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Muscle Memory 2: More Muscle, More Memory!
Kirk Cameron! Terry Bradshaw! Matt Lauer! Sheep attacks! Shitty diapers! Talking babies! It's all here in the continuation of the New Bizarro Author Series comedy Muscle Memory, from Steve Lowe.
“I hope to be reading serialized parts of this story for the rest of my life. I love this shit, man. It’s almost too awesome for words… Two thumbs up.” - Caris O’Malley, author of The Egg Said Nothing
“I was finishing it up in the elevator at work this morning and trying hard not to laugh out loud at Kirk Cameron’s dialogue so I wouldn’t look like a psycho laughing to himself. Then, just as I compose myself, I look to my right, and this dude has the most beautiful mullet I’ve ever seen. I mean it was just perfect. Then I remembered Kirk Cameron’s mullet from Growing Pains, and I lose it. I lower my head and make this weird farting noise with my mouth, then bust into this retarded sounding giggle. Mullet just glared at me.” - Kevin Wallis, author of Beneath the Surface of Things
“I hope to be reading serialized parts of this story for the rest of my life. I love this shit, man. It’s almost too awesome for words… Two thumbs up.” - Caris O’Malley, author of The Egg Said Nothing
“I was finishing it up in the elevator at work this morning and trying hard not to laugh out loud at Kirk Cameron’s dialogue so I wouldn’t look like a psycho laughing to himself. Then, just as I compose myself, I look to my right, and this dude has the most beautiful mullet I’ve ever seen. I mean it was just perfect. Then I remembered Kirk Cameron’s mullet from Growing Pains, and I lose it. I lower my head and make this weird farting noise with my mouth, then bust into this retarded sounding giggle. Mullet just glared at me.” - Kevin Wallis, author of Beneath the Surface of Things
- GenresBizarro Fiction
72 pages, ebook
First published July 18, 2011
35 people want to read
About the author
Steve Lowe
12 books198 followersSteve Lowe misses riding Big Wheels in the cul-de-sac. He is the author of a handful of Bizarro books, including MUSCLE MEMORY, KING OF THE PERVERTS, and YOU ARE SLOTH! Hey, look! That's him over there! No, the other way. Yeah, that's definitely him.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 8, 2011
Great sequel...so much better than that awful looking movie,"The Change-Up" could ever amount to. Do they have Terry Bradshaw, Kirk Cameron, or Matt Lauer? Nope they do not. They don't even have an alien machine or weird switch-a-roo mess-ups. However, this book has all that and then some. So, if you liked the original Muscle Memory and have been jonesing for a sequel, look no further than Steve Lowe's blog -----> http://steve-lowe.com/ It'll be worth it since it's much more entertaining and best of all free!
August 8, 2011
Holy Jeebus this was awesome! If you--like myself--found Steve Lowe's "Muscle Memory" to be an amazing but horribly too short read, then this serialized sequel is just what you need.
I needed it. And I got it.
Hard.
This sequel is every bit as good as the original, and is every bit as funny, and heartfelt too. Everybody is here for the second round: Edgar, Terry Bradshaw, Kirk Cameron, Little Rico, and the rest.It is pretty incredible. In fact, it weirds me out how much I enjoy this world Mr. Lowe has created. But I don't care. I could read this stuff forever.
and, if for some reason you have not yet read the FIRST Muscle Memory, I highly suggest you do so now, before 2012 has us all using books as toilet paper or firewood.
I needed it. And I got it.
Hard.
This sequel is every bit as good as the original, and is every bit as funny, and heartfelt too. Everybody is here for the second round: Edgar, Terry Bradshaw, Kirk Cameron, Little Rico, and the rest.It is pretty incredible. In fact, it weirds me out how much I enjoy this world Mr. Lowe has created. But I don't care. I could read this stuff forever.
and, if for some reason you have not yet read the FIRST Muscle Memory, I highly suggest you do so now, before 2012 has us all using books as toilet paper or firewood.
