Autonomy by Blake Pitcher

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘
Genre - Science Fiction Anthologies, Magical Realism, Science Fiction
Format - Paperback
Length - 139 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

Self-crashing cars; a rabbit that transcends reality; the inexorable passion of artificial intelligence-- Autonomy is a collection of stories dealing with reality, strangeness, and the space between.
Includes the novella The Young Hyenas.

PLUS…

“SWITCH”
An outing with grandma turns into a nightmarish joyride.

“Robot Butler”
Dymotron’s Robot Butler is the best help a man can buy, but at what cost?

“GOBi & the Jo-Bird”
Google’s “Online Being” runs rampant and… falls in love.

“Autonomous”
A detour in a self-driving car turns deadly.

“Horse Mode”
For Marshall, life is full of choices. But who is actually making them?

“Cold, As I Am”
A loner in a strange city overthinks an innocuous question.

Aeneatha, in the Sky
A woman follows a rabbit out of an alien world.

“Ice Cream for Smitty”
When Smitty is terrorized by two young boys, a tiny thought inspires meaningful action.

“Elisha Rabbit”
A magical rabbit transcends death and reality.

And, Eclectic-noir Flash Fiction:

Big Sky
A Week Along the Coast
Cooley’s Cabin
Ga!.

*My Review* 

I don't usually enjoy short stories all that much because there's either no time to get into them or they end just as you do. These ones seemed to be just the right amount of writing to enjoy and feel complete. The beginning and the end ones were the best. I did have a hard time with the stories in the middle. They didn't make any sense and were hard to read.

Athena's Choice by Adam Boostrom

Athena's Choice

by Adam Boostrom

Availble on Amazon

ARR

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘
Genre - Dystopian, Fiction, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Format - Paperback
Length - 272 pages

*Amazon Blurb*

Athena Vosh lives just like any other teenager from the year 2099. She watches reality shows with her friends, eats well, and occasionally wonders to herself: what would life be like if men were still alive?

It has been almost 50 years since an experimental virus accidentally killed all the men on earth. However, a controversial project is currently underway to bring men back. There's just one catch. The project has been sabotaged.

So begins the award-winning novel, Athena's Choice. When the police of 2099 are tasked with finding the saboteur, they receive a mysterious command to investigate the otherwise innocuous Athena Vosh. After it becomes clear that the young girl might know more than she lets on, Athena is brought in to participate in the official investigation. Simultaneously, the girl begins to experience a series of cryptic dreams featuring a ruined library and an old book containing the saboteur’s true identity. As the police close in on their prize, Athena finds herself on a journey of her own. Her clue-filled dreams and incorruptible spirit bring her face-to-face with a pair of forgotten truths about happiness and gender. The world waits to see if men will return as Athena fights a separate battle, culminating in the choice that will define her and others' lives forever.


*My Review* 

Can you imagine living in a world without men? That's what has happened in Athena's Choice. There was a man made virus that was created to slowly kill off the "bad" men, but it accidentally rid the world of all men (and even some women).
Athena is called upon to help solve the crime, though no one is sure how she even fits into all this. She's not a detective or even a scientist, but rather a struggling artist. I was definitely kept wondering why her, until close to the end when pieces started falling into place.
Though I enjoyed the book, there were a few things I didn't care for. The first is the ads that were in the book. I know some people thought they gave more insight into the story, but for me it was like scrolling through my Facebook and seeing ads in my timeline (sorry Adam). The second was the ending. I am not sure why, but it just didn't satisfy me.

Letters From The Apocalypse by Blake Pitcher

Letters From The Apocalypse

by Blake Pitcher

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘
Genre - Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Format - Paperback
Pages -157

*Amazon Blurb*

The sun is strange, and the lights in the sky have shut down the world. Technical writer Roger was on a work trip to Texas when it all happened. Trapped between chaos and the rise of a mysterious, fanatical rancher known as the White Texan, Roger seeks to find his way north, and home to his wife. Except it’s even harder than it seems. And he doesn’t even know if she’s alive. Letters from the Apocalypse is the story of two people separated by the end of the world, and the letters that could bring them together again.

