Apoidea... When the bees were wiped out, famine and war threatened and mankind faced the abyss. But then came salvation, in the form of the cyber bee. Fully functional, fully capable of replacing its extinct predecessor. Humanity would survive. But suddenly, the bees are not behaving the way they should. Something is wrong... Apoidea... A fast paced, intelligent and frighteningly contemporary science fiction thriller from Douglas Thompson, author of Ultrameta and Sylvow. Praise for Douglas Thompson... ""Thompson writes with the assurance of someone completely in control of his material..."" Pete Tennant, Black Static magazine ""Thompson uses the tropes of the fantastic in unique and compelling ways while at the same time creating vivid and fully realized protagonists..."" Mike O'Driscoll, The Fix Online ""Thompson has certainly shown he is a name to watch."" Ian Sales, Interzone Magazine
Apoidea
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By R A M Leitch
Format:Paperback
Like its immediate predecessor, 'Sylvow', 'Apoidea' has at its centre the theme of the battle between nature and ever more profligate mankind. Nature will always win, but offers benevolent and unpredictable terms of surrender.
'Apoidea' demonstrates that Douglas Thompson is not only a skilled storyteller, but a versatile one.
Gone is the cosy "circle of friends" whimsicality of "Sylvow". 'Apoidea' is harder-edged with enough fast-paced intrigue, fear, loathing, and explicit violence to satisfy even a Lee Child fan.
It is Thompson's tightest and most focused work to date, but the suspense and intrigue are seasoned with those numerous grains of polymathic knowledge which make Thompson's work so compelling and deserving of a far larger readership.
'Apoidea' demonstrates that Douglas Thompson is not only a skilled storyteller, but a versatile one.
Gone is the cosy "circle of friends" whimsicality of "Sylvow". 'Apoidea' is harder-edged with enough fast-paced intrigue, fear, loathing, and explicit violence to satisfy even a Lee Child fan.
It is Thompson's tightest and most focused work to date, but the suspense and intrigue are seasoned with those numerous grains of polymathic knowledge which make Thompson's work so compelling and deserving of a far larger readership.
Format:Paperback
A while ago I read Douglas Thompson's Sylvow and liked it very much, because it was a bit different kind of a science fiction book. Apoidea is also a different kind of a book, but it isn't as weird a book as Sylvow (Apoidea is more accessible and much easier to read than Sylvow).
Before I write more about this book, I'll mention that I enjoyed reading it. It's great that The EXAGGERATED Press has decided to publish this book, because big publishers tend to avoid publishing this kind of intelligent "indie science fiction".
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Apoidea is a fascinating book about Gert Villers and a near future world without bees. Because all the bees died, they were replaced by specially designed robot bees, apoidroids. Pollination is now handled with robot bees. Gert is the inventor of robot bees and he has profound moral views about how his invention should be used to make mankind's life better and what shouldn't happen. He is a rich man, because he has earned a lot of money with his invention. Military is very interested in using the apoidroids for military purposes and other companies are interested in developing the apoirdroids further to take care of several things. Gert's life changes when Del Freemont, an ex-employee of the Apoidroid company, tries to control the bees with a virus and begins to change things. Gert thinks that Del is responsible for the new behaviour of the bees. He becomes a prisoner and he has to ponder several different things. He notices that it's difficult to trust certain people and his life changes completely...
The disapperance and death of the bees is an interesting and also challenging concept, because bees are vital to humankind's survival. We'd be in serious trouble if the bees were to vanish off the face of the Earth, because bees take care of crop pollination etc. Albert Einstein has said that human race would last only four years in a world without bees and that's undoubtedly true, because the survival of human race is directly linked to the survival of bees.
Apoidea is basically a near future science fiction thriller, but in my opinion it's also much more than that. It's a story about one man's life, his choices and his ideas. It's interesting that Gert compares himself to great historical figures and worries about what's going to happen when things go wrong and how his robot bees are going to be used to different purposes. Douglas Thompson gives the reader several hints about what might happen when good creations fall into wrong hands and they're used to evil purposes.
Douglas Thompson has clearly spent a lot of time gathering information about bees and technology before writing this book. His research has paid off, because Apoidea is intelligent fiction for adults. Although Apoidea is a short book, it's full of good fiction and that's why it's almost possible to call it "high literature".
The author writes sophisticatedly about the new inventions and handles philosophical elements in a perfect way without preaching. He also writes fluently about Gert's family life and his relationship to his wife, daughter and son. The conversations between Gert and Marielle (Gert's wife) and Gert's conversations with the robot bees are interesting. During the course of the book these and other conversations reveal how Gert thinks and feels about several things.
