Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Amazing Grace
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.sesasaki.com/
CITY:
STATE: ON
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married.
EDUCATION:Received B.Sc. in biology and M.Sc. in neurophysiology.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and surgical assistant. Formerly worked as researcher in freshwater biology, cellular biology, and neurophysiology and as a family physician.
AVOCATIONS:Hiking, skiing, collage art.
AWARDS:Watty Award shortlist, 2013, for Welcome to the Madhouse.
WRITINGS
Contributor to professional journals, including Journal of Cell Biology and Brain Research.
SIDELIGHTS
Sharon Sasaki, who writes under the name S.E. Sasaki, has an extensive background in the medical and biological sciences. Her work falls under the aegis of science fiction, and it has been compared to classics of the genre from the 1930s and 1940s on—including works by authors like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. “I have always read science fiction from Grade Two on,” Sasaki said in an interview on the Altered Instinct website. “My Grade Two homeroom teacher was also the librarian and he handed me A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and told me to read that. The concept of ‘The closest distance between two points is NOT a line but a wrinkle’ just blew me away. I was hooked. Then I had to get my hands on every SF book I could at the bookmobile, at the library, and finally at the bookstore when I could buy my own books. Now I am buried in SF books at home.”
Sasaki’s “Grace Lord” series is set on a medical space station, the Nelson Mandela, where Dr. Grace Lord, a combat surgeon, has come to train under the watchful eye of Dr. Hiro Al-Fadi. “I work in the operating room,” Sasaki explained in an interview on the Eric Klein website. “I chose a medical space station and wanted to look at the issues and problems faced by medical practitioners of the future. This is why I chose a medical space station. I do not want to believe that all medicine will be provided by machines in the future…. Patients will still want the empathy of a human doctor.” “The space station is a vibrant, busy place; the layout and environment are set out and you do get a sense of a busy medical community,” remarked an Other Worlds reviewer. “The idea of a space station hospital is fantastic, and I’m honestly not sure why Gene Roddenberry’s successors haven’t set a space opera in one … as it’s the perfect opportunity to bring lots of people together and generate conflict and drama.”
Welcome to the Madhouse
As the first volume, Welcome to the Madhouse, opens, Grace Lord and her associates are perfecting their operations on the Space Marines, an elite combat group in which soldiers who have been genetically altered to have some animal traits. Their job becomes much more difficult when a deadly virus, which can disrupt brain functions, is introduced into the station.
“This book had me hooked from page one,” enthused a Scribbles, Quibbles, & Scrawlings website contributor. “Welcome to the Madhouse features a strong female main character—Dr. Grace Lord—and a lot of really interesting themes that are particular to futuristic science fiction, but also raise questions and concerns for modern day scientific advancements.” “Sasaki also addresses big ideas philosophically, like the possible problems of one mind using up multiple bodies,” explained a Kirkus Reviews contributor. “When the crisis hits, engaging science is explained well.”
Bud by the Grace of God and Amazing Grace
In the sequel Bud by the Grace of God, Grace Lord is visited by a famous video director who wants to have his mind transferred into an android body. Grace also has to learn to deal with Bud, an android working on the station, who has achieved enough consciousness that he has fallen in love with Grace. “Sasaki returns with all the winning elements that fans of Star Trek and Isaac Asimov should love,” reported a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “including a large, snarky cast; a robot conflicted by his burgeoning humanity; and animal-adapted soldiers.”
The series continues in Amazing Grace, in which a ship arrives at the Nelson Mandela requesting treatment for victims of a mysterious illness. The “third installment of the ‘Grace Lord’ series, with its large and varied cast, hits many of the high notes from the previous volumes,” said a Kirkus Reviews contributor “But this time, a series of vicious murders overshadows the scientific aspects.” “Amazing Grace deals with issues of intolerance: intolerance of others, religious intolerance, hatred, and prejudice,” Sasaki said in Altered Instinct. “Today’s political atmosphere is ripe with intolerance and racism and I felt it needed to be addressed.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2015, review of Welcome to the Madhouse; July 28, 2016, review of Bud by the Grace of God; March 15, 2018, review of Amazing Grace.
