Location: United States
Member Since:
March 25, 2010
brainycat
brainycat's favorite authors on Smashwords
Smashwords book reviews by brainycat
-
The Second Coming
on May 24, 2010
I'm usually not a big on fantasy books, but I'm always a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories. I am so glad I picked this book up. It's intriguing, well thought out and has better characterization than I've come to expect from Major Published Authors. I sincerely hope there is a sequel in the works. There's more than enough material in this book to flesh out a Robert Jordan-esque epic, but fortunately David is much more judicious with his words and is quite enjoyable to read. I don't have anything to add about the plot, setting etc that hasn't been said already. I must say the setting lends itself to an RPG, and once I'd finished the book I mused upon the idea for a few minutes. I will be incorporating some of the memes into an ongoing modern/horror/alternate history/apocalyptic campaign of mine.
-
The Dead
on June 16, 2010
This is a well written story of the christian apocalypse that takes place shortly before rapture and over the next few days. Personally, I like antiheroic points of view so the pro-christian dogma felt a little heavy handed at times, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. The focus is on the interplay behind a handful of friends and family who find themselves together at the family patriarch's funeral when all hell literally breaks loose. The characters each represent a point of view about faith and spirituality; at least the males do. I was very disappointed at the lack of strong female characters; despite being half the cast their entire job is to cry, bandage wounds and die. The characters all blend together in my head. Max stands out as the main protagonist with the most "screen time", and his uncle Buddy stands out because he was such an asshole. All the other characters seem like shades of each other; they only stand out uniquely in one on one conversation but are immediately forgotten again. This may be because they are all white, hetero and middle class. The action was very well paced, but the violence wasn't as gory as I like. The action did keep moving the story along though. There were no steamy scenes, but given the scenario and the pacing sexual encounters would not be appropriate. About half way through the book I realized the main protagonist Max is an allegory for Jesus in the days before his crucifixion, and I was able to wade through the author's sermons because I was looking forward to the next reference. I wasn't disappointed, and the climax wherein Max all but cries "Why hast thou forsaken me??!?" was very well played. Even though I found myself rolling my eyes at the christian point of view, the story is well constructed and the writing solid despite the weak characterization. I made a point of finishing it to claim the moral high ground; I may not agree with the points the author wants to convey, but I'm man enough to listen to all of them.
-
Under the Amoral Bridge
on June 16, 2010
This is a solid, but not groundbreaking cyberpunk adventure. Gary doesn't tread too far off the genre's beaten path, and for most of the book the action and dialogue (though not the vocabulary; sed -e "s/cyberpunk/SomeGenre/g") could be set in any noir story from Renaissance Europe to the far distant future. It's a quick read, and it's full of likable characters. It doesn't suffer from the drawbacks typical of episodically published stories. Each installment flows well into the next, with no unnecessary recaps or useless cliffhangers: thankfully, this book reads nothing like Charles Dickens. The denouement feels like it's tacked on; almost like Gary lit a neon sign on a drizzly evening that says, "Second Novel: Here!" with a huge flashing arrow to the only plot point he left unresolved. I like slimy, narcissistic antiheroes and Amoral Bridge delivers. He's not a total douchebag, he operates by his own moral compass that's tuned to a darwinian inspired nihilism I found myself relating to: Everybody wants to do something nasty and vile to somebody else. Everybody! They're all fucking shitheels with disgusting, immoral, vicious desires buried in their tiny, miserable souls just waiting for an excuse to get out. The sooner it gets out and they all burn themselves up in a fiery orgy of self-destructive gluttony, the happier I'll be. Humanity as a whole is a miserable gaggle of self-pleasuring apes ready to crack you over the head and steal your fucking bananas. This book is a great introduction to cyberpunk for people who might not usually read scifi, and for diehard cyberpunk fans it's a great way to spend a couple of nontaxing hours. I read the smashwords edition, and it suffered from the usual deficiencies that all their epubs have, but was generally well rendered on my reader.
-
Apex Magazine Issue 10
on June 16, 2010
It's been a while since I read this issue, but you cannot go wrong with this magazine IF you like your horror and/or scifi dark, creepy and edgy. The release of a new Apex is something I look forward to every month. I have not been disappointed yet. Sure, some of the content is stronger than some of the rest of the content, but I haven't been disappointed by the selections at all.
-
Apex Magazine Issue 12
on June 16, 2010
I finished this issue a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't take any notes so I can't really speak to specific stories. But I will uniquivocally say you cannot go wrong with this magazine IF you like your horror and/or scifi dark, creepy and edgy. The release of a new Apex is something I look forward to every month. I have not been disappointed yet. Sure, some of the content is stronger than some of the rest of the content, but I haven't been disappointed by the selections at all.
-
Crimson Velvet - Erotic Stories from the Stately Homes of England
on Aug. 04, 2013
A pair of new stories from Vanessa de Sade. In this collection, the author maintains the stellar standards we've come to expect from her. Ms. de Sade is one of the most sophisticated writers of contemporary erotica, seamlessly blending vanilla and taboo eroticism with complex characters while avoiding cheap prurience.