New York Times Article about Neanderthals

Great New York Times article about Neanderthals, which confirms a lot of what about them in my 1999 debut novel The Silk Code.

 

The Crossing 1.8: The Cure

As seems to happen all too often when an announcement comes down that a series won't be renewed for another season, the remaining episodes just get better and better.   If episode 1.8 on tonight is any indication, that's just what's happened with The Crossing.

We already knew that Apex antibodies could cure and banish all kinds of ailments fatal to humanity.  Tonight we get a hint that Reece's antibodies can do something much more amazing.  It was something that Naomi said about coming back from the dead.  Maybe she was speaking metaphorically.  But it got me thinking (always a dangerous proposition): could Apex antibodies bring people back to life - people who had recently died?   Like, for example, Emma - whose body, in pretty good shape albeit dead, turned up tonight?

Even Jude pointed out that her body sure didn't look like it had been buried for days, and I had the feeling, when Emma was killed, that this wasn't the last we'd be seeing of her.  Well, we did see her again tonight - unfortunately, dead - but now it's less of a leap to see her revived.  All that Jude has to do is get some of the infusions that Dr. Forbin will be preparing, get them into Emma, and ... well, who knows?

At very least, this biological science fiction - of which my own Locus-Award-winning 1999 novel The Silk Code has been said to be an early example - is becoming almost as important in The Crossing as the time travel, and maybe more so.   Which makes it all the more unfortunate that it's not being renewed.




So I'll join the chorus - or say it solo, if need be - hey, ABC, renew The Crossing.  Or, if not, let some other network do this. Bring it back to life!  It deserves a shot.

See also The Crossing: Lost Again, But OK ... The Crossing 1.2: Calling for More Time Travel ... The Crossing 1.3: The Missing Inventor ... The Crossing 1.4: Hofstra ... The Crossing 1.5: Migrations in Conflict ... The Crossing 1.6: Apex Antibodies ... The Crossing 1.7: The Locket

Fahrenheit 451: Updated for Fake News, Hate Speech, and DNA

I just saw the new Fahrenheit 451 - the HBO movie, based on Ray Bradbury's justly lionized 1953 novel of the same name, made into an excellent 1966 movie of the same name by François Truffaut.  The new HBO movie by Ramin Bahrani obviously had a lot to live up to with that kind of pedigree.  I'm here to tell you that it did - which puts me at odds with the numerous dyspeptic reviews it's already received on IMDb (at this point, 5.1/10), Rotten Tomatoes (32%), and Roger Ebert (2/4).  That's no surprise - I often find the established wisdom of professional and nonprofessional critics myopic.

But to the HBO movie - what I look for in a remake is something different, important, and if possible, more meaningfully current than in the original or earlier versions, while maintaining the best parts, including memorable details of the original.  Again, not an easy task.  But the new Fahrenheit 451 does it potently and beautifully.

The lie that Benjamin Franklin started fire brigades in America to burn rather than extinguish fires, with the truth that Franklin wanted fire fighters to put out fires being denounced as a lie, was one of the starkest parts of the original story.  It's in the new movie, too, but the truth is denounced as not just a lie but "fake" - a clear reference to our current crisis of fake news.

Another chillingly effective detail in the original is Captain Beatty extolling the "equality" of all books being burned, and holding up a copy of Mein Kampf as an example.  The scene is chilling because it tempts us to think that it's good if some books are burned - in this case, a book preaching hate, written by a monster who implemented that hate in the worst way. And the scene has special relevance to our struggle in 2018 with "hate speech" and what to do about it.  (See my The First Amendment in the Age of Post-Truth for my brief argument as to why we must not burn or censor it.)

But the new Fahreinheit also introduces something brand new to the story - which has gotten some critics crazy.  In the new ending ... wait, I won't tell you the ending, because I don't want to spoil it for you if haven't yet seen the movie.   But I can tell you the radically new element upon which the ending is predicated: our heroes do more than memorize books, so each person becomes a book, which is the inspiring, ennobling upshot of the original.   In the new movie, our heroes are also working on a plan to encode the text of every book, the digital code of every film, every piece of music, into DNA, where it can be stored and spread via biology. In other words, a good greater than any number of brave individuals.

