

Re:Clancy and Audiences

Personally, I'd be more worried about a book that had sufficient brain capacity to understand anything! If the publishers are that far along in bio-tech, AI and Genetic Engineering, I'd be very careful about going within a hundred miles of the book. Who knows what else the book can do? Or what evil schemes lurk beneath it's dustcover brow, once it understands the minds of its audience.

What's the big deal about web samples?

I don't understand the fuss the reviewer makes about web-available sample chapters. Baen Books [baen.com] has been doing that for over a year now. In fact, Jim Baen has gone even farther with what he calls "Webscriptions." For $10/month, you can download full, copy-edited HTML copies of what he's publishing that month. That works out to $2.50 a novel, which is *CHEAP*. I've been stuffing the HTML into my Palm Vx and carrying them around to read.

Get rebate without cheating

Use the code 2000CELEBRATE and you will get 10% rebate. They are doing this to celebrate a new new piece of software they put together.

Re:Gulf War Syndrome? No such thing

As an ex-Navy surgical technologist who served onboard a ship off the coast of Mogadishu, Somalia, about 5 years ago, I disagree with your statements.

Since that was in 1994, many of the men (there were two women pilots onboard, but otherwise it was exclusively male) were stationed in the Middle East for Desert Storm. Part of our daily routine was to operate a "lumps and bumps" clinic, where we operated on and removed various lipomas, sebacious cysts, etc. on sailors and Marines who wanted to be rid of them. While I don't have any official numbers, we typically did 2 or 3 of those per day. I would say, over the 6-month duration of the "cruise", that we performed roughly 150 benign mass excisions.

Now, think about the math on that one. There were approximately 2400 men onboard the ship, and we performed surgery on about 16% of them. That means that during that one particular 6-month period, 16% of the otherwise healthy men of an average age of, say, 22, had growths that bothered them to the point that they wanted them removed.

Look around your class/office/hangouts. How many of your 22-year-old friends have had surgery in the last 6 months? A full one-sixth of them? Personally, I feel that the numbers would be pretty statistically significant. I don't have any hard numbers to compare the number of surgeries on Desert Storm personnel versus those who weren't there, and can't compare that to the percentages in the general population of the ship, but don't you find that a little strange? I do.

Flame away, but as someone who spent a bit of time living and working with Gulf War veterans, I firmly believe that there's more to the story than the government is telling us.