Mel Odom (1) (1957–)

Part Blade Runner, part I, Robot the story is set in the world of the LCG "Android : Netrunner" with Drake 3GI2RC, a boiroid working as a Detective in the NAPD.

How to truly describe the focus of the story... conspiracy, conspiracy, and more conspiracy! Who are foes, who are allies?



Drake truly stirs a gigantic hornet's nest in this cyberpunk/crime/science-fiction novel with fast-paced action almost from the very firs chapter. Full of twists and turns, and bodies dropping from left to right, show more it's a roller-coaster until the very end. Yes, by that point what was only hinted at is pretty obvious but still, one hell of an ending!

Having the story told from a bioroid's point of view is interesting and refreshing though it did sometimes come across as too simplistic. Still, it's something to see him come to grips with what is happening all around him. I can not wait to start on the next book.

Sure, there are better sci-fi novels out there but it still tickles this closet-geek girl's fancy. show less

The third in this series, this one was by far the best. Much more inspirational and even heart-tugging at times, I felt that Odom really succeeded in conveying the struggles that those left behind faced and how they were viewed as radicals for expressing the word of God and how it portrayed the truth of the Rapture. I was amazed at how this book almost mirrored current events with respect to stating one's beliefs and experiencing social persecution as a result. It really makes one think.....

Hella and her mentor/partner, a humanoid bison named Stampede, are hired to guide a professor and his heavily armed crew through the Redblight, a wasteland in what used to be Oklahoma. The dangers of the Redblight are many, including various raiders, mutated creatures and an armadillo biker gang. What the professor is searching for remains a mystery to Hella. The whole contract stinks and the guides are second guessing the wisdom of accepting it.

I'd always liked the idea of TSR's Gamma show more World, a post-nuclear role-playing game that managed to be silly enough not to be depressing. I was happy to see Wizards of the Coast was not only reviving the game, but releasing novels set in that world.

I wasn't so excited to find out that the first Gamma World novel was being written by Mel Odom. My previous experience with Mel (another book based on a game, Hellgate: London: Exodus) wasn't a good one. That was also a game world that could have supported some very interesting fiction, but I just could not get past Mel's writing. It lacked even the most basic description and he tended to be repetitive with his phrasing.

I have to say, Mel's writing was much better this time out. Maybe he was under less editorial pressure. Maybe he's just improved as a writer. Either way, the description was lots better and the repetition that broke my suspension of disbelief was nowhere to be found. It wasn't brilliant writing, but at least it got out of the way as I read.

Today, the idea of global thermonuclear war seems kind of passé, so Gamma World's back-story/setting has changed significantly. In 2012, the Large Hadron Collider implodes causing multiple realities to intrude on ours. Society collapsed, geography changed and all sorts of strange and mutated creatures were set loose. And even now, a hundred and fifty years after what came to be known as 'the Big Mistake', reality has not quite settled down. 'Ripples' appear from time to time, opening temporary (and usually one-way) doorways onto other realities. The idea was unique, I admit. But I missed the nice, old-fashioned post-nuclear wasteland. Not that I'm blaming Mel for that.

Overall, Sooner Dead was an okay, enjoyable bit of pulp fiction. The story and its characters were entertaining enough. The plot rolled along smoothly and Mel did an okay job at laying out the newly ‘reimagined’ Gamma Terra.

It wasn't outstanding, but I didn't want to quit the book either. I wouldn't strongly recommend it, but I wouldn't warn a potential reader away. If the new Gamma World sounds interesting to you, you’ll probably enjoy the book well enough. If Mel wrote sequels I would probably pick them up. I do hope future Gamma World novels are a little stronger though. show less

As a reader of the Left Behind series and the first book in the Apocalypse series, I felt this one fit in fairly well with the Rapture as originally portrayed by LaHaye/Jenkins. I don't think Odom builds as strong of characters as LaHaye/Jenkins did, but he does manage to bring forth the trials and tribulations of "Goose" Gander and his wife Megan as they struggle to survive in a post-Rapture world. The side story of naval chaplain Delroy Harte's struggles makes for compelling reading as show more well. This one doesn't pack the emotional punch that the original series does, but is still an inspirational read nonetheless. show less