The Galactic Now
The Assemblies of the Living, Book 2
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The Galactic Now
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Narrated by:
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Samuel Peery
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By:
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Brent Clay
About this listen
After first contact, humanity learns that the galaxy is a place of ancient and far-reaching authorities. The Earth has not emerged as an autonomous peer into a community of sovereign worlds, but as an involuntary entrant into a galactic society whose demands are not light. John Riley, the physicist who inadvertently touched off first contact with his research into gravitation, now sees that the implications of his discoveries lead to more than technical frontiers. The galaxy, the nature of the Universe itself, is not what humanity has believed it to be.
©2023 Brent Clay (P)2024 Brent ClayListeners also enjoyed...
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Humans have reached the stars. There is no evidence any other species survived its own sentience long enough to do the same. Until now, when the Magellanix deep-space scout Accipiter discovers the Artifact, a million-year-old alien construct resting in a dormant volcano on a faraway world.
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couldn't make it through this book....
- By Will S. on 09-26-24
By: Paul Dixon
-
The Forever Ship
- Starship Omega, Book 1
- By: Scott Bartlett, Joshua James
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 281
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 248
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 248
When the Ornu came, they took Earth in a single night. Humanity never stood a chance. Now, they force us to crew their ships and fight their wars for them. They hold Earth hostage, and if we refuse to do their bidding, they’ll lay waste to our precious blue marble. Slaughtering the billions who live there. But when Captain Bill Henderson is sent to claim a small moon for his masters, he finds something they never accounted for. An ancient warship – a behemoth abandoned for millennia by a species that reached its peak at the dawn of the universe.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another home run!
- By David Perry on 05-26-24
By: Scott Bartlett, and others
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Infinity Gate
- By: M. R. Carey
- Narrated by: Dami Olukoya
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 468
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 417
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 417
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Great world building, but....
- By KJH on 05-04-23
By: M. R. Carey
-
Elder Race
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 326
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 296
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 296
Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
barely more than a short story.
- By Daniel Smith on 09-10-23
-
Prelude to Ascension
- The Assemblies of the Living, Book 1
- By: Brent Clay
- Narrated by: Samuel Peery
- Length: 18 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 415
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 364
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 364
John Riley is a physicist who achieves his lifelong dream of unraveling the mysteries of anti-gravity, but along the way, also unwittingly discovers the secret of interstellar communication. When he and a small group of coworkers attempt to respond to an unexpected message, believing it to have originated from somewhere on Earth, they find more than they anticipate. The message is from deep space.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An Unexpected Treasure of Pure Enjoyment
- By averageconsumer on 01-26-19
By: Brent Clay
-
3zekiel
- By: Peter Cawdron
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 228
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 208
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 207
Deep within the Congo, a team of scientists prepares for the greatest event in the history of humanity, making first contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial species. Only the jungle is no place for doubts. Could first contact be our last?
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
avoid this book
- By Ralf Månsson on 07-19-22
By: Peter Cawdron
What listeners say about The Galactic Now
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Björn
- 07-30-24
My first review, after 12 yrs on Audible.
This must be the most overlooked science fiction novel ever. Maybe due to Brent Clay publishing it himself. Definitely maybe because of that. However, I count myself very fortunate to have found it.
The Galactic Now, and Prelude to Ascension, is somehow like if Arthur C. Clarke, Kim Stanley Robinson and Liu Cixin had a baby. Two babies. But it's from a guy you've never heard of.
It's hard sci-fi, lots of in-depth on mundane stuff, but it spans the whole spectrum. It's philosophical, techie, emotional, and epic without leaving the solar system.
This is by far one of the best science fiction stories I've ever read (listened to). And with some 250 titles or so through the years here, it baffles me that that can still happen.
I kind if dreaded that the author would slip up and ruin the ending somehow, but oh did he not.
The Galactic Now delivers on every point, a perfect conclusion to The Assemblies of the Living.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- ./cc
- 05-28-24
Oftentimes thoughtful Sci-Fi, blending the known, the plausible, and just enough of the improbable to keep things interesting
The balance of my thoughts on this book are reflected in the title, but generally speaking, I thought it was not quite as good as the first installment. Also, I could have done without the author’s recurring need to dismiss religion and faith with pockets of pseudo-intellectualism. I also wish this book would have exchanged certain long-winded asides with material that advanced further the interplay between alien powers and alien worlds with humanity and Earth.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-28-24
Exactly the type of sci-fi I love
A very thought provoking combination of hard-scifi, philosophy, religion and spirituality, is the exact kind of First Contact type of material I crave. What I love is that this book makes it more than just first contact with an alien civilization. It's also a type of "first contact" between humanity and the parts of ourselves that the scientifically minded may find alien. Just like relativity and quantum mechanics dont agree within a limited horizon, so to must we expand our minds to understand the big picture of the universe and our small place in it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brad
- 04-14-24
totally unique
a unique take on first contact with a healthy dose of moral philosophy and self reflection on the human condition. this series is a must read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jason F.
- 10-21-24
Great Series
Love this series. This book specifically dives into some philosophical ends of first contact as well, but still extremely interesting. Great. Will listen again… and that says a lot.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- james Hamm
- 04-20-24
The Best Science Fiction Series I’ve Read or Listened To
The Galactic Now is an absolute masterpiece! I was completely captivated by the seamless blend of science fiction with believable characters and a gripping plot.
Also, the narrator's performance was beyond exceptional, breathing life into each character with such depth and authenticity.
The Galactic Now is a must-experience for any science fiction enthusiast! I am anxiously awaiting the next book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- One of the Hoomans
- 09-05-24
a very unique take on first contact
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The only flaw might be too many characters that are used more as a backdrop for the developing story and don't stand on their own. Besides that, great concept, interesting ideas, intriguing plot, and some well done characters.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Joe
- 04-01-24
The author sounds like a technical snob.
Overly inflated verbosity. The author SOUNDS like a technical SNOB.
See below's EXAMPLE that attempts to mimic B. Clay's WORDY snobbishness.
The egregious proliferation of superfluous verbosity is indeed an affliction that regrettably plagues many an intriguing subject matter, thereby detracting from its inherent fascination and rendering it burdensome and unwieldy for the hapless audience. Alas, the prodigious proliferation of unnecessarily convoluted language often serves to obfuscate rather than illuminate the subject at hand, thereby thwarting the transmission of knowledge and impeding comprehension.
It is truly lamentable that such a fascinating topic should be encumbered by the gratuitous embellishment of language, as it deprives both speaker and listener alike of the opportunity to engage with it in a manner that is both accessible and enriching. In essence, the imposition of excessive verbosity serves only to obfuscate the inherent beauty and complexity of the subject matter, relegating it to the realm of incomprehensibility and alienating potential enthusiasts.
In light of these observations, it behooves us to eschew the pernicious temptation of verbosity and instead strive for clarity and conciseness in our discourse, thereby ensuring that the inherent allure of the subject matter remains undiminished and accessible to all who seek to partake in its exploration.
SNOB, am I right?
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-15-24
The story quality.will be a Classic novel!! The Best ever!!
This book series goes way beyond sci-fi.. It will become one of the novel classics along with the likes of A.C.Clarcke or Asimov and CS Lewis!
Brent Clay is absolutely one of the finest authors I have ever encountered.. and I have been reading for 70 years!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 03-20-24
Very different first contact series
I really like the first two and hope it does not take 3 years till the next book!
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