The blog of editor, journalist and science fiction writer David D. Ross
A brief introduction to "The Argus Gambit"
Should he expose the secret society of scientists that was trying to destroy his world--or join them?
In this science fiction thriller set in the second half of the next century, very little is as it seems as a policeman investigates an assassination that cost him his job, and may have deprived humanity of its only hope of surviving a devastating famine.
America has become isolationist and anti-technological, facing inwards from its responsibilities as a great power, and from the challenges of the future. It seems that the only hope lies in the immensely talented scientist Dorian Nye, who has translated the cryptic Strubeck Equations, which can save the world from a South American grain blight that threatens the planet's survival. But Nye is killed, and the policeman charged with protecting him, Mel Hardrim, is held responsible for his death. But it isn't Nye's body lying in the morgue, and suddenly Hardrim has gone from being just an incompetent cop to a suspect in a kidnapping of international ramifications.
Hoping to salvage his career, Hardrim investigates the scientist's disappearance, but as he digs deeper and deeper, he is drawn into a maze of deception, murder, and political intrigue, which has as its center a shadowy group of scientists known only as the Argus Society. Nye may have belonged to this group, and they may have caused his disappearance. They may be plotting the destruction of civilization, or they may be Mankind's only hope of survival. With his life threatened at every turn, Hardrim's choice is to expose the Argus Society, or to join them.
"The Argus Gambit" was first published by: St. Martin's Press.
Author's notes: It took me 12 years to write my first novel, "The Argus Gambit," but in reality I wrote the novel several times before I got to the point where I was satisfied with it. I was such a perfectionist when it comes to my writing that it took the common advent of the personal computer for me to be able to finish what had come to be more a member of my family than a book. It also took me a long time to finish because, in the nature of an extremely immature writer, I wanted to throw in everything but the kitchen sink: every wonder, every political twist and turn, every societal evolution, every fad and fancy that ocurred to me. Writing this book was such fun for me that I never wanted it to end. Fortunately, on reflection, much of this additional material did not find its way into the finished book.
Not autobiographical in even the slightest degree, the novel does contain some characters who strongly resemble friends of my youth, as well as a character my friends claim physically resembles me. Many of the scenes and bits of dialogue I constructed as I spent long nights pushing a broom and running a cash register as a night clerk of a convenience story. Many's the customer who probably thought I was a little bit wacked out when they saw me muttering to myself, when actually I was polishing bits to submit to the typewriter the next day. It's amazing to me how the most mundane of jobs can give wing to the imagination if the writer is willing to let it do so.
Where the book is definitely me is in my insistence to populate it with passionate, romantic, larger-than-life characters who believe in the greatness of Man, that the greatest good of Man is creation and technological advancement and his greatest joy the expansion of human knowledge.
This philosphy has been stated far better than I by literary giants of the 20th century, such as Ayn Rand, but I borrow the overall title of the two-book series (the other book being "The Eighth Rank") from T. E. Lawrence, who in his "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" wrote "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible." That sentiment is also at the bedrock of the philosophy of my protagonists.
"The Argus Gambit might be called a philosophical novel, yet I hope that I have had enough fun with the plot that the reader will have fun with it, too, whether or not he or she cares for philosophy.
A brief introduction to "The Eighth Rank"
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that if was vanity; bur the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible." -T.E. Lawrence
Jason Scott, Sherlock Michlanski, and Jacob Kane were the most prized pupils of the Argus Society: three brilliant young men of extraordinary and diverse talents. Three prominent members of the secret international conspiracy of intelligentsia. Three people whose dreams were humanity's hope. Mankind's madness has threatened the entire world. President Jeffrey Shefferton, having seen no answers, has authorized the Sunside Project, Jason Scott's plan for feeding the world by utilizing the Strubeck equations. Only the equations are not what they seem to be nor is the Sunside Project. It is, in fact, a dream that only Kane, Michlanski, and Scott can make possible. In this thrilling, Panoramic vision of the future Davis Ross has brought to life the future first depicted in The Argus Gambit. Bold and adventuresome, The Eighth Rank is a dynamic science fiction novel of the highest rank.
Praise for David Ross's first novel "The Argus Gambit"
"In The Argus Gambit, David Ross shows how the balance of military and political power can change and change. I enjoyed his vision of our world after a few more turns of the wheel, and look forward to later books in the series,"
-Vernor Vinge, Hugo Award winning author of Marooned in Realtime
"Ross's political struggles are convincing and dramatic…. Top marks for presentaton and effort." -Kirkus Reviews
"David Ross's The Argus Gambit, is that rare kind of novel that attempts to be both general philosophy and interesting fiction. With this book, Ross places himself in the Libertarian/Objectivist tradition. I'm neither, so I can't speak for his orthodoxy, but for the non-Libertarian, non-Objectivist, this book is more accessible-and a lot more fun-than Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead. He didn't convert me, but he certainly entertained me. Ross's world-building, characters, and plot are more credible than Rand's-where she gives us lecture, he gives us real blood-and-thunder action." -John Barnes, author of Mother of Storms
"Ambitious….it has everything from taps into the earth's core for energy to the search for FTL travel, from political conspiracies great and small to protagonists who play the sitar." -Locus
