As I mentioned in my last post, I was asked to read and review Socialpunk, a new novel by Monica Leonelle. After reading the first 10 chapters in the preview, I anxiously waited to receive my copy of the full text. Thankfully it arrived in my inbox early enough last Thursday for me to load it on my Kindle before leaving for the airport to head to Boston.  I just want to give fair warning that the following review may contain spoilers and plot points, so if you don’t like that kind of thing, be aware.

Had I not fallen asleep for the first hour or so of the flight, I probably would have finished the book on the plane. This is huge change of reading pace from Game of Thrones, which I have been making way through (I am in the middle of book five). I suppose my reading speed didn’t really change, so much as the length of Socialpunk is much shorter.

Socialpunk was a fun read, I didn’t want to put the book down while I was in the middle of it.  I haven’t read any  ”cyberpunk” style books before (that I can think of off the top of my head), but  I did enjoy this one.  It seems to me to be a fairly traditional, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi novel and love story. I can see a lot of parallels to other sci-fi stories spanning the years from Logan’s Run to The Matrix, including an almost verbatim reference to The Terminator movies. I have nothing against formulaic stories, I mean six out of seven Harry Potter books had exactly the same story with a slightly different cast and minor details, but I and most of the world still love them.  Socialpunk follows the line of girl meets boy, boy takes here from the fake world to the real world where she breaks out her shell of a sheep to become the leader who will save her friends and the world.

Ima/Cinder is a great character, I enjoyed watching her story develop.  I thought it was a little unfortunate that instead of really learning to change and growing out of her shell, she is “upgraded.”  That area alone leaves so much room for character development, love story development and just more story.  I realize the characters are supposed to be working under the time frame of something like a week, but still.  She is a character who I found interesting to explore and who I cared about.  I have definitely met characters in other books who I really could have cared less about, but Ima/Cinder was not one of those.

One of the other interesting references that I noticed that seemed out of place to me was one to Jane Austin’s Emma. All things considered, had I not just recently worked on the stage adaptation of the book, I probably would not have got the reference.  I only question if the target audience of Socialpunk (and even the character who makes the reference) would really know Jane Austin.  She wasn’t required reading when I was in school, is she now?

I also noticed a host of little technical issues with the book.  To an avid reader you would probably look at them and go “huh?!” and then figure it out and move on.  They really amount to a handful of typos, some pronoun and name inconsistencies and a few other small things.  My hope is that I was just reading a preview copy that was going to get at least one more once over by the author or her editor before publishing.  It didn’t detract from the story at all, but it is something you don’t expect to see in published books.

The last thing that really struck me was length of the book and the ending.  Amazon says that the paperback edition is 400 pages.  I read it on my Kindle, so pages are kind of meaningless. It took me less than a day to finish the whole book, and then it ended in a place where you might expect your favorite TV sitcom to end.  I realize that this is supposed to be the first book in a trilogy, but given the length, I felt you could probably wrap all the books into one and still be happy.  On the other hand, I guess maybe I am feeling this way because I was attached to the story and I want to find out what happens next.  That is a great way to set up a cliffhanger, if your audience is wanting more!

Overall, I would recommend the book. If you like any of the genres or similar stories that I mentioned before, you will probably like Socialpunk. If you are looking for a fairly fast read (at least until the sequels are ready) then this is also a good book for you. The story has likeable characters with a plot line that is pretty easy to follow, and the story is fun.

Socialpunk is the first book in the Socalpunk Trilogy by Monica Leonelle. Monica Leonelle is a well-known digital media strategist and the author of three novels. She blogs at Prose on Fire (http://proseonfire.com) and shares her writing and social media knowledge with other bloggers and authors through her Free Writer Toolkit (http://proseonfire.com/free-writer-toolkit).

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So, it turns out that some people actually notice my blog that I have not been so faithful to this past year (along with some other things that I really should have been). I suppose that is neither here nor there though.

Anyway…. It turns out that last week I was contacted by a young author/blogger because her boyfriend has been by my blog to read about photography. Actually, I almost dismissed the email as SPAM because probably most of the email that I get in reference to my blog is SPAM. However, I took the time to actually look at this one ad reply to it.

The email was from Monica Leonelle from monicaleonelle.com and proseonfire.com, and it was asking if I would be interested in reading and reviewing her new book “Social Punk.” So, me being skeptical, wrote back a fairly skeptical response that was met with an almost immediate response. Made me feel better to know that there was a real person behind the emails.

