I am calling in sick tomorrow - I am feeling a little "Afflicted"

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"Afflicted Dawn" by Gregory Napier is one of the reasons why I have fallen in love with the zombie genre.  I resisted the urge to view / read anything zombie related as if ignoring the upcoming apocalypse could somehow save my brain from being eaten.

I mean, really, how interesting could slow moving brain eaters be?  No real need to do any "character development" on a creature who might just shrug a limb off just as easily as you might sneeze.

But my milky white eyes have seen the light - and one of the main reasons are books like Napier has written.  You see, the best of the zombie genre don't even really feature the zombies.  Yes, they are there - and you can't really avoid talking about undead braineaters if they happen to have some role in your book - but that doesn't mean that everything focuses on them.  To be fair to Napier - they aren't even really zombies, per se, - they are "afflicted".  The cause of the end of the world - a cancer treatment gone really, really bad.

Dylan and his niece Aurellia are just a couple of survivors trying to make their way in this new world order.  Is it OK to befriend other survivors, or should they be more feared than the afflicted themselves?

This book has it all: zombies that seems to be able to "evolve", bad guys that are looking to make a bad situation good for themselves, survivors willing to take risks and sacrifice everything for a chance to leave their world just a little nicer place, and harrowing escapes (for some characters - not all).

If you've never given the zombie genre a chance - sit down, buy this book, and get ready to feast on some brains.  You won't regret it!

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What happens when artificial intelligence meets a self created killer computer virus?

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In the not so distant future, people cellphones will be littering the junkyard like VCR's did once DVD's and digital recording were invented.  What invention could make us all care less about cracked screens on our iPhone?

Brain Prosthetics.

Need to answer a phone?  Look over at the white circle that pops up in your virtual viewing pane and choose to answer or ignore the ringtone that only you can hear in your head.  Dr. Hagan is the neurosurgeon to some powerful people - including the family of the richest person on earth.  Dr. Hagan can do what once was thought impossible, heal the brain - and when your last name is Devron and your son needs something - it gets done.

As a hobby, Hagan dabble in artificial intelligence.  Well, dabble might not be a strong enough word.  If a hobby causes you to constantly have your job threatened, have your wife walk out on you, and almost kill billions of people - it might just qualify for obsession status.

The trouble with super advanced prosthetics implanted in someones head is that when things go a little wacky - it isn't an easy fix.  And when the prosthetic is like a primordial swamp that can give "birth" to new virtual life forms - that's not good.  And you might get an idea of the character of this new "life form" by the user name it chooses for itself - RedDevil_4.

It is up to the odd couple team of cops to find the connection in murders popping up all over the city and put an end to it.  Krantz, an old curmudgeon of human, still is using outdated prosthetics in his head.  You know the type - still has his Beta and VHS VCR's so he can play his whole library of tapes that he finds in future antique stores.  Krantz is old school, solve a cases by hard work and gut feelings.  Tara is the former military, super-hot, super-cop partner that can't stand working with someone whose brain implant means she has to wait a whole 3 seconds to download an encyclopedia into Krantz's head.

When these three are forced to team up, they will need everything they have - and somethings that they don't quite have yet - to stop RedDevil_4 from wiping out everyone with an implant.  That means only the lost villages in Brazil and some pygmy tribes in Africa are left.  So whatever this team needs to do, including getting past robotic driveway gravel (I know, doesn't sound menacing - but you are sooooo wrong.....) must get done. 
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Red Devil 4 is a fast paced thriller with well developed characters and almost constant action.  The story had more than a few twists and turns that kept me guessing just enough to keep my interest.  If you are a fan of medical science fiction - this needs to be on your brain implant e-reader!

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One small step for zombies, one huge mess for mankind.......

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Will, owner of Will's Tavern, is about to have a change made to his bar menu.  He wasn't really looking for a change, and even if he was, Will certainly didn't approve of the main ingredients that made up the majority of the new one-item menu for his new customers that were coming in hordes.

