Singularity - podcast cover

Singularity

Bill DeSmedt | Scriblwww.scribl.com
What if the cataclysmic Tunguska explosion of 1908 was caused, not by a meteor or a comet, but by a microscopic black hole? What if that fantastic object - smaller than an atom, older than the stars, heavier than a mountain - is still down there, orbiting deep inside the earth, slowly consuming the planet? What if only a rookie government agent and an uncannily-insightful consultant stand between a renegade Russian billionaire and his plans to use the black hole to change history - or end it? What if it's all true? For an alternative view of the Tunguska event and to explore the science behind Singularity, visit the Vurdalak Conjecture website. Accolades Winner of the Gold Medal for Science Fiction in Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Awards Winner of the Independent Publishers Association's Ippy prize for Best Fantasy/Science Fiction novel of 2004 "Singularity is a swift, gripping novel with a goose-pimple mix of scary science and near-future action. An excellent debut from Bill DeSmedt - and I'll be looking forward to his next one!" - Greg Bear, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author "DeSmedt veers an action-packed thriller into perilous realms of black hole physics. The combination of adrenaline and intellect sizzles." - David Brin, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author
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Episodes

Chapter 18: Night Moves

Marianna raids Rusalka's clandestine lab and discovers riddles wrapped in enigmas: a strange undersea base and an even stranger wall-safe. Meanwhile Knox, running interference for her up on bridge deck, inadvertently learns more from a casual conversation than he was supposed to -- if only he could figure out what it was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 12, 200645 minSeason 1Ep. 19

Chapter 17: Buy-In

It's back to business, as Marianna drags a reluctant Knox into a raid on Rusalka's secret lab, while back in DC her boss is planning an assault on a whole different order of magnitude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 05, 200626 minSeason 1Ep. 18

Chapter 16: Idyll

A day aboard the megayacht Rusalka offers every manner of indulgence, from romance and frivolity, to remembrance and regret. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 05, 200636 minSeason 1Ep. 17

Chapter 15: Patterns

Seeking the secret harbored at Rusalka's heart -- with paper, pencil, and force majeur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 31, 200637 minSeason 1Ep. 16

Chapter 14: Hull Number Forty-Seven

Knox and Marianna's tour of the megayacht Rusalka unexpectedly hands them the key they need to break the Grishin case wide open. As far as Knox can see it's mission accomplished, but Marianna's only getting started, and all the while Rusalka is setting sail ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 21, 200648 minSeason 1Ep. 15

Chapter 13: Puttin' on the Ritz

Knox attends the Kennedy Center gala intent upon winding up his involvement in the Grishin investigation as quickly and painlessly as possible, only to find that Marianna has something quite different in mind. Meanwhile, the target of that investigation, Arkady Grishin himself, retires to GEI's fabulous megayacht Rusalka, there to summon up a computer-generated chronogram of recent Russian history, and drink an ominous toast to its might-have-beens ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

May 14, 200628 minSeason 1Ep. 14

Chapter 12: The Illusion of Choice

Marianna manages to extricate Knox from the clutches of Russian State Security in the nick of time. But the rescue comes with strings attached ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 08, 200622 minSeason 1Ep. 13

Chapter 11: The Beast of Evil Heart

Jack Adler's academic adversaries seek to quash his research via bureaucratic maneuvering. GEI hitman Yuri, however, favors the direct approach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 30, 200617 minSeason 1Ep. 12

Chapter 10: A Visit to the Smithsonian

Jonathan Knox wanders the halls of the museum and the corridors of his own memories, pondering whether to help CROM, so lost in thought that he fails to notice he's got company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 22, 200617 minSeason 1Ep. 11

Chapter 9: Ghost

Plagued by insomnia, Jack Adler wrestles late into the night with balky equipment and his own doubts -- which means he is there to witness it when his primordial black hole goes flashing across his screens. Is it the greatest discovery of all time, or the greatest danger the world has ever faced? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 22, 200614 minSeason 1Ep. 10

Chapter 8: Press Gang

When Marianna fails at sweettalking Knox into joining CROM's anti-Grishin taskforce, her boss Pete Aristos puts the pressure on, only to have that backfire too -- big time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 14, 200619 minSeason 1Ep. 9

Chapter 7: Mythologies

Guided by an aged shaman's chants, Jack Adler reconstructs the aftermath of the Tunguska Event, and the evidence for a tiny black hole as the culprit. And all the while, Grishin's hired killer Yuri is closing in on his next target -- Jack himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 14, 200624 minSeason 1Ep. 8

Chapter 6: Our Ship Comes In

Knox learns more than he ever wanted to know about CROM's secret inner workings -- and about how his own checkered past fits into their undercover investigation of Grishin Enterprises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 09, 200637 minSeason 1Ep. 7

Chapter 5: Interview with the Shaman

As Jonathan Knox makes some unusual preparations for his morning meeting, on the far side of the planet Jack Adler toils to the top of a sacred mountain, to a meeting with an ancient holy man who can teach him the secret of the Tunguska Event and, just possibly, the meaning of his own life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 01, 200637 minSeason 1Ep. 6

Chapter 4: Reacquisition

Marianna drags Jon Knox into her investigation against his will, and gets more than she bargained for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 200626 minSeason 1Ep. 5

Chapter 3: Schwarzschild Radius

Marianna pins her hopes of building a case against Grishin on a man with a past, an unconventional analyst for the Archon Consulting Group named Jonathan Knox. Meanwhile, half a world away, maverick cosmologist Jack Adler tries prove that the true cause of the Tunguska Event was - a submicroscopic black hole! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 200657 minSeason 1Ep. 4

Chapter 2: Resource Recovery

Arkady Grishin, billionaire chairman of Grishin Enterprises International, has a secret agenda of his own where the Tunguska Event is concerned - a secret his minions are only too willing to kill for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 200641 minSeason 1Ep. 3

Chapter 1: Proliferation Threat

New York City, present day. Marianna Bonaventure, rookie field agent for the supersecret agency known as CROM, tries to nail the shadowy Grishin Enterprises International conglomerate for trafficking in weapons of mass destruction research, and nearly pays for it with her life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 200626 minSeason 1Ep. 2

Prologue - The Tunguska Event

June 30th, 1908, a forty-megaton explosion obliterates a swath of ancient Siberian forest half the size of the state of Rhode Island, yet leaves behind not a trace of the object that caused it. What was it? A meteor? A comet? An alien spacecraft in reactor overload? — Or something stranger still? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 200623 minSeason 1Ep. 1
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