Product Description

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #472969 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set in the year 2022, Ronco's techno-thriller continues the premise established in his first book, PeaceMaker. In 2012, the PeaceMaker virus, supposedly designed by madman software expert Ray Brown, shut down the Internet, resulting in worldwide devastation. Since this cataclysm, the government has curtailed new technology. Those who would see the government limitations overturned are known as Technos; opposing them is a group of dangerous religious extremists, the Church of Natural Humans. Several events have brought these two warring factions head-to-head: the creators of illegal technology, the Domain, has decided to take over the government, and Ray Brown's son, David, has undertaken an investigation in an attempt to clear his father's name. The basic idea is interesting, but there's something more than a little of the adolescent about the entire enterprise, from the constant sexual references regarding every female character ("She wore skin-tight jeans, which showed off her tight, round butt as she walked past") to such lines as: "She enjoyed a drag of her cigarette, which felt robust and full." This is the second volume in a proposed trilogy.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Another fast-action story of vicious extremes, as a powerful religious cult takes on a sophisticated tech outfit. Each means to destroy the other and rule the world, and neither is scrupulous about the means. The protagonist is caught precariously between the two. Top rate adventure sparkling with ideas."  —Piers Anthony, New York Times bestselling author, the Xanth series

"A chilling technothriller. . . Dan Ronco is social visionary on par with William Gibson and Robert Sawyer."  —Scott Nicholson, author, They Hunger

"Dan Ronco tells a tale that is unique, provocative, and engrossing while maintaining enough slam-bang action to keep you turning the pages. . . . It reads like a cross between Blade Runner and Angels and Demons."  —R. Douglas Weber, author, Solomon's Key: The CODIS Project

"Dan Ronco fills the gap left by Philip K. Dick with Unholy Domain."  —Simon Wood, Anthony Award–winning author, Paying the Piper

"A solid futuristic thriller."  —Booklist

"Exciting, violent, thoughtful, and unfortunately true to life . . . a powerhouse of computer adventure."  —Piers Anthony, New York Times bestselling author, the Xanth series on Peacemaker

"Anyone who works in software will probably think this is five-star fun!"  —Donald Mitchel, author, 400 Times More Income with The 2000 Percent Solution on Peacemaker

About the Author
Dan Ronco holds degrees in chemical and nuclear engineering and computer science. He is the author of PeaceMaker. He lives in Riegelsville, Pennsylvania.

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Customer Reviews

TechnoThriller a bit too 'written for TV'
Novel: Unholy Domain
Author: Dan Ronco
Publisher: Kunati - Hard cover
ISBN: 978-1-60164-021- 5
[...]

Unholy Domain is very readable and fast moving, which appears to be the whole intention of the novel - excitement and action in a slick TV thriller kind of way. But it also covers some very provocative territory - the creation of artificial intelligence, and religion versus science - that might have benefitted from being more solidly grounded.

One group in the novel is the Church of Natural Humans, and as a way of adding some edge to Kunati's liking for edgy fiction, I might have looked for an expanded discussion of their philosophy - beyond the very simplistic Manicheism shown. The Army of God is clearly based upon the murderous activities of some opponents of abortion and it would have been interesting to have Moesha Jefferson express more than stock excuses to justify her recourse to violence. I agree that reproducing Einstein's pronouncement on religion and science was á propos, and the quote had been looked for long before it showed up, but both sides of this conflict seemed to be lame as well as blind.

I was never sure whether the Domain was a techno-evangelical organization devoted to some crack-brained idea of creating super-humans or just an ego-trip of unbalanced nerds from some backyard coding cabal who had hit a jackpot. The parallels with Microsoft were clear, but was the author just telling us how lucky we are that Bill Gates' propensities are toward philanthropy rather than megalomania? Every time I bang my head against some Microsoft product, I feel need for that reassurance.

I will point out more good aspects of the novel before attempting to cover those I felt lacking. The writing was smooth throughout and the plot hung together, not always found in modern thrillers. The cast featured some interesting characters although it grew somewhat out of control - Senator Ralph Aprillo even attempted to parachute in near the end, but was held off, I suspect, by strong editing. It took me a few chapters before I was certain I wanted to read the story - too many names and characters appearing before a reader could become invested in any of them. However, the plot hauled the reader along on a merry summer reading chase through violent action, over-the-top explosions and exotic mayhem. I was looking forward to a really fine collapse of western civilization and the author came a long way to delivering it.

I saw other deficiencies in the novel, but admit these are drawn from my own preferences and experience of writing, as well as a personal understanding of the religious/technological dichotomies.

I would have queried some of the story logistics if I'd been editing. What were the heating boilers in the Carnegie Mellon building fueled with that they could blow the whole building apart - rocket fuel? Contrary to fire codes I would think, but most of the explosives in the novel seemed to be on steroids. Many characters seemed to be psychic in the way they could appear in critical locations at decisive moments, but this writing style comes from TV scriptwriting that relies on spectacular visual effects to deaden the audience's critical faculties. A novel writer has to use a more limited palette if the reader is to maintain the suspension of disbelief. A topic worthy of discussion elsewhere.

