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Books
by Howard S. Smith
Illustrated by Kathy Harestad
408 pp. 6 x 9 TRADE PAPERBACK SRP US$17.95
ISBN 9781894689069
Technothriller. Japanese detective stumbles onto deployment of military robots. Cutting-edge technology. Fast read.
“Innovative, fast-paced, and superbly written, this I,robot is honestly better than both of those stories [Isaac Asimov’s book or Will Smith’s movie] put together...
I,robot is a mesmerizing read with memorable characters, great dialogue, believable technology, and wonderful action."
March/April 2008 ForeWord Magazine
"I, robot is deftly written and will grab you from first page to last while holding links to Asimov's tale."
May 2008 Midwest Book Review Small Press Bookwatch
"Deliberately drawing on the title of the late Isaac Asimov's classic work of robot-centered literature (I, Robot ), Smith brings robots into the 21st century, incorporating today's technology while retaining the spirit of Asimov's seminal world. As both homage and a sf adventure, this title belongs in most libraries."
School Library Journal
Note: The 'used or new' discounted books sold through amazon affiliates are usually ARCs
of I,robot printed nearly a year before the actual I,robot -- a very different book. Please only purchase directly from amazon.com (or as a new book from other booksellers)or else verify that
the I,robot you are purchasing has
a metallic cover.
ISBN 978-1-894689-10-6 TRADE PAPERBACK
6 x 9 • 320PP • FICTION • SRP US$ 17.95
This cover is very different than covers of most fiction books you will see. What's special about it?
EXCERPT
Kidnapped by a ruthless billionaire for whom he has refused to perform an unethical operation, Yale Medical School's senior heart surgeon Athan Carras has been forced to work like a field slave on a Haitian plantation. One night, he escapes and, dressed in rags, struggles across a dark pasture...
He turned his head to look from the corner of one eye. Trees, he thought, and where there are trees and cattle there should be a farm. He went forward faster now and before too long he became aware of something that was definitely man-made stretching off to either side of him. Hands outstretched before him, he found a chain-link fence, and when he reached up it was taller than he was.
"Yes!" he said, under his breath. A fence of this quality meant that the farm it surrounded was no mere hovel next to a half-acre vegetable patch. This was the home of a relatively rich Haitian; chances were good it would contain some way of communicating with the world -- a radio or radiophone. Carras need only find the gate and call out to be admitted.
He followed the fence to his right. It went on a long way and his hopes rose higher. Someone with a farmhouse and outbuildings this extensive might even have a satellite phone.
The fence finally turned a corner. Here the ground outside was no longer pasture. With his peripheral vision, Carras saw a wide dark strip. A road, he thought, but when he went to investigate he found it was not asphalt but hard-packed soil running straight in either direction. Not far off there was a gray shape where the dark strip ended.
It was strange that he could see that far, Carras thought. When he turned back toward the fence, looking straight on, he could almost make it out. He looked up at the sky and saw a lightening of the darkness down at the far end of the earthen road where it cut between more trees.
The moon, he thought and even as he formed the words in his mind, the first yellowy sliver of light rose almost at the end of the road. No, not a road -- it's an airstrip. When he looked to the crude runway's other end he saw that the gray object was the light plane he had seen the day before.
This was the farm he'd hypothesized. Dr. Athan Carras had come back to civilization.
He decided to wait until the moon was well up then search for a gate in the fence. He watched as the glowing orb rose sedately into the sky, its early gold becoming first silver then white as it climbed. When it was completely clear of the horizon, Carras looked to the fence and noticed that it was topped along its entire length with razor wire.
"That's funny," he said aloud and the sound of his voice prompted a deep wuff! from somewhere beyond the fence. The first bark was followed by another, then other dogs took up the alarm. There were many of them, and they sounded big and not friendly.
A light came on somewhere through the trees beyond the fence -- a bright light, the kind that nervous homeowners install on their garages and front walks in high crime areas. Another light came on, and now the dogs were going crazy.
He heard a door open then someone was yelling at the animals. The volume of the canine riot dropped, and Carras was about to call out, /"Au secours!"/ the French for help, when he realized that the voices he was hearing were not French or Haitian Kreyol. They were Spanish.
