Sunrise Alley

by Catherine Asaro

Book Overview

When a half-drowned stranger washed up on the beach near research scientist Samantha Bryton's home, she was unaware that he was something more than human - an experiment conducted by Charon, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743488407
• ISBN13: 9780743488402
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Baen Books
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent romantic sci-fi thriller

Plot Summary: Dr. Samantha Bryton has resigned as the lead biotech engineer when her firm began cutting corners to maximize profits. She's retreated to her home on the California coast to escape technology, but it literally washes up on her beach. Sam finds Turner Pascal floating on some wreckage, she pulls him to shore, and then learns that their meeting was no accident. Turner is trying to escape a mad genius named Charon, who copied Turner's mind into an android body after he died in a car accident. Charon wants Turner back, and Sam vows to help Turner find sanctuary and establish his right to live as a man, and not a piece of property. The cover drew me in, but it was the story that kept me entertained. This is a sci-fi romantic thriller all rolled up into one neat package. A good science fiction story should give the reader a juicy ethical dilemma to chew on, and this one is a doozy; if artificial intelligence is self aware, should it have the same rights as humans? What happens when a human and a machine become one? Can such a being be owned by a human? The questions go on and on, but at the heart of the story is Turner and Sam, and their mutual devotion. Without their love, this story would have all the tension of a bland academic inquiry. Most of the plot features Turner and Sam on the run, and it reminded me of the movie, "The Fugitive." Well, except that Turner had all these mad skills, like running super fast, or turning his hands into weapons. His brain evolves so much during the story, it's like he's a completely different person by the end. Sam must adjust to Turner's changes, both physically (yeah, the cover image is just the tip of the iceberg) and mentally too. I thought her reactions were authentic. Every time Sam's brain wanted to say, this is too much, and back away from her feelings, her heart took over and she fell for the guy who defies classification. There was just one flaw. The story is set around 2033, and I argue that's not far enough into the future to have `smart-thread' clothing, or androids that can pass for human. If this was set in 2133 I'd have no problems, but I don't see these kinds of advances happening in a mere 20 years. I will definitely look up more books by Catharine Asaro, and incidentally, there is a sequel to this novel called Alpha (Sunrise Alley).

Interesting...

Dr. Samantha "Sam" Bryton is one of the top in the biomech field. Unlike most research scientists though, Sam believed there were ethics even when dealing with EIs. There is a difference between AIs and EIs. AIs are artificial intelligence. Androids. EIs, however, are evolved intelligence. In this day and age, most humans are part biomech. As long as over fifty percent of the person remains human, the person is considered alive. But if the human is over half mesh, then the human is no longer considered human or alive. Unlike AIs, all EIs can evolve. The thin line deciding where humanity ends and mesh begins remains unknown. To Sam, EIs should be treated humanly. Sam "retired" from BioII when her husband, Richard, died due to experimental components used in creation of forma bodies. One morning, after a storm, Sam goes walking upon her private beach to discover a shipwreck with one survivor, Turner Pascal. But records show that Turner died previously. She learns from Turner that he really did die, but he woke up to find himself in a lab and being experimented on by a mad man known as Charon. Charon is the most ruthless criminal of the twenty-first century. No one knows who he really is or what he really looks like. Sam and Turner find themselves on the run across the country, pursued by Charon. They seek help from an underground organization called Sunrise Alley. Thought to be only a myth, Sunrise Alley is an organization of AIs and EIs gone rogue. Those within Sunrise Alley grant Sam and Turner sanctuary, as well as, support. Problem is that the cybernetic outlaws have their own hidden agenda. ***** This book is written with a bit of SL Veihl's flavor. If you have ever watched and enjoyed the old movie "Logan's Run", then you will simply adore this tale. Sanctuary is for EIs, instead of humans over age thirty. This title is a stand alone story; however, one of the characters from this book, Alpha, has had her story just released as well. Be sure to look for it! If it is even half as enjoyable as this story is, you are in for a treat. Highly recommended! ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Turner Is a Person

