Celerity on Cover of Publishers Weekly
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Latest Reviews 10.28.20
Latest Reviews of Scott Falcon Novels
AMERICAN MUTT
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
This is Scott Falcon’s first work, and what a wonderful one it is! He obviously did his homework on IT and Special OPS tech as well as thought through the longer results to some very current political trends. His solutions to socio-political issues start at the top echelons but eventually find their way to the grass roots—in reality, the only place where they can be resolved, in small communities that unite and deal.
Falcon hits on issues of media use and abuse, immigration, race, and very basic US Democracy and Constitutional rights. The characters are interesting and well-developed, his points are compelling, and he leaves just enough unresolved to hope that he might plan a sequel. This is a well written, well researched, and well edited novel, definitely worth a read, or two. AMDaniele on Amazon – September 18, 2020
CELERITY
5.0 out of 5 stars
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. The blurb looked interesting so I gave it a shot. But WOW! I really enjoyed it. Read it all in one night! I liked the format of the book. The audio recordings concept worked well. It seems like almost like 2 different stories, the “before’ and “after”. It’s witty and funny and halfway thru takes a darker turn but it all works together. There are parts that seem like a science/history lesson and I really enjoyed that. All in all, a great story line, sympathetic characters, and great read! – Yamil Pautler – Goodreads – September 10, 2020
THRESHOLD
5.0 out of 5 stars
Threshold is a science fiction thriller set in the year 2040, when the USA, Russia, and several other players are in a headlong race to be the first to create (and control) a transcendent super-AI. Unfortunately for the modern world so dependent on technology, the first such AI to arise gets loose and shut downs the world’s electric grid. Tangled up in this mess are Kip Wilde, one of the world’s leading AI specialists and the inventor of a worldwide virtual reality network called The Stream, his terminally ill teenage daughter Becca who happens to be a grad student uniquely poised to communicate with super AIs, and a repatriated Russian hacker who was once on friendlier terms with Kip.
This book is incredibly well written if you have the scientific mind required to understand and appreciate it. It will definitely prove unreachable and thus uninteresting to some, and looking at the reviews posted before mine I’m not surprised to see people complaining that they need a degree to understand this piece. As someone who has studied in a STEM field and programs as a hobby, I thought it was brilliant!
Early parts of this novel, and the AI character Arturo throughout, reminded me of Robert J. Sawyer’s WWW trilogy, where the internet becomes aware and is named and guided by a blind teenage girl who’s uniquely connected to the internet due to experimental technology attempting to restore her sight. In other ways this title reminded me of Sterling’s Dies the Fire, though I’m happy to report that unlike Dies the Fire this book did not fill me with so much existential dread that I had to DNF. (Sorry Sterling.)
Falcon’s writing reminds me of Sawyer and Crichton, the science fiction authors who entertained me in my teenage years and instilled a deep love of true hard sci-fi in me. Again, it won’t be for everyone. This is no space opera. It’s hard sci-fi. This story cannot be told without the deep exploration of physics and digital technology. I do think there was enough regular human conversation dispersed between the scientific and programming discussions to give the reader’s brain a break, and I love the way python coding was worked right into the text.
My criticisms for this title are few. First, and this may have been an ARC copy issue that has already been addressed, I found that the choice to use endnotes rather than footnotes wasn’t helpful to electronic readers, as there’s no easy way to jump to the note and then back to your place. This issue would be less cumbersome in print, but still not as easy to use as footnotes.
Second, the use of the internet abbreviation RL in dialogue was jarring to me. Perhaps this was meant to be a world building feature and this sort of shorthand is used in all areas of communication in this version of 2040, but RL was the only contemporary internet speak abbreviation I caught and it was used a lot. Generally, if people are speaking to their real life/real world/offline contacts and need to differentiate real life and online, they still use the words real life, not the letters RL. That’s still reserved for text based communication. If 2040 has embraced speaking in colloquial acronyms there should have been more of them in use.
Finally, the ending. I love where it went and I see why it was important to get there, but the book took too long to get their after the climax. I spent a few chapters wondering why were were still hanging out with these characters. The final 10-15% of this book felt like it needed to either be a much more condensed epilogue or carved off and developed into a sequel.
