Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Aversions aren't examples.
Changed line(s) 4,5 (click to see context) from:
The first book in the series, ''Spin'', follows narrator Tylor Dupree and his childhood friends, twins Jason and Diane Lawton. As children they witness the strange phenomenon that alters the course of human history: the night the stars disappeared from the night sky. As they grow up, the world slowly discovers the truth: the Earth has been covered by a membrane (dubbed "The [[TitleDrop Spin]]") that slows down the flow of time on our planet. A ''lot''.
to:
The first book in the series, ''Spin'', follows narrator Tylor Dupree and his childhood friends, twins Jason and Diane Lawton. As children they witness the strange phenomenon that alters the course of human history: the night the stars disappeared from the night sky. As they grow up, the world slowly discovers the truth: the Earth has been covered by a membrane (dubbed "The "the [[TitleDrop Spin]]") that slows down the flow of time on our planet. A ''lot''.
Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
Trying to find out where The Spin came from, and looking for ways to survive the destruction of Earth, forms the plot of ''Spin''.
to:
Trying to find out where The the Spin came from, and looking for ways to survive the destruction of Earth, forms the plot of ''Spin''.
''Spin''.
Deleted line(s) 12 (click to see context) :
Changed line(s) 23,24 (click to see context) from:
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Tyler]] and [[spoiler:Ibu Ina]] in ''Axis''.
** And, by the end of the novel, [[spoiler:Diane]] as well. Almost literally, in this case.
** And, by the end of the novel, [[spoiler:Diane]] as well. Almost literally, in this case.
to:
**
Changed line(s) 31 (click to see context) from:
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: OneWordTitle, and Spin-related words: ''Spin'', ''Axis'', ''Vortex''.
to:
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: OneWordTitle, and Spin-related spin-related words: ''Spin'', ''Axis'', ''Vortex''.
Changed line(s) 33,34 (click to see context) from:
* InadequateInheritor: Jason's father feels this way about handing off control of Perihelion, the government agency responsible for managing the Spin, to Jason.
** That's because Jason, unlike his father, is not a CorruptCorporateExecutive, who sees Perihelion as a means to get more government funding and political influence. Jason intends to use Perihelion to do what it's supposed to do - study the Spin.
** That's because Jason, unlike his father, is not a CorruptCorporateExecutive, who sees Perihelion as a means to get more government funding and political influence. Jason intends to use Perihelion to do what it's supposed to do - study the Spin.
to:
* InadequateInheritor: Jason's father feels this way about handing off control of Perihelion, the government agency responsible for managing the Spin, to Jason.
**Jason. That's because Jason, unlike his father, is not a CorruptCorporateExecutive, who sees Perihelion as a means to get more government funding and political influence. Jason intends to use Perihelion to do what it's supposed to do - study the Spin.
**
Changed line(s) 39,42 (click to see context) from:
* OneWordTitle: All three books:
** ''Spin''
** ''Axis''
** ''Vortex''
** ''Spin''
** ''Axis''
** ''Vortex''
to:
* OneWordTitle: All three books:
** ''Spin''
** ''Axis''
** ''Vortex''books: ''Spin'', ''Axis'' and ''Vortex''.
** ''Spin''
** ''Axis''
** ''Vortex''
Deleted line(s) 45,46 (click to see context) :
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted - Outside the Earth's Spin membrane, ''4 billion years'' pass during the events of the book, enough to [[spoiler: set up an interstellar network of nanomachines and to terraform Mars]].
** Taken to the extreme at the end of ''Vortex'', when [[spoiler:Isaac uses a Spin-like membrane to isolate his island-starship from the rest of the universe as he travels the galaxy at a fraction of the speed of light. He ends up witnessing the end of the universe and somehow survives by making it to the multiverse layer]].
** Taken to the extreme at the end of ''Vortex'', when [[spoiler:Isaac uses a Spin-like membrane to isolate his island-starship from the rest of the universe as he travels the galaxy at a fraction of the speed of light. He ends up witnessing the end of the universe and somehow survives by making it to the multiverse layer]].
