Turing Evolved - Science Fiction - Full Novel

[DavidKitson]

Originally Posted by JustForFun

There were some editing issues which I noticed, mostly in the second part, but only one grated on my nerves. All in all, I have read ebooks with worse editing.

Thank you - and good idea. I think I might create a "Found Errors" page on my home site so people can send that information through -

And thank you for those corrections - All located and fixed now -

TheSFReader - You have mail -

David

[TheSFReader]

Received ! As I didn't want to convert, I tried and download the Smashwords version again. I confirm it seems to be a newer version (second edition).
The "errata page" seems a good idea, and if the book has in fact been already thouroughly edited, should be quite manageable.

I'll read the book again (with pleasure), and, as I promised myself I would when an edited version is up, will probably donate soon afterwards.

[DavidKitson]

A bit thanks to Kacir - the formatting was fine and Smashwords has put my book back in the premium category, so hopefully in the next two weeks, it will be redistributed through the other channels and the updates will go out -

[DavidKitson]

Well, for Christmas, I bought my wife a Kindle. Why? Because she can't read off a computer screen or even a tablet... So I figured E-ink was OK and turns out I was correct.

And finally, she can read Turing Evolved, though due to Amazon pricing issues and update problems I had to actually purchase my own book, so so far, this means it has actually cost me money to publish on Amazon for Kindle.

And is she ever the critic... Every five minutes "What does this term mean?" and "You should have left this section out. It's boring." and other stuff... Though she's picked up six typo's so far too. And complained about several sentences she didn't like. Not to mention taking credit for some of the sentences used in the story every time she picks up on anything remotely related to discussions we've had. She is the most anti-SF reader of all time.

But it's nice finally for her to be able to read the story after it's been out a year So I thought I'd share.

The Amazon primary copy ( The $0.00 one ) is still broken... I am going to have to contact the KDP team and ask why it's not updating. I know they reviewed the new version and cleared it for publishing... So it has me a bit confused...

David

[kacir]

Originally Posted by DavidKitson

... she can read Turing Evolved, though due to Amazon pricing issues and update problems I had to actually purchase my own book,

I am afraid you didn't have to purchase the book.
You should have downloaded the "kindle version" from Smashwords.
You could also have sent the MSWord file that I have prepared to her @freekindle.com email address and she would have received the book converted.
You could also have downloaded one of many tools for converting utilities and convert the book yourself for Kindle.

[DavidKitson]

Originally Posted by kacir

I am afraid you didn't have to purchase the book.
You should have downloaded the "kindle version" from Smashwords.

You are correct of course, but I was stuck for options at the time... It was her Christmas present, so I just bit the bullet and purchased the book.

Originally I signed her up to my account too, so she could read the books I have but then she pointed out that now her Kindle said "David's Kindle" and not "Michelle's Kindle" so I was in trouble...

Not much else to do. Talked her through setting it up and let her buy the book. Last night she was up to 1am reading it, and every time I fell asleep, she woke me with another question...

her- "David, do *** and *** get ***?"
me- "Do you really want me to tell you...?"
her- "no..."

5 minutes later...

her- "I know, I know, *** is going to *** right?"
me - "Do you really want me to tell you...?"
her- "no..."

An indeterminate time later...

her- "I don't understand. Why did *** do that?" ( I think she said this. I remember the words coming to me down a long tunnel... )
me- "ZzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzZzzzz"
her- "Are you snoring?"
me- "Huh? did you ask me something."
her- "No. I'm coming to bed now." - She was already in bed... She was using her night light.

So this morning I asked her how far she got and I'm pretty sure she was a chapter past where I remember her last question... Or maybe I was too far out of it... I'm not sure how many questions she asked me after that.

But for someone who hates e-readers, she loves the e-ink screen. I will have to get her some more books.

David.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by DavidKitson

Well, for Christmas, I bought my wife a Kindle. Why? Because she can't read off a computer screen or even a tablet... So I figured E-ink was OK and turns out I was correct.

And finally, she can read Turing Evolved, though due to Amazon pricing issues and update problems I had to actually purchase my own book, so so far, this means it has actually cost me money to publish on Amazon for Kindle.

And is she ever the critic... Every five minutes "What does this term mean?" and "You should have left this section out. It's boring." and other stuff... Though she's picked up six typo's so far too. And complained about several sentences she didn't like. Not to mention taking credit for some of the sentences used in the story every time she picks up on anything remotely related to discussions we've had. She is the most anti-SF reader of all time.

But it's nice finally for her to be able to read the story after it's been out a year So I thought I'd share.

The Amazon primary copy ( The $0.00 one ) is still broken... I am going to have to contact the KDP team and ask why it's not updating. I know they reviewed the new version and cleared it for publishing... So it has me a bit confused...

David

They finally have the $0.00 one fixed. I purchased a copy of the Amazon one priced at $0.00 just this morning.
http://www.amazon.com/Turing-Evolved...5425499&sr=8-2

[TheSFReader]

David, I posted a review of Turing Evolved on my blog for the "Lecture Anglaise" (Reading English) challenge : http://readingandraytracing.blogspot...volved-by.html

I must say that this new version is WAY improved over the previous one, but still has quite a few errors. I have to send you my "report" of remaining "defects", but will do so this week.

[Freeshadow]

She is the most anti-SF reader of all time.

if that's true and she nevertheless was reading it to limits (night light till the eyes drop closed) it speaks for the book doesn't it?

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

if that's true and she nevertheless was reading it to limits (night light till the eyes drop closed) it speaks for the book doesn't it?

Good point. If someone doesn't like SF but reads a whole novel in the genre certainly it must be a good read. My dad was of similar tastes. He didn't like SF movies generally but he enjoyed "Return of the Jedi." lol.

