Dreaming as an occupation…but it’s no picnic. What must be done is not for the faint of heart, and very few can do it successfully, or stomach it—until Amy comes along. She’s special all right, but not for any reason the townspeople of Jewel City can imagine!Proofreading for Lenders provided by master “Word Refiner,” Mark Schultz, who reads more than 60 books a year. Mark said, “This is the … is the best book I have read this year. I am going to give it a score of 5.1 stars, on a 5-point scale. Yes, I know, I cheated. Read the book yourself and tell me I am wrong.”
Mark Schultz is not hard to find in the world of books! Read his entire review and interview of author Travis Borne.
Amazon reviewer, James Meadows, said, “The Dark Tower Series meets Ready Player One meets Lock In. The author wrote fluently & naturally as most speak.”
Amazon reviewer, Larry Johnson, said, “By the end of the novel it had me believing in some astounding possibilities…”
Amazon reviewer, Katie, said, “It stuck with me a while, this one. If you like movies like Inception, or The Matrix, you’ll love this book.”
Travis Borne says, “Now, let’s go LEND!”
Jump 25 years into the future where the last of humanity survives in the last city. Science is limited, except within “The Lending Facility,” where tech stabilizes the dream world and consciousness is harvested in exchange for protection.
When the unexpected happens, Jim and Amy are faced with a gut-wrenching choice. And it could change everything. But that’s what his malcontent self had always wanted, right?
They’ll travel through wormholes, into The NOTHING—The SOMETHING as some describe it—and explode out. To the edge of the universe and, depending on their choice, possibly into a world of doom purposed for the unimaginable. But is it really, all just a dream?
Journey into the desert with mezcal-slurping Felix. Bounce along in his clunker pickup, Esperanza, and meet Mister Quain Renmore in a land unfathomable; beware of Q’s slaps, kicks, and pokes. Push the boundaries of the system, testing its limits.
Newfound powers, will it burst through, causing the ultimate “purple” surge, or is it already too late? The drone army has already penetrated the defenses! Head to the safe room, pack in tight, while the lenders battle against all odds to pull off the impossible.
Then, back—to the past. Where it all began, powerful companies fighting to develop A.I., and one man manages something special by working 20 hours per day. He’s a rudely blunt misanthrope. Can he crawl out of his snake skin? Will he realize, he doesn’t need to go at this alone. Years of abuse and mockery, once a nerd but now a king, haunted by doomsday speculations seething within his perspicacious mind, and things go awry. Herald decides to unfold a chair, pop open a beer, watch it burn.
Can he be changed, fixed? He meets someone, but can love save him, assuage the demons raging war in his mind?
With a select group of friends and a possible change of heart, will Herald alter his plans? Should they let the cat out of the bag? While there can be no stopping the coming destruction now, can he and his team even pull it off?
Horrific terrors, myriad dream worlds. Lessons from goodhearted characters like old Nanny at the State Fair. Red-headed Myron, Amy’s chainsaw-wielding buddy, going ballistic on tourists and their minivans. Cry as love is found, when trust is shattered.
WARNING: It’s a snowball for civilization, fires rage, volcanoes vomit. Mass destruction, but just as the lights are about to go out for good, along comes Jim, Amy, Rico, and the lenders, assisted by head scientist Ted—in the future;
Herald and the love of his life, and his friends—in the past. Can Herald and his team outrun the approaching nightmare in the hover-jet? Can Amy and Jim slip through where all others have failed? Will a humanity prove itself worthy? Will a beacon for assistance be heard, and if so, will it arrive in time?