Changed line(s) 50,53 (click to see context) from:
* {{Terraform}}: As our sun expands, the habitable "goldilocks" zone around it expands, leading to Mars starting to warm up enough to become Earth-like. The humans on Earth take advantage of this, and combined with the TimeDilation of the Spin membrane, are able to easily terraform Mars into a habitable refuge.
** Simply load up a rocket with simple bacteria. Shoot it out of the Spin membrane in the direction of Mars. Wait a day (hundred thousand years outside). Load up another rocket with more advanced bacteria. Shoot it at Mars. Load up a final rocket with some colonists...
* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Happens at the beginning of ''Spin'', as the Spin membrane goes into place.
** Also happens at the end of ''Vortex'' when [[spoiler:Isaac goes on his time-dilated flight through space and witnesses the end of the universe]].
** Simply load up a rocket with simple bacteria. Shoot it out of the Spin membrane in the direction of Mars. Wait a day (hundred thousand years outside). Load up another rocket with more advanced bacteria. Shoot it at Mars. Load up a final rocket with some colonists...
* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Happens at the beginning of ''Spin'', as the Spin membrane goes into place.
** Also happens at the end of ''Vortex'' when [[spoiler:Isaac goes on his time-dilated flight through space and witnesses the end of the universe]].
to:
* {{Terraform}}: As our sun expands, the habitable "goldilocks" zone around it expands, leading to Mars starting to warm up enough to become Earth-like. The humans on Earth take advantage of this, and this and, combined with the TimeDilation of the Spin membrane, are able to easily terraform Mars into a habitable refuge.
**refuge. Simply load up a rocket with simple bacteria. Shoot it out of the Spin membrane in the direction of Mars. Wait a day (hundred thousand years outside). Load up another rocket with more advanced bacteria. Shoot it at Mars. Load up a final rocket with some colonists...
*TheStarsAreGoingOut: Happens TheStarsAreGoingOut:
** This happens at the beginning of ''Spin'', as the Spin membrane goes into place.
**Also This also happens at the end of ''Vortex'' when [[spoiler:Isaac goes on his time-dilated flight through space and witnesses the end of the universe]].
**
*
** This happens at the beginning of ''Spin'', as the Spin membrane goes into place.
**
Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
* TimeDilation: What the Spin does.
to:
Deleted line(s) 57 (click to see context) :
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Deleted line(s) 36 (click to see context) :
* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Medium to hard.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:much of advanced Martian bio and nanotech is derived from remains of Hypothetical machines that periodically fall onto the planet like shooting stars]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 15 (click to see context) from:
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: [[spoiler:Not an invasion, but "The Hypotheticals" wrap Earth (and later Mars) in spin membranes to ''protect'' their indigenous civilizations from societal collapse long enough for the Archways to arrive, as they lack any other form of faster than light travel.]]
to:
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: [[spoiler:Not an invasion, but "The Hypotheticals" wrap Earth (and later Mars) in spin membranes to ''protect'' their indigenous civilizations from societal collapse long enough for the Archways to arrive, as they lack any other form of faster than light travel.]]]] Of course, the main reason this is being done is [[spoiler:not because of any benevolence on the Hypotheticals' part. They simply see organic civilizations as nurseries for more Von Neumann-type probes they can absorb, so preserving those civilizations makes practical sense to them]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: OneWordTitle, and Spin-related words: ''Spin'', ''Axis'', ''Vortex''.
Added DiffLines:
* OneWordTitle: All three books:
** ''Spin''
** ''Axis''
** ''Vortex''
** ''Spin''
** ''Axis''
** ''Vortex''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spinaxisvortex.jpg]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ColonizedSolarSystem: Mars is terraformed and colonized by Earth. Due to the YearOutsideHourInside premise, the Martian colony becomes technologically advanced enough to develop interstellar travel (of a sort) and longevity treatments within the lifetime of the protagonists.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 14,15 (click to see context) from:
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: [[spoiler:Not an invasion, but "The Hypotheticals" planted the spin membrane to ''protect'' the people on Earth (and later Mars)]]
* BigDumbObject: The Archway, a gargantuan arch [[spoiler:later discovered to be a full circle, just halfway embedded into the Earth]] stretching across the Indian Ocean and reaching out of the atmosphere. Near the end of ''Spin'' it's discrovered that the Archway is [[spoiler:a gateway to an earth-like planet, light years away, intended for humanity to colonize and expand into]].
