Posthuman

by M.C. Hansen

The first great evolutionary leap took mankind to the moon.
The second is going to take us beyond the grave.

Kaufman Striker spent his whole life learning to be unfeeling; it took hanging himself to change that. Ten years ago, he thought he'd gotten away from being the town's peculiar celebrity; thought he'd gotten away from his father's warped ideas about self-mastery, but his dogmatic dear old dad has reached out from the past to continue his education with a letter encouraging Kaufman to take his own life.

For today in Decoy, Nevada, death isn't permanent.

In an underground military facility, a top-secret resurrection project has been sabotaged. Except scientific resurrection doesn't account for everything. Not the bipedal coyotes that stalk the streets or the thousands of missing town's people, nor Kaufman's own subtle “enhancements.”

Part psychological thriller, part dystopian sci-fi, Posthuman is a suspense-horror novel that probes what would happen if science discovered proof of life after death — and then nudged evolution to take us there. With deep themes and a rich, intricate plot, Posthuman has enough twists, turns, and surprises that once you reach the last page, you’ll want to start reading it all over again.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Mystery Thriller

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2019

About the author

M.C. HANSEN came into the world with a great story: he was born in a car (and named after it!). From that auspicious start, Hansen became a storyteller with words and images. He graduated with a BA in Film, has an MBA in Marketing, and works as a creative director, writing and directing ads and narrative shorts. Posthuman is his first novel.
Follow me on Facebook @ authorMCHansen

Reviews

[Kimberly Godwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Landscaper and perpetual trespasser, Kaufman Striker was raised to be detached from people and the world around him. Today, he is futilely attempting to mourn the careless death of a teenage girl who was kind to him when he worked on the family’s lawn. But, his day won’t end with a night in jail but with a note from his estranged father and a noose hanging in his kitchen. Stranger still is that the note is Kaufman’s signed death certificate, dated for today.  

Matthew Sterling is a little boy staying with his aunt and uncle while his mother undergoes cancer treatment at the local hospital. His leg braces and his condition make it difficult for him to socialize or move around but today, he’s going to take his 5 year old sister, Jessica, the distance across town to see their mother. He has a plan that’ll work so long as his guardians don’t realise he’s sneaking out. 

Dr. Hollie Cunningham has been kidnapped by some lunatic with red occult tattoos. Her abduction has to do with the scientific research she’s doing at Newlife Research Facility. Her Project Osirius is on the verge of a breakthrough but first, she has to survive her abductor’s bullet. 

Decoy, Nevada is transformed while each struggle for survival. Birds fall from the sky and animals are contorted into a twisted vision of what they were. Coyotes walk on two legs and stare at them with such hatred and hunger. Is it the religious end of days? Have aliens invaded? Whatever the cause, Kaufman, Matthew, Jessica, and Hollie must survive the end of their world long enough to discover the truth. 

Posthuman is told in third person and shifts between the trials and tribulations of Kaufman, Matthew, and Hollie as they try to figure out what has happened. The atmosphere of post event Decoy, Nevada is odd. The streets are empty, the highway is congested with abandoned vehicles.  The dead are piled in deep ditches and what survivors they find are altered. They are crazed, emaciated, and violently self-destructive. Whatever has occurred has not left the wildlife unmolested- bird dead upon the ground, jackrabbits now twisted heads, red eyes and sharp teeth and the coyotes are bipedal. Hate seethes from these creatures with their newfound sapience and transformation. 

At times, the scenes of violence are seeped in metaphor and simile while others are described in lurid detail to ensure that the reader is not left unaware of the horror that this post-apocalyptic has wrought. Unknown are whether the cause is as a result of the folly of science or if some supernatural terror from beyond the stars has descended upon mankind.

Posthuman has the feel of a science fantasy novel on the verge of something. Hansen's debut novel is full of interesting concepts for how science has gone astray and dabbles in some more religious lore but was a slow build to the discovery. I was a little disappointed that some of his voice was drowned out in comparisons to other things rather than seizing all of the moments to make his vision clear. He does gain more of his own distinct voice by the end of the novel, however.

