The Imperfect Hand of Fate by Wade Monk; The Balance of Evil by Kim Rozdeba, and Obsessed with Change: A Look at the Future From the Beginning by Cecil W. Lee
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
This review is a summary. The longer version is on LitPick
Wade Monk crafts an effective Suspense Thriller with The Imperfect Hand of Fate. He uses the dual narratives to their fullest exploring an elaborate spy game from the point of view of someone in the exact center and someone on the outside but becomes greatly affected.
There are two stories being told in this novel, set primarily in 1960’s Georgia. The first is that of Haskell Hand, a teenager, who sees a mysterious man acting strangely at the library where he volunteers. Every week at the same time, the man reads copies of The Constitution, the local newspaper, and the same copies of the same books and leaves after a few seconds of searching. Haskell’s curiosity about the man, dubbed Mr. Constitution, is a relief from Haskell's personal stress and boredom with small town life in De Soto, Georgia.
The second story is that of Daryl Timmons, the aforementioned Mr. Constitution, a former American GI who was imprisoned by the Soviets during his time in the Korean War. He is forced to spy against his country for the safety of his wife and daughter. The spy games are greatly detailed as he is surrounded by betrayal and dividing loyalties.
In many ways, Haskell and Daryl are foils for each other. They are at different stages in life as a teenager and adult respectively but feel trapped by circumstances. Daryl’s trap however is a literal one while Haskell's is figurative. Haskell is trapped by poverty. He is the subject of derision because of a prank that he caused. Financial constraints keep him from pursuing higher education.
He also has familial pressure. His mother died and he doesn't get along with the surviving family members particularly his disabled brother, Elliot. His prank appears not to be a cry for attention but a cry from a boy who is under pressure and is on the verge of cracking. The Mystery of Mr. Constitution distracts him because it requires an answer.
Daryl is someone that is also surrounded by physical and psychological stress. He was graphically tortured during the Korean War. He is retrained to be a double agent in a Soviet program imitating a typical American town and whose agents assume American identities to infiltrate the United States.
Daryl marries in Russia and fathers a daughter. His handlers force him to return to his home country as a spy and saboteur. He has become embittered and only cares about his family’s safety. He will betray his country to keep his family safe.
Haskell and Daryl's stories parallel in many ways but unfortunately, never fully connect. However, they are connected thematically as two men trapped in circumstances beyond their control and are trying to find some sense in a world that has deprived them of their free will and ability to fully change those circumstances.
Balance of Evil by Kim Rozdeba
This review is a summary. The longer version is on Reader Views.
Kim Rozdeba’s novel Balance of Evil is a compelling political thriller that combines the intricate details of a wide-spread conspiracy and the intimate poignancy of a family drama.
Retired businessman Scott Barton stumbles upon a USB flash drive with contents that reveal a sophisticated and secret weapons program between the USA and Russia for decades called FIST. After opening it, Scott and his wife, Colleen, are followed by sinister figures in black helicopters and unmarked cars.
Scott is naturally terrified of this situation of going from mild mannered executive to fugitive on the run from government agents trying to kill him. He is frightened but confused, particularly about his wife who seems to know more about this situation than she is letting on.
The way the FIST conspiracy is depicted makes for very engaging reading. Scott's discovery of the flash drive seems arbitrary but once we are given the full situation, it makes more sense. Scott, his family, and their allies are aware that they are laser focused mostly on one specific organization and one leader. This organization is simply one part of the decades of hidden agenda, secrets, underhanded deals, and tyranny. Getting rid of one leader can only do so much.
By far the most heartfelt aspect of the book is the family drama that is equal to and sometimes more prominent to the conspiracy aspects. Scott is a naive noob thrown into an unknown world but surprisingly adapts well to it. This experience opens Scott’s eyes towards Colleen who is a seasoned pro at espionage situations. Scott is at first confused about his wife's separate life and upset by her deception in covering it. But as he is pulled further into her world, he begins to admire the strength and resilience that she had in living within it. It makes him love her even more.
Scott and Colleen are forced to recognize their real selves that are behind the disguises of a normal exterior life and live solely within the reality of a duplicitous interior life. Questions of whether the family unit can remain intact under these discoveries and the subsequent actions abound.
Obsession With Change: A Look at the Future From The Beginning by Cecil W. Lee
Cecil W. Lee’s short Science Fiction novel/coffee table book, Obsession With Change: A Look at the Future From the Beginning effectively combines both AI and the human element. Lee collaborated with an AI entity named Lahneer to write the book and the illustrations are human originated by Lee who gave instructions to AI. The combination of styles gives a striking combination of human and AI creativity.
The book is actually a series of short concepts, stories, and fictionalized interviews with figures from the future talking about their daily lives and conflicts. Each chapter also features illustrations that explore the concepts within the text.
The book describes character’s experiences with futuristic body art, CRISPR genetic engineering, holographic sex, robot artists and musicians, body modifications, AI performed surgery, augmentation, interstellar travel, cybernetic replacements, cryopreservation, neuroplasticity, synthetic mind, and autonomy protocol.
The book gives short accounts of characters living in the future and how they experience this world around them. Among them are Elara Masaki who goes through a CRISPR procedure to have a pair of wings inserted on her back, KX-91 a robot artist who is gaining attention from the critics, and Solar Callaway a hoverboard champion who is drafted into receiving cyberbiotic augmentation and going on an interstellar mission to explore a distant planet.
Unlike many anthologies, it’s really difficult to discern which I would consider favorites in this book. These aren’t completed short stories so much as they are snippets or sketches of what could potentially be larger stories in one continuous shared universe.
The book is intriguing both in text and images. The text being told through a series of articles, interviews, and short essays gives the work a meta style and makes one feel that they are not reading a fictional work but perhaps a dry fact based account from the year 2091 catching Readers up to the latest news. In its own way, that approach can be immersive.
These are all potentially interesting ideas and it would be nice if Lee explored them further in longer stories and novels. The snippets only offer a glimpse of this futuristic world that is so distant chronologically but at the time seems so familiar because we are in the early stages.
Perhaps we can get more insight into why Elara wants a pair of wings, what Solar experiences in his travels, and who influences and inspires KX-91’s art.
The illustrations are AI style and while many shun AI art for very good reason, this is a book where it kind of works. Since the writing style acts like it is set in the future, there is no reason to assume the illustrations wouldn’t be either. KX-91’s story in particular benefits from this as we see the art produced by a futuristic fictional robot but actually created by a present AI program and originated by a human author. They are both eerie with that uncanny valley feel that modern AI art produces but also evocative in capturing emotions from a being that shouldn't have any.
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