* BigDumbObject: The Archway, a gargantuan arch [[spoiler:later discovered to be a full circle, just halfway embedded into the Earth]] stretching across the Indian Ocean and reaching out of the atmosphere. Near the end of ''Spin'' it's discrovered that the Archway is [[spoiler:a gateway to an earth-like planet, light years away, intended for humanity to colonize and expand into]].
to:
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: [[spoiler:Not an invasion, but "The Hypotheticals" planted the wrap Earth (and later Mars) in spin membrane membranes to ''protect'' their indigenous civilizations from societal collapse long enough for the people on Earth (and later Mars)]]
Archways to arrive, as they lack any other form of faster than light travel.]]
* BigDumbObject: The Archway, a gargantuan arch [[spoiler:later discovered to be a full circle, just halfway embedded into the Earth]] stretching across the Indian Ocean and reaching out of the atmosphere. Near the end of ''Spin'' it'sdiscrovered discovered that the Archway is [[spoiler:a gateway to an earth-like planet, light years away, intended for humanity to colonize and expand into]].
* BigDumbObject: The Archway, a gargantuan arch [[spoiler:later discovered to be a full circle, just halfway embedded into the Earth]] stretching across the Indian Ocean and reaching out of the atmosphere. Near the end of ''Spin'' it's
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
!!This novel provides examples of:
to:
Added DiffLines:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
''Spin'' is a sci-fi trilogy by RobertCharlesWilson, featuring the novels ''Spin'', ''Axis'', and ''Vortex''.
to:
''Spin'' is a sci-fi trilogy by RobertCharlesWilson, Creator/RobertCharlesWilson, featuring the novels ''Spin'', ''Axis'', and ''Vortex''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: The twins, Jason and Diane, take two different paths in life. Jason becomes an influential genius scientist, working to decrypt the mysteries of the Spin and possibly save the world. Diane, on the other hand, turns to religion and goes off the deep end, eventually ending up in a cult in the middle of desert in Arizona, playing subservient housewife to her PerpetualSmiler {{Wide-Eyed Idealist}} husband. A husband who later lets Diane nearly die after she contracts a serious illness because he thinks the [[TooDumbToLive rapture will be happening soon and there's no point]] in [[{{Jerkass}} getting her any sort of treatment]].
to:
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: The twins, Jason and Diane, take two different paths in life. Jason becomes an influential genius scientist, working to decrypt the mysteries of the Spin and possibly save the world. Diane, on the other hand, turns to religion and goes off the deep end, eventually ending up in a cult in the middle of desert in Arizona, playing subservient housewife to her PerpetualSmiler {{Wide-Eyed Idealist}} WideEyedIdealist husband. A husband who later lets Diane nearly die after she contracts a serious illness because he thinks the [[TooDumbToLive rapture will be happening soon and there's no point]] in [[{{Jerkass}} getting her any sort of treatment]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: [[spoiler:Isaac]] does this at the end of ''Vortex''. However, it's done in an alternate timeline, as [[spoiler:Isaac's original universe has already died]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: As [[spoiler:the last humans leave or die out on Earth and Mars]], the Hypotheticals [[spoiler:shut off the Arches leading to these planets and, eventually, shut off the Spin membrane and destroy the Arches after studying human ruins]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Humanity and other races "upload" themselves to the Hypothetical network in order to survive the end of the universe. They somehow manage to make it to the multiverse layer, where many older races already live in a disembodied state]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Also happens at the end of ''Vortex'' when [[spoiler:Isaac goes on his time-dilated flight through space and witnesses the end of the universe]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* FramingDevice: Used in ''Spin'' and ''Vortex''. In ''Spin'', the main events are actually the diary of the protagonist Tyler Dupree, which he writes as he [[spoiler:undergoes the Fourth treatment]]. in ''Vortex'', the story of Turk is read by a Houston social worker as written by a mentally-challenged kid ([[spoiler:it was placed in his head by Isaac Dvali from the original timeline]]).
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Isaac]] makes one at the end of ''Vortex'' in order to [[spoiler:make Turk's life better in an alternate reality. He also unintentionally helps to make Orin's life better (young Turk accidentally killed Orin in the original timeline)]].
