Goodreads – Book review – God’s Bolt

Posted on by Opher

Book review: God’s Bolt, by Ron Forsythe

When a novel begins with the total destruction of Earth and everyone on it … where do you go from there?

In God’s Bolt, Ron Forsythe goes to the only survivor: scientist Helen Southcote. Alone on a United Nations sponsored space station, she has to witness the asteroid impact that destroys the world, and live with the knowledge that she’s the only survivor.

She doesn’t handle it well.

Helen’s only companion is an Artificial Intelligence running the station that she doesn’t really like, and her only comfort the knowledge that the search for intelligence elsewhere, her life’s obsession, was successful: There is life out in the rest of the galaxy. Unfortunately, it’s so far away that it’s no hope of rescue, and unlikely to even know of the Earth’s destruction.

God’s Bolt by [Ron Forsythe]

https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Bolt-Ron-…

For the rest of the novel Forsythe flashes back to Helen’s life, the creation of the space station’s A.I., and the discovery of the massive asteroid that sneaks up on Earth, along with efforts to divert it. At the same time we follow Helen’s recovery from despair. She’s seen her friends and family all die, and is now stranded on a space station that can never land. The best she can hope for is to survive, alone, and watch the world burn beneath her.

Not the most upbeat life in the world. Still, God’s Bolt is fascinating in the same way so many disaster stories are, even if the “Who will live?” question seems settled right from the beginning. The writing can be repetitive at times, especially when it comes to Helen’s breakdown and the fight against the asteroid–I couldn’t help thinking it wasn’t necessary to say it was huge so many times, for instance. But it was an interesting, optimistic, look at what the world could be in a century and a half or so. Interesting enough that I was sad to see it go!

Helen is the main viewpoint character in God’s Bolt, and I found her well rounded, especially as we get to follow her through her life and dedication to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. That’s a subject I assumed was an unnecessary side story, but just about everything is tied up at the end.

I also found the efforts to stop the disaster, complete with infighting in the world’s government and the rise of a doomsday cult, to be fascinating, even knowing their efforts would ultimately fail. All in all a fun read, or at least as fun as planetary Armageddon can be.

By the way, improbably … there’s a sequel.

God’s Bolt – The end of the world

Posted on by Opher

I wrote this novel to create a setting for my lone character. I wove in Sagan, aliens, AI, global politics and interstellar travel into an intriguing tale. It started at the end and worked towards a new beginning.

God’s Bolt: Amazon.co.uk: Forsythe, Ron: 9781092713597: Books

Here’s an extract:

Chapter 2

Carl Sagan – 1934 – 1996

I don’t know why I became a scientist. It could have been down to my parents. Yes, I think I’ll blame them.

I was born in Brooklyn in 1934. We were a poor Jewish family hustling a living like everybody else. My father had come in as an immigrant from what is now Ukraine and he was full of all that immigrant energy. He was a good man who worked hard and had a joy of life. He ran a garment factory. He wasn’t a religious man but he saw the wonder in everything and was bursting with benevolence. He did not know what science was but he encouraged me to be inquisitive and question everything. I think that was his greatest gift to me.

My mother was born in Brooklyn and was religious. Her life seemed to centre on the synagogue. She came from a very poor family and I think she’d seen too much of hard times. Life had dealt her hard blows and she was frustrated by it all. She had a mind on her but never had the chance to make anything of herself. She was held back by poverty, a lack of education, her gender and her faith. Back then Jewish girls were not expected to do anything other than bring up kids and look after the home and husband. But she doted on me. I think she put all her ambitions onto me. She was very analytical and taught me how to investigate and delve into the detail. That was her gift.

I suppose I married those two gifts together. It made me inquisitive and hungry to discover more. It made me look up in wonder and try to work out what it all meant.

From an early age I was always asking questions.

Brooklyn was a great place to grow up. It was a bustling hub of life. It wasn’t ideal for developing a career in science though. I guess I didn’t think about that too much when I was a child.

I’d play out in the streets with my friends but my Mum did rather cosset me. She spent hours encouraging me to think and do my school work. I was an extension of her dreams.

Sam, my Dad, would take me out with him to the garment factory and show me off to his friends. He was proud of me. My inquisitiveness bemused him but he loved it. He’d laugh at me and there was love in his eyes.

