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Seeds #1
Wherever Seeds May Fall
Astronomers from around the world watch in awe as an extrasolar comet approaches Saturn, being drawn in by its immense gravity. When the comet grazes the planet rather than plunging beneath the clouds, speculation is rife. With the comet now on course to collide with Jupiter, even the most skeptical scientists can no longer deny what's happening—an alien spacecraft has entered the solar system and is using the gas giants to slow its approach to Earth.
359 pages, Paperback
First published January 22, 2021
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January 26, 2021
Peter Cawdron spends a lot of time thinking about aliens. My introduction to him was Anomaly, a worthy successor to Carl Sagan's Contact, a kind of 21st century version of that story about a high-level first contact.
His newest is another first contact novel, Wherever Seeds May Fall, with a completely different premise and a completely different focus. Where Anomaly was about communication, Seeds is about preparation, about humanity's reaction to the discovery of an alien probe, caught bouncing off planets to slow itself down on the way to Earth.
The main characters take us through orbital mechanics, speculating about what it would take to send a probe from light years away and the unthinkable forces required to slow it down.
Cawdron ratchets up the tension perfectly and sticks the landing, delivering a twist that took me completely by surprise.
His work is absolutely worth your time, a throwback to old fashioned hard science fiction in the tradition of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
Cawdron's heroes are science educators and intellectual men of action. His entire career is based on love of science and the people who practice it.
I think it was Michael Crichton who said a thriller is a science fiction story that includes the president of the United States.
Can I do this next part without making it sound like a complaint? Because it's not really a complaint. You can't do science fiction without politics, and you absolutely can't do a modern thriller without politics, so it's valid to judge authors by how they weave politics into their stories and the clarity of the message they're trying to deliver.
Most Cold War science fiction was about the need for global unity and the insanity of nuclear war. They were warnings, and - knock on wood - they worked. The world-ending catastrophe my generation was raised to expect never happened. Russia and America kept their nukes in their silos and turned their attention to petty proxy conflicts, avoiding the catastrophe that Silver Age prophets warned us about.
Cawdron also has a warning to deliver, and it's exactly what you would expect from a sincere science educator in 2021. I want to focus on that word because it's important. Cawdron's message is absolutely sincere, and that gives it a level of credibility that should be taken into account, even if you don't like the way he did it.
In world where political messages are routinely delivered with sanctimonious brute force, I need to give Cawdron points for sincerity and tact.
He does not beat you over the head with his political message, but it forms a constant background beat in the story, just like Clarke and Asimov wove in their warnings about nuclear suicide. It's a lovely old-fashioned approach with a new message, exactly the way science fiction should be.
If he had leaned a little too heavy on it, if his villain had stayed a two-dimensional moron for the entire book, it would have fallen flat. Authors are allowed to put political messages in their narratives. They're allowed to put political speeches in the mouths of their characters, but it's proper to judge how they do it, whether you agree or disagree.
First, the political message in this book is so broad, so reasonable, and so clearly heartfelt, you'd really have to work to be offended by it. It's pro-science, pro-reason, anti-hype, anti-hysteria and unifying in its intent.
Cawdron's real villain, the fashionable villain of the moment, is fake news.
He reserves his harshest criticism for people who pander to the mob, spreading lies and conspiracies, offering easy answers to hard questions, turning their backs on science because of misguided suspicion.
I am much more sympathetic to conspiracy theories today than I was 10 years ago, but Cawdron's points are fair and never cross the line into pettiness or base partisanship.
There are no clear bad guys here. Every time you think the author is setting you up for a boring stereotype, he flips it around and surprises you with a dose of realism or a fantastic plot twist.
His core message, delivered quite explicitly at the end, is that some things are more important than partisanship, and irrational skepticism can be just as deadly as irrational trust.
The real villains in the story are mob psychology and the people who take advantage of it, intentionally spreading lies in exchange for video hits.
Cawdron creates a story where rejection of science can have immediate life or death consequences, with obvious real world parallels.
This is the kind of story that makes me wish Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits was still on TV. This would be perfect for a self-contained TV episode, low budget with a burst of special effects at the end.
I hope Netflix or Amazon notices his work soon.
His newest is another first contact novel, Wherever Seeds May Fall, with a completely different premise and a completely different focus. Where Anomaly was about communication, Seeds is about preparation, about humanity's reaction to the discovery of an alien probe, caught bouncing off planets to slow itself down on the way to Earth.
The main characters take us through orbital mechanics, speculating about what it would take to send a probe from light years away and the unthinkable forces required to slow it down.
Cawdron ratchets up the tension perfectly and sticks the landing, delivering a twist that took me completely by surprise.
His work is absolutely worth your time, a throwback to old fashioned hard science fiction in the tradition of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
Cawdron's heroes are science educators and intellectual men of action. His entire career is based on love of science and the people who practice it.
I think it was Michael Crichton who said a thriller is a science fiction story that includes the president of the United States.
Can I do this next part without making it sound like a complaint? Because it's not really a complaint. You can't do science fiction without politics, and you absolutely can't do a modern thriller without politics, so it's valid to judge authors by how they weave politics into their stories and the clarity of the message they're trying to deliver.
Most Cold War science fiction was about the need for global unity and the insanity of nuclear war. They were warnings, and - knock on wood - they worked. The world-ending catastrophe my generation was raised to expect never happened. Russia and America kept their nukes in their silos and turned their attention to petty proxy conflicts, avoiding the catastrophe that Silver Age prophets warned us about.
Cawdron also has a warning to deliver, and it's exactly what you would expect from a sincere science educator in 2021. I want to focus on that word because it's important. Cawdron's message is absolutely sincere, and that gives it a level of credibility that should be taken into account, even if you don't like the way he did it.
In world where political messages are routinely delivered with sanctimonious brute force, I need to give Cawdron points for sincerity and tact.
He does not beat you over the head with his political message, but it forms a constant background beat in the story, just like Clarke and Asimov wove in their warnings about nuclear suicide. It's a lovely old-fashioned approach with a new message, exactly the way science fiction should be.
If he had leaned a little too heavy on it, if his villain had stayed a two-dimensional moron for the entire book, it would have fallen flat. Authors are allowed to put political messages in their narratives. They're allowed to put political speeches in the mouths of their characters, but it's proper to judge how they do it, whether you agree or disagree.
First, the political message in this book is so broad, so reasonable, and so clearly heartfelt, you'd really have to work to be offended by it. It's pro-science, pro-reason, anti-hype, anti-hysteria and unifying in its intent.
Cawdron's real villain, the fashionable villain of the moment, is fake news.
He reserves his harshest criticism for people who pander to the mob, spreading lies and conspiracies, offering easy answers to hard questions, turning their backs on science because of misguided suspicion.
I am much more sympathetic to conspiracy theories today than I was 10 years ago, but Cawdron's points are fair and never cross the line into pettiness or base partisanship.
There are no clear bad guys here. Every time you think the author is setting you up for a boring stereotype, he flips it around and surprises you with a dose of realism or a fantastic plot twist.
His core message, delivered quite explicitly at the end, is that some things are more important than partisanship, and irrational skepticism can be just as deadly as irrational trust.
The real villains in the story are mob psychology and the people who take advantage of it, intentionally spreading lies in exchange for video hits.
Cawdron creates a story where rejection of science can have immediate life or death consequences, with obvious real world parallels.
This is the kind of story that makes me wish Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits was still on TV. This would be perfect for a self-contained TV episode, low budget with a burst of special effects at the end.
I hope Netflix or Amazon notices his work soon.
June 26, 2021
If, like me, you've read "3zekiel", "But the Stars", and you came to "Wherever Seeds May Fall" thinking this going to be yet another science-fiction masterpiece... Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but WSMF is a clusterf***.
WSMF is another installment in Cawdron's "First Contact" series in which he explores different scenarios with different degrees of first contacts with other beings, and like the aforementioned novels, they also explore their impact on humans, and our society, while delving into fascinating discussions about science, philosophy, the human condition, our place in the grand scheme of things, seasoned with great adventures and mysteries, fantastic characters who are well developed.
