The Book Plank

Guest Blog: Asking the next Question by Stephanie Saulter Binary was a book I didn’t intend to write. Unlike many authors of speculative fiction, I hadn’t embarked on a trilogy or set out to create a series; there was just this stand-alone novel, provisionally titled ®Evolution , clawing its way out of my head and onto the page. It chronicled an incendiary, and indeed revolutionary, moment of social change; and although it concluded its own narrative arc and resolved most of its internal mysteries it fundamentally ended with a question: What happens now? Given what has already been done, and cannot be undone; knowing what we now know, and can no longer pretend ignorance of; how do people move forward? What kind of society do they wish to live in?   Who will they choose, now, to be? I quite like open endings. I like a story that concludes with the conundrums of real life, that invites the reader to engage in speculation of their own. So I was prepared to leave thin...

Binary by Stephanie Saulter, Revolution #2 When confiscated genestock is stolen out of secure government quarantine, DI Sharon Varsi finds herself on the biggest case of her career... chasing down a clever thief, a mysterious hacker, and the threat of new, black market gemtech. Zavcka Klist, ruthless industrial enforcer, has reinvented herself. Now the head of Bel'Natur, she wants gem celebrity Aryel Morningstar's blessing for the company's revival of infotech – the science that spawned the Syndrome, nearly destroyed mankind, and led to the creation of the gems. With illness in her own family that only a gemtech can cure, Aryel's in no position to refuse. As the infotech programme inches towards a breakthrough, Sharon’s investigations lead ever closer to the dark heart of Bel'Natur, the secrets of Aryel Morningstar's past... and what Zavcka Klist is really after. Last year I read Stephanie Saulter's debut, Gemsigns and was taken from the fi...

Author interview with Stephanie Saulter Gemsigns had escaped my attention but luckily Jo Flecther kindly provided me with a review copy and well Gemsigns proved to be quite a read and something that I hadn't thought of turning out that way. Its a story set in the future where Earth is divided between the norms and the gems. Even though the story had a heavy science fiction influence, Stephanie Saulter goes into a for me unexplored territory, lying a heavy focus on the moral of several idea's that she tackles and how society manages to cope with these problems. Creating an engaging and thought provoking book, one of a kind! If you haven' t picked your copy up I would advice to do so asap. Read my full review here Author Bio:  Stephanie Saulter has been a real estate developer, restaurant manager, corporate executive, public policy wonk, management consultant and founder of the Scriptopus intera...

Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter, Revolution #1 Humanity stands on the brink. Again. Surviving the Syndrome meant genetically modifying almost every person on the planet. But norms and gems are different. Gems may have the superpowers that once made them valuable commodities, but they also have more than their share of the disabled, the violent and the psychotic. After a century of servitude, freedom has come at last for the gems, and not everyone’s happy about it. The gemtechs want to turn them back into property. The godgangs want them dead. The norm majority is scared and suspicious, and doesn’t know what it wants. Eli Walker is the scientist charged with deciding whether gems are truly human, and as extremists on both sides raise the stakes, the conflict descends into violence. He’s running out of time, and with advanced prototypes on the loose, not everyone is who or what they seem. Torn between the intrigues of ruthless executive Zavcka Klist and brilliant, badly de...