Normally, Will would have been thrilled with a huge crowd gathering at his bar.  Especially without having to put on a "happy hour" to do so.  But the new crowd goes wherever the new delicacy can be found - and that just happens to be live humans.  Zombies are well known for eating and not ordering drinks - and hell - they would probably just try and shuffle off without paying the tab anyways. While it is bad business for your well paying regulars to be eaten by non-paying Zombies - paid in full tabs and no tips are the last thing that Will is currently concerned about.

Across the city, a mob boss is having issues of his own.  Nicky "No Nickname" Fratelli is racking up a body count - and not one of them is even a good old family "hit".  In fact - it is mostly his own goomba's and muscle that are winding up dead.  But Nicky notices that they don't stay exactly "dead" for long.  With just his most loyal bodyguard, Paulie Hammerhead - Nicky makes his way over to Will's Tavern for a nice cold one while he tries to wrap his brain around what the hell is going on.

Rounding out this team is a family with a klepto kid, a stuffy father, a wife that has eyes for about anything that moves, and a 15 year old daughter who is just trying like crazy to latch onto anyone who can get her as far away from her family as possible.  Oh yeah, and a few bar patrons who decided not to be on the menu, but most of them are falling down drunks.

So, if you were in charge of the country and the Zombies decide to have a convention in a city in the middle of nowhere, what would you plan on doing?  Well, you could send in the army and wipe out the Zombie horde.  Or, you could do what comes naturally to politicians and start spinning, lying, and creating a diversion.  How about a moon landing to distract everyone?  The fact that there isn't anyone really in space to land on the moon poses just a small problem.  That is until B-Movie director Mark Mathews is caught in a very compromising position and the army makes him a deal.  Make a movie, quick - featuring us landing on the moon.  It doesn't have to win any Academy Awards - it just has to be believable. 

With all of these moving parts, one thing remains constant.  Zombies must eat........

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OK - I am going to admit something that will probably make everyone gasp is shock.  I can honestly say I have only watched two movies featuring zombies in my lifetime - "Abraham Lincoln Zombie Slayer" (just because it looked so horrible!!) and "World War Z".  Not a single zombie book.  So by no means am I an undead aficionado.  

"One Undead Step" by Ian McClellan may have gotten me to turn a corner.  McClellan had a great paced story, and I was really liking all of the characters - that is, until they got eaten.  I was kind of surprised that there are no picky zombies when it comes to food - not one "I won't eat my broccoli" finicky eater exists among them.

McClellan also delighted me with a chapter written from the zombie's point of view.  Again, I don't have much experience in this genre - but I thought it was brilliant.  Short chapter, kind of focused on a single point - but apparently zombies are not great multi-taskers - so I guess I understand!

Anyways - you need to quit reading this blog post and download this book.  I need to quit writing anyways and get myself some steak cooked very rare now.......

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The stars just are lined up for the end of the world in "Misaligned"

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While some people were watching Discovery Channel documentaries about Mayan calendars and planets aligning, others were out saving the destruction of the world from two alien races while dodging the CIA and the Illuminati.

Little did we know as we were watching the clock count down to doomsday, an unlikely pair would show up to try and save the day.  Travis Carter, a computer engineer (aka - hacker), and Tori, a high level Spiritual Leader for the Illuminati, meet quite by accident.  Fortuitous for the entire human race, they get along well enough to kill bad guys instead of each other.

Now we have the good guys, the many bad guys, and countdown to destruction set, I don't want to give too much away to cause a spoiler.  However, the fact that I am still on this planet to be typing this should give you some kind of indication of how things turned out.

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"Misaligned" by Rodney L. Carlson is a short book that tries to tackle a large plot.  The idea of the plot was good, but there were certain points in the book that I couldn't suspend my disbelief.  I realize that is a requirement when reading fiction, but when a member of your "team" vanishes for days and the other members just kind of shrug their shoulders and give each other language lessons - I had a hard time picturing that really being the reaction most would have.

The book had many chapters, but some were literally only one page long on my Kindle, and the next chapter dealt with the same characters, setting, and time line.  This gave this book a kind of "disjointed" feel.

Overall, the story was a good short read.  If you are looking for something that you can devour in a day that is going to entertain you, then this book might be something to consider.

