Soulless Machine Review: My writing compared to Crichton , Gibson and Leonard

Posted by Aaaron M. Wilson on the Soulless Machine Review.

Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco was the second novel that I read while I was in Puerto Vallarta, to read the review of the first, click here: DARWIN'S PARADOX by Nina Munteanu.

Imagine a world several years after a computer virus called Peacemaker destroyed nearly all internet connections in the world and infected almost all computers. In this world, Peacemaker is indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people due to loss of remote control of utilities, phones, satellites, hospitals; everything that we take for granted stopped working.

In the aftermath, the government has taken control of all technology related R&D; and in the wake of this take over, two opposing forces have arisen: the Technos, who push the envelope, creating new and illegal technologies, which are sold on the black market by the mob; and the Church of Natural Humans, a terrorist-like sect of Christianity that believes all machines, smart-technologies, are spawns of the devil.

In this world, your name is David Brown. You're smart. You're good looking and women flock to you. You're not wealthy, but you don't want for money. You have everything going for you, except that you are the son of the man who created and unleashed Peacemaker.

Unholy Domain is an action packed coming of age story in which David Brown must uncover hidden secrets about his father, secrets that others have killed to keep, secrets that if uncovered could change everything. In his search, David will go up against the Church of Natural Humans, the Techos, and an intelligent internet program that threatens to suck his consciousness out of his body and into the World Wide Web forever.

Ronco's writing is clear and detailed. I read every word. The plot is fast. A worthy comparison of Ronco's style would be: Michael Crichton's action, William Gibson's attention to technical detail, and Elmore Leonard's tough guy attitude. This combination finds a unique and entertaining mix in Ronco's fiction, creating a book that I couldn't put down long enough to enjoy the beaches of Puerto Vallarta.

I highly recommend Unholy Domain to anyone interested in the future of human consciousness, technology, and the evolution of the human machine.

To learn more about my novels, check out Dan Ronco's Amazon Blog.

NothingBinding.com: Unholy Domain almost screams "Look around you!"

Review for “Unholy Domain” by Dan RoncoThe futuristic world of Cyber Technology is spawning a new genre that falls somewhere between creative imagination and scientific probability. And possibly, imminent projection. It’s the impending element that is the rather scary part. Is Unholy Domain science fiction, a thriller of sorts? Or is it a quite feasible and likely glimpse into a very near future? Unlike the imaginative sci-fi of the Star Wars and Trekkie generation where we were thrust light years ahead of our time, Unholy Domain almost screams “Look around you!"

It’s 2012. A deadly computer virus renders identity theft, electronic spying and cyber fraud mere child’s play. This bug, known as Peace Maker, literally sends the world spiraling into chaos with a shut down of communications, energy, and product distribution. What’s compelling about this calamity is its very possible authenticity. It could happen tomorrow! Look around you!

Fast forward ten years. It’s 2022. Society, itself, is in decay. The Great Depression of the Thirties pales in comparison. Once in control, the Technos and their ensuing alternative intelligence capabilities have roused the ire of religious fundamentalists. The Technos, their controlled robots, and the Natural Humans of the Army of God meet head on in the age-old battle of good versus evil, of God against Lucifer! But there is a yet new dilemma. Has evil become the only power? Is evil only fighting for a more intense degree of itself? Is this the ultimate jihad?

True to books of this genre, Unholy Domain does have an enigmatic ending which leaves the reader free to draw their own conclusions as to the validity of this futuristic world. The goal of a writer is to leave the reader pondering their story, the whys and wherefores of it, and the personal impact it invokes. Unholy Domain succeeds in doing that. By all means . . . look around you!

Susan Haley, Author

**Susan Haley is the published author of two books, several articles on networking, an award-winning poet, and the copy editor and book reviewer for Pepper Tree Press Publishing. She is a columnist for “The Florida Writer” the official magazine of the Florida Writers Association, and serves as Facilitator for the Sarasota County Chapter. The audio version of her novel “RAINY DAY PEOPLE” was recently awarded runner-up Finalist in the 2008 Indie Excellence National Book Awards. She also contributes a variety of editorials and excerpts of her work to various E-zines, newsletters, and local papers. Susan can be contacted at shaley1112@verizon.net.

