Tag: Michael Landweber

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2020

On January 6, 2021

Given the large number of audiobooks I listened to in 2020, I sort of felt like I had to focus on them for one of these posts. But how to keep this from being just a rehash of the other best of lists? Well, I focused on the audiobook experience over the content. What was it like to listen to it? How engaging was it, how did the narrator do? Was it a good match in terms of tone, content, and performance?

Truth be told, this was a harder choice than I expected. Also, a couple of books that were in my mental rough draft didn’t make it to the final version when all was said and done (I’m still not sure I made the right call on a couple of these).

(in alphabetical order by author)

Dark Jenny

by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

My original post
Stefan Rudnicki brilliantly captures the humor, the confusion, the determination of Eddle LaCrosse and the situation he finds himself in—and then the horror, revulsion, and anger he has when he discovers what’s really going on. Starting with one of Bledsoe’s best books, Rudnicki goes on to bring it to life.

4 Stars

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares

by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Ryan Gesell (Narrator), Tara Sands (Narrator)

My original post
For me, this book came along at the right time—its particular brand of silly and escapist sweetness was exactly what it turned out that I needed. Add in a couple of stellar performances from Ryan Gesell Tara Sands and it’s just a delight. They can make you believe (even temporarily) in the magic of Christmas and young love.

3.5 Stars

Luck and Judgement

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

My original post
I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep on saying it: there’s a certain magic, an ineffable alchemy about Jackson narrating Grainger’s work. It’s just fantastic, I think I’d have liked these audiobooks with another narrator (or in print), but I don’t think I’d have liked them as much.

I could’ve listed each book in this series here, but I limited myself to this one because it’s an atypical crime for a novel, the solution (and how Smith and his team come to it) is offbeat, there’s some great humor and great emotional beats, too. It’s Grainger at his best and Jackson delivers it perfectly. There is a strong sense of humanity in these books, not just in the protagonists, but in the victim, the killer, the witnesses, the people who aren’t the killer but who aren’t up to anything legal/moral/ethical…everyone. There’s no one cartoon-y or over the top (in any direction).

4 Stars

The In Between

by Michael Landweber, Brittany Pressley (Narrator), Mark Boyett (Narrator)

My original post
This is the story of what happens to a family when a young child goes missing during a teleportation trip that his parents make successfully (to put it too succinctly) It’s a gripping listen and wonderfully performed. As you may have guessed Brittany Pressley narrates the chapters from the mother’s point of view, and Mark Boyett takes the father’s. I don’t think I’d heard anything by either of them before—but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for their names when I browse for audiobooks in the future. They truly did wonderful jobs. They got the emotion of the moment, the tension—and occasional moments of fun, joy, or relief—as well as giving a real sense of the characters. It didn’t happen often, but even when a character usually only seen in a Lillian chapter showed up in a Jackson, you could recognize them (and vice versa)—which was nice. Landweber wrote a great story but Boyett and Pressley brought it to life.

5 Stars

Greenlights

by Matthew McConaughey

My original post
When Chris Hardwick interviewed McConaughey recently he described the audiobook as McConaughey playing McConaughey, which is a great way to put it, and I wish he’d posted this before I wrote about the book so I could’ve borrowed it then. But that’s it exactly, Yes, it’s his stories, but yeah, he’s performing. It feels like you’re sitting around the campfire or a table in a bar, listening to a great storyteller at work.

3.5 Stars

Crossing in Time

by D. L. Orton, Noah Michael Levine (Narrator), Erin deWard (Narrator)

My original post
Typically, when I post about an Audiobook, I close with a discussion about the narrator(s). But I started with it when I posted about this novel because Levine and deWard did such a great job, they’re the highlight of the experience for me. Typically, when there is a male narrator and a female narrator—the female will read all the narration and dialogue in the female character POV chapters, and the male will read all the narration and dialogue in the male character POV chapters. But here, deWard reads all the female dialogue, no matter the narrator (and vice versa). That’s a nice touch, and once I got used to it, I really appreciated it. Particularly, it helped the conversations between characters feel like conversations—there was a little bit of talking over each other, and so on. And when the two laughed together? That was either fantastic work by the narrators or by the editor (or both).

I’m not that sure how much I’d have enjoyed this book in print, but the way these two embodied the book made it one of the highlights of the year.

4 Stars

Far from the Tree

by Rob Parker, Warren Brown (Narrator)

My original post
This was an Audible Original, so the Audiobook experience is a big part of it. Brown was a great choice of narrator—he’s the perfect voice for this material. He captured and shaped the tone as he needed to, and gave the right performances for each character.

