J. Hamlet's Blog: Scarred Earth: A Serial Novel, page 3
May 1, 2014
You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me (Books: My Favorite Movies)
You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes by Nathan RabinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is a glorious mess. I mean that in a good way, mostly. I definitely enjoyed it, but even Rabin admits that the book he set out to write when he embarked upon this deceptively complex project is not what he ended up creating.
Part ethnography, part musical criticism, and part gonzo journalism in the Hunter S. Thompson mode, the pieces that Rabin has grafted together don't necessarily fit. That tension, though, gives the narrative a weird energy. His anecdotes and reflections from following Phish around for a few weeks, attending two Gatherings of the Juggalos, and sinking into a drug-fueled quasi-breakdown are hilarious, depressing, and cathartic at the same time.
I picked up this book for a few reasons. I have long enjoyed Rabin's extensive work for The Onion's AV Club. His "My Year of Flops" series was a revelation of sorts. I won't lie, I was also Phish fan back in my teenage years (the late 90s) around the same time a lot of people in my high school were very into ICP. I went to a couple of Phish shows and only understood the layers on a surface level. Given that Rabin's journey takes place mostly in 2010 and after, it's a different time for both scenes than when I was familiar with them but that only piqued my interest.
Obviously fans of both Phish and ICP can find plenty in Rabin's account to be upset about, especially his obsession with the drug aspects of both subcultures, but he becomes more sympathetic as he learns more about both groups and becomes a fan himself. That his sanity, relationship, career, and finances come under siege as a result also offer an interesting source of inner tension. It's unfortunate that so much of the book is comprised of lengthy drug stories. While some of the stories are great, the sheer number of them and the number of pages Rabin dedicates to them seem like overkill. Rabin also spends more time in his head cataloging his thoughts and reflections while giving mere tastes of the surreal spectacles happening around him. That was the sort of account I hoped to find in this book and it was sparse.
I certainly wouldn't recommend this book to everyone. It is, after all, a heady critic's journey through two disparaged/reviled subcultures as while having a deep, personal crisis. If that doesn't sound like your thing, then don't proceed further. That said, if you like any of Nathan Rabin's other writing or you're feeling morbidly curious about what fans of these groups must be like, then it's definitely worth a read. I approached this rambling story with that curiosity, and I walked away feeling more or less satisfied.
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You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes
By Nathan Rabin
April 23, 2014
Miracle Man (Books: My Favorite Movies!)
Miracle Man by William LeibowitzMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The beginning of Miracle Man feels very compelling. As we learn about the mysterious origins of the main character and child prodigy Robert Austin, there seems to be no limit to his phenomenal intelligence. Shadowy bureaucracies begin to try to shape his destiny, and it seems clear that his supreme intellect has downsides that plague Bobby with terrible nightmares and unsettling trances. These sections hook the reader, and ask lots of big questions about how our society and the world would react to a genius of its kind. More compellingly, it wonders how many geniuses we may have missed out on because they were not given opportunities or were written off as having mental health issues. Bobby’s loss of many supportive figures in his life is also poignant, and creates good obstacles that shape Bobby’s character. The inner conflicts within Bobby as he struggles with his psychological problems, the burdens and responsibility of his intellect, and the illusive balance he seeks in his life, also raise many interesting questions.
Overall, this book is clearly worth a read as it does create a sort of cerebral superhero in Bobby, complete with a lot of intriguing socio-economic ideas as good science fiction/fantasy often does. It also has a refreshing sense of cautious optimism in believing that someone with the intelligence of Bobby could change the world in the way he goes about doing. He even triumphs over a lot of bureaucracies, institutions, and antagonists that would prefer he not succeed. It’s refreshing in many ways because it would be much easier to paint a purely tragic and pessimistic arc for these sorts of ideas, as much fiction usually does.
Still, there were a lot of things that hold this story back. As Bobby progresses towards adulthood the narrative loses some of its steam. Bobby remains a compelling character, a scientist who grapples with his own personal demons as he produces miracle cure after miracle cure, but many of the key characters could use more development. Some of the more interesting scenes are actually when these characters get to interact outside of Bobby’s orbit, but there are precious few of them and the narrative could have benefited from more so that the reader gets a sense of who these people really are.