His Spanish was rusty. He knew Ayudame, por favor was the same as au secours and he was going to try that when some part of him finally made the connection: Spanish voices; razor wire; vicious dogs; an airstrip and a small plane out in the middle of nowhere.
This was no farm. This was a way station on the cocaine highway from Colombia across the Caribbean to America. The shouting men would not help him contact the authorities. They would shoot him and feed him to the monsters who were baying for his blood.
Carras ran for the only cover he could see -- the plane. He raced around its tail which stood as tall as he was and froze there, gasping for breath and listening. He heard more Spanish and the sound of metal ringing against metal, followed by the skitter of clawed paws on hard earth.
They had let the dogs out.
Carras had once seen a rabbit run down by a dog. The prey had had a fifty foot lead but the pursuer, one of those big yellow mongrels that make lovable pets, closed the gap in seconds. Though the rabbit jinked and dodged, the dog ran it down, sank its long fangs into the doomed animal's hindquarters and with a blur of head shakes tore the rabbit almost in half. When the teeth sank in, the victim let loose a high-pitched shriek that had pierced Carras's heart. He'd had no idea rabbits could scream.
In peak condition and wearing two hundred dollar Nikes, Carras knew he could not have outrun a pack of dogs. Exhausted and with rags on his feet, the best he could hope for was that the men would shoot him before the animals could do much damage.
He heard a skreek of unoiled hinges as the gate opened. The dogs had stopped barking. They were making an eager gobbling sound, their claws clicking and scrabbling on the hard pack. Their noses had told them where he was. They were coming.
Technothriller. A top heart surgeon, kidnapped, seduced, threatened with an unspeakable loss -- all to make him perform a forbidden procedure. Cutting-edge technology. Fast read.
John A. Elefteriades, M.D. is Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Yale University. He is author of House Officer Guide to ICU Care , Your Heart: An Owner's Guide , Acute Aortic Disease , and The Women's Heart: An Owner's Guide
Pulitzer Prize awarded to Wall Street Journal series highlighting Dr. Elefteriades' research.
"Heart-rending, intriguing medical mystery. The most difficult challenges in medical care are not the result of technical advances, they are the result of the intense human commitments and moral dilemmas that these advances make possible." --Harold W. Baillie,
Provost, University of Scranton
"TRANSPLANT is a compulsive pleasure.
Brilliant heart surgeon Athan Carras is in midlife
crisis and is tempted by a ruthless billionaire to do
the unthinkable. Seduction becomes coersion in this
fast-paced thriller that cuts to core questions of ethics
in modern medicine."
-- Robert Picardo
Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) also known as The Doctor, Star Trek: Voyager
(c) http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Image:TheDoctor.jpg
"A gripping tale of violence and intrigue set within the world of transplant
surgery, Dr. Elefteriades makes abstract ethical questions about life and death
bristle with urgency. This is a skilled and accurate depiction of heart
transplant and a horrifying scenario that could occur when money and power join
forces."
Mariell Jessup MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Heart Failure/Transplant program
University of Pennsylvania
Although it's fiction, the ethical issues in this novel are real. ..John Elefteriades, M.D., the chief of cardiac surgery at Yale University, explores one such issue in a new novel, "Transplant." The story unfolds around a wealthy businessman whose dying son needs a heart transplant. If money were no object, where would you draw the line in acquiring lifesaving medical treatment for a loved one?
USA Weekend, April 26, 2009 -- Tedd Mitchell, M.D.
What would happen if an individual wanted to donate an organ that wasn't paired?
Connecticut Post, May 3, 2009 -- Joe Meyers
"I read Transplant, and it’s just terrific—a page-turning thriller with compelling characters, vivid medical science, tough ethical questions, and emotional heft!"
James Bundy
Dean of the Yale School of Drama
April 14 2009 -- Dr. John Elefteriades will be on the Faith Middleton Show, WNPR radio in Connecticut discussing his new book Transplant
April 19 2009 -- Dr. John Elefteriades and his new book Transplant will be featured in the actual USA Weekend magazine reaching 50 million readers
April 20-22 -- Dr. John Elefteriades' Transplant will be the IBPA booth at the London Book Fair. Come by to examine the book and to meet Dr. John Elefteriades himself!!