The streets back then were bustling with people. There were shops and street stalls selling everything you could think of and I like that bustle, weaving in and out of the crowds gripping on to Dad’s great paw of a hand. I’d look up and there, between the tall buildings, I could see the sky.

I was only five years old when I had my first epiphany. My parents took me to the World’s Fair. It nearly blew my eyes out of my head and sent my mind into overdrive. It was like I had woken up in a different world.

I was never quite the same.

The first thing that sent my mind whirling was an exhibition of the future. It was crazy – all super clean and modern with huge highways and families driving along in futuristic cars towards cities with gleaming skyscrapers. It looked a million miles from the bustling streets of Brooklyn with its dirty bricks, and all those street vendors with their wooden carts and litter. I wanted to see that world of the future. I wanted to be part of it.

I could imagine it. I could look into the future and see that incredible world that science was going to construct.

Then, with my head still reeling I was taken to the science exhibitions. They shone a light on this cell and it made noises. They made a noise with a tuning fork and it became a wavy line on this screen. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to understand how light could become noise and how sound became light. I was thrilling with the excitement of it. My five year old brain was trying to make sense of all these wonders.

The most exciting thing of all was the Time Capsule. We went out to Flushing Meadows to see it being buried. It was a big container and they’d filled it with all these things from our age, everything that told a story about us, and buried it deep in the ground. It was like a snapshot of our world and it would sit there buried in the ground for hundreds of years. In my head I could imagine spacemen from some future world thousands of years in the future digging it up and finding out all about us.

God’s Bolt – Extract – Sci-fi with a difference

Posted on by Opher

Helen is alone on the space station having witnessed the world destroyed by an asteroid, trying to come to terms with the realisation that she is the lone survivor.

God’s Bolt: Amazon.co.uk: Forsythe, Ron: 9781092713597: Books

Year 2178 – Impact day plus 1

I was in shock. My brain was not functioning. That hurricane of searing thought had ripped my mind to shreds. It had left me hollow, burnt out. I was empty. The inner storm had reamed me out. I was an empty shell. I simply could not take in what I had just witnessed. It could not possibly be real. It was all gone. In a few seconds everyone I had ever loved, everything I had known was gone. I was left here all alone. I would never see anyone again. I was on my own.

How could that possibly be?

It was not possible. I could not react to it because it could not be happening.

Somehow I wanted to rewind. I wanted it to be like it had been.

My rational mind had watched the spectacle take place.  Some more primitive part of me did not believe it. I knew that it was not real. If I activated the communicator I would find the truculent voice of Brad Noone at the other end. I’d share some sweet talk with Happiness Ntobe and swap jibes with Neil and Janice. They were all still sitting in that control centre just like they’d been when I last saw them, just like they always were. My parents were still in our home in Sussex. It was surrounded with green trees. If I called they’d welcome me in and hug me. My brothers and their families were still there in their homes with their families. They would tag me in a minute just to check in. They did that. They liked to rib their little sister and make sure she didn’t get too cocky up there in space. The rainforests were still there. All those animals that had been nurtured so carefully. All those conservation projects. They couldn’t have all disappeared. Everything was just the same. It had to be. How could it possibly be gone?

I was trapped in this unreality, this fantasy that was whirring round in my head on a loop, carefully avoiding the reality of what had happened, not daring to touch the raw ends of the truth. Because if I just touched that, those things too terrible to think about, it would unleash that fury in my head again. It would release that monster and it would eat me up alive. I could not allow that to happen. I could not. I refused to accept it.

It could not possibly have gone. All I had to do was activate the communicator. They would answer just like they always did. It always worked. If I picked up the communicator we would connect and it would be just like it always was.

But I did not activate the communicator.

I don’t know what happened to time. From the moment that first impact had hit, it had all gone weird. The whole world around me had faded away. I was in some kind of bubble. It was a dream. That hurricane of fire in my head was not real either.

I could not think. My mind refused to work.

I kept reliving that impact in my head. It was like I was putting it in a microscope to examine it in detail. The great crimson gouge. The livid orange. The great splash of magma. The huge spume of livid flame that had engulfed the planet. I think I was trying to relive it so that it worked out differently. I wanted those missiles to nullify that menace. I wanted it to be just how they had assured me it would be. But every time I played it through in my head it was always the same. That great shudder. That silent explosion. The roar in the communicator and then nothing. Always the same.

But it had to be different.

I stared for hours at the billowing orange clouds. The Earth used to be green. This couldn’t be the Earth. This could surely not be the Earth. How was it possible? I think I was waiting for those livid clouds of superheated ash to settle and the clouds to part to reveal the Earth as it had been.

A part of me knew that was never going to happen. But I refused to accept it.

I ached. I ached in my arms and my upper body. My guts ached. It was liked I had been punched, used for a punch bag. It was the tension. I was screwing myself up. But I could not relax. My muscles were screwed into knots.

I wanted scream. I could not help prodding the monster in its lair. I could not. I could feel it all building up inside like an inner shriek that had no voice. It was tearing around in my head but could not find the exit, could not get out, whirling like a cyclone. I could not think. It was eating me alive. I was being ripped apart in a cacophony of disbelief, fury and outrage.

WHY ME!!! WHY FUCKING ME!!! Out of 4 billion human beings why was I the only one stuck on this fucking station? All alone. Why did I have to witness that? WHY ME?? All the people I knew – DEAD!! Everything I loved! EVERYTHING!! Why couldn’t I have been consumed in that fire along with all the rest??

The silent shouting in my head was building into a cacophony.

Eunice was prattling on at me. She was chiding me. I was not following my routine. I wasn’t eating. I wasn’t drinking. I wasn’t sleeping. My stats were all over the place. But I didn’t really hear her. Her words just washed over me. Stupid machine!  I didn’t want any fucking machine!! How did a lump of metal know anything? I wanted Jomo to take me in his arms and tell me it wasn’t real that it had never happened.

Every now and again I would calm down and try to rationalise it.

That first impact had done it. It was too big for anything to survive. I knew that.

The livid orange clouds had already covered the whole face of the planet when the other four huge meteorites had struck. Each one blowing another huge explosion up through the boiling atmosphere, flinging fresh magma skywards from the core of the planet, smashing tectonic plates, gouging out massive craters, unleashing flowing sheets of lava, flinging yet more ash into the seething atmosphere, unleashing vast heat to add to the devastating power.

Each one was probably sufficient to do the job. Five was overkill.

All the time that monster was raging in my head – just out of reach, subdued, held back but threatening to break through again and tear me to shreds. I was using all my strength to hold it back. It would just take one little thing for it to break through again. I was alone. I WAS FUCKING ALONE FOREVER!!

God’s Bolt – Paperback – A Sci-fi novel with a difference

Posted on by Opher

In this little extract Helen, alone on the space station is witnessing the end of the Earth with the realisation that she is completely alone – the last human being.

I wanted to write a novel that started at the end and only had one character. This was the scenario I conceived. It was a challenge.

God’s Bolt: Amazon.co.uk: Forsythe, Ron: 9781092713597: Books

Extract

I forced myself not to give in to hysteria. Once I’d started down that road there was no telling where it would end. But once those thoughts were born they could not be unborn. I kept feeling what it was like for a wall of searing heat to vaporise a human being. That is what had happened 4 billion times.

Despite the logic of my own eyes I kept imagining that somewhere down there, perhaps in a submarine at depth, someone would have survived. But I knew that was impossible. The thin crust of the world had been fractured into a million pieces. The tectonic plates would have been ripped apart. I knew the science. I’d seen the magnitude of the impact. The magma was flowing freely, the oceans boiled. Nothing could have survived – at least no life of any sophisticated nature. I had no doubt that the extremophiles, the bacteria and algae adapted to extreme temperatures of volcanoes and underwater vents, would survive. In a billion years or so perhaps the planet would be green again and a new range of organisms would call the planet home. But what good was that to me?

Strangely I did not feel like screaming like they do in the tridee movies, though I thought that maybe I should. No tears came to my eyes, no swearwords to my lips. It was beyond all that. I was completely numb.

I think I spent hours, days, in a stupor just staring down at the raging planet and not registering a single thought. I did not eat or drink and not even Eunice’s chiding registered with me. My universe had been blown apart. Everything I loved was gone. I could not take it in. Somehow, despite the obviousness of the possibilities, I had not prepared myself for this. It was too big, too enormous. I still refused to believe it. Perhaps it would all settle down and be OK?

