hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr2382.txt

Episode: 2382
Title: HPR2382: A Non Spoilery Review of "git commit murder" and "Forever Falls" by Michael Warren Lucas
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2382/hpr2382.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-19 02:01:32

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This in HBR episode 2,382 entitled, An on-poilery review on Get Commit Murder, and Forever Falls by Michael Warren Lucas.
It is hosted by 5150 and is about 9 minutes long and carrying a clean flag.
The summer is, I met Michael Lucas at Kansas Linux Fest 2017 and review a couple of his novels.
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Howdy folks! This is 5150 for Hacker Public Radio.
I want to start out with an apology. You guys haven't heard me for more than a year.
I've had a particular topic I've been wanting to do for that long, but it is so ridiculous.
You'll know it when it comes out that I felt it required a particular spirit to the attitude.
And every time I've got into that spirit, I'm an old man now, and pretty much has come up.
Yeah, I'm going to go to bed now and do this a different time.
So that's really my only excuse. This is not the podcast I wanted to reintroduce myself
with or that I'd plan to. I mean, I'm not saying don't want because this is going to be good, I think.
This is just kind of by way of explanation why you haven't heard from me in a while.
This is my non-spoilery review of The Novel's Get Commit Murder and Forever Falls by Michael
Warren Lucas. I met Michael at Kansas Linux Fest 2017 last spring where he was a speaker.
Turns out we've probably been walking past each other to halls at Panglican for the last three
years that I've intended without knowing. Michael's a BSD guy and one of us,
as well as being an open source advocate, he works professionally as a systems admin and network
engineer. And he brought some books to KLF, so I bought his text SSH mastery, meaning because
I've never been able to handle on reverse IP tunneling. There was a chapter on that
and also networking for systems administrators, but he also does fiction novels. So I bought his
latest one at a time Get Commit Murder. Now, verifying his link on Amazon, I saw something posted
in July, something about shambling. So I think he's done a zombie novel. I'm certainly very
interested in acquiring. But because I was a good customer, Michael also threw in Forever Falls
for free. I'll start with Get Commit Murder, which takes place at a BSD convention. The gathering
in a novel is slightly less informal than the Linux conferences that I've attended,
because the conference is targeted at the users, contributors, and managers of the fictional
Sky BSD. Our protagonist, Detroit native Dale Whitehead, has come to Canada to deliver a talk
on his mesh networking project. The conference is disrupted when attendees start to die in what
appear to be unrelated accidents. Now, Dale is unwilling to accept these deaths as accidents
and puts his analytical mind to discovering the killer. But he also employs his hacking skills,
having already created an admin account on the host university server within minutes of checking
in. And this makes him understandably reluctant to discuss the theories or his theories with
authorities until he's positively identified a culprit. And the Sky BSD community is not without
contention. A significant number of contributors want to move from subversion to get,
for version control, and just as many, or vehemently opposed. Also, the recent release of
candid photos meant to embarrass contributor has many calling for a code of conduct and the
banning of violators. Others think this is just going too far. Dale has to contemplate whether
either of these is reason for murder, or perhaps this is just a struggle by the old guard
who is not ready to surrender leadership to younger generation. I have to admit at first,
it was hard to get to like Michael's protagonist Dale Whitehead. Through no follow of his own,
Dale suffers from extreme form of attention deficit disorder, which requires medication,
and causes him to actively shun the company of other people. The same affliction allows him to
really get into the zone when programming also makes being encrowds a fresh hell for Dale.
He is in constant terror that some average behavior on his part will reveal his condition to his
companions, and he really finds it much easier to deal with other humans via email or IRC.
And it's clear through novel that Michael Lucas has some understanding of the condition,
either via research or probably contact with someone who suffers ADD.
I noted at least one character in the story seemed to me to be to bear a passing resemblance
to a familiar conference fixture in real life. And Michael told me the sequel might be set
in an open source slash sci-fi convention in a city, sorry, near the Great Lakes. Time will tell
if the Tuesday afternoon Solaris overview or a guilt-wearing organizer will make an appearance.
The second novel Forever Falls is also a mystery, and it's also a sci-fi story.
LL4 Court is a recruit right out of college for the Money Incorporation.
As a corporate security officer, she is assigned to investigate the death of a
Money You Research Scientist at the Free Fall installation. In the course of the novel,
you learn that Monic You has proprietary technology that allows them to portal into other universes
or dimensions where the laws of physics are different from those of our universe. In Free Fall,
gravity runs parallel to the surface of the world. In other words, you don't fall down,
you fall sideways, and with no ground to stop you, if you fall, you fall forever.
Monic You has a research facility built into the cliff. With gravity traveling sideways,
the surface of the planet appears to be an endless cliff. Above, the facility is a huge
battle awning to deflect falling borders. On top of this awning is where the security team
discovers the body of Dr. Devon Grupper. The damage to the body suggests Dr. Grupper
impacted with terminal velocity. Even taking into account the lighter gravity of Free Fall,
constant acceleration means that terminal velocity is governed by air resistance.
Monic You does use airships for transport, but there are no records of how Grupper could have
secured transportation and a pilot to wind up smashed on the awning without a ship going missing.
Thus, security second L4 court is assigned to the case. Forever Falls is but one in a series
of Monic You portal novels by Michael Lucas. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
And if you will look in the show notes, there is a link to the Amazon page for Michael Warren
Lucas's novels. And I really encourage you to go there and check it out and picks them up.
I think you'll like them. Okay, this has been 5150 for Hacker Public Radio. As always,
I can be contacted with feedback from this episode or more directly. If you want to go to
5150 at LinuxBasement.com, you can contact me there. That's 5150 all written out in letters,
not 5150 numerically. Okay, well, I hope this has made you interested in the works of Michael
Warren Lucas and I hope you check them out and give them a read. And that's all I have for today. Thank you.
You've been listening to Hacker Public Radio at Hacker Public Radio. We are a community podcast
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