The story also gets tangled in a lot of red herrings and subplots that don’t pay off too much. The author has important points to make and questions to ask about forces that would be opposed to the radical progress Bobby brings through his scientific breakthroughs, but ultimately does not do much to represent these forces. A contingent of anti-science fanatics targets Bobby, as well as an over-the-top, villanous pharmaceutical executive. These antagonists generate tension and conflict, but do not really amount to much plot-wise until the very end. Bobby’s struggles with himself and living his life prove much more interesting than these subplots, which makes them feel all the more incomplete. There are also a fair number of copy-editing errors that made their way into the final draft that sometimes took me out of the book. All in all, though, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.
DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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Movement 1: Weeds and Thorns - #14
CHAT: JULES, ME
Jules, we saw the news. The Black Sphere, the Tarrare, they’re gone. They’re saying all the defense fleets are shot down and the Aliens are attacking. You’ve got to get home
Dad, I’m here. I’m alive. Are you okay?
Nothing’s happened out here in the suburbs. It’s safe here. What's happening? Where are you?
I was at the Senator Alvez rally, the one at the old Houston space center museum. Right before the rally we heard the Black Sphere got blown up. There was an explosion. Those new Alien ships flew over us. They’re flying circles over the city dropping bombs and shooting everything. My friends, Senator Alvez, almost everyone died
Julia, are you safe? Who are you with? Where are you?!
Not sure. We're in a car, some woman named Sandra found me and 2 other people and she's driving. but we’re stuck. Planes keep flying by and there’s lots of noise. We can tell if what’s flying by us is us or those Aliens. There are blown out buildings and cars everywhere. The national guard is trying to evacuate the place and people are getting killed everywhere. I heard something about orbital strikes hitting everything around here
Julia, get back to the house. We've got a basement and some emergency supplies, we can take shelter, wait for this to pass
Dad, I'm getting texts from all over the place. Everyone I know. They're taking out every city. Something crazy is happening in New York. The basement isn’t going to do it. Sandra says she knows a place
We'll stay hidden. It'll be fine. It'll be over eventually, it has to, just get home.
Dad, I don't think this is going to be over. This is, it could be the end. We live right outside of Houston, dad. Houston is on fire! Most of it’s gone. They’re saying to evacuate everything, even the suburbs near the city. You’re not going to be safe
Stay calm, Jules. Don't talk that way
They blew up the Black Sphere! Nowhere is safe
Jules, please. Please come home. Do it whatever way you can. Use your interface. You should only be about 10 km away. You can walk it or run it. You don't know what this Sandra person might be planning or where she might be going
We can’t get back to you, Dad. We’re on the other side of the city and we’re heading to New Mexico. We can’t drive back, it’s a war zone. Sandra said she knows something about some government place. I'll send it to you. You need to get there. You need to join us there
Jules, there's no way to know if that's true or not. This Sandra person might be crazy. You can't trust her.
Jules, are you there?
Jules, this place is hundreds of kilometers away, there's no way any of us make it there.
Jules?
JULIA?!?!
Julia, we love you. Please be careful, text me as soon as you get this
Image Credit:
April 16, 2014
Movement 1: Weeds and Thorns - #13
The thumping music pulsing from inside plucked at Alex Vine’s impatience. Armond Ramirez was next to her, tinkering with his Pax microwave gun. Nikki Rune emerged from her patrol car to join them. All three were suited up in vests and helmets. “You ready?” Alex asked. More sirens, booms, and crackles were heard in the distance. The city was bursting with crazy after the news of what was happening in orbit hit. Traffic on most roads out was completely jammed.
“As long as you take point,” Armond said. Alex huffed, keeping her tactical pistol ready. Nikki had a Mendoza caseless SMG. Alex guessed she’d loaded it with null rounds like she had. They were “non-lethal” in the most generous sense of the word. They’d all been told to expect resistance and had prepared accordingly.
“Shame it’s come to this,” Nikki said, surveying the block. Most of the other bars were closed, barriers up. The one owner who’d cut out too fast hadn’t pulled the gate all the way down and “customers” had taken over.
“You weren’t on the force when we had those riots,” Armond said. “People lost it when the Tarrare first appeared. New Aliens, same shit. I have a feeling the Tarrare brought this on us, whatever it is.”
