“Geosynchron” Is Here. Officially.

Geosynchron coverFrom my newsletter (because I really don’t have the time or energy these days to write anything original on my blog anymore):

The wait is over. Geosynchron is here! Which means that the trilogy which began as a gleam in my bio/logically-enhanced eye way back in 1997 or 1998 is completely in print, and you can now judge the entire story on its merits. Or you can simply stare at the gorgeous Stephan Martiniere cover for hours on end and try to figure out who the heck that guy is sitting Indian style on the cover, which is what I do. (The answer? I really don’t know. I’m guessing it’s either High Executive Len Borda or it’s Ian Holm fresh off the set of The Fifth Element.)

Anyway… boy, am I gonna need your help on this one. This is the last launch of a Jump 225 book, which means it’s the last best time to spread the word about the trilogy. So please, forward to your friends and family members, post reviews online, write blog posts, tweet, spray paint Geosynchron-related graffiti on the front of government buildings! Just tell them that Neil Gaiman sent you.

Oh yeah, and why don’t you read the book too, and let me know how you liked it?

“So, Dave, How Do I Buy Geosynchron?”

Glad you asked. Most writers (the smart ones, at least) will tell you to buy their books in whatever way makes the most sense to you. Amazon and Amazon UK are both selling it (both in paper and on the Kindle). If you’re not partial to Amazon, you can always order from Barnes & Noble or Books-a-Million. Want to support an indie bookstore? Try Borderlands Books, Mysterious Galaxy or Powell’s — or search for it at the independent bookstore nearest you on IndieBound.

If you really feel like going out of your way — and this is totally optional — probably the most helpful thing you could do is to walk into an actual Borders or Barnes & Noble store and ask for Geosynchron by name. If they’re not carrying it, express your shock and amazement loud enough for everyone in the store to hear you, and then special order it from the counter.

Geosynchron: A “Seminal Work of 21st Century SF.”

Man, the critics are saying all kinds of things that are making me blush from my bald head down to my hairy toes. This may be the best-reviewed book of mine to date. Here are the highlights since the last newsletter. And no, I haven’t slept with any of these people.

  • Locus Magazine: “This smart, idiosyncratic blend of cyberpunk, libertarian entrepreneurship, and social engineering will, I think, stand as a seminal work of 21st century SF.” (Full Review Forthcoming)
  • Fantasy Book Critic: “Geosynchron achieves a rare feat for a trilogy-ending volume, namely it takes the series one level higher, beyond mundanity to true sense-of-wonder SF, so it finally plays on the level of the masters of modern SF… An A+ and so far the best core-SF novel I’ve read in 2010.”
  • io9: “More warped than ever… Geosynchron is an engaging conclusion to a thrilling, thought-provoking saga.”
  • Library Journal: “Taking cyberpunk to the next level, this conclusion to Edelman’s trilogy… presents a drama of future technology that combines action with psychosocial intrigue. Tension comes as much from the clash of ideas as from physical confrontation. Highly recommended.”
  • Grasping for the Wind: “Just amazing. How anyone could make a boardroom discussion so exciting is beyond my comprehension. With words, not lasers, Edelman produces a fiction that has no peer… David Louis Edelman’s Jump 225 trilogy is one of the best space operas currently in print… If you read no other science fiction story this year, read the Jump 225 trilogy.”
  • Rob Bedford of SFFWorld: “Today I finished what is, so far, the best SF novel I’ve read this short year and probably best overall — Geosynchron by David Louis Edelman. A fine finale to what is a superb SF trilogy.” (Full Review Forthcoming)

Interviews and Guest Blog Posts.

If reading the reviews isn’t enough for you to get your Geosynchron fix, then click on through to some of these interviews and guest blog posts:

  • John Scalzi’s Whatever hosts a “Big Idea” blog from me today about how a scene from Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 helped inspire the Jump 225 trilogy, and why humanity is powered by dissatisfaction.
  • Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist hosted a guest blog from me this week wherein I divulged why the initial letters of the Jump 225 books spell out IMG. (Hint: think HTML.)
  • Grinding to Valhalla talks to me about my RPG, videogaming and boardgaming past, the rewarding and not-so-rewarding things about writing, and Yars’ Revenge. Yes, Yars’ Revenge.
  • The DC Speculative Fiction Examiner‘s Josh Vogt interviewed me about the writing process, things about the books I would change in retrospect, and which settings of the books I’ve actually visited. (Hint: pretty much none of them.)

GoodReads Jump 225 Giveaway.

GoodReads members can register to win (separately) a signed copy of Infoquake, MultiReal, and Geosynchron. All you have to do is sign up for, or already be a member of, GoodReads. Contest is scheduled to start today and end Friday, March 5. For more details:

Upcoming Appearances.

Thanks for all the support over books 1, 2 and 3! Now go ye and spread the word about Geosynchron. Go thee thou and spreadest the word, I say.

19 thoughts on ““Geosynchron” Is Here. Officially.”

  1. Congrats David! I wholly agree with the rave reviews, I simply adore your trilogy. Hopefully it’s just the beginning of a great career. :o)

  2. But i don’t have a Kindle, I have an android phone how do i read your book on that? Where can i get your book without DRM so i can read it how i want when i want where i want?

  3. Kail: Patience! I’m guessing that once the iPad comes out — provided it’s not a horrible bomb — my publisher will jump on that format too. Might take a bit, but I’m guessing it will happen.

    As for DRM-free… don’t know when (or if) that will happen. Sorry. 🙁 Now if it were up to me……….