I can’t help feeling like I need to say more, but I just don’t know what else to say. If I had problems with the performance, I’d probably be able to go on longer, but when a narrator gets it right, like Brown does here, what else is there to say? It was a brutal, brutal experience, with more twists than I can count, and a plot so complex I’m not able to talk about it in this small space.

4 Stars

Back to Reality

by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton (Narrator)

My original post
This is sort of a Fringe-inspired take on a Back to the Future/Freaky Friday mashup, and it’s as odd, and fun as that description makes it sound.

I’ll frequently (maybe too frequently?) talk about an audiobook narrator bringing the text to life. And Kim Bretton does that. But she does more than that—she fills it with life. Dynamic, energetic, vibrant…are just some of the adjectives that spring to mind. I was very happy when I just looked over her other audiobook credits and saw a couple of titles I was already thinking about—if she’s doing them, I’m giving them a try. (although, if I never hear her do another American male accent, I’d be more than okay).

Funny, sweet, amusing, heartfelt, laugh-inducing, touching, comic, imaginative—and did I mention humorous? This is 606 minutes of pure entertainment. I really encourage you to put this in your ear-holes. It’d probably work almost as well in print—Bretton’s great, but she has to have something to work with—but in audio? It’s close to a must-listen.

4 Stars

The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life

by Alex Trebek, Narrated by: Ken Jennings, Alex Trebek

My original post
Jennings was a great choice of narrator, since his time on Jeopardy!, the two are linked in the collective consciousness, and they clearly have a good relationship. He sounds like a natural when it comes to narration. But his work is overshadowed by the few chapters he didn’t read.

Trebek read a few chapters himself—the one about why he swears so often (it surprised me, too), the one talking about notable Jeopardy! contestants (like Jennings), the one about his wife (Trebek didn’t like the idea of someone else talking about his wife that way), and the last chapter, where he discussed his cancer and coming to terms with his impending death. I understand why he couldn’t do the entire book himself, but I’d have preferred it (nothing against Jennings—I’d have been content with Jennings doing the whole thing). But I’m so glad he did those chapters, you could hear the sincerity in his praise for Jennings, Eddie Timanus, Cindy Stowell, and others; his love for his wife; and the resolution and contemplation he’d put into his final days

4 1/2 Stars

Dawn Patrol

by Don Winslow, Ray Porter (Narrator)

Wow. Despite this being my first and favorite Winslow novel, I wasn’t inclined to grab the audiobook. But then it was on sale and a fellow Winslow-fan recommended Porter’s take on the book. I didn’t know that Porter did audiobooks before this, but he’s on my list to watch for now.

I don’t know how to describe this—I was blown away. I’ve read the book two or three times, but Porter made it feel like it was all new. I was gripped. I was entertained. I was heartbroken. It’s as good as you can ask for an audiobook to be.

5 Stars

A Few (more) Quick Questions With…Michael Landweber

By HCNewton

On March 16, 2020

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction

Oh, wow…hard to believe it’s been almost 4 years since we did this for Thursday, 1:17 PM! Apparently, he’s used the time very well. I had many, many questions I’d like to ask about The In Between, but they’d require hours of both of us (and would probably eliminate the need for anyone who read this to listen to the book)— so, I’ll limit myself to these.

How is the process different for you in preparing something for an Audible Original rather than print?

The process of writing the book was no different than my usual process, which is to charge headlong into it and hope for the best. The initial editorial process was also similar. It was a joy to work with my editor at Audible, Lara Blackman. As all good editors do, she helped me improve the book significantly. There are some editorial differences for audio only that I would have never considered, such as limiting dialogue tags (“she said”) because the narrators are doing that work for you. But overall I did not change my approach much to write this as an Audible Original.

What part of this novel came first? The teleportation technology (and/or the problems with it), the world, the characters? And then how did you go about adding the rest?

I always start books with a what if question. In this case, it was what if you got lost teleporting. Of course, once a question sticks in my mind, I face the far more difficult task of figuring out how to turn the answer into a compelling story. So characters and plot come next with the world filling in around them. In this case, when I realized that it was a child who gets lost, I knew I had my novel. I’ve got two kids myself, and even though they’re teenagers now and slightly less prone to wandering off, the thought of them being lost is terrifying.

Why Tokyo? I get Omaha, but what was it that made Tokyo the destination for the family? (I have theories, e.g. the opportunity to write off a trip to Japan on your taxes, but I’d rather hear from you)

Actually, Omaha is a more random choice for me than Tokyo. I was an East Asian Studies major in college, focusing on Japan. After graduation, I lived in Tokyo for a year, working at the English-language Japan Times as a copy editor. It is a wonderful country and fascinating from an outsider perspective. Japan is also such a tech-forward place and Tokyo itself has so many hidden oddities in those towering buildings that it made sense to me that folks might be running bootleg teleporters in Akihabara.