I look forward to seeing what Hansen has in store in the future. I feel this concept might have been better served as a series or a much longer book. Those looking for a speculative fiction that teeters on the edge of the concept that science and religion can coexist will enjoy this. 

I was provided an ARC by the author in exchange for a review. 

[Summerfire · Rating 2 out of 5]

All stars for Seibu.

This book was a cluster. Let's start with the basics: words misspelled, words used incorrectly, instances where autocorrect clearly changed the word, punctuation, grammatical errors. I was basically rewriting it as I read. I shouldn't have to play madlibs with your book.

Moving further down the rung of complex issues. The EXTENDED philosophical and scientific conversations taking place with people that have been gruesomely tortured and near the brink of death. Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. Also if you TELL me a character is upset but he/she is still carrying on such a discussion with the tortured person...I just don't believe you.

Speaking of things I don't believe: the logical leaps. None of what Kaufman "reasoned" made any sense. There was some extreme stretching to draw the lines from point A to point B. Making jokes about orgasms in front of a child, even if he didn't understand what they were. PROBLEMATIC AND GROSS. Love at first crisis.

Let's talk about Jessica just exploding and apparently being some sort of God/messenger of God (unclear) and Matthew apparently dealing with that by accepting his "new family" after spending the entire book being obnoxiously stupid in his quest to protect his sister. Also, how and why do I keep walking into pseudo-Christian fiction? Be freaking honest if you're going to spring religion on me.

I'm going to stop there, because if I start nitpicking I'm just going to get upset.

The highlight: Seibu in his entirety. He gets both stars. Maybe I'll take one away for MURDERING HIM for the purpose of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Stop killing animals needlessly in fiction 2023. I'm running for president, this is the only plank in my platform.

Finally, I would once again like to point out that there are a huge number of people who would beta read your shit for free if a paid editor isn't cutting it. If you even have one.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and intriguing storyline. Great characters. Well-written. A little hard to get use to the writing style and author tends to “over write” at times, IMO, but over all I really enjoyed the book and stayed invested until the end

[Mason Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Atmosphere, Unexpected Ending, Fast Paced. 

Posthuman was a fun discovery. While not without it's flaws (what book doesn't have some?), MC Hansen is a young writer with a unique genre-blending style and a corporeal, immediate voice.The characters were believable and relatable; Hollie was my favorite and wish she was a bit more present through the ending. Lastly, while I'm not usually a big sub-theme guy, I'll admit this one got me thinking.

Should you give Posthuman a try? If the description intrigues you, then you're in for a good ride. 

[Zoid Poterack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun page-turner with enough horror and science fiction elements to keep me on my toes.

The plot wasn't what I expected at all, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm not entirely sold on the way science and religion were melded, but that might be more of a personal thing rather than any deficiency in the writing. I actually came away from the book caring much more about the protagonist's journey than the scientific and religious themes. I'm a sucker for found family.

Unlike another reviewer, I really enjoyed a lot of the metaphors and unusual similes, though there were also others that didn't work for me. I also felt like the narration worked too hard to "tell" me how the characters felt about each other, even though it was doing a fine job "showing" me that already. I got the impression that this book could have used a strong editor, but maybe I'm being picky.

It's very interesting and an enjoyable read, so I'll definitely be interested in future publications from the author!

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way way way way way too many ridiculous similes and metaphors:
- "as emotionally anesthetized as any lips after dental surgery."
- "bucket quivered like a plucked bowstring"
- "premonition that clung to him like a desperate lover."
- "like the screech of a cat run over and ground into the asphalt with a broken back"
- "Like coroners at an autopsy, the surrounding houses solemn regarded him."
- "as gravity claimed its nemesis and rocketed the lifeless birds to the ground."
- "They sagged like in an ad for weight loss."
- "blood sluiced out of her wound like water out of a stepped-on garden hose."
- "club fell, like some kind of sinister oil drill, bringing up blood and flesh where it struck rather than black gold."
- "Kaufman stood transfixed, as riveted as any hot iron bolt in a steel skyscraper."
- "Yesterday his arm had been rendered as useless as decaf coffee;"

Way way way way way too many abused words:
- deeply-seeded instead of deeply-seated
- curdled instead of curled (twice)
- reign instead of rein
- weld instead of welled
- do-do instead of doo-doo
- ridged instead of rigid
- soars instead of sores
- conformation instead of confirmation
- pallet instead of palette

I could not stand it anymore. I don't care what happens to these people.