[DavidKitson]

Well, a quick update - Thanks to some very thorough editing assistance from SFReader, I am slowly going through the third edit - no news on when I will finish that though.

Also, I have entered the story into the ABNA competition since it's the only competition I have seen that doesn't exclude self-published works.

I have no idea how that will go - I will let you know in a week, but since pitches are a serious weakness of mine, I'm not expecting to make it past the first cut. However as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained... I know that's not the most positive attitude to take into a competition, but I would be more disappointed with myself if I hadn't given it a go for that reason so I gave it my best shot.

I have managed to receive some good reviews of late also - so thought I'd share a few of the latest ones from the past week. The good news is that so far the second edition reviews are hitting five stars more frequently and I'm getting less negativity in comments about the editing. So thanks again to everyone on this forum for their help with that improvement.

I had a great time reading this book! I'll admit it did take me a few chapters to get into it, but once the author started the plot rolling it was a fast paced ride to the end. I agree with some of the comments about the editing and spelling problems. It seemed to be in need of nothing more than a proof read after the software was done with it...while it was not a huge deal there were a few times that it became distracting. I'll admit I was surprised by the ending and I had to "re-evaluate" pictures I had created in my imagination, but very enjoyable. I was happy to find this was not his only book and I look forward to reading more from this author.
Barton Wells - Amazon US.

TURING EVOLVED is a hard science fiction rarity that pays as much attention to character as it does to battle scenes and hardware. Building on the cyberspace concepts of Gibson and Stephenson, it follows complex, believable people through equally complicated layers of real and virtual worlds; and it builds its characters without ever slowing down the action. Fast-paced and intensely readable, the story unfolds in a well thought out future near enough to be plausible, on one planet, and within one year – if you want a break from 12-volume sagas and parsecs of territory. The author is an accomplished writer; and if you had paid US$25 for a hardback copy, you would feel that you’d got your money’s worth. (By the way, in a world where readers post automatic rave reviews about their friends’ books, I should add that I’d never heard of David Kitson before I downloaded and raced through TURING EVOLVED.)
Jim-Stinson - Smashwords

I really enjoyed this story - the characters are engaging and the plot is interesting (including a twist near the end that I did not see coming). The edition now being offered has been post-edited (by reader feedback) and seems to have got rid of most of the errors mentioned in previous reviews. (there are still a few stray words and similar mistakes, but it's much better on that front than most self-published books that I've read so far). The story itself is up to the standard of anything you'd buy in a bookshop, and considerably better than many - I really recommend it, especially while it's so cheap.
Denny De La Haye - Amazon UK

A wonderful first SF novel. I enjoyed everything about this jem of a book...great characters that come to life, a storyline that flows effortlessly and begs you to turn the page,and plenty of twists and turns that really work. In short, I LOVED this book and anxiously await Mr. Kitson's next work.
SLauOH - Barnes and Noble

[edited MODERATOR]

Also, my mobileread pages are all in German ( I think ) now - Does anyone know how to set it back to English? I'm struggling with it and for some reason, Chrome isn't translating it either?

Regards
David

[5thWiggle]

Check the language settings at the bottom of most pages. It's caught me a couple of times...

[speedlever]

David,

Don't sell yourself short. This is an excellent read and very well done. I expect you to do quite well in the competition. Please update the thread with your results.

[crich70]

I agree with Speedlover, 'Turing Evolved' is a very good book. Good luck on the competition.

[DavidKitson]

Thanks Speedlever/crich70 - but the novel doesn't even count for the first stage of the competition - That is where I am very likely to fall short. If I get through that, the second stage is the first 5000 words of the story, which are not too bad.

In hindsight, I probably should have plagiarised the reviews people have left for me for the early competition stages. Or at least have taken note of how they were written - but it's a little late for that now.

I know I have strengths in writing characters and creating a solid plot, but my main weaknesses are editing, infodump and pitches - and my weakness in pitching my story is one of the reasons I turned to self-publishing in the first place because I just couldn't get any attention from publishers at all.

I also know pitching a novel is a skill that I can learn, so I have to spend time with that.

Anyway, though I kind of cringe at it, this is my "pitch" to Amazon/Penguin for the competition.

Jonathan Carlson had everything an elite DEMON squadron pilot at the forefront of special operations could want. But when faced with a difficult ethical decision, his determination to do what is right destroys his career and he is forced to start over as a civilian.

Now he counsels those who can no longer afford the connection fees to maintain virtual lifestyles and are evicted from Mindspace. He has almost re-established himself in this new life when a chance encounter leads him to save the life of an Autonomous Non-Genetic Engineered Lifeform (ANGEL) named Rachel. This complicates matters for Jon when the the immensely powerful android built to protect humanity develops feelings for him.

As they start to bond, Rachel's presence draws Jon unknowingly into a secret project developing super-weapons intended to fight the next war. This places him on collision course with his old squadron, who still haven't forgiven him and who will do anything to get revenge for what they saw as betrayal.

Before Jon can be with Rachel, he must fight not only for his own life, but for the lives of the artificially intelligent he comes to care for. When his every step is being observed and influenced by powers he is not aware of, only by rising above those determined to bring him down will he uncover the truth about Project ARCHANGEL and his unanticipated role in it.

Turing Evolved is a captivating story that combines action, romance and suspense with hard science fiction. It engages the reader and asks them to consider what it is that makes us truly human while examining contemporary issues of Artificial Intelligence and ethics. The story concludes with a satisfying twist that leaves the reader re-examining previous chapters in a new light.

The pitch is something I've long struggled with ( synopsis too ) -

But a large number do make it through the first stage, so I am hopeful from that perspective too.

David