ONLINE
Altered Instinct, http://www.alteredinstinct.com/ (April 1, 2018), “Meet Sharon Sasaki, Author of Amazing Grace.“
Eric Klein, https://www.ericlklein.com/ (August 8, 2018), author interview.
Other Worlds, https://rhianwriting.wordpress.com/ (June 7, 2018), review of Welcome to the Madhouse.
Scribbles, Quibbles, & Scrawlings, http://sqsreviews.com/ (January 21, 2018), review of Welcome to the Madhouse.
S.E. Sasaki website, http://www.sesasaki.com (August 8, 2018), author profile.
Today we have S.E. Sasaki talking with us about her Series The Grace Lord Series
1) Welcome to the Madhouse
2) Bud by the Grace of God
3) Amazing Grace (soon to be launched)
4) Genesis (Prequel to Welcome to the Madhouse)
What was the most surprising thing you found out while researching/writing your latest book?
How close researchers already are to creating the simplest forms of artificial intelligence. I think everyone has read about the Facebook computers talking to each other in their own language. Everyone has seen the very human-like android models now being created. Artificial Intelligence may be just around the corner. The question is, are we ready for it?
Why did you choose this setting?
I work in the operating room. I chose a medical space station and wanted to look at the issues and problems faced by medical practitioners of the future. This is why I chose a medical space station. I do not want to believe that all medicine will be provided by machines in the future. I feel that humans will still want to care for other humans and patients will still want the empathy of a human doctor for their care. Call me old-fashioned. I think autodocs will be too terrifying for most.
What’s unique about your world?
The space marines are genetically modified, animal-adapted, boosted combat fighters – both male and female. Most battles involve one type of species. For example, on a polar world, the fighters would be polar bear modified or wolf modified, depending on the geography. In a rain-forest world, the marines are more likely to be tiger adaptations or ape-modifications like gorilla or orang-utan. Strength, speed, hearing, eyesight, balance, are enhanced in these soldiers. When injured, they are sent to the Nelson Mandela medical space station where the doctors try and put them back together. The story is about the medical space station’s doctors and their military patients.
How real do you think the science is in your book?
I think the medicine is very accurate. I hope the ability to record people’s minds and personalities is in the not too distant future.
What was the most mundane item that you used that really has cool tech behind it? What is the tech? Data recording cubes. People’s minds or memories are memprinted or recorded onto these data cubes. These cubes have vast memory storage because of their unique liquid crystal data matrix design.
What did you include that you wish was real today?
Mind-linking Therapy. In Welcome to the Madhouse, there is a psychotherapy technique that allows a physician to link minds with a patient in order to try and understand a patient’s trauma. The goal is to help the patient cope with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by sharing the event or possibly modifying or even erasing the traumatic event so the patient can recover.
What technology or science do you think will most affect the world of tomorrow? I
do worry about artificial intelligence. Machines are based on logic. How does one program empathy for the human race into these machines. When these machines start to control everything, will they conclude that humans with their foibles and emotions and irrationalities and destructiveness need to be eradicated?
Anything else our readers might like to know?
The third book in the series, Amazing Grace, will be out very soon. It picks up where Bud by the Grace of God finishes. It has received a very good Kirkus Review as has the first two books and can be read at this link: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/se-sasaki/amazing-grace2/
Links:
Author site: www.sesasaki.com
Oddoc Books Publishing: www.oddocbooks.com\
Amazon author link: www.amazon.com/S.E.-Sasaki/e/B01775X0UW/
Bud by the Grace of God : ww.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K8PQZA0
Genesis: www.amazon.com/Genesis-Prequel-Welcome-Madhouse-Grace-ebook/dp/B01LY1D2AW/
Goodreads author link: www.goodreads.com/author/show/14156938.S_E_Sasaki
Twitter: @se_sasaki
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sesasakiauthor/
Kirkus Review for Welcome to the Madhouse link:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/se-sasaki/welcome-to-the-madhouse/
Kirkus Review for Bud by the Grace of God link:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/se-sasaki/bud-by-the-grace-of-god/
Having survived ten broken bones and three torn ligaments from sports such as downhill skiing, ice hockey, soccer, horseback riding, whitewater kayaking, whitewater canoeing, tennis, and simply hiking, I have decided to slow down a little and only continue with the hiking and skiing (but no more black diamond runs!). Sitting at a computer typing seems less physically traumatic than all the sports, and in my mind I can have just as much adventure! I have been a researcher in freshwater biology, cellular biology, and neurophysiology. I have published in The Journal of Cell Biology and Brain Research. I now work as a surgical assistant in the operating room. For over 20 years I worked as a family physician in a small rural town. The ideas for Welcome to the Madhouse, a medical science fiction thriller, have come from my experiences in the office and in the operating room. There has never been a dull moment in all my years working as a physician. I wanted to capture that essence of never knowing what was going to come in the front door. I hope that is obvious in my science fiction writing. When I am not assisting in elective or emergency surgery, I am writing the next science fiction thriller in the series or creating collages. I am currently working on Book Five of the medical science fiction series as well as a YA Prequel involving Hiro Al-Fadi. It, too, will be a science fiction thriller, but before Hiro becomes a surgeon. I have been writing for as long as I can remember, though only now that my children are grown do I have the time to focus on publishing my writing. When I need a break from the writing and work, I paint and have shown my award winning dragon collages at the World Fantasy Convention and at Ad Astra. You can see my dragons at my website http://www.sesasaki.com.