[Read Ng · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a GoodReads giveaway of a Kindle ebook.

I was a bit mislead by some of the original synopsis (it has since been updated). This is more of a horror story with a few sci-fi elements tossed in. The first two thirds is all horror. I like some horror, but this was a bit too much without any rhyme or reason. It just seemed to ramble on and on. It did come across as a version of Dante'e Inferno and Hansen even references to Inferno. But I started to become bored with the apparent gore for the sake of gore. The set up was just too long without any clue as to where the story was going.

And then the science fiction portion pops up, but by then I was no longer engaged. I also did not care for the revel of the villain's background. I just did not connect with any of our protagonists.

Overall it was only okay. I did not get the slow and tense buildup of horror, but rather I was just thrown into the pool of gore.

Have a GoodReads.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

MC Hansen’s unique, realistic style of writing got me thinking. Are these “experiments” really happening? And, if so, how involved are our government and military? Upon finishing this book, I’d say “yes” and “heavily”. Take a read and let me know if you agree. Thank you, good reads, for the advance copy.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. As a previous reviewer mentioned, there are waaaaaaay too many over the top similes and metaphors. And while there's nothing wrong with them generally, the fact that there are at least 1-2 every page is excessive. I got about 60 pages in before I gave up. The storyline was relatively interesting, but not interesting enough to be worth dragging through the writing.

[Amanda Sheridan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. Written in a way that made it seem realistic enough to actually happen. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys science fiction for futures that aren't so far fetched you could easily picture it.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

a quick and interesting read, did not end as I expected but still a good book

[jennifer cecil · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and different story. It was not what I was expecting. (I like the unexpected)

[Amber - Eat, Tan, Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science Horror, Body Horror, Extreme Horror

“Something was affecting the very being of every animal species in Decoy that it didn’t kill, something that caused madness as well as created intelligence - something, something. But what?”

“What are we going to find in there?” he asked, noting the hospital, and remembered why they were there. “Nothing you haven’t already seen,” said Hollie, exiting the Humvee. But it wasn’t true. There were plenty of dead bodies; however these were nothing like the corpses Kaufman had seen out in the desert. The remains here were ghastly, like malformed ghouls out of some horror video game. Most of the beds were empty at first, but as Hollie led them nearer the terminal ward, they were almost all filled with the abhorrent forms.”

“This is exactly what he wants,” he said. “He’s been luring us here from the very start.”

“The public library became his land of liberty, and the books his freedom fighters. Every narrative he was able to get his hands on fascinated him, plunged him into worlds that he never knew existed; and yet they mystified him too, puzzled him more deeply than any abstract philosophy. Love and hate were baffling, jealousy confused, and compassion was an alien planet. Indeed, emotions as a whole generally perplexed Kaufman. That didn’t stop him from reading, but in time those stories did reveal just how rice-paper thin and deficient his life was.”

Kaufman was raised to not feel emotion, the people of Decoy, Nevada call him “the Droid”. As an adult he is searching for ways to create any emotional response, he seems to find something there when he flirts with hanging himself from his rafters. But something goes wrong and he accidentally hangs himself for real.
Miraculously, Kaufman awakes on the floor, heart pounding, gasping for breath, the rafter overhead broken. He is not the only remarkable resurrection occurring at that moment. A young brother and sister awake on the edge of a cement aqueduct after drowning and a Doctor regains consciousness after being shot by her kidnapper. It seems the rest of the town however is not so lucky. Something has happened to the town of Decoy.