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Travel at the speed of "The Hyperspace Project: The Awakening" from Donald Swan

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With a name like Nick Bannon, you know that even without looking, trouble is just going to find him.  Even an innocent "trial" of his hyperspace project becomes something that can wind up causing problems all over the galaxy. 

The problems start when Nick's trial goes just a little too well, and instead of preliminary testing, Nick becomes the first human to experience hyperspace.  Which would be great - if he had any idea where he was.

After an appropriate "greeting" from a not so friendly alien race, Nick is forced to ditch his ride inside a foreign space craft.  This is one decision that Nick makes that turns out to actually work in his favor.  On board are Kymeans, almost 8 foot tall Rakozians with four arms that would make Hulk Hogan jealous, Meth breathers, and a green female Arisian (a cat like race) with a rather large secret she is hiding.  While "not so well thought out bravery" is not a quality that Nick Bannon is lacking - the sight of the 8 foot  Karg the Rakozian brings a line that had something to do with "live to fight another day."

With some handy technology that aids language, Nick soons finds himself in the middle of a galactic war in a galaxy he previously didn't even know that existed.  Things are always tough for the new kid on the block, but when that new kid has a technology that could be used as the most powerful weapon the aliens have seen - well - that kid is going to attract a lot of attention whether he wants it or not.

Nick would love to just hop in his ship and just cruise hyperspace back home, but it's hard to get to a destination if you don't know where you are going.  So while trying to figure that dilemma out, why not just pick a side and fulfill an ancient prophecy or two along the way........

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I found "The Hyperspace Project" to be an immensely enjoyable read.  I kept picturing Harrison Ford, but with the Indiana Jones personality, but in a Blade Runner world as Nick Bannon.  The pacing was great, Swan did an awesome job giving just enough desription of the new technology and alien races without dragging the story into a grinding halt.  The story had a feel good sense that I got from watching "Guardians of the Galaxy" - where you get to know the characters to the point where you actually want to meet themand have a few drinks at a dive bar to hear more stories.

The dialogue and writing were top notch - and it was clear that this story was thought out before Swan committed it to paper.  With all of the rehashes (really - can we do a Spiderman reboot just one more time please.....) it is nice to meet some new characters in a new adventure - and it doesn't have to end here, since Swan already has book two on the shelves. 

Highly recommend this book for lovers of sci fi!!!

Donald Swan's Hyperspace Project website

(awesome website, by the way!)

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When there is no where to hide - seek out "Santuary 12 (Fallen Gods Saga)

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In Sanctuary 12 (Fallen Gods Saga), author T.W. Malpass   introduces the readers to a dark world filled with dark characters.  From the impeccably dressed Mr. Cradleworth, to the patchwork creation named Clover that was born from the mind of a man going mad, and last but not least - terrifying flying creatures dropping vehicles on top of buildings.

Who is going to rescue the planet from this group of baddies?  Nine strangers with different latent powers that they are just starting to discover.  A sculptor who not only creates, but heals with his hands joins up with a blind woman who "sees" how people are going to die by mere touch.

Jerrico (whose imagination is vivid as well as deadly) meets with Barnes the dimension hopping dog and his "owner" Stuart.  Stuart is a telekinetic, which is very helpful when you are confined to a wheelchair.

This is just part of the gathering of unlikely defenders of the planet.  They are formed and led by a young girl, Celeste, who also happens to be in a coma.

If you haven't gotten the idea that this novel is a collection of total misfortunate misfits (I know misfortunate isn't a word - but it should be!), then there probably is no convincing you.

This novel is the first in a series.  Most of the novel is dedicated to building up the characters, which had me guessing the entire time as to how they would meet up with each other.  

Malpass does a great job with the setting and the characters, but the plot seems to take a long time to develop.  The blending of horror and science fiction is a bit confusing to me, but I trust that this author will go into more detail on that angle in future books.

If you like books with flawed "heroes and heroines" that are extremely well developed through the novel, then you have definitely found a book to fit your niche.  As i have read in other reviews, don't worry were the journey is headed - just sit back and enjoy the ride that Malpass will happily chauffeur you on.

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It's what's on the "inside" that counts! Book review of "Innerearth" by S. M. Coan

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Ok, I admit it - when it comes to UFO's, aliens, alien abduction, Men in Black, and X-Files you can count me as all in.  