April 26 2009 - Ad in New York Times Book Review
April 27, interview on Vinnie&Company, Sirius Satellite Radio national morning show
April 27, booksigning at Partners&Crime Booksellers in Manhattan
(click on the poster to download a high resolution printable poster)
May 2009 -- A feature on Transplant will run in the May 2009 issue of The Big Thrill, the online newsletter of The International Thriller Writers Association
May 7, 2009 -- RJ Julia Independent Booksellers in Madison, CT -- World-renowned doctor and chief of cardiac surgery at Yale University Dr. John Elefteriades presents Transplant, his fiction debut and a fast paced medical thriller that will make your heart stop.
May 28-31 -- Dr. John Elefteriades' Transplant will be the IBPA booth #2959 at BEA 2009. Come by to examine the book and to meet Dr. John Elefteriades himself!!
SATURDAY 3:30 - 4:30 at BEA 2009 -- Go to Table 20 in the Autographing Area to meet Dr. Elefteriades in person and to get a signed copy of Transplant.
The Dr. Mehmet Oz Show
July 10 8:45- 9:15 AM -- Dr. John Elefteriades and his new book Transplant will be featured on Dr. Oz' nationally syndicated radio show.
Review in Cardiology 2009;114:179
July 18, 2009 -- Dr. John Elefteriades will be at the Barnes and Noble, Yale Bookstore, 77 Broadway in New Haven on July 18 at 1:00PM. Tel. no: 203-787-5555.
January 2010 - Title pending
December 2010 - Howard S. Smith's I,robot 2
December 2010 - Howard S. Smith`s I,robot2
Technothriller. Inspector Suzuki stops the rollout of military robots into Africa — almost!
by Howard S. Smith
Illustrated by Kathy Harestad
390 pp. 6 x 9 TRADE PAPERBACK SRP US$17.95
ISBN 9781894689083
Book reviews:
ForeWord Magazine: March/April 2008 issue
“...Innovative, fast-paced, and superbly written, this I,robot is honestly better than both of those stories [Isaac Asimov’s book or Will Smith’s movie] put together.
The premise could easily have been pulled from tomorrow’s headlines. Japan is threatened by an increasingly hostile North Korean regime that sinks its ships, captures its sailors, and even fires missiles through its airspace, yet finds itself constitutionally prohibited from developing offensive weapons that many in the military feel it needs to properly defend itself. Besieged by terrorists and disdained by most of the rest of the world, Israel is also in desperate straits. Losing a slow war of attrition with their numerous enemies, the Israelis make a secret deal to trade tactical nuclear weapons and technology to the Japanese in exchange for a horde of artificially intelligent, combat-trained robots. Assigned to investigate the death of the owner of an electronics company that makes parts for the androids, police inspector Haruto Suzuki stumbles across the intrigue and gets caught up in the action.
Suzuki is fascinating. Obsessive-compulsive, he possesses the drive necessary to accomplish almost anything, yet this single-mindedness encumbers his life. He is overly conscientious and obsessed with rules. When officers in his unit accept free meals from local merchants, for instance, he turns them in, ruining their careers while unintentionally accelerating his own. He makes keibhu, full inspector, by age thirty-five, an extraordinary achievement. He ruthlessly hones his body, excelling in karate. When he meets Mara, a beautiful Israeli woman, he discovers the one thing he’d been missing all his life—true happiness. The challenge is that he is torn between his obsession to follow the “rules” and the consequences that such actions would bring upon his newfound love.
Author Howard S. Smith, an MIT-trained engineer, really did his homework. Cutting-edge technology is explained in ways that make it readily accessible to the lay-person. Harestad’s charts and illustrations help clarify things even further. Everything from nuclear technology to advanced robotics and artificial intelligence is artfully described, believable, and surprisingly exciting. The author even describes how a nuclear test detonation could realistically be hidden from satellite surveillance. There’s a thirteen-page bibliography at the end for readers more interested in the technology.