* HiveMind: The cortical and limbic democracies in ''Vortex'' allow people to share thoughts and emotions, respectively, depending on which of the parts of the brain the node is attached to. Each person is still an individual, but is massively affected by the merging, especially in limbic democracies. Vox is a limbic democracy with the overall consciousness being called "Corypheus". The Corypheus's overriding goal is to reach Earth and make contact with the Hypotheticals. Attempts were also made to make cortical-limbic democracies, but they invariably failed with massive casualties. Eventually, limbic democracies are abandoned, as cortical democracies are more stable and less prone to collective insanity.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Isaac]] makes one at the end of ''Vortex'' in order to [[spoiler:make Turk's life better in an alternate reality. He also unintentionally helps to make Orin's life better (young Turk accidentally killed Orin in the original timeline)]].
* HiveMind: The cortical and limbic democracies in ''Vortex'' allow people to share thoughts and emotions, respectively, depending on which of the parts of the brain the node is attached to. Each person is still an individual, but is massively affected by the merging, especially in limbic democracies. Vox is a limbic democracy with the overall consciousness being called "Corypheus". The Corypheus's overriding goal is to reach Earth and make contact with the Hypotheticals. Attempts were also made to make cortical-limbic democracies, but they invariably failed with massive casualties. Eventually, limbic democracies are abandoned, as cortical democracies are more stable and less prone to collective insanity.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Turk" Findley's real first name is never mentioned. He got his nickname after his family lived in Istanbul for a while. Most people just assume Turk is his real name.
Changed line(s) 32 (click to see context) from:
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted - Outside the Earth's Spin membrane, ''4 billion years'' pass during the events of the book, enough to [[spoiler: set up an interstellar network of nanomachines and to terraform Mars]]
to:
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted - Outside the Earth's Spin membrane, ''4 billion years'' pass during the events of the book, enough to [[spoiler: set up an interstellar network of nanomachines and to terraform Mars]]Mars]].
** Taken to the extreme at the end of ''Vortex'', when [[spoiler:Isaac uses a Spin-like membrane to isolate his island-starship from the rest of the universe as he travels the galaxy at a fraction of the speed of light. He ends up witnessing the end of the universe and somehow survives by making it to the multiverse layer]].
** Taken to the extreme at the end of ''Vortex'', when [[spoiler:Isaac uses a Spin-like membrane to isolate his island-starship from the rest of the universe as he travels the galaxy at a fraction of the speed of light. He ends up witnessing the end of the universe and somehow survives by making it to the multiverse layer]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
moved to namespace
Added DiffLines:
''Spin'' is a sci-fi trilogy by RobertCharlesWilson, featuring the novels ''Spin'', ''Axis'', and ''Vortex''.
The first book in the series, ''Spin'', follows narrator Tylor Dupree and his childhood friends, twins Jason and Diane Lawton. As children they witness the strange phenomenon that alters the course of human history: the night the stars disappeared from the night sky. As they grow up, the world slowly discovers the truth: the Earth has been covered by a membrane (dubbed "The [[TitleDrop Spin]]") that slows down the flow of time on our planet. A ''lot''.
So much so that [[YearOutsideHourInside after about fifty years]] on Earth, over ''four billion years'' will pass outside. By that time [[OhCrap the sun will expand into a red giant]] and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the planet]].
Trying to find out where The Spin came from, and looking for ways to survive the destruction of Earth, forms the plot of ''Spin''.
----
!!This novel provides examples of:
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: The twins, Jason and Diane, take two different paths in life. Jason becomes an influential genius scientist, working to decrypt the mysteries of the Spin and possibly save the world. Diane, on the other hand, turns to religion and goes off the deep end, eventually ending up in a cult in the middle of desert in Arizona, playing subservient housewife to her PerpetualSmiler {{Wide-Eyed Idealist}} husband. A husband who later lets Diane nearly die after she contracts a serious illness because he thinks the [[TooDumbToLive rapture will be happening soon and there's no point]] in [[{{Jerkass}} getting her any sort of treatment]].