When self-driving cars become the norm, are you going to be one insisting on manual control?

I am definitely a Luddite when it comes to self-driving cars. I just can’t bring myself to trust them. I get nervous even watching ads where the cars are parking themselves. Logically, I know that self-driving cars are probably less prone to fatal errors that human beings. But I still can’t quite fathom being in a car that is driving itself. This is not a new issue for me. In high school, I wrote a terrible story about a guy who gets into a self-driving cab that follows everything he says literally. The guy gets pissed and yells “Go to Hell!” That was a pretty typical ending for the stories I wrote in high school.

(I’d pay to read a copy of that story…)

So how awesome are Brittany Pressley and Mark Boyett as narrators? (there’s a softball for you)

They are amazing. When I found out that I would be able to make suggestions on the narrators, I canvassed my friends who are Audible listeners for ideas. Both Brittany and Mark’s names came up repeatedly. I’m also very lucky that Audible decided to give me two narrators for the alternating Lillian and Jackson chapters. The combination of the two voices really brings the book to life.

(I want the record to show that I hadn’t read these responses when I wrote my post about the book, I didn’t steal this phrase from him. But glad to see I’m not alone in thinking it.)

Thanks for your time and willingness to let me badger you with these questions–I really enjoyed The In Between and truly hope that it finds the audience it deserves.

The In Between (Audiobook) by Michael Landweber, Brittany Pressley (Narrator), Mark Boyett (Narrator): When the Unthinkable Happens, What’s a Parent to Do?

By HCNewton

On March 16, 2020

In Audiobook, Brad Parks, Fiction

A quick Q&A with the author, Michael Landweber, is coming later this morning—be sure to come back and check it out!
—

The In Between

by Michael Landweber, Brittany Pressley (Narrator), Mark Boyett (Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., 7 min.
Audible Original, 2020

Read: February 28-March 3, 2020

A couple of years ago, when mystery writer Brad Parks wrote his first stand-alone thriller, in more than a couple of interviews I heard/read him talk about the struggle getting going. A friend gave him some advice to “write the book that scares you,” which would likely scare his readers. He ended up deciding that as a parent, the thing that scared him the most was something involving trauma to one of his kids. Which resulted in at least two different novels (Say Nothing and Closer than You Know), both of which provided me with a level of fear I don’t usually get from thrillers. I couldn’t stop thinking about that anecdote and those two books while I listened to this, did someone give Landweber similar advice?

We start off meeting Lillian, who works in the PR department of Teleportation Services International. She’s taking her son’s class on a tour of TSI—something she and his teacher had arranged to help him deal with his anxiety about their upcoming trip via Teleportation. Cole is shy, nervous, and not really assured by this exercise—although the rest of his class has a blast (and it sounded pretty fun to me, too).

Then we meet her husband, Jackson. Jackson is one of the few drivers around in 2047—his clientele is primarily made up of the elderly who won’t trust self-driving cars (and, yeah, it occurred to me that I’d be one of his client base on both of those counts) and those whose mental health or anxiety issues won’t allow them to trust the cars, either. He augments this income by teaching super-rich teens how to drive the smattering of sports cars still around so they can go on joyrides.

TSI gives one employee’s family a month a free week’s vacation to anywhere in the world—and then milks their experience for publicity. They’ve picked Tokyo—and none of the family have ever teleported before. This will be a new experience for them all. Lillian steps through the portal in Omaha and stumbles out in Tokyo (the first trip is typically difficult on the destination side). There’s a strange delay that worries her, but before long, Jackson comes out in worse shape than her. But where’s Cole?

No one has an answer. Cole is missing and no one has an explanation. No one can even begin to hazard a guess about what happened.

Not at all surprisingly, Lillian and Jackson are devastated. Heartbroken. Inconsolable. And their individual reactions are so different that they can’t even be there for each other in this time.

Lillian, whose own childhood was marked by tragedy, directs her grief into work. If she can be busy, she can cope. Quickly, her energies are directed into investigating (on her own) what happened that day, and what can be done to prevent it from happening again—and maybe finding a little vengeance along the way.

Jackson’s reaction is two-fold. First, he’s an alcoholic who hasn’t taken a drink in six years. He’s not in recovery in any sense, he just stopped drinking to be a father. With Cole gone, he returns to the bottle—any bottle. Before taking that first drink—and after it—his question was, “My son is missing, why isn’t anyone looking for him?” For Jackson, Cole isn’t dead, he’s lost. Jackson knows—he can’t convince anyone, but he knows—that he saw something—some place?—in between Omaha and Tokyo. He spends his days going back and forth between the two cities, trying to find that In Between again, before crawling back into a bottle.

