Brett James

Part Starship Troopers and part Matrix, this is a solid indie effort. Mr. James was kind enough to mail me a printed copy of his book in exchange for an honest review. First, a word about the book itself...

Apparently, Brett prints and binds these paperbacks himself. He does a gorgeous job of it. The text is printed in an easy to read font, each page incorporates a cool and unique page-numbering system, and the front & back covers have fold-out wings that can be used as book-marks. Very nice!

I also enjoyed the story contained within. The writing style is direct and moves the plot along fairly quickly. The opening is very reminiscent of Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". From there, it quickly veers into its own territory though. Peter Garvey, the main character, is easy to identify with. He is the 'all-American' style of protagonist that signs up to go defend his world after an alien attack. Of course, military life isn't exactly what he was expecting. Especially when there is a deeper mystery lurking in the background. I could tell early on that there would be a twist at the end but, until it arrived, I wasn't entirely sure how it would pan out. Once we got there, I thought it was handled pretty well.

My only quibble with the story is that there is almost too much action. That's sort of a strange thing to complain about considering how many books suffer from an excess of exposition but, in this instance, with one hair-breadth escape after another, it started wearing a bit thin after a while. Without introducing spoilers, I can see how the action is integral to the plot but I was wishing for a little more character development and world-building along the way. Nevertheless, if you like SF stories with lots of space battles and a mystery to solve, you should get this book. I found it to be an entertaining read that I blazed through in only two days. And, I'm sure I will read this again someday.… (more)

The Deadfall Project is a fast-paced spy thriller that, for an indie release, is decently self-edited, (only a very few issues with sentence syntax and word choices).

Grey Stark is an aging semi-retired CIA operative banished by the agency to France after a major operation he was running in Berlin went sideways. He's been cooling his heels in Paris since just before the fall of the Berlin wall. Now, as his wife is divorcing him, he gets an assignment that may just be an indication of his exile coming to an end. Before you can say, "Jason Bourne", Stark is up to his neck in trouble and on the run with everyone after him.

Plot-wise, there aren't too many surprises here but the fun is in the journey and I did find this to be an entertaining read. The whole thing is a bit cartoonish but moves along at a breakneck pace that doesn't give you much time to stop and nitpick the plot holes.

A quick and enjoyable 400 pages.… (more)

My Nook Simple Touch said this was 23 pages long. It was actually 9 pages – everything after that was a sample from Brett James' The Drift Wars, which I opted not to read. I do not appreciate it when a large percentage of an e-book file is really an advertisement for something else, although at least my records tell me Rats! was one of my freebie downloads.

Rats! follows Jama'al, an exterminator from a long line of exterminators, as he participates in a hunt that could make or break his company. Twenty years ago, wild rats interbred with genetically modified super rats, resulting in enormous, intelligent, and deadly rodents that forced people to rethink food storage and distribution. Food is now delivered in armored cars. FOODex Direct's Staten Island storage facility is one of the largest food repositories in the world, and Jama'al's company oversees their pest control. The facility's latest infestation has taken out three of Jama'al's exterminators, so he has to suit up and go in himself.

This story would probably make a good scene in an action movie, but it's all explosions and no brains. I'm familiar with rats. Although I've never had to deal with an infestation, thank goodness, I've read a lot about them, I've owned pet rats, and I spent several months researching rodent control. I found it difficult to believe that the lab researchers from 20 years in Jama'al's past were so stupid as to cage their genetically modified rats in ways that allowed wild rats to get to them. Also, I'm pretty sure those genetically modified rats would have killed any of the wild rats that entered their territory.

In Jama'al's time, it's apparently no longer a rule that, if you see one rat, there are probably many other rats you can't see. The three he was hunting were it, and going after them with a rifle and some explosives was not considered wasteful and ludicrous overkill. Even though he destroyed tens of thousands of dollars worth of food.

If Michael Bay wrote a story about rodent control, the result would probably be something like this. Although maybe the big, infodumpy section explaining how the world got to be this way would be slightly shorter, to make room for more explosions and man vs. rat battles.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)

Disclaimer: Mr. James mailed me a printed copy of this new short story collection in return for an honest review

3 Ways to Destroy a Planet is a small (literally!) volume that contains three very short stories all dealing with the end of humanity (in one form or another). No question that these stories are all well-written and interesting. My biggest complaint; they are too short! At an average length of only 21.3 pages per story, this triumvirate of tales could easily have stood some fleshing out. Considering the brevity, characterization remains a strength and world-building is also pretty decent. I enjoyed all three stories but my favorite is Perpetuating the Species as it exhibits slightly more humor than the other two, (40,000 window-mounted air conditioners - haha!).… (more)