Now I think that's a really cool departure from the original - and not just because I explored the biological potency and uses of information in my first novel, The Silk Code (reviewed here in The New York Times - one review I really liked).   But in the movie, this plan is brilliant and makes every sense.   After all, the villains are touting digital information (because it can be easily manipulated - another bow to fake news) over books, where the information is stable and reliable.  (The information in books has what I call "reliable locatability" - what's on page 77 of any book will be there on page 77 next week or next year or next century, as long as the book isn't burned.  See my New New Media, 2nd edition, p. 77 - not a novel - for more.)

Anyway - you needn't take my word for it.  See Fahrenheit 451 on HBO and see if you agree.

Rita Ora does The Silk Code

Here's something that every author would love to come across - a big pop star does a video, and it's emblazoned with the title of one of your novels.

In this case, Rita Ora, one of the biggest pop stars in the world, just did a little video for the British fashion line Tezenis, for a campaign to start on November 1.  And all over it is the title of my first novel - in fact, winner of the Locus Award for Best First Science Novel of 1999 - The Silk Code.

Here's the vid -

What's The Silk Code?

Here are blurbs from some of the many reviews -

"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

"As twisted as a double helix. " -- Wired

"D'Amato is an appealingly savvy character, and Levinson brings a great deal of invention to the endeavor." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"It is hard to put down, easy to pick up again, and an interesting read. " -- San Diego Union-Tribune 

"sheer conceptual verve" -- Robert K. J. Killheffer, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

"cerebral but gripping" -- Booklist

"Combining Neanderthals and mechanical looms, cantaloupes and coded butterflies, Levinson's debut novel ... offers a flurry of amazing prehistoric technologies, demonstrating that the mysteries of our past can be just as fruitful as those of our future ... Levinson creatively explain gaps in both ancient history and biology... providing more wonders than many a futuristic epic." -- Publishers Weekly

"well-informed and imaginative" -- Kirkus Reviews

"spins an ingenious web of genetic manipulation and anthropological evidence" -- Library Journal

"A rare thriller that actually achieves its goals as a detective tale and a work of boldly speculative sf." -- Gary K. Wolfe, Locus Magazine

more about The Silk Code here

What They've Been Saying about The Silk Code - in 23 reviews

Winner of the Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction Novel of 1999

What they've been saying about The Silk Code since 1999:

"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review

"As twisted as a double helix. " -- Wired

"D'Amato is an appealingly savvy character, and Levinson brings a great deal of invention to the endeavor." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"It is hard to put down, easy to pick up again, and an interesting read. " -- San Diego Union-Tribune

"Mixes up-to-the-minute biotechnology with ancient myth, science fiction with police procedure, and prehistory with the near future. It's an impressive debut." -- Joe Haldeman

"Forensic detective Phil D'Amato is one of my favorite characters, and the puzzles he solves are always imaginative, ingenious, and addictive, but Paul Levinson really outdoes himself this time in a mystery involving murders, moths, mummies, the Silk Road, poisons, fireflies, and forensics, all woven into a mystery only D'Amato could solve! A marvelous book!" -- Connie Willis

"This damn book has everything: interesting science, suspense, characters that live on the page - and that we like! -- and it debuts a new series hero, Dr. Phil D'Amato, forensic detective. I couldn't put The Silk Code down. I'll wager you won't be able to either. Oh, and this is the kicker: The Silk Code is Paul Levinson's first novel. " -- Jack Dann

"At last we get Paul Levinson's superb forensic sleuth, Phil D'Amato, in a full-length novel. If you know Phil from his previous appearances, I need say no more. If you don't, kick back and enjoy a mystery that spans the ages." --Jack McDevitt

