SFRB Recommends 47: Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair #scifi #sfrom #romance

The universe isn’t what it used to be. With the new alliance between the Triad and the United Coalition, Captain Tasha “Sass” Sebastian finds herself serving under her former nemesis, bio-cybe Admiral Branden Kel-Paten—and doing her best to hide a deadly past. But when an injured mercenary falls into their ship’s hands, her efforts may be wasted …
Wanted rebel Jace Serafino has information that could expose all of Sass’s secrets, tear the fragile Alliance apart—and end Sass’s career if Kel-Paten discovers them. But the bio-cybe has something to hide as well, something once thought impossible for his kind to possess: feelings...for Sass. Soon it’s clear that their prisoner could bring down everything they once believed was worth dying for—and everything they now have to live for…

The strongest aspect of this book is its protagonists, who are classic foils to each other. Kel-Paten is collected, vulnerable, and self-sacrificing, a combination that manages to win over Sass (and many readers). Sinclair explores his cybernetics and how they affect his interactions with others in a sympathetic manner. Kel-Paten cannot admit how he feels apart or what he wants for himself to anybody else, and his struggles manifest in interesting ways. Sass has fewer hangups: she came to her position via her ability to think outside the box. Her cleverness and guile won't let their partnership during the mission be boring.

Games of Command is a long and twisty read featuring a compelling romance, political and metaphysical mysteries, and psychic teleporting cats. Any one of these would have sold the story to me, but having all three puts this book on my keeper list.

Author site: www.linneasinclair.com

Recommendation by Lee Koven.

Cyborg Future

The February 2011 issue of Scientific American has an article in it called Mind Out of Body by neuroscientist Miguel A.L. Nicolelis. The article is an excerpt from his new book "Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines - and How It Will Change Our Lives" (link to the book's Amazon page is below).

Nicolelis paints a picture of a future wherein the disabled use robotic exoskeletons which are wired directly to their brains. Via thought (the specific patterns of neurons firing), the patient will control the exoskeleton. He even envisions the end of internet based social networks with the advent of what he calls neurosocial networking - communicating brain to brain - either with a coworker in the next cubicle or to hundreds of 'followers' in a new medium he calls the 'brain net'.

Nicolelis is at the forefront of neuroprosthetic research - looking for the ways and means to handle both input and output links from the brain to a machine (like a robotic leg) and back again. He describes a day when someone with a spinal injury or a debilitating neurological disease will select a robotic suit to wear, plug in the control leads, and walk out the front door.

The article intrigued me because it sounds like cyborgs may be closer to possible than any of us had dreamed. While the Scientific American article isn't available online, Miguel Nicolelis's book is available in print or in e-format. The excerpt of the book was very readable and nontechnical (you need not be a neuroscientist to understand the concepts). The author seems very adapt at communicating very specialized science to nonscientists if you're interested in having a look at the progress Nicolelis's labs have already made in marrying mind to machine.

Image source: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1205
Book: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Boundaries-Neuroscience-Connecting-Machines/dp/0805090525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296360912&sr=8-1

Hacking the Brain

An article at Wired.com suggests that the brain is the next great hacking frontier and contemplates the possibilities for securing neural interface devices. The article focuses on the lack of attention being paid to creating robust security for such hardware as deep brain stimulators used to treat a variety of illnesses, or for the systems being developed that would allow an amputee to mentally control a prosthetic limb. Anyone else saying "story goldmine"? Whether you have a character hacking a cyborg's interfaces in order to commit third person murder, or a futuristic tech shop specializing in security layers for people whose neural implants weren't entirely on the up and up, or whether you character is a hacker who happens , one day, to drop into the wrong brain - there's far too much fun to be had here. In fiction. In reality, I'd rather know that anything wired directly into my brain was safe against some malicious git who thinks it's amusing to enslave a bunch of brain-wired people and turn them into gold farmers.

Augemented Senses

For the cyborg fans among us, it appears that science is on the cusp of integrating technology with human information processing. It's on a limited scale, at the moment, but if you're familiar with the D20 gaming system Shadow Run and the novels the game has spawned, then you're familiar with the concept of hardware implants designed to let human consciousness mesh with computer generated visualizations. The questions (and therefore story points) just keep popping up. At what point do technological enhancements turn a human into a cyborg? What happens to the human brain when the admittedly cool tech like that detailed in the article linked above makes it so that our brains no longer have to learn to operate on a spacial basis? Is there inherent mental/physical benefit - beyond being able to find your way from point A to point B - in having to learn how to read a map or visualize your city and your position therein? Can something as simple as a pair of glasses giving directions really influence how humans evolve? In what way? Aren't there at least a thousand stories in this single article? I have mine. The third, as yet untitled, book in the Enemy series (Enemy Within, Enemy Games - from Berkley Sensations in November 2010 and Spring 2011) includes a heroine using technology to enhance and sometimes to compensate for her senses. What's your story?