Three hundred million years of war. A galaxy littered with ruins – some more dangerous than others. Rising from the ashes, the machine-led Wanderer civilisation searches for answers. A lone Wanderer craft-lect - a sentient machine intelligence - has found something on an innocuous world it had marked for routine decontamination. Something that may aid it in finally discovering answers about the mysterious entity that started the war, and with the power to stop it. Has it found a power that even the Ascended Biologicals did not possess? While working the commune’s land, Gil senses danger. Outsiders are coming, with ancient minds unlike anything she has known before. Their presence awakens something deep and powerful within her. As Gil’s abilities grow, she battles for the future of her commune, and possibly, far more. THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SCI-FI WANDERERS SERIES BY JAMES MURDO. Cerebral Sci-Fi with an emphasis on the ‘Sci’. If you enjoy Hard Sci-Fi, complex Space Opera, and authors such as Iain M. Banks, Alastair Reynolds and Dan Simmons, then this is for you. ‘ I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series.’ – Bookbub reviewer ‘Great story! Highly recommended! ’ – Bookbub reviewer ‘Fantastic series starter! I loved the perspective alternation each chapter… I loved the uniqueness of the story… This is not your typical space opera … this story is much bigger and much more personal.’ – Goodreads reviewer ‘ This is a book I will be reading again , something I almost never do.’ – Goodreads reviewer ‘refreshingly unique in its portrayal of denizens (both biologic and machine) and I was immediately caught up ’ – Goodreads reviewer "The machine intelligence and sense of expanses of time in this is so well written. There's no rust in space, just plenty of pebble strikes, but the sense of corporeal form and mind being worn down by the expanse of time, made even worse because the AI can complete most logical operations in a nanosecond, is colossal ... There's contrast with an organic species too, as their fates intersect, which also has a fascinating angle on life (and symbiosis), so both are discovering themselves and their true predicament, hidden away from their understanding for so much time. The story explores the struggle between good and evil, issues of the value of life, right to life, conscious awareness, whether winning at all costs is worth the price, then small scale in space and time versus the incredibly large scale across unimaginable stretches of time that brings with it the ennui of near-immortal eternities of existence. I'm glad I read it. It was not normal - and in fiction, that's an accolade." - Having Faith Book Blog (May 2018) James Murdo was born and raised in London, where he still lives. He graduated from university with a Masters degree in Physics, which added fuel to his early love of science fiction. AVAILABLE BOOKS By James Murdo ALL SET IN THE WANDERER UNIVERSE. THE SERIES & STANDALONES ARE ALL PART OF THE WIDER INTERRELATED STORY. TAPACHE'S PROMISE TRILOGY Book 1 - Echoes of Gravity - Book 2 - Echoes of Time - Book 3 - Echoes of Foundation STANDALONES Siouca Remembers - Long Paradise - Fractured Carapace  WANDERERS SERIES Book 1 - Gil's World - Book 2 - Searching the Void - Book 3 - Infinite Eyes  EXCERPT   Across many regions of the galaxy, a presence was building. It was gaining strength, and no one had a clue what it was. The presence was called the sensespace. It seemed to be drawn to sentience and feed off it, congregating within the most densely populated regions of space. It had nested most strongly within the greatest intellects, unbeknownst to them, whether they were biological, machine-based or other.   Parallels were initially drawn between the sensespace and dendropathogens, although these were quickly dismissed. The sensespace was far more pervasive, and a different type of attack entirely. It was less virus-like, behaving more like an intelligent entity. For some reason, certain individuals were immune to its effects, or it was simply not interested in them. The criteria for infection and immunity was unknown.   No one knew exactly when the infection had first started to seize hold, although speculation was rife. Some suggested it was a parasite that had existed since the dawn of the universe's most recent expansion phase, evolving and mutating over time. That was posited to explain why it had only recently come to be detected. Some postulated that it was a bizarre and accidental parasitic off-shoot from more recent times, maybe an experiment gone wrong, and that it was mindlessly growing and attracted to sentience. Some alleged that it was an attack from another galaxy, or universe, or from a different type of reality altogether, designed to clear the galaxy of life. Some even looked closer to home, believing that a belligerent AB player, or perhaps another AB level although unaffiliated species, had de