"The Silk Code is an intriguing story refreshingly rich not only in action but in ideas. Seldom have I seen a story so engagingly weave together so many seemingly disparate (dare I say it?) threads." --Stanley Schmidt, editor ofAnalog

"Paul Levinson is an exceptional new writer, behind whose work stands an impressive body of knowledge and a great deal of human understanding. His first novel signals a writer to watch for the provocation and pleasure that he will bring to thoughtful readers. The Silk Code is smoothly written, evocative, and spicy! Highly recommended." -- George Zebrowski

"The Silk Code is a splendidly imaginative novel that explores worlds of ideas both scientific and philosophical, while carrying the reader effortlessly across countries, times, and cultures." -- Charles Sheffield

"The Silk Code is science fiction in the classic style, with an innovative mystery that breaks new ground. Acclaimed for his short fiction and insightful writing on the computer age, Paul Levinson now brings his many talents to a complex novel that will keep you guessing until the last page. " -- Catherine Asaro

"... sheer conceptual verve" -- Robert K. J. Killheffer, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

"...cerebral but gripping" -- Booklist

"Combining Neanderthals and mechanical looms, cantaloupes and coded butterflies, Levinson's debut novel...offers a flurry of amazing prehistoric technologies, demonstrating that the mysteries of our past can be just as fruitful as those of our future... Levinson creatively explains gaps in both ancient history and biology... providing more wonders than many a futuristic epic." -- Publishers Weekly

"...well-informed and imaginative" -- Kirkus Reviews

"...spins an ingenious web of genetic manipulation and anthropological evidence" --Library Journal

"A rare thriller that actually achieves its goals as a detective tale and a work of boldly speculative sf." -- Gary K. Wolfe, Locus Magazine

"I read this book quite a few years ago but I felt compelled to re-read it because parts of the story have been so firmly wedged in my brain that I needed to experience the entire thing again." -- Cannonball Read

"This is one I don't hesitate to recommend." - Jandy's Reading Room

"Paul Levinson's The Silk Code is inventive. I can't said I'd ever read another SF novel that included Neanderthals, bioengineering and the Amish." - Kristin's Book Log

"I found the genetic manipulation that Levinson describes absolutely fascinating." - Silk Screen Views

"I was entertained" - The Review Curmudgeon

more about Phil D'Amato here on Wikipedia

Helix 1.12: 500 Years

Well, as has been usual on the past few episodes of Helix, we learned one very significant thing in last night's 1.12:  Hiroshi's 500 years old.  That guy Gunnar wasn't kidding when he was talking about immortality, and Hiroshi looks a lot better.

But this raises anew the question about the virus that conveys endless immunity from disease and aging - who or what brought the virus, or, how did it originate and come to humanity?   Actually, this question has been with the series all along, but now it's looming in importance.

Let's rule out time travel, because, much as I love it and write it as an author, we've seen no evidence of it at all on Helix.   We had no idea when hapless Gunnar was infected and made immortal, only how long he'd been in solitude.  But we now know that Hiroshi became immortal some 500 years ago.  This means the virus cannot be a creation of our current technologies, or a technology that was developed somewhere in the world that is slightly or more advanced what we now do in our laboratories.

But if not a deliberate infection via time travelers from the future, what then?   There are several possibilities: the virus naturally emerged, the virus was brought here by aliens, the virus was the result of some intentional or unintentional human experimenting with corpses, diseases, blood, whatever 500 years or more ago.

Although I wouldn't rule out the third possibility - and, in fact, prehistoric gene splicing plays a significant role in my novel, The Silk Code - it would be pulling a rabbit out of a hat for Helix.

So that leaves natural occurrence or aliens.   And that also, again, points to the question about the Ilarians: are they humans tranformed by the virus, or are they aliens?   Presumably we'll find out more next week.

In the meantime, a farewell to Daniel/Miksa, whose noble sacrifice was one of the best scenes in the series.