They haven’t just lost their son, they’ve lost each other. The love is still there. But they just don’t understand the other’s reaction. She can’t cope with his drinking or his denial. He can’t understand why she’s given up on Cole. While he hunts for Cole and she hunts for an explanation, they’re both burdened, distracted and shaped by this other pain. It is heartbreaking to watch their marriage crumble—as with the Parks thrillers, what happens to Cole is terrifying to this parent. But that feeling was frequently overshadowed by my reaction to his parent’s relationship.

Now that I’ve gone on longer than I intended to about the plot (not that I’m cutting any of it), let’s talk about the setting. This is not quite a post-apocalyptic world, but it’s one where the apocalypse could be just around the corner. Environmental changes have impacted coastal cities around the world—many of what we know as coastal cities no longer exist. We all know that the Midwest gets hit by huge storms throughout the year, their frequency and intensity have grown. There are changes to transportation (air travel as well as the automobile changes mentioned above) in efforts to reduce pollution. New–and deadly–flu strains crop up with a regularity that makes them seem routine, and everyone knows how to react when one comes along.

There’s a lot that could be said about the government (governments?) in this future. Not that Landweber talks about politics at all—but there’s a tremendous lack of civil liberties on the one hand, and yet a very laissez-faire stance when it comes to TSI (at least as evidenced by TSI who really only seem to care about customer perception, not any kind of reulatory oversight). There’s a benevolent totalitarianism at work when it comes to the storms (and reactions to them) in Nebraska, as well as the medical response to new flu strains.

I want to stress here that these environmental and health elements are just parts of the story, and the government observations are only my impressions, and nothing I could really provide footnotes about. Landweber doesn’t take the opportunity to get on a soapbox about any of it, they’re just part of the world he’s describing. Much in the same way that someone writing a book set in 2020 would talk about current cultural trends, technologies or current events. He doesn’t indulge in any real explanation of his world-building, there are no big info dumps—it’s all just the setting.

This is an Audible Original—and I should talk about the audio aspect of this. It’s a gripping listen and wonderfully performed. As you may have guessed Brittany Pressley narrates the chapters from Lillian’s point of view, and Mark Boyett takes Jackson’s. I don’t think I’d heard anything by either of them before—but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for their names when I browse for audiobooks in the future. They truly did wonderful jobs. They got the emotion of the moment, the tension—and occasional moments of fun, joy, or relief—as well as giving a real sense of the characters. It didn’t happen often, but even when a character usually only seen in a Lillian chapter showed up in a Jackson, you could recognize them (and vice versa)—which was nice. Landweber wrote a great story but Boyett and Pressley brought it to life.

The last time I listened to an Audible Original, I had trouble with a couple of the SF-y terms used—mostly because I couldn’t be sure exactly what the narrator was saying (e.g., was that a “d” or a “b”—or a “g”—in the middle of that word?) It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand the narrator, they were just terms the author invented that was hard to get my head around. Landweber didn’t do any of that, which was a relief—although there were a couple of Japanese names I wouldn’t be able to repeat (in print or voice), but I knew what Pressley and Boyett were saying.

Another pair of books that came to mind while I was listening to this were Mike Chen’s novels. Like Chen, Landweber creates a wonderful Science Fiction world, and then tells a gripping family drama. Yes, the science fiction elements are there—and are incredibly well-executed—but the heart of this novel is about parenting, marriage, love. Fans of Chen would do well to check this book out. Fans of this book should give Chen a chance.

I read and enjoyed Landweber’s last novel, Thursday, 1:17 PM, but this is a much better showcase for his talents (not to knock his earlier work). There’s so much to commend about this Audiobook that I have only begun to scratch the surface (truly, I can think of a half-dozen characters I should’ve profiled*, a couple of themes I could have talked about, and other plotlines I should have addressed). There’s something for everyone in this book—an element of a thriller, some great SF Technology, some conspiracy elements, the environmental setting, some media commentary, some Big Business critique, a lot of focus on people with anxiety issues and/or mental health diagnosis, ethical quandaries, parent/child stories, and a touching love story, too.

* There’s a hacker character that I’m going to kick myself for not talking about, for example. He’s one of the most entertaining characters I’ve encountered this year—Top 3 for 2020.

Get this into your ears, folks, you won’t regret it—you may not like it as much as I did, but I can’t imagine you won’t like it.

Disclaimer: I received this audiobook from Audible in exchange for this post and my honest opinion. Thanks to them for the book and Laura Blackman for approaching me.