I noticed that the author mentioned two major software companies, Lemon and Winterra, in this book. They were led by Steve Dobs and Bill Yates. These names were amusing, because I'm sure that everybody knows where they come from.
After reading Sylvow and Apoidea I can say that Douglas Thompson has his own literary voice. In my opionion Douglas Thompson is an author to watch, because he writes fascinating and intelligent science fiction books.
Apoidea is a fast-paced, exciting and thought-provoking science fiction book, which will be of interest to several fans of quality science fiction. It's a fine example of an intelligent and interesting near future science fiction book, because the author writes philosophically about politics and technology.
Before I write more about this book, I'll mention that I enjoyed reading it. It's great that The EXAGGERATED Press has decided to publish this book, because big publishers tend to avoid publishing this kind of intelligent "indie science fiction".
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Apoidea is a fascinating book about Gert Villers and a near future world without bees. Because all the bees died, they were replaced by specially designed robot bees, apoidroids. Pollination is now handled with robot bees. Gert is the inventor of robot bees and he has profound moral views about how his invention should be used to make mankind's life better and what shouldn't happen. He is a rich man, because he has earned a lot of money with his invention. Military is very interested in using the apoidroids for military purposes and other companies are interested in developing the apoirdroids further to take care of several things. Gert's life changes when Del Freemont, an ex-employee of the Apoidroid company, tries to control the bees with a virus and begins to change things. Gert thinks that Del is responsible for the new behaviour of the bees. He becomes a prisoner and he has to ponder several different things. He notices that it's difficult to trust certain people and his life changes completely...
The disapperance and death of the bees is an interesting and also challenging concept, because bees are vital to humankind's survival. We'd be in serious trouble if the bees were to vanish off the face of the Earth, because bees take care of crop pollination etc. Albert Einstein has said that human race would last only four years in a world without bees and that's undoubtedly true, because the survival of human race is directly linked to the survival of bees.
Apoidea is basically a near future science fiction thriller, but in my opinion it's also much more than that. It's a story about one man's life, his choices and his ideas. It's interesting that Gert compares himself to great historical figures and worries about what's going to happen when things go wrong and how his robot bees are going to be used to different purposes. Douglas Thompson gives the reader several hints about what might happen when good creations fall into wrong hands and they're used to evil purposes.
Douglas Thompson has clearly spent a lot of time gathering information about bees and technology before writing this book. His research has paid off, because Apoidea is intelligent fiction for adults. Although Apoidea is a short book, it's full of good fiction and that's why it's almost possible to call it "high literature".
The author writes sophisticatedly about the new inventions and handles philosophical elements in a perfect way without preaching. He also writes fluently about Gert's family life and his relationship to his wife, daughter and son. The conversations between Gert and Marielle (Gert's wife) and Gert's conversations with the robot bees are interesting. During the course of the book these and other conversations reveal how Gert thinks and feels about several things.
I noticed that the author mentioned two major software companies, Lemon and Winterra, in this book. They were led by Steve Dobs and Bill Yates. These names were amusing, because I'm sure that everybody knows where they come from.
After reading Sylvow and Apoidea I can say that Douglas Thompson has his own literary voice. In my opionion Douglas Thompson is an author to watch, because he writes fascinating and intelligent science fiction books.
Apoidea is a fast-paced, exciting and thought-provoking science fiction book, which will be of interest to several fans of quality science fiction. It's a fine example of an intelligent and interesting near future science fiction book, because the author writes philosophically about politics and technology.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting and thought-provoking science fiction book
6 Feb 2012
By "Seregil of Rhiminee"
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
A while ago I read Douglas Thompson's Sylvow and liked it very much, because it was a bit different kind of a science fiction book. Apoidea is also a different kind of a book, but it isn't as weird a book as Sylvow (Apoidea is more accessible and much easier to read than Sylvow).
Before I write more about this book, I'll mention that I enjoyed reading it. It's great that The EXAGGERATED Press has decided to publish this book, because big publishers tend to avoid publishing this kind of intelligent "indie science fiction".
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Apoidea is a fascinating book about Gert Villers and a near future world without bees. Because all the bees died, they were replaced by specially designed robot bees, apoidroids. Pollination is now handled with robot bees. Gert is the inventor of robot bees and he has profound moral views about how his invention should be used to make mankind's life better and what shouldn't happen. He is a rich man, because he has earned a lot of money with his invention. Military is very interested in using the apoidroids for military purposes and other companies are interested in developing the apoirdroids further to take care of several things. Gert's life changes when Del Freemont, an ex-employee of the Apoidroid company, tries to control the bees with a virus and begins to change things. Gert thinks that Del is responsible for the new behaviour of the bees. He becomes a prisoner and he has to ponder several different things. He notices that it's difficult to trust certain people and his life changes completely...
