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Science Fiction by Lytchcov Zammana
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More reviews of The Otherhood... |
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ZAMMANA UPDATES:
Lytchcov Zammana is currently working on his second novel, the publication and release of which will be posted at this site and on Zammana's site, as well.
More about Lytchcov Zammana
REVIEWS OF THE OTHERHOOD
Kevin Patrick Mahoney loved the book!
Vic Jones wakes up in another man's body in 2084, and finds that the world has moved on in radical ways. The elite live and die in the terramyd, a living structure on the banks of the Colorado. The dregs of society roam the wastes outside, drip-fed on the mac, genetically engineered food grown and processed by the terramyd. As the year 2084 suggests, this novel presents Zammana's dystopia of this century in the style of George Orwell. Instead of a Smith, we have a couple of Jones's, but Big Brother's still here, and up to his sneaky tricks as usual.
This is a novel that portrays Globalisation at its most extreme and vicious: Robert Jones is seen as the unethical head of corporate America by his brother, Victor, who vows that he will do anything to stop him. Genetic technology forms a great part of the novel, and is indeed instrumental in the construction of the terramyd. The terramyd certainly has more than its fair share of enemies: those outside the Ark either will do anything to get in it, or will do anything to destroy it. Although the living skin of the terramyd naturally repels and destroys any organic intrusion, its inhabitants are still vulnerable to coalitions formed by the few remaining global power bases. However, the terramyd is also the only sustainable source of vblu, the so-called "fifth state" of matter that promises to provide the next stage in human evolution, if only Bob Jones' Trycor can work out how to make more.
This organic artificial intelligence, the myd, provides the inspiration, the means, and the economic bubble necessary for the development of a whole range of technological advances. Zammana may have been influenced by the internet and telecommunications bubble here - the title of the novel does recall to mind the phrase "the digital divide". Instrumental to the novel is Dr. Isaac's creation of Virtual Genetic Regression (VGR). This is the means by which Victor Jones is transported forward to 2084. Victor is the victim here of an obsessed scientist's vision, but it seems that he has been unwittingly provided with a great source of power in this depraved new world. The genetic regression has only been made possible by Dr. Isaac's development of a sophisticated interface with the myd. This interface is in the form of a ring, and Victor does seem to have a few Tolkien reactions to wearing it. Although he does not literally go invisible when wearing it, he does virtually do so, and in this world of artificial intelligence, that could almost be the same thing. There's no Gandalf to guide Victor on his hero's journey, instead, Victor seems guided by his own genetic inheritance and dreams of "a fiery machine" that have haunted his line and that of another over two centuries. However, like Frodo's jewellery, Victor's ring does seem to possess a will of its own, despite the general impression that the myd is inert and guided solely by man.
The Machiavellian heads of Trycor always seem to provoke resistance, and the same is true for Chairman Bob Jones' son, Viceroy. In his attempt to pull off a complex and sophisticated coup, it's Viceroy who turns to Dr. Isaac and VGR. However, he finds that instead of being genetically regressed to the body of Robert Jones in the three minutes that he's alone with Trycor's charter, Viceroy discovers that he possesses the body of Victor Jones instead, a predecessor of whom he knows nothing. Viceroy finds himself in the middle of a vast civil disturbance, unrest that seems provoked by the building of the terramyd. Allied with Terrell, a man with a destiny, Viceroy unwittingly finds himself at the very roots of the terramyd's development. Along the way, he discovers much that Robert Jones has later deleted from history... Viceroy and Victor fight their battles for liberty in parallel. Yet how can they fight against manifest destiny?