So when I hear that this book contains elements of crop circles, magnetic fields, Bermuda Triangle-like disappearances and reappearances, and erased memories - I immediately am thinking of beams of lights, implants, and little green (or grey) men.  

But sometimes the truth can be found right where you are standing (well, maybe just a few miles underneath where you are standing).  

You see, all of this time we have been looking to the skies and stars.  According to S. M. Coan’s  fantasy world of Innerearth, we would have been better off to watch dolphins and bats.  

Have I confused you yet?  Coan is able to weave a story that is both original and puts an unique spin on what “believers” have accepted as psuedo-fact - that to find intelligent life, we must look to the stars.  

The main character in the story, Chris Falconer, was an enlisted man in the Air Force that had to get out and become a surveyor after falling ill and going into a coma nine years earlier.  But then Chris is recruited to become a member of “the council” and learns that he is what is considered to be a “Red File.”  A Red File is a person who vanishes without explanation.  Some return, but have no recollection of anything that has happened.

Chris is given his “Red File” to look over, only to find that there is a gap of five years, he was an Air Force Major who flew jets, and vanished somewhere over the ocean.  To try and rediscover his past, Chris agrees to join “the council”.  Instead of being the hunter for the truth, Chris finds himself being used as bait and winds up on a “three hour tour” on a boat that even Gilligan wouldn’t believe.

I found this book to be a good paced read with some plot lines that I hadn’t come across before.  I like fantasy and science fiction, but it has to have some “meat” in it and be original in some facet to really draw me in.  "Innerearth" has both. S.M. Coan didn’t take a well trodden path that he knew from heart.  Instead he tackled a whole new world with some difficult plot lines and characters.

I don’t want to give much away, but the descriptions that Coan uses for characters that don’t have physical forms are excellent.  In a book like this, the author could have easily been sidetracked so much by the new world that they created that they fail to move the story along.  Coan does an excellent job of description and pacing to keep the readers attention.

If you are a fan of intellectual science fiction, then this book should be on your list. 

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(this review was part of a paid ad, which only gave the author 'front of the line' privileges, but in no way influenced this review.)

It's high noon, "mashup" style, in Gunknight.

As a young boy, you could say Colt is shy.  Being "shy" on Gunmorrah is a good way to survive as a youth.  But one day, while in a dumpster with his mother (who passed away a few days ago) just minding his own business catching some rats for dinner, a friend shows up into his life.  Astra, a girl on the run from a gang, soon partners up with Colt (after declining a meal of some raw rat) and goes to the local temple to gain entrance - along with thousands of other starving children on Gunmorrah.  (The opening scenes have kind of burned into my mind - can you tell?)

Colt and Astra don't seem to understand the meaning of "no" when spoken from a monk and gain entrance into the temple to choose a path to become trained in.  With a name like Colt (and the books name is "Gunknight"), it is no surprise that training to become master of guns is the path that is chosen.

Training to become a Gunknight is no walk in the park.  It is similar to the show Survivor, except that instead of getting cast off the island - you get dead (very dead) instead.  No "Survivor Castaway Reunion" shows featuring Gunknight's have ever been shown on Gunmorrah!

For those few who finish training without taking a permanent dirt bath, they are awarded with a new set of duds - a "biosuit" that can create guns and bullets out of itself while healing the body of the gunknight at the same time.  In a tight pinch?  Need a grenade launcher?  Just think it to your biosuit and pull it out of your holster faster than you can say "put 'em up!"

Just because these Gunknights have badass armor and have killed many of their classmates to become a Gunknight doesn't mean that they don't have heart.  Colt meets Terra, another Gunknight, and falls in love and manages not to kill her during training.  But, just as a Gunknight can fall in love, they can also become bitter enemies.  Something just doesn't seem right about Astra and the guys she is hanging out with, but it really isn't any of Colt's concern - yet.  Right when things are about to come to a head, Terra's crazy mother enters the fray and let's just say she isn't real fond of the new boyfriend hanging around...



