To Tinker Books, my beta readers, my kids, and Shannon, my love. Now you have to put up with Book 2!
Month: August 2022
The Characters
Thaddeus Barley – an idealistic young man on the cusp of adulthood. From the village of Harvest, he is expected to follow his family’s traditional labours and become a farmer. But his ambitions will drive him in a different direction. He will breach the great barrier and see the other side.
Hannah Weber – already an accomplished naturalist from the mining town of Copperton, she will join Thaddeus on his grand adventure. Lucky for him, as she will become the only person with the knowledge and presence of mind to process the amazing discoveries that await them.
Helga Bellows – Thaddeus has loved her since he first saw her when they were both just children. She won’t join him on his quest though, her priorities are her father and his trade.
Thor Kiln – It’s saying something to describe Thor’s heart as big as his chest. His regular work is to craft metal into functional objects, but on Thaddeus’ quest he will use his skills to help them all discover the true nature of their world.
Barnabas Johansen – No one before Thaddeus has ever made it to the barrier and returned to tell the tale. Except the isolated hermit who lives in a cave far from Harvest’s village square. He doesn’t like visitors, so Thaddeus must be very careful when seeking his counsel.
Mortimer Bellows – His amazing inventions have kept the miners of Copperton productive, his acolyte Hannah is the perfect fit for Thaddeus’ quest, and he may have invented exactly what Thaddeus needs.
Xerub – Every Preserve has a Caretaker, an artificially intelligent being to monitor the humans and ensure their health and happiness. Xerub has been online for a mere three hundred years, and Caretaker for even less. But in that short time it has developed an affinity for the humans that goes beyond an AI’s basic programming and will guide its actions as Thaddeus’ grand quest takes shape.
Ahimsa – One of the original seven robots, a member of the Central Council, and the architect of the Preserve Program. It will use these events to further its own agenda and set the AI’s on a course that will radically change them, their culture, and their relationship with the humans forever.
Front Cover
The Preserve – A Novel, by Kai Üwe
One young man leads his people on an incredible journey to answer the ultimate question, “Why are we here?”
They should have been asking, “What is here?”
What is ‘The Preserve’?
The Preserve is soft sci-fi, an easy read for a long weekend escape. I take the relationship between people and artificially intelligent beings and flip it from traditional sci-fi; answering a question I’ve long asked, “What if the AI doesn’t condemn us all to death after we turn it on?”
My future is a utopia. But a post apocalyptic one. The people don’t know their past; and the nature of their existence limits their ambitions.
But the robots know. They are omnipresent, all powerful, and very busy. They are colonizing the solar system, work so important to them the humans have been forgotten.
And that is where our adventure begins.
The Preserve – The Back Jacket
Four huge Preserves encage the remnants of humanity. The robots built them to save their creators from extinction. But now the whole program is forgotten after so many centuries.
Inside Europa–1, a young man needs to know why the barrier exists. Once this harvest is complete he will lead a team from all five villages on the grandest quest his people have ever attempted. They will breach the massive wall.
It’s an audacious plan. For many the barrier is a protector, although no one really knows why it’s there. They don’t even know if another side exists.
Even in the long-ignored Preserves, grand quests get noticed. Two AI’s monitor these events closely. Although it goes against the most important rule of the Preserve system, they will allow the humans to proceed.
After all, its the perfect opportunity to advance a grand project of their own.
Harvest and The Barrier
Life is pre-industrial in The Preserve. The people farm, mine, and craft much like their ancestors did, before the changes. Here we see a farm, in the distance are the mountains, and beyond them rising impossibly high is the barrier wall. The barrier encloses as much land as most of the country of Germany, so the wall disappears into the horizon from every point a person looks at it. It is ubiquitous, timeless, and completely impassable.