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Bleedover

by Curtis Hox (Goodreads Author)

3.31 of 5 stars 3.31 · rating details · 26 ratings · 11 reviews

An intriguing phenomenon in literature and arts. A maverick professor's quest to find answers. And a discovery that will shock the world.

These are stressful times for professor Harriet Sterling. She's on the verge of fully deciphering why books, TV, film, and advertising are suddenly being altered, a phenomenon she named bleedover. But her controversial theories are ruinin...more

Kindle Edition, 252 pages

Published (first published November 2nd 2011)

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Aug 07, 2012 Chris Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars

I started this one out totally and absolutely confused. By the end, I wasn't sure what the heck I had read, or what the point was.

At the beginning, we learn a very little bit about "bleedover". We don't actually know what it IS, except that it's changing things in the world in seemingly benign ways: Adding scenes to movies, or changing scenes in books. The bleedover seems to focus on narratives, which becomes clearer later on.

Cut to a university research facility where we meet Towns, a kid with...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Elisa Nuckle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3-stars

This scifi book delves into a strange pseudo-science and a bleedover effect between the narrative reality and actual reality. I admit I took a chance on it because of the gorgeous cover (kudos to Mr. Hox for being very professional on that count).

The writing style isn't bad, the characters could've been more developed, but what really got me was the lack of explanations. Bleedover, reading, wards, projections, all of this and more goes unexplained. I get that was part of the plot twist (with th...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Ritesh rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Science fiction lovers

Shelves: science-fiction, reviewed, fantasy, mystery

Posted here: http://riteshkala.wordpress.com

Bleedover is a novel which has elements of both fantasy and science fiction, just the way I like it! Let me start by talking a bit about the concept of ‘Bleedover’ which the author has created. All kinds of art such as books, movies as well as company logos are starting to get altered unexplainably. For example, the text of published books is altered, or new scenes get added to movies. The book’s protagonists find a way to harness this Bleedover and en...more Posted here: http://riteshkala.wordpress.com

Bleedover is a novel which has elements of both fantasy and science fiction, just the way I like it! Let me start by talking a bit about the concept of ‘Bleedover’ which the author has created. All kinds of art such as books, movies as well as company logos are starting to get altered unexplainably. For example, the text of published books is altered, or new scenes get added to movies. The book’s protagonists find a way to harness this Bleedover and end up bringing the fictional world into reality. Once this fact is accepted, the book becomes a fast paced suspense thriller.

Both the main characters subscribe to different views of what Bleedover is, how and for what it should be harnessed. Both of them live completely different lives. Dr Harriet Sterling is a tenured college professor who lives in her basement office, while Corbil Lyell is the head of a large conglomerate. This is a story about each trying to prove their worldview and their methodologies right. Their ‘war’ ends up hurting a number of people who are caught in the middle, with people ending up dead. The stark difference in attitudes of Dr Sterling and Corbin Lyell is beautifully portrayed. Dr Sterling plays by the rules mostly and is unwilling to hurt anyone in the process of proving her point. On the other end of the spectrum, Corbin Lyell is ready to do anything to prove himself right, including murders. He is so obsessed with beating Dr Sterling, that he ignores all risks and ends up paying dearly for it in the end.

As the story continues, there clashes become more intensive and the use of fictional characters in these fights was quite entertaining. It is something every boy has thought and argued about, who would win a fight between Superman and Spiderman, Fantastic Four and X-Men (Sorry, but these questions are NOT addressed in this book).

I would have given this book five stars if it was just a suspense thriller with some elements of science or fantasy. The writing is excellent for most parts, and the story is well constructed and fast paced, the way all thrillers should be. The relationship of both the main characters was developed in detail, clearly describing the history which leads them to be at loggerheads with each other. I also thought the emotions of each person came out very well (which many science fiction novels lack). The place where I found the story lacking was in the explanation of the concept of Bleedover. It remained unclear for large parts of the book, and how it went from the alterations of media works to the physical manifestation was not well brought out. This being the central idea on which the book is based, it was inexcusable. Also, I got somewhat lost in the pseudo-science as most of the science fiction parts were created rather than being based on scientific fact. I understand that the author had to develop a whole new language for the science stream he created, but here as well, better explanations would have made the story more enjoyable.

Overall, I would rate this book a solid four. However, people who cannot enjoy science fiction should stay away as they will not find this to be light reading, and would end up referencing Wikipedia repeatedly.(less)

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Jul 12, 2012 Tony Bertauski rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hox is carving out a unique genre between fantasy and science, seamlessly stitching it together. Bleedover is another fine example. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, children walked through the door at the back of the wardrobe and nobody explained how it led to another universe. Hox would have a hardboiled theory about accessing this fantastical world that wouldn't make it any less magic. In fact, it would redefine 'magic'.

