Zero Calvin by Brian Cramer

It's hard to find good books lately. With the glut in self-publishing and the general practice of other publishers of putting out crap, there are a lot of bad books to wade through. Fortunately, this is one of the good ones. A first novel and self-published effort through iUniverse, Zero Calvin presents a briskly paced and humorous look at a man who is frozen for 300 years and thawed out in a society where an artificial intelligence created by the clones of a movie star dictates life and mates and job orientation and kills those who are of no benefit to society. The computer's name is Ariel, so think of her more as Big Sister than 1984.

The science in the book is sound and the humor is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett and will have you chuckling throughout as Calvin is introduced to this new and overwhelming society. The history is presented in short bursts and spread out during the period of Calvin's acclimation so there is no Robert Jordan-eque hundreds of pages devoted to the life of a butterfly. Everything is relevant and the book is a quick read, coming in under 200 pages. The ending is rather abrupt and there is a sequel planned so be prepared for a cliffhanger ending. Fortunately the book reads as an introduction to the world so you've gotten something out of it and won't feel gypped when you don't have much left to read. In fact, the ending of the book, if the series isn't continued, actually fits the world Cramer has created quite well so it can be seen as a standalone work.

You can order the book from Amazon.com, iUniverse, Barnes & Noble and hundreds of other online retailers. I urge you to check it out and support a budding author and entertain yourself in the process. Find out more here.