See also Helix 1.1-1.3: Zombies with Biology ... Helix 1.4: Cold DNA ...Helix 1.5: In the White Room ... Helix 1.6: Good New Clues, Nutcracker Not Sweet ... Helix 1.7: Bright Eyes ... Helix 1.8: Glacial Speed ... Helix 1.9: Brass Tacks ... Helix 1.10: The Curse of Immortality ... Helix 1.11: Spiral Narrative

And here's the above-mentioned  Silk Code

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Price Hike Coming on my Science Fiction Novels

Hi Everyone -

I wanted to give you a heads up about a price hike coming on December 1, 2013 for the Kindle editions of each of my four science fiction novels - The Silk Code, The Consciousness Plague, The Plot to Save Socrates, and Unburning Alexandria.  The price, which is currently $4.99 US (and the equivalent in currencies around the world) per novel, will be at least a few dollars higher, starting on December 1, 2013.   We may have special contests, promotions, and giveaways, but the list price will remain at the higher level for the foreseeable future. Hey, it's hard to put a price on wisdom and reading pleasure :)





More about these novels, including reviews, trailers, and links to excerpts, on these pages:  The Silk Code ... The Consciousness Plague ... The Plot to Save Socrates ... Unburning Alexandria

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Science Fiction and Media Theory Trailers

I thought I'd put up a page, which will be continuously updated, for all the trailers that have been posted for my science fiction and media theory.  They range from 6-9 second Vine-like clips, to longer trailers of a minute or two.


Unburning Alexandria  by Paul Levinson



The Silk Code  by Paul Levinson



The Chronology Protection Case movie by Jay Kensinger
from the novelette by Paul Levinson



The Plot to Save Socrates by Paul Levinson



New New Media by Paul Levinson



Hell Scrolls - written by J. Charles Sterin, and published
by JoSara MeDia on my Connected Editions imprint

Revolution 2.1: "The Last Surviving Friend"

Revolution was back for the debut of its second season tonight, with a line that typified how far civilization had fallen.   Walking through a ravaged excuse for a carnival town, a barker inveighs Charlie with the opportunity, right in that tent, to see David Schwimmer, "the last surviving friend".

This is what the United States has come to, in the wake of the nuclear missiles that were launched in the brief window of time in which the electricity was back on:  Atlanta and Philadelphia were destroyed, and our band of heroes is in worse shape than ever.   Not only is the sad sack of Friends the only survivor of that crew, but life is even harder and meaner in the three places we visit, in the Plains state (where Charlie is), down south in Texas where Rachel and Miles and Aaron now reside, and the outskirts of ruined Atlanta where we find the Nevilles, father and son.

Tom, like most of our major characters, is majorly depressed over the missile holocaust.   And Tom is more upset than most, since he still can't find his wife.   The lies of the US government snap him out of this and give him a purpose.  The US claims that Monroe and Foster launched the WMDs.  Tom and we in the audience know better.  In a very nice touch, we see the White House, gone to weed in the blackout, being reclaimed. Ordinarily, this would be an inspiring scene.  But as Tom tells Jason, the people who claim to be our original government are probably being run by someone else.

But the original lines of hatred still burn strong.  Charlie, after declining her chance to see Schwimmer, runs into Monroe in another tent and sets out to kill him.   Rachel's father, a doc, tells Miles to leave because he's not good for his daughter.

And either he's not a very good doctor, or there's something strange going on with nature in this neck of the woods.  Aaron looks to have been killed, and is pronounced dead by the doc, but comes back to life in a literally gasping twist at the very end of the show.  Given that this is the wrong channel for The Vampire Diaries, what's going on?

It may have something to do with the fireflies that Aaron and then his woman see in the sky.  At the very least, they could be a good source of light - as I went into in my 1999 science fiction novel, The Silk Code.

