Deus Ex Effing Machina By Rick Jurmain - The Wild Ride Continues In This Second Book Of The Gravtech Series!

Deus Ex Effing Machina: The Gravtech Series - Book 2

After reading the first book in the Gravtech series, Apocalypse Du Jour, there was no way I would miss the sequel, Deus Ex Effing Machina! I was mesmerized by the first book, and again, I became absorbed in this volume. It is an edge of your seat ride through the aftermath of the events in the first story. Deus Ex is another fast-paced, entertaining, and thought-provoking, tongue-in-cheek look at life after the accidental discovery of antigravity technology that brought about the eventual collapse of the global economy to make life better for everyone.

Deus Ex is a humorous work of speculative fiction that will also give the reader much to think about. There are some serious considerations that will crop up in this tale, but are presented in such a way that makes considering some of the grimmest situations fun to contemplate.

The characters in this story are all believable, so even the absurd will seem plausible.

Following the invention of antigravity, the four scientists who accidentally created the technology have all become billionaires and continue to work for the new company that is still developing and learning the consequences of their invention. In the meantime, there are those who would exploit this new tech for their own advancement and nefarious reasons. The global economy has become one where there is plenty for everyone, and that is difficult for some to accept, while others take to it without problems. A group of oligarchs see opportunities to use the tech to further their agenda. But the company is trying to investigate the problem of a hacker who has an agenda that is difficult to understand. Further, this hacker has a skewed sense of humor that is baffling everyone. No one can seem to get what this person wants, if it is even a person. Then, there are several nuclear devices traveling to major cities in the U.S. set to create mayhem and destruction on a massive scale, and they seem impossible to stop. And it is not clear who is behind that little plot, and there are numerous possibilities for the responsible party.

So, numerous problems and no easy solutions makes for a ride faster than a speeding bullet, and just as dangerous!

The characters in Deus Ex are all extraordinary individuals but are written in such a way they could be very real people. In this story, all the people introduced in Apocalypse are back, but some are expanded.

My favorite in this one is Ted "Boingy" Binghamton. He is the CEO of GravWorks. A former game programmer, he possesses a monster-sized sense of humor. Boingy will find the humor in all situations, no matter how grim. He’s the kind of boss I would want to work for. He seems very laid back, but he demands top performance from his people, but he does it without being overly demanding. He likes donuts and dunking them in his coffee (my kind of guy). 

Another favorite character was an octopus living in a Boston aquarium. I'll just leave that right there.

My favorite point of plot in Deus Ex is the mixture of various subjects to make the story thought provoking and informative. There is a mixture of science (both real and made-up) along with history, philosophy, politics, human relations, war and peace, and economics. While all the elements are fictitious, they all are relatable to situations we can read about every day in the news. While the reader will want to get on to the next element of the story, it wasn't uncommon for me to stop reading and contemplate what I had just read.

Another favorite part of Deus Ex was a chapter that had a subheading offering the reader to skip a chapter. I urge you not to do this! It's one of the best parts of the book!

My takeaway from Deus Ex is to remember something I will quote. I see it as more of a warning for vigilance than anything...

"Humans evolved from chimps into chumps. And everyone with something to sell knows it." (Page 273)

Deus Ex Effing Machina is 762 pages of sheer fun and an opportunity to think and learn. I am eager to see where the author takes the story from here. Rick has a great sense of humor and knows how to use it. The writing in this book reminds me a little of Douglas Adams because it combines dire situations with a natural sort of hilarity that one might find in reality. A friend once told me when the chips were down, "never lose your sense of humor."

The length of the novel might seem intimidating, but the book reads quickly and is absolutely worth the time.

I gave my highest recommendations for Deus Ex Effing Machina along with the previous book in the series, Apocalypse Du Jour. The author warns the reader that before reading Deus Ex, it would be wise to read Apocalypse, and I completely agree!

Oh, and while I'm at it, I'll warn you to beware of the interrupting bovine creature (you're going to have to read the book to get that).

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rick Jurmain is a retired rocket scientist and entrepreneur. In the ‘90s, he and his late wife Mary (killed by cancer in 2016) built a successful corporation from the ground up. For Realityworks, Inc., the invented, built, and marketed a microprocessor-based product that gained national support, achieved international media attention, and was named by Fortune magazine as Product of the Year in 1994. In 2000, the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Chamber of Commerce selected Rick and Mary as the local Entrepreneurs of the Year, and Ernst & Young selected them as Finalists for the Wisconsin Entrepreneur of the Year award. Mary ran the company, while Rick was Vice President In Charge Of Things That Go Beep (engineering, computers, phones, faxes, cars, dishwashers, and oddly enough, toilets, though they rarely go beep).