S.E. Sasaki is a physician with a B.Sc. in Biology and an M.Sc. In Neurophysiology. When she is not writing, she works as a surgical assistant, assisting in elective and emergency surgery. Welcome to the Madhouse was short-listed for a Watty Award for Best Original Novel in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre for 2013.
Sunday, 1 April 2018
Meet Sharon Sasaki, author of Amazing Grace
S.E. Sasaki is a sci-fi author and member of the Sci-Fi Roundtable group. Beyond that, her history includes being a researcher in freshwater biology, cellular biology, and neurophysiology and working as a surgical assistant in the operating room. It's perhaps no surprise then that she brings a wealth of scientific attention to detail to her work! Welcome to Altered Instinct, Sharon - take it away!
Tell us a little about your most recent book - what is it called and what is it about? Give us your elevator pitch to make us fall in love with it!
The new book is titled Amazing Grace and it is about the trials and tribulations aboard a medical space station called the Nelson Mandela. It follows the adventures of Dr. Grace Lord, combat surgeon, who has come to the Nelson Mandela to train under the galaxy-renowned Dr. Hiro Al-Fadi, a specialist in operating on genetically modified, animal-adapted space marines. In this third book of the series, a ship called the Inferno docks with the station, containing six patients in cryopods. It is requesting these patients be treated for a new disease. What transpires is an all-out attack on the Nelson Mandela with the goal of wiping out the human race.
Elevator pitch: ‘It’s high-octane M*A*S*H in Space with Aliens’
What inspired the story?
I like to write about today’s world issues. I cloak the issues in science fiction as it allows me to extrapolate ideas or expand on them without pointing specific fingers or stepping on specific toes. Amazing Grace deals with issues of intolerance: intolerance of others, religious intolerance, hatred, and prejudice. Today’s political atmosphere is ripe with intolerance and racism and I felt it needed to be addressed.
Without spoilers, what was your favourite moment of the story to write? What was it that made you enjoy that section so much?
I have to say that I adore Plant Thing . . . my alien. Plant Thing is the sweetest being and so much fun to write because it is discovering everything like a naive innocent child but Plant Thing is so misunderstood because it looks horrifying. Plant Thing symbolizes ‘The Other’, as well as ‘Nature’ in all of its glory. Everyone falls in love with Plant Thing.
As a writer, have you ever had a character grow to be a much bigger part of the story than you expected? Who was the character and what was it about them that made them emerge from the sidelights?
Yes. Dr. Jeffery Charlton Nestor. He was just going to be this gorgeous doctor that my main character developed a crush on. Then he morphed into this terrible psychopath who tries to kill her, then kill Dr. Al-Fadi, then destroy Bud, then destroy the medical station. I tried to kill him off in the first book, and he got away. I tried to kill him off in the second book but it didn’t go quite as I had planned. He is a genius arch villain. I definitely decided he had to die in the third book. You have to read Amazing Grace to see if I succeed.
What are your favourite genres to read - and what is it about those genres that draw you in?
