Vincent

Jim Thompson is having a bad year.

Last year; he celebrated his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, had a good job he liked, and a home for retirement he built himself.

This year, at fifty-four years of age; he is divorced, unemployed, and homeless.

Fortunately, his luck is about to change.

Enter Vincent, an extraterrestrial visitor with a crucial mission to save both our world and his, and a lesson on just how small Jim's place in the universe is.

To help the alien and save two worlds, Jim must overcome his shortcomings to become the hero Vincent so desperately needs.

Vincent (SF/Thriller)

By Jonathan G. Meyer

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN # 978-1548404987

Price $11.95 (Paperback)

Price $4.99 (Kindle)

240 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

Jim Thompson is living in the back of his pickup truck under a bridge.  At 54 years old, he was married for 25 years, with a good job, a home he had built. Then his world came crashing down when his wife asked for divorce, and she took the house in the settlement. Rummaging through trash in an alley for things he might be able to sell, one day he finds what he thinks is someone’s toy drone, a small silver disk. Dragging it back to his pickup, he is suddenly bathed in a strange blue light and shrinks to the size of a mouse. The portal in the silver disc opens and he’s drawn inside. The disc is a flying saucer, and an AI named Vincent explains that he was responsible for bringing a highly destructive weapon to Earth, and must retrieve it and return it to his own world, Senara. However, being a machine Vincent needs a human to do its fetching. The previous human turned out to be an ex senator named Jack Smith who wants the weapon for himself, and has hired mercenaries to help him. Smith has half the machine hidden away on an island, but needs the second part, a key. Vincent needs Jim to obtain the key for him, then attack the island stronghold of Jack Smith and retrieve the other part of the machine. Jim needs a helper, and along comes Claire Haversham, a widow about his own age.

I loved this story. The writing is smooth, and reads fast, and the characters come alive. There is action from the beginning through the end when a hurricane hits the island as Vincent, Jim and Claire are attempting to steal the part being held by Jack Smith. The island is basically swept away as the winds destroy everything on the island, and Jack Smith captures the little team in his below ground shelter where he holds the alien weapon. Just on the brink of saving two worlds, Senara and Earth, it looks like our heroes have failed. Can help come from another source in time to save them? Highly recommended to SF and Adventure fans.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE JUR SERIES

HILI

HILI is a science fiction about abduction and contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The theme is not new for fans of the genre, but the book also talks about the limits of sanity and what a person is able to do to preserve her life and the existence of her race.

With many surprises and twists throughout the narrative, HILI begins with the traditional method of abduction. Madison DeMarco, a former top model, disappears from her mountain cabin after spotting a strange light in the sky. Madison wakes up in a metallic room and with her is a man who, although attractive, has an almost inhuman appearance.

After the initial shock, Madison learns why she is in that spaceship, and where she is going. Besides been taken from her planet, she later discovers that things are not exactly as they seem and she will have to face a great danger in the ship to survive.

Hili (SF)

By Lu Evans

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN # 978-1979848831

Price $6,99 (Paperback)

Price $0.99 (Kindle)

145 Pages

Rating 4-Stars

Madison  DeMarco’s husband has just asked her for divorce, and she is angry and heading for her cabin in the hills. Madison is a famous model, and drives a Ferrari GT4, and she’s burning up the road. Arriving at the cabin she no sooner settles in than a bright light appears overhead and she blacks out. When she awakens, Madison discovers a space alien has abducted her and they are headed for his world where she will become the queen of the world, and mate of the alien.

The alien is the last of his kind. For the last five thousand years or so, he has been cloning his body until he is now the perfect specimen of man – large, muscular, and extremely handsome. He is known as Etana – or more exactly, Lord Etana. He claims to be the only person on the ship, and calls her by the pet name of Hili, but Madison senses another creature in the shadows, one that is small and thin, and knows that Lord Etana has been lying to her. But what could be at the bottom of those lies?

This was a wonderful and unique tale. Madison talks to herself, which is quite humorous at times. Plus Etana also abducted her Ferrari and added AI to it, so the car can now talk to her. She does discover the thing in the shadows is a female robot named Hili, which causes more problems between her and Lord Etana, since the robot has been Etana’s companion for thousands of years. Etana is a cyborg, half man, half machine, and she may not be the only Earth woman he has abducted. Things spiral out of control for both Madison and Etana, and drastic measure must be taken.