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: [[spoiler:Not an invasion, but "The Hypotheticals" planted the spin membrane to ''protect'' the people on Earth (and later Mars)]]
* BigDumbObject: The Archway, a gargantuan arch [[spoiler:later discovered to be a full circle, just halfway embedded into the Earth]] stretching across the Indian Ocean and reaching out of the atmosphere. Near the end of ''Spin'' it's discrovered that the Archway is [[spoiler:a gateway to an earth-like planet, light years away, intended for humanity to colonize and expand into]].
* BioAugmentation: The "Fourth Age". Available to the protagonists late in the story, it is a nano-augmentation that fundamentally changes the user in both physical and neurological ways. Dubbed by some as "the adulthood beyond adulthood" due to the mental clarity and maturity that a Fourth exhibits. Also [[spoiler:allows for different advanced "modules" to be installed that include the ability to communicate with a network of other nanotech.]]
* BlackSheep: Diane, whose father and brother are contemptuous of her new religion.
* ChildProdigy: Jason Lawton. His oppressive father, [[AbusiveParents E.D. Lawton]], realized Jason's potential and spent his entire life grooming him for power and feeding his potential, intending Jason to take over the family business after he dies.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Jason and Diane's father, E. D. Lawton, who cares more about making money off strategies to deal with the Spin than whether or not those strategies are actually effective.
* DisappearedDad: Lise Adams's father mysteriously disappeared on his way from work 10 years before the events of ''Axis''. Lise has spent most of her adult life looking for clues as to his disappearance. [[spoiler:It turns out he was kidnapped, tortured for information, and killed by [[StateSec DGS]] for his knowledge of the Fourths]].
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Tyler]] and [[spoiler:Ibu Ina]] in ''Axis''.
** And, by the end of the novel, [[spoiler:Diane]] as well. Almost literally, in this case.
* FasterThanLightTravel: Averted by [[spoiler:the Hypotheticals, who are revealed to be a collective of Von Neumman replicators that stretch across the whole galaxy and are forced to "think" very slowly due to the distance between them and the speed of light.]] Played straight with the [[spoiler:Archway]], but only because [[spoiler:it's part of a PortalNetwork.]]
* FirstContact: Not so much. "The Hypotheticals" that are presumably responsible for the Spin membrane never directly speak with humanity or even explain their motives. [[spoiler: Justified in that it's discovered that their cognition is so ''slow'' that any sort of "contact" or communication is impossible. WeAreAsMayflies indeed.]]
* ForScience: The reasoning behind what Dr. Avram Dvali does to [[spoiler:Isaac]]. Also, to an extent, Jason's goals.
* InadequateInheritor: Jason's father feels this way about handing off control of Perihelion, the government agency responsible for managing the Spin, to Jason.
** That's because Jason, unlike his father, is not a CorruptCorporateExecutive, who sees Perihelion as a means to get more government funding and political influence. Jason intends to use Perihelion to do what it's supposed to do - study the Spin.
* LovableRogue: Turk Findley in ''Axis''.
* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Medium to hard.
* {{Nanomachines}}: Used as a gigantic data gathering network, intended to span multiple star systems. [[spoiler: This is what "The Hypotheticals" are revealed to be.]]
* NoConservationOfEnergy: Due to the time differential, the people on Earth would normally be subject to three year's worth of sunlight ''every second''. The Spin somehow absorbs all this energy to keep people safe, but where exactly this energy goes is never explained (it isn't radiated away, at least).
** Maybe it goes towards maintaining that time dilation field.
* PortalNetwork: [[spoiler: Buying time to set this up is the purpose of the Spin membrane, since the portals have to be towed into place the slow way (i.e. slower than light, which takes millions of years to get anywhere appreciable).]]
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted - Outside the Earth's Spin membrane, ''4 billion years'' pass during the events of the book, enough to [[spoiler: set up an interstellar network of nanomachines and to terraform Mars]]
* StarfishAliens: The only character who manages something resembling "communication" with The Hypotheticals ends up ''dying'' from the episode. Without the aliens even realizing. [[spoiler:It turns out they weren't even trying to communicate in the first place. The character in question describes it as the aliens trying to ''assimilate'' him via his nanotech - they don't realize that he's an intelligent being and think that his nanotech is just an exploitable system they can absorb, which is a normal thing for them to do]]
* StateSec: The Department of Genomic Security. Or, at least, its Executive Action Committee. They abduct people, torture them for information, shoot them in the head, and throw them into the sea. When the by-the-book Brian finds out the horrible truth about DGS, he quits almost immediately.