August 23, 2011
A direct continuation of Muscle Memory that was written for the fans of the first and distributed by the author. It picks up at the ending of the first book with the main character now stuck in his five month old infants body. When everybody looks to you to get things done, it can be a little hard to get their attention at first when all you can do is shake your little baby arms. But, once it is clear on who he is, then madcap adventures to fallow. Although, I thought it was a little tame this time around. The author still has a very clean and responsible writing style, but missing from this was all of the characterization and side stories that made the first as enjoyable. We get a straight forward escape, some clever dialog, and a couple quest appearances, but I never really though it moved forward or added anything to the overall story. The only thing that really stood out was how well he was able to write the descriptions of what it would be like to be trapped in a baby's body. Hopefully the author is not done with this because this felt like it was only the middle part of the story. And I'll be looking forward to reading the ending.
August 10, 2011
Sigh.
Well, taken with the first part, they make a good novella. In fact, taken together, it would work as an excellent addition to the NBAS series. Taken separately ... they feel incomplete.
I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth (and huge props to Steve for posting this online for free and encouraging the folks who read the first part to read this too!), still some of it felt rushed and I remembered thinking, as I started it, "Hmm, this could use some tightening up." The episodic nature of the second part left me wanting. I don't know if I bought that these were the same characters from part 1.
Or maybe it's just been too long since I read part one and I should keep my mouth shut.
But yeah, Muscle Memory 1 and 2 need to be combined, possibly tweaked just a bit, and then the ending will be as satisfying as it should be.
But at least this ending works well!
Well, taken with the first part, they make a good novella. In fact, taken together, it would work as an excellent addition to the NBAS series. Taken separately ... they feel incomplete.
I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth (and huge props to Steve for posting this online for free and encouraging the folks who read the first part to read this too!), still some of it felt rushed and I remembered thinking, as I started it, "Hmm, this could use some tightening up." The episodic nature of the second part left me wanting. I don't know if I bought that these were the same characters from part 1.
Or maybe it's just been too long since I read part one and I should keep my mouth shut.
But yeah, Muscle Memory 1 and 2 need to be combined, possibly tweaked just a bit, and then the ending will be as satisfying as it should be.
But at least this ending works well!
November 8, 2011
FUCKING AWESOME!!!!! "I nothin', bitch. You need to go back to Cruise and tell that glib punk ass that the Lauer ain't playin' this shit no more. Bitch wants a fight, he needs to bring his little five-foot-two ass and a stool so he can step the fuck up." Best quote ever! For anyone who was read Muscle Memory, you need to read this like right fucking now. Its only forty goddamned pages. AND its free....so go already...well? What the fuck are you waiting for?
August 28, 2011
WARNING: The following review contains spoilers from the first
Muscle Memory
. My review for that book can be read here.
Do I take the blue pill and forget any of this ever happened, or do I take the red pill and see how far down the rabbit hole goes?
There's been something of an epidemic in films lately, although some could argue that it's a problem that's always been there. I refer to it as the Matrix Syndrome. Filmmakers create a great standalone film, one that is fantastic and could even be argued as a classic. That is, if they left it alone. These filmmakers decide that, rather than having the one great film, they want to turn it into a franchise, and they produce sequels that are not only terrible films, but are so bad that they tarnish would have otherwise been the sterling legacy of the first film.
When Steve Lowe announced that he was working on a sequel to Muscle Memory, I was understandably worried. Had the Matrix Syndrome infected the literary world as well? The first Muscle Memory was a very good book, with an unusual take on the body-swap meme. At the same time, it was also story of Billy's self-discovery, and of his own obliviousness of his wife's condition (postpartum depression) which he didn't realize until it was too late. It was an excellent standalone book that couched a certain appropriate emotion impact within a bunch of craziness and general silliness.
So, having read the sequel, has the Matrix Syndrome affected Muscle Memory? Yes and no.
In the first Muscle Memory, Billy swapped bodies with his wife, who had poisoned him the night before, so he was trapped in his wife's body, and his wife was now presumable in his dead body, or had been. Nearly everyone in their town had switched bodies with someone, usually whoever they were closest too at the time, while their neighbor Edgar swapped bodies with one of his sheep. You can interpret that how you want to. It ended with a machine that had supposedly cause the whole thing (at least, according to Terry Bradshaw) being switched back on, which would theoretically switch people back. Billy expects that he'll be put back in his now dead body and therefore be dead. It ended with him seeing a blue flash of light.
