Endeavour by Ralph Kern

[Brian G Turner]

I'm currently reading Endeavour, by our Ralph Kearn, and quite enjoying it. After reading his posts about his publishing and editing experiences, and I thought I'd check out his latest sample on Amazon.

It didn't so much grab me, as much as put a friendly arm across my shoulders and lead me in - enough that I really wanted to see what happened after the sample finished.

The one big weakness is characterisation - I couldn't even begin to tell you the difference between major characters such as Tom or Harry.

However, it's big win is the attention to detail - lots and lots of little things that make the story feel real, and alive. Clearly a huge amount of thought has gone into this.

Surprisingly, this is not the sort of book that has pages upon pages of technical exposition - the pace remains strong and padding is non-existent.

In fact, only a third of the way into this novel, I can already see that other science fiction writers might have turned this one book into a trilogy.

Endeavour is very much old school SF - focused on telling the story - and here creates a vivid picture of the exploration of other worlds, and the process of discovering complex life. Which makes it an easy but imaginative read.

Am looking forward to seeing how some of this pans out.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm looking forward to reading it - but want to get the all-singing, edited-by-Jennifer version coming out.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Oh! I thought I had the Jennifer version!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Well, I didn't, but it doesn't matter.

Some parts of the book I thought were outstanding:

Spoiler

1. Quadropus smelting outside of water. The idea of cephalopod intelligence is one thing, but I found the idea of them leaving their natural environment - even just their tentacles, wrapped in seaweed as protection, to smelt on rafts - amazing yet believable. I don't know if the idea was completely original, but I the idea of leaving the water to work I found astonishing.

2. I loved how we saw humanity's technology continually change over the period, and how this affected humans - to the point of creating independent evolutionary pathways - the augmenters, skippers, linked, etc.

And this line from that:

It was ironic that they had come all this way to find aliens, but by the time they got home humanity itself may be even more alien to them

Kern, Ralph (2014-10-17). Endeavour: A Sleeping Gods Novel (Kindle Location 2796). Tickety Boo Press. Kindle Edition.

3. Also, the transcendental nature of increased intelligence - how the universe we live in was effectively a dream of an older intelligence, and how as humans transcend, so we will eventually do the same by creating our own reality. I love the way that relates to general spiritual belief (one I share and try to write about), but also how that directly relates to the Fermi Paradox.

There were some really great ideas in this book.

 

[Gary Compton]

Brian I can send you the Jennifer version and continue from where you are as there is a bit of a difference toward the end.

 

[Brian G Turner]

It's okay - I enjoyed the book - and my TBR pile keeps getting bigger!

 

[ratsy]

I really liked the book, but I think I had a mid-edit version. It was still a great read. I have primarily read fantasy but tried some Scalzi (who has recently been discussed here) and he piqued my SF interest. Ralph's book opened it wide open, and now I find myself leaning to that side of things, recently reading more scalzi, Endeavour, Abendau's Heir, Fluency, and I bought Fear the Sky to give it a try.

If anything, reading all of these Chronners books these days has broadened my reading horizons!

 

[ralphkern]

I didn't even realize there was a forum, so a little late on this front. Much like Jo, I find myself somewhat unsure of how much to comment in these things.

But, firstly, as I messaged you but more publically, Brian, thankyou so much for your kind, thoughtful and developmental review.

The re-edit doesn't change things too much structurally. Some of Jennifer's rejigs bring out the characters a little more, but probably not enough to mitigate your comments re characterization. I've taken the feedback about that onboard from when the first reviews mentioned it though, Erebus as it's now called, is a lot more character driven, in fact far more than I originally envisaged. The big changes in the redit occur towards the end in a section it might be a bit too much of a spoiler to go into. I think maybe Gary and I could sort something out for those that have already bought and may want to read the final version if they have trouble updating?

