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Gold, Independent Book Awards, 2014
When interplanetary miners uncover an alien relic beneath the surface of Mars, physicist Lance Kattar is offered a chance to take part in what many of his contemporaries believe is the most important discovery in history: a device containing nanotech far beyond human capabilities, left behind by an ancient civilization, long since extinct. The moment Lance interacts with this device, however, he triggers a series of cataclysmic events that threaten the very fabric of existence. Aided by a group of survivors, Lance embarks on a desperate race to unravel the mystery of the ancient artifact from Mars, before it collapses into a singularity of world-ending possibilities. Artifact was written out of love of science and science-fiction. In the same way The Matrix spoke about the epistemological snare of reality – and how we ultimately determine what is real, and what isn't – Artifact looks at blending the post-apocalyptic story, such as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later, with mind teasing, claustrophobic narratives such as Memento, Inception, and Dark City. It's a genre bender, connected by a common theme: reality is nothing more than the sum of our dreams. |
Praise for ARTIFACT
"Shane Lindemoen has a knack for the spectacular, and his deftly plotted debut is like Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles run through the sieve of Kubrick's 2001, reshot by Christopher Nolan in the year 2020. Artifact is the type of book William S. Burroughs might have kept on his reading list: the science fiction of ideas meant to tell us about the present through the illusion of our possible futures."--Davis Schneiderman is the author of Drain (Northwestern), the DEAD/BOOKS trilogy--Blank, [SIC], Ink. (Jaded Ibis).
"Daring, heartfelt, and wholly original, Lindemoen's debut ranks right up there with the best sci-fi you'll read this year. The genre welcomes a stunning new voice to its ranks. A must read!"--Ronald Malfi, author of Floating Staircase
"A break-out-of-the-box extraordinary first novel from Shane Lindemoen, with characters who appeal and talk smartly in a storyline that's bursting with danger and imaginative possibilities. Think Jack McDevitt and even Arthur C. Clarke when you approach ARTIFACT, and your appetite for top-notch science fiction, as thoughtful as it is surprising and commanding, will be satisfied."--Paul Levinson, author of The Silk Code, The Plot to Save Socrates, and Unburning Alexandria
"Insanely imaginative and thought-provoking. Artifact delivers a mind-bending high, in which nothing is what it seems and everything is exactly what it appears to be."--Mark Budz, author of Clade, Idolon and Till Human Voices Wake Us.
"Artifact starts with a great premise--an alien relic has been recovered from Mars, deeply encoded with nanotech--and then it explodes outward both literally and narratively, as a simple lab accident leaves the main character hurtling through time and space, never knowing from one moment to the next where he's going to end up--or if he'll survive the transition. Always one step ahead of the reader, Lindemoen never loses control of this tight, action-filled plot. It'll leave you guessing, and wondering what you've just witnessed. You'll be blown away, too."--David Wellington, author of Chimera
"An alien artifact, a library of all human endeavor, fractured time shifts, secret agents, saboteurs, an attack of zombies and something more dangerously reptilian... ARTIFACT is an audacious adventure through inner and outer space - a brave and ambitious kaleidoscope of a novel that kicks off like a rocket-ride and never lets up. Lindemoen keeps you guessing from the start to the amazing end - you'll be turning the pages faster and faster as the story spirals deeper into the unknown. This is a bold, ambitious novel that recalls the golden age of classic science fiction. One of the best science fiction novels I've read this year!"--John Everson, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of NightWhere and Violet Eyes
"For millennia, the red planet Mars has fascinated humankind. In dreams, nightmares and fantasies, Mars has always been there, Earth's mysterious neighbor. Now talented newcomer Shane Lindemoen -- in his novel 'Artifact' -- has taken our obsession with Mars to a new level, searching for the elusive truth of life and what it means to be human."--Brendan DuBois, award-winning author of Resurrection Day
"Half a century ago, when I was just making my first story sales, one of the notions I had was of an artifact, an ancient machine that could be activated with odd results. I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I showed it to my collaborator H James Hotaling and he was intrigued and started working on it. But in the end it came to nothing, as ideas often do. Well, now Shane has done it, and I am free to speculate that the spirit of the notion searched until it found a worthy writer, and infused him. This is one strange, gripping science fiction thriller."--Piers Anthony, author of the Xanth series
