My lovely little plugin has given you the synopsis which isn’t too bad for a description of the contents of this little tome. I bought this some time ago wanting to support the author, I’d known of him for some time but this is the first time I’ve managed to actually hold his book in my hand and pass my eyes along the words. It was a rare treat for me.
Petrie has a science background. His expertise includes interstellar chemistry, fullerene chemistry, gas-phase ion/molecule chemistry and computational chemistry, some of which actually pays the bills. And all of this knowledge makes for some very good science within the pages of the book. While I don’t actually understand the technical stuff it’s good to have it there as it fills out the back parts of the story, and if you have some science then it’ll make more sense to you. I think it’s the same reason why other science fiction authors were so good, they were scientists behind the scenes and there was veracity behind their narratives.
What do you get in this book?
Lots of words, 275 pages of them…minus the pages with Sudoku for Psychics.
What else?
Oh yes! Good writing, sometimes very funny writing and sometimes not funny. The first story, The Day of the Carrot, had me in fits. I’m not going to reveal anything more than this carrot was rather big, much bigger than you’re imagining right now. Even with that spoiler, it’s probably bigger than your brain is showing you.
There are some stories I want more of
Gordon Mammon, for instance. Murder mysteries set in space with a detective having several different roles with detective being just a small part of it. Very nicely done.
And Running Lizard. The idea of werecreatures fitting into society as best as they are able is such a wonderful idea. This one kept me guessing till past the end, I’m still pondering on the ending and I finished this book a week ago.
Puns abound, so if you like science fiction and puns then this book is for you. If you want to support an Australian author then Peggy Bright Books is a good place to start, I’ve got another book review coming up published through them…another treat but in a different way to this book.
I can confirm that there are certainly more Gordon Mamon stories — three more currently in print (‘The Hunt for Red Leicester’, ‘A Night to Remember’, and ‘Elevator Pitch’), and one half-written which I must get around to finishing. But I haven’t yet extended ‘Running Lizard’ into any kind of sequence — I’ve certainly thought about it, but inspiration has been slow to strike.
Really glad that you enjoyed the book!
–Simon
I’m very pleased to hear that. I look forward to adding more Gordon Mamon to my To Be Read Pile which is taller than me.
Inspiration sucks sometimes. It’s really hard to write without it.