4 1/2 Stars

The Best Novels I Read in 2016

By HCNewton

On January 5, 2017

In Alex Verus, Books, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Jane Yellowrock/Soulwood, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Pierce Brown, Red Rising, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Yeah, I should’ve done this earlier, but I just needed a break from 2016 for a couple of days. Most people do this in mid-December or so, but a few years ago (before this blog), the best novel I read that year was also the last. Ever since then, I just can’t pull the trigger until January 1.

I truly enjoyed all but a couple of books this year (at least a little bit), but narrowing the list down to those in this post was a little easier than I expected (‘tho there’s a couple of books I do feel bad about ignoring). I stand by my initial ratings, there are some in the 5-Star group that aren’t as good as some of the 4 and 4½ books, although for whatever reason, I ranked them higher (entertainment value, sentimental value…liked the ending better…etc.). Anyway, I came up with a list I think I can live with.

(in alphabetical order by author)

Morning Star

by Pierce Brown
My original post
I was a little surprised (but not really) today to see that every book in the trilogy made my year-end Best-Of list — so it makes sense that this one occupies a space. But it’s more than that, this book was an exciting emotional wringer that ended the trilogy in a perfect way. I can’t recommend this one enough (but only for those who’ve read the first two). When I was informed a month ago that there was going to be a follow-up series? I let out a whoop, thankfully none of my family noticed, so I don’t have to feel too silly.

A Star-Reckoner’s Lot

by Darrell Drake
My original post
I’m afraid if I start talking about this one that I’ll spill a few hundred words. Let me just slightly modify something I already wrote and spare us all the effort (that could be better spent actually reading these books). I’m afraid I’ll overuse the word imaginative if I tried to describe what Drake has done here in the depth I want to in this book about pre-Islamic Iran. You haven’t read a fantasy novel like this one before — almost certainly, anyway — but you should.

Blood of the Earth

by Faith Hunter
My original post
This probably should be a dual entry with Blood of the Earth and Curse on the Land, but that felt like cheating. Between the two, I thought that this was a slightly better work, so it got the spot. While remaining true to the Jane Yellowrock world that this springs from, Hunter has created a fantastic character, new type of magic, and basis of a series. I love these characters already (well, except for those I wasn’t crazy about previously) and can’t wait for a return trip.

Burned

by Benedict Jacka
My original post
I’m just going to quote myself here: I’ve seen people call this the Changes of the Alex Verus series — and it absolutely is. I’d also call it the Staked in terms with the protagonists coming to grips with the effects that his being in the lives of his nearest and dearest has on their life, and what that means for his future involvement with them. Which is not to say that Jacka’s latest feels anything like Butcher’s or Hearne’s books — it feels like Verus just turned up half a notch. It’s just such a great read — it grabs you on page 2 and drags you along wherever it wants to take you right up until the “He is not actually doing this” moment — which are followed by a couple more of them.

Fate Ball

by Adam W. Jones
My original post
Since the Spring when I read this, I periodically reminded myself to keep this in mind for my Top 10, I was that afraid I’d forget this quiet book. It’s not a perfect novel, there are real problems with it — but it was really effective. I fell for Ava, just the way Able did — not as hard (and only in a way that my wife wouldn’t mind) — but just as truly. This one worked about as well as any author could hope one would.

All Our Wrong Todays

by Elan Mastai
My original post
My all-time favorite time-travel novel, just a fun read, too. I will over-hype this one if I’m not careful. So, so good.

The Summer that Melted Everything

by Tiffany McDaniel
My original post
I’m not sure what I can say about this book that others haven’t — this trip into a magical realism version of the 1980’s Mid-West will get you on every level — it’s entertaining, it’s thought-provoking, the language is gorgeous, the characters are flawed in all the right ways. I wish this was getting the attention (and sales!) that it deserves — I really hope its audience finds it.

Every Heart a Doorway

by Seanan McGuire
My original post
Here’s a book that doesn’t have to worry about attention or audience, it has one — and it’s probably growing. It deserves it. Short, sweet (and not-sweet) and to the point. I may have to buy a two copies of the sequel so I don’t have to fight my daughter for it when it’s released.

Lady Cop Makes Trouble

by Amy Stewart
My original post
Stewart took the really good historical crime novel she wrote last year and built on that foundation one that’s far more entertaining without sacrificing anything that had come before. We’ll be reading about the Kopp sisters for a while, I think.

Genrenauts: The Complete Season One Collection

by Michael R. Underwood
My original post
Yeah, here I am again, flogging Underwood’s Genrenaut stories — whether in individual novellas, audiobooks, or in this collection — you need to get your hands on this series about story specialists who travel to alternate dimensions where stories are real and what happens in them impacts our world — Underwood has a special alchemy of Leverage + The Librarians + Quantum Leap + Thursday Next going on here, and I love it.

