Selection Event [Kindle Edition]

Wayne Wightman (Author)

Book Description

In an isolation experiment, Martin Lake had been below-ground for fourteen months and two weeks. He came up on May 30, Wednesday, 11:35 AM. He discovered that civilization had folded its arms across its breast, closed its eyes, and ceased.

When natural selection wipes the slate, there are always a few survivors. Unfortunately, nature does not select for beauty or intelligence.

Selection Event follows in the tradition of Earth Abides and The Road. In the aftermath of the catastrophe, this is what happens next. People open zoos, sabotage dams, and in a final nihilistic fling, several countries have a small nuclear exchange of greetings.

It is into this that Martin Lake awakens and has to find his way.

103,000 words

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID--

Orson Scott Card, Hugo and Nebula winner: "[Wayne Wightman is] ...one of the names I['ve] learned to look for.... He...is a romantic whose stories confess his belief that individuals can be larger than life, that their decisions can change the world around them."

John Brunner, the legend himself: "Wayne Wightman is agreeable company, both in person and via the printed page. As to the former, I'm afraid you will have to wait the chance to make his acquaintance.... As to the latter, however, now's your chance."

Richard Paul Russo, Philip K. Dick Award winner: "One of Wightman's great strengths is his willingness to go to the edge. He pulls no punches, whether the story is serious or violent or manic. You can count on him to take you places other writers shy away from."

Product Details

• File Size: 512 KB
• Print Length: 298 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004XNNGDS
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,068 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 70 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Religion Sucks...The End October 2, 2011

By Scifiguy

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Selection Event is a well-written end-of-the-world story with several interesting themes. I clearly don't come from the same political or philosophical viewpoint as the author, but found many of them engaging and thought-provoking. I could certainly relate with the live and let live aspect, and found plenty of interesting questions to ponder: What are the rules of our society? Do they truly make sense? How would they change in the event of a restart? How should they change?

Unfortunately, the story was held down by the author's apparent hatred for all things religious. I'm not a religious person, so that doesn't bother me per se, but when it drags down the story with silly characterizations and predictable plot lines, it becomes a problem. Simply put, everyone evil is religious, and everyone religious is evil. It gets boring, quick. It's made all the more ironic by the fact that tolerance for differing lifestyles is a clear theme of the book. If this is truly how the author views all religious people, he needs to get out more. I suspect he's lived in a leftist cultural echo chamber.

Still, if you're into that sort of thing, it's an engaging tale by a talented author.

49 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Selection Event September 7, 2011

By Mary C. Hug

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Oh so many books to read, so little time. I've read, to date, about 60 post-apocalyptic novels. I've enjoyed a great many of them - some of them were so badly edited I almost had to give up the effort.
But with Wayne Wightman's novel Selection Event that was not the case. This book is so engrossing that, I think even if the editing was horrible, I would still have been captivated by it. The characters are so rich and full you almost feel like they are someone you've known all your life.
Haven't you wished on occasion that you could just go underground by yourself for a year - not have to make anyone happy, not have to wake up a child (or husband/wife) that doesn't want to get up to face the day, not have to make any decisions for anyone other than yourself - oh, how tempting it sounds. So when Martin Lake came up from his below-ground home of more than 14 months I was hooked. I had to stick around to see how he handled that much aloneness and what would happen when he finds out he's still going to be pretty much alone - at least for a little while. Who knows, maybe someday...?
There are dozens of surprises in this book - starting with the giraffe; then the dog that waits patiently for his masters to come get him, or to give him water and food. You heart will almost break for this little pooch - until you realize that some things do work out right; also, the hippie on the motorcycle that becomes a devoted friend to Martin. I think I could have fallen in love with him - he has so much heart.
I'm not going to give away everything - you have to read the book for that. And believe me you won't be disappointed. I've only just discovered Mr. Wightman but I've already read Selection Event and Hunger and Thirst, which I also loved.... But, I'll leave that one for you to discover on your own. My advice - don't miss either one of them because they are among the very best of the genre. Read more ›

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Decent read nearly ruined by agendas being pushed in a story about how bad it is to push agenda. October 31, 2011

By Zalf

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A decent story that could have been great with the inclusion of one Christian who didn't violently force feed their religion to others and the inclusion of one meat eating human who didn't violently force feed their beliefs on others. It's fine to have Christian antagonist. It's fine to have vegan protagonist. But when all of your Christians are evil and all of your vegans are heroes and the converse then you are insulting the reader by assuming they won't get your point otherwise. When you do this in a story strongly centered on how bad intolerance can be then you; the author; end up becoming an ironic image of your own arch villain.

48 of 65 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Exhausting October 2, 2011

By Rolando

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a very long lecture on the evils of Republican Christian gun toting meat eating humans. It started off with how bad humans were and how good the earth would have it now because all the humans were dead. Now the world can go back to normal. Then the author introduced two Christian characters that were written so evil or stupid that the reader wants them dead. I love that the life long heroin addict is a better human than the christian leader. I thought that the sequences written through the eyes of the dog were innovative and well done until they also became lectures on the evils of humankind. Oh and then we get to hear about how bad it is to eat meat and that Republicans are human rats. That the only way that religious leaders can keep their flocks is by drugging them. The author even found a way to teach us that monogamy was not necessarily the best way to live. Give it a rest already. The author is certainly a talented story teller, I just got tired of being repeatedly bludgeoned by his prejudices. I guess all philosophy IS biography.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Started awesome, disapointment in the end January 10, 2012

By chris

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book started with so much promise, i loved the first few chapters but as the story developed so did the political and religious views of the author.
What a drag it was, he just interupts the flow of the story with some childish attack on religion or political bias, i could care less about either but if a book has either let it develop properly into the plot with a informed and educated judgement,some great post apocalyptic classics such as "Swan Song" or "Lucifers hammer" handled it perfectly by entwining religion and good vs bad aspects, this Selection event just annoyed me so much i was jumping chapters and then of course the diaspointment sets in!
Well i truly beleive this story could have made 4 or 5 stars but i reakon the authors own self serving opinions pretty well killed the story, its like the book "Patriots"(written by some nutjob called james wesley rawles) but in a reverse aspect!
I do love the dog and cat in the story so they get a star!!

More About the Author

I began growing up in Missouri, near El Dorado Springs. My family moved to central California and I finished growing up there. I was in San Francisco, in the Haight-Ashbury, during the hippie Sixties, got some degrees, and began teaching literature, critical thinking, and creative writing.

Over the years, I've published 40+ stories in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Asimov's, other magazines, and original anthologies. Now it's time to write the novels.

Photos:

Wayne Wightman.
Diaz, on his Indian, 1968.