Sunrise Alley (2005) is the third novel in the Near-future SF series, following The Phoenix Code. Samantha Abigail Harriet Bryton is a topline researcher in biomechanical constructs, an EI shrink, and a world famous bioethicist. She had protested the violation of ethical standards in the industry, but was ignored in her own company. Finally, she quit her job with Bioll Corporate Labs and is living quietly in her house on a northern California beach. In this novel, Sam is walking on the beach in the fall of 2033 when she discovers debris on the strand and a wreck offshore. She finds an unconscious man on a raft among the wreckage and pulls the float back to the shore. When she checks the body and talks to the man, he suddenly regains consciousness. When she examines the man in her lab, Sam learns that the man has biomechanical limbs and implants and a neural mesh instead of a brain. Sam checks his identity on the World Mesh and discovers that he is dead. Obviously the body is a forma, an android construct, but the person disagrees. He insists that he is a man who has been dissected, imaged and reconstructed as an android. Turner Pascal says that he has been reconstructed by Charon, an underground figure, but Sam does not recognize the name. She checks with a close friend and learns that Charon does exist and has quite a reputation as a criminal. Sam still doesn't fully believe Turner, but is attracted by his upright personality. Turner does not want her to contact anyone else, so they leave the house in her hover-shadow car and head for San Francisco. When her car is followed by another, she fights off its attacks, but decides to call the NIA immediately. A Redbird helicopter picks them up and delivers them to an airfield where they are met by a Rex hypersonic transport. However, the plane crew are henchmen of Charon and they are kidnapped to the Himalayas. This novel explores the legal implications of self-aware emergent intelligences who can pass the most stringent Turing tests. Everyone initially treats Turner as an android, yet Sam is professionally impressed by his naturalness, empathy and stable personality. Although sometimes exhibiting problems with personality integration, Turner is far beyond the computer-based EIs with whom Sam has worked. In many respects, this novel is similar in concept to the story "Jerry Was a Man" by Heinlein and other SF tales regarding civil liberties for non-humans. Asimov also addressed this subject in The Caves of Steel with R. Daneel Olivaw, the humanoid robot who acts as the partner of Elijah Baley. Unlike this story, R. Daneel displays all the aspects a sentient creature, yet is never invested with the status of citizen. The title of this work is the cognomen of an underground society of EIs who have disappeared from research labs and other high security sites. Most of humanity are very leery of all EIs, yet they are too useful to just deactivate and throw away. To make things e

Finally scifi that is beyond fantasy...

I like Asaro, I like the slightly cheezy dime store romance element that she brings into her novels. But I wouldn't buy a book for a dime store romance element. I would however buy a book which took what's currently known about comp sci and projected it a decade or two into the future. What's great about the near future that Asaro builds up- is that it is not fantasy. Its consistent with the laws of the universe, she beats relativity in the Skolian series with a cute Mathematical trick- but here she doesn't have to. The story isn't about the characters, its not her strong point- she has a stereotype boy meets girl, they fall in love approach- which works for her. The story is about the concept. Slicing a brain into a cybernetic conciousness: the idea's been done before, but rarely as well as this. Her background in tech helps, she doesn't have to bend over backward to make up funny words to represent the stuff of the future. She's fluent enough with the language used in science today.

crosses Frankenstein with Philip Dick

By 2033, biomech research scientist Samantha Bryton tasted success with the development of "forma" androids, but has fled to Northern California to reconsider her values as the wealth and fame she has accrued feels wrong. A badly injured male washes up onto Sam's beachfront property. She helps this humanoid flotsam as he heals. Turner Pascal explains that renegade scientist Charon converted him from a dying human into a forma with unique powers. He can slightly modify his appearance and he can communicate directly with machines hooked to the world wide "mesh". As Sam ponders the rights of this unique soul, Charon and his thugs come to repossess his property. The only hope for this duo on the run from a brilliant criminal and his minions as well as the military and Feds lies in Sunrise Alley, legendary home of free AI androids. If they succeed, will a human and a former human be accepted especially since Charon's reach runs deep into Sunrise Alley and just think of what he may have planted inside Turner before the humanoid android washed ashore. Though Charon's reach seems mighty far, readers will appreciate this action-packed science fiction thriller that crosses Frankenstein with Philip Dick asking the same question of what is essentially a human. Sam is a terrific heroine and Charon a wonderful villain, but the tale belongs to Turner. When he was a purebred human he lazily loped through life without a care, but his resurrection as a forma includes powers that can either be abused or be responsibly and accountably used for bettering society. Still the bottom line remains does a former human turned android dream of real sheep or forma sheep? Harriet Klausner