Enjoy the conversation then enter to win an e-copy for yourself.
ISBN-13: 9780990410928
Publisher: Jerry Kaczmarowski
Release Date: 04/14/2015
Length: 1124 KB - 381 pp
Buy It: B&N/Amazon
Publisher: Jerry Kaczmarowski
Release Date: 04/14/2015
Length: 1124 KB - 381 pp
Buy It: B&N/Amazon
Overview
Abandoned by her husband after
the birth of their child, Jane Dixon’s world is defined by her autistic son and
the research she does to find a cure for his condition. She knows her work on
animal intelligence may hold the key. She also knows that the research will
take decades to complete. None of it will ultimately benefit her son.
All that changes when a lab rat
named Einstein demonstrates that he can read and write. Just as her research
yields results, the U.S. government discovers her program. The army wants to
harness her research for its military potential. The CDC wants to shut
her down completely. The implications of animal intelligence are too dangerous,
particularly when the previously inert virus proves to be highly contagious.
She steals the virus to cure
her son, but the government discovers the theft. She must now escape to Canada
before the authorities can replace her son’s mental prison with a physical one.
Giveaway is for one Kindle version of
Sapient
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Read an Excerpt:
Chapter 1
A young research
assistant poked his head through the laboratory door and said, “We’re heading
out to grab some beers. Want to join us?”
Dr. Jane Dixon brushed
aside a strand of dark hair that had fallen from her ponytail. She waved the
offer off without turning to face him and gave a curt, “Too much work.” I need
to get out of here at a decent time to see Robbie, or I’m going to need to find
a new nanny.
“Come on, Dr. Dixon. One
quick drink. It’s Friday.”
She sighed and faced
him, removing her dark-rimmed glasses. “How about a rain check?” She gave the
younger man her best smile, but Jane knew she sounded insincere.
“Sure, a rain check.”
The research assistant gave a perfunctory nod and let the door swing shut. Jane
wouldn’t receive another invitation anytime soon, which was fine with her.
She put her hands in the
small of her back and stretched, yielding a satisfying pop. Not for the first
time, she congratulated herself on the regularity of her yoga workouts. They
were one of the few distractions she permitted herself. With forty in the
not-too- distant future, it was one distraction she couldn’t afford to forgo.
She pulled her stool closer to her computer and checked her maze for the final
time. She chuckled to herself. After all her years of education, she was
reduced to playing video games with rodents. Using a virtual maze allowed her
to create a level of complexity unrealistic with traditional animal
intelligence testing.
Jane walked into an
adjoining room with rows of cages where her subjects spent most of their day.
She approached a cage adorned with a garish blue first-place ribbon. Her
assistant had put it on the door as a joke. At first, it migrated back and
forth as different rats outperformed others. For the past two months, it hadn’t
moved.
She opened the cage and
made a coaxing motion. “Come here, Einstein.” A fat, white rat dashed out the
door onto her hand and scrambled up her right shoulder. His neon-blue eyes gave
off an icy intelligence. The change in eye color was one of many side effects
of her tests Jane still couldn’t explain. The rat whipped its tail into her
hair for balance, hopping from paw to paw.
“Settle down, boy,” she
said. She carried Einstein back into the lab with its virtual maze and extended
her hand. He raced down her arm to the large trackball and made little jumps in
anticipation of the race. As Jane clamped him gently into the metal rig that
held him in place, he stopped jumping. Einstein differed from the other rats—he
never struggled when Jane locked him in place. The other rats fought against
the harness, making it difficult to complete the test preparations.
A two-dimensional
overview of a simple maze flashed on the screen. Without hesitating, Einstein
rolled through the maze on his trackball, completing the challenge in seconds.
“Too easy,” Jane said.
“You don’t even deserve a prize.” Despite this, she stroked the rat’s head and
gave him a small piece of cheese. Einstein snapped it up in his front paws. As
soon as he devoured it, he pulled against his harness and chattered at Jane.
“Relax, big fella.” She
tapped on her keyboard to reconfigure the course before bending down to eye
level with Einstein. “Now the real challenge begins.” He stared into her sea-
green eyes. The small rodent had the intense focus of a fighter about to get in
the ring.
A second maze flashed on
the screen. There was a straightforward solution that was long and twisting. A
second solution existed, but so far, none of the rats had figured it out. The
second path had two tiny virtual teleportation pads. If the rats stepped onto
one of the pads, they were transported to a corresponding location in a
different part of the maze. For this test, the pads would save precious
seconds.