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"Gunknight" by Scott & Cynthia Green is a book whose motto might just be - "Genre?  I don't need no stinking genre!"  And those might be the last words you hear before a flurry of lead comes your way.  This book has a bit of everything - western, sci-fi, action, dystopia, jumping time back and forth within the story, and a body count that Jason and Freddy Krueger would be hard pressed to match.  If a Gunknight had to put a notch on his gun for everyone he killed, there wouldn't be much of a handle to hold onto anymore - and that makes shooting just a little too difficult.

How does a Gunknight defend themselves from the bad guy's bullets?  Just shoot the bullet out of the air.  Yes, they are just that damn good - and if you have a problem with that, there might be a round somewhere in this biosuit with your name on it.

Some of the very unique things in this book was the concept of the biosuit and how it functioned, along with the imagination of the temple training that Gunknights have to undertake.  I think there is a ton of potential to build upon the Gunmorrah world, however, I feel the authors may have made things difficult on themselves to continue to build off this novel.

First, while the whole idea of Gunmorrah is very attractive to me - the fact that the story jumps back and forth between Colt's past and present (over 400 years later), and pointing out that Gunmorrah has changed leave me a little perplexed about the setting.  I was really looking forward to falling in love with the whole setting, like I did for the Dark Tower series from Stephen King, but the hopping back and forth made that a little difficult.

The character of Colt was built up greatly, but I really couldn't get myself to care about the other characters much (maybe because I was waiting for them to get full of lead and didn't want to disappoint myself!)

There were also a few more extra or misplaced words than I typically would have liked to seen.  I have read books professionally edited and published that contain a few, but any more than that I find distracts me.

That being said, if you are looking for a action packed, shoot em up novel that is going to entertain you and surprise you with some of the "inventions" imagineered by the authors without taxing your brain or making politcal statements - then this is a perfect book.  In other words, read it and enjoy the ride - I promise you won't get saddle sores!

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"The Lady Astronomer" shoots for the stars - and gets there!

“The Lady Astronomer” by Katy O’Dowd was my first foray into the world of “Steampunk.”  For the first time visiting that genre, I feel fortunate that Katy O’Dowd was my tour guide. 

In case you didn’t know what Steampunk is here is the dictionary definition:

a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.

Now that we have that covered, let’s get right into “The Lady Astronomer.”  Lucretia is a young woman with a lot on her plate – hatmaker, de facto lady of the house to her two brothers, owner of a lemur and owl, and an expert astronomer to boot.  Pretty eclectic chick!

Things were going fine until the King commissions her brother to build a Forty Foot Telescope, one of the largest ever conceived at the time.  They move, settle into their new home, and problems start right away.  But the problems that Freddie, Lucretia’s brother, is having isn’t the King’s problem.  The King’s problem is costs have gone over budget and Freddie keeps hitting him up for money.  So now the King needs to decide – should I lop off Freddie’s head or might there be some other way to light a fire under him.

I really enjoyed this book.  I am very fortunate to have gotten a good one to introduce me into this genre.  Katy O’Dowd did an excellent job of building up the novel’s world and getting the reader to actually care about what was going on without being overly descriptive.

Strengths of the book – O’Dowd does an excellent job of getting the readers to actually “care” about the characters.  Of the reviews that I read for other books, this is one of the more frequent complaints.  That doesn’t happen here.  The plot is interesting and there were enough different things going on to hold my interest and keep me guessing.  There were no glaring spelling or grammatical errors, even though the publisher points out that the author is from Ireland and the spelling of some words were left in their Irish form.  Maybe I am part Irish then, because I didn’t see any.

As far as weaknesses – the pace of the book is very good, but getting to the main story took just a little more time than I would have liked.  At some points, as O’Dowd was building up her characters, we were given insights that didn’t come up again at any point in the book (violin playing & hat making come to mind).

Overall, I am giving this book five stars.  If you want to open up yourself to the world of Steampunk, this is an excellent novel to get acquainted with.

Amazon Link - The Lady Astronomer by Katy O'Dowd

"The Experiment" has a hypothesis with many twists and turns

Since the beginning of time, man has looked to the skies and asked, "Is there anyone else out there?" We always seem to assume that we are the most intelligent beings in the solar system because we have travelled to space and haven't found anyone there to greet us yet. What if we were to discover that we are not alone in the universe, but that the reason the other alien races haven't contacted us is because they view our people as too aggressive, as well as too primitive?

