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    Imago
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    Imago
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    Imago
    Ebook391 pages6 hours

    Imago

    By Denis McClean

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The Imago is the beautiful last stage of another miracle of evolution that aspires above all else to transcend its own watery universe and to fly beyond into a form of heaven, just as we do ours. In the real scheme of things, the Imago must be every bit as important as we think we are and possibly more so, in that it is closer to its ultimate evolution than we are.

    The same would apply to those arrived from Ochre, whose sole reason for existence becomes as startlingly clear as our need to catch up on the likes of Imago, and further stir evolution within ourselves by singing our own songs of aspiration, simply because we can.

    Grace Reid celebrates being thirty years old with the gusto typical of any woman who has spent the last twelve years raising a son without his father, while being discredited as a dangerously insane pariah who can’t seem to decide which species she belongs to. But then, it was never going to be easy playing the part of a lone superpower facing down all others that play major and bit parts in the re-incarnation of Global Corruption they would like to call tomorrow.

    Grace was too naive to remember that she needed to occasionally show her fangs to maintain a fearful image, but it seems that even virtual alien relationships can grow cracks wide enough to be open to abuse.

    Grace is offered her own route to virtual immortality and also immunity from the torment of deluded demons, who have constantly demanded that she deliver the impossibility of an all inclusive tomorrow, regardless of Destiny’s timeless and meticulously laid plans.

    The final book of The Catalysis Trilogy further exposes the delusion that we were ever as important as we thought we were in this tiny section of universe that we will most likely just populate temporarily. Destiny will decide our longevity and will not be guided by merit alone, which in our case is probably just as well. So our conflict has always been between the two species that we have evolved to become and which can no longer live as one.

    We were guilty of looking at evolution in isolation and not as an agent of an often wilful Destiny that doesn’t always apply logic. It does seem that our flawed and therefore inferior factions continue to exert implausible influences over what shape Destiny should ultimately give tomorrow. Such an unlikely symbiosis suggests that our survival was never going to be an automatic gift, and that the odds are now being stacked one side.

    Just as the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” was unambiguously answered in Catalysis - Book 1, we are further reminded that we are far from being the masters of our own destiny.

    Soshyant is the untimely son of Grace and Berhane and has inherited his parents gift of almost limitless mental travel that could also be a form of genetic insanity. He can see and then enter the time between Planck Frames or Staccato Frames, as the Spoke Artificial Intelligences, who are his only friends, call them. Soshyant no longer considers himself a child and has grown protective of his mother, who he prefers to keep at home.

    Home is a giant alien star ship twenty two kilometres across and only recently arrived from Ochre, or so they say. They call it Bee Lon Zarite but people just call it Good Speed.

    The problem with Soshyant is that he was born before his time, or so his father said. But even at eighteen and apparently autistic, Grace Reid was not someone to be denied what she wanted.

    Catalysis and Ochre condensed the history of a minute fraction of space time only 50,000 lightyears across to give the human perspective of it. Imago is the splash that now takes it further into the universe, with real and flawed people on board.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDenis McClean
    Release dateOct 13, 2016
    ISBN9780992681432
    Unavailable
    Imago
    Author