See also Revolution: Preview Review  ... Revolution 1.2: Fast Changes ... Revolution 1.14: Nanites and Jack Bauer ... Revolution 1.15: Major Tom and More 24 ... Revolution 1.16: Feeling a Little Like the Hatch in Lost ... Revolution 1.17: Even Better Nanites ... Revolution 1.18: Whodunnit? ... Revolution 1.19: Cheney's Bunker ... Revolution Season 1 Finale: Good Pivot




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download Revolution season 2 on

"Author's Cut" Kindle Edition of The Consciousness Plague Published by JoSara MeDia

I'm pleased to announce that JoSara MeDia has just published a Kindle edition of my novel, The Consciousness Plague.

The Consciousness Plague was originally published by Tor Books in 2002, and was praised by Booklist ("more nearly reaches the heights of Isaac Asimov's classic SF mysteries than those of most other genre hands"), Library Journal ("intelligent blend of police procedural and speculative fiction"), and reviews in numerous other places.

Like the JoSara author’s cuts of The Silk Code and The Plot to Save Socrates, this new edition of The Consciousness Plague restores bits of my original wording lost to copy-editing.  But it also contains significant updates in the world inhabited by Dr. Phil D'Amato, the protagonist whose first appearance in a novel was in The Silk Code. Google Drive and smartphones didn't yet exist in 2002, but they play a role in this 2013 edition of The Consciousness Plague.   

Also of note: a major section of the novel takes place on The Lake Shore Ltd - Amtrak's train between New York City and Chicago - and was written when I took that train to the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago in 2000.

The new ebook edition of the novel has a specially commissioned cover by Joel Iskowitz, who designed the covers for The Silk Code, The Plot to Save Socrates, and Unburning Alexandria ebooks, and  whose designs have appeared on stamps around the world, US coins, and NASA murals.

I again chose JoSara MeDia because this small, savvy publisher did such a good job with The Silk Code, The Plot to Save Socrates, and Unburning Alexandria ebooks, as well as the Unburning Alexandria paperback published last month. JoSara MeDia has published award-winning authors in multiple formats, including print, eBook, and enhanced eBooks as iPad and Android applications. JoSara MeDia also works with non-profit organizations, such as the Texas State Historical Association, assisting them with strategies and solutions to get their content available in these multiple formats.



free sample of The Consciousness Plague

reviews

• "more nearly reaches the heights of Isaac Asimov's classic SF mysteries than those of most other genre hands who attempt them manage to do these days" - Roland Green, Booklist 
• "Levinson's intelligent blend of police procedural and speculative fiction should appeal to fans of mystery and science fiction" - Library Journal
• "Intriguing speculation, solid sleuthing, and agreeably baffling suspects" - Kirkus
• "A satisfying blend of murder mystery, police procedure, and science fiction" - Orlando Sentinel
• "D'Amato [is] ... an earnest Everyman, operating on a shoeshine and a hunch" - Paul Di Filippo, SFWeekly
• "Quincy would be proud!" - SciFiDimensions
• "satisfying and properly links up the plots" - Scott's Corner
• "a quick, enjoyable read" - Rambles
• "A little bit mystery, a little bit sci-fi and a whole lot of inquisitive character development kept me glued to The Consciousness Plague from beginning to end. For those interested in medicine, serial killers and mysteries you’ll find this book a quick read and you’ll wish it didn’t have to end so soon." - scrink.com

Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Consciousness Plague - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

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Double Bones 8.10-11

A real treat for Bones devotees tonight - two episodes, 8.10 and 8.11, back to back.

The second episode - 8.11 - was one of the best episodes of the series as far as science verging on science fiction, so let's start with that.   A murdered archeologist leads the team to killings some 25,000 ago, and those victims turn out to be a Neanderthal / Cro Magnon couple, with a three-year old daughter.  Bone says this is the first hybrid child - which is not quite the case, because who knows how many earlier hybrid Neanderthal Cro Magnons there were, which we just do not know about - but it's the first hybrid discovered and an incredible discovery.