So, I popped over to her blog, read some of the preview chapters and figured that it couldn’t hurt to sign up for the blog tour and write a real review. I am still waiting on the full copy of the book to read, but I am certainly looking forward to it. So, check back in the coming weeks for a real review of the book and possibly an interview with the author. In the mean time, you might enjoy the following snippet from the book:

After playing God for six years with the world he created, he couldn’t control any of his subjects, none at all. Over the years, he had watched them evolve and become the sum of their own choices rather than the sum of his; and for that, he regretted ever giving them life.

A small, blinking red light from just inside his eyelid reminded him of the news they sent him earlier that morning. The company had cancelled his funding and would shut down his project within three months. According to them, the project cost too much and took up too much space, and the inconclusive results couldn’t be published reputably, now or in the future.

Six years of his work, tens of thousands of lives at stake—and he could do nothing to save any of it. He bowed his head, letting his chin rest on the rim of his breakfast smoothie. The smoothie reeked of powder—crushed pills—but he supposed he had better get used to it. He wouldn’t be able to afford the luxury of real food after they canned him.

He closed his eyes and called up the camera view of one of his favorites, number 3281. She fascinated him; he couldn’t deny it. When he had designed her, her pre-teen rebelliousness lit fire in her eyes. A survivor, he’d thought. He’d meant for her to have it all—to grow up, to get married to the love of her life, and to have a beautiful family of her own someday.

But he had only given her sadness so far. Instead of creating a strict father, he had given her an abusive one. Instead of creating a loving boyfriend, he had given her a friend who could never love her. And instead of creating a strong, proud mother, he had given her a meek one, who watched the whole thing unfold and did nothing about it.

He looked at his last and final creation sitting in the chair across from him—his own son, not awakened yet. The law forbade him to have any children of his own, so this boy would substitute.

But he had done the unthinkable with this creation—he had bestowed on it his own thoughts, emotions, and decision-making processes. He’d given the boy his own mind, his own physical characteristics, his own wants and desires.

He had never done so with any of the others because of the dangers of investing too heavily in any one of his subjects. But who could he kid? He had not stayed objective thus far, watching some of his subjects more closely than others, wishing for the happiness of some at the expense of others. He had become an abomination, a monster of his own doing, who had created subjects only to watch them suffer.

He couldn’t forgive himself; not now, not ever. His eyes lingered on the vial that sat next to his breakfast smoothie, that he’d stowed away for the day when they destroyed all his work, his entire world. He would save it, tuck it away for now, for as long as he could protect them. When things spun out of his control, he would drink it and end himself the way he had ended them.

In the ancient stories, gods frequently gave their sons as gifts. Now, he would give his son as a gift to her, number 3281. So she could be happy in her last months on earth, before they destroyed her with the rest of them.

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This post was inspired by Kris over at Because or Why Not.  She posted the meme and I thought it was a great idea.  She didn’t tag anyone, but said that if we were interested, to mention her, so I did (besides, I like her blog).

I don’t know if this meme has a particular name, but essentially it is about making the blog a little more personal by answering a few questions and writing them out by hand.  Many times in the past I have mentioned that I enjoy writing by hand.  I write letters all summer to friends.  I used to write home to my girlfriend-now-fiancee, but now she works at camp.  So, if any of my readers want a letter, all you have to do is writ to me.  The address for the summer is here on my blog somewhere.

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It is that crazy time of the month again, when bloggers unite for a little blogging fun known as bloggerstock!  This month I am happy to be hosting a good blogger friend and fellow founder of Bloggerstock, Shinxy.  She never fails to speak her mind and she is always interesting to read.  Hopefully you all enjoy her writing as much as I do!

As usual, Shinxy’s post is very blunt and some may see it as controversial.  If you actually read her blog it will make more sense.  I only post this warning because there are some of you out there who may be offended, but hey, we can’t please everyone all the time!  Shinxy’s postcard is written to Adolph Hitler and she wanted the picture on the back to be the following:

So, without any further ado, I shall turn the floor over to Shinxy for the July Bloggerstock event: “Potential Postcards.”

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Dear Adolf,

There is much debate as to whether the T4 program was euthanasia or murder; and whether it was the stepping stone to the Holocaust (Okay there isn’t. Every history book says it was murder, and it was a stepping stone to the Holocault. It’s just that I disagree). Any research I have done on the subject has ended in ’and six million Jews died in concentration camps’. I am one of the few who separates these events.

