Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled by Frank J. Fleming (Keangrooview, 16-March-2018)
#Pulp-Rev Fans,
This book is for you. You'll love the nonstop action, the cynical wit, the dialogue, the characters, the fantasy elements fused with high-tech computer coding and just-for-fun video-gaming.
Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled
"Starts off in a world much like our own, where the woman in HR sets you up for a date with a demon slayer, and the boss holds human sacrifices in the basement. And then it gets weird."--Michael Z. Williamson, author of the Freehold Series
Never underestimate a squirrel - or a computer programmer.
Terrance Denby sees a squirrel on his way to work one day, which inspires him to take a path he's noticed but never taken before. "Off the beaten path" takes on new meaning as a computer programmer starts noticing other things he's never paid attention to before. Like, his evil boss. We've seen the devil horns in "Dilbert" cartoons, but in Terrance's workplace, his boss even has hooves. But nobody seems to notice.
Until one day something really inhumane happens, and while others seem not to react, Terrance does. He cannot ignore the screams of a woman who (spoiler deleted). Of course, this marks him as a troublemaker.
And once he starts noticing the first thing that's "off," he notices more things. Things beyond "mere existence."
Quirky Characters
Terrance, his coworkers and friends, the villains and the maybe-villains, maybe-not, are colorful, comical, and authentic.
In a "Big Bang Theory" kind of way, geeky office guys manage to score dates with awesome women. Like Shannon. She's a perky blonde wearing a full suit of armor with helmet and sword, and she loves video games, comic book heroes, and science fiction, AND she hops into bed with Terrance on the first night. (Did I mention this novel reads like fantasy?)
Strange and Mysterious Page-Turning Happenings
Shannon is Sister of Torment; she and the women in her club "serve the Darkness.” Terrance doesn't like to think about unpleasant things, like his hot girlfriend possibly beheading "villagers" for real, not just as part of some game. So Terrance just chooses not to think about, or act upon, a lot of the crazy things that happen.
Like the thumping from his downstairs neighbor when things get loud in Terrance's apartment - which is on the bottom floor. Who, or what, lives below the bottom floor?
Lots of Great One-Liners!
Office Humor,
He poured himself some coffee, careful to leave a little bit so he didn't feel the need to make another pot, and quickly left the break room.
Bachelor Humor,
He had actually washed the sheets in the last month.
Friends Humor,
He lived in the apartment above Terrance, which was the main reason they were friends, since they didn't really share any interests and were nothing alike.
Cynical-Snarky Humor,
... running around fighting evil without health insurance
Guns don't kill people. People with mustaches kill people.
Guy Humor,
Sexism is never going to end as long as it equals free booze.
He always thought about telling Karen off, but since she was dating his best friend and was a coworker, that would probably cause more problems than the momentary relief would be worth. Instead, he changed the subject.
It was a heaavy pressure, someone else looking to him for answers... He thought he could tell Karen the truth, which was that he was clueless, but he didn't want to scare her.
he couldn't help but feel like he was the "special" kid whose self-esteem they were trying to improve.
Profound insights,
Things like that change you - somewhere deep, somewhere permanent and beyond the world. Pictures and memories fade, but the greatest things we experience in this world are part of who we truly are, and they last forever.
Of course, it takes a great character arc, a classic hero's journey, before these insights are attained. We begin with an ordinary guy who handles conflict by shrugging it off.
He was a computer programmer; if something needed to be done about evil, then that seemed like someone else's job.
There was something great and evil out there...but he wasn't sure if that concerned him.
This place seemed to exist outside of the regular world, which felt like something he should be concerned about.
And...page by page...he not only becomes more concerned, he starts feeling a need to do something about it.
"Everything just seems...wrong."
"Haven't you felt that way since Firefly was cancelled?"
Have you ever had a dream during which you realized it was a dream?
...Do you continue noticing what you ignored before?
...Do you try to put your mind back to sleep and accept the dream as real?
He really didn't know what to make of it, but he decided to worry about it another time, as he really did have work tomorrow.
He couldn't stop it, so there was nothing he could do other than learn to tolerate. To deaden his outrage to such things.
More-Profound and Philosophical Insights,
This one is my favorite:
"It's only complicated when you know what you must do and don't want to do it."
"What do you do if you think your girlfriend is evil? Do you confront her about it? I mean, I really like her, but it just doesn't seem like I should let that go."
Your eyes are open, but you're still not ready to see.
...there is a lot people don't see--don't want to see
Yes, it is complacency that this thing wants...It will only consume us if we let it."
Science is only concerned with the things of this world...It ignores the magical things.
...confirming what we know in our hearts to be true. Our true selves know these things well, but that is who we've lost touch with. That's why you're here: you know something is wrong, and you want to do something about it.
...that's what this is all about: finding out who we really are.