Science break:  Neanderthals lived for hundreds of thousands of years, until about 25,000 years ago.  Cro-Magnons, which is what we are, appeared about 40, 000 years ago.  No hard physical evidence of their interaction, let alone interbreeding, has been discovered to date, but it's a safe or at least reasonable bet that they did, because they inhabited the same areas and there is some genetic overlap.   The possibilities have long intrigued scientists and science fiction writers, including me (see The Silk Code).

Back to prehistoric Bones: the astonishing discovery provides a great occasion for Bones coming to terms with her super-competitiveness.  She allows Clark to get the credit and lead the team in its explication of what happened to that Neanderthal / Cro Magnon family all those years ago.  It's a story of racial hatred, ever plaguing our species, but also of love transcending through the ages.  Sadly beautiful, really.

Meanwhile, Bones solves the crime in the present with Booth's help - as they also do in episode 8.10, which could be called them dancin' Bones.  Yes, Bones and Booth do a nice waltz, and figure out who killed the pretty ballerina.

But the real story here - in 8.10 - is Angela, who wants to rekindle her relationship with art, shunted aside for eight years in her work for the detectives of the Jeffersonian.   If science was the hero of 8.11, art was the star in 8.10, in both dance and painting.   The two shows together provide a portrait of what a cultural force Bones is - a series that goes so far beyond the usual detective show as to be its own new genre.  Art and science, Neanderthal and  Cro-Magnon, Booth and Bones ...

But lest we forget its detective moorings, Bones will be back next week with what looks to be a riveting encounter with its criminal nemesis.

See also Bones 8.1: Walk Like an Egyptian ... Bones 8.2 of Contention ... Bones 8.3: Not Rotting Behind a Desk  ... Bones 8.4: Slashing Tiger and Donald Trump ... Bones 8.5: Applesauce on Election Eve ... Bones 8.6: Election Day ... Bones 8.7: Dollops in the Sky with Diamonds ...Bones 8.8: The Talking Remains ... Bones 8.9: I Am A Camera

And see also Bones 7.1: Almost Home Sweet Home ... Bones 7.2: The New Kid and the Fluke ...Bones 7.3: Lance Bond and Prince Charmington ... Bones 7.4: The Tush on the Xerox ... Bones 7.5: Sexy Vehicle ... Bones 7.6: The Reassembler ... Bones 7.7: Baby! ... Bones 7.8: Parents ...Bones 7.9: Tabitha's Salon ... Bones 7.10: Mobile ... Bones 7.11: Truffles and Max ... Bones 7.12: The Corpse is Hanson ... Bones Season 7 Finale: Suspect Bones

And see also Bones 6.1: The Linchpin ... Bones 6.2: Hannah and her Prospects ... Bones 6.3 at the Jersey Shore, Yo, and Plymouth Rock ... Bones 6.4 Sans Hannah ... Bones 6.5: Shot and Pretty ... Bones 6.6: Accidental Relations ... Bones 6.7:  Newman and "Death by Chocolate" ...Bones 6.8: Melted Bones ... Bones 6.9: Adelbert Ames, Jr. ... Bones 6.10: Reflections ... Bones 6.11: The End and the Beginning of a Mystery ... Bones 6.12 Meets Big Love ... Bones 6.13: The Marrying Kind ... Bones 6.14: Bones' Acting Ability ... Bones 6.15: "Lunch for the Palin Family" ...Bones 6.16: Stuck in an Elevator, Stuck in Times ... Bones 6.17: The 8th Pair of Feet ... Bones 6.18: The Wile E. Chupacabra ... Bones 6.19 Test Runs The Finder ... Bones 6.20: This Very Statement is a Lie ... Bones 6.21: Sensitive Bones ... Bones 6.22: Phoenix Love ... Bones Season 6 Finale: Beautiful