“Go,” Jane shouted,
starting the timer. Einstein didn’t budge. Instead, he looked back and forth
between the obvious path and the first teleportation pad.
“Clock’s ticking,” Jane
said to herself in frustration.
Einstein shrieked as he
noticed the decreasing progress bar. A tentative paw step forward cleared the
maze overview and put him in a six-inch-high virtual hallway. He waddled
straight to the teleportation pad but stopped short. He turned his gaze to Jane
as his whiskers moved back and forth, up and down. Jane stared back, willing
him to make the right move.
The rat rolled forward
on his trackball across the pad. The screen flashed, and he teleported to
within a few steps of the exit. With a final glance at Jane, he spun through
the gate with twenty seconds left on the clock.
Jane clapped her hands.
“You did it.” She reached toward him. He clambered up her arm, slower now that
he was out of the virtual world. She gave him a piece of cheese and returned
him to the steel table.
“Impressive,” she said
to the empty room. At times like this she wished someone could appreciate her
triumphs. Her coworkers were at the bar. And Robbie? Robbie is Robbie. The warm
smile of a mother flitted across her face as she thought about her son.
Einstein broke her
reverie as he scratched and clawed at an iPad on the table. “It’s like having a
second child,” Jane sighed to herself. She obliged Einstein’s pestering by
starting an old episode of Sesame Street. The classic show was his favorite.
Most other children’s programming bored him. His second-favorite genre was as
far from the Children’s Television Workshop gang as you could get. One of
Jane’s more unsavory assistants had decided to play Rated R comedies on the
screen in the evening when the animals were alone in their cages. The crass
movies entertained Einstein for hours despite the fact he couldn’t understand
any of them.
Jane’s mobile phone
vibrated. A message from her nanny read, “WHERE R U!!!” She glanced at the time
in the lower right of her screen and gave a sharp intake of breath. I did it
again, she chided herself.
“Leaving now. Sorry.”
She almost typed a sad face emoticon but caught herself. It wouldn’t be well
received. She pushed Send and dropped the phone on the lab table. She pounded
the results of today’s tests into her computer, not bothering to correct
spelling errors as she raced to enter her observations while they were still
fresh.
The phone buzzed again.
Jane gritted her teeth at the unnecessary back-and-forth. These nastygrams
would only delay her departure. She reached for the phone in frustration, but
Einstein was perched over it, staring at the screen. She nudged the little
rodent back and set her jaw as she read the text.
The screen read, “Who is
Einstein?” As she struggled to make sense of the nanny’s text, her eyes scanned
back to the previous outbound message. She juggled her phone, almost dropping
it on the floor.
The screen read, “I am
Einstein.”
Chapter 1
A young research
assistant poked his head through the laboratory door and said, “We’re heading
out to grab some beers. Want to join us?”
Dr. Jane Dixon brushed
aside a strand of dark hair that had fallen from her ponytail. She waved the
offer off without turning to face him and gave a curt, “Too much work.” I need
to get out of here at a decent time to see Robbie, or I’m going to need to find
a new nanny.
“Come on, Dr. Dixon. One
quick drink. It’s Friday.”
She sighed and faced
him, removing her dark-rimmed glasses. “How about a rain check?” She gave the
younger man her best smile, but Jane knew she sounded insincere.
“Sure, a rain check.”
The research assistant gave a perfunctory nod and let the door swing shut. Jane
wouldn’t receive another invitation anytime soon, which was fine with her.
She put her hands in the
small of her back and stretched, yielding a satisfying pop. Not for the first
time, she congratulated herself on the regularity of her yoga workouts. They
were one of the few distractions she permitted herself. With forty in the
not-too- distant future, it was one distraction she couldn’t afford to forgo.
She pulled her stool closer to her computer and checked her maze for the final
time. She chuckled to herself. After all her years of education, she was
reduced to playing video games with rodents. Using a virtual maze allowed her
to create a level of complexity unrealistic with traditional animal
intelligence testing.
Jane walked into an
adjoining room with rows of cages where her subjects spent most of their day.
She approached a cage adorned with a garish blue first-place ribbon. Her
assistant had put it on the door as a joke. At first, it migrated back and
forth as different rats outperformed others. For the past two months, it hadn’t
moved.
