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| Category: Fiction:SciFi Fantasy Horror | |
| About the Book | |
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Even as the world continues to struggle with evolution versus creation, forces outside of this Earth prevail, in anonymity, to bring the planet to its eventual future; one that connects and reunites its inhabitants with those of an ancestry only dreamed of in science fiction. One of the biggest arguments coming to bear in the here and now is whether or not human creation was the product of "intelligent design" instead of evolution, as theorized by Darwin. Since the former requires faith in order to actually exist, the plotline for Point-Six Percent takes from both arguments to create a fresh, new look. The question put forth opens up the possibilities that Man is not the final developing stage. If intelligent design is the root of creation, then who is to say human DNA is the highest form of life in that design? From an evolutionary standpoint, humans have a point-six percent edge in DNA over the next planetary relative, the chimp. This book examines what point-six percent beyond us might look like, and furthermore, for what purpose might this part of the "grand design" hold. If it has to be secretive, it might look like Zack… Meet Zack Ward, a nearly nine-year old boy who is profoundly deaf from birth, but even more profoundly intelligent beyond all means; only no one realizes it just yet - no one except “Uncle Adam”, a close friend of family who lives in anonymous wealth near Zack’s father, Justin. In fact, Zack and "Uncle" Adam have secrets…inhuman ones. Justin and his ex-wife Liz share custody and only now are Zack’s inhuman intelligences emerging through the deafness. During a traditional summer away from Mom and school, he discovers his true purpose in life. Unfortunately, it carries a terrible price involving a near conspiracy-like plan to bring Earth, as an existence, to a new threshold of universal understanding. Set in the immediate future, Point-Six Percent provides all the elements of a great story including intrigue, romance, murder, and deception while the theories of Erich von Danikken (Chariots of the Gods) run headlong into those of Darwin in this unique perspective of the future to be. Point-Six Percent is ultimately a story that experiments with the fantasies occurring when half a life spent in the media business clashes at warp speed with the studied ideals of some really advanced thinkers in our more modern sciences(and perhaps not-so sciences). Was Erich von Daniken’s notion that we as a race of beings were the possible seeds of alien visitation that far off base? Watching Star Trek and ET, Close Encounters…and the like can easily assist us in truly considering the notion that we are not all that there is to the universe. What the mind can do, and where evolution is going beyond us are just some of the ideas and questions presented in this playful, but thought-provoking story.
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| About the Author | |
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Steve Bantle (Buffalo State, ’84) is a former award-winning journalist and broadcaster who also spent nearly five years as a sports columnist before leaving the business altogether in the late 90s to pursue a teaching career. Steve is happily married and continues to teach to this day in Central Maine. |