And see also Bones: Hilarity and Crime and Bones is Back For Season 5: What Is Love? and 5.2: Anonymous Donors and Pipes and 5.3: Bones in Amish Country and 5.4: Bones Meets Peyton Place and Desperate Housewives and Ancient Bones 5.5 and Bones 5.6: A Chicken in Every Viewer's Pot and Psychological Bones 5.7 and Bones 5.8: Booth's "Pops" and Bones 5.9 Meets Avatar and Videogamers ... Bad Santa, Heart-Warming Bones 5.10 ... Bones 5.11: Of UFOs, Bloggers, and Triangles ... Bones 5.12: A Famous Skeleton and Angela's Baby ... Love with Teeth on Bones 5.13 ... Faith vs. Science vs. Psychology in Bones 5.14 ... Page 187 in Bones 5.15 ...Bones 100: Two Deep Kisses and One Wild Relationship ... Bones 5.17: The Deadly Stars ...Bones Under Water in 5.18 ... Bones 5.19: Ergo Together ...  Bones 5.20: Ergo Together ... Bones 5.21: The Rarity of Happy Endings ... Bones Season 5 Finale: Eye and Evolution



"Combining Neanderthals and mechanical looms, cantaloupes and coded butterflies, Levinson's debut novel...offers a flurry of amazing prehistoric technologies, demonstrating that the mysteries of our past can be just as fruitful as those of our future... Levinson creatively explain gaps in both ancient history and biology... providing more wonders than many a futuristic epic." -- Publishers Weekly

"Author's Cut" Kindle edition of The Plot to Save Socrates with Extended Ending Published by JoSara MeDia

I'm delighted to announce that JoSara MeDia has just published a Kindle edition of my novel, The Plot to Save Socrates.

The Plot to Save Socrates was originally published by Tor Books in 2006, and was praised by The New York Daily News (" Da Vinci-esque thriller"), Entertainment Weekly ("challenging fun"), and reviews in dozens of other places.

This author’s cut of The Plot to Save Socrates not only restores a lot of my original wording, but an entire chapter near the end of the novel that features Hypatia of Alexandria.  The novel has a new, specially commissioned cover by Joel Iskowitz, who designed the cover for The Silk Code ebook, and whose designs have appeared on stamps around the world, US coins, and NASA murals.

I chose JoSara MeDia because this small, savvy publisher did such a good job with The Silk Code author's cut ebook brought out this past August. JoSara MeDia has published award-winning authors in multiple formats, including print, eBook, and enhanced eBooks in the form of iPad and Android applications. JoSara MeDia also works with non-profit organizations, such as the Texas State Historical Association, assisting them with strategies and solutions to get their content available in these multiple formats.




Praise for the novel...

"...challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"...a fun book to read" - Dallas Morning News

"resonates with the current political climate . . . . heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit" - Brian Charles Clark, Curled Up With A Good Book at curledup.com 

"a journey through time that'll make you think as it thrills ... so accessible, even those generally put off by sci-fi should enjoy the trip." - Rod Lott, bookgasm.com

"Levinson spins a fascinating tale ... An intriguing premise with believable characters and attention to period detail make this an outstanding choice... Highly recommended." - Library Journal,*starred review

"Light, engaging time-travel yarn . . . neatly satisfies the circularity inherent in time travel, whose paradoxes Levinson links to Greek philosophy." - Publishers Weekly

"A thinking person's time travel story... I felt like I was there." - SF Signal

 "This is a dazzling performance. . . .History as science fiction; science fiction as history." - Barry N. Malzberg 

"... quick-to-read, entertaining treatment of the problems inherent in time travel with style and flair" - Booklist

"There's a delightfully old-fashioned feel to The Plot to Save Socrates. . . . Levinson's cool, spare style reminded me of the writing of Isaac Asimov. . ." - Colin Harvey, Strange Horizons

"Paul Levinson's new novel is both very different from anything he has done before and very satisfying. . . . This, I think, is the first of Levinson's novels to deserve to be called a tour de force. Watch for it on award ballots." - Tom Easton, Analog: Science Fiction and Fact