Muscle Memory 2 picks up right where the first one ended. Since both books are told from Billy's perspective, he obviously didn't die. Instead it appears that rather than putting everyone back where they were supposed to be, it just swapped everyone again. This meant that while several people were supposedly put back as they remained close to the one who they switched with, other swaps wound up occurring instead. We have the return of several characters and references, particularly Terry Bradshaw, Kirk Cameron, and Agents Tim and Joey from the now kinder, gentler FBI,and we even get an appearance of a very gangsta Matt Lauer (portrayed in such a way that I'm now wondering if Steve Lowe had some kind of personal run-in with Lauer that left him with a bad taste in his mouth). I can't go into much without spoiling this book given its short length, but suffice to say craziness and silliness ensue, and with more intensity than the first book.
The problem is that Muscle Memory 2 doesn't have the emotional impact that the first book had, and a lot of the silliness seems to be there for the sake of being silly and nothing else. I'll admit that I did chuckle out loud at Matt Lauer's portrayal. The author raises more questions than were answered. While not everything was answered in the first book, it still felt like we knew what we needed to know and it remained satisfying. Muscle Memory 2 raises questions that feel like they need answers that we're not given, and it left me feeling a little empty. Things also get more serious and intense that it felt like it actually dampened part of the fun that could have been had.
Don't get me wrong. Muscle Memory 2 is not a bad book by any means. It's still a fun read. But I could take a page from the movie “The Weather Man” and describe it as fast food. It may taste good, but at the end it's not really nourishing. Overall, it's not bad and doesn't tarnish the first book's legacy, so it doesn't suffer from the Matrix Syndrome, but it is disappointing when inevitably compared to the first book. I'm not sure if Steve Lowe is planning on writing a third book. As many questions and situations that came up during this book, this feels like it needs to be a trilogy, even at the risk of full-blown Matrixitis. If he does, I hope he takes a little more time to write it, as this book felt a little rushed and that some of these problem could have been dealt with with a little more time and editing.
Muscle Memory 2 earns three out of five stars.
Do I take the blue pill and forget any of this ever happened, or do I take the red pill and see how far down the rabbit hole goes?
There's been something of an epidemic in films lately, although some could argue that it's a problem that's always been there. I refer to it as the Matrix Syndrome. Filmmakers create a great standalone film, one that is fantastic and could even be argued as a classic. That is, if they left it alone. These filmmakers decide that, rather than having the one great film, they want to turn it into a franchise, and they produce sequels that are not only terrible films, but are so bad that they tarnish would have otherwise been the sterling legacy of the first film.
When Steve Lowe announced that he was working on a sequel to Muscle Memory, I was understandably worried. Had the Matrix Syndrome infected the literary world as well? The first Muscle Memory was a very good book, with an unusual take on the body-swap meme. At the same time, it was also story of Billy's self-discovery, and of his own obliviousness of his wife's condition (postpartum depression) which he didn't realize until it was too late. It was an excellent standalone book that couched a certain appropriate emotion impact within a bunch of craziness and general silliness.
So, having read the sequel, has the Matrix Syndrome affected Muscle Memory? Yes and no.
In the first Muscle Memory, Billy swapped bodies with his wife, who had poisoned him the night before, so he was trapped in his wife's body, and his wife was now presumable in his dead body, or had been. Nearly everyone in their town had switched bodies with someone, usually whoever they were closest too at the time, while their neighbor Edgar swapped bodies with one of his sheep. You can interpret that how you want to. It ended with a machine that had supposedly cause the whole thing (at least, according to Terry Bradshaw) being switched back on, which would theoretically switch people back. Billy expects that he'll be put back in his now dead body and therefore be dead. It ended with him seeing a blue flash of light.
Muscle Memory 2 picks up right where the first one ended. Since both books are told from Billy's perspective, he obviously didn't die. Instead it appears that rather than putting everyone back where they were supposed to be, it just swapped everyone again. This meant that while several people were supposedly put back as they remained close to the one who they switched with, other swaps wound up occurring instead. We have the return of several characters and references, particularly Terry Bradshaw, Kirk Cameron, and Agents Tim and Joey from the now kinder, gentler FBI,and we even get an appearance of a very gangsta Matt Lauer (portrayed in such a way that I'm now wondering if Steve Lowe had some kind of personal run-in with Lauer that left him with a bad taste in his mouth). I can't go into much without spoiling this book given its short length, but suffice to say craziness and silliness ensue, and with more intensity than the first book.
