Jon Gliddon & John Scalzi (Sept. 2018)

Break in Communication, by Jon Gliddon (Alternative History)

What is the connection between Mining Engineering and writing fiction? None. In fact, the minds of Mining Engineers often work the opposite way from those of who earn a living through their creativity. They deal with numbers, scientific facts, precision, established and accepted knowledge – not feats of imagination. So, after a life working as a Mining Engineer, is it even possible for someone to change that type of mindset and write a novel – moreover – a spy thriller? In the case of Jon Gliddon, the answer is yes. In his debut novel he successfully combines precision and detail with a twist of reality. Jon Gliddon had a novel in him that wouldn’t go away, so after he retired as a Mining Engineer, he wrote and self-published Break in Communication. Let me say straight off, that it is good, in fact, very good. It is polished, even in tone, and has an intricate structure and plot that nicely draws the reader along to the conclusion, which, fortunately, is far from clichéd. (Keep reading…)

Head On, by John Scalzi

The last novel by John Scalzi I read, before this one, was Agent To the Stars (Tor Books, 2008), and perhaps I was not ready for Sci-Fi at that time. Ten years ago I was reviewing for a magazine and read whatever they put in front of me, which was mostly Historical and Romance novels. Scalzi was a blip on my radar screen and the book went right over my head. The premise – exactly like the title – of a Hollywood actors’ agent who is hired by an alien race to handle the revelation of their presence to humanity, should have appealed to me, since I worked in the PR business for my sins. I kept thinking that it wasn’t a futuristic enough, that it was all mixed up with the norms and news of the time. This John Scalzi novel, Head On, is almost the same. It is futuristic, yet, the novel seems to be a metaphor for the current politics of minority rights and identity.  (And here’s more…)