The disapperance and death of the bees is an interesting and also challenging concept, because bees are vital to humankind's survival. We'd be in serious trouble if the bees were to vanish off the face of the Earth, because bees take care of crop pollination etc. Albert Einstein has said that human race would last only four years in a world without bees and that's undoubtedly true, because the survival of human race is directly linked to the survival of bees.
Apoidea is basically a near future science fiction thriller, but in my opinion it's also much more than that. It's a story about one man's life, his choices and his ideas. It's interesting that Gert compares himself to great historical figures and worries about what's going to happen when things go wrong and how his robot bees are going to be used to different purposes. Douglas Thompson gives the reader several hints about what might happen when good creations fall into wrong hands and they're used to evil purposes.
Douglas Thompson has clearly spent a lot of time gathering information about bees and technology before writing this book. His research has paid off, because Apoidea is intelligent fiction for adults. Although Apoidea is a short book, it's full of good fiction and that's why it's almost possible to call it "high literature".
The author writes sophisticatedly about the new inventions and handles philosophical elements in a perfect way without preaching. He also writes fluently about Gert's family life and his relationship to his wife, daughter and son. The conversations between Gert and Marielle (Gert's wife) and Gert's conversations with the robot bees are interesting. During the course of the book these and other conversations reveal how Gert thinks and feels about several things.
I noticed that the author mentioned two major software companies, Lemon and Winterra, in this book. They were led by Steve Dobs and Bill Yates. These names were amusing, because I'm sure that everybody knows where they come from.
After reading Sylvow and Apoidea I can say that Douglas Thompson has his own literary voice. In my opionion Douglas Thompson is an author to watch, because he writes fascinating and intelligent science fiction books.
Apoidea is a fast-paced, exciting and thought-provoking science fiction book, which will be of interest to several fans of quality science fiction. It's a fine example of an intelligent and interesting near future science fiction book, because the author writes philosophically about politics and technology.
Before I write more about this book, I'll mention that I enjoyed reading it. It's great that The EXAGGERATED Press has decided to publish this book, because big publishers tend to avoid publishing this kind of intelligent "indie science fiction".
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Apoidea is a fascinating book about Gert Villers and a near future world without bees. Because all the bees died, they were replaced by specially designed robot bees, apoidroids. Pollination is now handled with robot bees. Gert is the inventor of robot bees and he has profound moral views about how his invention should be used to make mankind's life better and what shouldn't happen. He is a rich man, because he has earned a lot of money with his invention. Military is very interested in using the apoidroids for military purposes and other companies are interested in developing the apoirdroids further to take care of several things. Gert's life changes when Del Freemont, an ex-employee of the Apoidroid company, tries to control the bees with a virus and begins to change things. Gert thinks that Del is responsible for the new behaviour of the bees. He becomes a prisoner and he has to ponder several different things. He notices that it's difficult to trust certain people and his life changes completely...
The disapperance and death of the bees is an interesting and also challenging concept, because bees are vital to humankind's survival. We'd be in serious trouble if the bees were to vanish off the face of the Earth, because bees take care of crop pollination etc. Albert Einstein has said that human race would last only four years in a world without bees and that's undoubtedly true, because the survival of human race is directly linked to the survival of bees.
Apoidea is basically a near future science fiction thriller, but in my opinion it's also much more than that. It's a story about one man's life, his choices and his ideas. It's interesting that Gert compares himself to great historical figures and worries about what's going to happen when things go wrong and how his robot bees are going to be used to different purposes. Douglas Thompson gives the reader several hints about what might happen when good creations fall into wrong hands and they're used to evil purposes.
Douglas Thompson has clearly spent a lot of time gathering information about bees and technology before writing this book. His research has paid off, because Apoidea is intelligent fiction for adults. Although Apoidea is a short book, it's full of good fiction and that's why it's almost possible to call it "high literature".
The author writes sophisticatedly about the new inventions and handles philosophical elements in a perfect way without preaching. He also writes fluently about Gert's family life and his relationship to his wife, daughter and son. The conversations between Gert and Marielle (Gert's wife) and Gert's conversations with the robot bees are interesting. During the course of the book these and other conversations reveal how Gert thinks and feels about several things.
I noticed that the author mentioned two major software companies, Lemon and Winterra, in this book. They were led by Steve Dobs and Bill Yates. These names were amusing, because I'm sure that everybody knows where they come from.
After reading Sylvow and Apoidea I can say that Douglas Thompson has his own literary voice. In my opionion Douglas Thompson is an author to watch, because he writes fascinating and intelligent science fiction books.
