Clara Branon becomes Chief Communicator/liaison for Earth to the Many Worlds Collective when five alien holos come to her, changing Earth forever. What about her and her love, Epifanio?
Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., 58, begins having secret visits from holographic representations of beings from the Many Worlds Collective, a consortium of planet and star systems in the multiverse. When Earth is invited to join the Collective, the holos choose Clara as liaison between Earth and the Many Worlds Collective to make the secret visits public and guide Earth's new leaders.
While Earthers adjust their beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and everything they think and are, rebellions and conflicts arise. The Collective works with Clara to create the Psi-Warriors who fight the leaders of the resistance, the Psi-Defiers. With multiple Re-sets needed to revise the past and future to save lives, in which of the timelines in the multiverse does her love, Epifanio Dang, get to be with Clara?
Over Clara's thirty-year term as Chief Communicator, Earthers must undergo major transformations.
Are YOU ready for the changes?
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Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
First Contact between the Many Worlds Collective (MWC) and
Clara Branon, Ph.D.,
in northern California, December, 2012
The clear, cool, northern California night of December 21, 2012, I go to bed at around 8 PM as I usually do. I always meditate in bed at the end of each day. As I near the end of my meditation, about to go to sleep, I hear several voices in a kind of chorus, speaking my name: “ClaraBranon… ClaraBranon… ClaraBranon… ClaraBranon…” They sound expectant, insistent, and are saying my names as if they were all one word. Not loud, not scary, but right in my bedroom.
Professional Reviews
Zach Tyo, Indiereads
Zach Tyo's Review of
This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
pre-publication, October 4, 2013
http://indiebookreviewer.blogspot.com/
Sometimes a book comes along and you find yourself at a loss while you’re reading it. Sometimes it could be due to the fact that you don’t follow a writer’s point of view, writing style or choices they make; other times it may be the story or the characters that just don’t mesh well; and still there are other times when you may not be able to follow due to a lack of understanding of the material.
In this week’s review I have found a story that I really feel is going to fall under one of those categories for some, but for others the twisting plots and time lines will be a challenge that is well received. Sally Ember really wrote a story that makes you work, not necessarily in a bad way mind you, but work none the less to keep up with.
This Changes Everything is the first volume in the “Spanners” series. It follows Clara, a young woman tasked with bringing the human race of planet earth up to speed with the knowledge from an intergalactic council of planets in order for them to become members. If you’re already thinking this feels like a daunting task then you may find yourself in one of the groups I mentioned earlier, if this Sci-fi adventure still seems to be up your alley then read on.
In addition to being instantaneously force fed the knowledge of the universe, Clara must learn to release this knowledge in spurts at the extraterrestrials discretion. To do this she must use a ‘new and up and coming’ reporter that just so happens to become a bit of a love interest.
What complicates this is that Ember introduces the idea of a multiverse/multiple time lines into the picture. While I’m a fan, though I can’t say I personally believe the theory, of the multiverse theory that says every decision we make creates a multiple number of other universes in which different choices and consequences are formed, some small scale such as running a stop sign resulting in a ticket up to large scale such as running the stop sign causes an accident that kills someone. Fans of the butterfly effect will relate to the metaphor of every choice creating a ripple with unknown effects.
This multiverse concept, coupled with multiple time lines throughout, creates both confusion and understanding. I think the attempt is solid, and there are several pros to this story, such as:
The concept is wonderful and feels very new. Though there are times that fall short and everything seems confusing, those times are offset by times in which the multiverse idea is really explained in a way that does justice to the incredibly in depth and thoughtful idea.
The way Ember writes the first person perspective is very interesting. Though the story is mainly a journal entry, it is written in a laid back manner that really reminds you of someone writing in their journal.
Despite the ‘pros’ I mentioned above, there are a couple of possible downsides I need to mention:
As I mentioned earlier, the concept is wonderful and new. It is, however, hard to follow at times; this won’t be a turn off for everyone but if I feel as though it merits a warning.
