Replica: A Short Story

Please check out my newest short story, entitled Replica.

In the year 2054, Army Sergeant Logan Martel hunts for an insurgent plotting a horrific attack on the west. It is in this world of high-tech equipment and prolific robotics that Logan finds himself set adrift, searching for what's left of his own humanity. Will he find what he's looking for? Or will he become merely a replica of his former self?

This 4,464 word Short Story will make you question the future of robotics and humanity.  Available on Amazon for .99 cents.  Nook version coming soon. 

Book Review: The Natanz Directive

The Natanz Directive is an international espionage thriller written by Wayne Simmons and Mark Graham.  It follows Jake Conlan around the world in his attempt to confirm reports of Iran's nuclear program and, if possible, disrupt those programs before it's too late.  It's been a while since I've read a thriller as timely as this one.  While reading it I turned on the news and found the stories on TV eerily similar to what was happening in the novel.  I found Wayne Simmons' experience in the intelligence community helped make the novel believable down to the smallest details.

The writing style was really the only downside of this novel.  The main character was likeable enough, but the sentences were written awkwardly and there were many out-of-place references to songs that disrupted the flow of the story.  Ultimately I was glad I slogged through the first two thirds of the novel so I could reach the climax, which was exciting, though I feel it wrapped things up too quickly and too nicely.  This was perhaps the only deviation from the realm of possibility in the novel.  Real covert missions seldom wrap up that nicely with a little bow on top.  I would expect there to be political consequences, inquiries, a change in international ties, or something as a result of this mission.  None of those consequences were mentioned and it felt as though the author said, "And they lived happily ever after.  The end."  Give me a break.

Bookophile Rating: Average (For a decent story that failed mostly in the subtle underpinnings and performed about average in everything else).

Book Review: The Hunters

The Hunters, written by James Salter, is a gritty tale of Korean War pilots attempting to become "aces" by felling five enemy MiGs.  The story is centered around Captain Cleve Connell and his fighter wing.  Within the ranks there are bitter rivalries and the best of friends, but one prevailing theme is wingmanship. 

The writing itself was juvenile at times and powerful yet simple in others.  Every once in a while, Salter came through with a real gem of a thought, though the rest of the novel seemed to drag its feet from plot point to plot point.  Thinking of the novel in retrospect, however, those key moments that were done well are the ones best remembered.  Luckily, the novel is short enough that it didn't feel as though I was wasting my time because the overarching plot was actually interesting.

The book is very loosely based on Salter's time in the Korean War which shows through with his thorough insight into what it was like to be a fighter pilot in the fifties.  Despite parts that dragged and sporadic infantile sentence structure, I would recommend this book to those that are interested in Air Force history or aviation.  I would not recommend this book to those who cherish good storytelling in addition to a good story.  Sometimes, it's all in how it's said.

Bookophile Rating: Average (For poor sentence structure and story flow, but redeeming qualities in overall plot and quaint fifties nuances).

Book Review: Physics of the Future

For several years I've turned on the TV and watched the silver-haired physicist Michio Kaku equate complex theoretical physics to something the lay-person can relate to. This book is no different. Physics of the Future takes the form several futurists have used in the past, but one that is relevant today. Like Jules Verne, Kaku makes bold predictions of how the next century will pan out. In retrospect, Verne's predictions were mostly conservative, regardless of how outlandish they must have seemed at the time. However, Kaku consulted with over 300 scientists at the top of their respective fields to weave a tapestry of what future advancements could look like. It was with that mindset that I began reading Physics of the Future.

Michio Kaku splits up his volume into several chapters, each dealing with a different type of technological advancement. I found the chapters on Biotechnology and Medicine the most interesting, though they dealt little with physics. It seems only a matter of time, by Kaku's calculations, that humans will be able to live forever, or near enough to make no matter. Growing new organs, robotic limbs, soon the stuff of science fiction will not only be possible, it will be commonplace. Kaku's vision of the future is more optimistic than others I've read in the past. It seems his work is focused on what can be accomplished without any setbacks or global catastrophes. I, for one, believe the next hundred years could look a lot different if things keep going the way they are. However, people in the late 19th and early 20th century probably thought the same in their time, only to be proven wrong in the end. Most of Kaku's predictions are probable, which makes you think about how little our world has advanced in previous centuries as compared with the previous hundred years and certainly the coming hundred years.  

