(First off, I'd like to again thank Warren Hammond, co-author of this Denver Moon:The Minds of Mars for his guest post. You rock Warren! Also, there is a review of the Denver Moon trade paperback coming, but I'm waiting until I get the third comic as I plan to review the whole thing at once. Also, the ARC of the novel that I received came with a copy of the short story that got turned into the TPB, I'm holding off on reviewing that until I can review the TPB itself.I did enjoy it. It's just not time to review it yet.)
I grew up on far-future science fiction. Humanity had colonized the stars. Whether it was (ironically) long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away or the final frontier, humanity had spread far beyond the limits of the Solar System and into the far reaches of space. What humanity found among the stars varied widely of course. Usually it was aliens but not always. Always though, we were outside of our Solar System and among the stars. It wasn't until I got older that I experienced SF and the struggle to make things much closer to home work. What I've found though, is that I've thoroughly enjoyed the battles that I first became aware of as a result of reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. It's not all that surprising that I thought of that either, given the fact that I'm reviewing Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola's Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars. This book has all of the fun of near future SF and some unique twists as well. I had fun with this one.
Denver Moon is our title character and she is a bit unusual. For one, she's a colorblind private eye. This makes things a bit unusual. I was skeptical that this would work when I first realized it, but as I was reading it didn't harm the story at all. As a matter of fact, Denver actually needed to be a monochrome because of some later parts of the story.
As befits a story about a detective, DM:TMOM is a mystery. The great thing about this being a mystery is that it's an EPIC mystery. I recently reviewed Ready Player One and this Denver Moon is out to solve a mystery that is every bit as big and as important as the mystery in RPO but even more important... even if our heroine doesn't realize that at first.
Probably the best part about this book is all of the twists and turns that it takes. Every time you think the mystery is solved it gets deeper. I've read mysteries since my days as a fan of the Hardy Boys and you don't see this in a lot of places. Lots of mysteries are murder mysteries (ala just about every police procedural on TV) and once you know whodunit the story is over. Not so much here. It actually reaches the point where the solution to the initial mystery just introduces the next one, which morphs into another one you didn't even know existed. This thing doesn't stop and it doesn't rest.
Things are not always as they appear here either. The people you think are your friends may not be. The people you believe are the villains might just be heroes. You'll know who is who by the end of the book (at least I think I do now) but it's not until the last few pages that everything sorts itself out... probably. I think. Unless I'm wrong. Which I may be, but there's a sequel coming and once I read that... Well, who knows. This thing has a bunch of twists and it's intended as a series so there could be a bunch more coming. I'm not making any guarantees here, except to buy the next one. Oh, and I also promise to stay
Speaking as a man who fired his first BB gun at the age of five and his first rifle at the age of eight, I have to give props to Hammond and Viola for placing Moon's person AI in his pistol. Smith, as the AI is known is a mix between a high powered computer, a best friend and a tactical advising/targeting system. Oh, and toss in a smartgun feature ala the first (and possible later) edition(s) of Shadowrun. Smith is freaking awesome. I want like six of these things. It doesn't get any better than this. Putting an AI in a private eye's gun makes every bit as much sense as giving Tony Stark access to Jarvis in his Iron Man suit. Both AIs are integral parts of the characters they partner with as well as being characters in their own right.
One of the key aspects of the mysteries that Moon tries to solve is "The Feve". The feve is a disease that effects the brain and causes extreme violence. No one is sure what causes it. Everyone knows that only monochromatic individuals are immune to it, but no one is sure why. It could be because so much of Mars is red or it may not be. All that they know for sure about the feve is that it comes randomly and without warning. People are scared and they should be.
Hammond and Viola manage to avoid two of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to mysteries: They don't bring in a solution out of nowhere that makes no sense. They didn't telegraph the eventual ending of the book in the first then pages. Those two facts combine to make this mystery worth reading. I want a mystery that keeps me wondering and DM:TMOM definitely does. I could read this all day long. Actually, I did read most of it during a slow shift at work. Thank God for cellphones and their lit up faces. I drive a cab on the midnight shift and this book gave me something to focus on and stay awake. It kept me interested when I got fatigued. That's about the biggest compliment I know how to give to a book.
Now, I don't do spoilers, so I'll just leave this here and let the reader figure out if they can figure out why I wrote it. Ready? I have a very strong and visceral dislike for cliffhanger endings, especially in books when you don't know when the sequel is coming. I get the fact that they're somewhat entertaining as well as a good business move. I just don't like them. That much being said, this is still a really good book. I can't wait to read the next one.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Martian Rocks
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars
Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola
Hex Publishers, 2018
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars is available for purchase at the link below:
Showing posts with label Warren Hammond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warren Hammond. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
How this Author Got his Co- Warren Hammond
(I'm really excited here everybody and let me tell you why:
I received an email one day from Sarah Craft, publicist for Hex Publishers. She offered me a chance to review some work in a new franchise they've got cooking over there called Denver Moon. I read a little bit about the book and it's got me stoked. Not only is it Science Fiction, and this is an SF blog, but it's a detective story. I got my start reading detective stories with the Hardy Boys and, even if my current consumption of mystery is mainly through police procedurals on TV, I still love them. But it gets better.