I was outwardly calm, though the inside of my head was raging as it futilely tried to absorb the facts. It was gone. The whole Earth was gone. They were all gone. I would never see anyone again – not anybody. I would never see green fields or blue skies ever again. I was on my own. I would spend the rest of my days in this Space Station, this cage, this hell. I would never see Mum and Dad, or Joe and Richard. They had been burnt alive, seared to a crisp. Everything was just ash. My friends and lovers were gone. They were seared with fire. Seared to cinders. Everything was destroyed, smashed, broken, burnt, consumed, swamped with magma, broken apart. There was nothing to heal. I was on my own. I was on my own. I was on my own. For the rest of my days I was stuck in this prison. I would never breathe proper air. I would never walk on the Earth’s soil. The silly thought came into my head and tore at me – my dog was gone. All dogs were gone. All animals were gone. They were flecks of heated ash in a hurricane of fire. Nothing could have survived. I was on my own.

My head was roaring like the atmosphere on Earth. My mind was raging like that hurricane on Earth. It was eating me up.

I think I was trying to shock myself into reacting, to feeling something. But the feelings would not come.

I stood mindlessly staring out at the ball of fire below me and that ball of fire was in my head. What it was doing to the planet it was doing to me – eating me alive. That naked molten lava was in my head burning my brains. It was agony. Those hurricanes of fire were burning up my thoughts, whirling them into raging whirlwinds of scattered meaningless thoughts. My sanity was whirling, spinning, tearing itself apart. It was a monster. It was something out of my worst nightmare but thousands of times worse!

It was all pointless, all hopeless. I could not face it. I could not face the future. I did not want to be alive. They were all gone. Why me?? WHY ME!!! I FUCKING DID NOT WANT TO BE ALIVE!! I WANTED TO BE WITH THEM!!!! I WANTED TO BE WITH JOMO!!!!

God’s Bolt – extract and audio book

Posted on by Opher

I had a bit of fun yesterday. Kindle Publishing offered me the opportunity to turn a number of my books into audio books using AI. It was really simple. I had the choice of a number of voices – none of which sounded at all like me – and then clicked the button. Lo and behold a voice began reading my book. I was intrigued. Could the voice pick up the inflexion and nuance? What about words I had invented? How would they be pronounced?

It was a strange experience to hear my words being spoken aloud.

Anyway, it’s probably a mistake. I shall take them down at some point, but I am still intrigued. I shall find a quiet period and sit and listen to one of my books being read to me. If nothing else it’ll give me far greater objectivity.

From what I can see the audio books have not linked up to my UK Amazon but they are on the USA site. Not sure why that is? Maybe it takes a little time to hook up? Anyway, I don’t suppose it matters too much downloading works from anywhere.

Maybe you’re as intrigued as me?

Amazon.com : Ron Forsythe

Extract from God’s Bolt

After an eternity, the twilight horizon crept over the edge of the planet and the coast of the United States of America crept into view. Despite the mass evacuations it was still lit up like a giant funfair. The sight of it sent chills through me. I could imagine the scenes in the cities below me. I’d seen the news reports. It was pandemonium. Impact was centred right over the Eastern seaboard. One of the most populated places on earth. I know they’d moved most people out but it still did not bear thinking about.  I could imagine the huge throngs of superstitious religious lunatics – those who had called the event God’s Bolt and believed this asteroid was an act of God, sent to punish us for the sins of humanity – gathered on the hilltops praying to God and exalting him to spare them. Part of me desperately hoped they would prevail even though my rational self ridiculed their foolishness and maliciously hoped a meteorite or two would land right among them and put an end to their nonsense.

Already the sky was lit up with a criss-crossing of orange streaks from the early vanguard of rocks liberated from the blasting of Chang’s Comet. They were harmlessly burning out in the heavens and putting on quite a display but one that was merely a precursor to the main show.

I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and it was nothing to do with the lack of gravity. I was a seasoned pro when it came to weightlessness. No – I knew the number of planet-busting rocks that were heading our way. Shortly we would see whether all the preparations had paid off. The closer it got the more anxious I was becoming. My head was full of doubts. I could sense the uncertainty that existed down there on Earth. If they were not convinced how could I be? I just hoped our depleted and unpractised military knew what they were doing and could neutralise the threat. Ironically I just hoped that the long decades of peace resulting in the run-down of all military weaponry had not completely emasculated them. My confidence was not super high. I knew we had very little left in the kitty to throw at the threat. I knew more than most of the magnitude of the operation; it was running more on hope than logic.