Well I have always read science fiction from Grade Two on. My Grade Two homeroom teacher was also the librarian and he handed me A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and told me to read that. The concept of ‘The closest distance between two points is NOT a line but a wrinkle’ just blew me away. I was hooked. Then I had to get my hands on every SF book I could at the bookmobile, at the library, and finally at the bookstore when I could buy my own books. Now I am buried in SF books at home and a To Be Read pile that I will never finish. :P
I also like Mysteries because I like puzzles and I like to figure mysteries out. I read some Fantasy, some Horror, some Contemporary fiction, as well as Nonfiction.
Can I confess I've never yet read A Wrinkle In Time? It seemed to be standard reading on the western side of the Atlantic, but never really mentioned back in the UK where I grew up! What were some of your favourite books to read as a child? Which were the first books you remember falling in love with?
As a child I loved reading about mythology and I read the Greek myths and the Norse myths. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle was my first SF book, read in Grade Two, and I loved it. After that, there was Podkayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein and Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin. I read Dune by Frank Herbert in Grade Five and I was in awe. I had the Litany of Fear memorized! I read The Lord of the Rings in Grade Six and I must have read those three paperback books until they almost fell apart! I still love all those books.
Who are your favourite authors to read? Whose writing do you feel has inspired your own work the most?
Favourite Authors are easy but there are a lot of them! These are authors who I tended to buy whenever they put a new book out, sight unseen. Many are no longer with us, unfortunately.
Roger Zelazny, Gene Wolfe, Terry Pratchett, Lois McMaster Bujold, Connie Willis, Sherri Tepper, Ursula Le Guin, Richard K. Morgan, Joe Abercrombie, Ian McDonald, Dan Simmons, Steven Brust, Robert Sawyer, Patricia McKillop, Neal Stephenson, Neal Asher and probably a lot more I can’t think up right now…
I write comedy mixed with suspense/thriller. Bujold and Willis have comedy in their books. One reader described my books as a mashup of Game of Thrones meets Monty Python. Another reader (Shane!) said it was Doctor House meets Doctor Moreau. I like Terry Pratchett and I hope I capture some of the lightness of his Discworld books.
Are there any particular themes you address in your story? What issues do you explore, overtly or otherwise?
The Evil of Intolerance in all of its aspects - religious, genre-based, technologically-based, race-based - is a predominant theme. Prejudice of ‘lesser beings’ - in this case represented or symbolized by the androids and robots - would also be included in that. ‘Man versus Nature’ is an underlying theme, represented by Plant Thing. ‘Love conquers All’ or ‘Good overcomes Evil’ is probably the main plot theme. There are different types of love in Amazing Grace: love between friends, love between a father and a daughter, love between an android and human, love between an alien and a human, and unrequited love. LOVE, of course, wins out over Intolerance.
What do you do when you are not writing? Tell us about yourself.
I am a family physician who now spends all of her working hours in the operating room assisting in surgery, both elective and emergency. I spend a lot of nights, weekends, holidays, and early morning hours in the operating room when I am on call. That is partly why I write about operative medicine. It is a large part of my life. When I’m not writing or assisting in the OR, I am sleeping or trying to catch up on my sleep! Other hobbies include painting and creating collages, walking, downhill skiing, canoeing, kayaking, playing tennis, scuba diving, swimming, travelling, and at the moment, my husband and I are attempting salsa dancing lessons. It’s not going so well, but we are determined! Motion is Lotion.
Where can readers catch up with your work?
Website: http://www.sesasaki.com
Twitter: @se_sasaki
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sesasakiauthor/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14156938.S_E_Sasaki
Thanks for calling by, Sharon - though we missed our traditional last question of what you're reading at the moment and what the best book you've read in the past year has been! I swear I'll lure you back in the comments section... ;)
Good luck with the launch of Amazing Grace, and I look forward to reading the series!
Sasaki, S.E.: AMAZING GRACE
Kirkus Reviews. (Mar. 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Sasaki, S.E. AMAZING GRACE Oddoc Books (Indie Fiction)
This third volume of a space station series reinvigorates a familiar villain and introduces new allies.