“There’s a time and a place and this isn’t it,” Alex said, tired of Armond’s copy-paste rants from the most paranoid parts of the feeds. “I’ve heard all of it too many times, especially the thing about harvesting people to make them into bio-weapons. Skip it, will you?” She was scanning the block with her interface. No other major disturbances other than the drunken-disorderly, breaking-and-entering, and theft combo platter happening in the bar. Her helmet’s sensor identified 23 people in the bar, only two of them armed with any sort of firearm. Both were low-powered handguns.
“So you’re saying the Tarrare have something to do with these other Aliens?” Nikki asked, committing the cardinal sin of wanting to know more.
“Has to be! They’re either friends coming to help the Tarrare finish the job on us or enemies coming to wipe both of us out,” Armond said. “The World United Council sold us all out, entangled us in all sorts of alliances with aliens against other aliens for scraps of their shiny new technology. We’re on all sorts of kill lists out there and never even know.”
“Let’s just get this done,” Alex said, shutting the conversation down and looking up at the sky. She couldn’t see anything with her naked eyes except a few streaks. Even those she could be imagining from the flickers in her immersive interface. “I want to get home.” She’d debated even responding to this call. She could’ve driven her patrol car home, grabbed her kids, and disappeared with the patrol car and all the supplies and weapons it had inside. More and more, she thought she’d made a mistake by not committing egregious theft of government property.
“Can’t argue with that,” Nikki said. The trio of cops approached the door of the bar, the hinges and lock on it broken along with a window. Suddenly, the thumping music stopped and they were hit with the sounds of a newscast blaring through all of the speakers.
“All right, people,” Alex said, entering with her gun raised. “Even when things are like this outside, you can’t just break into a closed bar and help yourself to the goods.” The first thing she noticed was that everyone was obviously wasted, people helping themselves to whole bottles of liquor from behind the bar and entire pitchers of beer. The second thing was that they were all transfixed. The place was a sports bar, as she could tell from all the vintage Bears, Blackhawks, and Cubs paraphernalia. Its displays were impressive, covering the walls and the center of the room in holographic projections and interactive graphics.
“The Tarrare spacecraft is about to engage the incoming fleet along with every military fleet that could be mustered at a time.” one announcer's voice boomed. “We should be able to bring you direct image from the optics of nearby satellites soon.”
“This isn’t happening,” was all a woman at a table next to Alex said. Her eyes had gone to saucers, a drained bottle of red wine next to her. Another woman next to her was trying frantically to message someone in her interface. The others all looked like they’d wandered into the bar, people who’d just gotten off from office jobs or left the gym.
“What was that you were saying?” A broad-shouldered man behind the bar said with a distinctly european accent. He was dressed in a tracksuit and drinking whiskey straight out of the bottle. From the blood and bruises on his knuckles and the baseball bat he’d left sitting on the bar, he looked like the one who had the bright idea to break in. “Are you going to arrest us for helping ourselves to a drink when the world’s about to end? Seems like an awful waste of time to me, officer.”
“Something like that,” Alex said. From the information on the displays, she was rapidly losing concern over this bar situation. She tried to focus on what they were watching. The displays changed to a mix bag of shots from Earth and shots from space, supplied from satellite optics. Everything was distant, but there were lots of fiery shapes. “That’s more than I thought it would be,” Alex said. All of the intel the department had given them had suggested this would be an attack, but nothing on a scale like the satellite images pointed into space showed.
Both Armond and Nikki had fully lowered their weapons to gawk along with the rest. The space-battle the satellite optics could show them began, distant bursts of light and objects fragmenting into pieces. Swarms of minuscule objects were fighting and attacking one another. It was paired with heavy flares in the sky from the earth-stationary newscast cameras as the sides engaged.
One display shifted its image, a satellite’s optics getting a really close and detailed view of the Tarrare ship. The Black Sphere was taking a beating. “The Tarrare seem pretty advanced, but how much punishment do you think that thing can take?” Nikki asked.
“I'm starting to think not enough,” Alex said. All of her police feeds exploded. They began playing the same message, and Alex could scarcely believe it as she read it. She wondered if it was local, then she saw it wasn’t. It was coming through the federal, UAS-wide emergency feed. “Problem,” Alex said. “I just received a general evacuation order.”
“What, for where?” Armond asked, trying to pull up his own interface. “For all of Chicago?”
“For everywhere,” Nikki said, reviewing her own feds.