At 10.23 p.m. Eastern Time the main show began.

Amazon.com: God’s Bolt eBook : Forsythe, Ron: Kindle Store

God’s Bolt – A Sci-Fi classic.

Posted on by Opher

I was in conversation on line concerning drama. When you are writing a novel it is important to create drama and suspense in order to draw the reader into the story. A skilled writer creates character and drama. I was explaining how I had deliberately sabotaged the usual sequence of a novel by starting at the end. Throughout the book the reader knows the outcome. The challenge was to engage the reader in the suspense and intrigue despite them knowing the outcome.

This is that book. Only you can judge how successful I was.

God’s Bolt: Amazon.co.uk: Forsythe, Ron: 9781092713597: Books

Chapter 1 – The End and the Beginning

Year 2178 – Impact day

I have never felt so utterly alone. A raging storm of nausea was gnawing at my belly as I began my routine morning broadcast – except that there was nothing normal about this one.

‘Good morning everybody,’ I said cheerily, putting on my best smile. ‘This is Helen Southcote beaming down to you from the United Nations International Space Station.’

I was totally unsure of the wisdom of continuing these tridee broadcasts, particularly on such an auspicious day as this. Who on earth was tuned in? Surely they’d all be in a panic, desperately seeking safety for themselves and their loved ones. Nobody would be at all interested in any platitudes from me. But the powers that be, in the form of mission controller Brad Noone, had assured me that it was necessary. The psychologists thought that it might help to continue with normality and reduce panic. Who was I to argue? They’d provided me with a script. I suppressed my anger and upset. Put aside my personal feelings about what had happened to my friends. The show had to go on. I was doing it for the kids, I kept reminding myself – it was for the kids.

‘The earth sure looks beautiful spread out there below me.’ I showed them images of the planet below me with its green seas and swirling white clouds.

With a lot of trepidation, which I hoped did not show too much, I turned my attention to the subject that was foremost in everybody’s minds. ‘Preparations are well underway to deal with the remaining threat from Chang’s comet,’ I assured them. ‘Missiles are poised to destroy the largest incoming rocks but President Khun Mae Srisuk has urged everyone to either seek sanctuary in the prescribed shelters or to evacuate to designated regions of safety. There are bound to be some meteorites that will cause some collateral damage. Better to be safe than sorry.’

I offered them one of my best smiles. The cheery tones sounded so phoney to me.

‘This promises to be one of the most spectacular shows you’ll ever see,’ I promised them. Be reassuring I’d been instructed – be upbeat. Lie. Even the most optimistic reports were predicting widespread damage across the United States, Canada and into Russia. The earth was going to be bombarded with the biggest deluge of rocks in recent history. Chang’s comet was a monster and even broken up as it was, presented a real danger to the survival of the planet. They just had to hope that this time the scientists had got it right and every single major threat would be neutralised. It was a big ask. They had not managed such a brilliant job up to now. This last ditch effort was to target all the remaining large rocks and pulverise them in the upper atmosphere so that the remains would burn up on entry. If all went to plan it was certain to be the most amazing display. The worry was that if a single one of those chunks of rock was missed……………….……….. well that didn’t bear thinking about. ‘Make sure you watch from safety!’ I chastised them. There were always some thrill seekers who sought to put themselves in danger. ‘As for me, well I’ve got the best seat in the house, a real grandstand view. UNISS will be in exactly the right place to record the whole sequence of events and you can bet that I’ll be relaying it to you live as it happens!’

I then proceeded to give them a dull and boring update on the various experiments taking place, the weather, solar activity and conditions in space. Normality. That’s what I’d been instructed to do.

‘This is Helen Southcote signing off until tomorrow. Be safe! See you soon’

‘Good job!’ Brad Noone intoned in his dulcet tones after I’d shut down. That was high praise coming from him.

‘Yes, Good one Helen,’ Happiness Ntobe added more enthusiastically. There was an element of wonder in her voice. She found it hard to believe that I’d pulled off such a jaunty performance in the face of such a terrifying prospect. I didn’t need telling. The mood back at Mission Control was one of great trepidation. It was tinged with fear verging on terror. They knew the real picture of what was coming and their confidence was not exactly riding high. Their minds were fixed on their family and friends. But I was a seasoned professional at the age of 33. I’d learnt to control my emotions. I’d been broadcasting for eight years now. I was used to it.

