Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 26

“The Robusta Incident” by Jennifer Fales (Amazon Digital Services, 2015)

The term “corporate zombie” has become a cliche at this point, overused and in some cases misnomered. So, Jennifer Fales decided to write a book about it to the ultimate extreme. The Robusta Incident gives a whole new meaning to the term “weird,” as in this is a weird book where a lot of weird stuff happens, but then if you like all things weird, you’re going to enjoy The Robusta Incident.

Howard Danishefsky is feeling pretty low in his life. Living in a dead-end apartment that gives him little joy other than being a place to crash. His boss, Melinda Carpenter, is an ex, who gives him a really hard time every day, and he really can’t stand, but at the same time she’s very beautiful in all the right places, and he can’t really admit to himself he still has the hots for her. Meanwhile, he works as a chemist for the Robusta Corporation, an international coffee conglomerate, and feels he’s going nowhere face. A dead-end job for a dead-end company in a dead-end world.

His father is a renowned astrophysicist he’s never met, who is an important member in the Consortium of Evil. And then, there’s his Russian mother, who is long dead, but shortly after she passed, he started hearing her in his head, and now, she never fails to give plenty of pointless advice and criticism throughout his day. He’s also a heavy drinker and, after work, seeks to get completely sloshed as quick as possible, and wake up in his crappy bed in the morning, feeling like something that shouldn’t be alive.

So Howard decides to throw everything to the wind and try something different. You see he’s concocted this strange serum that he starts putting in the coffee that everyone drinks at work. Each day, he adds more, and the employees blindly drink more, as they become slower, more lethargic, and spend chunks of time just standing around doing nothing as if in a trance. His main target is his boss, and ex, who he is happy to turn into a zombie and control.||But then, a voodoo queen finds out what’s going on and gets involved, as does an aging professor and someone who seems like he should just back into the coffin he apparently came from. As if that isn’t enough, the corporate zombies start doing what zombies tend to do: eat people; and they’re starting to eye him up like a tasty morsel. Maybe he’s gone a little too far this time? But he’s waiting for that call from the Consortium of Evil any day now.

Readers get to experience a week in the work life of the very strange Howard Danishefsky. The Robusta Incident at times gets pretty repetitive, as we experience Howard at home waking up, getting to work, working, then going home from work, drinking and going to bed over and over. While the author was wanting to show these five days, the book could’ve used some editing out of some of these repetitive scenes that seem to go nowhere and aren’t really necessary. But weirdness and the need for editing down aside, Fales has a very distinctive voice with her character and the story which will certainly catch the eye of many a reader and hook them till the end.

Originally written on August 3rd, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.

To purchase a copy of The Robusta Incident from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.

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“Tin Men” by Christopher Golden (Ballantine, 2015)

Fans of Christopher Golden may be pretty surprised with his new novel, as they have to come expect some great terrifying horror, or a fascinating fantasy world. In Tin Men, there is a strong element of science fiction, with the novel set in our near future, but for the most part it’s a relatively down to earth book about people dealing with some truly tough situations.

The world has gone to hell, just as we knew it would. Sea levels have risen, oil is in high demand, and economies worldwide have collapsed. The United States, in its swaggering, isolationist, domineering way has exerted its control where it has deemed necessary to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Drones and unmanned vehicles are everywhere, watching with their many eyes. The US military now consists of remote controlled robot units, colloquially known as “tin men” by those soldiers performing their duties.

Each day these soldiers travel deep underground at Wiesbaden Army Airfield in Germany and enter the Remote Infantry Corps. There they enter their “cubicles,” put on the headgear and with satellite and technology are able to control robots many thousands of miles away in civil war ravaged Syria. Private First Class Kelso is our main protagonist who is with his platoon traveling the streets and on this particular day something big is coming. There aren’t many people around and those few who are there seem on edge. Some sort of attack seems imminent. And then it comes, and it is the likes of which no one has seen before.

A series of massive EMPs – electromagnetic pulses – hit the planet, set off by a worldwide group looking to end the United States’ domination. Most things stop working planet wide. And the tin men find themselves still in full control of their mechanical bodies, unable to access their bodies back at the air force base. It seems they have been lied by the US government and military: when they enter the tin men, their consciousness is in that tin man and if the connection is severed, as it has been here, they are disconnected from their real living, breathing bodies back in Germany.

And so begins their long journey to return to Wiesbaden where their bodies lie. Along the way they will face many “bot killers” looking to end their lives once and for all. They will travel first to Greece where the G20 summit was scheduled to convene to see if the President of the United States is still alive and in need of rescuing. Fortunately, they are tough, seemingly unstoppable machines, though now when they are blown to pieces they don’t wake up in their real bodies; they die.

Golden has created an interesting piece of military scifi here that asks some interesting questions along the way about what it means to be human and conscious in one’s body. While the book begins explaining the interesting premise and makes the big reveal about the tin men once the EMPs hit, it then devolves into a somewhat repetitive series of actions scenes, akin to a James Rollins or Tom Clancy novel, as the tin men seek to return to Germany. Nevertheless, fans of the sub-genre will get a big kick out of it, as Golden has done his research and the book feels all too real at times.