To learn more about Dan Ronco and his novels, check out his Amazon Blog.

J. Kaye's Book Blog: Unholy Domain is "a real page turner."

Unholy Domain, by Dan Ronco, is the second in his sci-fi thriller series. Peacemaker, the first, is about a computer virus that changes the world, for the worst. Unholy Domain picks up about 10 years later. It is a fast, exciting read. I read half the book the first night and finished it the next day. Much to my dismay, I found out this was the second book and regret not reading the first one first! Now I must wait until next year (Spring 2009) to read the third one, Tomorrow’s Children.

Piers Anthony wrote: “Anther fast-action story of vicious extremes, as a powerful religious cult takes on a sophisticated tech outfit. Each means to destroy each other and rule the world, and neither is scrupulous about what it means. The protagonist is caught precariously between the two. Top rate adventure sparkling with ideas.”

Peter Clenott, http://www.peterclenott.com/pc/default.asp, author of Hunting the King, wrote “Unholy Domain is science fiction a la Da Vinci Code but with far better characters than Da Vinci Code and with more detail and complexity.”

I couldn't agree more. This book is a real page-turner.

Midwest Book Review: Unholy Domain "is a gripping thriller all the way through."

Technology has been both the savior and destroyer of millions of lives. "Unholy Domain" is the tale of a computer virus that was the destroyer, and its aftermath. David Brown is the son of the virus' supposed creator; as the world begins to fall apart, he tries to clear his father's name, thinking that the virus was not as responsible as it was pointed out. Faced with threats from religious fanatics as well as those trying to restore the world to its technological state, "Unholy Domain" is a gripping thriller all the way through. Highly recommended for community library thriller collections.

Note from DR: This is the second reviewer from Midwest Book Review to write about Unholy Domain.

BooksAreMyOnly Friends.blogspot.com:Unholy Domain is a "fast paced techno-thriller."

Hey, you got your AI in my dogma . . .

Should you wish to grapple with the interplay between science and religion, in the words of Tony Soprano, "you got options." You could TiVo "Faith and Reason" on PBS, ponder some Betrand Russell and G.K. Chesterton (which – like duct tape and a universal remote – no home should be without), or crack open Dan Ronco's Unholy Domain. I've gone with door number three, and I've gotta say, it ain't half bad.

Unholy Domain opens in a dystopian, not-so-distant future, in which the world's political and economic systems are gimping along in the wake of the PeaceMaker, a mess-you-up-like-bad-chicken computer virus. It appears that this piece of sunshine was unleashed, for reasons unknown, by the ubertalented and correspondingly erratic programmer Ray Brown, essentially taking down Teh Interweb. As a result of the devastation wrought by PeaceMaker, the federal government has banned all but the most miniscule advances in technology and devolved into corruption and incompetence. *cough, cough *

Against this backdrop we find the Church of the Natural Humans, a sect of anti-technology nuts whose vestments include shoulder-holstered gats and whose theology puts the Luddites to shame, locked in a clandestine war with The Domain, a cabal of black market tech peddlers (imagine the Illuminati recruiting at MIT and bringing on some temps from Blackwater) to be Lords of All We Survey.

Cut to college student David Brown, whom we accompany on his quest to discover the truth about his father Ray and the PeaceMaker virus. What follows is a fast paced techno-thriller that would fit well between a beach chair and cooler of Red Stripe. Some of the prose is somewhat clunky, but Ronco does a great job of drawing out relationships between his characters that seem more fully developed than most genre authors tend to produce. Moreover, the fundamental questions raised by Ronco about the roles of science and religion in the arc of human development are ones worth considering, even if it's while sitting on the beach with a bronson. Perhaps especially then.

If Dan Simmons' Endymion got you all freaky and hot in the ass, what with its time travellin' spikey robot, the AI TechnoCore and the Galactic Catholics, then Unholy Domain will be right up your alley. On the other hand, if you like your discourse to be more elevated, then go get a Mother Jones. And put the beer away.

Blogger News Network: Unholy Domain "is a fast-paced techno thriller ... you will not want to put down"

Book review: Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco
Posted on June 24th, 2008
by Simon Barrett in Book Reviews, Reviews

There are a plethora of sci-fi books that have explored what the Earth would be like after the apocalypse, and generally the apocalypse in question is a nuclear war, or some sort of plague.