* {{Terraform}}: As our sun expands, the habitable "goldilocks" zone around it expands, leading to Mars starting to warm up enough to become Earth-like. The humans on Earth take advantage of this, and combined with the TimeDilation of the Spin membrane, are able to easily terraform Mars into a habitable refuge.
** Simply load up a rocket with simple bacteria. Shoot it out of the Spin membrane in the direction of Mars. Wait a day (hundred thousand years outside). Load up another rocket with more advanced bacteria. Shoot it at Mars. Load up a final rocket with some colonists...
* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Happens at the beginning of ''Spin'', as the Spin membrane goes into place.
* TheStoic: The main character, Tyler Dupree, though he occasionally verges into TheSpock and ExtremeDoormat. He's perfectly fine with people treating him like crap, taking it all with hardly an eyeblink, and is able to give humble and reasonable explanations later on for why he acts certain ways. Instead of getting angry, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion he simply cuts someone]] to [[HannibalLecture their core with his words]]. As a love interest later in the novel (bitterly) puts it: "If [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech reasonableness was a knife]], I'd be lying on the floor and bleeding out"
* TimeDilation: What the Spin does.
----
The first book in the series, ''Spin'', follows narrator Tylor Dupree and his childhood friends, twins Jason and Diane Lawton. As children they witness the strange phenomenon that alters the course of human history: the night the stars disappeared from the night sky. As they grow up, the world slowly discovers the truth: the Earth has been covered by a membrane (dubbed "The [[TitleDrop Spin]]") that slows down the flow of time on our planet. A ''lot''.
So much so that [[YearOutsideHourInside after about fifty years]] on Earth, over ''four billion years'' will pass outside. By that time [[OhCrap the sun will expand into a red giant]] and [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the planet]].
Trying to find out where The Spin came from, and looking for ways to survive the destruction of Earth, forms the plot of ''Spin''.
----
!!This novel provides examples of:
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: The twins, Jason and Diane, take two different paths in life. Jason becomes an influential genius scientist, working to decrypt the mysteries of the Spin and possibly save the world. Diane, on the other hand, turns to religion and goes off the deep end, eventually ending up in a cult in the middle of desert in Arizona, playing subservient housewife to her PerpetualSmiler {{Wide-Eyed Idealist}} husband. A husband who later lets Diane nearly die after she contracts a serious illness because he thinks the [[TooDumbToLive rapture will be happening soon and there's no point]] in [[{{Jerkass}} getting her any sort of treatment]].
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: [[spoiler:Not an invasion, but "The Hypotheticals" planted the spin membrane to ''protect'' the people on Earth (and later Mars)]]
* BigDumbObject: The Archway, a gargantuan arch [[spoiler:later discovered to be a full circle, just halfway embedded into the Earth]] stretching across the Indian Ocean and reaching out of the atmosphere. Near the end of ''Spin'' it's discrovered that the Archway is [[spoiler:a gateway to an earth-like planet, light years away, intended for humanity to colonize and expand into]].
* BioAugmentation: The "Fourth Age". Available to the protagonists late in the story, it is a nano-augmentation that fundamentally changes the user in both physical and neurological ways. Dubbed by some as "the adulthood beyond adulthood" due to the mental clarity and maturity that a Fourth exhibits. Also [[spoiler:allows for different advanced "modules" to be installed that include the ability to communicate with a network of other nanotech.]]
* BlackSheep: Diane, whose father and brother are contemptuous of her new religion.
* ChildProdigy: Jason Lawton. His oppressive father, [[AbusiveParents E.D. Lawton]], realized Jason's potential and spent his entire life grooming him for power and feeding his potential, intending Jason to take over the family business after he dies.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Jason and Diane's father, E. D. Lawton, who cares more about making money off strategies to deal with the Spin than whether or not those strategies are actually effective.
* DisappearedDad: Lise Adams's father mysteriously disappeared on his way from work 10 years before the events of ''Axis''. Lise has spent most of her adult life looking for clues as to his disappearance. [[spoiler:It turns out he was kidnapped, tortured for information, and killed by [[StateSec DGS]] for his knowledge of the Fourths]].