The rest of the day was mine and it lasted an eternity. Time dragged. I immersed myself in the routine of the station. I had to check on the work of all my absent colleagues; looking in on the horticulture work of Jeff and Bander’s, the weird zero G chemistry of Lynn and Izabel’s as well as my own work. I saved Jomo and Remi’s lab until last. That was still too painful. It set me crying. Then I did a check of the station security. All the time I was doing my rounds I kept up a running commentary with Eunice, the station’s computer, and the guys at Mission Control – Brad, Neil, Janice and Happiness. I think they were doing the same as me – desperately trying to occupy themselves, to take their minds off what was shortly going to be happening, at least the human components were. Eunice was just a chunk of metal, plastic and electricity. She had no mind. I don’t think it worked for any of us though. No matter what I was doing I kept getting images of a huge rock battering into earth and the planet being smashed to smithereens. I wished I’d never seen those damn sensationalist media images. Stupid, irresponsible rubbish. President Khun Mae Srisuk should have put a stop to it. They never should have gone out.

In the afternoon I resorted to putting the music on as loud as I could in order to drown out my thoughts and did my exercise routine with even greater ferocity than usual. Even that didn’t help though. Nothing could rid my mind of those images that were clogging up my head.

After an eternity, the twilight horizon crept over the edge of the planet and the coast of the United States of America crept into view. Despite the mass evacuations it was still lit up like a giant funfair. The sight of it sent chills through me. I could imagine the scenes in the cities below me. I’d seen the news reports. It was pandemonium. Impact was centred right over the Eastern seaboard. One of the most populated places on earth. I know they’d moved most people out but it still did not bear thinking about.  I could imagine the huge throngs of superstitious religious lunatics – those who had called the event God’s Bolt and believed this asteroid was an act of God, sent to punish us for the sins of humanity – gathered on the hilltops praying to God and exalting him to spare them. Part of me desperately hoped they would prevail even though my rational self ridiculed their foolishness and maliciously hoped a meteorite or two would land right among them and put an end to their nonsense.

Already the sky was lit up with a criss-crossing of orange streaks from the early vanguard of rocks liberated from the blasting of Chang’s Comet. They were harmlessly burning out in the heavens and putting on quite a display but one that was merely a precursor to the main show.

God’s Bolt – Sci-Fi Classic

Posted on by Opher

Chapter 1 – The End and the Beginning

Year 2178 – Impact day

I have never felt so utterly alone. A raging storm of nausea was gnawing at my belly as I began my routine morning broadcast – except that there was nothing normal about this one.

‘Good morning everybody,’ I said cheerily, putting on my best smile. ‘This is Helen Southcote beaming down to you from the United Nations International Space Station.’

I was totally unsure of the wisdom of continuing these tridee broadcasts, particularly on such an auspicious day as this. Who on earth was tuned in? Surely they’d all be in a panic, desperately seeking safety for themselves and their loved ones. Nobody would be at all interested in any platitudes from me. But the powers that be, in the form of mission controller Brad Noone, had assured me that it was necessary. The psychologists thought that it might help to continue with normality and reduce panic. Who was I to argue? They’d provided me with a script. I suppressed my anger and upset. Put aside my personal feelings about what had happened to my friends. The show had to go on. I was doing it for the kids, I kept reminding myself – it was for the kids.

‘The earth sure looks beautiful spread out there below me.’ I showed them images of the planet below me with its green seas and swirling white clouds.

With a lot of trepidation, which I hoped did not show too much, I turned my attention to the subject that was foremost in everybody’s minds. ‘Preparations are well underway to deal with the remaining threat from Chang’s comet,’ I assured them. ‘Missiles are poised to destroy the largest incoming rocks but President Khun Mae Srisuk has urged everyone to either seek sanctuary in the prescribed shelters or to evacuate to designated regions of safety. There are bound to be some meteorites that will cause some collateral damage. Better to be safe than sorry.’

I offered them one of my best smiles. The cheery tones sounded so phoney to me.