There were a few that almost made the list — almost all of them did make the Top 10 for at least a minute, actually. I toyed with a Top 17 in 2016 but that seemed stupid — and I’ve always done 10, I’m going to stick with it. But man — these were all close, and arguably better than some of those on my list. Anyway here they are: What You Break by Reed Farrel Coleman (my original post), Children of the Different by SC Flynn (my original post), Thursday 1:17 p.m. by Michael Landweber (my original post), We’re All Damaged by Matthew Norman (my original post), A Hundred Thousand Worlds by Bob Proehl (my original post), and Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja (my original post).

I hope your 2016 reads were as good as these.

Thursday, 1:17 PM by Michael Landweber

By HCNewton

On May 24, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, YA/MG/Children's Books

Thursday, 1:17 PM

by Michael Landweber

Kindle Edition, 208 pg.
Coffeetown Press, 2016

Read: May 18 – 19, 2016

Towel Day is tomorrow, so it seems apropos to start with a couple of Douglas Adams lines that I’d imagine Duck quoted to himself, assuming he read the book: “This must be Thursday . . .I never could get the hang of Thursdays.” and “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” Now, if anyone could empathize with Arthur and Ford, it’s Duck.

(like I need an excuse to quote Adams, really, but I’ll take one)

And you never know, maybe he had read Adams, after all:

We’d read Fight Club in Mr. Lorenzo’s Anarchy in Modern American Fiction class . . . And Lord of the Rings in Ms. Tutwell’s Geography of Fictional Lands seminar, which somehow got me Social Studies credit. Damn, I went to a really questionable high school.

So, earlier today, I posted something from the publisher with the idea behind this one. Basically, Duck’s head is nowhere near where it should be as he walks the busy streets of D. C. and he steps out in front of a car that doesn’t hit him. Not because of lightning-fast reflexes of the driver, nor because of fantastic brakes, or because some hero pulled/pushed/tackled him out of the way. Nope, none of those — but because faster than you can say “Rod Serling,” time stopped.

Now our 17-year-old protagonist has to figure out: what happened (if he can); how to survive in this Frozen World (if he can); and most importantly — how can he get things moving again (if he can).

Simple enough premise, right? Yup. One that seems like you’ve probably read/seen it a few times (seems that way, but I can’t remember once) — but Landweber executes it like he’s the first. It feels fresh, new and innovative — while being an old stand-by, figure out how he pulled that off and I’ll probably end up talking about your book, too.

As we talked about a little while ago, there are very strict rules governing this reality and Duck figures them out pretty fast (at least fast enough to survive awhile).

Now seems like a good place to explain what people feel like in the frozen world. Skin feels like skin, hair like hair, lips like lips. It’s one of those things that is almost normal. When no one moves, you expect them to feel like molded plastic, like mannequins, limbs swiveling on set pivots without much range. A secondary possibility was that everyone would feel rubbery, like the well-preserved fetal pig [Duck’s friend] Grace dissected for me. Wrong on both counts.

The inert water hung down from the showerhead like strands of silk caressing his body. I touched one and it came away from its cohorts, wet and liquid on my fingertips.

And, yes, that sounds kind of creepy going around touching skin, hair, lips, some dude’s shower water — but don’t worry, that’s only because it is creepy. And Duck would be the first to admit that (probably while blushing). One reason I liked the paragraphs I quoted was because, yeah, molded plastic is exactly how I’d have figured it to feel.

Duck composing a “Guidebook” to how to live in this kind of reality ticks off a few boxes: lets us see his personality, lets him talk about his experimentation to discover the rules in a slightly more objective way than the rest of his narration, and lets him give the readers an info dump — several, actually — without it feeling like one. A very nice move there.

Landweber gives us a few details a little at a time about this reality, what Duck’s been going through in the days/weeks/months leading up to stepping in front of the car (like where that nickname comes from — a tale that’s both tragic and funny). As little as he’s been paying attention to the outside world, it might as well have stopped. So one of the things he does during this time is figure out what’s been going on with his friends — between family crisis and adolescent male hormones, he’s missed a lot. He just hopes that he can make up for this time.

For the most part, this book comes across as light entertainment — but there are (at least) two big dramatic stories at play here in addition to the fun and games. There’s death, the nature of love (and reality of lust, teenage style), growing up, friendship, hurting others . . . and Duck coming to grips with all of these, and coping with them isn’t done in a heavy-handed, or overly serious manner. On the whole, while you’re chuckling about something he’ll slide right into a consideration of one of the heavier themes. Over and over again, Landweber does this seamlessly so you barely notice it. No mean trick to pull off.