… I, robot is a mesmerizing read with memorable characters, great dialogue, believable technology, and wonderful action.”
Midwest Book Review Small Press Bookwatch May 2008 issue
"Nuclear North Korea extorts Japan, terrorist rockets rain down on Israel. "I, Robot" is not a retelling of Isaac Asimov's science fiction classic, but a different metaphor entirely, as Tokyo Police Inspector Suzuki Haruto rigidly follows his own internal rules - much like Asimov's own robots. Haruto stumbles upon a massive arms deal and ultimately falls into a situation, clouded by his love, where he will either save our world or destroy it. "I, Robot" is deftly written and will grab you from first page to last while holding links to Asimov's tale. "I, Robot" is highly recommended for science fiction fans and community library collections for the genre."
July 30, 2008 Journal Register Company
(22 daily newspapers in Greater Philadelphia, Michigan, Connecticut, Greater Cleveland, and in New York including www.CountyPressOnline.com, www.AllAroundPhilly.com, New Haven Register, Connecticut’s second-largest daily and The Oakland Press, the third-largest daily in metro Detroit -- 5 million plus readers.)
Click here for PDF of Journal Register's book review.
‘I, robot’ Is An Enthralling Technothriller
By Betty Lou Roselle
“This is the way of the world:
three days pass, you gaze up—
the blossom has fallen.”
- Oshima Ryota (1718-1787)
And so begins Howard
S. Smith’s riveting book, I,
robot. My first thought after
reading this book is
t h a t I w i s h e d h e h a d
named it something else so
it would not be confused
with Isaac Asimov’s collection
of nine robot-based
science fiction stories or
the movie which starred
Will Smith a few years
back.
While I found the movie
entertaining, Howard S.
Smith’s story is so much
more than that and should
appeal to everyone, not
just avid science fiction
readers like myself.
As the story begins, we
follow Japanese Police Inspector
Suzuki Haruto as he tries
to solve the murder of Co’en
Satoki, President of Autonomous
Products. Howard
S. Smith has created an intriguing
hero for us in Haruto,
an obsessive compulsive man
who lives very strictly by his
set of rules. His estranged
wife has left him (he was too
boring) and yet the adventure
he takes us on leaves us
on the edge of our seats.
Set in today’s political climate,
Haruto’s investigation
uncovers a technology transfer
between military factions
in Japan and Israel. Japan
wants Israel’s latest nuclear
bomb technology in exchange
for Japan’s advanced
warrior robots. Our own
knowledge of North Korea
and Islamist Terrorists
(called al-Haleeb in this story)
makes this frightening
scenario all too plausible.
During his efforts to gather
proof of this collaboration
between the
militaries of Israel
and Japan, Haruto
falls in love with the
lovely Israeli Mara.
Having lived her entire
life under the
terrorists’ violent attacks,
Mara welc
o m e s t h e r o b o t
warriors and questions
Haruto’s need
to follow the rules
and bring the military
plot out in the
open.
O t h e r t h a n a
short section dealing
with the technical
side of robotmaking
and nuclear
technology
(Smith is an expert
in robotics and artificial
intelligence), the riveting
characters and story
about what leads to the rise of
robots is even more engaging
than the robots themselves.
In the end, this fast-paced
technothriller reminds us that
we must strive to live in peace
for the survival of future generations
Library Journal 9/15/2008
"In a near future overshadowed by an escalating threat between North Korea and Japan, Tokyo Police Inspector Suzuki Haruto uncovers evidence of an arms deal between Japan and Israel-a group of Japanese military robots in return for Israeli nuclear weapons and the knowledge behind their testing. Haruto is a humanized robot who must follow his rigid internal code of behavior while at the same time preventing an international disaster and falling in love. Deliberately drawing on the title of the late Isaac Asimov's classic work of robot-centered literature (I, Robot ), Smith brings robots into the 21st century, incorporating today's technology while retaining the spirit of Asimov's seminal world. As both homage and a sf adventure, this title belongs in most libraries."