‘This promises to be one of the most spectacular shows you’ll ever see,’ I promised them. Be reassuring I’d been instructed – be upbeat. Lie. Even the most optimistic reports were predicting widespread damage across the United States, Canada and into Russia. The earth was going to be bombarded with the biggest deluge of rocks in recent history. Chang’s comet was a monster and even broken up as it was, presented a real danger to the survival of the planet. They just had to hope that this time the scientists had got it right and every single major threat would be neutralised. It was a big ask. They had not managed such a brilliant job up to now. This last ditch effort was to target all the remaining large rocks and pulverise them in the upper atmosphere so that the remains would burn up on entry. If all went to plan it was certain to be the most amazing display. The worry was that if a single one of those chunks of rock was missed……………….……….. well that didn’t bear thinking about. ‘Make sure you watch from safety!’ I chastised them. There were always some thrill seekers who sought to put themselves in danger. ‘As for me, well I’ve got the best seat in the house, a real grandstand view. UNISS will be in exactly the right place to record the whole sequence of events and you can bet that I’ll be relaying it to you live as it happens!’

I then proceeded to give them a dull and boring update on the various experiments taking place, the weather, solar activity and conditions in space. Normality. That’s what I’d been instructed to do.

‘This is Helen Southcote signing off until tomorrow. Be safe! See you soon’

Amusing AI review of Ron Forsythe

Posted on by Opher

Ron Forsythe’s books are enthralling and written with clarity and power3. His most popular book is Neanderthal2. In his novel God’s Bolt, Forsythe begins with the total destruction of Earth and follows the story of the only survivor, scientist Helen Southcote145.

https://wordpress.com/view/ronforsytheauthor.wordpress.com

Goodreads – Book review – God’s Bolt

Posted on by Opher

book review: God’s Bolt, by Ron Forsythe

When a novel begins with the total destruction of Earth and everyone on it … where do you go from there?

In God’s Bolt, Ron Forsythe goes to the only survivor: scientist Helen Southcote. Alone on a United Nations sponsored space station, she has to witness the asteroid impact that destroys the world, and live with the knowledge that she’s the only survivor.

She doesn’t handle it well.

Helen’s only companion is an Artificial Intelligence running the station that she doesn’t really like, and her only comfort the knowledge that the search for intelligence elsewhere, her life’s obsession, was successful: There is life out in the rest of the galaxy. Unfortunately, it’s so far away that it’s no hope of rescue, and unlikely to even know of the Earth’s destruction.

God’s Bolt by [Ron Forsythe]

https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Bolt-Ron-…

For the rest of the novel Forsythe flashes back to Helen’s life, the creation of the space station’s A.I., and the discovery of the massive asteroid that sneaks up on Earth, along with efforts to divert it. At the same time we follow Helen’s recovery from despair. She’s seen her friends and family all die, and is now stranded on a space station that can never land. The best she can hope for is to survive, alone, and watch the world burn beneath her.

Not the most upbeat life in the world. Still, God’s Bolt is fascinating in the same way so many disaster stories are, even if the “Who will live?” question seems settled right from the beginning. The writing can be repetitive at times, especially when it comes to Helen’s breakdown and the fight against the asteroid–I couldn’t help thinking it wasn’t necessary to say it was huge so many times, for instance. But it was an interesting, optimistic, look at what the world could be in a century and a half or so. Interesting enough that I was sad to see it go!

Helen is the main viewpoint character in God’s Bolt, and I found her well rounded, especially as we get to follow her through her life and dedication to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. That’s a subject I assumed was an unnecessary side story, but just about everything is tied up at the end.

I also found the efforts to stop the disaster, complete with infighting in the world’s government and the rise of a doomsday cult, to be fascinating, even knowing their efforts would ultimately fail. All in all a fun read, or at least as fun as planetary Armageddon can be.

By the way, improbably … there’s a sequel.

AI on Ron Forsythe’s God’s Bolt

Posted on by Opher

“God’s Bolt” by Ron Forsythe is a gripping science fiction novel that explores the dramatic consequences of an asteroid impact on Earth. The story delves into the survival challenges faced by humanity, the scientific efforts to understand and mitigate the disaster, and the social and political upheavals that follow such a catastrophic event.

The book is known for its detailed scientific accuracy and compelling narrative, making it a favorite among sci-fi enthusiasts. Forsythe’s writing style combines suspense with thought-provoking scenarios, offering readers a thrilling yet intellectually stimulating experience.

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