Author: Varun Sayal
Synopsis:
Alien Invasion, Dark
Artificial Intelligence, Time-Travel, High-Tech Mythology, Djinn
Folklore, Telekinetics, and life-consuming Cosmic Entities are some
major themes in this book which has six tightly-knit, fast-paced Sci-Fi
stories.
1. Nark-astra, The Hell Weapon
The weapons he possesses make him the destroyer of worlds, and he burns for revenge. A high-tech take on ancient Indian mythology.
The weapons he possesses make him the destroyer of worlds, and he burns for revenge. A high-tech take on ancient Indian mythology.
2. Death by Crowd
The dark desires of the masses; darknet websites fueled by a crypto-currency. What lurks in the background – an advanced artificial intelligence?
3. Genie
He rubbed a lamp alright, but what he got was the shock of his life. An entirely sci-fi take on the djinn myth.
4. Time Crawlers
There are individuals who existing in multiple time periods at once, and there are those who know about them….
5. Eclipse
No attacks, no blood-shed, yet there was an invasion and a conquest. Who are these shapeshifter aliens being hounded by an eclipse?
6. The Cave
The fate of an advanced imperial race hangs in balance as a dark celestial entity meets a legendary protector.
I received an ecopy of this book from its author in exchange of an honest review.
I love sci-fi, you all know that, but I'm not a big fan of short stories. I'm more of a novel person usually. However, reading the Time Crawlers I wondered at the colourfulness that was its collection's own because of the fact it was a short story collection. The format gave the author a chance to introduce many of his fascinating ideas in a separated, yet somewhat interlinked fashion.
If you take a look at the synopsis, you'll see a short summary of each story. They are thought-provoking on their own, but once you read them you cannot help but look for the common points. So there are aliens on Earth, so they look like us. Did they come recently, or were they here before us? Can we be aliens without knowing it? Are they part of the government? Are they part of our mythologies? Are they here with malicious intent or to help? Do they own time?
You don't have to believe in aliens or believe what is stated on these pages to find this book fun to read. These are purely theoretical sci-fi tales that play around with 'what if' questions. How would humanity react in certain situations when their survival is at stake? What would a human wish if they had a chance to meet a djinn?
I loved the theories about time and how this species – time crawlers – can exist at more places and times simultaneously – the title story was one of my favourites. The high-tech gadgets were also interesting despite the fact that most of them were weapons of mass destruction. I wouldn't want them to be invented in real life but it was fascinating to read about them.
Death by Crowd is not a story for the faint-hearted and the saddest thing is, that was the most realistic one out of all the tales. I hope humanity won't come to that; paying to watch other people die live, but it's enough to look back to the Roman gladiator games to realize we've been there before...
I certainly recommend this little collection of absorbing ideas, I enjoyed reading it a lot.
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