Unholy Domain takes this genre in a new and very thought provoking direction. One only has to spend a couple of minutes researching the history and growth of the Internet to realize how in the space of just a few years it was woven itself into the very fabric of our world. We have near instantaneous communication via email, we have access to enormous repositories of information, it has become a part of our day to day life. I could not live without it!

Unfortunately there is a potential dark side to the technology. Increasingly it is also the backbone used by basic infrastructures, power generation, transportation, law enforcement, and a lot more. There have already been rumblings in the press about what might happen if hackers gained control of a power generating plant, or other basic service.

In Unholy Domain Dan Ronco takes us to a world where a decade previously (2010) a virus had decimated the Internet. Because of the disruption to basic services over a million people died. What would the world look like under these circumstances?

Dan Ronco takes us to a world that has become a fractured society, the technos and the religious zealots. In the aftermath of the disaster the government has regulated technology, stifling innovation, this has resulted in an economic situation rivaling the great depression. Without advancing technology the world has not just stagnated it has regressed to an earlier time.

Technology has become an underground industry, a black market more lucrative than drugs. The technos are run by a shady organization known simply as The Domain.

The opposing force are the fanatical Army of God, the paramilitary wing of The Church of Natural Humans. Their leader Adam Jordan is on the outside a charismatic speaker, but is also a man with a single minded hatred for technology and those who would use it.

Our hero in Unholy Domain is David Brown, a young student who has the dubious honor of being the son of the man accused of unleashing the deadly virus.

When David receives a message sent 10 years previously from his father he begins to have doubts about his fathers guilt and decides to investigate for himself. David is walking a tightrope, he has enemies in high places, neither The Domain, nor the Army of God are enamored by his presence, for different reasons, though one does become his unseen temporary protector with an ulterior motive in mind.

This is a fast paced techno thriller which I can pretty much guarantee you will not want to put down, I know I didn’t! Set close enough in the future (2020) that most of the ‘props’ are believable, it paints a dark picture of one potential future scenario for mankind.

This is a book that is worth searching out, I liked the style of writing a great deal. Each chapter begins with some quotes, some old and real, other from books yet to be written. A very cute touch. You don’t have to be a hard core Sci-Fi fan for this one, just a lover of a great story.

You can pick up your own copy of Unholy Domain from Amazon, he also has a web site with additional information.

Simon Barrett
http://zzsimonb.blogspot.com/

ReviewYourBook.com: "Unholy Domain is a Must Read for fans of Science Fiction."

Unholy Domain

A world where religious terrorists and visionaries of technology fight for supreme power.

5 stars

Can technology go too far…Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com

Unholy Domain is written with much intelligence and finesse. Dan Ronco presents a world where technology is out of control. In 2012, a computer virus called the Peacemaker was released, and over a million humans died. The economy spiraled down into a depression. People question whether technology is good or evil. There are two factions, Technos (scientists) verses Church of Natural Humans (theologians), fighting to control the world. Both sides have their own agenda. One man stands alone in the quest for truth and to clear his father’s name.

Dan Ronco’s Unholy Domain is a realistic thriller. Ronco does go overboard in describing the females, and he comes across as a bit sexist. The plot is imaginative and pulls the reader into the story. I could not put this one down. The characters are brilliant, the pace is non-stop action, and the premise is chilling. This is a must read for fans of science fiction.http://www.danronco.com/

The Darkness Within

I’m a nice guy. Really. All that conflict, torture, and mayhem that you read in my novels, well, that’s not really me. At least I don’t think so.

Let me explain, since you may not have heard of me. I write novels about the near-future, the next two or three decades. My first novel, PeaceMaker, published in 2004, looked at the destruction caused by a lethal computer virus augmented with artificial intelligence. Definitely not a namby-pamby virus that you catch with a standard anti-virus program. Nope, the PeaceMaker virus shut down computers across the globe, millions died from lack of power, water, health care, but I’m not writing a synopsis. You get the picture.