All in all I enjoyed this book immensely and will seek out more titles by this author. – Jenna Rideout – NetGalley – September 19, 2020
First Reviews of CELERITY are in
The first reviews of CELERITY are in:
Goodreads- Cassandra’s review ***** Sep 08, 2020 really liked it: Celerity’s father, a botanist, has just passed away and his last wish for her is that she does not follow his studies. She is not sure why, so of course she decides to find out what he was studying in the Darién jungle. Well let me backup a bit. Celerity is now deceased also. She died in a plane crash and her agent is reading her journal entries which explain how she went from Celerity, a student and decent runner to Celerity record breaking runner and NFL player. Her father had discovered something no one had ever discovered before and even though he told Celerity to not follow his research, she does just the opposite. While I enjoyed this book, So much happened SO fast. We are, along with her agent, viewing her journals so time is not exactly relevant, but for me everything happened a tad fast. As a reader you have to keep reminding yourself you are not dealing with the typical time frame and unless Celerity documented the days, a good bit is passed by. Over all this was a good read and I am thankful to NG, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to read this story.
Goodreads- Yamil Pautler’s review ***** Sep 09, 2020 it was amazing: I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. The blurb looked interesting so I gave it a shot. But WOW! I really enjoyed it. Read it all in one night! I liked the format of the book. The audio recordings concept worked well. It seems like almost like 2 different stories, the “before’ and “after”. It’s witty and funny and halfway thru takes a darker turn but it all works together. There are parts that seem like a science/history lesson and I really enjoyed that. All in all, a great story line, sympathetic characters, and great read!
Goodreads- Faith Hurst-Bilinski’s review **** Sep 05, 2020 really liked it, bookshelves: netgalley: Celerity is just an unusual book. Celerity is in a plane crash. Not giving anything away. That’s how it starts. As her life unfolds through the research of her agent we find out that she was the first female NFL player, a guitarist, and the fastest woman alive. Hmmm. So how did that happen. Through files from her laptop, her agent reads her journal of how she took her father’s research and made herself into what she becomes. It’s hard to say more than that, but I will say I really liked the way this was all brought together.
Goodreads- Cindy Lauren’s review Sep 09, 2020 really liked it: Super creative ideas here: and of course, the minute someone says don’t do it, there is nothing more urgent to be dome by the other person. In this case the daughter of a botanist inherits research and the warning was to his daughter, a regular person who liked to run. Be careful what you wish for, is the old curse. She found what she thought she wanted and with it came a whole bunch of other things she may not have wished for. It’s an entertaining story and an entertaining read. My favorite, however, is Bolt.
Goodreads- Emma Nelson’s review Aug 30, 2020: Celerity is an unusual book, it was an interesting concept – the main character is an average track star – nothing groundbreaking until she discovers her scientist/botanist’s father’s work – and ingests the serum from a plant he located in the depths of the jungle.
Without giving the plot away, Celerity becomes renowned worldwide as the fast female on the planet. She joins the NFL as the first female player on an all-male team but with her newly acquired wealth, comes a whole host of problems.
Cleverly written and a great unexpected twist at the end.
Goodreads- 
Misericordia ~ The Serendipity Aegis ~ 
ϟϟ
✺❂
‘s review ***** Sep 05, 2020: it was amazing: Q: Celerity, the flavor of the manic month. (c)
The main idea: kids, don’t take underresearched substances. Not unless your key life goal is to start patrolling your living room with a knife and a gun. Well, if it is, by all means do it. All the best fun to you while you’re at it.
I’ve no idea what possessed me to read this one. It’s not like I get the all-American appeal of ‘stars’ or ‘celebrities’ or whatever the flavour this month’s obsession might be.
Meh. A girl playing for a male team on drugs. Granted, natural drugs but the side-effects… Then again, the ‘females’ they are displaying today as gymnasts and who actually take amph for supposedly ADHD and who take other stuff, including hormonal… that’s just no comment. I’m pretty sure that at some point we are all gonna get the 100% Dope Olympics.
Celerity – either her dad was really fond of his celeries (would not be out of his character considering he was a botanist) or this was a play on Celebrity without b… Whatever. I’m pretty sure it’s the latter but I like the former more.
Girl drinking up… Obsessed with some Tony Tango guru. <= This is precisely the sort of language this novel was written in. Chopped. Meh.
The ending is, once again, pretty incoherent. Triple meh.