She opened the cage and
made a coaxing motion. “Come here, Einstein.” A fat, white rat dashed out the
door onto her hand and scrambled up her right shoulder. His neon-blue eyes gave
off an icy intelligence. The change in eye color was one of many side effects
of her tests Jane still couldn’t explain. The rat whipped its tail into her
hair for balance, hopping from paw to paw.
“Settle down, boy,” she
said. She carried Einstein back into the lab with its virtual maze and extended
her hand. He raced down her arm to the large trackball and made little jumps in
anticipation of the race. As Jane clamped him gently into the metal rig that
held him in place, he stopped jumping. Einstein differed from the other rats—he
never struggled when Jane locked him in place. The other rats fought against
the harness, making it difficult to complete the test preparations.
A two-dimensional
overview of a simple maze flashed on the screen. Without hesitating, Einstein
rolled through the maze on his trackball, completing the challenge in seconds.
“Too easy,” Jane said.
“You don’t even deserve a prize.” Despite this, she stroked the rat’s head and
gave him a small piece of cheese. Einstein snapped it up in his front paws. As
soon as he devoured it, he pulled against his harness and chattered at Jane.
“Relax, big fella.” She
tapped on her keyboard to reconfigure the course before bending down to eye
level with Einstein. “Now the real challenge begins.” He stared into her sea-
green eyes. The small rodent had the intense focus of a fighter about to get in
the ring.
A second maze flashed on
the screen. There was a straightforward solution that was long and twisting. A
second solution existed, but so far, none of the rats had figured it out. The
second path had two tiny virtual teleportation pads. If the rats stepped onto
one of the pads, they were transported to a corresponding location in a
different part of the maze. For this test, the pads would save precious
seconds.
“Go,” Jane shouted,
starting the timer. Einstein didn’t budge. Instead, he looked back and forth
between the obvious path and the first teleportation pad.
“Clock’s ticking,” Jane
said to herself in frustration.
Einstein shrieked as he
noticed the decreasing progress bar. A tentative paw step forward cleared the
maze overview and put him in a six-inch-high virtual hallway. He waddled
straight to the teleportation pad but stopped short. He turned his gaze to Jane
as his whiskers moved back and forth, up and down. Jane stared back, willing
him to make the right move.
The rat rolled forward
on his trackball across the pad. The screen flashed, and he teleported to
within a few steps of the exit. With a final glance at Jane, he spun through
the gate with twenty seconds left on the clock.
Jane clapped her hands.
“You did it.” She reached toward him. He clambered up her arm, slower now that
he was out of the virtual world. She gave him a piece of cheese and returned
him to the steel table.
“Impressive,” she said
to the empty room. At times like this she wished someone could appreciate her
triumphs. Her coworkers were at the bar. And Robbie? Robbie is Robbie. The warm
smile of a mother flitted across her face as she thought about her son.
Einstein broke her
reverie as he scratched and clawed at an iPad on the table. “It’s like having a
second child,” Jane sighed to herself. She obliged Einstein’s pestering by
starting an old episode of Sesame Street. The classic show was his favorite.
Most other children’s programming bored him. His second-favorite genre was as
far from the Children’s Television Workshop gang as you could get. One of
Jane’s more unsavory assistants had decided to play Rated R comedies on the
screen in the evening when the animals were alone in their cages. The crass
movies entertained Einstein for hours despite the fact he couldn’t understand
any of them.
Jane’s mobile phone
vibrated. A message from her nanny read, “WHERE R U!!!” She glanced at the time
in the lower right of her screen and gave a sharp intake of breath. I did it
again, she chided herself.
“Leaving now. Sorry.”
She almost typed a sad face emoticon but caught herself. It wouldn’t be well
received. She pushed Send and dropped the phone on the lab table. She pounded
the results of today’s tests into her computer, not bothering to correct
spelling errors as she raced to enter her observations while they were still
fresh.
The phone buzzed again.
Jane gritted her teeth at the unnecessary back-and-forth. These nastygrams
would only delay her departure. She reached for the phone in frustration, but
Einstein was perched over it, staring at the screen. She nudged the little
rodent back and set her jaw as she read the text.
The screen read, “Who is
Einstein?” As she struggled to make sense of the nanny’s text, her eyes scanned
back to the previous outbound message. She juggled her phone, almost dropping
it on the floor.