In my very first post I wrote of how comic books/graphic novels are totally SF. I've loved comics since I was a wee little Jimbo and my neighbor gave me a bunch of older books that his nephew was done with. AND NOW I GET TO REVIEW A GRAPHIC NOVEL!!!! YAY!!!!! It'll be my first review of a comic. I'm geeked. So thanks to Sarah and Hex for that opportunity. I have the first two comics of Metamorphosis, the graphic novel. They're entitled Murder on Mars and Rafe's Revenge. I also have a copy of the novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars. I haven't reviewed them yet because they haven't been released and I'm not sure what the legalities are regarding publishing a review for something that hasn't been released.
I was also offered the chance to host a guest post by one of the authors and I jumped at the chance. JABAMR is a place where authors are encouraged to share their thoughts with the public. So without further ado, here are the thoughts of Warren Hammond about co-authoring a piece. Oh, and thank you for the opportunity to host a guest post and review some really cool stuff!)
It was about two years ago when Josh Viola sent me an email. “Let me buy you a beer,” he said. “I have a project I hope will interest you.”
Sold by the first part, I met him on the north side of Denver. We’d gotten to know each other a bit over the preceding year or two. Josh is the owner of Hex Publishers, and I’d written a short story for his company’s very first book, Nightmares Unhinged. Then came book signings and more short story anthologies, and dare I say, we became friends.
Then came his offer of a free beer and a mysterious project. “I have this great idea,” Josh said. “A detective on Mars, and her name is Denver Moon. We can write it together.”
I wouldn’t say I was immediately taken with the idea of co-authoring, but I wasn’t opposed to it either. Lots of writers collaborate, especially in movies and television, where much of the content we see is produced by committee. Co-authoring is rarer in the book world but certainly not unheard of.
“Tell me more,” I said.
Josh elaborated on the story concept. “Denver Moon is a PI. Her sidekick is an artificial intelligence that’s been installed in her gun. Oh, and she’s colorblind.”
“Colorblind?”
“Yes, but somehow that gives her an advantage.”
“How would that work?”
“I have no idea. What do you think?”
And that’s how it started. The sharing of ideas. The shaping and honing of those ideas. The creation of story.
Like most creative projects, you don’t know where to start, until you start. A short story seemed as good a place as any. Josh took the first stab by writing the first draft. Then I went in for the second crack. We were just starting to learn how to work together, and we passed the story back and forth a few times, each time making the story stronger and more complete, until finally, both of us were happy. That story, Metamorphosis, then became the basis for our graphic novel.
Enter a third collaborator, Aaron Lovett. Aaron is an artist, and I’d been plenty impressed by what I’d seen of his work. He’d done the cover art for Nightmares Unhinged, and I’d seen early versions of a comic book that became Tooth and Claw. Truth be told, Aaron was a huge reason I got involved in the Denver Moon project. Josh had been clear from the beginning that he wanted to do a three-issue comic, and I knew right then, I might never get an opportunity like this again. It’s a common dream amongst authors—especially those who write SF and fantasy—to see a story you wrote turned into a graphic novel. So how could I pass up the opportunity to see a story I co-wrote through the lens of an artist as talented as Aaron?
As I write this, Aaron is working on the third and final issue, and I can’t wait to see it. To me, this is the exciting part of collaborating. We all bring our own talents and perspectives, and the ultimate beneficiary is the work itself. Like the short story and the graphic novel, I couldn’t have written our next project, a novella, on my own. And neither could Josh. The novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars, was product of the two of us.
This time we changed our process, and I was the one who wrote the first draft. We’d meet after every two or three chapters to discuss what was going to happen next, and only after I’d gotten to the end did Josh go in to clean it up, flesh it out, and add his personal touch.
Some co-authors use a different method. One author might write all the scenes from the point of view of one character, while the other author takes responsibility for a second character’s POV chapters. A friend of mine co-authored an urban fantasy series, where one author took the action scenes, and the other took the romantic scenes. I’ve also seen co-authors who simply break up the responsibility for chapters into odds and evens. In the end it doesn’t really matter as long as the reader can’t tell who wrote what. In fact, as my memory fades, it gets hard for even me to tell.
Our next novella (for now titled the unimaginative Denver Moon: Book Two) is currently under way. The first 9,000 words are written, and Josh and I met over beers just a couple nights ago to discuss what’s coming next in Denver’s world. We both had a ton of ideas. Some we’ll keep. Some we’ll have to toss. And some will stew in our collective mind until they morph into something new and unexpected.
After this next novella, we don’t know what’s next. We’ve thrown around some ideas, but to this point no decisions have been made. We’ll work that out later. Anything for an excuse to have a beer with a friend.
