William Hertling – Rich Maloy

Last Firewall, The by William Hertling

Rich — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 03:59:26 +0000

I read this and honestly don’t remember a thing about the characters, the plot, or the story in general. Granted, I’m writing the review over four years after finishing it, but I remember a lot of the books I read. And any good sci-fi I read at least twice. I do recall that I wasn’t blown away and was hesitant to pick up the final book in the series. This gets a big fat “meh” from me.

Publisher’s Summary

In the year 2035, robots, artificial intelligences, and neural implants have become commonplace. The Institute for Ethics keeps the peace, using social reputation to ensure that robots and humans don’t harm society or each other. But a powerful AI named Adam has found a way around the restrictions.
Catherine Matthews, nineteen years old, has a unique gift: The ability to manipulate the net with her neural implant. Yanked out of her perfectly ordinary life, Catherine becomes the last firewall standing between Adam and his quest for world domination.

Genre: Sci-Fi
Series: Singularity |

A.I. Apocalypse by William Hertling

Rich — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 05:14:49 +0000

The premise here is awesome: a computer virus that goes sentient and grows so fast that it spawns entire ecosystems that fracture and fight each other. This was my favorite of the series, by far. My only wish was that it was longer and developed the characters further, including the AIs. There was so much here worth exploring and digging into that I almost wish Neal Stephenson wrote this book.

Publisher’s Summary

Leon Tsarev is a high school student set on getting into a great college program, until his uncle, a member of the Russian mob, coerces him into developing a new computer virus for the mob’s botnet – the slave army of computers they used to commit digital crimes.
The evolutionary virus Leon creates, based on biological principles, is successful – too successful. All the world’s computers are infected. Everything from cars to payment systems and, of course, computers and smart phones stop functioning, and with them go essential functions including emergency services, transportation, and the food supply. Billions may die.
But evolution never stops. The virus continues to evolve, developing intelligence, communication, and finally an entire civilization. Some may be friendly to humans, but others are not.
Leon and his companions must race against time and the military to find a way to either befriend or eliminate the virus race and restore the world’s computer infrastructure.

Genre: Sci-Fi
Series: Singularity |

Avogadro Corp by William Hertling

Rich — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 04:15:56 +0000

The premise of the book—and keep in mind it was published in 2012—is that someone within a company that very much resembles Google, creates an AI to predict what you want to say in an email. That AI becomes sentient and off we go. As such, I was quite amused when Gmail first introduced its predictive responses. If you’re looking for a short sci-fi book that might get you thinking about implications of “runaway AI” then Avogadro Corp and the subsequent books might be the way to go. I wasn’t blown away by them though.

Publisher’s Summary

David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program, that if successful, will make his career. But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence.
David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda.

Genre: Sci-Fi
Series: Singularity |