Bookophile Rating: Good (For optimism and insight into the possibilities that only a few years ago would have been laughed at as impossible)

Memory Leak Free on Kindle 12/9 to 12/14!

Get my Sci/fi Thriller Memory Leak for free on kindle from 12/9 to 12/14!

Please 'buy' a copy for free on the kindle and review it! This goes for you bloggers too! Get it HERE!

Synopsis:
Every night, Jonathan Hart dreams of a cracked wasteland in the setting sun. By morning the image retreats to his subconscious mind. Again, he finds himself in a city of symmetrical people, where he is anonymous in his perfection. A voice in his head tells him there is more to life than following the will of his supreme leader, Liam Mail, and that there is more to his own life than he can remember. That there are things he can’t remember about the city of symmetricals that could tear down the fabric of his world. Now, Jonathan must fight against the forces that suppress his memories before his mind is damaged beyond repair. Can Jonathan expose the twisted truth about the symmetrical elite, and in doing so restore society to its flawed asymmetrical origins? Or will his efforts explode and create a MEMORY LEAK?

Memory Leak on sale for .99 Cents

It's Black Friday and that means it's time for some shameless self-promotion! My sci/fi thriller novel, Memory Leak, is on sale for .99 cents on Kindle. Here's a link to the Kindle store:

Also, here's a couple links to some fellow bloggers who have reviewed my book. If you're a blogger who would like to review my book, message me and I'll get you a review .pdf.

Ric's Reviews

Free Book reviews

Have a synopsis:

Every night, Jonathan Hart dreams of a cracked wasteland in the setting sun. By morning the image retreats to his subconscious mind. Again, he finds himself in a city of symmetrical people, where he is anonymous in his perfection. A voice in his head tells him there is more to life than following the will of his supreme leader, Liam Mail, and that there is more to his own life than he can remember. That there are things he can't remember about the city of symmetricals that could tear down the fabric of his world. Now, Jonathan must fight against the forces that suppress his memories before his mind is damaged beyond repair. Can Jonathan expose the twisted truth about the symmetrical elite, and in doing so restore society to its flawed asymmetrical origins? Or will his efforts explode and create a MEMORY LEAK?

If you take a shot at my book, please review it on Amazon or Bn.com!

Book Review: The Anubis Gates

My cousin sent me this book a while back and I was lucky enough to heed her advice and read the damn thing. The Anubis Gates follows the exploits of a historian named Brendan Doyle who travels back in time to the 19th century and is kidnapped by a group of gypsies. He misses his window to get back to his own time and must deal with life in the 19th century. Doyle is thrust into a world of magic, murder, and intrigue as he tries to stop a plot to unleash the wrath of ancient Egyptian Gods on London, all the while trying to find a way back home.

Tim Powers writes with a voice similar to the works of Jules Verne and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, completely appropriate for a work mostly set in the 19th century. He weaves a complex plot that twists and turns creating a tapestry through time. Unlike many other works, the complexities of the plot aren't due to an overabundance of characters, rather, they are due to intricacies and subtleties in dialogue and a history that is similar to our own but riddled with minute tweaks that make this work of fiction feel plausible.

After I finished The Anubis Gates I researched Tim Powers a bit and found that he does a lot of Alternate Histories. He's got a good niche and he's better at the Alternate History game than some of the other authors I've read in the genre.

I'd recommend this book to fans of Alternate Histories, 19th Century literature (including Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne), and fans of Steampunk. While the Steampunk elements are subtle at times, they are woven in throughout in a way that made me smile to myself while I read.

Bookophile Rating: Ludicrous!