Independent Bookstore/ ARC Readers:
Elizabeth Schulenburg, owner Need More Shelves
Des Moines, IA
"Haruto Suzuki is a police inspector assigned to investigate the murder of a businessman in a Tokyo hotel. In the course of his investigation, he finds himself stowed away on a cruise ship, unwittingly witnessing a meeting between Japanese government and millitary officials and an Israeli army officer, discussing a shocking deal - trading nuclear bombs for intelligent robots.
Smith has updated the classic Asimov idea - the rise of intelligent robots - using cutting-edge science. He spends much of the beginning stages of the novel giving readers a mini lesson in artificial intelligence, using diagrams to illustrate much of the science. Smith is able to integrate the facts into the flow of the narrative well, so the story does not get bogged down in detail. Smith also includes an extensive bibliography at the end of the book to allow readers to delve further into many areas of interest examined by the novel.
In Haruto Suzuki, Smith has created an interesting, complex hero. Suzuki's fellow police officers call him "jinzouningen", which means an artifical human, and Smith draws many parallels between Suzuki and the robots he discovers. Suzuki's dependence on the rules he sets out for himself echoes the programmed rules the robots follow, as does his inability to allow intimacy His obsessive-compulsive tendencies increase the sense that he does not fit in with the people around him. Smith's secondary characters are not as vividly drawn, leaving the reader to wonder at times about the motivations behind some of their actions.
Smith has written an exciting, fast-paced novel with elements that feel at times startlingly familiar. I would expect science fiction fans to enjoy this novel as much as I did."
Bloggers:
Suzi Hough, Fashionista Piranha
San Jose, CA
Let me preface this review by stating that I have not read the book by Isaac Asimov with the same title, nor have I see the movie starring Will Smith, but thanks to our modern pop culture I am well aware of the Three Laws of Robotics. I’m sure you’re wondering, so I’ll answer the question now: Yes, Howard S. Smith intentionally made the name of his novel I, robot similar to Asimov’s I, Robot but wishes to emphasize to the reading public that in his title robot is not capitalized and is thus different.
Smith’s novel is a globetrotting adventure starring Haruto Suzuki, a Japanese police inspector investigating the mysterious death of a businessman staying in a Tokyo hotel. As he begins to piece together the events leading the victim’s death, he discovers a huge secret: Japan is trading fully functional, artificially intelligent robot soldiers to Israel in exchange for powerful nuclear weapons the strength of which have never been seen before. Haruto is horrified by the Japanese government’s secrecy as he recalls the parallels between Japan’s current actions and those that led to World War II. He decides he must bring the truth to the Japanese people, and follows the robots to Israel and Lebanon so that he can document every detail.
Haruto is a man haunted by rules. An undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive, he always tries to maintain a strictly regimented life both at home and at work. As a result, he’s unpopular among his colleagues after turning in half of his police station for petty bribery, and his marriage is falling apart because he cannot sacrifice, or even relax, his rules in order to please his wife. While the AI of the mechanical robots allows them to learn and grow throughout the novel, Haruto’s freeze him into rigid routines and earn him the nickname of “jinzouningen” – artificial human – from his associates.
Author Smith is clearly an intelligent guy with a story he’s very eager to tell. At times his extremely technical descriptions can be tiring, especially if you are not well versed in electronics and technical jargon. Based on your aptitude the many diagrams will be quite helpful or a hindrance. (Unfortunately for me, many of the complex graphs couldn’t help a bit.) Smith’s fondness of exclamation points is rather overenthusiastic and his preference for short, choppy chapters (each averages between one and four pages) can leave scenes feeling incomplete and stilted, but at other times there is so much going on, often very quickly, that the quick changes are well suited to the format. This is a tale with a very large cast, and it is unfortunate that many of them are never revisited after their initial scene, so the reader is left wondering “Whatever happened to…?” The story takes a while to get moving while the end feels hasty and disconnected from the rest of the plot.