*My Review* 
 
I always love getting books from local authors to read, but it's sad when they don't reach my expectation. This was unfortunately one of those.

Possible Spoilers in my Review

The name of the book, Letters From The Apocalypse, had me under the assumption that there would be letters going back and forth. There were 2 letters that were sent. The first one took 5 years to write and the response apparently just minutes.

I don't know why, but this book really aggravated me. Roger is so heartbroken about being away from his wife, but spends years writing pages to a letter instead of working his way back to her. Instead of just walking and hiding from people so he isn't killed, he stays and goes along with the Freedom Republic. Seriously, even walking, it would've took less than 5 years to go from Texas to New York.

Even in the beginning before the Freedom Republic gets ahold of him, he find a deserted house to stay in. I'm sorry, but if something like this happens I would scavenge up all the supplies I could possibly carry and head home.

There is a second book in this series, Return from the Apocalypse, that I'm not sure yet if I will read.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Bird Box

by Josh Malerman

Available on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Horror, Suspense, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Format - Audio-book

*Amazon Blurb*

Something is out there . . . Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster? Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?

*My Review* 

I didn't watch the show on Netflix and I think it made the book even better. Since the characters in the book are unable to look at anything, they rely on other senses. That means that everything they can't see is described to you. For me, this made it easy to picture everything without having to think about it. The layout of the house, the path to the well, the ride down the river....everything was so vivid in my mind. I also enjoyed how the book alternates between the past and present. It kept things moving nicely. The author has them switching at the perfect point.

There was only part of the story that I wished was elaborated on a little more and that was where Malorie got the food to survive for 4 years. Did she leave the babies home while she went out and got more food? How was she able to find that much to last for so long? Regardless, she did and they survived.

Villains Never Die by Nick DeWolf

Villains Never Die

by Nick DeWolf

Availble on Amazon

Rating (1-5) 📘📘📘📘📘
 Genre - Science Fiction, Fantasy, Superheros, Adventure
 Format - Ebook

*Amazon Blurb*

"In this world, the lines of good and evil are not so stark. Here, heroes are remembered, but villains never die."
It started when the warehouse exploded. But not really. The moment when Japan was nearly destroyed. But not quite. When the world's greatest heroes came together to fight the Triad of Evil, it began. But still, no. The moment Doctor Dendrite became the world's most feared man.
Almost there.
History is coming to a head. The military is moving in the shadows. Evil, thought to be long gone, reemerges, while plans made decades ago are set in motion. The world is crumbling, and at the center of a hurricane of chaos are three people who will change everything.
An old villain.
A new hero.
And a wayward girl.
One's been planning. The other's been training. And the third?
She's in way, way over her head.


*My Review* 

I never would have imagined myself reading a book about superheros, but then, some of the best books you read are ones you never thought you would. I always thought that the good guys were good and bad guys were bad. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? What if there's more to it than that? What if good guys aren't always good and bad guys aren't always bad? This book will have you picking sides, then rethinking your decision. I enjoyed how the characters really differ from each other. It makes it easy to follow their side of the story, which also makes it hard to choose a favorite character. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a sequel at some point and I'd definitely want to read it.

Giveaways and Deals

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Enter to win this 3 books.

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No Plain Rebel by M.C. Frank

No Ordinary Rebel (Book 2)

by M.C. Frank

Available On Amazon
Available on Book Depository 

 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre - Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Format -Ebook


*Blurb* 
A soldier is summoned to the North Pole, days before the year changes, told to fix the great Clock for a celebration. He has no idea what to do.
A girl, hunted for the crime of being born, almost dies out on the ice. She is rescued by the last polar bear left alive.
A library waits for them both, a library built over a span of a hundred years, forgotten in the basement of an ice shack.
The world hasn't known hunger or sickness in hundreds of years. It has also forgotten love and beauty.
This is the One World.
The year is 2524.

Inspired by the short stories of Ray Bradbury, this futuristic young adult novel in three parts is set in a world where Christmas -among other things- is obsolete and a Clock is what keeps the fragile balance of peace.