The screen read, “I am
Einstein.”
Hi Jerry, welcome to The Reading Frenzy.
Tell us what Sapient is all about.
Tell us what Sapient is all about.
Abandoned by her husband
after the birth of their child, Jane Dixon’s world is defined by her autistic
son and the research she does to find a cure for his condition. She knows her
work on animal intelligence may hold the key. She also knows that the research
will take decades to complete. None of it will ultimately benefit her son.
All that changes when a
lab rat named Einstein demonstrates that he can read and write. Just as her
research yields results, the U.S. government discovers her program. The army
wants to harness her research for its military potential. The CDC wants to shut her down
completely. The implications of animal
intelligence are too dangerous, particularly when the previously inert virus
proves to be highly contagious.
She steals the virus to
cure her son, but the government discovers the theft. She must now escape to
Canada before the authorities can replace her son’s mental prison with a
physical one.
Wow; what a premise. Was there something specific that
led you in this direction?
There are a couple of
things that made me want to write this book.
The first is “deep” while the second was just “fun.” One the deeper side, one of my main
character’s least endearing characteristics is a deep inability to trust
others. I’ve encountered a few people
like this in my work and personal life over the years, and they are some of the
most damaged people I’ve met. It’s very
hard for them to connect with others in a meaningful way. I wanted to write about a main character who
had this underlying flaw that needed to be overcome in order for her to be
successful.
On the fun side, I’ve
always loved books and movies about intelligent animals. To this day, I can re-watch (perhaps
re-binge-watch) the old Planet of the Apes movies. I tried watching the old ones with my 11 year
old son and he would have none of it. I
got a little more interest from him in the modern remakes. Regardless, I wanted to write a story about
animal intelligence, because I just think it is cool!
Jerry your bio says that you write “techno-thrillers
that explore the benefits and dangers of mankind’s scientific advancement.” They
say write what you know and before you became a full-time novelist you worked
in the technology field. Does that background help with your novel research?
It absolutely helps. I have two degrees in civil engineering that
I never really used since I went into the technology and consulting world. However, the engineering degrees combined
with the work experience make it very easy for me to understand the underlying
science.
My first book was called
Moon Rising and featured a space elevator which is basically a carbon fiber
cable that extends 100,000 km into space.
It’s a real area of research and I was able to attend the annual
conference a couple of years ago. It was
a blast sitting around the table with ex-NASA rocket scientists working
collaboratively on some of their ideas. While
I could keep up with most of it, I think I may have lowered the average IQ in
the room by a point or two.
Some authors in your genre are really strong on the
techno part and light on the thriller some vice versa and some strong on both. How
would you say Sapient rates techno/thriller wise?
That’s a great
question. I’ve noticed the following in
feedback from readers. There are some
people who complain that I have too much technology and some that say it needs
more. Interestingly, it tends to be the
guys who want more science and the women who want more story, particularly on
the relationship side of things.
All that said, I probably
focus about 80% of my attention on writing a thrilling story. I have a hard time reading or watching things
that are too slow-paced. Even the best
dramas are hard for me to sit through. I
think the technology can enhance an already great story, but you have to have a
great story to begin with.
Jerry, you’ve gotten a great review for Sapient from
Kirkus, congratulations! In it they compare you to Michael Crichton. Does that
bother you?
I was actually happy to
see them make the comparison, as he was one of my favorite authors. I’m sure I’ve read all of his books at least
once.
I will say there is an interesting
shift in writing styles even over the last two decades. I went back to read Jurassic Park again and
came across pages and pages of computer code that Crichton felt duty bound to
include in the book. It had something to
do with the security system that caged the dinosaurs.
Awful! I think the modern reader’s tastes and
perhaps attention span is less than it was even twenty years ago. Even with the pages of computer code, I still
enjoyed re-reading Jurassic Park.
However, I don’t plan on including any Java code in any of my upcoming
books!
When fans read that you’re a full time novelist I’m
sure some of them don’t realize how much hard work goes into birthing a book. What’s
your writing schedule like?
I generally wake up in the
morning and exercise to get the blood flowing.
Once I feel like I am wide- awake, I start writing new material for two
to four hours. When I can feel myself
slip into that zone where you are writing junk, I force myself to stop writing
new material for the day. I find if I
take an hour break, I can spend the afternoon editing without any problem. Writing and editing, at least for me, seem to
use a different part of the brain.
