Mystery in the Metaverse by Nick Airus; AI Metaiverse Science Fiction is Harrowing and Thought Provoking

 

Mystery in the Metaverse by Nick Airus; AI Metaiverse Science Fiction is Harrowing and Thought Provoking 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Metaverse could be one of the best or one of the worst experiences ever. It could be the best because people can experience and interact in another world that before they could only experience with the arts, entertainment, and their own imagination. We can learn so much more and communicate with others around the world. It could also be the worst with the ever approaching overuse of AI and not knowing what is real and what isn't. Art and literature are being replicated and while still being flawed, could one day be hard to discern whether they were made by human hands or a program designed to appear human. There is also the possibility of technological addiction and people preferring to live in the AI world instead of the physical and natural world around them. Nick Airus explores the good and bad of AI and the Metaverse with his thought provoking and harrowing Science Fiction/ Mystery, Mystery in the Metaverse.

Damien Zill, Chief Technical Officer of Emergence AI and member of a secret group known as Obsidian Goal, has been attacked and is reported missing from his home. Detective Asher Bloom and Evidence Response Team Leader, Jade Heart investigate the disappearance. Witnesses said that Zill spent a lot of time in his Metaverse theater and books and notes left in Zill’s home describe a singularity and a cult. To find out what all of this means, Bloom has to travel inside the AI Metaverse to find clues towards Zill’s disappearance and other murders and death threats that pile up. To solve this mystery, Bloom must play the sadistic games of the enigmatic avatar known only as Ninjagod1138, who knows more than they are letting on.

This book has many highlights but the greatest among them is the Metaverse setting itself. When Bloom enters the virtual world, it is almost as real as the physical one. However, it is populated with various settings and characters that seem just a little bit off in that uncanny valley way where the virtual world seems real but not quite. It adds to the tension and blurred lines between AI and human, imagination and reality making them even more faint the longer that Bloom and others stay in this VR world. 

The best parts of the book are the trips into the Metaverse. Bloom is like a stranger in a strange land, in awe and amazement but wary about the dangers around him. The Metaverse manages to activate all senses and provides the visitor with knowledge to interact with other avatars.

 When arriving in Meta City, Bloom sees a city with shiny skyscrapers and avatars of all kinds from humans, to animals, to superheroes, walking around. It's like everyone's fantasy brought to life but it has a dark side. He also visits various other locations such as an ancient Greek civilization, under water, and a desert.

It would be fascinating to visually imagine the transition as pixels, binary numbers, codes , and images transform into a setting that is technically animated, but appears more real than reality itself. 

That dark side is seen when characters get hurt in the simulation world and still suffer the pain in the real world suggesting yes, if they die in the Metaverse, they die in real life too. It is a fascinating ever changing AI world and visiting it only covers a third of what this technology can do. That is a fascinating and terrifying thought and Mystery in the Metaverse covers those alternating schools of thought towards AI.

The investigation is intricate and detailed as well. Ninjagod1138 provides clues and games for Bloom and his colleagues to follow to find each hint and solve the case. One of the creepier aspects occurs when Bloom and his colleagues are forced to play Hangman to find a vital clue. Ninjagod 1138 is a sadistic genius who enjoys forcing the other characters to play off their sick and disturbing mind games.

 

The investigation also reveals much of the suspects’ motives on how they tried to put AI in its place but ended up becoming more servile than ever to the invention that humans created.

Robotics CEO, Eon Tarik (I thought ELONg and hard over who was Tarik’s inspiration but the results seem rather MUSKy) reveals some key information about the plans that he and his colleagues are working towards. It becomes clear that their plans are about to change but not by their own intended will.  Instead, they have to bear the responsibility for what they made and what will result from it. What is particularly frightening is that they do so without any remorse. No “what have I done” cries of anguish. No, “I have become Death, Destroyer of Worlds” moments of self-realization. They not only acknowledge and own up to it, but welcome the destruction and change their AI baby will bring about. It says something that the human characters like the tech gurus and possibly those behind  the avatars like Ninjagod 1138 are more terrifying and inhuman than the AI that strives to conquer through subjugation and assimilation. 

The Metaverse takes an even wider perspective especially towards the end where a transformation occurs that goes beyond known technological capabilities. After a while, I nearly forgot what book that I was reading as it turned from Science Fiction/Mystery into something else. The tone is changed by the end and the world goes through an evolution but it remains to be seen whether it's for the better or worse.

New Book Alert: Glitches and Stitches (Death Violation 01) by Nicole Givens Kurtz; Police Procedural Mystery Set in The Future Focuses on Gay Heroes, AI Dependency, and Genetic Engineering

 

New Book Alert: Glitches and Stitches (Death Violation 01) by Nicole Givens Kurtz; Police Procedural Mystery Set in The Future Focuses on Gay Heroes, AI Dependency, and Genetic Engineering

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If Science Fiction/Mysteries have shown us anything, it's that the future will be just as violent and destructive as the present. Except that there will be crimes involving AI, advanced technology, genetic engineering, cloning, and possibly aliens and interstellar travel (at least the fictional version anyway). The crossover genre shows that the human race will be just as temperamental, avaricious, lustful, rage filled, and violent as ever. They will just have new technology with which to use their schemes.