Unholy Domain, published April, 2008, examines the growing conflict between religion and science. You think things are hot between the pro-choice and pro-life activists, well that’s a weekend picnic compared to issues we will face when artificial intelligence and genetic engineering hit full stride.

My latest novel under development, Tomorrow’s Children, continues where Unholy Domain left off and then evaluates the integration of human and machine intelligence. My view of the future isn’t StarTrek. (I blogged about StarTrek a few months earlier.) It’s dark and complex, but not without hope.

Each of my novels starts with an assumption regarding the direction and pace of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, robotics and the like. Then I look at the major social issues and evaluate their direction and intensity. Overlay the technical and the cultural and you can pick out the hot spots. My novels grow in those spots.

Okay, so I start with an issue, one with at least two strong, conflicting beliefs. Actually, at this point the novel could be considered hard science fiction. Hard means based in reality, no magic, no pipe dreams. If I starting writing with this outline, I would create a novel that will make you think, but not cringe.

But the devil is in the details. Or maybe I have a bit of the devil in me, because as I lay out an outline, the conflict of ideas turns to violence. And not just any violence --- creative, gut-wrenching violence. Hand to hand conflict, rape, robots, torture, you name it. More thriller than scifi now.

I don’t know where this stuff comes from. I lead a normal life: married to a wonderful woman, three great kids, long-term friendships, satisfying career. I try and balance the darkness with a quirky sense of humor.

The reviews for Unholy Domain have been great (check Amazon), but they see the darkness of the story. Phrases like nightmare, damn scary book, alarming, frightening vision, dark and dangerous, bloody, threatening, and horrific pepper the reviews.

Who knows the source of all this darkness? Yeah, it’s from me, but it comes from some walled-off section of my mind that doesn’t connect to my real life. And never will.

Well, that’s about it. My wife Linda and I are going out to dinner tonight, a nice Italian place where the people know us by name. Should be a good time.

www.danronco.com

Top Fifty Amazon Reviewer: Unholy Domain is "an action-packed, page-turning read"

Amanda Richards "Modest to the extreme"

This futuristic story pits technology against religion in an all-out bloody war, ostensibly to save the human race. The thing is, both sides have dark secrets that they'd rather stay hidden from the world, and now one uniquely talented young man is threatening to expose them all to clear his father's name.

It's 2012 - A year of great scientific progress Except of course for the virus Which cripples computers ALL the computers ALL OF THEM! Killing more than a million people Who couldn't get food, Water, Gas, Heat Or e-mailIt's

It's 2022 - A year of economic depression Some believe that the answer Lies in Artificial Intelligence Human-like robots THAT CAN THINK And spectacles that are voice-activated to give you the news on the go

It's 2022 A year of the Church of Natural Humans Who believe that technology Is the tool of Lucifer And are prepared TO KILL EVERYONE Who dares to support Artificial Intelligence As they have no right To play GOD

In between, there's David Brown, son of the man who has been vilified for creating the virus, but after receiving a delayed transmission e-mail from his late father, David now thinks otherwise.

David has a unique talent when it comes to AI, and once he sets his mind to proving his father's innocence, he stirs up the vipers on both sides, and the result is an action-packed, page-turning read.

The dialogue doesn't always flow smoothly and the female characters are sometimes (ahem) overly developed, but these are minor hiccups in an otherwise well crafted story that may yet prove to be prophetic.

Amanda Richards, June 7, 2008

Bookshelf Reviews "Unholy Domain is a Riveting Futuristic Novel"

Unholy Domain - Dan Ronco

If this is our future, I really can't say I'm looking forward to it all that much.

Dan Ronco spins a riveting futuristic novel packed with action, suspense and a whole lotta robots. And religious nuts - those guys are the fun ones. In 2022, the world lies in the aftermath of the virus that hit the world and its computers a decade before. The accused creator, Ray Brown, is dead, but his son David, possessing a weird ability to communicate with artificial intelligence, lives on, often suffering from his father's indiscretions. But when David receives a preset email from his father claiming his own innocence, David suspects that perhaps his father wasn't behind the world-shattering virus, but a business associate who now prepares and distributes A.I. inventions underground. And with the religious sect called the Church of Natural Humans causing havoc as well, picking off anyone who sneezes in the direction of an A.I., answers don't come as easily for David as he might've originally thought.

