Resonance [Hardcover]

Chris Dolley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Baen Book | Publication Date: November 1, 2005

Graham Smith is a 33 year old office messenger. To the outside world he's an obsessive compulsive mute - weird but harmless. But to Graham Smith, it's the world that's weird. And far from harmless. He sees things other can't...or won't. He knows that roads can change course, people disappear, and office blocks migrate across town. All at night when no one's looking. The world's an unstable place, still growing, sloughing off layers of reality like dead skin. One day you drive by, and it's changed. Annalise Mercado hears they're spirit guides, sometimes she thinks she's crazy. But then they start telling her about Graham Smith and the men who want to kill him. That's when they meet. So begins the story of two people whose lives are fragmented across alternate realities. And how they hold the key to the future of a billion planets...

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Baen (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416509127
• ISBN-13: 978-1416509127
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,458,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chris Dolley is an author, a pioneer computer game designer and a teenage freedom fighter. That was in 1974 when Chris was tasked with publicising Plymouth Rag Week. Some people might have arranged an interview with the local newspaper. Chris created the Free Cornish Army, invaded the country next door, and persuaded the UK media that Cornwall had risen up and declared independence. As he told journalists at the time, 'It was only a small country, and I did give it back.'

In 1981, he created Randomberry Games and wrote Necromancer, one of the first 3D first person perspective D&D computer games.

In 2004, his acclaimed novel, Resonance, was the first book plucked out of Baen's electronic slushpile.

Now he lives in rural France with his wife and a frightening number of animals. They grow their own food and solve their own crimes. The latter out of necessity when Chris's identity was stolen along with their life savings. Abandoned by the police forces of four countries who all insisted the crime originated in someone else's jurisdiction, he had to solve the crime himself. Which he did, and got a book out of it - the International bestseller, French Fried: One Man's Move to France With Too Many Animals And An Identity Thief.

He writes SF, Fantasy, Mystery, Humour and Memoir. His novelette, Magical Crimes, was the number one bestselling free short story at Amazon UK in December 2011.

And if you like funny stories with cute pictures of kittens saving the planet, International Kittens of Mystery is the book for you.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent First Novel, December 8, 2005

By 

Francis Turner (Near Cannes, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Resonance (Hardcover)

This book has the sort of thought provoking background that is the hallmark of good Science Fiction as well as a plot that keeps you turning the pages. Since I dislike reviews that end up giving away the plot I shall attempt to restrict myself to generalities. The book is essentially about the existence of parallel worlds and what the implications would be if we could learn information from them. The concept is not completely new - Keith Laumer's Imperium comes to mind - but Resonance is quite different in the way it handles the scenario.

In addition to its great background the book scores on the foreground characters and plot. The interplay between the hero and various almost identical heroines is extremely good as is the depiction of the hero, who for good logical reasons, is extremely introverted preferring to present the facade of a mute rather than expose himself to the ridicule that follows when the world has changed around him and he comments on it.

The book is set primarily in various versions of London in the year 2000 and the depictions of the every day minutiae of life are, I think, very well done and true to life. If there is one thing that is missing it is the Google search engine, which seems to be absent from the author's world view despite being something that was visible in this world's London of the year 2000. This may seem to be a curious thing to comment on but the plot does in part revolve around internet searching and thus it seems to me worth pointing out where it misses. On the other hand thought the problem of locating the needle in the haystack of search results is very well defined and other problems familiar to heavy internet users, such as finding apparently relevant documents in a language which you don't understand, do make their appearance and help (or hinder depending on your point of view) the plot along very nicely.

Due to the character of the hero there is none of the graphic and frequently gratuitous sex and/or violence that writers often use to disguise limitations in plot or characterization. The great thing is that this lack is not something you notice while the book is being read. There is plenty of action and intriguing plot twists but surprisingly very few loose ends by the time we reach the final denouement; as a result, while books in the same "universe" would be nice, a direct sequel seems unlikely. If there is one failing it is that I felt that the ending is a little too "pollyanna"ish given what we have seen before but on the whole I prefer this to the alternative of a depressing ending that wins awards but leaves the reader miserable.

All in all this is a book that appeals at many levels and one that will repay periodic rereading.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is reality?, November 17, 2005

By 

Phillip Nunemacher (Carson City, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Resonance (Hardcover)

Graham Smith lives in a world that is always unraveling. Houses are replaced by apartment buildings, stores change overnight, people disappear and the dead return as if nothing had happened. Is reality real; or is Graham the one stable factor in hundreds of virtual reality worlds?

Annalise Mercados is a medium. She channels hundreds of other Annalises that live in worlds where most things are familiar and yet subtle differences exist. The only thing they all know is that Graham Smith is important.

Paradim is a company building a worldwide AI directed database. Paradim knows about Graham and Annalise. What is so important that various factions within Paradim would be fighting over Graham Smith?

For a first novel, Chris Dolley has brought us a dozy of a mystery in the form of a science fiction story. When I first encountered the Graham Smith character, he reminded me of someone and then it hit me. Graham was `Felix Unger' brought into a new life and living in London.

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes mysteries, but fears to tread into pure science fiction.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Engaging Novel, December 27, 2005

By 

A. D. Orndorff (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Resonance (Hardcover)

I read the Advanced Reader copy made available through the Baen Publishing website. Aside from standard information such as the book's genre (Science Fiction), subject matter (parallel dimensions) and the quality of writing (excellent) which one finds in all reviews, I think the most appealing thing about the story was the style in which it was written.

Most books, in the process of reading them provide a certain feeling of anticipation. One always wants to know what's going to happen to so-and-so. There is that in this book. However, I found that in addition to the standard anxiety was this overarching desire to figure out not just the immediate action but also the why and wherefore of the universe that Dolley constructs. That is something, I think, that is not common to many books.

It is for this reason that I would urge anyone who even dabbles in science fiction to give this book a try. At the very least read the first 10 or so chapters which are up for free on the publisher's website. A google search of "baen books" with "Chris Dolley" will take you directly to his listing.