MARLBORO COUNTY — Local engineer, now author, Caleb McDowell, recently published his first book, Reboot: The Legacy Program. The sci-fi adventure novel delves into modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, and engineering concepts.
A fan of the sci-fi genre, McDowell says he grew up enjoying shows like Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and Stargate, with special emphasis on Atlantis. He says the design idea for his novel’s battleship was inspired by his admiration of the show Firefly’s ship Serenity, whose shape is similar to a firefly with its glowing tail section.
McDowell describes Reboot: The Legacy Program as an adventure book chronicling the exploration of a post-Intergalactic War Galaxy through the eyes of the crew of a small prototype ship, the SFV Fiery Hawk. While searching for salvage in age-old shipwrecks and ruins from the past, the crew encounters mysterious technologies while staying alive in the cutthroat deep space salvaging industry.
The main character of the novel is Dave, who captains the ship and is a former AI software developer.
Always an avid writer, McDowell fondly recalls characters and stories he created with friends growing up – many of their childhood tales finding their destiny fulfilled in his novel.
McDowell explains, “I developed the story primarily during my teenage years, using my favorite sci-fi shows and games as inspiration. Over the years, the universe I created became more and more distinct. Many of the character and story beats come directly from my childhood when my friends and I would create stories where we were the heroes of our epic tales. I held onto those stories over the years and evolved them into larger plot points, in a grander story that eventually became Reboot: The Legacy Program. Each member of the crew is based on one of my childhood friends and their personas.”
Human history is one theme McDowell says he explores throughout his work.
“One theme that I have fallen in love with was the rediscovery of humanity’s past and what legacies were left behind, this bleeds through in several of the plot points. Sci-fi has always been my home,” McDowell said, adding, “I have always loved sci-fi, and the places it can take you. I have always resonated with the grand stories that span the universe.”
He says the bulk of writing on his novel occurred while he was a college student at Francis Marion University.
McDowell said, “Many of the concepts evolved as I learned different physics and engineering concepts. In a way the research was organic. I would learn things during class that I would then incorporate into the story.”
One example McDowell cites is learning about the capacitance, or the ability of an object or circuit to store electrical energy in the form of an electric charge. He says this knowledge led him to the creation of one of the planets in the book, which is heavily based on electrical charge and the concept of capacitance.
“Some of the [other] concepts that I have in the book have evolved over time since I started writing. For example, the concepts of AI have evolved, causing me to revisit how I defined it in the book,” McDowell explained.
He says that overtime AI’s growing influence became a main theme of his novel.
“AI is actually a central topic of the book. Something that becomes an essential theme is the soullessness of AI until it is created using the soul of a man. It touches on the dangers of AI when the guard rails are removed,” says McDowell, adding, “Dave, the central protagonist of the book works on a project to create unshackled artificial intelligence, but is only able to make it work when using the neural scan of his grandfather, John. Thematically, it reads that it won’t work until you put a soul in it. This becomes important later in the book when the crew are pitted against an unchecked delusional prototype AI that has put the survival of humanity at risk.”
McDowell says his original intent with his novel was to write it for his Pawpaw John, who was hard of hearing.
He explains, “When I started writing in 2015, I had always intended to finish it for him, but he passed away in 2020 and never got to read what the book became. After his passing, I reworked large portions of the book and made the decision to dedicate it to him as he always loved sci-fi. The hardback version of the book cover shows his character from the book.”
McDowell confesses he found publishing his novel a very time consuming endeavor.
“The publishing process was a very tedious process, especially when working with 278 pages total. I found myself doing many formatting checks before the final iteration of the book was ready for publishing,” said McDowell.
He adds that there is one person whom he says played a major role in helping him through the process, saying, “I owe a great debt to my wife Ashlee, for being a large part of getting this book finished, edited, and published.”
After the success of this first novel, McDowell teases he has other projects in the works.
He said, “I have plans to make at least two additional connected books, one being a prequel and the other a sequel. I am also looking at other forms of storytelling and novels, and I have been learning game design in some of my free time.”
Reboot: The Legacy Program can be purchased through online retailer Amazon.