My boyfriends and I would have been terminated under your T4 program, but I do not connect the Holocaust and T4. Most people say you would have killed us because you thought us inferior or inhuman, as you saw the Jews. I prefer to think they were indeed mercy killings. In your last few hours, you had to make the decision to kill your beloved German Shepard, Blondi, before the Russians got to her and tortured her. You knew if you let her live, the rest of her life would be suffering. I like to think you thought of us like that. I haven’t spoken to one severely disabled person about the issue of suicide without them sharing a story of an attempt. There are many of us who can only look forward to a future of increased disability. If one commits suicide, one is seen as a coward. If one is euthanised, as you would have done to us, those who care about us can only feel the comfort that we are no longer suffering, not the anger. I would love this option. Part of me wishes I was terminated under the T4 program. I am sure that there are many deceased from that who would thank you if they could; certainly the ones who had descended into madness to the point where they no longer know what’s going on around them, as I will be one day.

For those of the 200,000 killed whose very being was torturous and unbearable, I thank you for giving them mercy.

Regards,

Shinxy

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Hopefully you are enjoying this month’s Bloggerstock event!  If you want to read my own post, you can find it over on Amanda’s blog: Amanda Abella.  If you are want to learn more about Bloggerstock or want to sign up for future events, please check out our website!

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All things considered, it is kind of hard to follow my last post.  Needless to say, it has been quite along week.  We have a saying at camp: “The days are very long but the weeks go by too fast!”  It is so true.  Sometimes I wonder if shows like 24 could really happen in the span of a single day, but when I look back at all the things that happened some of the days this week, it seems a little more plausible.  We seem to really be able to pack a day full of things to do, especially when you wake up at 7AM and go to bed at 1AM.  Which by the way, I am still not sure how I manages that most of the summer.

Last Monday seems so far away, heck, so does yesterday.  I know that I went on the camping trip on Monday, but that seems like years ago.  In the span of a week I have driven hundreds of miles, gone camping, scuba diving, played guitar at two campfires, wrote a tribute to a dear friend, got signed up to play camp-counselor 2-on-2 beach volley ball, and so much more.  I was actually very happy that for the most part today, my services were only required for the setup of the big screen so that our Spanish “mafia” could watch the World Cup finals.  It was actually a relaxing day and the heat wave has mostly broken it seems.

All these things have gone on, and while I was sitting at campfire, watching the embers drift in the thermals I was thinking that tonight would be a great night to write.  Well, here I am getting back to my computer and I feel like I have just hit a block.  I don’t really know why, other than the fact that I feel like I should be writing more than just the summation of the things that have happened over the past week.  There is something so mesmerizing about watching the embers from the fire dance up into the sky.  That is probably what made me think that it would be a good night to write.  Watching that always reminds me of the scene in the movie The Right Stuff where the embers from the aboriginal fire seem to fly up into space.

Today was just one of those days, all the best intentions, none of the motivation.  I have a list of things that should get done, and I probably could have checked a bunch of them off today, but I didn’t.  In truth, I didn’t really do much of anything besides play guitar and eat today.  It seems like all we do on Sundays is eat.  Mostly because we have a late breakfast, but lunch is at a normal time.  The sad thing is that we manage to have both one of the best meals and the worst meal of the week on Sunday.  I am sorry, cold-cuts on rolls that are not big enough for a sandwich just does not a dinner make.

Unfortunately, while it sounds like many of the thoughts and ideas that I put down on last week’s comment card were applauded, odds are nothing will change.  I missed most of the staff meeting this week because I was setting up for the World Cup.  I heard through the grapevine that some of the admin liked my ideas for making the daily schedule better, but often times this is one of those organizations that won’t change because they think the way things are is tradition.  Well, it could be better and I wish that we could get it there.

Life is good though.  Camp is fun.  Maybe if I play my cards right I will get to go on another trip.  That would be a lot of fun.  It is just nice to do something different as the day-to-day routine here can get old fast and when you have lots of kids out of camp on trips, hiking, at competitions and at the lake, it can be like a ghost town.  In some ways, it makes the job easier, but it can also make it less fun, especially for the campers.  It seems though that for the most part people are in good spirits, so that is good.

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