Apoidea is a fast-paced, exciting and thought-provoking science fiction book, which will be of interest to several fans of quality science fiction. It's a fine example of an intelligent and interesting near future science fiction book, because the author writes philosophically about politics and technology.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reminds me of Crichton
25 Jun 2012
By Jeani Rector
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I have to say right off the bat that Douglas Thompson's Apoidea is my kind of book. This is a "thinking person's" thriller along the lines of a Michael Crichton novel. Yes, Apoidea is good enough to be compared to Crichton. That is because Thompson's book contains plausible science to back up the fiction, giving it a realistic, "it could happen" feel.
The only thing I can say I didn't like was how the dialogue was in italics and not quotation marks, but I got used to that right away. If you can overlook that, this is a great read.
It is a fact that over the world, honeybee hives are being affected by colony collapse disorder--a phenomenon that surfaced in U.S. honeybee colonies in 2006--where worker bees vanish en masse. Some studies have suggested that an acute paralysis virus (IAPV), first identified in 2002, may be contributing to the bees' demise.
It is also a fact that Albert Einstein said, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left," as quoted by Thompson at the beginning of Chapter One.
Douglas Thompson has brilliantly taken facts and spun them into a fast-paced work of fiction involving the FBI, politics, intrigue, high tech, and a chase across the American border into a Mexican cave. There is humor in the book, such as Steve Dobs of Lemon (a sour version of Apple) and Bill Yates of Winterra (a cold version of Windows). The funniest is President Palin, but that one is perhaps not so humorous when you remember that the USA elected George W. Bush....twice.
But the main attraction to Apoidea is the excitement Thompson's talent generates. Gert Villers is an American scientist who is well-paid for his invention of robotic bees. His intentions are noble; he really does want to literally save the world with the artificial pollinators. He programs into the drones the hive mentality, and tries to create a version as close to the real thing as possible. Except perhaps his version is a bit smarter than the average bee.
In comes the government. Imagine if the United States has the power of being the only ones who possess these artificial bees. Imagine if America is able to give the crop-saving pollinators to her allies and deny them to her enemies. So naturally "President Palin" is not open to the idea that Gert Villers wants his invention to be free to everybody. So she sends the CIA and the FBI after him.
But he escapes. And the bees follow him. That's when the chase to Mexico begins.
Apoidea is a very satisfying techno-thriller with believable characters and an even more believable plot. It twists and turns into one surprise after another, relentless in its grip it has on the reader. On top of all that, there are ethical questions and soul searching that touches the heart. The pace and timing of the plotlines are nearly perfect.
I rarely rave about a book like I am doing with this one. But as I said, Apoidea is my kind of book. If you like Michael Crichton novels, I'll bet Apoidea is your kind of book too.
The only thing I can say I didn't like was how the dialogue was in italics and not quotation marks, but I got used to that right away. If you can overlook that, this is a great read.
It is a fact that over the world, honeybee hives are being affected by colony collapse disorder--a phenomenon that surfaced in U.S. honeybee colonies in 2006--where worker bees vanish en masse. Some studies have suggested that an acute paralysis virus (IAPV), first identified in 2002, may be contributing to the bees' demise.
It is also a fact that Albert Einstein said, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left," as quoted by Thompson at the beginning of Chapter One.
Douglas Thompson has brilliantly taken facts and spun them into a fast-paced work of fiction involving the FBI, politics, intrigue, high tech, and a chase across the American border into a Mexican cave. There is humor in the book, such as Steve Dobs of Lemon (a sour version of Apple) and Bill Yates of Winterra (a cold version of Windows). The funniest is President Palin, but that one is perhaps not so humorous when you remember that the USA elected George W. Bush....twice.
But the main attraction to Apoidea is the excitement Thompson's talent generates. Gert Villers is an American scientist who is well-paid for his invention of robotic bees. His intentions are noble; he really does want to literally save the world with the artificial pollinators. He programs into the drones the hive mentality, and tries to create a version as close to the real thing as possible. Except perhaps his version is a bit smarter than the average bee.
In comes the government. Imagine if the United States has the power of being the only ones who possess these artificial bees. Imagine if America is able to give the crop-saving pollinators to her allies and deny them to her enemies. So naturally "President Palin" is not open to the idea that Gert Villers wants his invention to be free to everybody. So she sends the CIA and the FBI after him.
But he escapes. And the bees follow him. That's when the chase to Mexico begins.
Apoidea is a very satisfying techno-thriller with believable characters and an even more believable plot. It twists and turns into one surprise after another, relentless in its grip it has on the reader. On top of all that, there are ethical questions and soul searching that touches the heart. The pace and timing of the plotlines are nearly perfect.
I rarely rave about a book like I am doing with this one. But as I said, Apoidea is my kind of book. If you like Michael Crichton novels, I'll bet Apoidea is your kind of book too.
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