That's the premise behind Nicole Givens Kurtz's Death Violation and its first book, Glitches and Stitches. As Kurtz did with her previous book, Kill Three Birds, she puts a conventional murder mystery in an unusual setting. Kill Three Birds took place in a world of anthropomorphic birds. Glitches and Stitches is instead set in the future in which technology and AI threaten to overpower the human element.

Inspector Regulators, Fawn Granger and Briscoe "BB" Baker are called in to investigate the death of Dr. Leonard Cho, scientist at the Association of Genetically Engineered Humans. The duo find themselves smack dab in the middle of a case involving illicit genetic engineering and technological dependency. They also have to struggle with their own conflicts to keep this search going.

Kurtz does a good job of creating a suspenseful police procedural mystery and surrounding it with a futuristic science fiction setting. It's not as imaginative a setting as say Eternity in Russ Colchamiro's Angela Hardwicke series but it still has some fascinating touches to remind the Reader that "Yes, this is the future." 

One of the clever things that Kurtz zeroes in on but some SF writers overlook is the use of language and slang terms. In this setting, people aren't "murdered." They had a "death violation." It could be a sign of political correctness or just a change in police terminology. Perhaps, even an intentional reference to how current controversies towards the police force will reconstruct how they behave in the future. It's just one of those things that a masterful speculative fiction author like Kurtz acknowledges.

Another sample of Kurtz's attention to detail is the apparent change in social structure. Neither Fawn nor BB are interested in each other because they are both gay. BB is in a committed relationship in which his husband is worried about his dangerous job.

Fawn has massive PTSD and is considering relocating to the Southwest, but this case and a new relationship with an EMT restores her desire for justice and search for love.

Currently, the LGBT community are faced with various controversies such as their rights being scaled back by many bigoted Republicans, Evangelicals, and Conservatives. Because the present is so awful, it is nice in Kurtz's futuristic world that not much is made of Fawn and BB's sexualities.

In the future of Glitches and Stitches, when future generations can be created in ways besides procreation, Conservatives can't even use that excuse to prohibit rights. So, Fawn and BB are seen like any other hard-working cop that is faced with a dangerous job with little time for a social life though they try.

Of course in a science fiction world, many themes that come across are the overabundance of technology and whether we are in danger of losing our humanity. Glitches and Stitches is no exception.

Fawn and BB investigate some genetic engineering that could change humans and for the worse. It's a scary thought to imagine that someone else could change another's DNA or genetic code without their knowledge or consent (or if they give consent without being told all of the options and pros and cons towards such actions so they can make real informed choices).

This book also discusses how AI is used as an option for even the most basic of needs like sexual pleasure. In fact there are hints that there is an android prostitute ring in which horny AI lovers can satisfy their carnal pleasures without human contact. It says something that even the most basic needs like sex need a technological instead of human interaction in Glitches and Stitches. In this book, humans have even lost the opportunity to become close together physically. 

It's not a perfect futuristic world that Kurtz writes in her book. But like all murder mysteries, there will always be people like Fawn and BB who care about justice, fairness, protecting the innocent, and caring for those around them.  

Weekly Reader: Cardinal Machines (Cardinal Machines Book One) by Tracy Eire; Engaging Science Fiction Mystery YA Romance Explores The Union Between Woman and Machine

 

Weekly Reader: Cardinal Machines (Cardinal Machines Book One) by Tracy Eire; Engaging Science Fiction Mystery YA Romance Explores The Union Between Woman and Machine

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Tracy Eire's Science Fiction novel, Cardinal Machines,  explores the complex relationship between humanity and machinery. Nothing new in that, except that machinery is personified by an android taking the form of a handsome young man and humanity is personified by a cynical young woman working as a private investigator. Also that the relationship between the two develops into a potential romance, so Cardinal Machines explores the complex quasi romantic relationship between woman and machine. 

Katherine Zoey Cardinal Collins had a pretty rough life even though she is still in high school. Her parents died when she was very young leaving her to be raised by aunt and uncle. Her aunt was reported missing and presumed dead. Her uncle turned to alcoholism to cope with his grief and trained his niece to work in his very dangerous field of private investigation to the point that after he died, she took over his business.

Zoey has been cut off from her mother's wealthy powerful family, the Cardinals, and she has been struggling financially ever since then, though she refuses to ask for a handout. She is estranged from the Cardinals until she learns that her great aunt Katherine, for whom she was named, has died leaving her the heir to a custom ocean. Before Zoey can get out a surfboard and plunk a flag in the middle of the Pacific claiming it for the Cardinals, a handsome dark haired man arrives with a perfect mannequin like body and a stilted emotionless way of speaking. His paperwork reveals that he is C001-Oisin, pronounced "Ocean," and is fresh from the assembly line of her great aunt's robotics company. 