WSMF, however, lacks all of the things mentioned.
The prose, compared to the previous novels, is atrocious and bland. The fascinating discussions, the attention to detail, the well developed characters has been replaced with one-dimensional characters, endless bland info-dumps, and unnecessary secondary plotlines and characters (like Andy, the conspiracy-theory nutjob and his podcast, or Jose in Mexico) that are introduced all over the novel only to be discarded without any kind of resolution, and therefore have little to no impact on the plot at all. Attention to details is also discarded completely, as many scientific explanations are not only dumbed-down considerably, it is also repeated multiple times,only in some slightly different manner. Even the alien at the end is described so vaguely, you can't even see it in your imagination.
Also, while in the previous novels his characters were always careful to not jump into conclusions before having all the facts, in WSMF every single character is, irresponsibly , jumping into conclusions that could prove disastrous without even testing those theories beforehand.
Of course, it doesn't help matters when the novel doesn't know what it's want to be: science-fiction, political-thriller (a very lame one, too), disaster driven book. Of course the basic idea of this book was much more suitable for a novella or a short story, not a full-length novel. Which is why there are so many dead pages where absolutely nothing is happening besides filler information about things that truly are not important to the story or characters at all.
So why this drastic change of tone all of a sudden?
Because- and Cawdron even admits to it himself in the afterword- this novel is nothing more than Science vs. Conspiracy Theories.
Not only was the novel filled with endless speeches about how science is important and how the rise of conspiracy theories is dangerous, even the last chapter is just basically one long boring such preach.
Now, don't get me wrong. I hate, no.. LOATH conspiracy theories. They can be fun in a novel or a movie/series, they can be a good material to laugh at, but for taking seriously. And there's no debate that science is important is many ways. And personally, I'll always feel it's important to keep an open mind, reasonably of course, ask questions, and just like we were taught as children, always be curious and seek answers and knowledge. Knowledge is power, after all. And, much like Cawdron, I am too worried with the rise of those theories and how there are so many people who believe them without actually testing them and at the same time treating science like it's basically one giant pack of lies.
But that's not issue.
The issue with WSMF is that the message in itself was more important to the author that actually telling a story. A story with well-fleshed-out characters, that could drive the message he wanted to send right home. But he wanted drive the message so hard that eventually we're left with no real plot that goes nowhere and ends with a whimper, and forgettable characters that just spew texts and nothing more. "3ezikiel", and indeed even "But the Stars" drive the same message home perfectly, not by trying so hard, but by actually telling a fascinating, engaging, stories with memorable characters and debates that don't feel like speeches and preaching.
WSMF falls short on all its promises, opting to preach instead of telling a story. Which is too bad, because the premise itself, had it been developed well, has a lot of potential to become something fascinating.
One and half stars, rounded to two- and only because there were a few instances when the novel was actually interesting enough. But those moment were too far and few in-between.
Utterly disappointing.
WSMF is another installment in Cawdron's "First Contact" series in which he explores different scenarios with different degrees of first contacts with other beings, and like the aforementioned novels, they also explore their impact on humans, and our society, while delving into fascinating discussions about science, philosophy, the human condition, our place in the grand scheme of things, seasoned with great adventures and mysteries, fantastic characters who are well developed.
WSMF, however, lacks all of the things mentioned.
The prose, compared to the previous novels, is atrocious and bland. The fascinating discussions, the attention to detail, the well developed characters has been replaced with one-dimensional characters, endless bland info-dumps, and unnecessary secondary plotlines and characters (like Andy, the conspiracy-theory nutjob and his podcast, or Jose in Mexico) that are introduced all over the novel only to be discarded without any kind of resolution, and therefore have little to no impact on the plot at all. Attention to details is also discarded completely, as many scientific explanations are not only dumbed-down considerably, it is also repeated multiple times,only in some slightly different manner. Even the alien at the end is described so vaguely, you can't even see it in your imagination.
Also, while in the previous novels his characters were always careful to not jump into conclusions before having all the facts, in WSMF every single character is, irresponsibly , jumping into conclusions that could prove disastrous without even testing those theories beforehand.
Of course, it doesn't help matters when the novel doesn't know what it's want to be: science-fiction, political-thriller (a very lame one, too), disaster driven book. Of course the basic idea of this book was much more suitable for a novella or a short story, not a full-length novel. Which is why there are so many dead pages where absolutely nothing is happening besides filler information about things that truly are not important to the story or characters at all.
So why this drastic change of tone all of a sudden?
Because- and Cawdron even admits to it himself in the afterword- this novel is nothing more than Science vs. Conspiracy Theories.
Not only was the novel filled with endless speeches about how science is important and how the rise of conspiracy theories is dangerous, even the last chapter is just basically one long boring such preach.
Now, don't get me wrong. I hate, no.. LOATH conspiracy theories. They can be fun in a novel or a movie/series, they can be a good material to laugh at, but for taking seriously. And there's no debate that science is important is many ways. And personally, I'll always feel it's important to keep an open mind, reasonably of course, ask questions, and just like we were taught as children, always be curious and seek answers and knowledge. Knowledge is power, after all. And, much like Cawdron, I am too worried with the rise of those theories and how there are so many people who believe them without actually testing them and at the same time treating science like it's basically one giant pack of lies.
But that's not issue.
The issue with WSMF is that the message in itself was more important to the author that actually telling a story. A story with well-fleshed-out characters, that could drive the message he wanted to send right home. But he wanted drive the message so hard that eventually we're left with no real plot that goes nowhere and ends with a whimper, and forgettable characters that just spew texts and nothing more. "3ezikiel", and indeed even "But the Stars" drive the same message home perfectly, not by trying so hard, but by actually telling a fascinating, engaging, stories with memorable characters and debates that don't feel like speeches and preaching.
WSMF falls short on all its promises, opting to preach instead of telling a story. Which is too bad, because the premise itself, had it been developed well, has a lot of potential to become something fascinating.
One and half stars, rounded to two- and only because there were a few instances when the novel was actually interesting enough. But those moment were too far and few in-between.
Utterly disappointing.
September 11, 2022
All throughout, this felt it had such potential, if only it had had a bit of humanity and/or attitude to its characters; a little bit of creative looseness to its telling.
Nicely solid on technicalities, but rather soulless. And somehow the title really set your expectations up for something more profound.
______
Reading updates.
Nicely solid on technicalities, but rather soulless. And somehow the title really set your expectations up for something more profound.
______
Reading updates.
February 7, 2021
Another superb offering from Peter Cawdron in the First Contact series. In this, he takes an impending event for our solar system– is it an asteroid, is it a preliminary vessel, is it a crewed craft – and ratchets up the tension bit by bit.
Mostly seen through the eyes of Nolan – career military man, and Kath, outspoken astrophysicist, the story takes in the varying aspects of such an event – and, it’s 2021, to be honest, it could happen – and takes on a strong science perspective, throwing in politics, psychology, and an interestingly depicted conspiracy theorist. Interestingly, there’s also a non-sciencer – but rather than the wilful ignorance of those, this is due to a lack of education and world understanding. Cawdron has drawn realistic characters, and as always (disclaimer: fan of his work) works in science at a level that is understandable for the average reader, with just enough to make you want to discover more. After this, I’m going to find out distances to Earth, and discover what ‘we’ were doing when they launched this craft. Thumping mammoths over the head? Primordial soup? It certainly sparks a sense of internal wonder in the reader.
The writing style is easy to read, and even though I guessed at a couple of events in it, it kept me reading as events unfolded in a suitably tense manner. I
As always, it causes me to consider, what, and if in my lifetime, when, an occasion of contact would occur, and the circumstances. The politics are certainly realistic, likewise the military looking at worst case scenario, and the scrambled speculation of press and social media, to a hidden background of inter-nation squabbling. All plausible, and Where Seeds May Fall presents a ‘could happen’ scenario to the reader.
Bonus points for the Australian Crawl reference.