Some of the Hex Publishers products listed above are available for sale at the links below:
I received an email one day from Sarah Craft, publicist for Hex Publishers. She offered me a chance to review some work in a new franchise they've got cooking over there called Denver Moon. I read a little bit about the book and it's got me stoked. Not only is it Science Fiction, and this is an SF blog, but it's a detective story. I got my start reading detective stories with the Hardy Boys and, even if my current consumption of mystery is mainly through police procedurals on TV, I still love them. But it gets better.
In my very first post I wrote of how comic books/graphic novels are totally SF. I've loved comics since I was a wee little Jimbo and my neighbor gave me a bunch of older books that his nephew was done with. AND NOW I GET TO REVIEW A GRAPHIC NOVEL!!!! YAY!!!!! It'll be my first review of a comic. I'm geeked. So thanks to Sarah and Hex for that opportunity. I have the first two comics of Metamorphosis, the graphic novel. They're entitled Murder on Mars and Rafe's Revenge. I also have a copy of the novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars. I haven't reviewed them yet because they haven't been released and I'm not sure what the legalities are regarding publishing a review for something that hasn't been released.
I was also offered the chance to host a guest post by one of the authors and I jumped at the chance. JABAMR is a place where authors are encouraged to share their thoughts with the public. So without further ado, here are the thoughts of Warren Hammond about co-authoring a piece. Oh, and thank you for the opportunity to host a guest post and review some really cool stuff!)
It was about two years ago when Josh Viola sent me an email. “Let me buy you a beer,” he said. “I have a project I hope will interest you.”
Sold by the first part, I met him on the north side of Denver. We’d gotten to know each other a bit over the preceding year or two. Josh is the owner of Hex Publishers, and I’d written a short story for his company’s very first book, Nightmares Unhinged. Then came book signings and more short story anthologies, and dare I say, we became friends.
Then came his offer of a free beer and a mysterious project. “I have this great idea,” Josh said. “A detective on Mars, and her name is Denver Moon. We can write it together.”
I wouldn’t say I was immediately taken with the idea of co-authoring, but I wasn’t opposed to it either. Lots of writers collaborate, especially in movies and television, where much of the content we see is produced by committee. Co-authoring is rarer in the book world but certainly not unheard of.
“Tell me more,” I said.
Josh elaborated on the story concept. “Denver Moon is a PI. Her sidekick is an artificial intelligence that’s been installed in her gun. Oh, and she’s colorblind.”
“Colorblind?”
“Yes, but somehow that gives her an advantage.”
“How would that work?”
“I have no idea. What do you think?”
And that’s how it started. The sharing of ideas. The shaping and honing of those ideas. The creation of story.
Like most creative projects, you don’t know where to start, until you start. A short story seemed as good a place as any. Josh took the first stab by writing the first draft. Then I went in for the second crack. We were just starting to learn how to work together, and we passed the story back and forth a few times, each time making the story stronger and more complete, until finally, both of us were happy. That story, Metamorphosis, then became the basis for our graphic novel.
Enter a third collaborator, Aaron Lovett. Aaron is an artist, and I’d been plenty impressed by what I’d seen of his work. He’d done the cover art for Nightmares Unhinged, and I’d seen early versions of a comic book that became Tooth and Claw. Truth be told, Aaron was a huge reason I got involved in the Denver Moon project. Josh had been clear from the beginning that he wanted to do a three-issue comic, and I knew right then, I might never get an opportunity like this again. It’s a common dream amongst authors—especially those who write SF and fantasy—to see a story you wrote turned into a graphic novel. So how could I pass up the opportunity to see a story I co-wrote through the lens of an artist as talented as Aaron?
As I write this, Aaron is working on the third and final issue, and I can’t wait to see it. To me, this is the exciting part of collaborating. We all bring our own talents and perspectives, and the ultimate beneficiary is the work itself. Like the short story and the graphic novel, I couldn’t have written our next project, a novella, on my own. And neither could Josh. The novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars, was product of the two of us.
This time we changed our process, and I was the one who wrote the first draft. We’d meet after every two or three chapters to discuss what was going to happen next, and only after I’d gotten to the end did Josh go in to clean it up, flesh it out, and add his personal touch.
Some co-authors use a different method. One author might write all the scenes from the point of view of one character, while the other author takes responsibility for a second character’s POV chapters. A friend of mine co-authored an urban fantasy series, where one author took the action scenes, and the other took the romantic scenes. I’ve also seen co-authors who simply break up the responsibility for chapters into odds and evens. In the end it doesn’t really matter as long as the reader can’t tell who wrote what. In fact, as my memory fades, it gets hard for even me to tell.
Our next novella (for now titled the unimaginative Denver Moon: Book Two) is currently under way. The first 9,000 words are written, and Josh and I met over beers just a couple nights ago to discuss what’s coming next in Denver’s world. We both had a ton of ideas. Some we’ll keep. Some we’ll have to toss. And some will stew in our collective mind until they morph into something new and unexpected.
After this next novella, we don’t know what’s next. We’ve thrown around some ideas, but to this point no decisions have been made. We’ll work that out later. Anything for an excuse to have a beer with a friend.
Some of the Hex Publishers products listed above are available for sale at the links below:
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