Profound meaning in a fun package: The Power of Six by Nicholas Rossis

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas C. Rossis’ bestselling Pearseus series, I picked up this anthology, knowing that the short story format would make the book even more readable. I was right. I read the stories in one sitting (Simulation Over I had already read on Wattpad).

An all-powerful computer, an Adam Sandler-esque remote that enables time traveling, a real life/video game mesh, a willing host to an alien form of life, a haunted house/portal to the multiverse and a David-Goliath metaphor are Nicholas’ vehicles to portray his version of the Cartesian doubt: the fallibility of sensory perception. His main themes—ambition, greed, the need for human contact—all lead to questioning pure knowledge. What we see and feel is not necessarily the truth.

But if this concept sounds profound and philosophical, its delivery is anything but. The stories are very well written with surprising twists, rich detail (where needed) and a general light feel that makes moving from one to the next smooth and easy. What I particularly appreciated was that the main concept interconnected the stories, making this a seamless read. The writer’s choice not to bog the reader down with dozens of names for his stories’ characters also helped. All in all, I found this anthology a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it.

You can download The Power of Six here: http://amzn.to/1kKVduI

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About the Author

Nicholas Rossis was born in 1970 in Athens. Greece. He got his BSc in Engineering from the Technical Institute of Pireaus in 1995, before moving to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his PhD in Digital Architecture from the University of Edinburgh.

In 1995 he founded Istomedia, a web design company that has created some 450 websites todate. He also taught various publishing courses at Napier University between 1997 and 2000.

In 2000, he moved back to Greece where he has continued working as web designer and teaching design and publishing at various colleges and universities. He has written a score of children’s books, through Niditales, his ongoing collaboration with illustrator Dimitris Fousekis. He has also had numerous SF short stories published in Greek magazines and in Invasion, a SF anthology. Finally, he has written Pearseus, a SF novel.

Nicholas lives in a forest outside Athens with his lovely wife Electra, beautiful dog and two remarkably silly cats.