Mostly seen through the eyes of Nolan – career military man, and Kath, outspoken astrophysicist, the story takes in the varying aspects of such an event – and, it’s 2021, to be honest, it could happen – and takes on a strong science perspective, throwing in politics, psychology, and an interestingly depicted conspiracy theorist. Interestingly, there’s also a non-sciencer – but rather than the wilful ignorance of those, this is due to a lack of education and world understanding. Cawdron has drawn realistic characters, and as always (disclaimer: fan of his work) works in science at a level that is understandable for the average reader, with just enough to make you want to discover more. After this, I’m going to find out distances to Earth, and discover what ‘we’ were doing when they launched this craft. Thumping mammoths over the head? Primordial soup? It certainly sparks a sense of internal wonder in the reader.
The writing style is easy to read, and even though I guessed at a couple of events in it, it kept me reading as events unfolded in a suitably tense manner. I
As always, it causes me to consider, what, and if in my lifetime, when, an occasion of contact would occur, and the circumstances. The politics are certainly realistic, likewise the military looking at worst case scenario, and the scrambled speculation of press and social media, to a hidden background of inter-nation squabbling. All plausible, and Where Seeds May Fall presents a ‘could happen’ scenario to the reader.
Bonus points for the Australian Crawl reference.
March 30, 2021
A very good read. More on the realistic side of what it would be like if we thought an alien life form is coming to earth. This is not wild monsters eating everything in sight. I appreciate the author’s effort at the realism. What would it be like if we knew a foreign object was headed towards earth. What would the response be of the human race.
December 7, 2021
I read science fiction to be challenged. I read science fiction to get exposed to new ideas about the universe, about our place in it, about what it means to be human. I read science fiction for the engaging and varied stories.
This book failed miserably on all these fronts and since it's currently rated absurdly high (4.45, higher than all the classics) I thought it would be worth it to write a slightly longer review.
General points
I found the prose a bit too bland but it does the job of conveying the story. The best books I've read all have deeper layers or new nuances I only find after a second or third read. Of course not every book needs this but the general writing style is very unremarkable and bland.
The book is either written for people who've not read much science fiction/know very little about physics, or the author completely doesn't respect his audience. Gravity assists and aerobraking are explained several times in a dumbed down fashion, as are many other relatively basic scientific concepts. Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on your audience, but between this and the writing style I felt disrespected by this book.
I found the characters extremely bland and felt like I have already seen them before in too many books. This is the same problem with Peter Hamilton's books, where I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters at all. When this is coupled with multiple points of view, some of which are unnecessary for the story (and only seem to be there to induce an emotional connection to the story), as is the case here, bored indifference turns to frustration. Two of the four points of view could have been omitted entirely in my opinion.
This book suffers from West-Wing syndrome. What I mean by this is that the author seems to believe that you can convince people if only you make a good enough speech, which anyone who was awake for more than a week between 2016 and now knows is completely out of touch with reality. To be more precise,
The story
Then, the story. Without spoiling too much, the story is focused mostly on what people are discussing and doing in response to the mysterious asteroid that the book opens with. This is not necessarily a bad thing but because we get very little information it's like reading the comments on a news story on social media. Not really what I'm looking for in scifi.
There is a funny bit of geopolitics somewhere in the middle where
There is a bit of questionable physics when
Here is where I'm going to spoil and pick apart the ending so you can save yourself the hassle of reading through the whole book:
Conclusion: This book was very much not for me.
This book failed miserably on all these fronts and since it's currently rated absurdly high (4.45, higher than all the classics) I thought it would be worth it to write a slightly longer review.
General points
I found the prose a bit too bland but it does the job of conveying the story. The best books I've read all have deeper layers or new nuances I only find after a second or third read. Of course not every book needs this but the general writing style is very unremarkable and bland.
The book is either written for people who've not read much science fiction/know very little about physics, or the author completely doesn't respect his audience. Gravity assists and aerobraking are explained several times in a dumbed down fashion, as are many other relatively basic scientific concepts. Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on your audience, but between this and the writing style I felt disrespected by this book.
I found the characters extremely bland and felt like I have already seen them before in too many books. This is the same problem with Peter Hamilton's books, where I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters at all. When this is coupled with multiple points of view, some of which are unnecessary for the story (and only seem to be there to induce an emotional connection to the story), as is the case here, bored indifference turns to frustration. Two of the four points of view could have been omitted entirely in my opinion.
This book suffers from West-Wing syndrome. What I mean by this is that the author seems to believe that you can convince people if only you make a good enough speech, which anyone who was awake for more than a week between 2016 and now knows is completely out of touch with reality. To be more precise,
The story
Then, the story. Without spoiling too much, the story is focused mostly on what people are discussing and doing in response to the mysterious asteroid that the book opens with. This is not necessarily a bad thing but because we get very little information it's like reading the comments on a news story on social media. Not really what I'm looking for in scifi.
There is a funny bit of geopolitics somewhere in the middle where
There is a bit of questionable physics when
Here is where I'm going to spoil and pick apart the ending so you can save yourself the hassle of reading through the whole book:
Conclusion: This book was very much not for me.
February 10, 2024
LE DOY 3 ESTRELLAS PORQUE CUMPLE CON ENTRETENER AL LECTOR. Y PORQUE EL TRASFONDO A LA HISTORIA DE CIENCIA FICCIÓN ES INTERESANTE Y ESTA BIEN RELATADO... YA DICHO ESO, NO ES DE LA CLASE DE HISTORIAS DE CIENCIA FICCIÓN QUE LE VA A GUSTAR A TODOS.
Primer contacto, esa es la especialidad de Peter Cawdron. Todos su libros juegan con este concepto desde diferentes puntos de vista, el Primer contacto de la humanidad con una vida procedente del espacio. Y en el caso de "Wherever Seeds May Fall", primer libro de la saga de "Semillas", el autor juega con las consecuencias y ramificaciones del descubrimiento por parte de la humanidad de un cometa, que podría llevar vida extraterrestre. Específicamente desde la óptica de como reaccionaría el gobierno estadounidense, la comunidad científica, y como se vería afectada la política internacional por este suceso.
Ahora, lo curiosos de este libro es que el trasfondo político "condimenta" muy bien al aspecto de ciencia ficción. Ya se que a muchos la parte gubernamental o estatal de las novelas de ciencia ficción tiende a aburrirlos o abrumarlos. Pero la verdad es que este libro te presenta un trasfondo político bastante amigable y muy interesante. De hecho, me atrevería a decir que es la parte del libro que más me gusto, ya que muestra a los personajes operando en las latitudes de la burocracia gubernamental y tratando de hacer lo correcto no solo para ellos, sino para todos. Y lo hace sin abrumar al lector o aburrirlo con tecnicalidades legales o gubernamentales.
Admitámoslo, el día que descubramos vida extraterrestre y la noticia se haga publica, va a reinar el caos. De una forma u otra la sociedad sentirá que su forma de vida se ve amenazada, y los gobiernos deberán de tomar medidas extraordinarias para acomodarse a las distintas crisis que emergerán. Pues este libro te da un pequeño (y hago énfasis en pequeño) vistazo de todo esto. Y lo presenta de manera que el lector pueda entender y empatizar con lo complicado de semejante situación. La forma en que los sucesos se desarrollan deja muy en claro que la situación es delicada en extremo, pero gracias a la aparición de los dos protagonistas, Teniente Coronel Nolan Landis y la Dr. Kath McKenzie, el gobierno estadounidense logra "mantenerse a flote" de alguna manera, y con su ayuda se logra formar una especie de coalición internacional para afrontar la crisis. Seguramente más de uno pensará: "otra historia más de los estadounidenses salvando el día", y la verdad es que es de esas narrativas ya super conocidas por películas americanas, pero esta tiene su encanto. En especial por el personaje del Teniente Coronel Nolan Landis, quien a diferencia de uno de esos superhombres o personajes perfectos que aparecen comúnmente en este tipo de historia, es alguien bastante normal o típico en cuanto a carácter y físico se refieren. De hecho, el mayor atributo de Nolan es su imaginación, y eso lo lleva lejos en la historia. La Dr. Kath McKenzie por el contrario si que parece un personaje tipo cliché al principio, pero mejora conforme avanza el libro.