Ocean is an android specifically made for law enforcement, so Zoey can get some assistance in the pursuit of dangerous criminals. Katherine, the elder, apparently left Ocean to Zoey as a peace offering and to remind her that no matter how far she runs, she is still a Cardinal so she might as well suck it up and live with it.

Cardinal Machines blends the tone of Mystery, Science Fiction, YA, and even some Romance to create a work that is the best of all of these genres. The Science Fiction aspects are certainly the most prominent. The setting is in the near future in which AI is not yet a constant presence, but people are in fear of it becoming so. Many people make derogatory comments and threats toward Ocean to the point that Zoey and his former colleagues at the LAPD spend as much time protecting him from violent technophobes and other androids who are programmed to kill, as much as they protect the flesh and blood citizens around them from dangerous other humans. 

There are also real questions about how much Ocean has adapted to humanity. He has a very strict honor code which he follows the law to the letter and he doesn't always understand the shades of gray nuances that sometimes following a dangerous person can provide. In one chapter, he follows a suspect relentlessly while Zoey learns the suspect's background and why he chose to act as he did. As far as upholding the law, Ocean is a seasoned veteran but when it comes to understanding humans, he is still a rookie.

That also applies to his emotional state and his ability to reason and question his programming. As Zoey gets to know Ocean, she sees him adapt beyond his initial minor emotional responses and act out of sacrifice, self-preservation, feeling and in other ways beyond his programming. When they begin to experience a deeper connection, he moves beyond a faceless being of technology and behaves almost human. The questions of how human AI can become and how their experience with humans changes and adapts them is answered through Ocean's relationship with Zoey and others.

Cardinal Machines is not only a tribute to the future but to the past, specifically the hard boiled detective genre notably through Zoey's character arc. Zoey is sort of like what would happen if Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade or Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe adopted a daughter and exposed her to the dangerous elements that they lived with day after day. The results are a tough talking rebellious cynical teen who is much harder than the other high schoolers around her. When the other kids rebel, they might sneak out past curfew or steal the family car for a joyride. When Zoey rebels, she becomes a bounty hunter to search for dangerous criminals for money. Nancy Drew she ain't.

Sometimes Zoey's dangerous profession catches up to her as her apartment is shot at, she is drugged and kidnapped, and either she or Ocean are held up multiple times throughout the book. Her experiences with society's worst gives her a very negative perspective on humanity as well as an almost addictive thirst for danger. She lives for the danger of catching crooks, whether it's an ex husband who owes for child support and doesn't mind attacking Zoey with a gun or a robotics employee turned corporate spy who might have been a victim of an organized crime murder. It's the excitement and adventure that draws her as much as the idea of protecting innocent people from violent ones. Her experience with the dark side of human nature makes up for Ocean's innocence and confusion, making them a perfect couple that fill each other's needs.

Even though Zoey is in a hardened profession, she is still a teenager and in high school. That's where the YA aspect comes in. It would almost be a distraction from the philosophical science fiction questions and the hard edges mystery suspense, but somehow it works as almost a lighthearted contrast to the rest of the book. The school age gossip of hook ups, break ups, mean teachers, and popular kids is an almost welcome distraction to the darker stuff circling around Zoey on a regular basis. Zoey's closest friends are popular girls, Clara and Anne and Noah, who is at odds with his family because of his sexuality and who harbors a not so secret crush on Ocean. The three friends defend Zoey when townspeople attack her for the audacity of owning an android or when schoolmates spread rumors about what she and Ocean are actually doing. Because of their loyalty, Clara, Anne, and Noah form a loving and nonjudgmental family for Zoey in the absence of her biological one and accept Ocean into their circle as well. They provide an emotional center in Zoey's life, an emotional center that she will  defend.

The emotional center in Zoey's life is also provided by Ocean as he does for her. Zoey is certainly initially aroused by Ocean's attractiveness and he proves to be a good partner in crime solving.  They balance each other out with Zoey's street smarts and experience with the dangerous aspects of humanity and Ocean's more educated approach and ability to research information instantaneously. They become very protective of each other and often pull one another out of danger or draw a weapon on someone if they sense that their partner is in danger. 

Zoey addresses the physical aspects of their partnership by kissing Ocean and he responds in a very um shocking manner. What draws them is not only their physical connection, but their emotional one. Ocean is a learning android and he learns to care for and protect Zoey. He is able to question and rebel against his programming because of his feelings towards her. Through her, he understands humanity. He doesn't see Zoey as one of several who need his help. He sees her as Zoey, someone unique and individual.

In her own way as Ocean questions his initial programming, Zoey questions hers. She was afraid of getting close to anyone because she felt surrounded by death. She didn't want to lose anyone else or feel responsible when they died. Ocean breaks down that wall she put around herself as she breaks down his. She opens herself towards him. When they finally get together, it is a completion that they both evolve and adapt themselves.  Because of this, Zoey and Ocean are among my favorite romantic couples that I read this past month.

Cardinal Machines blends Science Fiction, Mystery, YA, and Romance to create a child that combines all of their aspects into one. This child, like its protagonists, questions its earlier programming influences and adapts into something different and unique.