The problem is that Muscle Memory 2 doesn't have the emotional impact that the first book had, and a lot of the silliness seems to be there for the sake of being silly and nothing else. I'll admit that I did chuckle out loud at Matt Lauer's portrayal. The author raises more questions than were answered. While not everything was answered in the first book, it still felt like we knew what we needed to know and it remained satisfying. Muscle Memory 2 raises questions that feel like they need answers that we're not given, and it left me feeling a little empty. Things also get more serious and intense that it felt like it actually dampened part of the fun that could have been had.
Don't get me wrong. Muscle Memory 2 is not a bad book by any means. It's still a fun read. But I could take a page from the movie “The Weather Man” and describe it as fast food. It may taste good, but at the end it's not really nourishing. Overall, it's not bad and doesn't tarnish the first book's legacy, so it doesn't suffer from the Matrix Syndrome, but it is disappointing when inevitably compared to the first book. I'm not sure if Steve Lowe is planning on writing a third book. As many questions and situations that came up during this book, this feels like it needs to be a trilogy, even at the risk of full-blown Matrixitis. If he does, I hope he takes a little more time to write it, as this book felt a little rushed and that some of these problem could have been dealt with with a little more time and editing.
Muscle Memory 2 earns three out of five stars.
September 3, 2011
In my myopic scope of what I consider good literature, it goes without saying that sequels = dumb. Seriously, Harry Potter is like 40 years old now. Give it up. That is why I found Muscle Memory 2 so pleasing. Finally, a sequel that doesn't suck.
A blink of a read, like its predecessor, Muscle Memory 2 picks up right where the first one left off. Yes, #2 lacks the subversive interpersonal tension that I enjoyed so much the first - but what it lacks in satirical relationship drama, it more than makes up for by just being FUNNY. Once you get to the Matt Lauer part, you'll know what I mean.
I wouldn't exactly call this novella "necessary", but since when does a book have to be necessary to be good? Contrary to what you might have learned in high school, reading is supposed to be enjoyable. In that regard, Muscle Memory 2 delivers tenfold.
Plus, this book is FREE and it's apparent to me that Lowe was providing us with some fan service - a chance to visit with the characters from the first and see what other nonsense they're about to get into. For the price, you'd be an asshole to ask for anything more.
A blink of a read, like its predecessor, Muscle Memory 2 picks up right where the first one left off. Yes, #2 lacks the subversive interpersonal tension that I enjoyed so much the first - but what it lacks in satirical relationship drama, it more than makes up for by just being FUNNY. Once you get to the Matt Lauer part, you'll know what I mean.
I wouldn't exactly call this novella "necessary", but since when does a book have to be necessary to be good? Contrary to what you might have learned in high school, reading is supposed to be enjoyable. In that regard, Muscle Memory 2 delivers tenfold.
Plus, this book is FREE and it's apparent to me that Lowe was providing us with some fan service - a chance to visit with the characters from the first and see what other nonsense they're about to get into. For the price, you'd be an asshole to ask for anything more.
August 9, 2011
A nice conclusion (?) to Muscle Memory. This time around we have a baby entering into an adult body and vice versa and appearances by Terry Bradshaw, Matt Lauer (I never realized he was such a bad ass), and Kirk Cameron. I don't know if this installment marks the end of this tale, but the ending is more satisfying than the first book. Plus it has a great football related comment, "fuck the Cowboys". :)
August 10, 2011
Not since Men in Black II have two govt investigators had such a wacky crowd along during an assignment -there're a couple body switched pet dogs here but the real animal in charge is unfortunately for everyone, the neighbor's sheep, and the feds aren't telling where they hid the neighbor away so things are a little perplexing but not to worry this is a family story deep down, maybe 6ft down, but still - who's counting?
August 12, 2011
Mmmm, yummy words, still hungry
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews