My thoughts on Shemarrian Nation

[AlexM]

Now that I've read two thirds of the book, I want to give everyone my impressions. But first, a little background. I really like hardware science-fiction. In the '80s and 90's, Palladium used to get free copies of the two major SF magazines to convince us to advertise. I took them home and read them. Aside from a few authors, I really thought that SF had gotten away from its roots. That it was becoming a bit too psychological. In fact, I picked up a book during that time frame but aside from the main character, the rest of the tech meant that it could've been published in 1965. Where was the innovation?

While reading about the cybernetic Shemarrians last night, I thought: This is some of the best science-fiction I've read in a while. There is real Artificial Intelligence research going on right now, which I'm following, and this book had a realistic "what if" quality to it. But what was more, thinking as a player and G.M., I could picture adventures and encounters in my head. The Shemarrians really came to life for me. A part of Rifts Earth history was unfolding in front of me. It was also fun to get into the minds of Archie Three and Hagan again, two prototypical characters in the Rifts saga.

In the next office, Kevin is tapping away at the keyboard. And I'm really looking forward to what comes next.




Alex Marciniszyn, Editor