The medical space station Nelson Mandela serves the Union of Solar Systems by repairing and upgrading soldiers who have animal adaptations. After once again halting the deranged plans of Dr. Jeffrey Nestor, Dr. Grace Lord and the handsome, devoted android Bud no doubt deserve room to develop their friendship. Grace's boss, the indefatigable Dr. Hiro Al-Fadi, believes otherwise and demands that she not encourage Bud's romantic leanings. Elsewhere on the station, the sentient Plant Thing that's merged with Dr. Eric Glasgow begins experimenting on its own by creating Little Bud, a humanoid plant capable of walking the corridors and shocking Nelson Mandela's already colorful denizens. Dr. Mikhail Lewandowski, meanwhile, needs to examine Hiro's mind for any lingering posthypnotic suggestions of violence from Nestor, creator of mind-link therapy. A more direct threat is the ship Inferno, captained by the suspiciously monikered Dante Alighieri, who wants to dock with the station and bring aboard six crew members suffering from a mysterious virus. And if Grace's life wasn't complicated enough, she stumbles across an injured man in stasis named Alexander Grayson Lord. Will she be able to focus on saving lives when an explosion strikes the Nelson Mandela? Sasaki's (Bud by the Grace of God, 2016, etc.) third installment of the Grace Lord series, with its large and varied cast, hits many of the high notes from the previous volumes. But this time, a series of vicious murders overshadows the scientific aspects of the narrative, creating more of a thriller atmosphere. Plant Thing proves an indelible character through whom the author explores how something or someone's appearance skews perceptions of the entity's essential being. The relationship between two tiger-adapted Marines, Capt. Damien Lamont and Cpl. Delia Chase, is bittersweet and grounded by dramatic war visuals ("Black shrapnel and ash were raining down, a dark contrast to the brilliant electric streaks of deadly laser fire"). Though Sasaki revisits numerous motifs, she pumps such joy and energy into her world that it's impossible to fly past without visiting.
Fresh intelligence, danger, and complexity await sci-fi fans.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Sasaki, S.E.: AMAZING GRACE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530650565/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9c1603d6. Accessed 27 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530650565
Sasaki, S.E.: Welcome to the Madhouse
Kirkus Reviews. (Aug. 15, 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Sasaki, S.E. WELCOME TO THE MADHOUSE FriesenPress (Indie Fiction)
In this debut sci-fi thriller, a young doctor adjusts to life on a space station filled with androids and "animal-adapted" humans. Lt. Dr. Grace Alexandra Lord just arrived on the space station Nelson Mandela. At this station, soldiers who have been genetically altered with animal upgrades return from throughout the Union of Solar Systems for mental and physical recovery. Grace quickly impresses her superior, Dr. Hiro Al-Fadi, by helping subdue a rampaging "gorilla-adapted" soldier. Grace also meets anesthetist Dr. Dejan Cech and android SAMM-E 777--who looks more human than most of those on the station. When a tiger patient suddenly scratches Grace, she learns that the soldiers still retain their animal instincts. This prompts the watchful SAMM-E 777 to become possessive of the enchanting doctor and give himself several upgrades to better protect her. Grace, meanwhile, keeps bumping into the gorgeous Dr. Jeffrey Nestor, to whom she has trouble committing. Later, the doctors discuss the possibility of recording their minds with new technology called memprints, which can be transferred into fresh bodies upon the original's death--a great option to have, especially when a mysterious virus begins melting victims. Debut author Sasaki draws exuberantly on the oeuvres of classic sci-fi authors Asimov, Herbert, and Clarke, remixing familiar concepts to lively effect. Jolly personalities rule most scenes, like the salacious Dr. Hiro, who tells Grace, "If you have problems dealing with your attraction to me...I can suggest a good therapist." Sasaki also addresses big ideas philosophically, like the possible problems of one mind using up multiple bodies: "Would the human race become stagnant, because the older generations refused to pass on?" When the crisis hits, engaging science is explained well, like the virus' "ability to stack up and form an enormous, insoluble protein that can affect brain cell function." Most fascinating, however, is SAMM-E 777's slow realization that he loves Grace, which makes him a better individual. A wily villain leaves room for a sequel. A layered debut that sings odes to the grandmasters of sci-fi.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Sasaki, S.E.: Welcome to the Madhouse." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2015. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A425152264/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=cd8426f2. Accessed 27 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A425152264
Bud by the Grace of God
Sequel to Welcome to the Madhouse
by S.E. Sasaki
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KIRKUS REVIEW
This second volume in Sasaki’s (Welcome to the Madhouse, 2015) Grace Lord series finds the surgeon confronting a strange new intelligence and an old nemesis.
