Matthew Wayne Selznick

Brave Men Run has some of the best characterization in any of the podiobooks that I have listened to. The setting is excellent and the prose is easy to follow. Excellent book all around.

Brave Men Run is an interesting take on the superhero genre. It follows Nate Charters--an outsider with an unusual appearance and special abilities that he must keep secret--as he deals with the daily trials and tribulations of high school. Then Dr. William Donner appears on the scene, declaring to the world that super-powered humans exist and they are demanding autonomy. Before long, Nate finds himself caught up in a world entering the Sovereign Era and the confusion of learning the truth show more of where he came from and what happened to his father.

This is my first exposure to a podcast novel turned into a published one. I've never really been into the whole podcast fiction thing. It's not that I don't think there's value in them, it's just that I've never found them particularly interesting and some of the key players have become, in my opinion, a bit full of themselves, which really irritates me when it comes to writers. There needs to be a lot more humility in the podcast community.

But none of this really influenced how I felt about Brave Men Run coming in. Brave Men Run is a fairly short novel, clocking in at 227 pages (with a fairly large typeface). The one thing that should be made clear about this novel is that it is not an action-packed superhero story. Brave Men Run focuses on the characters, putting them first and the events happening in the world second. This is, for me, a different approach to the genre: I'm used to explosions and superhero battles; this novel isn't about such things, but about what these characters go through as the world around them changes. All of this is a strength for Brave Men Run. Selznick has managed to create a character-driven story about people with special abilities (and their friends and family). The characters are fairly realistic and the story progresses at a pace that seems worthy of their struggles.

I think calling Brave Men Run's vision part Stan Lee (as one of the blurbs on the back says) is misleading, because this is not a story about superheroes living daily lives. Nate isn't a superhero, and he doesn't really want to be one either. He has gifts, but he is not running about saving people or blowing up buildings. I'm not sure what you'd compare it to, because I have little exposure to stories like this. I think this goes with the territory these days: we're seeing more novels put out there that take cliche elements and drag them into areas not usually explored. We have vampire novels that have little to do with the popular blood-sucking renditions and now a novel about extraordinary people living normal lives.

The only problem I had with Brave Men Run was the beginning. The first few chapters failed to grab me immediately primarily because the writing style is simplistic. The writing isn't bad (there are some noticeable flaws), just straightforward. The more I read, however, the more I found myself interested in the characters and what was going on. This is a novel that grows on you, and it all has to do with the characters, who seem to become more life-like the more you read. Selznick has put together an entertaining story, if not a little flawed.

All in all, it was a good read. Maybe we'll see some more of Selznick in print in the future. If you're interested in Brave Men Run, you can find it for sale at Swarm Press (or Amazon, etc.). Matthew Selznick also has a website with plenty of other fiction you might want to check out. show less

While it was not quite what I expected I liked "Pilgrimage". This book revisits Nathan Chambers a year after the events in "Brave Men Run". While 1 year has gone by for the protagonist, 5 years have gone by for the author.

When an author returns to a setting after a few years, the new book is often in a different style than the first. This is certainly true for "Pilgrimage". While there are still touches of 80's nostalgia (the story is set in an alternate 80's) there is more focus on how it show more is different from our world.

From the beginning of "Pilgrimage", Nathan is reluctant to join the Sovereigns. This was a let down at first, because learning more about Sovereigns was something I was looking forward to.

Another change in style the author made was using multiple Points of View to explore not just how Nathan has changed, but how the world has changed with the introduction of Sovereigns. We do get to meet Sovereigns who go to Donner's Institute, and in fact we get to meet Donner himself.

For those who liked "Brave Men Run", keep reading till at least the Byron Teslowski's chapter and I think you won't be disappointed. show less

This coming of age story set in the 1980s is told from the point of view of a young teenager who has grown up knowing that he is different from other people, with special abilities that he keeps hidden. What he isn't prepared for is finding out that others like him exist--and what he thinks he knows about his own life isn't completely true.

I started listening to this as a free podcast from Podiobooks.com, and ended up buying a copy for myself and one for my nieces. Selznick does a good job show more of writing realistic teenage characters and his tale of a misfit kid will resonate with anyone who felt different growing up (even if we didn't turn out to have special powers, darn it).

I subscribe to a couple of different podcasts from Selznick and hope he publishes another book in the Sovereign setting. show less