(CON)science: A Novel

by PJ Manney

Overview

PJ Manney concludes her visionary Philip K. Dick Award–nominated series of a world at war, a virtual search for identity, and the future of humanity.

Five years ago, bioengineer Peter Bernhardt spearheaded an innovation in nanotechnology that changed the course of evolution. Until everything was taken from him—his research, the people he loved, and finally his life. Uploaded as an artificial intelligence, Peter is alive again thanks to a critical reactivation by fellow AI Carter Potsdam.

But a third sentient computer program, Major Tom, is tearing the United States apart, destroying its leaders and its cities. Major Tom’s mission: rebuild a new America from the ruins and reign as uncontested monarch. Carter knows that only a revolutionary like Peter can reverse the damage to a country set on fire.

Caught in a virtual world between an alleged ally and an enemy, pieces of Peter’s former self remain: the need for vengeance, empathy for the subjugated people of a derelict world, and doubt in everything he’s been led to believe. To rescue what’s left, he’ll need to once again advance the notion of evolution and to expand the meaning of being human—by saving humanity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781503948501
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	04/27/2021
Series:	Phoenix Horizon Series , #3
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

PJ Manney is the author of the Phoenix Horizon trilogy: (CON)science, (ID)entity, and the Philip K. Dick Award nominee (R)evolution. A devotedly positive futurist, she was chairperson of the board of directors of Humanity+, an international nonprofit organization that advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capabilities. Manney has also been active in communications, public relations, and film production. To date, she has written numerous scripts for television pilots and has also worked on shows such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. She has lived as far afield as New York and New Zealand and loves delving into the cultural landscape of wherever she finds herself. When she’s not writing, she continues to expound on her perspective of a technology-driven posthumanity while encouraging hopeful visions of the future. She lives with her husband of thirty-one years and their two children. For more information, visit www.pjmanney.com.

Editorial Reviews

2021-05-28
In the conclusion of Manney’s SF trilogy, digital and cybernetic versions of a dead genius must unravel a civil war, widespread additional chaos, and threats to his loved ones.

Newcomers to this transhumanist/cyberpunk saga should know that familiarity with its backstory is a minimum system requirement. Protagonist Peter Bernhardt was a nanotech bioengineer whose inventions resulted in medical breakthroughs; he later fought against the Phoenix Club, an evil cabal full of rich, powerful members intent on societal control. The original Peter died, but he lives on in variant high-tech duplicates employing software, robotics, and biotech; some are afflicted with corrupted coding and possible false-memory implants. As “Thomas Paine,” he was a freedom-loving political revolutionary; as “Major Tom,” he’s a feared military AI fighting a new civil war that’s currently being won by the reactionary, feudalist Southern States of America, which has a slavery-based economy. Another version of Peter is peddled to the public as a sham religious messiah. The various offshoots of the original Peter unite and join with old allies aboard the warship Zumwalt to engage in decisive battle with Peter’s enemies, including his megalomaniacal ex–best friend, Carter Potsdam, and Phoenix Club elite Josiah Brant—who also both transcended mortality to become Artificial Human Intelligences. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is watching and waiting to turn the situation to its advantage. Can the assorted Peters trust anyone—even themselves? In the hands of a less skilled storyteller, this material might have turned into a static, formulaic cyberpunk chase in the vein of William Gibson’s 1984 genre classic Neuromancer. Manney, even when dealing with numerous fractured/remade personalities—and there are arguably far too many—keeps all the plates spinning and makes all her characters distinct individuals. She also manages repeated, virtuosic narrative flourishes along the way; for instance, if you thought Stanley Kubrick’s killing of HAL-9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey was the ultimate in machine-life death, think again. She also insinuates numerous cultural references, especially to pop music, in a particularly pleasing manner; a playlist follows the finale.

A complex but rewarding conclusion to a high-density cyber–SF tale.

Kirkus Reviews