Following the defeat of a deadly virus in the first installment, Grace continues to serve on the medical space station Nelson Mandela, attending to soldiers of the Union of Solar Systems. As a normal routine returns to the lives of Dr. Hiro Al-Fadi (Grace’s boss) and Bud (a singularly capable and handsome android devoted to her), the station receives a visit from famous vid star and director Jude Luis Stefansson. When Grace meets Jude, she learns that he isn’t heroically gorgeous like his fictional creation, Jazz Hazard, but rather a regular, middle-aged man. Jude is at the station because he’s heard of a process by which the mind can be transferred to a robust, new android body. The staff informs him that the experimental technology is not for private use, for any price. Elsewhere, a ghostly presence stalks the station’s corridors, undetectable by the artificial intelligence running the Nelson Mandela. When a murder occurs outside the armory, thoughts turn to the vile Dr. Jeffrey Nestor, who’s sworn revenge on Grace and Bud for their roles in thwarting him during the viral outbreak. For this sci-fi sequel, Sasaki returns with all the winning elements that fans of Star Trek and Isaac Asimov should love, including a large, snarky cast; a robot conflicted by his burgeoning humanity; and animal-adapted soldiers (treated by the station’s dedicated doctors). Sasaki once more explores the ethics of sentient robots and expanded human consciousness in lines like “Does your android, who feels, thinks, remembers just like you, have any rights at all?” The author also treats lovers of sci-fi horror to a brief splatterfest reminiscent of the film Alien but ultimately introduces a new intelligence to the cast. Throughout, Sasaki displays a propulsive inventiveness as she weaves grand ideas with humor and soul.
Both a paean to the sci-fi genre and a captivating return to a space station in a complex universe.
Publisher: Manuscript
Program: Kirkus Indie
Review Posted Online: July 28th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1st, 2016
Welcome to the Madhouse – SE Sasaki
by ellen · January 21, 2018
Title: Welcome to the Madhouse
ebook edition
ISBN: 978-1-988463-02-5
Series: The Grace Lord Series
Author: SE Sasaki
Author Location: Toronto, Ontario
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: 2015
Find it here: Chapters Barnes and Noble
A second edition of the book will be available soon. You can also contact the author to buy a book directly from her!
Back Cover Copy:
Doctor Grace Lord, a lieutenant in the Conglomerate Medical Corps, has come to the medical space station, the Nelson Mandela, as the new surgical fellow under the renowned Doctor Hiro Al-Fadi. Though she earned her commission as a combat surgeon in the field, she is unprepared for the scope and pace of what awaits her in the Conglomerate’s Premier Medical Space Station. The countless cryopods that come into the Nelson Mandela are filled with the casualties of the Conglomerate’s animal-adapted military forces. Traumatically injured and disfigured in campaigns spread across the galaxy, it is up to the staff of the Nelson Mandela to patch up the wounded combat soldiers for redeployment. For Grace, it is a trial by fire, as she familiarizes herself not only with the routines and protocols of life on the Nelson Mandela, but also with the eclectic community of professionals with whom she works — not the least of which is an android that has taken an almost human interest in her. When disaster strikes the space station, the Nelson Mandela must race against time to stave off annihilation, and it becomes clear that, regardless of the outcome, nothing will never be the same again.
Review:
I’m just going to get right down to it—this book had me hooked from page one. Welcome to the Madhouse features a strong female main character—Dr. Grace Lord—and a lot of really interesting themes that are particular to futuristic science fiction, but also raise questions and concerns for modern day scientific advancements.
What I loved the most about this book is its use of AI (artificial intelligence) and how the AI beings interact with the environment and the humans—the word “human” is used loosely in the context of this book. I won’t get into the details here because you’ll want to discover the complexities of these interactions for yourself, but trust me when I say it was done really, really well.
Now, you may be curious why I said the word “human” is used loosely for Welcome to the Madhouse… well, not all humans are completely human. Sasaki introduces a medical concept that I found fascinating—genetically altering humans to be part human and part animal, whichever animal they choose to become. This medical practice has severe consequences when you think about humanity and society as a whole. People are becoming stronger, faster, and adopting different abilities depending on which animal they choose. Planetary and space exploration becomes feasible and easier than ever before, but medical practices such as drug doses and surgery become more difficult and war is an ever-growing problem.