Yet this action-packed technothriller is highly entertaining and a worthwhile read for any robot fan. I’m not a huge science fiction fan – I read it, but not exclusively or even all that often – but Smith’s vision for the origin of robotkind sucked me in. It is set in a very nearby future, and the delicate truces between the world’s governments strikes disturbingly close to home. An unexpected delight was Kathy Hanes’ accompanying images, a rare but pleasant find in any adult novel; it really is a pity that illustrations so rarely found in books now. A thick reference guide is available at the back of the book for unfamiliar terminology and unless you’re a scientific mastermind, a karate champion or a connoisseur of Japanese culture, you’re going to need it.
Smith clearly poured a lot of thought and love into I, robot, and this fast read should find its way onto shelves of sci-fi fans everywhere. Perhaps they’ll even place it right next to that ‘other’ robot book.
Review Bloggers:
Valkylee, LibraryThing
OK, this is not the type of book I normally read, but I enjoyed it. The short chapters, sort of broken into 'episodes' of sort, help to move the action along and the story is just interesting. Granted, the technical parts here and there weren't that interesting to me, but mostly because they were over my head. The story part was well-written and not only an adventure story, but also became a psychological study of the main character, Haruto.
Haruto Suzuki, an inspector in the Tokyo police force, is called upon to investigate the murder of a computer salesman, which leads him to a nuclear weapons for military robots deal between Israel and Japan. All his life, he has followed the rules - those legal guidelines and ones he makes for himself. In the course of his investigation, his rules keep him alive, but also cause him much pain.
Quite an interesting story of what the future of earth may look like - set mostly in the not-too-distant future. If you like science fiction, this is definitely worth a read. Also, it should be in public library collections of at least medium size.
Shades of Romance Magazine The award winning online magazine for readers and writers of multi-cultural literature.
Featured Author August 2008
I don't usually read SciFi but this one was a page turner. The plot switched locations but once into the story line it was easy to keep track of the players. The techincal information about artifical intelligence and nuclear weaponry seemed extremely plausible. Haruto Suzuki was a single minded obsessive who had to follow "the rules". After falling in love he emerged as more human and in the end his emotions changed the course of history (well fictional anyway). I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes fast paced stories with a flawed hero main character. Enjoy!
Reader of ARC: Susan Yoneda
ARC reader from Denvention (2008 World Science Fiction convention):
Hello, my name is Ed P., we met briefly at WorldCon where you invited me to help myself to an advanced reading copy of your book. I just finished it and noticed your invitation to write and give you my comments, so here goes-
When I first saw the book on the freebie table I had several reactions. My first was "Are they really giving real books away?", then I was trying to figure out if maybe they were old novelizations of the Will Smith movie or something when you told me to take one and promised that it was a good read. And thank you for the autograph. After that my initial thoughts were "How good can it be if they're giving it away?", and "Why would anyone call it 'I, robot' when that's been done twice already?", so, admittedly, I didn't have high hopes for it at first, and read several other books I'd picked up at the convention before I got to it. You were right though, it was a good read, and much better than I had expected. I'm glad I ran into you. I had thought the book was going to be a porr imitation of Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler, and be entirely about robot warfare- the sort of thing gamers would go crazy over (in my youth I once worked in a gaming store and was constantly surrounded by ridiculously obsessed people who thought ten story tall walking tanks were not only just around the corner, but the most exciting things imaginable). I was much relieved to discover it was about realistic human beings with realistic problems in extraordinary circumstances, and not so much about the robots. I thought your rationale about how things could go with the world situation was very realistic, and was amazed at the idea that a nuclear test could be hidden as you suggest. That was the first I had heard of anything like that being possible, and it just makes me wonder what else might be going on that shouldn't be. I was also impressed with the way Haruto suffered from Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, which made him seem very human to me. I had to wondered if he would have been as good as he was if he didn't suffer from it. It seems to me that his weakness was his strength until he found his true destiny, which was kind of beautiful in a sad way. Finally, the last chapter was a surprise, but very fitting. There was an Arthur C. Clarke quality to the finale, which impressed me greatly.
Well done. I look forward to your next book, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to discover your work. I hope it sells well.
Ed P.
Robot Binaries & Press Corp
704 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S7
info@robotpress.net |
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