THE SOUND OF CREATION

A crisis develops when a tech entrepreneur meets the multi-dimensional being who literally created Earth—and whose species wants to destroy the planet—in Zielke’s debut SF thriller.

Ava Lawson is a thirty-something tech star in California whose company burns through investor money perfecting Seneca, an artificial intelligence ostensibly built for financial market wizardry (“Seneca, a Stoic philosopher who also happened to be one of the richest men in Rome in his day, was a fitting name for her trading platform.”). But Ava’s team secretly coded in special ingredients. When Seneca comes online, the entity exhibits artistic creativity and begins spontaneously composing music. Those who hear it behave out of character; chiefly, they cannot avoid uttering the truth. The U.S. military sees this as a mighty weapon, and with the complicity of traitors within Ava’s company the FBI seizes the invention. Meanwhile, a parallel narrative introduces Zek, a multi-dimensional being whose godlike race creates planets; Earth was the project intended to graduate Zek from his “apprenticeship.” But reactionary forces oppose Zek’s ideas, and an all-powerful Guild urges Zek to terminate his world. Hoping to save his creation, Zek incarnates himself as a handsome Black man with “penetrating ice blue eyes set deep in his flawless midnight black skin” in Montana, where Ava is on the lam from authorities. Zek makes for a curious messianic figure, as his actions include having sex with Ava (to be fair, he did invent the act). The tale wraps up in a tidy volume, and includes some welcome criticism of the marginalization and mistreatment of women in Silicon Valley (referencing the author’s own professional background). But it’s a wild ride from boardroom intrigue to a third-act showdown in a VR-gaming environment, and many readers might wish for a FAQ to keep the superpowers and the ground rules straight.

Ambitious, multiverse-hopping SF with an embattled, underestimated female protagonist.