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Tyler]] and [[spoiler:Ibu Ina]] in ''Axis''.
** And, by the end of the novel, [[spoiler:Diane]] as well. Almost literally, in this case.
* FasterThanLightTravel: Averted by [[spoiler:the Hypotheticals, who are revealed to be a collective of Von Neumman replicators that stretch across the whole galaxy and are forced to "think" very slowly due to the distance between them and the speed of light.]] Played straight with the [[spoiler:Archway]], but only because [[spoiler:it's part of a PortalNetwork.]]
* FirstContact: Not so much. "The Hypotheticals" that are presumably responsible for the Spin membrane never directly speak with humanity or even explain their motives. [[spoiler: Justified in that it's discovered that their cognition is so ''slow'' that any sort of "contact" or communication is impossible. WeAreAsMayflies indeed.]]
* ForScience: The reasoning behind what Dr. Avram Dvali does to [[spoiler:Isaac]]. Also, to an extent, Jason's goals.
* InadequateInheritor: Jason's father feels this way about handing off control of Perihelion, the government agency responsible for managing the Spin, to Jason.
** That's because Jason, unlike his father, is not a CorruptCorporateExecutive, who sees Perihelion as a means to get more government funding and political influence. Jason intends to use Perihelion to do what it's supposed to do - study the Spin.
* LovableRogue: Turk Findley in ''Axis''.
* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Medium to hard.
* {{Nanomachines}}: Used as a gigantic data gathering network, intended to span multiple star systems. [[spoiler: This is what "The Hypotheticals" are revealed to be.]]
* NoConservationOfEnergy: Due to the time differential, the people on Earth would normally be subject to three year's worth of sunlight ''every second''. The Spin somehow absorbs all this energy to keep people safe, but where exactly this energy goes is never explained (it isn't radiated away, at least).
** Maybe it goes towards maintaining that time dilation field.
* PortalNetwork: [[spoiler: Buying time to set this up is the purpose of the Spin membrane, since the portals have to be towed into place the slow way (i.e. slower than light, which takes millions of years to get anywhere appreciable).]]
* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Averted - Outside the Earth's Spin membrane, ''4 billion years'' pass during the events of the book, enough to [[spoiler: set up an interstellar network of nanomachines and to terraform Mars]]
* StarfishAliens: The only character who manages something resembling "communication" with The Hypotheticals ends up ''dying'' from the episode. Without the aliens even realizing. [[spoiler:It turns out they weren't even trying to communicate in the first place. The character in question describes it as the aliens trying to ''assimilate'' him via his nanotech - they don't realize that he's an intelligent being and think that his nanotech is just an exploitable system they can absorb, which is a normal thing for them to do]]
* StateSec: The Department of Genomic Security. Or, at least, its Executive Action Committee. They abduct people, torture them for information, shoot them in the head, and throw them into the sea. When the by-the-book Brian finds out the horrible truth about DGS, he quits almost immediately.
* {{Terraform}}: As our sun expands, the habitable "goldilocks" zone around it expands, leading to Mars starting to warm up enough to become Earth-like. The humans on Earth take advantage of this, and combined with the TimeDilation of the Spin membrane, are able to easily terraform Mars into a habitable refuge.
** Simply load up a rocket with simple bacteria. Shoot it out of the Spin membrane in the direction of Mars. Wait a day (hundred thousand years outside). Load up another rocket with more advanced bacteria. Shoot it at Mars. Load up a final rocket with some colonists...
* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Happens at the beginning of ''Spin'', as the Spin membrane goes into place.
* TheStoic: The main character, Tyler Dupree, though he occasionally verges into TheSpock and ExtremeDoormat. He's perfectly fine with people treating him like crap, taking it all with hardly an eyeblink, and is able to give humble and reasonable explanations later on for why he acts certain ways. Instead of getting angry, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion he simply cuts someone]] to [[HannibalLecture their core with his words]]. As a love interest later in the novel (bitterly) puts it: "If [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech reasonableness was a knife]], I'd be lying on the floor and bleeding out"
* TimeDilation: What the Spin does.
----