"it's exciting to see a book as daring with both its ideas and its approach to narrative structure as this one hit the shelves . . . It's an absolute treat to sit back and be wrapped up in a story that gives a retro SF premise like time travel such a brilliant new kick, and it's doubly delightful to find the story as fun and entertaining as it is thought-provoking." - SF Reviews.net 

"proves that excellent entertainment can and ought to be intellectually respectable -- a glorious example to us all." - Brian Stableford

"...readers are sure to enjoy his take on the paradoxes of time travel" - BookPage 

"Intricately and intriguingly woven, lots of fun, and extremely thought provoking." - Stanley Schmidt 

"Paul Levinson has outdone himself: The Plot to Save Socrates is a philosophically rich gem full of big ideas and wonderful time-travel tricks." - Robert J. Sawyer

"as happens with Kurt Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim . . . . the reader soon becomes unstuck in time . . . . Levinson presents one of the most unique books I've ever encountered. A highly recommended read." - Matt St. Amand 

"Paul Levinson brings both intellectual heft and affection for his delightfully depicted characters to this highly original story of time travel . . . bringing all of its threads together in an ending that is emotionally satisfying and extremely moving. The Plot to Save Socrates will provoke thought long after readers have finished the book, at which point many may want to pick it up and read it again, to savor its twists and turns." - Pamela Sargent, SFWeekly

"Fast-paced and full of plot twists." - Davis Enterprise (California)

"an elaborately-reasoned temporal tale - a novelized thought experiment whose logic and ideas Socrates would have approved of" - John Joseph Adams, intergalacticmedicineshow.com

"a philosophically rich, engaging time travel story . . . a charming portrayal of Socrates" - Fantasybookspot.com 

"a fun romp through 2500 years of Western history" - freshfiction.com

"I've never read anything like this before . . . The Plot to Save Socrates is highly, original, creative, and engaging. I enjoyed it from the first page." - Book.of.the.moment. at myspace.com/book_of_the_moment.com

"revels in the possibilities for paradoxes . . . . fresh and welcome" - Steven Silver's Reviews at sfsite

"frankly, he [Levinson] is one of my 'read on sight' authors . . . The Plot to Save Socrates is a tapestry of times and characters and philosophies, with an excellent look at history. . . ." - Jerry Wright, Bewildering Stories at bewilderingstories.com

"a very intelligently written novel . . . ." - GF Willmetts, at SFcrowsnest.com

"Paul Levinson handles a complicated plot and a multitude of characters in a manner that can only be described as masterful. . . . I highly recommend this book, and I won't be surprised if it wins several awards." - Scott M. Sandridge, specmusicmuse

"This book was a lot of fun, and surprisingly poignant at the end. (Yes, I'll admit I cried a little.) . . . I was worried this would be a fairly cold sci-fi book, where I never got to like any of the characters, but somehow by halfway through I found I really cared about them. I'm not sure how Levinson managed that . . . but somehow they all just got inside me." - Lady Amalthea, eharlequin.com

". . . a new metaphor for the literary tradition of time travel." - Robert Blechman, blogcritics.org

"Socrates has always seemed a rather dour and dull figure to me but Paul Levinson breathes new life into this time." - Debbie, ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

"an extremely engaging, entertaining story. . ." - Laurie Thayer, Rambles.net

"truly a thought-provoking, breathtaking, and highly entertaining novel." - Lysette Brodey, PerpetualProse.com

"The Plot to Save Socrates turns on its head Plato's report of Socrates' poisoning ..." - Gerry Elman, Esq., Stanford Alumni Blog

"Doppelgangers, deception, and the sheer amount of historical reference alone make this novel magnificant, but that is not all!... Paul Levinson has created a historical text for all ages, making the plot flow like wine and pleasing to even the most hesitant of readers." - Jenna A, luxuryreading.com 

"I was hooked by the second page." - Kanti Burns, Book Reviews and more

"A lively cast of historical figures populates this epoch-bending adventure, highly recommended especially for fans of alternate history novels!" - Midwest Bookreview

Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, demo by John Anealio