By producing a novel with such a vast scope, with events running over two centuries, Lytchcov Zammana, like Robert Jones, could be accused of being over ambitious. This novel is so complex that it does take several readings to really attempt to grip what it is all about, and so Zammana could be asking too much from most readers. Interstellar travel and cloning are two more themes of the novel that I have not really been able to touch upon here, and Virtual Genetic Regression could sustain a novel on its own. In such a crowded world though, characterisation can very much suffer. Julie and Jewel play a crucial role in the plot, but a longer book would have exploited them better - we are told that Victor really loves Julie, but we never really get to see it. Better editing may well have removed some of the typos towards the end of The Otherhood, and although Zammana reveals an extraordinary depth of imagination, some of the names of his characters and concepts seem too homegrown and could have been sexier. With such a complex plot, it would seem inevitable that Zammana would have trouble keeping up with it all, and there is one scene where Viceroy manages to run a considerable distance out of a cave complex whilst still apparently tied to a chair (p. 306-307). However, Zammana does display an extraordinary imagination. I did begin to appreciate the novel far more at the second reading, and more of the jigsaw pieces do fall into place if you read this novel with the patience and attention it deserves. If, like me, you enjoy fiction that challenges you and makes you work hard, then you will appreciate The Otherhood. Lytchcov Zammana's fertile imagination is certainly one to be watched, and there is much within The Otherhood to be explored further.
Kevin Patrick Mahoney
Amazon.com Book Reviewers
Anne Sheridan gives The Otherhood a big thumbs up!
Science fiction may have a narrow appeal,
and is not always respected by advocators of “serious” literature. Strangely
enough, however, it is still fair to say that science fiction and horror can be considered
to be the two genres best equipped to tap into the most fundamental fears and concerns
about the human condition in popular fiction. Science fiction regularly raises questions
about the nature of our existence, the parameters of our world, and the extremes of good
and evil we can reach in the search for survival and salvation. The Otherhood sets
itself these lofty aims, and acquits itself reasonably well.
The novel has a fairly recognizable sci-fi/thriller plot. Victor Jones
wakes up to find himself transported to the year 2084, in a body strangely familiar yet
alien – that of his cloned descendant Viceroy Jones. The new elite –
shareholders in the Trycor Corporation – is leading an idyllic existence in the
Terramyd – a perfectly controlled, virtual environment. Utopia is so sterile that it
seems that sensual needs have been overridden – the people are beautiful in their
gray clothes, and the unidentifiable food and drink are infinitely satisfying. But every
paradise has its flip side, and the protected inmates of the Terramyd get their kicks by
betting on vicious human bloodsports. The virtual Terramyd itself is countered by its
converse – the very real, organic root, which has properties for growth that its
original creators do not know how to control. Beyond the Terramyd itself are the wastes of
North America. Desert stretches towards the new Los Angeles – a vicious dictatorship
struggling to exercise control of its hostile surroundings.
In the meantime, Viceroy wakes up in the body of his ancestor, Victor,
in an LA ravaged by civil war, and becomes involved in an attempt to sabotage the work of
the Terramyd’s creator – Victor’s brother, Robert Jones.
Certainly, there’s a lot here that’s familiar. The cloned
sterile existence countered by the savage wasteland is reminiscent of Brave
New World – the myd’s thought control of its inhabitants in 2084 like 1984
100 years on. The barricaded, primitive, futuristic hell that is LA and the long journey
through the desert to reach it brings the Mad Max films to mind. The novel taps into fears that have always
been the mainstay of science fiction – fear of an apocalyptic future; environmental
destruction; crazy genius dictators straight from James Bond; the breakdown of civilized
society; and, in this case, the postmodern fear of capitalist societies of world
domination by a huge business corporation. In fact, one of The Otherhood’s
more amusing images is related to this last concern – the Voter beds – rows and
rows of people, who have used up all their assets, but who have their basic life functions
preserved, in order to preserve their voting capacity as shareholders.
These generic clichés do not mean that the novel is purely derivative,
or that it cannot function as a narrative in itself. Popular genre fiction always works
with what is familiar and expected. The Otherhood does a good job of preserving
reader interest in how its characters face the challenges of their surroundings.
The plot is busy and actionful, and the narrative must control this
action along several parallel strands, without becoming chaotic. There is a lot of
flashing back and forth, both in terms of time periods and locations, particularly as the
two main narratives reach their respective climaxes. This crosscutting lends the book a
filmic quality, and keeps the story exciting on a “what’s going to happen
next” level. This filmic feel is also carried through to the descriptive writing
– making the environments of the novel very vivid. By the end, when all the secrets
are finally revealed, the plot has become exceedingly complicated, but the pacing
throughout keeps it comprehensible.
