The Power of Six

*** Read The Power of Six for free on Kindle Unlimited ***

*** Read Simulation Over and The Hand of God for free ***

Start reading The Power of Six for free with Kindle Unlimited

The Power of Six, is a collection of six plus one science fiction short stories, now available on Amazon. Although the stories seem to be concerned with various themes, there are certain passions that run through them. What is the nature of reality? Is there more to the world than we can see? You can read the first story, Simulation Over, on this blog, or on Writersky, Inkbok and Wattpad, and the third one, The Hand of God, on this blog, Inkbok, Writersky or Wattpad.

Readers say…

“Philosophical ideas woven into science-fiction stories that read like classic stories by the masters, often with a delightful, thought-provoking and unexpected twist at the end.”

“Phil K. Dick is up on a cloud laughing with glee”

“Rossis once again achieves the right mixture of science and psychology, with a pinch of… philosophy. Simulated realities, time travel, parallel worlds, symbiotic organisms and many more sci-fi ideas are elegantly presented sometimes with humor, sometimes through a dream-like atmosphere, sometimes with a little twist.”

The Stories

• The first story, “Simulation Over“, deals with Descartes age-old question; how far can we trust our senses? With technology progressing rapidly, the time when it will be practically impossible to tell apart sensory fact from simulation can’t be far off. How will we be able to tell fantasy and reality apart? A man finds himself trapped in an office building crawling with the monstrous remains of his former colleagues. What caused the disaster, and how is he going to escape? The answer is totally unexpected.  The story was published by magazine 9.

• The second story, “For the Last Time“, is lighter in nature. Another common theme, explored in depth in Pearseus, is that of the choices we make and their consequences. The main character here takes decisions based solely on his short-term interest. As a result, he keeps getting in deeper and deeper trouble, until he realized how happy he was before all this. As the saying goes, “I’d like to be who I was before I became who I am”.

• The inspiration for the third story, “The Hand of God” came to me while playing Starcraft. It deals with that old question of the nature of reality – digital and corporeal. What do the game characters do when we stop playing?

• The fourth story, “I Come in Peace” (from the common sci-fi first contact words) deals with a tortuous question: how far would man go to alleviate his loneliness? This story explores basic human emotions – fear of loneliness, companionship and unknowingly sharing our world with others. It won the SF competition titles Invasion and was published by Cube Publications in the anthology of the same name. Large parts of it have been used in Pearseus.

• The fifth story, “a Fresh Start“, is, again, about choices – and a favorite question of mine: if we were free to go anywhere in time and space, where would we choose to go? And, once there, would we repeat the same mistakes, or would we make new ones? Could a man serve in one life and rule in another; and if so, which one would make him happier?

• The sixth story, “The Sentry“, is probably my favourite.  It was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s first story (“Roog”). Science fiction fans will surely recognize this nod to the old master.

• The final story, “Big Bang”, is written by my author friend, Amos M. Carpenter. Amos lives in Australia, I live in Greece. We’ve never met in person. And yet, his story is written in a style eerily similar to mine; as such, it is a great complement to the rest in the book. You can find out more about Amos and his work on his blog, amosmcarpenter.com.

One common characteristic of all stories is a conscious lack of names for both characters and places in most stories. This is because of my conviction that names inevitably restrict the reader’s imagination. I feel that we all carry deep in our psyche an image for all names and places and this will necessarily carry on to the story, limiting the possible projections we can perform. I’d rather leave the canvas completely blank, so that readers can color it any way they like.

The Power of Six is available on Amazon.  You can read the first story, Simulation Over, on this blog, or on Writersky, Inkbok and Wattpad, and the third one, The Hand of God, on this blog, or on  Inkbok, Writersky or Wattpad.

Don’t have a Kindle? You can read my books in virtually any format by using the FREE Amazon reading apps!