The whole novel had for me a very two dimensional feel. There doesn't seem to be any depth or solidity, anywhere. The characters feel like computer images, even holograms, and the plot an assemblage of events that could be re-coded for any eventuality - perhaps appropriate for a novel about the possibility of the creation of AI. I have to wonder if the author used one of the computer assisted novel writing programs to produce this.

Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles I had to my ability to `connect' with the novel lies in some of the author's underlying philosophical assumptions. On the topic of AI, my understanding, such as it is, of the relationship between AI and Cybernetics - reveals why AI, as currently configured, can never result in true adaptive intelligence. I'd suggest looking for a concise statement of this on Pangaro [...] but I'll summarize the main points here.

The computer science AI approach basically regards intelligence as the manipulation of objects - a totally mechanistic and reductionist view of reality. The very nature of object oriented programming proclaims this. AI - with its process of unidirectional linear causality and a mistaken paradigm of the brain as a computer - carries all the limitations of digital symbolic computing which can neither explain nor reproduce the complex holonarchic system of our minds. Modern computing is digital whereas living things - even the workings of the universe - are analog. While I feel nothing but contempt for the beliefs of the religious fanatics in the story, I suspect they are closer to the true nature of humanity than the author would have us believe.

Cybernetics, on the other hand, approaching from complex systems theory, regards intelligence as an emergent property of a dynamic organic process - mutually caused within the total input and output of the human being as a system. If such interactions between human minds and electronic systems as depicted in the novel become possible I'd suggest they will come from the union of science with the holistic philosophies of the East rather than the reductionism derived from the long Western heritage of linear causality. The Buddha, not Parmenides.

To sum up, I found Unholy Domain to be a novel fully the equal of any other writing in the action adventure genre that I have read, but was disappointed the author's vision did not address the deeper aspects of the underlying scenario. The Muse awards roses to a maximum of four, and I would offer it two for the action but only one for the treatment of underlying theme.

Reviewed by: Christopher Hoare [...]

You may not put this book down
Excellent thriller, with some parts the feel a bit william Gibson'sih. But the author has is own style, utilizing today's fast paced cutaway style, but unlike the populist press, he finishes each chapter before he cuts. Ronco has been a senior executive in lots of technology firms and he has a deep cross discipline knowledge. But you won't need his depth of knowledge to really enjoy this book. I really liked it and read it in basically teo sittings. This is a great coast to coast plane ride book. You may not be abble to put it down.. I found his scenario on stock market disarray very prescient!.

UNHOLY DOMAIN by Dan Ronco
The year is 2022. The world economy has been destroyed by a lethal computer virus called PeaceMaker. It wiped out the economic infrastructure of the Internet and its ancillaries. The government over-reacted to the crisis by banning the development of most new technology, but the world population yearns for that technology, which has created a vast and powerful black market for everything from computers and software to robots.

There are three major players--the government, which tends to be a puppet of the other two players, an organization called The Domain--a group of scientists, gangsters, and business-types who create, manufacture, and distribute technology on the black market--and the Church of Natural Humans, which is a militant group opposed to all technology. The battle for dominance is played-out on an international scale, but it is interspersed with the story of David Brown, the son of the creator of the PeaceMaker virus, as he desperately tries to uncover the truth of what his father did and why he did it.

The plotlines neatly converge at the climax and overall the story is interesting, exciting and quick. The characters are under-developed, but each fulfills its purpose within the scope of the story. Mr. Ronco does an admirable job of creating the rivalry between the competing gangs. The Church of Natural Humans is developed as nothing more than an ideological terrorist group. This is best illustrated by the inane and mind-numbing prayers and chants--"My mind and body are human. My soul has been altered by technology. We will destroy the Devil and protect Earth."

The Domain is cast in a marginally more favorable light, but it also has its share--most of the members really--of thugs, tyrants, crooks, and would-be despots. Interestingly the most human and likable of the characters in UNHOLY DOMAIN are the robots built by The Domain. They have a limited role in the novel, but they are likable with an innocent grace and pure emotion.

UNHOLY DOMAIN is a mixture of science fiction and modern thriller, and it has the strengths and weaknesses of both. The weaknesses: The plot and motivation of the characters is loose and at times--although not often--the technology and back story bog down. The strengths: It has the fast pace and plotting of a thriller with the insight of a social based science fiction tale. It contains some interesting insights into both modern religion and technology. There are no clear moral judgments made, but rather it leaves the reader to decide which power is the lesser evil.

UNHOLY DOMAIN will not appeal to everyone, but if you enjoy a morally ambiguous social science fiction tale mixed with a jolt of James Patterson-style thriller you will likely find it pretty darn intriguing.

-Gravetapping