The writing was extremely odd, as if English is not the first language of the author. Words are missing from sentences. The use of “on” and “in” is often at odds with what it should be. And “being” usually comes in as “been”. I would say it was poorly edited, but a lot of more advanced words are okay. Either English is a second language for the author, or she used an interpreter who is not proficient in English. Whatever the case, the story is still good, and I highly recommend it for SF readers.

Tom Johnson

Author of THESE ALIEN SKIES

Brainrush

A sudden-savant, his days numbered, tries to rescue a woman and autistic child, unwittingly becoming the only hope against a global terrorist—or the fanatic’s ultimate weapon. 

Before he slid into the MRI machine, Jake Bronson was just an ordinary guy with terminal cancer. But when an earthquake hits during the procedure, Jake staggers from the wreckage a profoundly changed man, now endowed with uncanny mental abilities.

An ocean away, Luciano Battista wants a piece of Jake's talent. Posing as a pioneering scientist, the terrorist leader has been conducting cerebral-implant experiments in a sinister quest to create a breed of super jihadist agents...and Jake's altered brain may be the key to his success. But Jake refuses to play the pawn in an unholy war--and when an innocent woman and autistic child are taken hostage to force his cooperation, he embarks on a jihad of his own. Jake and his band of loyal friends are thrust into a deadly chase that leads from the canals of Venice through Monte Carlo and finally to an ancient cavern in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan--where Jake discovers that his newfound talents carry a hidden price that threatens the entire human race.

Brainrush (SF/Action/Thriller)

By Richard Bard

Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN #978-1533257604

Price $16.99 (Paperback)

Price Free (Kindle)

418 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

Jake Bronson is dying from a cancerous tumor in his brain. A veteran AF pilot he is going through an MRI at the VA when an earthquake rattles the machine. Coming out of the MRI he finds that he has changed, and now has some curious abilities, which he displays at a bar where a local TV station is filming a segment. Luciano Battista, a terrorist living in Italy sees the film and wants the new savant for experimental purposes.

Although the first 25% of the book is the set up, and a bit slow, the story soon takes off at top speed and never lets up. There is a good mix of genres. It’s a little cross between Doc Savage and men’s action novels. Jake’s friends are special in their own right, and become team players in the action. But going up against a terrorist organization, and the need to penetrate an enemy camp in the mountains of Afghanistan, a team of well-trained mercenaries is brought in for the final confrontation, and royal battle.

This was well written, a lot of fun, and the characters were three-dimensional. Very pulpy in nature, it was hard to put down once the action started and got into full swing. Readers who like novels with great action, and good story telling will thoroughly enjoy this fast-paced thriller with a science fiction slant. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THESE ALIEN SKIES

Co-Evolution

Another intelligent species existed on Earth long before human kind. They had a taste for human flesh and slaughtered humans by the thousands. Human kind advanced, built great cities, and learned how to defend themselves. A stalemate ensued, and a truce was negotiated, with one human a week offered as food. What better humans to offer than criminals?
Detective Victor Pargner of the Capital Crimes Division of the Wetlands City Police Department solves serious crimes and gets the culprit sentenced to a “feeding.” The truce is working out until people begin to disappear. What could be causing those disappearances? Is the other species violating the truce?

Co-Evolution (SF/Mystery/Horror)

By Arthur Weissmann

Independent Publishing Platform

ASIN # B07B9QJFTD

491 Pages

Price $2.99 (Kindle)

Rating 4-Stars

Intelligent reptiles co-exist with humans: The Reptecti adult species is scaly and stands upright at about eight feet tall weighing approximately five hundred pounds; they have been around for sixty-six million years. They share this alternate universe with the human race in a treaty system that allows both species to exist. To prevent war and hunting each other for food or hatred, the humans provide one person a week as food for the reptecti; these are the human criminal element.

Now something is happening. Humans are disappearing, and naturally the reptecti are suspected. The police must figure out what is going on or the treaty could shatter.

There is a good twist at the end, and I liked this novel better than the author’s first book, however my main complaint is with the author’s writing style; it doesn’t flow smoothly. It needs to be tightened, and a good editor could do that for the author. There is too much repeated that could be eliminated to make the narrative flow more easily. The plot and characters are unique, and readers will find the story pulls them in from the beginning. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of WORLDS OF TOMORROW