Time to Expire, a novel by Chris Ramos. Review by Sean Malone, author and editorial assistant with Orange Hat Publishing | TEN16 Press
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“Your son is ready for you to take home … he is one of our best subjects… The genes are still intact and passed on. Hair color, eye color, propensity to be thin or obese, face expressions, skeletal structure. These still develop outside of nanotechnology. Unfortunately, we are still all very unique.” What’s in a setting? A good setting enhances any book or piece of media. A setting that cannot conform to its established logic or that lacks interesting features rapidly dissuades readers from continuing. The argument can be further advanced that the setting itself is one of the key characters of good science fiction and is most important in this genre. Chris Ramos’s Time to Expire (Ten16 Press, 2021) demonstrates an engrossing and chromatic presentation of sci-fi vocabulary and concepts. Ramos’s universe is well-imagined, containing dynamic characters and familiar near-future elements alongside a fantastic prominence of nanotechnology. The book involves themes of mortality, humanity, disease, and even climate. What elevates the setting of Time to Expire is its level of detail; descriptions abound of the various nanobots going about their functions, from washing the dishes and cleaning the floors to insemination and controlling the processes of life and death. Time to Expire has an identifiable “cool factor,” essential for good sci-fi. Of course, there’s the disturbingly familiar fixation over digiscreen devices, as well as an all-important clock that informs the owner exactly when the hour of their death will come, their ‘time to expire.’ These devices are “corporate issue” of course, courtesy of the supranational
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