Algo que me gustó es que la historia se toma su tiempo para mostrar como se afrontará dicha crisis en Latinoamérica. Es solo una pequeña historia entre toda la trama principal, pero muestra una cara bastante dramática del tercer mundo, y las consecuencias en las personas humildes que lo habitan. Es solo un vistazo, pero es una de las mejores partes del libro en mi opinión.
De los extraterrestres solo diré una cosa. ¿Han visto la película Cloverfield? (y conste que me refiero a la primera). Pues si les gustó esa película, la trama de los alienígenas de esta historia les va a encantar. La naturaleza de estos seres solo se revela al final del libro, y supongo que depende del lector si les gusta o no el desenlace que tiene todo el asunto. Pero esta novela tiene una continuación, así que no nos apresuremos a juzgar el final de esta novela.
Esta es una lectura interesante sin duda. Pero como dije al principio, no es para todos.
Pero si les gusta la ciencia ficción con un toque de política estatal y militar... pues es una buena opción. Léanla.
Primer contacto, esa es la especialidad de Peter Cawdron. Todos su libros juegan con este concepto desde diferentes puntos de vista, el Primer contacto de la humanidad con una vida procedente del espacio. Y en el caso de "Wherever Seeds May Fall", primer libro de la saga de "Semillas", el autor juega con las consecuencias y ramificaciones del descubrimiento por parte de la humanidad de un cometa, que podría llevar vida extraterrestre. Específicamente desde la óptica de como reaccionaría el gobierno estadounidense, la comunidad científica, y como se vería afectada la política internacional por este suceso.
Ahora, lo curiosos de este libro es que el trasfondo político "condimenta" muy bien al aspecto de ciencia ficción. Ya se que a muchos la parte gubernamental o estatal de las novelas de ciencia ficción tiende a aburrirlos o abrumarlos. Pero la verdad es que este libro te presenta un trasfondo político bastante amigable y muy interesante. De hecho, me atrevería a decir que es la parte del libro que más me gusto, ya que muestra a los personajes operando en las latitudes de la burocracia gubernamental y tratando de hacer lo correcto no solo para ellos, sino para todos. Y lo hace sin abrumar al lector o aburrirlo con tecnicalidades legales o gubernamentales.
Admitámoslo, el día que descubramos vida extraterrestre y la noticia se haga publica, va a reinar el caos. De una forma u otra la sociedad sentirá que su forma de vida se ve amenazada, y los gobiernos deberán de tomar medidas extraordinarias para acomodarse a las distintas crisis que emergerán. Pues este libro te da un pequeño (y hago énfasis en pequeño) vistazo de todo esto. Y lo presenta de manera que el lector pueda entender y empatizar con lo complicado de semejante situación. La forma en que los sucesos se desarrollan deja muy en claro que la situación es delicada en extremo, pero gracias a la aparición de los dos protagonistas, Teniente Coronel Nolan Landis y la Dr. Kath McKenzie, el gobierno estadounidense logra "mantenerse a flote" de alguna manera, y con su ayuda se logra formar una especie de coalición internacional para afrontar la crisis. Seguramente más de uno pensará: "otra historia más de los estadounidenses salvando el día", y la verdad es que es de esas narrativas ya super conocidas por películas americanas, pero esta tiene su encanto. En especial por el personaje del Teniente Coronel Nolan Landis, quien a diferencia de uno de esos superhombres o personajes perfectos que aparecen comúnmente en este tipo de historia, es alguien bastante normal o típico en cuanto a carácter y físico se refieren. De hecho, el mayor atributo de Nolan es su imaginación, y eso lo lleva lejos en la historia. La Dr. Kath McKenzie por el contrario si que parece un personaje tipo cliché al principio, pero mejora conforme avanza el libro.
Algo que me gustó es que la historia se toma su tiempo para mostrar como se afrontará dicha crisis en Latinoamérica. Es solo una pequeña historia entre toda la trama principal, pero muestra una cara bastante dramática del tercer mundo, y las consecuencias en las personas humildes que lo habitan. Es solo un vistazo, pero es una de las mejores partes del libro en mi opinión.
De los extraterrestres solo diré una cosa. ¿Han visto la película Cloverfield? (y conste que me refiero a la primera). Pues si les gustó esa película, la trama de los alienígenas de esta historia les va a encantar. La naturaleza de estos seres solo se revela al final del libro, y supongo que depende del lector si les gusta o no el desenlace que tiene todo el asunto. Pero esta novela tiene una continuación, así que no nos apresuremos a juzgar el final de esta novela.
Esta es una lectura interesante sin duda. Pero como dije al principio, no es para todos.
Pero si les gusta la ciencia ficción con un toque de política estatal y militar... pues es una buena opción. Léanla.
March 13, 2024
This is the second book I have read by Peter Cawdon, and it was so much better... I was going to give it 4 stars and realized that the only reason I didn't rate it higher was that the book was self-published by a not so well know author. Buy, hey... this book was exciting, had some great characters, and had a fantastic message! Many won't like the bit of preaching at the end of the story... but in context, it fit. The story reminded me of a small Sci-Fi movie that came out a few years back.."Europa Report." Although in many ways I think this book is better... I'm not saying much about the plot... but it's best if you don't know too much. Happy reading!!
October 9, 2023
Das ist wohl mein erstes 5-Sterne Buch des Jahres ! Für mich überragend, wie der Autor dem Thema "Erstkontakt" neue Facetten abgerungen hat. Nach den Lektüren der ersten beiden "Erstkontakt"-Romanen des Autors, bei dem er das Thema jeweils auf eine andere und völlig verschiedene Weise angenähert hat, habe ich nicht mehr geglaubt, dass ihm noch weitere Sichtweisen und auch noch eine weitere Steigerung in punkto Sense of Wonder, Spannung und literarischer Qualität gelingen würde, doch "Die Saat" hat alles in den Schatten gestellt und mir ein unvergessliches Lesevergnügen bereitet, an dem ich mich noch lange nähren kann. Die philosophischen Ausritte in jedem seiner bisherigen Erstkontakt-Romanen, die auf deutsch herausgegeben wurden, sind herausragend und sehr nachdenkenswert, auch die naturwissenschaftlichen Aspekte stimmen und in diesem Buch sind für mich seine Herangehensweisen an das Thema Verschwörungstheorien etc.pp. sehr symphatisch und nachvollziehbar.
Bemerkenswert war für mich, dass er nun bereits zum 2. Mal (nach "Der Sturm") das "Dunkler Wald"-Thema der Fermi-Paradoxon-Thesen thematisierte, allerdings auf völlig verschiedene Weise.
Es war für mich überraschend und eindrucksvoll, seine diversen Ideen als Erklärung des Fermi Paradoxons nachzugehen, es ist ein exorbitanter Stoff zum Nachdenken.
Ein toller Roman, der eine größere Verbreitung verdient hätte, dessen Autor und sein Werk sollte nicht in dieser Selfpublishing-Diaspora verbringen müssen...
Bemerkenswert war für mich, dass er nun bereits zum 2. Mal (nach "Der Sturm") das "Dunkler Wald"-Thema der Fermi-Paradoxon-Thesen thematisierte, allerdings auf völlig verschiedene Weise.
Es war für mich überraschend und eindrucksvoll, seine diversen Ideen als Erklärung des Fermi Paradoxons nachzugehen, es ist ein exorbitanter Stoff zum Nachdenken.
Ein toller Roman, der eine größere Verbreitung verdient hätte, dessen Autor und sein Werk sollte nicht in dieser Selfpublishing-Diaspora verbringen müssen...
