Ransom Stephens – författare

When electrical engineers Ryan McNear and Foster Reed co-authored two patents for company cash incentives, they thought it was all just a joke. One described the soul as a software algorithm and the other described the Big Bang as a power generator.

But when the company crashes, McNear finds himself divorced, desperately hard-up, and estranged from his son. As he rebuilds his life, McNear discovers Reed has used their nonsensical patents to draw in top-tier energy investors. A patent war erupts, and McNear is suddenly immersed in something much bigger than a personal argument with his old friend: a battle between hard science and evangelical religion. To fix the mistakes of his past, he will have to risk everything—his reputation, his livelihood, and even his sanity—to be with the son he loves.

Set in the age-old culture war between science and religion, The God Patent is a modern story that deftly blends scientific theory with one man’s struggle to discover his soul.

“I can’t believe I ate a seal. And really enjoyed it.”

Moments after venture capitalist Gloria Baradaran experiences what it’s like to be a polar bear—really be a polar bear—she knows she’s found something revolutionary. Farley Rutherford and his team—migraine-tortured neurologist “Chopper” Vittori and über-geek engineer Ringo Hayes—have created sensory saturation, a virtual reality system that drops users into the psyches of endangered animals as they fight for survival, and they believe the profound experience could turn the indifferent masses into avid environmentalists.

Ringo’s hardware is ready to go, but the pressures to get the system off the ground are immense. The money-men want more bang for their buck, and that includes bigger, more dangerous animals, and—more than anything—the ability to turn the machines into profitable games. But to Farely and his team, this is anything but a game. To some, in fact, this is a cause they’d kill for…

The Sensory Deception is a mind-blowing, globe-trotting ride that will take readers from cut-throat Silicon Valley boardrooms to the pirate ships off the Somali coast to the devastated rain forests of the Amazon all to ask the question: What is a human life worth compared to that of an entire planet?