“A large number of small Alien warships seem to be breaking off,” another newscaster said. “We have no idea where they’re headed, but we’re getting word that there are evacuation orders.” His voice was rising in alarm. “People are being told to evacuate all major cities. No indication is being given of where people should go, but they’re being told to evacuate as soon as possible.”
“It’s over,” the broad-shouldered man behind the bar said, smashing the whiskey bottle on the ground. Alex thought about asking Nikki and Armond what they should do. She didn’t get a chance. The ground shook, followed by a wall of fire and flashes. Alex lost her hearing after some pitched screams and a loud boom that blew out her eardrums. She had the sensation of air under her, of being hurled and tossed in a sea of debris and wetness as heat and pain followed. Darkness and weight overtook her.
“Nikki, Armond?” Alex said, her own voice coming out muffled, barely audible. She shoved a a bunch of brick, fibers, and insulation off her body. She was outside, torn fragments of buildings all around her. The bar was gone, broken and scattered with the remains of all of the other nearby buildings. The street was even cracked, the road opened with vein-like tears.
She saw the source of the damage. It was about the size of a large plane, crashed face-down into the middle of an apartment building. It had an outer shell of charged and bumpy metal, dents, scrapes, and holes punched through it. It was like a tube with branches of what looked like weaponry jutting out of its sides and small wings that looked like rough fins. The color of it was blackened green, plume of foul smelling gas pouring out of it. It had crashed only around 50 yards away and had caused the explosion.
She looked around for any sign of Armond and Nikki. Hands and feet were sticking out from under debris, buried and still. One other person who seemed to be alive stumbled onto the scene. Alex had no idea where she’d come from, but she didn’t look too dirty so it must’ve been from a few blocks away.
“What the fuck,” she said, looking at Alex. Alex realized she was drenched, her body covered with a combination of beer, liquor, and blood.
“We have to get out of here,” Alex said. Her gun was gone, but she didn’t care anymore. With what he’d just seen she wondered if any gun would do her much good. The gas from the crashed Alien ship was causing him to tear up and choke, her insides spasming. The staggering stranger nodded her agreement as they fumbled away. Crackling booms all around them popped their ears as the sky filled with even more flashes and streaks. As Alex wandered away with the stranger, she heard a screech from the direction of the crashed Alien ship. From the way the pitch wavered, shrill and atonal, she knew it was not human. She also knew it wasn’t friendly.
Credit:
NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
April 2, 2014
Movement 1: Weeds and Thorns - #12
He set his interface to keep the alarmed headlines off to the side. If they were to be believed secret armies of Tarrare were appearing and taking over cities as their secret invasion had finally begun. Or, worse, that orbital bombardments were already underway from these new hostile Aliens. It was the panic before the real panic.
Omar dismissed it all. He only cared about the messages he’d been sending to his daughter’s school. None of them were receiving a response. The social media accounts of the school were swarmed with worried parents, all receiving worse than silence. Whoever was in charge was telling people they were assessing the situation and were waiting to hear back from state and local authorities. Not something that filled him with warm fuzzies. Omar was standing in a building full of the biggest and most powerful officials in the world, and they were all as dumbfounded as his daughter’s teachers and administrators.
The chamber doors opened, Sihs-Jin ambling gracefully down the hallway on his thin legs. The Alien looked distracted, his many fingers from his four forearms up in the air and touching at unseen things. He was deep in whatever wild interface the lenses over his compound eyes told him. “Fuck it, I’m asking him,” Omar said to Nitika.
“Not a good idea,” Nitika murmured, trying to follow Omar as he went to catch up on Sihs-Jin. By all indication, the bug was headed to the exits.
“Maybe I should spend hours pondering what a good idea might look like and be like everyone else in this crazy-house,” Omar said. “End up dying in a hail of fire and dust or unknown Alien goop like they all probably will.” Sihs-Jin was the only one that had real answers. The bug turned around, stopping. He clearly sensed Omar coming and prepared to address him. “What just happened in there, Ambassador?” Omar squeezed his Sunfire thermal assault rifle. If anything, the Ambassador was honest. He’d learned that over time. He felt like he’d earned answers. “What are we dealing with here?”
“Over the last many years, you have both been very good at your assigned tasks as my security detail,” Sihs-Jin said. “Despite the fact that such a thing was completely unnecessary, I have enjoyed your company. I have learned so much about your culture and your civilization from our conversations.”
“I’m sensing a lot of past tense here,” Nitika said.