January 31, 2021
True Love ... 💜
Yes I dearly love Peter Cawdron. I have read several of his stories and they all make sense and they all seemed so plausible and so realistic and each and every one of them is so hard to put down I hope more will buy from him and his publishers to keep him writing
Yes I dearly love Peter Cawdron. I have read several of his stories and they all make sense and they all seemed so plausible and so realistic and each and every one of them is so hard to put down I hope more will buy from him and his publishers to keep him writing
November 21, 2023
Wieder ein erstklassiger Roman. Ich hoffe, das noch mehr von der Reihe bei Audible eingelesen werden. Absolut empfehlenswert.
February 1, 2021
Wherever Seeds May Fall gets five stars and then some from me. It is, without a doubt, the best science fiction book I have read in a long time and, to be sure, I read a lot of them.
First - this book is full of hard science. Peter Cawdron has done his homework and made sure that this book conforms to the physical laws of the universe. Second - his writing is excellent and engaging. Third - his characters are multidimensional, very believable, and vulnerable. Fourth - he does not shy away from the controversial in science, politics, conspiracy blogging, or alien life. Fifth - the story line is both intricate and engaging with several side stories that add depth to the narrative. Sixth - well, I cannot say as that would give away too much but know that there is more to enjoy.
We know that incoming objects can skip across a planet’s atmosphere and then launch back into space. In fact, one of the hardest parts of the Apollo moon missions was getting the spacecraft to hit the atmosphere at just the right angle as it returned from the moon. So what happens when a large meteor skips off of Saturn’s atmosphere, then Jupiter’s, and then heads toward earth? And what would it mean? That, in the most simplistic terms, is what this book is about. Trust me, it gets way more interesting the further you read.
Back in February and March of 2019, I read Peter Cawdron’s books Losing Mars and Retrograde. At the time I said that I had found a new, favorite author. Unfortunately, I have never been good at remembering names and, as I near turning seventy, it is not getting better. So, somehow Peter got lost in my synapses. Having so loved Wherever Seeds May Fall you can be sure that I writing his name down to make sure I do not lose him again! Oh, and I see that he has written many more books on First Contact so I’m off to explore them now.
First - this book is full of hard science. Peter Cawdron has done his homework and made sure that this book conforms to the physical laws of the universe. Second - his writing is excellent and engaging. Third - his characters are multidimensional, very believable, and vulnerable. Fourth - he does not shy away from the controversial in science, politics, conspiracy blogging, or alien life. Fifth - the story line is both intricate and engaging with several side stories that add depth to the narrative. Sixth - well, I cannot say as that would give away too much but know that there is more to enjoy.
We know that incoming objects can skip across a planet’s atmosphere and then launch back into space. In fact, one of the hardest parts of the Apollo moon missions was getting the spacecraft to hit the atmosphere at just the right angle as it returned from the moon. So what happens when a large meteor skips off of Saturn’s atmosphere, then Jupiter’s, and then heads toward earth? And what would it mean? That, in the most simplistic terms, is what this book is about. Trust me, it gets way more interesting the further you read.
Back in February and March of 2019, I read Peter Cawdron’s books Losing Mars and Retrograde. At the time I said that I had found a new, favorite author. Unfortunately, I have never been good at remembering names and, as I near turning seventy, it is not getting better. So, somehow Peter got lost in my synapses. Having so loved Wherever Seeds May Fall you can be sure that I writing his name down to make sure I do not lose him again! Oh, and I see that he has written many more books on First Contact so I’m off to explore them now.
April 24, 2021
This book scores very high on the essence of what good, strong science fiction should be. There's a highly original and plausible scientific element that's the center of the plot. Add to that all the players, not just the main ones, act both intelligently and how one would expect such a character to act. There are no actions that make no sense but exist solely to move the plot along. Each action, each scene and each act build upon each other leading to the startling reveal at the end complete with a bit of a Disneyesque denouement.
However, the book fails for me in its pandering to the social justice movement. Every character and every character action is obviously and painfully crafted to adhere to the cult of wokeness that infects our society. It’s a stinky miasma that pervades every element of the book greatly damaging it for me because the pandering is so obvious.
As much as I appreciate the originality of the concept and the intelligence of the plot, I won’t pursue the rest of this collection. I’m fed up with the pandering to wokeness that infects our society.
However, the book fails for me in its pandering to the social justice movement. Every character and every character action is obviously and painfully crafted to adhere to the cult of wokeness that infects our society. It’s a stinky miasma that pervades every element of the book greatly damaging it for me because the pandering is so obvious.
As much as I appreciate the originality of the concept and the intelligence of the plot, I won’t pursue the rest of this collection. I’m fed up with the pandering to wokeness that infects our society.
December 10, 2021
Read for 2021 SPSFC
Overall Thoughts
Well, I think this is the first book I’m where I’m going to give a shout out to the author’s note at the end! It contains some fascinating information about how this book was created and the fantastic research that was done to create it. I understand why it’s at the end, to keep from spoiling things, but it would have changed my perspective if I had read through at least part of it at the beginning! I wasn’t aware, but the author has an entire stand-alone series about first contact and Fermi’s Paradox, which…well, my TBR may get crowded is what I’m saying.
I thought I was going to have a mental battle about where to place this one, but in my opinion, it didn’t quite stick the landing, which bumped it down a bit in this list. But the author has some great writing chops and I was absolutely sucked into this book once it got going. Allow me to elaborate…
Plot
This book has everything I love about the “Oh my God, what is that?” storyline we see in a lot of first contact SciFi. The president of the US is a character, as are ones from other countries, we’ve got the technical geek, the career soldier who’s Seen All This Before, the raging conspiracy theorist, and the everyman viewpoint which gives us a grounding in the real world. Soon into the book, we learn that an object is bouncing around the solar system with incredible precision, and the phrase “It’s never aliens…until it’s aliens,” is bandied around a lot. A big part of the story deals with social media and conspiracy theories and how that’s become a much larger part of our social consciousness in the last few years.
I’m going to stop there on describing the plot to keep away from spoilers and because it’s something best experienced (and you should read this book), but I have a couple specific comments:
There is a scene of extreme weather about halfway through the book that is one of the best ones I’ve read in a long time. There is an everyman viewpoint during this scene that is absolutely beautiful, and reminiscent of the coolest scene from Niven and Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer.
There is another scene near the end which just about scared my socks off. It was amazing, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.
The last point, and the reason why this is rated lower than it could be, is that I feel the ending got a little off topic. There was a running thread on social media and conspiracy theories through the book, which I felt got wrapped up well, but then was unnecessarily returned to at the end, taking away from the other exciting plot element. That other (yes, vague) element I felt was dealt with too quickly. I would have liked more time to experience it, and I felt the characters jumped to conclusions a bit too quickly.
Hopefully I’ve both annoyed you and gotten your attention enough to read the book yourself ;-)
Setting
This book is definitely influenced by the pandemic and social issues in the last few years, even though they are not directly referenced. One of the characters is an Alex Jones-style media pundit, and we get a great look into the hypocrisy surrounding those sorts of positions. Most of the action takes place high in the military or government, as is common for this type of book, but the addition of a viewpoint of a poor fisherman in Central America brought a great grounding perspective. I will complain that a few of the social issues that featured in the book were dealt with too easily. There is a section of rational, scientific discourse with people who believe and support conspiracy theories which I thought was too idealistic. We can only hope.
Character
There are four or five viewpoint characters, and while this sort of book is often heavy on plot and light on characters, I felt there was a decent attempt at rounding out the characters. That said, I think the two with the most personality were the conspiracy theorist and the everyman POV in Central America. The others tended to be a bit of cut-and-paste characters from many other similar books. In all, I would have liked a little more reaction and analysis from all the characters near the end on what they find, but even without that, the book was a fun read.
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: A great sci-fi story based on Fermi’s Paradox, brought down just a bit because I didn’t think it stuck the landing. 8/10.
Overall Thoughts
Well, I think this is the first book I’m where I’m going to give a shout out to the author’s note at the end! It contains some fascinating information about how this book was created and the fantastic research that was done to create it. I understand why it’s at the end, to keep from spoiling things, but it would have changed my perspective if I had read through at least part of it at the beginning! I wasn’t aware, but the author has an entire stand-alone series about first contact and Fermi’s Paradox, which…well, my TBR may get crowded is what I’m saying.