Q: They had special shoulder pads made for me that extended down over my breasts—cups with flexible frames. That was the only change to the equipment—tit guards. Oh, and one more thing; they had to send my pants to their seamstress to remove the extra space for a cup. Obviously, I didn’t need that. Sans package. (c)
Q: A chaos crash is inevitable, he would say, the female and male species of the higher life-forms demonstrate a continuity of physical and mental attributes, a sexual selection process of peacock’s plumage… (c) Hopefully, we won’t get to the shemale singularity.
Q: Red Bull, used to be Gives you Wings. Did you know some guy sued them for false advertising because he drank Red Bull for ten years and he grew no wings or achieved any enhanced performance? No kidding. (c)
Q: I’m slowing the world down around me while they are all speeding up. I have hundreds of thoughts to their one. I can slip in between their shadows. Stalk like a specter between their spaces. (c) Sounds like a manic attack in process.
Q: That makes sense, I said. Please continue, my bipolar meds are kicking in now. (c)
Q: This could be contagious.
Can I give it to my dog?
Unlikely. I would avoid sex right now, though.
No problem, I don’t have sex with my dog. We’re strictly platonic, I say. (c)
Q: What, you think I’m a drug addict? That’s racist. (c)
THRESHOLD – Final Editon Published
On September 9th, 2020, the complete first edition of my technothriller, THRESHOLD, was published.
The final first edition should state “First Edition 2.0” on the copyright page at the beginning of the book. This edition also includes an appendix as bonus material.
Before September 9th, readers had access to a free beta reader copy before final editing. The reviewers of the novel that have criticized the editing, and rightly so, were reading a beta reader copy, not the final first edition. Again, the complete novel must say First Edition 2.0.
Thousands of reviews have downloaded the beta copy, and I am appreciative. Some of the five-star reviews included comments such as “an amazing book”, “the best book I have read in years”, “scary”, and “prophetic.”
If you have downloaded a copy of the novel before September 9th, you have a beta. Please discard and download the final version. It is available on Amazon, also on Apple Books, Google Play, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and other book sites around the world. The ebook will remain free for a period of time to allow early/beta readers to acquire the final version at no cost.
In addition, the novel is available in paperback and hardcover here on Amazon and in book stores. You may have to order it on your favorite book store’s website if it is not in stock in their brick and mortar store.
Thank you and remember: In 2040, technology stops working… all of it.
THRESHOLD Reviews
***** The story brought tears to my eyes so many times I had to take breaks before I could see to continue reading. I am a joyful, recovering alcoholic. In the course of my recovery adventure I have contemplated many philosophical concepts and considered a variety of perspectives regarding mass, energy and god (lowercase “g”). This book while telling an intriguing story also touches on potential realties as yet unexplored, assuming they could ever be at all. 5.0 out of 5 stars Patrick – Amazon – July 6, 2020
***** Threshold The best kind of science fiction, this takes you on ride to ask questions, to think & wonder. Judy Kastner – Google Play – July 6, 2020
***** Threshold is an amazing book! Lkaterie Neal – Google Play – July 1, 2020
***** An engrossing story set in 2040 when the race to create Super Intelligent Artificial Intelligence is keeping the brilliant minds of the world on their toes. A fascinating world where the Stream gives people their every experience without leaving home. Thrills at every turn, Kip Wilde is willing to do all he can to cure his daughter Becca of ALS. Kept me up all night reading, reading and still reading until I could no longer keep my eyes open! Excellent world building and language creation…
5.0 out of 5 stars Jeannette A.0 SIAI – Amazon – June 17, 2020
***** THIS is not an easy read. If you start it, make sure you can dedicate time for it. Because it’s the coolest damn thing I have read in… years.. Makes what is happening now, just a small glitch in time..
5.0 out of 5 stars Cindy – Whew. Amazon – June 17, 2020
***** BEST Science Fiction Novel of 2020! I can imagine Hollywood Directors clawing at each other to make this novel into a film! It’s that good. If you are a Sci-fi fan like me, don’t miss out on this. It keeps you captivated the entire time and pulls you into the universe every page. If this book becomes a Movie, I will absolutely be buying the first ticket. New favorite author!!
5.0 out of 5 stars Dominic M. – Amazon – June 18, 2020
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