THE CRUNCH
Disclaimer: "The Crunch" was written with the help of AI as a confidence building exercise. This is why it's "FREE" to download. I'm currently writing my first novel, a psychological horror based loosely on my life, though more of a comedy at the moment. "Inbetwixt" coming soon!
The "Big Crunch" isn't a distant theory. It’s an accelerating reality. The universe is dying, two years ahead of schedule.
Navigator Kaelen Aris is her species' only hope. To find a solution, she must undertake a desperate, off-the-books mission using a "forbidden" alien interface—a parasitic technology "hot-wired" into her living ship. But the "glitch" in the system isn't a bug. It's a "presence".
To fly, Kaelen must "surrender" to the alien "whispers". But this new, terrifying intelligence is leading her to a "ghost echo" artifact ... and its activation has just sent a "beacon" to a G-P-S kill-fleet that is already on its way.
"Shaw doesn't flinch. The Crunch opens with a premise that should terrify any student of physics: the math is a death sentence. The cosmic microwave background isn't just shifting; it's blue-shifting. The expansion rate isn't just slowing; it's negative.
This is not an abstract apocalypse. This is a novel that grounds its existential dread in data, in the grim reality of a 'Terminal Singularity' arriving two years ahead of schedule. It's a relentless, intelligent, and rigorously imagined descent into the last, desperate moments of a species armed with nothing but failing protocols and the hope of a single, 'impossible' test flight. A stunning, harrowing work of hard science fiction."
— A. R. M. Cixin
"This is not a novel about saving the world. This is a novel about realizing the world was never yours. The Crunch opens with the shriek of an dying universe, but the true horror is the discovery that the sound is not a scream—it's a song.
Shaw has crafted a terrifying, unwinnable story where the apocalypse is not an accident, it's 'agriculture'. We are not the heroes; we are the 'ingredients'. This is a masterful, unsettling, and truly cosmic work that will stay with you long after the final, devastating 'harvest.' A novel that chews you up and reminds you how small you are."
— L. H. Vandermeer
"This is not your granddad's noble space opera. The Crunch is a fast, kinetic, and deeply cynical thriller about a war that's already lost. The hero, Kaelen Aris, is a 'heretic' pilot with a parasitic alien interface fused to her ship and a High Command that's actively trying to get her killed.
Forget the dying universe; the real threat is the 'honey trap' spy in her brother's bed and the High Commander who brands her as 'paranoid' for telling the truth. Shaw delivers a brilliant tactical 'reversal', high-stakes political betrayal, and a weapon called a 'Cognitohazard' that's as 'elegant' as it is 'atrocious'. A fantastic, smart, and relentless read."
— Janos Scalzi
"What does it mean to survive? And what is the cost? The Crunch is a profound and unsettling meditation on identity, disguised as a military thriller. The novel's 'Plague' is not a weapon of war, but a 'key' to a 'forced, alien evolution'.
Shaw asks a devastating question: Is a 'synthesis' that merges you with your mortal enemy still a victory? Or is it just a 'painless,' more 'elegant atrocity'? With a living, 'bio-engineered' ship at its heart and a climax that redefines what it means to be human, this is a 'Big Idea' novel of the highest order. It will haunt you."
— Octavia K. Le Guin
"Forget the dying universe—Kaelen Aris has to survive her own command first.
As the cosmos collapses, Navigator Kaelen Aris is forced on a suicide mission with an unstable, 'parasitic' alien technology plugged directly into her mind. Hunted by a relentless alien fleet and betrayed by a 'mole' in her own High Command, she's the only one who can see the truth. But the 'crushing psychic noise' in her head is getting louder... and the alien tech is 'waiting'.
The Crunch is a high-octane, non-stop thriller that never lets up. This book is a rocket."
— Ernest Pierce
Shaw's imagination was forged in a small midlands mining village and set free by the early British rave scene. A multi-genre author and dreamer, he embraces a shattered mind to explore the twisted, the hidden, and the new.
The Crunch by Danny Shaw / Gemini