I thought I was going to have a mental battle about where to place this one, but in my opinion, it didn’t quite stick the landing, which bumped it down a bit in this list. But the author has some great writing chops and I was absolutely sucked into this book once it got going. Allow me to elaborate…
Plot
This book has everything I love about the “Oh my God, what is that?” storyline we see in a lot of first contact SciFi. The president of the US is a character, as are ones from other countries, we’ve got the technical geek, the career soldier who’s Seen All This Before, the raging conspiracy theorist, and the everyman viewpoint which gives us a grounding in the real world. Soon into the book, we learn that an object is bouncing around the solar system with incredible precision, and the phrase “It’s never aliens…until it’s aliens,” is bandied around a lot. A big part of the story deals with social media and conspiracy theories and how that’s become a much larger part of our social consciousness in the last few years.
I’m going to stop there on describing the plot to keep away from spoilers and because it’s something best experienced (and you should read this book), but I have a couple specific comments:
There is a scene of extreme weather about halfway through the book that is one of the best ones I’ve read in a long time. There is an everyman viewpoint during this scene that is absolutely beautiful, and reminiscent of the coolest scene from Niven and Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer.
There is another scene near the end which just about scared my socks off. It was amazing, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.
The last point, and the reason why this is rated lower than it could be, is that I feel the ending got a little off topic. There was a running thread on social media and conspiracy theories through the book, which I felt got wrapped up well, but then was unnecessarily returned to at the end, taking away from the other exciting plot element. That other (yes, vague) element I felt was dealt with too quickly. I would have liked more time to experience it, and I felt the characters jumped to conclusions a bit too quickly.
Hopefully I’ve both annoyed you and gotten your attention enough to read the book yourself ;-)
Setting
This book is definitely influenced by the pandemic and social issues in the last few years, even though they are not directly referenced. One of the characters is an Alex Jones-style media pundit, and we get a great look into the hypocrisy surrounding those sorts of positions. Most of the action takes place high in the military or government, as is common for this type of book, but the addition of a viewpoint of a poor fisherman in Central America brought a great grounding perspective. I will complain that a few of the social issues that featured in the book were dealt with too easily. There is a section of rational, scientific discourse with people who believe and support conspiracy theories which I thought was too idealistic. We can only hope.
Character
There are four or five viewpoint characters, and while this sort of book is often heavy on plot and light on characters, I felt there was a decent attempt at rounding out the characters. That said, I think the two with the most personality were the conspiracy theorist and the everyman POV in Central America. The others tended to be a bit of cut-and-paste characters from many other similar books. In all, I would have liked a little more reaction and analysis from all the characters near the end on what they find, but even without that, the book was a fun read.
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: A great sci-fi story based on Fermi’s Paradox, brought down just a bit because I didn’t think it stuck the landing. 8/10.
September 28, 2021
I typically love this author's work, but this book took way too damn long to get to the actual alien contact. 75% of the novel is political meandering and unnecessary character development that could have been spent on fleshing out the actual alien aspects of the plot. Disappointing.
February 22, 2021
It seems unlikely to me that anyone, anywhere, has thought longer or harder about First Contact than Peter Cawdron. In his fifteenth novel on the theme, the gifted Australian science fiction author poses yet one more solution to the Fermi Paradox. “In the summer of 1950,” Cawdron explains, “while sitting around a table having lunch, physicist Enrico Fermi casually asked his colleagues, ‘Where is everyone?‘ . . . He understood that, given the sheer size of the universe, there should be other intelligent species out there . . . so where were they?” In Wherever Seeds May Fall, Cawdron offers up a novel explanation for The Great Silence that’s sure to surprise. Get ready for humankind’s first encounter with extraterrestrial life.
The setup
Wherever Seeds May Fall opens in the near future as a newly discovered comet heads deeper into the solar system from Saturn on its way to Jupiter. There, the object named Comet Anduru—the word in Sinhalese loosely translates as “The Dark Prince”—is expected to crash into the clouds of Jupiter much as did Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994. But Anduru instead glances off the outer atmosphere of the gas giant and speeds, somewhat more slowly, toward the inner solar system—and Earth.
As astronomers are well aware, NASA frequently uses the Venus-Venus-Earth-Jupiter Gravity Assist (VVEJGA) to conserve fuel and increase the velocity of spacecraft on their way to the gas giants. It’s clear that Anduru is reversing the process, slowing down on its way to Earth using the gravitational attraction of several other planets along the way. Within months, then, humanity’s first encounter with extraterrestrial life will be a reality.
The protagonists
Although the cast of characters is large and includes the President of the United States, Wherever Seeds May Fall centers around two people.
** Newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Nolan Landis of the US Air Force holds down a desk job near the space force installation at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. There, he and his team think the unthinkable about potential existential threats to the United States and to humanity at large.
** Dr. Kathleen (Kath) McKenzie is an astronomer at NASA’s Ames Astrophysics Laboratory. Gregarious and a gifted communicator, she maintains contact online with a global team of other scientists engaged in astrophysics and astronomy.
Col. Landis and Dr. McKenzie are among the very first people on Earth to suspect that Comet Anduru is an alien vessel. And they are called upon by the American government to help plan and manage the response to Anduru as the time of the comet’s arrival grows ever nearer.
The consequences
The approach of Comet Anduru triggers waves of hysteria all across the earth.
** In all the major powers—China, Russia, the US—the military begins preparations for an alien invasion. The reigning assumption is that Anduru represents a hostile extraterrestrial force. One country after another gears up to wield nuclear weapons against the intruder.
** While riots and looting begin erupting, self-appointed online pundits unleash a torrent of conspiracy theories through social media, stirring up new waves of hysteria.
** Meanwhile, the scientists who possess the most accurate and up-to-date information about Anduru begin mobilizing to calm the public, insisting that it is extremely unlikely an extraterrestrial visitor traveling for hundreds or thousands of years will have come to invade Earth.
The action
Long before Anduru’s arrival, Col. Landis and Dr. McKenzie are drawn into the inner circle of those in the White House who are planning the American response to the visitor. And the are on the front lines when it comes time for the first encounter with extraterrestrial life by the human race.
The setup
Wherever Seeds May Fall opens in the near future as a newly discovered comet heads deeper into the solar system from Saturn on its way to Jupiter. There, the object named Comet Anduru—the word in Sinhalese loosely translates as “The Dark Prince”—is expected to crash into the clouds of Jupiter much as did Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994. But Anduru instead glances off the outer atmosphere of the gas giant and speeds, somewhat more slowly, toward the inner solar system—and Earth.
As astronomers are well aware, NASA frequently uses the Venus-Venus-Earth-Jupiter Gravity Assist (VVEJGA) to conserve fuel and increase the velocity of spacecraft on their way to the gas giants. It’s clear that Anduru is reversing the process, slowing down on its way to Earth using the gravitational attraction of several other planets along the way. Within months, then, humanity’s first encounter with extraterrestrial life will be a reality.
The protagonists
Although the cast of characters is large and includes the President of the United States, Wherever Seeds May Fall centers around two people.
** Newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Nolan Landis of the US Air Force holds down a desk job near the space force installation at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. There, he and his team think the unthinkable about potential existential threats to the United States and to humanity at large.
** Dr. Kathleen (Kath) McKenzie is an astronomer at NASA’s Ames Astrophysics Laboratory. Gregarious and a gifted communicator, she maintains contact online with a global team of other scientists engaged in astrophysics and astronomy.
Col. Landis and Dr. McKenzie are among the very first people on Earth to suspect that Comet Anduru is an alien vessel. And they are called upon by the American government to help plan and manage the response to Anduru as the time of the comet’s arrival grows ever nearer.
The consequences
The approach of Comet Anduru triggers waves of hysteria all across the earth.
** In all the major powers—China, Russia, the US—the military begins preparations for an alien invasion. The reigning assumption is that Anduru represents a hostile extraterrestrial force. One country after another gears up to wield nuclear weapons against the intruder.