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For quite some time now human beings have been at the top of the food chain on Planet Earth. Quite noteworthy considering the fact that we are not particularly blessed with physical attributes such as overpowering strength or lightning speed. However, human beings do possess something in spades which the other species on the planet cannot match…intelligence. This feature has allowed us to colonize and essentially dominate the planet. Nonetheless, the danger of such a vast intelligence lies in actually outsmarting ourselves- and using our gifts to create entities which we cannot control. It could be an utterly destructive and horrifying creation such as a nuclear weapon. Or maybe we proceed to create something which is actually smarter than us. An artificial intelligence which develops the ability to feel and reason. This would in turn quickly knock human beings right off of their elevated pedestal. The hunted…not the hunter. This is just such the case in author Travis Borne’s novel Lenders: The Unlicensed Consciousness. For lovers of exhilarating and brilliant writing- look no further!
At the outset of the novel it is clearly shown that human beings are no longer in control of the planet. In fact, they are being ruthlessly exterminated by machines whose own intelligence far outweighs that of their creators. However, how did all of this actually happen?
In the story we are able to travel back and forth throughout time in order to see how this all came to be. From the very beginning where huge corporations madly raced against one another to develop and patent Artificial Intelligence (AI) From the initial successful implementation of AI to the eventual decline which leads to the rise of the machines. To a mysterious town which is surrounded by a great wall designed to protect the human inhabitants from the deadly machines. All that is needed in return is access to human dreams in which such unique consciousness is used to power the facility. And at the core of it all is Amy. There is something very special about Amy. However, only by diving into this novel are you able to discover what that is. Will the world ever return to its normal state? Or are all the remaining humans destined to be hunted and exterminated by the very machines they created?
If you believe the preceding passage is quite the mouthful- you are right! This is due to the very intricate and intelligent way the author outlines his story. We are able to virtually travel in time which thus allows the reader to gain pinpoint perspective and focus in regards to the captivating story events. The excitement which follows is not only generated by the imaginative events, but ultimately by the author’s smooth writing which is full of descriptive details and crisp dialogue. Also, the exceptional writing is supported by a number of literary themes such as avarice and greed which run throughout the tale. Nevertheless, for me personally the overriding motif was that of heroism and sacrifice. This permeates throughout the story and cleverly ties the wide-ranging and exciting threads into one brilliant bow.
While the plot is indeed wonderful, it really would not have worked without properly developed and interesting characters. There is certainly no concern about that not happening here! There are a number of characters throughout the novel which are developed in detail and thoroughly support the direction of the plot and non-stop action. For instance, from Herald to Jon to Jim. They all have their vital and corresponding roles which are critical puzzle pieces to the eventual revelation of this story. Personally I found Amy to be the most engaging character. Having experienced exceptional tragedy and loss, she still manages to positively impact virtually all those around her. She comes across as the glue which binds them all together.
I would be amiss to not mention the setting in this novel. The struggle for any author is to build their setting in enough detail so that the reader can visualize and believe in their story world. Borne very capably manages to do that without losing the readers interest by providing excessive detail. A very delicate balance in any work!
Overall I loved this novel and give it my highest recommendation. It has elements of thrilling mystery, suspense, dystopian fantasy and science fiction. In other words…it has something for almost any reader. 5 out of 5 Dominant Stars for this one! *****
Author Travis Borne takes you on a mind blowing sci fi trek to the future where man is no longer the dominant species on the planet. Machines rule the world with an artificial intelligence that feeds on the minds of men, proving in vivid, disastrous detail the adage ‘be careful what you wish for’. Author Borne takes us back and forth in time as we learn how the technology developers of the past placed a deadly mortgage on humans in the future—and how the human spirit and consciousness is never quite quenched as the surviving few try to break free in the machine controlled, AI world.
The technology details and presumptions were fascinating to me, showing a path of human devolution that could quite possibly happen. The characters and settings are described in vivid detail as the reader time travels from club debauchery to software development labs to dodging killer drones in a wasted land to the lender map locations that must be consciousness swept every day if man is to survive, or else. Did the developers of the past foresee the destruction of the future? Is there a way to escape the AI shackles of the future? This was a page turning read for me and I am so glad Lenders II: The Time Tribulations is out, for I will be back. A suspense filled sci fi read, highly recommended!