Though some character dialogue comes off as a bit too scripted, Ronco's story and writing is solid, providing enough twists and turns for the mystery-favoring reader and enough fist-to-fist action for the James Bond followers. An excellent read.

Posted by T.C. Robson at Monday, June 02, 2008

http://www.danronco.com/

Roundtable Reviews Praises Unholy Domain

Reviewed By Jeff Cook

Aside from social media, Wikis, the opportunity to juke out and conquer fellow online bidders and loads and loads of videos of funny monkeys, the internet has opened the doors to new opportunities for science fiction writers. With so much of our personal information and lives intertwined with computers and the World Wide Web, a panoply of what-if scenarios have been posited and explored by a new generation of authors that pick up where Asimov and Dick left off.

Dan Ronco is one of them. In his new novel, UNHOLY DOMAIN, Ronco picks up a decade after a compuer virus named Peacemaker has wiped out computers world-wide; the economies of the greatest nations on earth lie in ruins, people face starvation and desperation on a scale unimaged. Yet humanity is finding its way, propelled by those two engines that have moved progess through the ages since the dawn of time: science, and religion.

On one side is the Church of Natural Humans, a religious faction exalting "natural humanity", those people untainted by technological enhacements or dependency on a computerized world. Led by a charismatic leader, a beautiful and deadly assassin and an army of zealots, the Church seeks to wipe out those who would promote the artificial over the natural.

On the other side lies the Domain, a group of technocrats bent on achieving world domination through the sale of artificial humans and the restoration of global communications that will give them total control of the people and major economies that are in tatters.

In the middle is David Brown, the son of the man accused of creating Peacemaker and a man determined to prove his father was a pawn in the most dangerous game ever played - a game in which the ultimate prize is the world itself.

UNHOLY DOMAIN is a damn scary book filled with fascinating ideas and questions that wrestle with notions of family, security, betrayal, and our dependency on a way of life that can be stripped of us at any whim of a capricious technogod. Ronco writes with a tight, fast-paced style that draws the reader into his world and keeps their pulse-rate high throughout the book. While it is a sequel to his first novel, Peacemaker, new readers are able to fully enjoy the follow-up without the nagging feeling that they're missing something. A terrific new voice in the world of techno-thrillers, Dan Ronco is an author to keep track of.

www.danronco.com

BlogCritics Magazine Reviews Unholy Domain

Written by Alex Hutchinson

Daring, innovative, and predictive of ethical quandaries yet to arrive, Unholy Domain is a novel to be reckoned with. Author Dan Ronco utilizes his vast understanding of engineering and technology to give us a vision of the future well within the realm of possibility. This could be one of those rare occasions when we as a people could learn the lessons for mistakes we have yet to make. The drama that defines these lessons is not bad either.

Unholy Domain sets the stage for a future where the internet has been integrated into nearly every business, streetlight and punch clock. A collection of scientists have gathered to create an organization known as the Domain. Their purpose is to allow Artificial intelligence to reach the point where it can assume human traits and be used to enhance physical beings. This bold approach produces a counterculture movement driven by a militant religious sect known as the Army of God. A subversive war rages between these factions worsening the already diminished strength of the world economy. Inevitably, David Brown finds himself in the center of it all.

It is one thing to be the man who almost destroyed society but it is quite another to be his son. David grew up under the dark shadow of his father’s horrific misdeeds. His father, Raymond, had a brilliant mind for computers that somehow got out of control when he launched a virus that delivered chaos amongst the masses. Young David has the same gifts as his father and was always a little skeptical of the official story of his Dad’s guilt and subsequent death. After receiving a time lapse e-mail insistent upon his innocence David sets off on a journey back into the blackened hallways of his father’s past.

Here we are given a world where techology rules not only the economic stability but also the sustainability of humanity. It is in this vortex where ethical walls are breached. Should so much power ever be controlled by the specific knowledge of so few? How can a society be maintained if it is constantly split between those who can afford the ultimate software and those who cannot?