** While riots and looting begin erupting, self-appointed online pundits unleash a torrent of conspiracy theories through social media, stirring up new waves of hysteria.
** Meanwhile, the scientists who possess the most accurate and up-to-date information about Anduru begin mobilizing to calm the public, insisting that it is extremely unlikely an extraterrestrial visitor traveling for hundreds or thousands of years will have come to invade Earth.
The action
Long before Anduru’s arrival, Col. Landis and Dr. McKenzie are drawn into the inner circle of those in the White House who are planning the American response to the visitor. And the are on the front lines when it comes time for the first encounter with extraterrestrial life by the human race.
September 23, 2023
One of the better First Contact (FC) books I have read in a long time. Not quite on par with Sagan’s Contact but pretty close. My reasons why:
1. The science not only feels credible but Cawdron takes the time to put the more complicated elements into layman’s term, using day-to-day examples to make connections for the reader.
2. A real unique take on First Contact. The crux of the story focusing on the alien craft and how it traverses space in its attempts to reach Earth. Additionally, the intentions and purpose for contact by the otherworldly beings were not only fresh takes but real interesting.
3. Unlike most FC stories where the central characters are astrophysicists, astronomers and other scientists of that ilk, the central characters (granted one of the central characters is one of these) are individuals in the U.S. government, led by the President. Cawdron paints her as a determined and fierce leader.
4. I’ve read my share of books whereby the conclusion doesn’t live up to the build-up. In WSMF, I can honestly say that the concluding chapters were some of the most interesting ones. Very solid.
5. I questioned the title of this book for most of it but got my answer in the concluding chapters. It is a perfect metaphor as to the intentions and purpose of these beings. Well done Peter!
Nitpicking a bit but stopped short of giving it a full 5 stars only because the few sidebar stories weren’t nearly as interesting as the core of the book. Also, aside from the President and the Astrophysicist, Kath, the remaining cast of characters were a bit ho-hum.
4 bright, shining stars for Wherever Seeds May Fall.
1. The science not only feels credible but Cawdron takes the time to put the more complicated elements into layman’s term, using day-to-day examples to make connections for the reader.
2. A real unique take on First Contact. The crux of the story focusing on the alien craft and how it traverses space in its attempts to reach Earth. Additionally, the intentions and purpose for contact by the otherworldly beings were not only fresh takes but real interesting.
3. Unlike most FC stories where the central characters are astrophysicists, astronomers and other scientists of that ilk, the central characters (granted one of the central characters is one of these) are individuals in the U.S. government, led by the President. Cawdron paints her as a determined and fierce leader.
4. I’ve read my share of books whereby the conclusion doesn’t live up to the build-up. In WSMF, I can honestly say that the concluding chapters were some of the most interesting ones. Very solid.
5. I questioned the title of this book for most of it but got my answer in the concluding chapters. It is a perfect metaphor as to the intentions and purpose of these beings. Well done Peter!
Nitpicking a bit but stopped short of giving it a full 5 stars only because the few sidebar stories weren’t nearly as interesting as the core of the book. Also, aside from the President and the Astrophysicist, Kath, the remaining cast of characters were a bit ho-hum.
4 bright, shining stars for Wherever Seeds May Fall.
March 17, 2023
Cawdron takes a realistic look at how the United States and the world at large would deal with an extraterrestrial contact. The book started a little slow, but once I finished the first few chapters I couldn't put it down. If you're interested in speculative fiction then you'll love this one.
February 9, 2021
One of the best one I've read so far
I was stunned by the insights in this book! Not only about the current number of people that believe in hoaxes but also the speed at which they spread. It also shows how a single vlogist can have an enormous following to whom he feeds those hoaxes and controversy. I have read a few of Mr Cawdron's books and I will now try to read them all.
I was stunned by the insights in this book! Not only about the current number of people that believe in hoaxes but also the speed at which they spread. It also shows how a single vlogist can have an enormous following to whom he feeds those hoaxes and controversy. I have read a few of Mr Cawdron's books and I will now try to read them all.
January 28, 2021
Absolutely incredible
This book had me hooked from the very start. I finished it in just 2 days even with a baby running around. Every time I thought I had it figured out I was thrown for a new loop. Cannot wait for the sequel!
This book had me hooked from the very start. I finished it in just 2 days even with a baby running around. Every time I thought I had it figured out I was thrown for a new loop. Cannot wait for the sequel!
January 23, 2021
Another excellent sci-fi novel by Peter Crawdon
Plausible and different Plot! The characters are well developed and likeable.Even Andy! I found myself at the edge of my seat at a certain point in this book!
Plausible and different Plot! The characters are well developed and likeable.Even Andy! I found myself at the edge of my seat at a certain point in this book!
March 27, 2021
This book was not very well written. Disconnected story lines. Very derivative (Dark Forest anyone?). Spent a lot of time building up different story lines only to have no real climax, if finished at all. Once all the extraneous junk is cleared away there is about enough content for a short story here, maybe.
I was so dissatisfied with this that I read the first book of the series, just to see what it was like. The first book has all the same story beats as this one. Everyman guy paired with a woman scientist, oh look we are too close to the problem and are making misleading assumptions, fake news bad, and lets steal the idea from "Contact" and some imagery from the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" this time. However, that first book is better written and has a more coherent story than this one.
Granted I only have the 2 data points, but it seems like this guy just has the same formula he keeps spitting out, and is getting tired of writing it. This book feels very much like he is just skipping over things because he's followed the same pattern too many times and can no longer be bothered.
Seeds does get an extra star because at least its not full of atrocious grammar and misspellings.
I was so dissatisfied with this that I read the first book of the series, just to see what it was like. The first book has all the same story beats as this one. Everyman guy paired with a woman scientist, oh look we are too close to the problem and are making misleading assumptions, fake news bad, and lets steal the idea from "Contact" and some imagery from the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" this time. However, that first book is better written and has a more coherent story than this one.
Granted I only have the 2 data points, but it seems like this guy just has the same formula he keeps spitting out, and is getting tired of writing it. This book feels very much like he is just skipping over things because he's followed the same pattern too many times and can no longer be bothered.
Seeds does get an extra star because at least its not full of atrocious grammar and misspellings.
January 27, 2022
I read sci-fi to explore alternative worlds, not to think about the ongoing pandemic, conspiracy theorists, or fake news.
Wherever Seeds May Fall can barely be considered sci-fi. It's set in current day and the majority focuses on the human/sociopolitical aspects of a foreign object arriving from the stars. So much so that
It almost feels like the book is in a parallel universe to Don't Look Up
Also, Cawdron over-uses the phrase hung his/her/their head
Wherever Seeds May Fall can barely be considered sci-fi. It's set in current day and the majority focuses on the human/sociopolitical aspects of a foreign object arriving from the stars. So much so that
It almost feels like the book is in a parallel universe to Don't Look Up
Also, Cawdron over-uses the phrase hung his/her/their head
January 29, 2021
Excellent. Enjoyable from page 1. Great ending. Peter has outdone himself with another unique "first contact" novel. Takes place in the very near future. Very intriguing characters that interact on many levels. Read like a movie, very cinematic. I have enjoyed many of Peter's books and this is one of the best. If you haven't read his work, you can start here. Be warned you'll want to read all of them.
September 6, 2023
Fünf Sterne, ohne Frage! Dieser Autor begeistert mich. Auch der Vorleser, Gerd Köster, ist große Klasse. Ich hoffe inständig, dass von Peter Cawdron noch viele Bücher übersetzt werden. Vielleicht schreibe ich später noch was zum Inhalt, derzeit würde meine Rezension zu euphorisch ausfallen und nicht seriös genug wirken. Ich kann nur jedem, der das Gerne der SF auch nur entfernt liebt, dringend die Lektüre von Peter Cawdron empfehlen!
LESEN!
LESEN!
July 8, 2021
I was hoping for more time spent on the aliens, but most of this is devoted to the logistics of humanity responding to a complete unknown. It’s also a bit heavy on stereotypes, and the recurring theme of science denialism comes across as preaching rather than as a natural part of the story. It’s still a fun story, and I do like the direction it ultimately took regarding the aliens.