“Oh, it speaks now?” Omar asked her.
“Everything’s else is changing today, so why not?” Nitika seethed.
“If you both want to live, I recommend that you follow me. I am prepared to offer sanctuary to both of you. If that option does not appeal to you, I suggest that you both abandon your posts immediately. Time is very short. This city will either be overrun or non-existent within a day,” Sihs-Jin said.
“Anyone else I would ask them if they were serious,” Omar said. “But I know you well enough by now to know you don’t have any other setting. So these other Aliens, whoever they are, they’re going to break through everything and wipe us out?”
“They are called the Ehvow. They will breach all of our combined primary defenses,” Sihs-Jin said, starting to move. “The effort will probably reduce the size of their invasion force substantially, but they will have sufficient forces to begin an occupation of this planet. They will seek only to inflict as many casualties as possible. We may not be able to escape the city entirely before the attack begins. If you choose to follow me, be prepared to defend yourselves. If we see Ehvow soldiers, keep your distance. That is critical.” Sihs-Jin increased his speed, Omar and Nitika desperate to keep up.
“Soldiers?” Omar asked. “They’re going to land ground forces? Dammit, I have to go find my daughter. Moment of truth, Nitika. What are you doing?”
“I’m following the ambassador is what I’m doing,” Nitika said. “He knows more about this than we do, and I intend to take him up on his offer. If this city is about to be leveled, I don’t want to be in it when it happens. Sounds like this is the only way we regroup and fight back. I don’t have any family here, just a job that looks like it’s about to obsolete.”
Omar wondered what he had to do. It was an impossible situation. There was his daughter. His brother. Both somewhere out there in the city. The feeds told him his daughter’s school was still in denial. Maybe his brother could meet him there and the three of them could try for it. “Ambassador, I appreciate your offer, but I have to go. My family …”
“I understand, Omar,” Sihs-Jin said. “Believe it or not, my own race has very strong social and familial bonds, different though they may be from yours. For this effort, I recommend that you abandon that weapon. Should you encounter Ehvow, it will be highly ineffective.”
“This?” Omar said. He held up his Sunfire. “This is supposed to be one of the best, most advanced guns we have out there, and you’re saying it’s going to be useless.”
“Advanced is not always a superior option,” Sihs-Jin said. “I detect an armory on your main floor five. Several of your outdated HK Thunderbolt models of caseless assault rifles are located in storage there with a variety of armor piercing ammunition. Those will be far more effective against the Ehvow than the Sunfire rifle. I would explain why this is so, but we do not have sufficient time. Just know that their weapons will penetrate structures, armor, and many forms of battlefield cover. You should only engage if you have no choice. And, I will re-emphasize, keep your distance. Even if you succeed in killing them. This is very important.”
“Advice is advice,” Omar said. “And considering the source, I won’t question it. No matter how goddamn unreal all of this is.”
“I wish you the best of luck, Omar,” Sihs-Jin flicked a few hand gestures. Omar received a series of messages in his inbox. “I just transmitted several sets of coordinates to you, as well as multiple routes to those locations. If you escape the city, I suggest you find your way to one of them. They are close and we have determined them to be low-risk. I have also sent to you both an early version of the intelligence materials on the Ehvow we’re preparing for your militaries. There is no time to review it now, but should you survive that knowledge will prove essential. Nitika, I recommend you go with Omar and retrieve an HK Thunderbolt rifle as well. I will wait in the loading dock area of the building for you.”
“Do you need any weapons from the armory?” Nitika asked. “Since we’re going there anyway, and all.”
“No, I am quite well-armed already,” Sihs-Jin said. Omar looked at the thin layer of material and blinking lights all over the Tarrare ambassador’s body, wondering what technological violence it could unleash. He’d always assumed it might be armor of some kind, but he clearly didn’t have enough imagination when it came to Alien tech. “As my size makes taking your elevator difficult, I will utilize the stairs.”
“Ambassador,” Omar said. “Thanks.” Sihs-Jin nodded his head with his flexible, segmented neck. It was the one human mannerism he’d picked up so far. Nitika and Omar stepped on the elevator and took it to the middle secure level to get to the armory.
“You think anyone’s going to be on duty there?” Omar asked.
“Nope,” Nitika said. “We’re the most hard-working motherfuckers in this place. If we’re abandoning ship, you can bet all the admin people and check out desk officers at the armory are long gone.”