It's fun to see the pre-modern, pre-tech world of magic and fantasy seep into the logical, high-tech world. If you're not a fan of the fantasy genre--if you insist on hard science fiction only--this story might frustrate you. How can fairies, demons, under-worlds, mermaids, and magic swords exist alongside computers and super highways?
The story kept me turning pages, even though I normally don't read this genre. Fleming's wit and endless one-liners kept me laughing and wanting to know "what next" - a question I never dare ask in real life, but in fiction, it's fun to find out.
If you need a good laugh (and I do, always), Frank J. Fleming will deliver.
Print Length: 425 pages
Publisher: Liberty Island (February 27, 2018)
Frank J. Fleming is an American novelist, satirist, humor columnist (New York Post, USA Today, Pajamas Media), scriptwriter, author of several Broadside e-book originals for HarperCollins Publishers,
(
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and a Carnegie Mellon University graduate.
He still has a day job as an electrical and software engineer, and a family, but he's also the founder of political humor website IMAO.us, and he's known as a a pioneer in virtual reality video. His debut novel Superego earned a rave review from me at Perihelion Science Fiction in 2015.
Find him at Goodreads, especially here: Ask the Author: Frank J. Fleming
Find him at Twitter: Frank J. Fleming @IMAO_
I'll even give you some sneak previews, because I'm just that nice:
@IMAO_ Know what would be a great name for the sequel to Ready Player One? Ready Player One 2.
@IMAO_ I keep hearing the Ready Player One novel referred to as Young Adult, but wasn’t all the nostalgia in it aimed at people in their mid thirties to late forties?
@IMAO_ It's actually vaguely creepy the amount of data you can get on your email reads. That's why I download offline copies of all my emails to a computer, disconnect from internet, and then print them out and read in a dark room using night vision goggles. Track that, Groupon!
Here is an excerpt from my review of Superego:
In my daily perusal of ebooks I auto-ignore arrogant billionaires, feisty redheads, and mail-order brides, but “genetic" always gets my attention. So does quirky and light-hearted. There's no way I'd resist a question like this:
“Can a genetically engineered psychopath grow a conscience, get the girl, and save the galaxy? Two out three ain’t bad."
Hmm. Too many psychopaths get the girl, but how many grow a conscience? I had to give Frank J. "Nuke the Moon" Fleming’s novel a try. I'm glad I did.
“Most people develop some sense of right and wrong during early childhood—Freud called it the superego—but I never did,” says the hero of “Supergo.” Rico Vargas of Riga isn't a man so much as a science experiment. Thanks to gene modification in utero, he is born with super-fast reflexes and exceptional intelligence, logic but little emotion, and oops, no morals.
“I don’t think I was the intended result of the experimental program,” he says, “and it’s informative that I’ve never heard of them making another attempt.”
This is no hitman with a heart of gold, but Rico can be really funny, when he's not reminding us repeatedly that everyone bores him. Why do so many people find emotionally detached, antisocial anti-heroes endearing? After Jeff Lindsay’s “Dexter” I’ve come to resent the trope of the lovable psychopath. So why did I read another novel about one? (And how dare I like it?)
The voice of Rico somehow keeps me turning pages. People live in the illusion they’re happy because they never bother to really think things out? He got that right.
What keeps me reading more than any other factor is an author who can make me laugh. Rico has never even voted before. Sadly, that kind of apathy is far too universal, at least in the USA, and no pathology appears to be involved. Rico doesn’t care enough about anything to vote, but he has killed lots of politicians, “which is taking an even more active role in politics.”
--Wait. Did I say that made me laugh? #NotLaughing, I swear! (Nor spending too much time on Twitter. Honest.)
This may not be a good time to quote another Rico-ism: “You hardly ever see real honesty in the universe. Nothing scares people more.”
Q: So, does Rico overcome his genetically engineered psychopathy?
A: See my full review in the April 2015 Perihelion Science Fiction ezine.
I'm done being mad at Amazon.
I wrote my review there first, hit "submit" and forgot to copy it first and paste it over here. I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for them to make up their mind on publishing my millionth book review. Ok, more like 400 Amazon reviews all told. Still. It forced me not to be lazy, and to go ahead and write the longer Steemit-Exclusive review.
Still. Amazon.
Any one-star bandit can sabotage an author's ratings with impunity, but if someone has been caught retweeting or worse, liking another author's posts on Facebook, the review is Disqualified because it is not "impartial" if a review is written by an acquaintance, or heaven forbid a friend.
I'd simply vow never again write reviews for Amazon, but they have their ways of buying my loyalty. The love/hate endures. And one of these days, I might get my books delivered by drone. (I'll be sure to duck.)
Until next time,
Keangaroo
because Kean sounds like Kane (not keen, hint, hint)
@keangaroo at Discord
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