August 11, 2022
A really great first contact SciFi that has an incredible ending! One that truly makes you think: “what it would be like”.
November 30, 2022
This was great, I saw the whole thing in my head as an American film. Will definitely be reading the others.
April 18, 2021
I really do not have time for this!
I’m about to embark on a heavy-duty second-stage rewrite of my third “Archon Sequence” novel, Triploidy. I’m behind on my homework for the “How to Launch Your Next Book” webcourse I’m enrolled in. I’ve got to do a ground-up reconstruction of my author website (www.billdesmedt.com). I may be called upon at any moment to contribute some ontology-building expertise to fellow AI practitioner Walid Saba’s Ontologik.ai startup. And to top it all off, I’m trying to help out some dear friends whose son has landed himself in a boatload of trouble.
In a nutshell, my plate is full to overflowing. “Swamped” doesn’t even begin to describe it!
Regardless, after staying up half the night to finish it, I really felt compelled to sit down and write this review of Peter Cawdron’s new book, Wherever Seeds May Fall. It’s the latest (January 2021) in Peter’s “First Contact” series — now numbering fifteen books in all, unrelated to one another, save through the unifying theme spelled out in the group title. I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few of them over the past couple of years. They’re all of them good, each in its own way, but —
Wherever Seeds May Fall is the first one to totally knock my socks off!
My good friend science fiction writer David Brin spells out (in Vivid Tomorrows, his latest compendium of SF book and movie reviews) the concept of an “idiot plot”* — which is any work of fiction where the sole factor propelling the action forward is that everyone involved in it is an idiot.
I raise this only to assert, by way of contrast, that Wherever Seeds May Fall is the polar opposite of an idiot plot. So antithetical is it, in fact, that I suspect if you were to bring WSMF into close proximity with any idiot-plotted book,** the two would mutually annihilate!
Because everyone populating this painstakingly researched read — from the most unassuming Latino fisherman, through the serried ranks of NASA and the military, to the leadership of the US and (amazingly!) China — is depicted as being competent and resourceful, committed to doing the right thing as best they can see what that right thing might be, based on the science.
Peter even goes so far as to extend the ambit of his presumption of rationality and conscientiousness to embrace his Rush Limbaugh surrogate — who winds up providing some useful tips on how best to counter disinformation and conspiracy theories that real scientists might do well to take note of. (Note to Mr. Cawdron: it would have been nice to have Andy sitting next to his daughter at the end of the third row by the fire exit in the final scene.)
As to the plot, all I can say (spoiler-free) is that it ratchets up the suspense relentlessly, from a suburban living room to lunar orbit, and to a First Contact denouement the likes of which I had never encountered before — and offers a plausible, if disquieting, solution to the infamous Fermi Paradox*** into the bargain!
My only (minor) quibble with WSMF is that it gets the cause of the 1908 Tunguska Event all wrong. As readers of my first novel Singularity know full well, the culprit wasn’t an atmosphere-grazing asteroid, but rather the primordial black hole Vurdalak. :)
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* The term, I believe, derives from Damon Knight’s gloss on the old derogation for a shovel as an “idiot stick” — namely, “a stick with a heap of dirt on one end and an idiot on the other.”
** see David’s above-cited collection for more horrible examples than you can shake a stick at.
*** a.k.a. “Where is everybody?” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_p....
September 28, 2021
What would happen if aliens showed up one day, Independence Day style? I dig the idea of someone seriously considering how humanity would react, how politicians and fishermen and nations would respond. It’s really hard for me to not love this whole concept so much that I gush all over the place about it.
Cause this book is pretty well done. It’s paced like a thriller, and tries to take the ideas presented as seriously as possible. The mystery is interesting, and I’m invested enough that I found it hard to put down.
Also, I found it somewhat awkwardly written in places. Like below, when one of the two main characters is being introduced early in the book:
Although there is nothing technically wrong with that, I personally found it a struggle to read prose written that way. It’s just a choice in introducing a character that I’d rather the author not have chosen.
But, it’s not significantly different than many other novels I’ve read before. It isn’t bad, it just frustrates me a bit is all. Chalk it up to personal taste on my part. When this happens in the book, I don’t know if it’s supposed to reveal she is exhausted, is trying to be erotic, or simply getting clean. There isn’t context, and I’m getting a list of observations about a character without context. All of that comes later in the scene, but not when those words appear on the page.
In a similar way, dialog feels a bit odd to me as well. As does the behavior of the human antagonist (an Alex Jones type) that, well, manages to win over the Q-Anon types so easily to the side of science (after his own conversion on a livestream) that it reminds me of reading those religious comics where some Christian manages to upend a college professor by pointing out evolution is a lie and Jesus is the answer to all his questions.
Same sort of dialog, Just going the other way.
Again, it’s like wish fulfillment I suspect, as I’m pretty sure it’s an unrealistic view of how someone like Alex Jones would react to “facts” about aliens. I just read a story this morning about some old man cussing out healthcare workers while he died because Covid-19 was fake news and he wasn’t even sick. You can’t overstate how delusional a significant percentage of the U.S. Populace is at the moment (or maybe always has been).
Similarly, the political intrigue that shows up briefly in the book before disappearing, the slap-dash plan to explore the alien vessel… it all struck me as just a few notches off-center. Almost what I was looking for, but not quite. Sort of a narrative uncanny valley that left me a bit sour.
But, like The Polar Express movie, it might make me uncomfortable in that it’s not right. I still enjoyed it. The author mentioned this is one in a series of novels surrounding first contact scenarios. So… wow. I think there were the better part of 20 installments to date. That’s insane to me. Kudos to him.
Cause this book is pretty well done. It’s paced like a thriller, and tries to take the ideas presented as seriously as possible. The mystery is interesting, and I’m invested enough that I found it hard to put down.
Also, I found it somewhat awkwardly written in places. Like below, when one of the two main characters is being introduced early in the book:
”She lowers herself slowly, holding on to the rim of the tub and easing into the water. Bubbles rise from the scented bath bomb resting at the bottom of the tub. A candle flickers in the low light. The water level rises around her. Finally, she’s resting on the bottom of the tub with her arms draped over the edge.”
Although there is nothing technically wrong with that, I personally found it a struggle to read prose written that way. It’s just a choice in introducing a character that I’d rather the author not have chosen.
But, it’s not significantly different than many other novels I’ve read before. It isn’t bad, it just frustrates me a bit is all. Chalk it up to personal taste on my part. When this happens in the book, I don’t know if it’s supposed to reveal she is exhausted, is trying to be erotic, or simply getting clean. There isn’t context, and I’m getting a list of observations about a character without context. All of that comes later in the scene, but not when those words appear on the page.
In a similar way, dialog feels a bit odd to me as well. As does the behavior of the human antagonist (an Alex Jones type) that, well, manages to win over the Q-Anon types so easily to the side of science (after his own conversion on a livestream) that it reminds me of reading those religious comics where some Christian manages to upend a college professor by pointing out evolution is a lie and Jesus is the answer to all his questions.
Same sort of dialog, Just going the other way.
Again, it’s like wish fulfillment I suspect, as I’m pretty sure it’s an unrealistic view of how someone like Alex Jones would react to “facts” about aliens. I just read a story this morning about some old man cussing out healthcare workers while he died because Covid-19 was fake news and he wasn’t even sick. You can’t overstate how delusional a significant percentage of the U.S. Populace is at the moment (or maybe always has been).
Similarly, the political intrigue that shows up briefly in the book before disappearing, the slap-dash plan to explore the alien vessel… it all struck me as just a few notches off-center. Almost what I was looking for, but not quite. Sort of a narrative uncanny valley that left me a bit sour.
But, like The Polar Express movie, it might make me uncomfortable in that it’s not right. I still enjoyed it. The author mentioned this is one in a series of novels surrounding first contact scenarios. So… wow. I think there were the better part of 20 installments to date. That’s insane to me. Kudos to him.
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