“Kaufman felt like he was grabbing at rejected storylines from the Twilight Zone for answers. No, there had to be a logical, scientific explanation for what was going on. He just needed to look around some more to find it.”

“You should listen to your brother Jessica, he’s right, I am here to help. It’s a changed world out there. Different from anything you’ve ever seen or known. You need to be careful. Be extra wary of strangers. Don’t trust anyone, because everyone you meet will be jealous of what you’ve become. They’ll try to use you, even hurt you. So stay away.” The man paused for emphasis, “Especially from me.”

“There were people out there. Probably state troopers or the military. They must be setting up a perimeter, playing damage control and preparing to collecting their damn test results. Soon the government would come in and hush up any remaining survivors. They’d call it quarantine, but it meant the same thing. The media would be pitched some red herring to misdirect public attention and any living subjects would be “disappeared.” They would be held against their wills and forced to undergo endless medical experiments.”

A madman gains control of a government genome project and the outcome is disastrous. Written from several points of view. A mix of Sci-fi, thriller, and horror. Be aware this book is dark and graphic, not for young readers or the feigned of heart. I am neither of those and was enthralled and curious through the entire book. Did they really die and come back to life? What is causing the whole town to have gone mad? How far has the madness spread? I had to keep reading in order to answer the questions that kept rising up in my mind. Very descriptive and I felt like I could picture the scenes right in front of me.

“The nearest cities were more than sixty miles away and he knew, felt absolutely certain, that whoever had left those prints wasn’t the source of the blood - but the cause of it; and all at once, a premonition took root in his mind. He was going to meet this bleeder of bodies. Soon. Kaufman just hoped he’d leave that encounter alive. At the entrance of the police station, another massive lake of blood was darkening in the afternoon heat, pooling out from some source just beyond the main doors. There was so much of the crimson liquid that it possible to believe that it might be spilled paint, except the odor was of slaughter rather than latex.”

[Daenon Bronken · Rating 2 out of 5]

“It was the proverbial riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Waking up from his accidental suicide, Kaufman Striker finds the town of Decoy in disarray. The people of the town have succumbed to a mysterious ailment and the animals are hyperaware in a way they haven’t been before. Together with a scientist, two children, and an orangutan, the survivors band together to get to the root of the phenomenon and their changed abilities postmortem.

This story was not my cup of tea. The tone was very scientific, which was apparent in the excessively provided details. The explanations were extensive, and I found myself falling asleep at times while trying to follow along, especially in the beginning and the big reveal from Dr. Murakami. Despite its attention to detail, some components about the plot seemed sloppy and pieced together. A couple of examples include the Gottlich/Shane reveal and the Hollie/Kaufman romance. Touching on the subject of the romance, Hollie and Kaufman’s interactions were akin to soap opera attraction, out of nowhere and out of place. Readers could’ve done without this semblance of a “happy ending.”

One of my favorite parts of the story was the character Seibu, an orangutan that began to demonstrate human characteristics and mannerisms. He was the heart of Posthuman posse with his giggle and his hugs. Kaufman had plans to make sure that Seibu lived a happy and long life, then Shane had to go and kill Seibu. That was the final straw. My only hope was for Seibu to be content with his found family, and I was left devastated.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

First I would like to state that I have received this book through goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank the author for giving me this opportunity and honor in being able to read this book. This book was a very interesting read.I would recommend this book to others. It is a very good read

[Ruby Mcalister · Rating 5 out of 5]

I envy the author

It is definitely a specific type of novel that I read. It was a refined version. In fantasy usually I find a depressing similarity. This is a step up. I hope the author continues to improve.

[Rene Sourisseau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. I enjoyed the authors resurrection concept and the characters developed by this science experiment. The superhuman concept has been done, but the approach in this book is unique.

[M.C. Hansen]

As of 11/10/2022 I've uploaded latest new version of Posthuman (V3).

Kindle owners can update their copies by download the new version anytime. For new readers, I hope you'll give it a chance and let me know what you think.

Cheers!