The book follows Dr. Grace Lord as she navigates her way in life in a new job operating on genetically altered humans on the most respected medical station in the galaxy and, in the process, she discovers how complex AI can be. Welcome to the Madhouse is the first book in the Grace Lord series. I can’t wait to read the next of the series to see how Sasaki continues and escalates the themes and characters from book one.
Literature Obscura review: Welcome to the Madhouse
Welcome to the Madhouse by S. E. Sasaki.
Overview and Synopsis
Dr Grace Lord has the medical assignment of her dreams: she is going to support a specialist surgeon aboard a vast interstellar hospital, a space station known as the Nelson Mandela.
She has to contend with DNA-spliced hyper-soldiers, an obsessed android and her demanding boss, Hiro Al-Fadi – which is more than enough for a surgeon to be getting on with. When a mysterious contagion arrives on board, things get even more fraught – especially when Grace’s colleagues start melting.
Writing style and the narrator:
I love the premise, but the quality of writing just doesn’t meet the exuberance of the ideas.
Both the dialogue and description is clumsy. The banter between Drs Al-Fadi, Cech and Lord should sparkle; instead it’s leaden, immature and tedious. Bud’s awakening as a sentient creature should be revelatory; instead we are treated to paragraphs and paragraphs of rhetorical questions. There is far too much exposition, including the unforgivable “As I’m sure you already know…” vein of info-dump. Plot points are re-iterated over and over again to the point of redundancy.
This is a real shame. To put it bluntly, the plot is better than the author’s current ability to express it. I’m sure the script has been cleaned up – and there are few typos as far as I can see – but there are too many exclamation marks, misused commas and there is actually a typo in one of the book titles (visible here: Grade Lord rather than Grace Lord)!
More importantly (as errors can easily be cleaned up), I found the tonal shifts jarring. Some of what happens is supposed to be comic, but is written too clumsily to be truly funny, while other things should actually be quite frightening or upsetting- but are hampered by the tone and phrasing. Scenes that should be touching are undermined by the fact that characters are forever “wailing” or “moaning”. Oh, and Grace has an “inner voice” that is far too close to Ana Steele’s “inner goddess” for comfort – particular as it only emerges when Grace is developing a crush.
Sasaki simply hasn’t found the right balance yet.
Characterisation:
Also a problem, most probably linked to the style issues above, is that the characters tend to be rather flat. Grace Lord is somewhat frustrating, as she’s supposedly a surgery ace, and an independent, beautiful woman to boot – but she spends most of the narrative being shocked, surprised, helpless and literally thrown or carried around. As a protagonist, she doesn’t actually do a whole lot until the last quarter of the book. Bud is far more proactive.
Generally, I expect some kind of character progression through a story (however short) – but Bud is the only person who actually changes – aside, perhaps from Damien Lamont, a tiger-soldier, who is actually quite sympathetic, but remains a background character.
The story itself is exuberant and fun – and the characters could be too – but they are bogged down in repetitious dialogue and description.
World-building:
Here Sasaki’s strengths start coming through. The space station is a vibrant, busy place; the layout and environment are set out and you do get a sense of a busy medical community. The idea of a space station hospital is fantastic, and I’m honestly not sure why Gene Roddenberry’s successors haven’t set a space opera in one, rather than constantly poking about in portals, wormholes and uncharted space, as it’s the perfect opportunity to bring lots of people together and generate conflict and drama.
I’m interested in the Conglomerate as well. Instead of being an idealised Federation, or unmitigatedly evil space-capitalists, like the Weyland-Yutani corp, it’s simply an entity Grace Lord works within.
Plot:
I liked the plot a lot. There were some nice inversions of established SF tropes, the sub-plots were engaging, and everything moves along at a nice, tight pace. Little dramas are tied into the overall arc, and things that seem irrelevant (such as an AI poet) come back as significant, and satisfying Chekov’s Guns later on.
Overall
This shows potential. There’s a fun, page-turning plot in here, but it is smothered in clunky prose. If the author went back to the text and edited for concision and more artful language, then I’d happily up the rating.
Rating: 12/20.