In the ‘80’s, Rick let, or was a member of, 13 NASA Space Shuttle mission control Flight Activities teams. Unlike cruise ships, Shuttle flight activities did not include shuffleboard or bingo. The Flight Activities teams planned missions starting years prior to launch, and re-planned missions during flights when things went wrong. And things always went wrong. Rick also led the Operations Analysis teams for General Dynamics’ Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) and McDonnell Douglas’ National AeroSpace Plane (NASP). He spent 15 years in the aerospace industry doing tactical analysis and war games, including top level WWIII combined arms games, and he helped invent hypersonic war games.

In 2002, Rick was a consultant to Coleman Aerospace on DARPA’s RASCAL study, which designed modifications for a rocket-powered F-14 fighter. For that contract, Rick headed up designing the Operations, Support, Avionics, Electrical, Instrumentation, Cockpit, Payload Interfaces, and Integrated Vehicle Health Management Systems. All the fun stuff.

In the late ‘90’s, Rick was founder of Vela Technology Development, Inc. Vela and its partners started much of what is becoming the space tourism industry. Vela’s briefings to Burt Rutan and Richard Branson started them on the path to space tourism. Vela worked with the FAA to write regulations for space tourism. And Vela helped design a space-tourism themed resort for Las Vegas. While Vela has since folded, Rick owns its process patent on key low-acceleration trajectories for space tourism. And if Rutan doesn’t get his butt in gear, the patent will be worthless because it expires soon.

Rick was a Captain in the Army Combat Engineers, National Guard and Reserves (no significant active duty).

Rick is 65 years old, currently retired, though working intermittently as a board member, inventor, and writer. He has two kids: Jake, age 30, and Ariel, Age 26. And he’s obnoxiously proud of both of them.

Rick is widely acknowledged to have been Mary’s trophy husband. Though no one has ever thought of him as just another pretty face. At least, no one who’s seen his face. And, come to think of it, no one has ever considered that he was a first-place trophy either. Rick was just in the right place at the right time to trip up a gorgeous, massively intelligent woman with an aging biological clock and desperately low standards. Someday, someone will make a fortune building a dating site for such women.

Well, there it is...

Qapla!

Apocalypse du Jour (Book 1 in the Gravtech Series) by Rick Jurmain - Strap In For A Hell Of A Ride - Not To Be Missed!

Apocalypse du Jour (Book 1 in the Gravtech Series) by Rick Jurmain

What would happen if four scientists came together by chance and invented the impossible? What could possibly go wrong? Well, the story contained in the 383 pages of Rick Jurmain’s uproarious tale in Apocalypse du Jour is one possibility. And what a tale it is. Rarely have I read a story that uses humor in such a way to present what could be a very grim picture. But Rick does it with great style. This is a lightning-paced story that will keep the reader turning page after page until the end. Once one picks this up and starts reading, stopping is going to be more of a challenge than the amazing characters face in the text.

I have a casual, online relationship with the author through a mutual friend who holds weekly zoom meetings. It is how I learned about this book, and I am glad I was paying attention. Of all the books I read, I found this one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking stories I have ever picked up.

There is so much contained in those pages. In a word, all I can say to sum it up is...

WOW!

Usually, I would write my own synopsis of a story, but in this case, there is no possible way I could improve on the blurb from the back of the book, so I am quoting it here...

“Apocalypse du Jour is a hilarious techno-thriller. It presents the adventures of four researchers, all social outcasts: an autistic programmer, a barely functional paranoid mathematician, a blind vet physicist with severe PTSD, and a basement gamer prototyper.

“They briefly collaborate on research via the internet without ever meeting one another. They publish an innocuous paper in an obscure journal, then disband. Three months later, every major country and corporation in the world races to kidnap or kill them. They run for their lives, each according to their disability, while trying to figure out why. But that is just the beginning of an adventure involving many other interesting characters, political power struggles, and global economic collapse and rebirth, all from the point of view of relatively normal people. More than half of the main characters in the book are realistic, strong women.

“The book is packed full of action, motorcycle chases, helicopter chases, white-knuckle danger, psychological manipulation, soldiers, guns, Godzillas, betrayal, revenge, assassins, blueberry blintzes, two (count ‘em) battlegrannies, Presidential vendettas, computer hacking, riots, rescues, edge-of-the-seat tension, and one near-catastrophic hot flash.

“Then, in chapter two... Actually, that stuff is spread out throughout the book. Though it’s all there, plus a lot more.”

 The synopsis introduces the focus characters who take turns appearing as they face situations that are often challenging, but at the same time terrifying at the core. How this quartet of geniuses deal with these situations is different in each case, but funny and scary all at the same time.

