Space is again in the mind of society as we get to see photos beamed back to earth by the latest Mars rover. There is also the space station that is orbiting the planet and has astronauts on board living within its shell. Then of course there is the race to get a space vehicle to replace the Space Shuttles and to have commercial flights to space. The question that is often asked is what’s next? Will we try to send men to Mars?
It’s the job of a speculative fiction writer to look at the world’s trends and “speculate” on what may become of society, the world and much more. Haywire is just sort of a book and comes from the mind of author Justin Macumber.
Haywire takes us into a far future where man has branched out into the stars and is busy terra forming Mars. There are already inhabitants on the planet, and through worm holes man has traveled even further. Sadly upon those travels they caught the eye of an alien race that attacked and nearly devastated much of man’s creations. If not for one man Earth may have been lost but this man used cutting edge, and illegal, technology to create the Titans.
It’s been over a century since the Titans battled to save humanity and man has continued its progress in life and space. We are introduced to a young man named, Shawn, whose seems to have your typical concerns. He’s on his way to spend time with his mother who he hasn’t had a great relationship with prior and post his parents’ divorce. He has a beautiful girl friend that he truly loves, and he’s in a band.
The problems Shawn and his mother have come from the fact that she has been so engrossed in her archeological pursuits she seems cold and separated from her son. Her specialty is looking into the past of the Titan’s and is about to open a new exhibition on them in the museum she is in charge of. Upon meeting his mom he notices some changes in her and he learns that she has met someone. Shawn doesn’t have to much time to come to grips with his mother’s change as life is going to intervene as it often is prone to doing. He must also deal with the fact his mother is about to open a new exhibition on the Titans.
The Titans are normal human beings that were altered by nanites into near god like beings. Their bodies are altered to deal with the attacking aliens. They have super strength, healing abilities, weapon tactics and other traits that push the alien attackers back to their own part of space. They took their role so important that after chasing the aliens out of Earth space they followed them further into the darkness of space to have complete victory.
As Shawn travels to spend some time with his mother something tremendous is happening in another corner of space. The Titans are still alive and their war is coming to an end. The problem is that their enemy has fired the last shot that may not just doom the Titans but humanity. The Titans find their nanites infected and begin turning on each other and go mad. A lone Titan is able to avoid this disaster long enough to head to Earth to share the warnings of what is to come.
Haywire takes the reader into a world that is full of common themes in the world today. We have those who wish to take advantage of the cutting edge technology that the Titan possesses and can bring them to make money. There is the conflict between a mother and son, where one feels as his life he has missed out on so much due to his mother’s pursuits. There is of course the concern of doing what is right and wrong, but more importantly there is the question of what it means to be human.
Do not get yourself concerned that this is a story that deals with those heavy questions, but they are spread throughout a great story. Haywire takes you into a potential future that has pirates, police, military and government intrigue all playing a center piece of the plot line. A story that combines all these elements into a story that shows how we how will struggle to survive and protect what is important to us. Justin does a brilliant job in putting those types of questions into the fictional setting of outer space but is easily a believable, and highly enjoyable story.
Knightmist's Blog 