In Bleedover, the imaginary world is real. It exists. And it want...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Cassie McCown rated it 5 of 5 stars

Bleedover
By: Curtis Hox
AISN: B006999LQA
Published November 2, 2011
Available Format: ebook

My Rating: ★★★★★

I’ll admit, when I first started reading Bleedover, I was thinking What in the world is going on? But, pretty soon all the little pieces began to come together and I got right with the flow of the story. Granted, I did not refresh my memory by rereading the synopsis, and with about a million books on my to-read list, it is easy for me to confuse what an upcoming book is about. So, I dove righ...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Tima rated it 4 of 5 stars

Science fiction and fantasy are not my normal genres of choice. So I'll admit that I began this book with trepidation. The premise sounded intriguing. Book characters bleeding over into normal life. Being a book lover I HAD to read this.

Wow! I'm certainly glad that I did. This book was well written, fascinating and scary. It took me a few chapters to wrap my mind around what the author was trying to convey. I'm pretty sure this is because I'm not as familiar with the genre. Because after I figur...more

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May 12, 2012 Dave King rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bleedover presents an ancient mythical concept with a few entertaining tools. The idea of "conjuring" something-or even someone-based on the "just-right" combination of words, grunts, screams, musical intonations, etc. is as old as mankind. In Bleedover, even the power to conjure a portal for traveling back in time is presented. The main character, Hattie, uses one such portal to visit Margery, her deceased friend and mentor. The novel begins with Towns, a local boy, who proves that he has the "...more Bleedover presents an ancient mythical concept with a few entertaining tools. The idea of "conjuring" something-or even someone-based on the "just-right" combination of words, grunts, screams, musical intonations, etc. is as old as mankind. In Bleedover, even the power to conjure a portal for traveling back in time is presented. The main character, Hattie, uses one such portal to visit Margery, her deceased friend and mentor. The novel begins with Towns, a local boy, who proves that he has the "gift." Later, Hattie and her cronies agree that they must somehow rescue Towns from Corbin before the rogue scientist kills him.

The literary work of HP Lovecraft, the creator of the Cthulu mythos line of dark horror/fantasy fiction, is featured throughout the novel, especially as Hox develops Corbin Lyell. I enjoyed reading a bit too much of Lovecraft when I was in HS, and it was entertaining as I read Bleedover to be challenged to recall those scary stories about the Elder Gods.

It was hard to enjoy much of the first third of the novel due to a large cast of characters who popped into the narrative to add a few more pieces to the plot and then were gone.

Throughout the novel, Hox includes short excerpts, etc. from some famous and even some relatively-obscure pieces of literature. And because of this, I too often found myself being distracted by the allusions and references to the point that I had to backtrack and re-read more than a few pages of the novel. And a few days ago, I stumbled upon a blog post where the blogger was commening about when, as a college student, he would insert completley unrelated text into a research paper just to see if the professor would even notice. When I read this blog, I was reminded of Bleedover.

In part II of the novel, a handful of major characters are discussing their usage of bleedover as if they had been blessed with super-human powers; as they admonished one another about how they should agree to not use this "gift" for monetary and/or political gain, I had to chuckle as I imagined any of the X-men characters discussing the same thing. Anyway, when one of Hattie's trusted assistants is killed by an instantiated creature, the pace of the action picks up, and the novel becomes much easier to follow.

Now on the editing/proofreading issue, I noticed only a few typos and formatting problems. But only a few. And none of these distracted from my enjoyment of reading Bleedover.

In this novel, Hox, English professor by day and sci-fi writer by night, demonstrates a mature writing style that will probably scare off many younger, less-experienced readers. Via a recent blog posting, Hox wrote: "Striving for originality has its own pitfalls, but I enjoy taking risks with my stories (even though they don't always work)." So if something more than mindless action-driven, vampire/LA dectective-laced, cookie-cutter sci-fi is desired, then Bleedover may just fit the bill.(less)

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Nov 27, 2011 Anke marked it as abandoned

Shelves: novels, metafiction, fantasy

The idea is really interesting, but the book seems to be not for me. I got about a third of the way in, and I haven't found a character I like. The leader of the "good guys" is manipulative and secretive, and the main "bad guy" comes across to me as a way overblown villain.
If there had not been a still-not-resolved cliffhanger at the end of the very first scene, I might read on to see what happens, but that "start with a scene ripped from later in the book"-gimmick annoys me so much I don't want...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Hector Sosa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, own, scifi, fantasy

This was an interesting read. It has a lot of the same ideas as InkHeart, but I thought those were better executed. I really loved the fact that the author used both contemporary TV shows, and classic books to ply his story. It has elements of both science fiction and fantasy. It was a nice read.

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Mar 22, 2012 Alysia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Hard to follow...bleedover is a strange concept to understand for me.

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Apr 09, 2012 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

actually, stopped reading but I'll get back to it.

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Shelves: loanable, unread-own-kindle

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Shelves: kindle

Mar 02, 2013 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Creative Reviews: Giveaway of $50 Gift Card and ‘Bleedover’ by Curtis Hox	9	8	Jan 12, 2012 11:12pm
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About Curtis Hox

Curtis Hox is a full-time dad by day and a fiction scribbler by night. I launched my debut novel, Bleedover, in Nov. 2011, and I'm finishing my YA Transhuman Warrior Series, which launched on Jun 1st, 2012. I'm willing to take my knocks as a self-published author, if that means getting it right in the end. I live with my wife and young son (he often pretends to type on my keyboard and has been kno...more

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