Originally written on August 2nd, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.

To purchase a copy of Tin Men from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.

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“Armada” by Ernest Cline (Crown, 2015)

Ernest Cline kind of surprised everyone with the adventurous entertainment of his debut novel, Ready Player One, with its fun video game atmosphere and myriad 80’s jokes and references. Sadly, his follow up novel, Armada, has an interesting premise that is plenty entertaining, but just doesn’t feel very original.

It’s a familiar storyline: Zack Lightman lives in a different world to everyone else. He is always daydreaming, obsessed with a number of video games, particular Armada, and continues to wonder about his father who died in a freak accident. His old man left lots of journals and books about the games he played, as well as one specific volume with all his conspiracy theories about video games and how they’re really an elaborate cover-up to brainwash everyone about how we are not alone in the universe and one day they’ll be coming and we need to be ready for them.

Then one day while he’s daydreaming in class, he sees a flying saucer outside in the sky in broad daylight. Only it’s not your stereotypical flying saucer, it’s specifically a ship from the video game he can’t get enough of, Armada. As Zack takes a journey down a thought path that is convinced his father was insane with all his crazy conspiracy theories, and now Zack is following in the same footsteps.

Then it happens. It turns out a number of the characters and ships and weapons from Armada are in fact completely real. Zack has just been drafted, as one of the game’s top players, to fight. Because the evil aliens in the game are also real and have plans to attack and destroy Earth. Also, his dad happens to be alive, working to fight against the aliens, and is currently residing on the moon.

Armada would feel like a great original and entertaining novel if it weren’t for Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, about a group of kids who think they’re playing video games but are in fact fighting aliens and saving the world. While this book is different, it is too close and similar of a storyline to not set the reader off in anger.

Originally written on August 27th, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.

To purchase a copy of Armada from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.

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Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow, 2015)

Good books are the ones that start out with a captivating premise that sucks you in and then the characters have to accept said premise and deal with its ramifications. The bad ones are the those that feel forced, where the characters are artificial, and each scene feels forced and unnatural. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson kicks off with one of the best opening lines to be written in some time: “The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.”

The book actually focuses very little on why or how the moon is obliterated, other than the people of Earth calling it the work of “The Agent,” about which little is known and it’s not really important, because there are more important and terrifying things to consider. A fictional equivalent of Neil deGrasse Tyson, Rufus MacQuarie has made his name as a public figure who helps explain science at its most basic levels to the masses. When a billionaire wanted to take a trip into space, MacQuarie was chosen as the backup should the billionaire fall ill or be unable to be ready on the day. Rufus documented the rigorous training he and the billionaire went through and it made him renowned.

Now he’s about to become even more renowned. All that remains of the moon are seven large pieces hanging up there spinning around. MacQuarie makes some mental calculations and then watches his predictions come true as some of the pieces collide and become smaller pieces. Then he makes some bigger calculations and eventually meets with the President of the United States to reveal his dooming prediction. Over the next two years those pieces of the former moon are going to keep colliding and breaking into smaller pieces in the millions and then billions causing what he calls the “White Sky” when all those small pieces fall out of orbit and make their way towards Earth in what he calls “Hard Rain.”

In a little over two years, the planet will be destroyed, every living thing on it killed in the fires of these lunar meteorites. No one will survive. And the planet has two years to decide how to keep the human race alive in some form.

Hope lies in the International Space Station. Those who are already up there automatically get a “get off the Earth and survive” card free. Over the next two years they will create the Cloud Ark, manufacturing many smaller “arklets” that will be habitats for people. Everything needs to planned and thought out. What supplies will be needed, what fuel, what items they will take with them to remember the history of humanity. Over the two years there will also be a drawing of two people from every country on the planet, the ideal pair representing their nation and culture. Of course, things do no always go to plan.

Neal Stephenson has created a story here that is enthralling in every sense of the word. The research at times is mind boggling as he goes from complex aerospace technology to well calculated genetics to thought out sociology. He literally brings the human race to the brink of extinction. The Hard Rain destroys the planet just as MacQuarie predicted and there are about 1500 people in Earth orbit tasked with the job of keeping humanity alive for the next 5000 years when the rain will finally end and they can possibly return to Earth and begin terraforming.

The first third of the book is about the lead up to the Hard Rain. The second third is about how the survivors survive and deal with the everyday problems of living in a small ship in space and where they’re going to get all their resources from. The final third of the book is what humanity looks like 5000 years in the future.

The book is full of female characters, because women have less of a drain on resources as compared to men, but also because Stephenson is creating a realistic world here and not one where men do everything. Diversity is omnipresent and just part of the rich fabric of this world, as it is in ours. Sadly this is something that has to be pointed out in books that do this well, because there are still far too many that feature nothing but white dudes doing everything.

The cast is interesting and entertaining. The science is fascinating and forces you to turn the page and keep reading. And the story is just a wonderful ride you won’t soon forget. It is the epitome of the ideal work of science fiction and even though its 880 pages, readers will never want it to end.

Originally written on July 31, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.

To purchase a copy of Seveneves from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.