The characters feel like they lack a little depth. This fact makes sense when it comes to the alien visitors, but many of the main characters feel a little one dimensional. I can’t apply this to the main character, Clara, since as I mentioned earlier Ember does a wonderful job of writing in that first person and giving her a voice and a life of her own.
In the end This Changes Everything by Sally Ember is a well written, complex work that is going to add a strong title to a genre that can sometimes become bogged down with the same old same old.
Overall I'm going to give This Changes Everything a 7/10 based on:
6/10 for readability - Ember's story, while being well written, is a bit hard to follow at time. The transitions do come off a little rough at times.
7/10 for characters - As I mentioned earlier the main character is very well done and believable as a normal woman with this huge weight dropped on her. The support characters, however, tend to fall a little short and feel a little one dimensional.
8/10 for story - The story concept is wonderful and challenging at the same time. There are times when it gets a bit hard to follow, but these times are few and far between. Taking on the task of writing a story that covers multiple time lines and multiple universes is enough to warrant a hat tip to Ember.
8/10 for concept/execution - I've mentioned this several times already, but I feel the true x-factor for this story is the vast concept, and execution, of writing a story that spans time lines and universes. It so easily could have turned into a mess, but Ember really reigns it in and edited it down to a point where its, for the most part, easy to follow.
Thanks goes out to Sally Ember for allowing me to read and review this title. Though I know the review is a bit mixed, overall This Changes Everything is a book that I am very happy to have had the chance to read and I would recommend it to any sci-fi/fantasy fan.
Currently this book hasn't been released yet, but Ember is projecting the beginning of November as a release date. I will keep my post/blog updated when the story is released. Meanwhile you can see updates on the book, and more information on Sally Ember at the series' homepage http://www.sallyember.com.
Lynda Dietz, Easy Reader, Review
Review of This Changes Everything by Sally Ember, Ed. D.
11/4/13
Easy Reader, Lynda Dietz
http://ilovetoreadyourbooks.blogspot.com
I was recently given a pre-pub e-copy of This Changes Everything (Volume 1 of The Spanners Series) in exchange for an honest review.
What if the world as we know it isn’t exactly as we’d always believed? What if we’re not the only sentient beings in the universe? What if the universe were not “only” a universe, but a “multi-verse” where many timelines occurred simultaneously?
The book’s title really says it all: this changes everything. Clara Branon is visited by the holograms of alien beings one night in her home, and her life from that point on is forever changed. She’s chosen as Chief Communicator, the contact person between the Many Worlds Collective and the Earthers, as they’re known by other species; it becomes her job to tell the rest of the world about the MWC and to help them accept it in order to transform our world into a better place for future generations.
I like the way opportunities for “re-sets” are available—how many of us would go back and change certain events if we could?—but are also shown as not always being the best option. Our life experiences shape us into who we are, after all, and if one or more of those is altered, we may not get what we want in the way we think we want it. I also appreciate the nods to authors like Douglas Adams, with the language-interpreting “fish” reminiscent of the Babel fish in his Hitchhiker’s Guide books.
Because Clara is writing/telling of the events occurring in multiple timelines, all the narrative is in the present tense, even for past or future events, which, as an editor, drove me crazy at first. Eventually, I got used to it, but it was occasionally a distraction…after all, past events require past tense verbs, unless the past is happening during the present or the future, in which case...oh, forget it. You’ll get used to it too, after a few pages.
Since the book is essentially a documentation of the initial visitation and transition time, there’s a lot of narrative with little dialogue, which slows down the pace in many spots. I’m a dialogue person, so the long stretches of complex details in the form of transcripts were a lot to absorb and at times felt like too much for one book. (Note: after contacting the author about this, I was informed that the manuscript had been revised and more dialogue had been added to the version that will be published in December.)
