The Ambivalence Chronicles – a Sci-Fi Comedy in 8 Bits – takes its inspiration from a multitude of sources, from the ZX81’s killer app to classic 80s movies by way of popular music; retrogaming aficionados and pop culture gurus alike will, I hope, have fun hunting for the various Easter eggs scattered through the story.
To celebrate the launch of Bit#2: The Kempston Interface, we’re going to make a proper competition of it; so get your Lateral Thinking Cap on and grab your copy of Bit#1: The Chip Whisperer – the sooner you start the more time you’ll have to hunt out those Easter eggs – some are more obscure than others!
Some Rules:
1. Entries must be received by midnight (UK time) on Easter Sunday (April 16, 2017).
2. References will be checked against the author’s master list. References not on the list are accidental, or purely in the reader’s imagination.
3. The master list contains 43 references; in the likely event of no-one correctly identifying them all, the entrant finding the highest number will be declared the winner.
4. In the event no-one identifying more than half (22), this will be declared a bad idea and I’ll keep the prizes.
5. If there is more than one winning entry, a random selection will be made, and the draw posted online for fairness.
6. Physical prizes may vary if the winner is outside the UK.
7. Email your list of references, along with the chapter/ebook location, and what you think it refers to, to gunter@stevetrower.co.uk.
About the Easter Eggs:
1. The Easter Eggs are references to films, TV, music and computer games hidden within The Chip Whisperer.
2. Specific references to games, films etc as themselves (e.g. Phil’s pristine copy of Yie-Ar Kung Fu) do not count as Easter Eggs.
3. References may be a name, a single word quote, a scene-long homage, or anything in between.
4. Basically, if you think I’m making a nod towards some other form of media, I probably am.
To give an example (not from the book, I’m not giving you any clues!):
Chapter One/Location 83; email address gunter@stevetrower.co.uk; refers to the gunters in Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One.
The Prizes
In reverse order of awesomeness, the prizes will be:
- Bragging rights.
- Something cocoa-based and ovoid in nature.
- A limited edition physical copy of The Chip Whisperer.
- The chance to be immortalised in a later Bit of The Ambivalence Chronicles.