    Denis McClean

    Born in Dublin, Denis McClean is something of a late bloomer. He spent a career or three heavily involved in military, commercial, private and humanitarian branches of aviation in frontline roles like Ground Operations, Operations Control, Dispatch and Senior Management. He quickly established a brand that claimed to deliver the same meticulous attention to detail for all minor, as well as to all the major aspects of all work undertaken, which put him in demand. Being based in different regions of the world brought with it some very significant exposure to many different cultures and he brings this into his writing. Denis always felt he had a calling to the pen but the opportunity only arose in 2012 when he found himself between assignments. His first publication, Book of Plebs was completed in 2012, though he admits that the undertaking was not without its challenges. When asked to elaborate, he offers this. “Anyone can feel they were born to do something, like aviation or police or military service, but you still need an aviation, policing or military education. To progress further, you’ll then need a business and/or management or even a speciality education or degree. Whatever you choose to do, you need to educate yourself to do it so well, that you have a head start in getting where you want to go faster. Writing is no different. Words are just words, but there is a very high level of focus and attention needed. As an Independent author, I had to take responsibility for my own quality assurance, presentation and graphics etc. Anyone might have some great ideas but if there is no organisation, you need to become your own. So it was a learning curve, but I like challenges and I've always liked learning.” "Regardless of what we do, evolution demands that we at least try to incorporate more and more of what we have learned into our subsequent efforts." He adds. “That's reassuring but it's only writing. What would your organisation typically have to do?” “Well, writing books is only 20-30% putting words on virtual paper. Critiquing your own work is the next 15% and then comes the editing, which is easily as challenging as the writing. Thankfully, my better half, Gina does a lot of that with me. I also try to produce what I would look for myself in a book. So it has to be all of eyeopening, unique and aspirational. There has to be real people with real flaws and quite a bit of soul searching, so the reader is encouraged to examine their own consciences on the widest variety of the human experiences that we touch together. The style is really important to me. To give a serious story the gravitas it deserves, I like to write more formally, so I steer away from slang and I don't use profanities, except when it isn't a profanity. For example, In Ireland, believe it or not, a profanity can also be a compliment." "So that's still short 20-30% of the overall investment. Where does the rest of the effort go?" "Graphics for the covers and 3D images for my web site, plus web-site and blog updates, not to mention Facebook. I've gotten quite good at Gimp image manipulation but because I might only do one cover a year, I tend to forget all the finer points by the time I need to use it again. That can be really frustrating. There's also the small matter of getting the formats right. That's why I needed to revise my first book after I published it. There's no point in putting in all those nice sounding phrases and attractive styles, if the menu doesn't function correctly. It would drive me crazy to buy a book and then find I couldn't jump backwards and forwards using the Table of Contents, Bookmarks and also making and saving my notes etc. Everything that makes a good e-Book good must be built into. None of that happens by accident. “OK. So, what's with the different genres? Book of Plebs is a spiritual/aspirational book, but the three books of the Catalysis Trilogy look like pure SF, then you write the "Thin Places" series of novellas. "You have to choose a genre, and then maybe a second to keep the retailers happy but there is commonality. The bottom line of all my books is that they are about the development of the human spirit and/or tomorrow, even when we're talking about exotic star-faring races and Artificial Intelligences. There's always a lot of cultural stuff mixed in there, even amongst the more exotic cultures I create. From a purely logical and scientific viewpoint, intelligence will always have what we would identify as common human denominators but these are not exclusive." "Wow. So what's next?" "The Catalysis Trilogy was a huge investment of time and energy. I mean, all my novels are full length productions from 100K to 130-140K words each, which puts the complete Trilogy at almost 400K words, which is why I needed to supply some shorter works, like the 'Thin Places' Novellas. Even then, The latest one is too big to be a Novella but I don't believe in sacrificing quality by cropping a story that demands more telling. The thing is, regardless of size, I will still demand quality, because if I don’t get that in a book, I’d feel I was being taken advantage of. My next work will be a standalone SF Novel that I will define a new cutting edge, so watch this space." “OK, so before I let you go, you assured me of quality, but what else will set your books apart from others?” “Soul, for want of a better word. I'm not a religious person and maybe even anti-religious but I am spiritual and I think that makes up a lot of what we are, or try to be. Science Fiction and Fantasy can sometimes struggle when it comes to reputation. I mean, Zero to warp 10 in 60 seconds with all phasers blasting while reloading the photon-torpedo tubes might do it for kids and even the bigger kids, but I need to know how that works without everyone being mashed up against the rear pressure bulkheads due to all those G-Forces. Even your average airplane seats have to withstand a set number of G's, so I need the science to be real enough to be believable and also the places they boldly go. I believe I have set some serious markers with OCHRE, which was the second book of the Catalysis Trilogy. But I also want to write about now and tomorrow, not necessarily star-date 99999. I want my stuff to be serious enough to make serious people think about themselves and where are going as a species. I like to promote introspection but I need to do it on a huge stage that will stagger imaginations. I need to put soul into the characters." " ... oh, and one more thing - value. Each book of the Trilogy can be read as an individual book. If you like one, then you can buy another one later, and you don't even have to get them in the order I wrote them." "How does that work?" "Planning - and a story so big that that no matter where you come in, you're in."

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