At times felt like it had a definite political slant, with a lot of liberal push, demonizing those who are staunch in their religious or moral beliefs as inflexible and unenlightened, classifying the wealthy as greedy, etc. I have to admit, I didn’t really care for that aspect of it, but that reflects my own personal beliefs and has nothing to do with the quality of the book itself. The novel also has a lot of Buddhist practices and teachings in it, including reincarnation (or ReInvolvement, as the MWC refers to it). I feel the need to mention these things because they’re so present within the book, and many readers prefer to be made aware of any controversial topics or religious leanings prior to reading.
There were parts that really tickled me, such as the explanation of crop circles: teenage alien graffiti, not much different than Earth teens taking a joyride and spray-painting the sides of bridges or boxcars, then racing back home before the authorities catch them. A recounting of an exchange between Clara and her son, Zephyr, over speakerphone had me giggling out loud, because it reminded me so much of phone conversations with my own mother.
The writing is complex and done extremely well. I didn’t see an editor listed, and I’m happy to say that Ms. Ember is excellent at self-editing. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling were non-issues, which was very refreshing in an indie book. There were times when I almost forgot I was reading a work of fiction and not a news account of real events, and I would consider that to be skilled writing indeed.
Because different book sites have different meanings to their ratings, I think of the star system as looking at a scale: did I enjoy more of it than not? Yes. Four stars. Did I like the overall content? Most of the time. Three stars. Was the writing of good quality? Oh, definitely yes. Five stars.
My overall rating: four of five stars.
Josephine O'Brien, author,
Mary Josephine O'Brien's Review of
This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
pre-publication, September 14, 2013
Well, now I've read your book twice. Once just get an over all feel for the story arc and second time, at a slower pace, to enjoy it.
It's an amazingly complex and challenging book for a reader( not a bad thing).
You have managed to create a wonderfully original style. The whole idea of watching the novel be written is excellent.
At times I felt as if I was being lectured at, but then this was interrupted, just at the right time, by a dialogue driven scene or another person's viewpoint entirely.
The juxtaposition and entanglement of the writers personal life, faults, failures, friends, hopes and dreams turn this into a very warm and believable journey.
The extraordinary mix of formal meeting minutes, diary's, personal logs, newspaper reports, radio excerpts and telephone conversations serve to give a rounded view of the whole arrival of aliens scenario.
The time hopping took some getting used to, as in I had to re-read a few times or look back to see if what I remembered was accurate but it all held together.
Clever weaving of historical fact and alien explanation. The what if re-sets had me sighing 'if only'!
And yes, you are right, the writer's own love story shines out as the strongest story lines.
I have to say that I found the book's ending very satisfactory, and while this is a good thing in any book, I felt it didn't leave me wanting more. As you have more volumes ready maybe you shouldn't have your ending quite so satisfyingly complete!?
I'm sure any traditional publisher will tell you to 'tame' it, to cut whole scenes, not to have it so choppy etc. But as I feel you will probably go the self-publishing route I think it doesn't matter (personally, I wouldn't like to see it 'prepared' for publication ).
I imagine you will find a a lot of readers who won't go beyond the first few chapters, as they'll be resistant to the format, but equally I think you'll find the people that will empathize with the book and your points both political and ecological.
You have created your characters very well. I feel for Clara, I imagine her alienating a lot of people because her enthusiasm and drive and ability to push herself makes her someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly. I would have liked more of the reporter's life and I didn't like Epifanio at all. He sounded arrogant and selfish.
I loved that the aliens were chosen by lottery. You had so many good touches like that, which made the book a continuing surprise.
The extra chapter you sent, I was up to chapter 23 by the time I got it, but it made no difference to the book, or my understanding of it. The disjointed nature of both the book its self and the timelines in it , pretty much means that apart from the first chapter (which, incidently is a very good opener.) The chapters and sequences can be pretty fluid.
Well done, Sally a real tour de force, I wish you all the best with it and thanks for sharing it with me.
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