They flew 13 lightyears away to build their utopian society. But human nature caught up to them.
They flew 13 lightyears away to build their utopian society. But human nature caught up to them.
Epistolary, Political, Time travel
War. Corruption. Overpopulation. Climate change. When Earth reaches a tipping point, the world's wealthiest man decides to reboot civilization on another habitable planet. Deemed "Project Exodus," the voyage includes 4,000 like-minded colonists, a political manifesto, and all the resources they can fit on their ship. But traversing the stars and establishing the first permanent colony on a new planet is merely the first step. The real challenge lies in their attempt at a sustainable utopia.
The story spans three generations of colonists on planet Eden, from the first settlers of Project Exodus to the native-born and their own progeny. With each new generation comes an existential threat to their way of life, and one family always finds itself at the center of conflict. Meanwhile, an otherworldly figure lurks in the recesses of time and space, slowly working toward its own designs.
The Artifice of Eternity is a sweeping science fiction narrative with elements of mystery, psychological fiction, and political commentary interspersed with media documents from Earth's past. It is an insightful appraisal of humanity's enduring pursuit to escape human nature.
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The Artifice of Eternity is a grand, multigenerational story about the pinnacles and perils of human ambition. It prompts readers to ruminate on ideas such as fate and human nature while maintaining an intriguing story as its first precept. Crime, mystery, revenge, control: the plot consistently centres on the darker aspects of humanity as it explores how a could-be perfect society responds to these stimuli. This gives the story its impetus, while the three members of the Conway family— heroes, villains and ultimately nothing more or less than ordinary, flawed people—are its heart. The Artifice of Eternity is straightforward and smart, and readers who like exploring big ideas in their fiction will find plenty to enjoy. AUREALIS #165 ~ AUREALIS MAGAZINE, Review
I have to honestly say that the cover was the first thing to grab my attention, let alone the title of the book, but when I started reading it, my goodness, I was quickly off and running into this dutifully created, insightfully nuanced, scene setting, character-driven, attention-grabbing narrative that I just simply could not put down (ok, I read the book in just two days, so yeah, I guess I did physically put it down, but you get the point!). The chapters are plentiful but not overly long in prose; all be they a collective of intelligent explorations of human nature in a way that I can long since recall having read on the page, as subtly nuanced as this before in print. Simply put, The Artifice of Eternity: A Novel by author Aaron H. Arm is a book that everyone should read, that everyone should read at the very least twice, as it not only spins a quite wondrous tale for us all to dive into this summer, but it comes complete with a real-life health warning to the human populous, as a whole. In closing, The Artifice of Eternity is a sweeping science fiction narrative with elements of mystery, psychological fiction, and political commentary interspersed with media documents from Earth’s past. It is an insightful appraisal of humanity’s enduring pursuit to escape human nature. ~ Exclusive Magazine, Review
Arm’s insightful debut chronicles an idealistic yet flawed attempt to colonize a distant planet. When Earth’s richest man decides the planet is doomed despite all his philanthropic endeavors, he sets his sights on building a utopian society on the planet Eden. Arm’s eloquent prose and character-driven narrative gives the story a literary feel as Eden’s colonists establish a new home amid dramatic alien flora and fauna. There’s a seemingly solid set of principles to guide the colony forward—until the shock of the new world’s first murder prompts the society’s leaders to go against their values and launch a cover-up. The ensuing decades-spanning narrative shows the consequences of this action on the Conway family: Isaac Conway preserves the hidden truth of the murder on a memory chip, which is found by his son, Jacob, after Isaac’s death. Jacob uses this information to fuel his righteous political ambitions, which take a dark turn after he discovers an ancient alien mural that predicts a cataclysmic disaster. An intriguing time paradox introduced near the end adds unexpected nuance that will leave readers thinking about this book long after the last page is turned. Add in incisive explorations of human nature, and there’s plenty of food for thought here. ~ Publishers Weekly
Straightforward and smart ... plenty to enjoy ~ Aurealis Magazine
Eloquent prose and character-driven ... incisive explorations of human nature. ~ Publisher's Weekly