I also never work on more
than one book at a time. I find the
single-minded focus helps me complete my books more quickly. I also find it helps me avoid “bleeding”
emotions and voices from one book into another.
You’re pretty “socially” connected. How much time do
you spend on your sites? Is it fun or a necessary evil for you?
I love spending time with
people. I have a huge number of friends
here in Seattle from my technology career, and I try to connect with them each
week. I also have a lot of friends in
the athletic outdoor community (rock climbing, mountain biking, etc.)
However, I have to admit
that the on-line interactions are tougher for me on some days. It’s probably a generational thing in that it
is much more natural for me to interact with someone face-to-face or over the
phone. Unfortunately, face-to-face
interactions just aren’t an effective way to reach the large number of readers
needed to build a solid fan base.
Jerry it says you enjoy outdoor activities on your
down time. What’s the most “Xtreme” thing you’ve ever done?
This will count as both
extreme and stupid. As I mentioned
earlier, I love mountain biking.
Whistler, north of Vancouver, Canada, is probably the premier downhill
mountain biking destination in North America.
During my last trip there, I crashed so hard that I couldn’t remember my
children’s names for eight hours. I
recovered fully in a week, but I will say that concussions are a bigger deal
than most people think. I really feel
for professional football players and boxers who get the types of serial
concussions that lead to long-term problems.
What’s the last novel you read that you’ve recommended
to friends?
I tend to recommend a few,
depending on their interests.
For thrillers, I recommend
the Jack Reacher books by Lee Childs to all of my friends. There are admittedly straight-up pulp fiction
with simple storylines that are common across all books in the series. Even so, I love them! I wish the movie adaptation wasn’t so poorly
done.
I also recommend the Wool
trilogy (Wool, Shift, Dust) for those who like techno-thrillers.
On the non-fiction front,
everyone in America should read Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Work Week. It was instrumental in me making the switch
from a sixty hour a week consulting job to writing. What a great book!
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me
today.
Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you. I enjoyed it!
Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you. I enjoyed it!
Praise for Sapient:
“A timely, winning adventure that brings up
serious questions about technology and medical research.”
– Reviewed by
Kirkus
“The plot is fast-paced, thought provoking, funny at times, and kept
me reading to find out what would happen next. I think that the YA audience
will love it.” - Reviewed by Dana Bjornstad
"Sapient by Jerry Kaczmarowski is an intense, action-packed,
suspenseful and thrilling read! The storyline is definitely unique and pulls
readers in right away… The book was fast-paced, flowed nicely and provided a
thought provoking message. I believe Sapient will really make readers wonder
just how far and to what lengths they would go to save someone they love.”
- Reviewed by Charity Tober for Readers'
Favorite
“I loved this story and I especially liked its animal characters -
Einstein the lab rat with the keen sense of humor and Bear, the one-eyed German
Shepherd dog who seems to always be the butt of Einstein's jokes. And the human
characters aren't half bad either.” - Reviewed by Cheryl Stout
“A timeless,
engrossing and perfectly-paced techno thriller about the promise – and fear –
of modern medical science.” - Reviewed by Best Thrillers
About Jerry Kaczmarowski:
Jerry Kaczmarowski lives in Seattle with
his family. He writes techno-thrillers that explore the benefits and
dangers of mankind's scientific advancement. His first book, Moon Rising, was
released in June 2014. His second book, Sapient,
was published in April 2015.
Jerry spent the first twenty years of his
professional life in the consulting industry on the West Coast. His
fascination with technology is matched only by his love of stories.
His books intertwine action with a keen insight into how technology will shape
our lives in the coming years.
A collection of cards and stationary
Click HERE for the buy page
That sounds really good. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteHi Erin, thanks for the comment, Good Luck and thanks for the visit :)
DeleteThe thought of animal intelligence is rather frightening! My puppies are already demanding enough without being able to talk and read, I couldn't imagine if they could! This sounds truly like a fascinating read. Thanks so much for sharing it with us and as always, wonderful interview Debbie!
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a lovely weekend!!
Ali, My friend you are as always too kind with your words.
Deletexo
I hope you have a wonderful weekend too!
Wow this sounds intense Debbie, thanks for sharing it. I enjoyed the interview.
ReplyDeleteYour Welcome Kim
Delete