"The Experiment," by Cristian A. Solari is a work of science fiction that delves into these questions, albeit using a planet other than Earth - but it isn't a stretch to see the similarities. The people of the planet Origin are being observed as an experiment by all of the creatures of The Confederation, a kind of utopian country club of various alien species who all live in harmony according to their Constitution. Only those species of sufficient intellect are allowed membership into this exclusive group, because to do otherwise may upset the self-created utopian network. The problem: the preintelloids of Origin have managed to discover hyperspace travel well before they have evolved enough to gain membership through intellect.

The confederation is left with two choices - terminate the experiment (preintelloids included), or risk the possibility that they successfully travel via hyperspace and basically "infect" the whole universe (they happen to reproduce at a frequent rate!). But there are always more options that present themselves and a little thing called "randomness" (alien-speak for Murphy's Law) has a say in things.

The complexity of the novel may well have been difficult for any novelist to pull off, but Solari does an admirable job (especially considering this is his first novel). I wasn't quite sure that I was going to enjoy it, but about halfway through I was hooked.

Strengths of the book: Originality. This book was not a repackaged reboot of a well known story. The author brings a fresh view to the question "are we alone?" I really enjoyed the fact that much of it was told through the point of view of the superior aliens. There were many points in the book that I thought I had the ending figured out, only to be proven wrong. I was also afraid that I was going to be disappointed by some sort of political tree hugger message - but thankfully the author didn't go there. Not that there was a lack of message in the book, it just wasn't shoved in your face - and the reader can take from it many different meanings, depending on what they were looking for.

Weaknesses: I feel this book could have used another round of editing and proofing. The book picked up quite a bit in the second half, but I think that trip to get there could be shortened without losing anything. There were a few misplaced words and names that were spelled differently from previous uses, but it wasn't enough to detract from the story. There were times when some of the dialogue was difficult to tell who was "speaking" (the quotes are because the dialogue was actually telepathic communication, so I can't say what the correct way to present it would be - but at times I had a hard time who was thinking what)

All in all, I enjoyed this book. Hopefully Solari has more hypothesis' to "Experiment" with.

 Amazon Link: "The Experiment," by Cristian A. Solari

Barking Benjamin - All Bark, No Bite (Not a slam - you gotta read the book to 'get it')

Don’t let the headline fool you – it’s from one of the many “movie posters” featuring Barking Benjamin from the book by Gareth Barsby.  You don’t understand?  Well, buckle your seatbelt because Barsby is going to take everyone who reads this book on a wild ride.

I first want to point out that I was drawn to this book because of the subtitle “Kids’ stories not for kids”.  Ok, dangling the hook, I am checking out the bait….  Then I get to the description and it talks about Red, home invasions by talking alligators, and magic rings.  And the thing that pulls it all together is that they are all being “observed” by a dimension hopping cartoon dog named Barking Bejamin who is a little hacked off that the “reboot” of his movie pretty much sucks.

Confused?  So was I.  Curious – I just had to….  And you know what – it somehow all made sense to me when I read it by the time I got to the dancing camel.  I am a sucker for camel characters – it’s a weakness.  Barsby manages to weave in and out of stories like a grandmother knitting a scarf at breakneck speeds. 

What I really admire about the character “Barking Benjamin” is that he is definitely not a fan of the current Hollywood trend of “rebooting” movies.  Did we really need a newer version of TRON?  Don’t even think of touching “Escape from New York”!  Some things are just better to leave be and appreciate them for what they are – minus the computer graphics and all.

You see, sometimes I wonder if there is anyone who writes anything original out there anymore.  Well, I found probably the most unique book in my hands while reading this book.  Don’t let the “Kids’ stories not for kids” make you think you are getting a more grown up version of “Red Riding Hood.”  You want boring and a reboot – then Barking Benjamin is going to be paying you a visit. 

This cartoon dog don’t play that game!

If you like alternate worlds, unique books, with a dash of strange - this is the perfect book.

Amazon Link:  Barking Benjamin