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“Solarversia: The Year Long Game” by Toby Downton (Kindle, 2015)

If you like video games, chances are you’re either a fan of or are at least familiar with massive multiplayer online role-playing games, better known as MMORPGs. There are a lot of MMORPGs out there right now: Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Star Trek, and Warhammer to name a few. Some are hugely successful, some not so much. But what is known is that a lot of people on this planet like playing them.

So it makes sense then that a book about an addictive MMORPG would also be popular; and there have been a few of them over the last couple years, such as Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Reamde by Neal Stephenson and For the Win by Cory Doctorow. Toby Downton is looking to go one step further with more than just a book. But first, lets talk about that book.

The year is 2020 and Solarversia is an MMORPG like no other. It lasts an entire year, as players complete puzzles and obstacles, leveling up and traveling to new places around the planet. By the time the game officially begins, there are 100 million players. As new levels are unlocked by special feats completed by players, they can then travel to other planets to complete further puzzles, culminating in a final showdown on Pluto at the end of the year where there will only be a few players left. The last player standing gets something really special: prize money in the amount of ten million pounds and the opportunity to help develop the next game due to be released in 2024.

Nova Negrahnu is a teenage girl who has been waiting a long time for Solarversia. She was one of the first people to register for the game with her friend, Sushi, and once the year begins, she can’t get enough of it, playing as often as she can and forgoing school work at times. Her parents aren’t big fans of her obsessive game time, but once Nova starts winning some prize money attitudes soon change. It is of course her dream to win it all and help create the next game, but at this point that is little more than wishful thinking.

But the creators of Solarversia also have another big thing to worry about. There is a cult known as the Holy Order whose leader believes an artificial intelligence known as the MAGI will be born from the game and it is MAGI who the followers of the Holy Order believe will come. They plan to sabotage the game and attack its players to help bring forth their new god.

Downton has clearly played a game or two or ten in his life, as a lot of the “game play” in Solarversia feels real, as if it came from an actual video game. His description of action scenes and completing game puzzles and obstacles is exciting and keeps the reader hooked and interested. He has also created a large and complex mythology for the MMORPG which the reader learns about through Nova playing the game and learning its history and back story for its characters and worlds.

Downton’s ultimate goal is to release the MMORPG of Solarversia in 2020, and in the meantime gamers and fans of these types of books can enjoy Solarversia the book for the fun, wild literary video-game ride that it is.

Originally written on August 25th, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.

To purchase a copy of Solarversia from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.

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“Fables Volume 22: Farewell” by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo, 2015)

It’s been 13 long years, 22 trades, and 150 issues, but the end for the award-winning Fables is finally here. Usually, a final book or volume in a series needs to impress you and make you feel nostalgic for the whole story and make you want to start reading it all over again. Fables Vol. 22: Farewell does exactly this, and in fact would also serve as good “hooking” volume for new readers, as this trade gives a little insight into all the main characters and a large number of secondary and minor characters that makes you want to read the series from the beginning and get the complete story.

Fables began with some core characters, most notably Snow White, Bigby and Rose Red, and Willingham has skillfully steered the last couple of trades to come to a climax between Snow White and Rose Red, tied in with their family and history, which is how it should be. But because this is the last trade and the writer and artist know they have a lot to get through to wrap everything up, they take care of the main story fairly quickly and decently.

And then it is on to a succession “The last story of . . .” for many different characters readers and fans have come to know and love and hate and sometimes forget about over the 13 years of this great comic series. The main characters get all their endings of sorts, but because they are fables while it may not be an “and they lived happily ever after” situation, you know they’re at least satisfied with how things turned out for them and their own, at least for most of them, but so do all the small and seemingly insignificant fables readers have come to know, as well as having some interesting questions finally answered. Readers, whether they be new or veteran, will be delighted with this final chapter on Fables.

Originally written on August 28th, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.

To purchase a copy of Fables Volume 22 Farewell from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.

“Fables Volume 21: Happily Ever After” by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo, 2015)

Things are coming to a head in this penultimate collected volume before the final showdown that will conclude the long-running, award-winning series. It is a case of good versus evil, as all great battles are, but the lines are severely blurred between who is good and who is evil.

Rose Red has been reborn as King Arthur, having formed the Knights of the Round Table at the Farm, though her prisoner is not as captive as she thinks. And now she must face her Morgan Le Fay, her villain, who turns out to be none other than Snow White, her sister, naturally. Readers get to see some important back story here with the sisters’ mother, who had her own large number of siblings and according to the way things were, these sisters had to kill each other to gain all the magic, and it is the story of Snow White’s and Rose Red’s mother who changed this.

Meanwhile, Bigby is sort of back. Having been turned to glass and then shattered, he was reassembled with a crucial piece still missing. A woman of immense power now possesses that glass shard and is able to control the big bad wolf, as he rampages around New York City, killing and eating like his fabled legend and being very unlike the kind, loving father we know him to be.

As the crescendo builds, Willingham – as he has done for the whole series – builds the tension and adventure and since this is the end, readers have no clue who is going to make it out alive, if anyone actually is.

Originally written on August 2nd, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.

To purchase a copy of Fables Volume 21: Happily Ever After from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.