Richard Dansky

When I picked up this ebook I was looking forward to a creepy sci-fi tale. I liked the informal, true-to-life feel of the dialogue, and also the technical language relevant to the game industry - so thumbs-up to the writing style. What I didn't really enjoy about it was the way soap opera-style relationship drama overshadowed the spooky and sci-fi elements. I don't mind genre overlap at all when it's done well but this just turned into a muddle: pages of tedious argument between the main show more character and his stereotyped love interests (the angry gamer grrl and the girly blonde Cosmo-reading career gal) - and what do they see in this guy, anyway? By the time spooky blue girl started to become a major element I'd already lost interest. show less

I received a free copy from Library Thing in return for an honest review

Also available on Goodreads! http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/583381885

*sigh*

I really wanted to enjoy this one. The concept was really interesting. I mean, a video game character coming to life and wreaking havoc on its creators? Come on, that just sounds like it can be so awesome. And I loved getting an inside look on video game development. My problem? This was more about developing a video game and interoffice show more relations than it was about the actual problem.

We know from the blurb what's going on. We know that Blue Lightning is causing all of these weird things to happen, yet we don't actually get to see her until about halfway through the book. I mean, she's on the cover. You would think she would show up more than she did. I really stopped caring about what happened. It just got so dull and the characters were really flat, I just couldn't continue. I tried, I really did. It seems that I'm giving up on books more often lately, and I don't like that. But let me tell you, had this been a physical book and not on my kindle, it would have found its way across the room a few times because I just got so frustrated.

This book just wasn't for me. It wasn't what was advertised and not what I was expecting at all. I was expecting more action, more to do with Blue Lightning and what I got was just page after page of what video game developers do. I mean, it was cool for the first few pages, and since the author is actually a video game designer, I'm sure he knows his stuff, but I really really don't want to read a whole book about it. It was more a book about game development with a little weirdness going on rather than oh shit there's a blue thing coming out of the computer everyone run with a little bit of game development.

Could have been so much better. show less

Glory be to the literary Gods! The novel is still alive and well in America!

This is a first novel by Richard Dansky, a professional video game engineer and teacher, who lives in North Carolina.

It is also the first book released by a new imprint titled: "Wizards of the Coast -- Discoveries." both of the above have a 100 percent track record.

Dansky's prose follows the literary paths of Flannery O'Connor and James Dickey, while providing a fresh look at the real difference between "home" and "a show more place you pay rent or a mortage on."

Dansky's characterzations are marvelous. Using Papa's adage that "less in more," he paints a pointillistic picture of the preacher, the drug store owner, the black female cop, and Adrianne and Jenna, both of whom I liked.

That's the whole point, I think. There wasn't anyone in the book I didn't like, not even Carl. I think it's an efficient and sharp usage of such characterization to make all those in such a love story as we have here likeable, if not loveable.

It is a love story, you know. Much more than it's a ghost story. If one hails from either the rural South or the mountainous Northeast of these United States, you know what Dansky's doing here. But if you are city born and bred, youi'll probably say "this isn't real," "it screws up at the end," or" he lost me back in the library basement," (or wherever).

Chestertown, New York, about 30 miles into the Adirondack Mouintains, has 500 population. Growing up there and then moving to southern towns, I knew the completeness of the life cycle with our belief in ghosts as departed souls who hadn't finished their tasks in life, and who must wander amongst us until they or one of the living completed that task.

For the city person, this may seem "unreal," and "Promises" for city people seem to be just words, while in the country Promises are kept.

Dansky's language is delicious! Try this opening from the first page of the book:

"I remember a night when I was six years old the way most folks remember their first kiss. Six years old and full of fire, wandering around the house with an empty glass jar in my hand." Instantly, I am six years old again, wandering in my back fields with a glass jar, holes punched in the top, trying to catch worms, a frog or two, maybe even a snake. I have rarely been transported into an author's world with such ease.

I usually read three or four books at once, but from the first line of "Firefly Rain" the only thing that got between me and the end of the book was a night's sleep. I think the last time I did that was with John Irving's "Garp" novel.

I do hope this new bright (young?) voice celebrating our language and our heritage will continue to write and be published. I have been trying to write such a novel for five decades now, and possibly this summer's effort will be such. But I am 65 with four books under my belt, and this young whipper-snapper has written a beautiful story, a classic piece, his first time around!

I do hate him so, but I love his book! show less

This is a good book to curl up with under the covers on a dark and stormy evening. A haunted house, a small-town setting that is both charming and creepy at turns, and a prodigal son returning from the big city years after his parents' death, who gets sucked into it all. Jacob Logan, the main character, has a dry, sardonic wit as he narrates that had me laughing out loud, and was good comic relief in between the spooky bits. He's a believable character particularly in his response to the odd show more events that unfold around him.

My one complaint with the novel is the ending-- it felt a bit too rushed, and something of a letdown. But the novel as a whole was excellent-- slow, delicious buildup to a series of disturbing events, fun characters, witty dialogue, spooky setting and page-turning suspense that will keep you up late turning the pages-- and hiding under the covers. show less