Groundbreaking it may not be, but The Otherhood is still an
effective thriller, which raises common fears and concerns about our future, without
turning them into tired clichés.
Anne Sheridan, CultureVulture.net
CultureVulture.net
Aphra loved the book!
Lasting power...
This is an astonishing and terrifying work of science fiction. Zammana writes with authority and quiet passion. He lets his characters do all the talking for him, with tremendous impact.
From the friendship between a child slave and a farm boy during the Civil War to the post-semi-apocalyptic nightmare of a future Los Angeles, Zammana weaves a story of powerful emotions and events, with implications we cannot afford to ignore.
In what remains of America's West after minor territorial nuclear and biological wars have been fought by rival companies, one structure dominates the landscape. A great pyramid, housing those elite souls lucky enough to have been offered shelter from the encroaching apocalypse.
Some live in a virtual dreamland inside the Terramyd; others plot the course of their preferred future with the immense technological capability at their disposal. Those left outside suffer from the radioactive byproducts of the unique and incomprehensible structure which is, due to an unrepeatable combination of circumstances, alive - and a very bright shade of blue.
From the sabotage of a Confederate supply train in the Civil War to militant activism against a dangerous, compassionless biotech company, to the ability to manipulate that company's greatest asset, genetic memory compels our hero to pursue his righteous struggle. The fight is a dirty one. He must make unlikely alliances and unconscionable decisions.
This is no fairy tale, and, given the combination of circumstances that Zammana, with compelling realism, has set up, no-one can expect everything to be all right ever again. But there are still lives, livelihoods and dreams to preserve; loves, friendships and loyalties to maintain and enemies to be overcome.
Much of this novel takes place in a dreamscape so vivid that I challenge you not to revisit it in your sleep. Yet it is the realism and horror and messiness of unlimited corporate power, unbridled technology and disintegrating civilisation that lend this novel its lasting power.
I loved it. When's the sequel coming out?!
Esther
Aphra Reviews
READERS INPUT
Anyone who has ever suspected that technology might be the real horror that we face in our modern world will shudder with terror and anxiously turn the pages of "The Otherhood"...
Wren Andre
Author and Screenwriter
Who is this guy Zammana? Half way into this Sci Fi adventure I became convinced he must be working with some organization that the human race isn't supposed to know about, and this was the only way he could warn us! I can't wait 'till the next story
Patrick William Salvo
Author of over 3,000 articles, books on David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, and the soon-to-be-released "My Back Pages."
This works on a Sci Fi level, terror, and even a spiritual level. The best part about the Otherhood, though, is that it rocks!
Robert Moomau
Recording Artist and Author
I could not put this book down! I was so blown away!
I'm going to tell all my clients that this is the one to take with them on vacation.
Susan Scott-Gill
Owner:Atlantis Travel, Los Angeles
A real wake up call on how technology can steal our humanity when used in the wrong way. "The Otherhood's" characters make this possible futuristic scenario come alive...
Robert Kosal
Author: "Dont Die a Stupid Golfer,"
"The Otherhood", a novel by Lytchov Zammana is bound for glory! Slated as one of American Book Publishing's up and coming successes, this science fiction epic is tailor made for a Hollywood Blockbuster. Finally... a time traveller with a twist concerning the technological future and it's untapped implications. Science fiction buffs will not only find this thriller a more than satisfying read, but the many trips you'll take down the paths of Lytchcov Zammana's imagination will leave you breathless.
Icky Mitz
House Bizarre
...visionary - a very different approach, "The Otherhood" presents a unique view of time and time travel wrapped within a carefully woven plot.
Judy Ross
Southern California
fresh and interesting
I found the book a very interesting read. It had elements of some of my
favorite movies in it. Roller Ball with James Kahn, Logan's Run, and a few others.
C. Roy
Los Angeles
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