Spoiler: Responses

1. Quadropus smelting outside of water. The idea of cephalopod intelligence is one thing, but I found the idea of them leaving their natural environment - even just their tentacles, wrapped in seaweed as protection, to smelt on rafts - amazing yet believable. I don't know if the idea was completely original, but I the idea of leaving the water to work I found astonishing.

The Quadropus generally became a much bigger part than I envisaged, they're a race which I developed a certain fondness for. Originally the idea came from seeing 'Freddy the Octopus' at the National Sea Life Centre and how intelligent he was. That prompted me to ask a few questions about octopi (Thats another minor change, Quadropus to Quadropi) and learned some surprising facts, such as by some measures, they are actually the second most intelligent creatures on the planet. The smelting thing was a scene that actually evolved from me having a bit where the crew of Endeavour would encounter the Quadropi making their first exploration on land, which, due to their limitations, they would treat with as much care as, say, humans landing on the moon. I simply didn't like the sheer coincidence that would involve though, combined with the fact I wanted to show their alieness by engaging them in their own environment. If ever I get round to creating a short story anthology in the Sleeping Gods universe though, that would assuredly be a story I'd love to tell. The smelting thing itself was originally through the need for them to produce some kind of activity that was detectable in space and wanting them to be more than simple hunter gatherers, but a race on the verge of true technology.

2. I loved how we saw humanity's technology continually change over the period, and how this affected humans - to the point of creating independent evolutionary pathways - the augmenters, skippers, linked, etc.

And this line from that:

It was ironic that they had come all this way to find aliens, but by the time they got home humanity itself may be even more alien to them

Erebus, about half of which is set in Sol covers the differences between the evolutionary pathways a lot more. The MC is an enhanced himself, and exploring that has been great. It was also a lot of fun to explore what it actually means to be Linked. There is probably going to be a bit of development between what is on my draft going into Jennifer and what it ends up like, but I think at the moment we're heading in the right direction for showing not just the oddness, but also that it is a viable evolutionary pathway.

Kern, Ralph (2014-10-17). Endeavour: A Sleeping Gods Novel (Kindle Location 2796). Tickety Boo Press. Kindle Edition.
3. Also, the transcendental nature of increased intelligence - how the universe we live in was effectively a dream of an older intelligence, and how as humans transcend, so we will eventually do the same by creating our own reality. I love the way that relates to general spiritual belief (one I share and try to write about), but also how that directly relates to the Fermi Paradox.

This is something that has absolutely fascinated me. As I mentioned in the afterword, I'm no conspiracy theorist, I don't particularly believe aliens are here, but it still begs the question... well then, where are they? The idea for the solution I thought of came, would you believe from old computer games like Sims, Black & White and Civilization. The player essentially sets the parameters and lets the characters exist within them, not actually controlling them, and at most influencing them. I kept away from an obvious conclusion in which I postulated that God, Allah or some other deity was a Sleeping God within that, or more accurately an encompassing, universe. As the series closes, it may be remiss of me not to bring it forth as it would be a logical conclusion which the characters would naturally make. This fits in with the simulation theory, which was quite popular when the Matrix came out, so I will not pretend to take the credit, I'm not aware of it being applied to the Fermi Paradox though.

Hopefully you'll enjoy Erebus which, while recognizably in the same universe, is a different type of work. For me, Endeavour was about creating the universe. Now its time to start exploring it. Erebus is a direct continuation of the overall plot arc and covers large swathes of time, and just as much exploration, but in a much closer manner now the universe has been created. Some of the questions you might have coming out of Endeavour, such as what happened to Io (not a spoiler as it'll be in the blurb) will be answered...

And you'll even get a flawed, but hopefully likable cop to put a friendly arm around you and guide you through it.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Hello Ralph and Gary! Looking forward to reading this, but I would like to get the newly-edited edition, and I would like to order this through the U.S. Amazon site. The version I see there now though is the one edited by Ian Sales. Just wondering when the new-edit will be available at Amazon? Thanks, CC

 

[Gary Compton]

Not be long CC. When JL Carson appears next to ian's name, that's the one. Maybe a week