“I hear that,” Omar said. He shifted in his boots. Advisory messages appeared in his interface about the subway experiencing delays from everyone crowding the platforms. That plans was gone, and he already knew the roads would be a disaster. His feet already hurt from standing all day, but he knew he was about to be doing a lot of walking. For once, he was glad he’d skipped his PT this morning. He’d need all the energy he could get.
Image Credit:
March 26, 2014
Whiskey Tomato Foxtrot (WTF) Sauce
Like Vodka sauce, but not really. Ripples emphasize thickness and consistency of the sauce.
I came up with the name for this sauce because I was told that calling something vodka sauce without putting vodka in it was unacceptable. Not that this is some teetotaler sauce, it just has whiskey instead. I like the touch of sweetness. The instructions below are for a double-dose as I like to freeze leftovers for later, but you can half it if you only want a few servings. Down to business!
Gear:
Pasta pot
Large saucepan (I recommend 6-8 quarts unless you plan to half the recipe)
Food processor or Blender
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, chopped
3-4 shallots, chopped (depending on size)
Salt and black pepper
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon of Za'atar (particularly this Za'atar)
Two 28-ounce cans italian peeled tomatoes
4 ounces aged gouda
1/4 cup light cream (sometimes I do a big dollop of cream cheese instead)
1 pound penne or other tubular cut pasta
1/3 cup bourbon (doesn't have to be the good stuff by a long shot)
1 tablespoon butter
Substitution Ingredients
Note: These aren't nearly as fun.
Large onion in place of shallots
Italian seasoning in place of Za'atar
Parmesan in place of aged gouda
Heavy Cream in place of light cream (if you want it thicker and creamier)
Phase One - Prep
1. Chop up the shallots and garlic.
2. Add peeled tomatoes and parmesan cheese to blender or food processor along with za'atar and crushed red pepper. Blend/process until you achieve a chunky but still sauce-like consistency.
Phase Two - Sauce
3. Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the shallots and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot is soft and begins to brown, about 15 minutes.
4. Add the tomato-sauce mixture from Phase One, raise heat to boil mixture, then reduce heat to medium-low or low so that the mixture simmers steadily, and cook, stirring occasionally and partially covered, for 10 minutes.
5. Add whiskey, then sauté for 30 more minutes to an hour. This is a judgment call as you want the sauce to reduce and thicken but it's a matter of preference how much you want to achieve on that end. I prefer 45-60 minutes, but the sauce will be tasty and ready to eat at 30 if you're pressed for time.
Phase Three - Pasta
5. While sauce is simmering during step 4, bring water in a large pasta pot to boil.
6. When water comes to boil, salt it generously and add the pasta.
7. Stir the cream and butter into the tomato sauce, and turn off the heat.
8. When the pasta is al dente—usually after 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the package instructions—drain the pasta. Toss the pasta with the sauce. SERVE. DONE.
March 23, 2014
Artificial Absolutes (Books: My Favorite Movies)
Artificial Absolutes by Mary FanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for the Masquerade Crew.
Artificial Absolutes attempts no small feat by fusing a cyberpunk thriller and a space opera adventure. Mary Fan largely succeeds with this ambitious task, weaving together a compelling thriller with interesting characters that is a good foundation for a series of novels to come.
Artificial Absolutes follows two principal characters, Devin and Jane Colt. They work corporate jobs in the family business, a powerful outfit called Quasar on a sophisticated and developed Inner Core planet. Neither of them have great love for their jobs, and both labor under the thumb of their overbearing father Victor Colt. Devin has a shady and possibly blood-soaked past, the prodigal son who turned his life around to burn what's left of it as a soulless executive. Nursing guilt for past misdeeds, Devin tries his hardest to be the “good son.” Jane dreamed of being a musician and a composer, but after those dreams eluded her she surrendered to the expectations of her family and took a job as a low-level drone. She craves something unpredictable, anything to break up the monotony of her existence.
The action starts when Devin goes to propose to his pop-star fiancee and she freezes, literally. Wondering what's going on with her, he launches an investigation into her past and uses his underworld connections to find out more. At the same time, Jane's close friend Adam is kidnapped right before her eyes. She narrowly escapes, wondering what could have happened to him and what the motive could be for snatching a poor seminary student of the futuristic religion known as Via. Soon a conspiracy becomes apparent as records are faked, evidence disappears, and technology turns against them. Framed for multiple crimes he didn't commit, Devin becomes a fugitive as his investigation starts to uncover troubling details about his fiancee. Jane forces herself along for the ride.