Written in three parts, this is the breathtaking story of how two unlikely people change the world, and each other, one book at a time.

In No Plain Rebel, Felix finds out the truth.
Pretty soon, everything he thought he knew is crumbling around him. He’s about to lose it all. Even her.
But he must concentrate on what’s important; he must fight. It’s time. The Stadium is looming in the distance.
It’s ten heartbeats to midnight.

*Review*
This is the second book in the No Ordinary Star series and it's just as good as the first. Although Felix is no longer a tin soldier, he is still learning how things work and what they mean in the "real world". Everything he has know his entire life is just one big lie and there's no time to waste. Now he needs to work fast to get the ever important clock finished before time runs out. As the time gets closer Felix knows that he can't do this alone. Who can he ask to help him now that everything he is and does is again the law? Not returning home, building the clock, reading.....being near a female!

Once you start reading, you're not going to want to stop. My head was spinning with questions. Would the clock be finished in time for the celebration? What would happen with Felix and Astra? Do they fall in love? Will they get caught? What would happen if the clock IS finished in time?

So many questions, some will be answered and others.....I've got to hurry up and get the next book in the series. 

M.C. Frank is an author that is able to not only make me be able to visualize what I'm reading, but when the Timer was talking in the Vis, I swear I was able to actually hear him. I don't remember ever reading a book before where a character actually had a "voice" of their own.

No Ordinary Star by M.C. Frank

No Ordinary Star

by M.C. Frank

Available On Amazon
Available On Book Depository 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘📘📘
Genre -Science Fiction, Dystopian
Format -Ebook

Reading books set in the future never seem to hold my attention, but No Ordinary Star is no ordinary book. The beginning had me wondering if I was going to be able to follow the story or not. It didn't take long before I found myself unable to stop reading. The book just flows making it easy to read and the more you read the easier it is to picture everything happening. 

The year is 2524. People no longer sleep, eat or think on their own. Instead the take pills to keep them awake, pills to give them everything they need for nourishment and are told what to do. The world has become the perfect place, sort of.

Felix was just another solider, with the exception of always being the best and never breaking any laws...so why does he end up in a place that he shouldn't be. And why hasn't he left yet? Felix finds himself breaking laws rapidly. From not going home to his first meeting with Astra. Will this "tin soldier" be able to understand the truth or will he give up and head home to face the consequences of his disappearing? 


I can't wait to read the next book in the series. There are so many questions that need to be answered.

The Megarothke by Robert Ashcroft

The Megarothke

by Robert Ashcroft

Available On Amazon
Available On Book Depository 

Rating (1-5) - 📘📘📘1/2
Genre - Science Fiction
Format - Softcover
Pages - 280

I am not a science fiction fan, but this book made me think that I should check more out in that genre. I received this book in my March PageHabit subscription box. As always, I enjoyed the author annotations throughout the book.

At first I was thinking that it was going to be another one of the stories (ok I haven't read a story like this before so I was thinking more like a movie, but still) where it's all going to be about robots and one person who does everything. I also thought that I might not finish it because its not a "thriller" or "suspense" book. Well, it wasn't about just one person and I did finish. As a matter of fact I was able to read it in just a couple days.

It's the future, 2051 to be exact, and after the Hollow War there are 50,000 people left in the world all living in Los Angeles. The billionaires had fled to the Orbital which was like a world above the city. Robot monsters know as fiends, harbingers and bruisers and bionic people are roaming everywhere and are said to be controlled by the Megarothke. No one knows where the Megarothke came from  or when it came to Earth. The only thing that people do know it that it needs to be destroyed. Theo wants to uncover his feeling of having had a part in the Megarothke and to rid the world of it. The story goes back and forth between the current year and Theo's past when him and his wife were together and their separation. I was able to stay with the story up until the end. I actually started to get confused when Theo figured out what he had to do. I thought the ending was dragged out a bit longer than it needed to be.

Although I didn't care for the ending I did still think it was a good book and that people who are more into the science fiction genre many appreciate more than me.