In addition to that, Duck deals with some pretty deep ethical questions (and doesn’t always come up with the right answer). His father, a philosopher, had posited that:

there is no good or evil without time. Empirically, he argued, man’s actions in themselves are not right or wrong. It is only the interaction of those deeds with the passage of time and the judgments of others that leads to morality. If you were to freeze time at the instant of the act, and never allow for there to be recriminations or regret or accusations or revenge, then the act itself becomes a meaningless one. No matter what that act is. Merely a moment detached from all other moments. A moment without consequence.

Duck’s got more than enough of these detached moments, moments without consequences, to deal with. And watching him deal with these ideas and try to be moral (frequently) is a really nice touch that I don’t think I expected from the premise.

It’s told in a light tone — and never gets spooky or too tense, but that doesn’t stop what Duck is dealing with from being serious — and dealt with seriously (much of the time). Landweber balances that pretty well most of the time — while keeping Duck as believable as possible in this situation. It is a compelling read, a fun read, and a moving read. Breezy enough to keep the YA crowd engaged, and thoughtful enough to make it worthwhile.

You really want to go get your hands on this one, readers, you’ll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

—–

4 Stars

A Few Quick Questions With…Michael Landweber

By HCNewton

On May 24, 2016

In A Few Quick Questions With..., General Fiction/Literature, Writing

For our third post on this Blog Tour stop, the author of Thursday, 1:17 PM, Michael Landweber was gracious enough to A some of my Q’s. As is typical, I kept it short and sweet, because this dude is busy and he doesn’t need to take up too much time with lil’ ol’ me. There are two questions here about the book we’re focusing on, and then we move on to more general questions. Hope you enjoy.

Michael Landweber lives and writes in Washington, DC. His short stories have appeared in literary magazines such as Gargoyle, Fourteen Hills, Fugue, Barrelhouse and American Literary Review. He is an Associate Editor at Potomac Review and a contributor to Washington Independent Review of Books. Michael has a soft spot for movies about talking animals and does not believe he would survive the zombie apocalypse. His first novel We was published in 2013.

There are so many questions that I’d like to ask about some of the details of this book, but I’m going to have to settle for something about the process: did you have the rules for the Frozen World set up before beginning the book, or was that something you felt out along the way?

The rules were pretty simple and set from the beginning. Nothing moved unless it was affected by Duck. He would be the only force in the universe capable of changing anything. Otherwise, everything remained in exactly the state it was in when the world froze. Simple, right? Making up the rules was easy; following them was hard. There were many times while I writing when I would decide to do something and realize it didn’t fit in with this world. For example, in an early draft, I thought about shooting someone with a gun. But in order to fire, a gun required more than just Duck power. Similarly, I found myself realizing that he couldn’t cook anything; he could only eat food that was edible at the time the world froze. He couldn’t start a car, but he could ride a bike. So it was never a question of changing the rules. It was a constant struggle forcing myself to not cheat. Hopefully, I policed myself reasonably well. One of the reasons that I had Duck write a guidebook was because it was a great way to share everything about the frozen world I had spent so much time figuring out. That’s why you’ve got multiple pages about how to flush a toilet (and of course because I find details like that amusing).

How hard was it to get into the headspace of an almost 18 year-old (even one of above-average intelligence/thoughtfulness)? Once there — was it as much fun as it seemed?

It is always a challenge to get into a new character’s head. Or maybe the challenge is getting out of your own head. With a teenager, I did have the advantage that I was once 17 years old. However, it is true that when you become an adult, you forgot how desperate everything feels at that age. As adults, we learn to repress some emotions. It’s a survival skill. So, to write Duck, I tried to remember what it felt like when every emotion was on the surface and raw. I think that immediacy is what we lose as adults. Once I got in that mindset, it was fun to write Duck. Anytime I started to think that Duck shouldn’t be doing something, I usually put it in the book, figuring if I thought it was a bad idea then a teenager probably wouldn’t.

What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that.”?

There are so many books and TV shows that I enjoy. I’d love to have written any of them. Of course, the flip side of that is that if I had written them, then I wouldn’t get to experience them the same way. I do surprise myself sometimes when I’m writing, but that’s not the same as the visceral thrill that you can get from watching or reading someone else’s work when the unexpected hits you with a perfectly timed twist. That said, there are two very different works that I wish I could have written. First, The Martian by Andy Weir. I would love to have written something that was so meticulously researched and incredibly readable at the same time. You get to the end of the book thoroughly entertained while somehow convincing yourself that you could now survive on Mars if you had to. Second would be Breaking Bad. The entire series. I admire how strictly it stuck to its vision from the beginning. The writers didn’t seem to care how popular it got. They weren’t trying to make anyone happy. It was unflinching to the very end.

Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading or watching, but could never write?

I could never write a good mystery. I don’t watch or read a lot of them, but I do enjoy them when they are well done. As a reader, I never know who committed the crime. Ever. I’ll always think that it is someone who was innocent. I admire the writers who are able to put that puzzle together and keep me guessing to the last piece. But as a writer, my mysteries would probably be more like a pre-schooler’s giant floor puzzle with only four pieces and no irregular edges.

I’ve often heard that writers, or artists in general, will forget hundreds of positive reviews but always remember the negative — what’s the worst thing that someone’s said about one of your books, and has it altered your approach to future books?

There was one reader review posted on a website about my first novel that stuck with me. He said that after reading it he had to bleach his brain and encouraged everyone to keep the book away from children. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe that was one of my good reviews. Seriously though, there are always going to be readers who don’t like certain things I write. So far, it hasn’t changed what I decide to write next.

Guest Post: 5 Books about Time by Michael Landweber

By HCNewton

On May 24, 2016

In Book Tour, Books, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

I’m a little obsessed about the concept of time in my writing. My first book, We, was about a man who travels back in time only to get stuck as a parasite inside the head of his seven-year-old self. In my latest novel, time stops completely, except for one 17-year-old kid. I suppose the recurring theme is that we have no control over time, even when it gets a little bit wonky. In honor of my obsession, I have created a list of five time-related books (or more precisely that have the word “time” in the title) that I’ve enjoyed over the years.

1) The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The one that started it all. The original time travel story. Without it, there never would have been Timecop. Seriously though, it is a little hard to imagine that we’d have more than a century of time travel related books, movies, TV shows, etc. if Wells hadn’t had the idea that a time machine was the way to travel to different eras. Of course, unlike most modern time travel fiction, which focuses on the ways that traveling through time can change the present, purposefully or not, Wells had his protagonist travel into the far future where he encountered a parable about class and society. Still, the guy coined the phrase “time machine.” That’s pretty cool.

2) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
We don’t need no stinking time machine. In L’Engle’s classic children’s book series, the characters travel through space by “wrinkling time” by means of the tesseract. Most writers now call it a wormhole. No vehicle required. That freed a lot of writers to just zap characters from place to place without tricking out a Delorean. The book also is about how children can save the world without the help of the adults around them, particularly parents. Hello, Harry Potter!

3) A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
OK, this one has the least to do with manipulating time though it is a story about how past family narratives can help soothe present pain. A young woman in Tokyo considers suicide, but researching the stories of her feminist Buddhist nun great-grandmother and her disgraced WWII pilot great-uncle lead her to some surprising revelations about herself.

4) Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Amis uses a unique device to write about the horrors of the Holocaust. The narrator is a consciousness inside the head of a former Nazi who is now living a new life in America. But the story is told in reverse chronological order. Time in the book literally runs backward, so we start with the war criminal as an old man and travel unavoidably to his horrific past. It is an unusual and difficult book that allows the reader a new window into understanding the inconceivable cruelty that people are capable of.

5) Time Bandits
OK, I’m totally cheating here. Time Bandits is a movie. But it also happens to be my favorite movie. And it is about traveling through time. So there. One of Terry Gilliam’s earliest films, this one follows a young boy who falls in with a group of dwarfs who previously worked for the Supreme Being until they stole the Big Guy’s map of time holes and decided to use it to steal from the rich throughout history. That only begins to describe how gloriously messed up this movie is.

Thursday, 1:17 PM Book Tour

By HCNewton

On May 24, 2016

In Book Tour, Books, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, YA/MG/Children's Books

Time stopped. You didn’t. Now what?

Duck is 17. He will never be 18.

Tomorrow is his birthday. It will never be tomorrow.

Time stopped at 1:17 p.m. on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in Washington, DC. Duck is the only person moving in a world where all other living beings have been frozen into statues in an endless diorama. Duck was already in limbo, having lost his mother to cancer and his father to mental illness.

Now, faced with the unimaginable, he approaches his dilemma with the eye of an anthropologist and the heart of a teenager trying to do the right thing under the strangest of circumstances. Ultimately, he realizes that while he doesn’t understand the boundaries between friendship and love, that uncertain territory may be the key to restarting the world.

Trade Paperback – Available now
Publisher: Coffeetown Press
ISBN13: 9781603813570
208 pages

Coming up: We’ve got a Guest Post from Michael Landweber, a Q & A with him, too — and finally, my $.02 about the book. Come back and check these posts out (the links will work when the posts go up) — or just go get the book. Whatever.