“Real or Fiction? Things I Didn’t Make Up” by Sean Williams
You’d think a novel about teleporters (a.k.a. “d-mat”) would be totally sci-fi, but it’s not, I swear. Just about everything in this book either exists right now or is right around the corner. For instance:
1. Put “teleportation” into Google, and you’ll find hundreds of links to real science experiments showing that in principle it’s possible. The only thing separating us from d-mat is engineering. (Truly a humungous amount of engineering, but we’ll get there. Trust me.)
2. One of the truly cool spin-offs of d-mat is fabbing—taking a pattern of something that’s gone through d-mat and re-creating it from that pattern over and over again. This might sound amazing, but again it’s not fundamentally different from 3D printing, which we have right now.
3. Then there are Clair’s lenses. Contact lenses that work like miniature TVs or telescopes exist today. With a built-in gestural interface, this could give us a Google Glass that works. From there it’s just a short step to using the equivalent of Facebook “likes” to change the world.
4. What else? Oh yeah, the Skylifter. There’s a company that makes UFO-shaped blimps for cranes, cargo lifters, even palatial passenger transport. I want one. (Hint hint, if anyone from Skylifter is reading.) Then there’s beaming concentrated solar power down to Earth from satellites in space, reading speech directly from the mind, having one time zone for the entire planet, and surveillance drones—all things that are entirely possible, if not happening right now.
6. Not all the news is good, of course: the Water Wars are obviously one downside of the impending eco-apocalypse, along with higher sea levels and flooded cities. But there really are schemes to relocate endangered species to environments far from where they evolved. Elephants in Australia could happen one day.
7. Lastly, one of my favorite things in Twinmaker is the Sphinx Observatory, with its Ice Palace and an elevator that goes up the heart of a mountain. It sounds too cool to be true, but I assure you it isn’t. Look it up and marvel, as I often do, at the beauty of all things science.
Review
“In the masterful hands of Williams, the technology, which has eerie parallels to contemporary life, provides a solid platform for great storytelling, and teens will revel in the drama, Clair’s tenacity, and the memorable characters who discover that their utopia isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” (Booklist (starred review))
“The dangers, casualties and well-written action scenes keep tensions high. Williams marries accessibly explored moral ramifications of future technologies-a hallmark of mature science fiction-with a strong, capable teen heroine and heart-pounding action.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Compelling...handily juggles ethical debates, swift action, and a well-developed setting.” (The Horn Book)
“Williams spins a sprawling and complex tale, built on an impressively well-constructed premise and held together with intrigue and tension.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Give this one to teens who enjoy action-packed books such as Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy” (School Library Journal)
“Fast-paced” (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA))
“TWINMAKER took my breath away. A triumph of thrilling action and vivid imagination.” (Alison Goodman, author of EON and EONA)
“A mind-blowing adventure about what it means to be human, and what it means to find ourselves.” (Scott Westerfeld, author of UGLIES and LEVIATHAN)
“A gripping YA thriller, coming of age and love story that transports the reader to a future that looks a whole lot better than it really is ... Highly Recommended.” (Garth Nix, author of the Old Kingdom series)
“TWINMAKER asks smart questions without easy answers, and presents a future so simultaneously wonderful and terrible you can only believe in it. A thrilling, existential head trip worthy of my favorite anime, I couldn’t stop reading this book. More importantly, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” (Alaya Dawn Johnson, author of THE SUMMER PRINCE)
About the Author
Sean Williams is a #1 New York Times bestselling writer for adults and the author of Twinmaker and Crashland, as well as coauthor of the Troubletwisters series with Garth Nix. As a resident of South Australia—which he reports is a lovely place a long way away from the rest of the world—Sean has often dreamed of stepping into a booth and being somewhere else, instantly. This has led to a fascination with the social, psychological, and moral implications of such technology. When not pondering such weighty matters, Sean can generally be found eating chocolate (actually, he eats chocolate when pondering these matters, too).
From the Back Cover
You can be improved. . . .
Can you really change your body just by carrying around a coded note? Sure—the advanced technology of a d-mat booth will transport you anywhere instantly, but can it also make you taller, stronger, more beautiful? Clair is pretty sure the offer is too good to be true. But her best friend, Libby, is determined to give it a try, longing for a new, improved version of herself.
What starts as Libby's dream turns into Clair's nightmare when Libby falls foul of a deadly trap. With the help of Jesse, the school freak, and a mysterious—but powerful—stranger called Q, Clair's attempt to protect Libby leads her to an unimagined world of conspiracies and cover-ups. Soon her own life is at risk, and Clair is chased across the world in a desperate race against time.
Action and danger fuel Sean Williams's near-future tale of technology, identity, and the lengths one girl will go to in order to save her best friend.
From the Inside Flap
You can be improved. . . .
Can you really change your body just by carrying around a coded note? Sure--the advanced technology of a d-mat booth will transport you anywhere instantly, but can it also make you taller, stronger, more beautiful? Clair is pretty sure the offer is too good to be true. But her best friend, Libby, is determined to give it a try, longing for a new, improved version of herself.
What starts as Libby's dream turns into Clair's nightmare when Libby falls foul of a deadly trap. With the help of Jesse, the school freak, and a mysterious--but powerful--stranger called Q, Clair's attempt to protect Libby leads her to an unimagined world of conspiracies and cover-ups. Soon her own life is at risk, and Clair is chased across the world in a desperate race against time.
Action and danger fuel Sean Williams's near-future tale of technology, identity, and the lengths one girl will go to in order to save her best friend.
--Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. 
![Twinmaker by [Sean Williams]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41rDmnBIbAL._SY346_.jpg)