I found myself captivated by the fast-paced action and multiple storylines. As the dueling ideologies espouse their vision, I was struck by the persuasivness of their arguments. Often I wasn't sure who to root for. Each side contains well rounded characters driven by both personal ambition and organizational responsibility. A tug of will between any two produces an explosion of emotional conflict and each of these battles edges their convictions closer to the apex of the government's power center. The author presses forth with curvy heroines and breakneck urgency until a rather abrupt ending stops the reader and forces them into waiting for the next book. While the ending could be considered a cruel teaser, it’s still very easy to fall into fandom over this type of writing.

www.danronco.com

Unholy Domain Reviewed in BookHuntersBlog

Review: “Unholy Domain” by Dan Ronco - Thought-provoking What If

May 13th, 2008 Posted in Book Reviews, Sci-Fi, Thriller No Comments

By Mary Menzel: “Unholy Domain” is a very entertaining yet very thought-provoking novel. Many times during the course of history technological advances have made those in power feel threatened. Galileo and Copernicus were commanded to renounce their discoveries and modern scientists are challenged as they work with genetics and theories relating to the creation of the universes simply because their facts and experiments do not adhere to the church’s religious doctrine. Dan Ronco has challenged us to look ahead and imagine the conflict between scientists and theologians in our future. “Unholy Domain” details a power struggle between the religious leaders who denounce the use of robotics as unnatural and the scientist, who through their technological knowledge, want to be in complete control. With clear, concise details and strong characterization of each participant in the novel, Dan Ronco has given us a plausible if not probable look into our future.

Listen to my Fascinating Authors Podcast

I was recently interviewed by Penny Sansevieri for the Fascinating Authors podcast site. In addition to Unholy Domain, we covered a range of topics including Second Life, religious violence, and emerging technology issues. Listen to the podcast --- it was fun to do and I believe you will enjoy it.

A New Golden Age of Science Fiction is Approaching

We live in a wonderful age. Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke would have given anything to experience the brave new world just coming into focus. Robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, genetics, and more --- yes, it’s all coming true, the wonders science fiction writers have imagined for all these many decades.

It’s great to be alive and writing science fiction. We have unprecedented opportunities to expand our intellect, our imagination and our writing skill, but it requires hard work. There is so much science to learn and so much technology to study, much more so than our idols had to absorb three or four decades earlier. Quite a challenge, quite an opportunity.

Today’s science fiction writer must gain a broad understanding of the areas of science bordering his stories, and a deeper knowledge in fields critical to his work. For example, I try to keep up to date on what’s developing in genetics and artificial intelligence, two fields featured in my novels.

A modern science fiction writer must focus on the timeframe and world (the setting) of her stories. Paradoxically, stories set in the near future generally require more research than those set centuries in the future. Why? A story set twenty years from now must be based upon – or at least not violate --- science as we understand it today. Even though life may be incredibly different, it can’t verge into unrealistic concepts (for the near future) such as teleportation, spaceships ferrying passengers to distant planets, and the like. The science fiction writer must understand generally accepted scientific forecasts for twenty years from now and maintain her story elements within that domain. Otherwise, she leaves science fiction and edges into pseudo-science fiction (generally termed crap), possibly even fantasy.

Science fiction writers also have a greater opportunity to exercise their talents than traditional mainstream writers, who are mired in the present. Worse yet, they seem to take pride in an ignorance of science. This limits story plots and character development to the same old same old. Mainstream writers call it realism; I call it repetition.

Don’t feed me the same old plots over and over again. Look to science, look to technology to provide new angles, new thoughts.

The next couple of decades should become a golden age of science fiction. Science is accelerating into an uncertain future. For example, in genetics and genetic engineering, just think of the possibilities we have to delve into our innermost characteristics. Think of the moral, legal, societal and technical ramifications if science can seize control of the development of human beings. New plots, new characterizations, new settings are possible. All the mainstream story lines are available, multiplied by a multitude of scientific possibilities.

However, the strength of science fiction is also its weakness. Yes, there are many opportunities to be new and different, but these opportunities come with a price: the very newness of these situations make them difficult to write effectively. Where we may be familiar with a mainstream storyline, we have little familiar ground to stand upon for science fiction. Each author is on his own, taking what he can from conventional storytelling, but relying upon his judgment in the new areas. The results might be compelling, but they may also be simple-minded.

We are on our own. I like the opportunity, and I’ll let the readers judge the results.