The most impressive thing about this collection of people, and I mean every character in the book, is how unique they are. There are no copies and it is obvious that the author took great care in creating them. None of the people in this story can be considered “stock” characters. They come through as individuals with their own attitudes and beliefs. The principal characters are quite well developed and are people whom the reader can invest themselves in.

My favorite plot point in Apocalypse du Jour is that there is a surprise on every page. There are more twists and turns in this story than San Francisco’s Lombard Street! Every time I thought I had everything figured out, there was something new and fascinating happening. For instance, one of the principal characters is attending a comic con when he is suddenly being chased through the con while in costume. He winds up being saved by an unlikely set of circumstances culminating in a wild motorcycle ride through a busy city! It is truly a laugh a minute as this scene unfolds, and it is so unpredictable. It creates great tension, but the description of this scene is full of madcap hilarity, one cannot help but laugh out loud leaving anyone in the vicinity to ask what’s so funny.

 My takeaway from Apocalypse du Jour is to remember that no matter how grim a situation might be, there is always a solution to any problem. Sometimes the most absurd solutions may present themselves, and the tendency is to dismiss them out of hand. But one should give serious consideration to the absurd, it may just be the best, or only way to resolve a seemingly unsolvable puzzle.

 I give my highest recommendations for reading Apocalypse du Jour. It is an utterly entertaining story with a full range of emotions. It had me laughing and made me tear up a few times. But it is never boring. There is plenty of action for readers who are seeking thrills, there is some interesting science. There are characters who are compelling and much like people the reader may know in their own life, but the circumstances they find themselves in are anything but ordinary. I think this would be a great tale for anyone to read because there is truly something for everyone. So, grab a copy of Apocalypse du Jour and strap yourself into your favorite reading chair, it’s a hell of a ride!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rick Jurmain is a retired rocket scientist and entrepreneur. In the ‘90s, he and his late wife Mary (killed by cancer in 2016) built a successful corporation from the ground up. For Realityworks, Inc., the invented, built, and marketed a microprocessor-based product that gained national support, achieved international media attention, and was named by Fortune magazine as Product of the Year in 1994. In 2000, the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Chamber of Commerce selected Rick and Mary as the local Entrepreneurs of the Year, and Ernst & Young selected them as Finalists for the Wisconsin Entrepreneur of the Year award. Mary ran the company, while Rick was Vice President In Charge Of Things That Go Beep (engineering, computers, phones, faxes, cars, dishwashers, and oddly enough, toilets, though they rarely go beep).

In the ‘80’s, Rick let, or was a member of, 13 NASA Space Shuttle mission control Flight Activities teams. Unlike cruise ships, Shuttle flight activities did not include shuffleboard or bingo. The Flight Activities teams planned missions starting years prior to launch, and re-planned missions during flights when things went wrong. And things always went wrong. Rick also led the Operations Analysis teams for General Dynamics’ Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) and McDonnell Douglas’ National AeroSpace Plane (NASP). He spent 15 years in the aerospace industry doing tactical analysis and war games, including top level WWIII combined arms games, and he helped invent hypersonic war games.

In 2002, Rick was a consultant to Coleman Aerospace on DARPA’s RASCAL study, which designed modifications for a rocket-powered F-14 fighter. For that contract, Rick headed up designing the Operations, Support, Avionics, Electrical, Instrumentation, Cockpit, Payload Interfaces, and Integrated Vehicle Health Management Systems. All the fun stuff.

In the late ‘90’s, Rick was founder of Vela Technology Development, Inc. Vela and its partners started much of what is becoming the space tourism industry. Vela’s briefings to Burt Rutan and Richard Branson started them on the path to space tourism. Vela worked with the FAA to write regulations for space tourism. And Vela helped design a space-tourism themed resort for Las Vegas. While Vela has since folded, Rick owns its process patent on key low-acceleration trajectories for space tourism. And if Rutan doesn’t get his butt in gear, the patent will be worthless because it expires soon.

Rick was a Captain in the Army Combat Engineers, National Guard and Reserves (no significant active duty).

Rick is 65 years old, currently retired, though working intermittently as a board member, inventor, and writer. He has two kids: Jake, age 30, and Ariel, Age 26. And he’s obnoxiously proud of both of them.

Rick is widely acknowledged to have been Mary’s trophy husband. Though no one has ever thought of him as just another pretty face. At least, no one who’s seen his face. And, come to think of it, no one has ever considered that he was a first-place trophy either. Rick was just in the right place at the right time to trip up a gorgeous, massively intelligent woman with an aging biological clock and desperately low standards. Someday, someone will make a fortune building a dating site for such women.

Well, there it is...

Qapla!