Algorithms: A Novel

by Sid Balman Jr.

Overview

This final novel in the acclaimed Seventh Flag Trilogy thrusts readers thirty years into the future—a dystopic reality of regional fiefdoms, marauding scavengers, and the quest for ultimate power: the Algorithms of everything, which have been secretly pilfered from an undersea Internet cable, stored on hard drives, and implanted in the last surviving blue whale.

Ademar Zarkan—the iconic and unlikely heroine of the American West, now a seventy-year-old woman—leads the Free People of West Texas in an alliance with Native Americans and the indigenous people of northern Mexico to retrieve the hard drives and to rescue her clairvoyant granddaughter from the radicalized Sisterhood and its merciless leader, Mother. But they aren’t the only ones in pursuit of the Algorithms.

Haunting and prophetic, Algorithms is a story of violent extremism, resilience, family, and, above all, the interconnectedness of humankind and the natural world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684632084
Publisher:	SparkPress
Publication date:	08/01/2023
Series:	Seventh Flag Trilogy , #3
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

A Pulitzer-nominated national security correspondent, Sid Balman Jr. has covered wars in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo, and has traveled extensively with two American presidents and four secretaries of state on overseas diplomatic missions. With the emergence of the web and the commoditizing of content, Balman moved into the business side of communications. In that role, over two decades, he helped found a news syndicate focused on the interests of women and girls, served as communications chief for the largest consortium of US international development organizations, led two successful progressive campaigning companies, and launched a new division at a large international development firm centered on violent radicalism and other security issues on behalf of governments and nonprofits. A fourth-generation Texan, as well as a climber, surfer, paddler, and benefactor to Smith College, Balman splits his time between West Texas and Washington DC with his three kids and two dogs.

Editorial Reviews

Breathless pacing and larger-than-life characters recall Western gunslinger dime novels and pulps of yesteryear mixed with some hot sex. . . . An engaging, action-filled tale of future savagery countered by an alliance of liberty lovers.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Big questions, grand themes, and prophetic warnings: all these characterize Algorithms. Another first-rate novel by Sid Balman Jr.”
—Robert Zorn, award-winning author of Cemetery John: The Undiscovered Mastermind of the Lindbergh Kidnapping

“The third installment in the Seventh Flag Trilogy, Algorithms, perfectly combines the excitement of a post-apocalyptic thriller with a poignant coming-of-age story featuring an engaging heroine facing a very different ‘American Dream.’ Indeed, a page-turner . . . an important read for any citizen concerned about the reality of where our culture wars and politics are taking American society.”
—Laura Payne, Dean, Jimmy D. Case College of Literature, Arts, and Social Sciences Sul Ross State University

“In Algorithms, Balman paints a vivid picture of an all-too-believable—and terrifying—future: a post-apocalyptic Western that is equal parts Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry. Fans of . . . the Seventh Flag Trilogy—will enjoy this satisfying and entirely unexpected conclusion to the series. His research with the resilient indigenous people of Mexico and North America . . . lends an authenticity to what may be his main point: the survival of humankind rests on its indelible link with nature. In his vivid, descriptive prose, Balman captures the unique beauty of far West Texas as only one who has lived there could.”
—Jill Gibson, editor of National Security Science magazine

“Sid Balman’s Algorithms is a thrilling climax to his cross-generational West Texas saga. In the dystopian future, his tale of a technological and societal collapse is stunning, and—unfortunately—not implausible. The resilience of his heroes and the natural communities gives me some hope for our current times.”
—Chris Wolz, CEO of Forum One

“Orwellian in scope and rendered in Balman’s unique style, Algorithms balances a thrilling plot with deeper themes of resilience and universality. Balman is at his obsecrate best, weaving dire portents into a novel full of hardship, hope, and natural beauty. Algorithms is a captivating and fitting ending to the Seventh Flag Trilogy, sure to delight literary readers and dystopian fiction fans alike.”
—James Wade, Spur Award–winning author of Beasts of the Earth

From the Publisher

2023-03-23
In this dystopian trilogy finale, a freedom-loving Texas community perseveres through an anarchic future when two dynasties unite to save a granddaughter from a vicious group that seeks total power.

Balman’s saga chronicles a community of intermarried clans in West Texas that embody American ideals of rugged individualism, democracy, grit, and fairness even as the United States crumbles. The Laws are entrepreneurs who bought a valuable freshwater aquifer, creating their own sustainable enclave and hunting grounds. The Zarkans are descended from an Arab immigrant who assisted the U.S. Cavalry’s 1800s attempt to use camels. With allies such as the Lakota Sioux, Somali refugee Charlie Christmas, and Prometheus Stone, an Army Ranger and ordained rabbi, the two dynasties display the resilience and unity the rest of the nation lacks. But in the 2030s, the presidency goes to Nico Pompador, a hypocritical, Republican, fascist “buffoon” and a closeted bisexual. Pompador’s misrule climaxes with crises that even the conservative-controlled media cannot hush up: climate change; an earthquake/tsunami off the Pacific Northwest; diseases; wars waged by Russia, China, North Korea, and South Korea; and cryptocurrency-driven economic collapse. A world summit at the White House only produces a shootout and massacre. America disintegrates into regional fiefdoms, with the Free People of West Texas doing better than most. But then Arwen Laws, 13, is kidnapped by the Sisterhood, a bloodthirsty sect whose leader, “Mother,” is a once-abused Native American woman. Mother covets the teen’s telepathic bond with a blue whale who carries nuclear launch codes (it’s complicated). Breathless pacing and larger-than-life characters recall Western gunslinger dime novels and pulps of yesteryear mixed with some hot sex and SF touches, skirting surrealism and (maybe) satire, á la Terry Southern and Tom Robbins. The New Age–y philosophy underlying the premise is another matter, like the “Terra-Algorithm” (“antithesis of the digital algorithm that drove everything in the world”), a sort of Lucasfilm Force connecting all of nature and humanity, to which Arwen has access. Cynics may find more to grasp onto with the progressive Libertarian portrayal of the heroes, a multicultural team for whom God (or Allah), guts, and guns preserve a haven of tolerance, respect, justice, and mercy instead of perpetuating radicalism and oppression.

An engaging, action-filled tale of future savagery countered by an alliance of liberty lovers.

Kirkus Reviews