Evading warships, hiding out in seedy space stations, and visiting planets ravaged by lawless civil war, the Colt siblings realize that they face a malevolent and dangerous force that all the hackers are calling No Name. As No Name is a villain that can manipulate any technology and bend all the information in the galaxy's Networld against them, the Colts are outgunned and running for their lives. The plot turns and twists as more and more layers come off of the conspiracy behind No Name make Artificial Absolutes reminiscent of classic techno-thrillers in the grand cyberpunk tradition. The Colts' galaxy-trotting adventures also bring some space opera flavor to it all, but some of these locales are far more fleshed out and detailed than others. In any case, the plot is an intriguing and exciting one. Even if some of the twists are a bit predictable, others come right out of left field. The actions of the Colts and their allies manage to outmaneuver No Name and how No Name manages to strike back in devious ways gives the story a lot of momentum as the conspiracy begins to come into focus.
The Colts themselves are also well fleshed-out characters. Both are given journeys, but very different interior ones. Jane gets the wild adventure she's always wanted and more, and goes from being merely a brash tagalong to a resourceful adventurer in her own right. Devin manages to face and conquer some of his past troubles and guilt, emerging on the other side as someone who finds himself after all he has faced and suffered through. This novel is an excellent starting point for both and I look forward to seeing where the author will take the characters next after this introduction.
The novel does have some issues, though, and they are intertwined. The author has a tendency to unfurl a character's entire backstory right upon introducing them. This makes the first few chapters of the book exceptionally difficult, as it feels like all backstory and exposition and can make the reader feel overwhelmed or bogged down. This continues to happen at a few select points throughout the book, as certain key enemies and allies alike of the Colts are given this sort of treatment. While some of this is unavoidable, Mary Fan is actually quite skilled at providing interesting details and implications about the characters' lives through their actions and dialogue so much of this exposition seems unnecessary. Further, it often derails the pacing and suspense of the plot by diving into flashbacks at crucial moments when so much is going on in the story. This never really becomes a major flaw, but the novel could have benefited with some streamlining and from Fan simply relying on her skillful deployment of dialogue, character interaction, and implication to get the job done.
I recommend Artificial Absolutes to anyone that likes a good cyberpunk or adventure story, as it really works as either. It has solid characters and a fine-tuned plot that will keep the pages turning.
View all my reviews
Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt)
By Mary Fan
February 26, 2014
Hand of Chaos Blog Tour - THE GRAND FINALE
Hand of Chaos (Chaos Theology)
By J. Hamlet
My novel Hand of Chaos is finally going on its long overdue blog tour. Here are ALL The links. Be sure to pick up your copy of Hand of Chaos for its new low price of $1.99!
Susanne Matthews, Blissful Blog
Say What Savannah Mae Kickoff Post
The Seattle Post Intelligencer also ran a copy of my interview.
Sylv Jenkins, Author
Sunshine and Mountains (REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY)
My Journeys Into Pure Imagination
I Feel the Need, The Need to Read (REVIEW - 5 BOOKS!)
Just Call Me the Girl with the Spider Tattoo
Say What Savannah Mae (Interview)
Blogcritics Review (REVIEW)
Say What Savannah Mae (REVIEW)
BeanieBrain Reader (REVIEW AND GUEST POST)
Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts And Reviews (Guest Post)
Platypire Reviews (REVIEW - 5 PLATYPIRES!)
And that's that! Pick up your copy for the new low price of $1.99.
Hand of Chaos Blog Tour (And Sale!)
Hand of Chaos (Chaos Theology)
By J. Hamlet
My novel Hand of Chaos is finally going on its long overdue blog tour. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I'm currently running a Kindle countdown deal for $0.99! It's only going to last for a week, so get your copy while you still can.
On to the tour! I will update the links as they come in, but here are the first few:
Susanne Matthews, Blissful Blog
Say What Savannah Mae Kickoff Post
The Seattle Post Intelligencer also ran a copy of my interview.
February 25, 2014
Overture: Broken Light - #8
"We’ve done far too little in far too much time.” The final Overture entry.
Scarred Earth: A Serial Novel
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