  4. Well, I read the first two books in the trilogy in about 5 days and I’m almost halfway through Geosynchron, after finding them in the Kindle Store “Recommendations” list last month. The MultiReal concept is extraordinary- one of those things that, upon reading it, caused me to wonder why it had never appeared in science fiction before. After some time, I realized it has been tried before but your effort is far more complex, imaginative, and engaging than anything I have come across. I find myself constantly thinking about how the concept would function if I were to experience it, and what its implications (and limitations) would be in my world. I would say more about that but I don’t want to spoil anything for new readers. Suffice to say it is a rare book that can dominate my thinking during non-reading hours to the extent the Jump 225 trilogy has. I’m looking forward to more of you work.

  5. Glad you’re enjoying the series, Jason! You’re right that the MultiReal concept isn’t wholly original (and what is, anyway)? Don’t know if you’ve read anything by Greg Egan before, but he often engages in the same kinds of speculation. And unlike me, he actually knows what he’s talking about. 🙂

  6. Well, I finished Geosynchron a couple of weeks ago and have had some time to reflect on the ending. I am confident now in saying I truly hated the ending and do not feel it meshed well with what came before it either in Geosynchron or the preceding books. I certainly do not prefer tidy or happy endings over less conventional ones, but. . .**Spoiler Alert** **Spoiler Alert** turning Natch into a deaf, mute, blind, retarded person did not seem to have a point. The explanation of the role of the autonomous minds felt like half of an explanation because no time was spent explaining how or why they function the way they do. They appeared to be basically, magical, especially in regards to their connection to the Pharisees. I thought the story of the autonomous minds held immense promise and I was hopeful to learn more about their role in the history of the world you have created, so perhaps this is why I feel so let down by the explanation you gave. I feel like I completely missed something either much earlier in the story or even within the last book that would have helped me understand your intent in telling this final part of Natch’s story in the way that you did. As a whole, the trilogy is brilliant, but I am having a difficult time getting around this ending.

  9. Jason: I haven’t been ignoring you. Here’s a post in response to your (and other peoples’) questions about the ending of Geosynchron: Link

  10. this was an awesome trilogy, and that last book was truly excellent. it would have been so easy to mess up the last one, given what you’d already built with the first two.

    the most surprising thing about geosynchron, to me, was how emotional it became, especially considering how much of the overall story is technology and business–not typically emotional themes.

    it was particularly surprising for me, because i’m usually far too cynical to be reached that way from reading most fiction, much less sci-fi. that it managed to get to me is, in my opinion, a huge indication of how well the story was told, so hats off.

    i have to admit **BEGIN SPOILER** that i was disappointed with how things ended, but only because it was in some sense, a bit of a bummer ** END SPOILER**. Still, I feel that any other way would have taken a lot away from what I felt the point of the story was.

  11. I didn’t read this before (I forgot to check for new blogs and got really distracted), but I did just what you said! I went to Barnes & Noble to find all three books and they always had them “in stock but not in store,” whatever that means T_T
    Anywho, I was shocked and had to order it specifically. So glad I did ^_^

  14. Kail: No “official” avenue right now for selling signed books. You might try catching me at a DC-area con (I usually attend Balticon, Capclave and PhilCon) and I’d be happy to sign there. Otherwise, you can email me and we could try to make some other offline arrangement for getting ’em signed.

  18. @Jason
    Let me say first of all that I agree completely with your criticism. I think forcing solipsism on Natch misses the point. On his home page, David quotes Steinbeck: “Not every man is defeated. I can name you a dozen who were not, and those are the ones the world lives by.” And yet he defeats Natch in Geosynchron completely.
    The world is a hard place to life in. It’s easy to become jaded and selfish just because everyone around you seems jaded and selfish. But the journey of the hero is to learn to live in an imperfect world and lead it towards perfection, so to speak. Natch chickened out at the end. He should have have taken control of Multireal, and become the leader that the world was crying out for. He was the smartest man in the book, clearly.
    Here’s my other problem with the series in general. It’s called Jump 225, but that particular piece of software is only mentioned once in the first book in a dream Natch has. So what is it? Here’s my take. At the end of the series Brone is making a new shell for Multireal that enhances it’s functions. Brone is clearly the symbol for the ego. He runs Creed Thassal, which extols “the virtue of selfishness.” So Natch, the Hero, represents the creative genius, and it is his job to destroy selfishness and lead the world in a new era of peace. How can he accomplish this?
    Think back to how Multireal was created in the firstplace. It was delivered by the Autonomous Minds to the Surinas in their dreams. Jump 225 came to Natch in a dream (and probably to David too). So Jump 225 is a skin, just like Brone’s skin, but it is one developed by the Autonomous Minds and given to the chosen Messiah, namely Natch, and when it is plugged into Multireal it delivers the software Multireal 225, which gives the user, again Natch, complete control over material reality. I think the third book should have been called Multireal 225. Natch could have saved the world, instead he was just a glitch in the Matrix.

  19. Brian: Thanks for your thoughts. You might want to read my blog post about the ending, referenced on one of the previous comments.

    I don’t see the ending as a defeat for Natch. Certainly the kind of thing you outline was one viable way to end the series. But I like the thought that Natch realizes that he can’t completely shape the world into what he wants. He has to adapt to circumstances and compromise with external forces like the rest of us.

    As for the Jump 225 dream sequence, if you reread it carefully you’ll see that it sets up the structure and themes for the whole series. It’s all three books in microcosm.

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