New Author Spotlight: Guy Haley

2 Comments

1. TheAdlerian says:

   November 25, 2011 at 3:27 pm

   I was excited about the book based on the description and quickly downloaded it from Amazon. 

   However, I was disappointed, and I was very surprised to be. I’m not a writing snob by any stretch of the imagination and things like inconsistencies, typos, etc don’t bother me because I understand the amount of stuff both mental and physical that goes into a novel. But, GLARING plot holes, logical inconsistencies, and excessive FILLER are heinous and in the case of this novel I couldn’t finish it, and I almost always finish novels.

   Example of poor logic all in one compact section:

   The soldiers have implants that give them virtual psychic communication.

   Bob signaled, “I’m tired of this crap but I’m ready.” 

   Because of the emotionless communication caused by the implant John couldn’t tell if Bob was truly burned out or just being sarcastic. He noticed the man getting sloppy lately and was worried about the coming battle. 

   John signaled, “Stop whining Bob and focus,” the emotionless buzzing of John’s voice thankfully masked his irritation.  Then John saw the enemy squard approaching and it was far larger than he anticipated!

   “Everyone lock and load!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” John bellowed over his implant!!!!!!!!!!!!

   I made that up but there was a scene just like that where we’re told repeated about the lack of emotion over the implant and how it affects communication, then hot emotional dialogue ensues. That’s extremely poor writing and editing. If you can’t keep to concept in a couple sentences then I’m concluding everyone is drunk or doesn’t care.

   Example of Illogical Concept:

   The AI are like a pre-Iain Banks Culture situation. I love that idea!

   The Banks Minds are just like people with real personalities ranging from petty to godlike. There’s something like that here BUT the author screws it up by telling us their emotions are simulated.

   Mr. Annoying AI addresses Mr. Hero AI, “You suck and I’m great and a little catlike in my perversion!”

   Mr. Hero AI thinks, I can’t stand dealing with this Mr. Annoying, because he’s so annoying. By the way, all of our emotions are simulated, but I’m still simulating being annoyed, how annoying!

   That of course is stupid and makes no sense. If you KNOW your emotions aren’t real while at the same time simulating them, I believe it would take the edge off. In addition, why waste time on it? 

   If AI 1 is trying to solve a crime, then why would AI 2 simulate blocking when it really doesn’t care?

   Cliches:

   The war torn soldier who hates killing, but does the only thing he knows.

   Filler:

   There’s tons of boring business about how someone’s techno shoes, or whatever, work, but little about the plot. 

   All of the above got so in the way of the mystery I no longer cared what it was and can’t tell you although I have such an excellent memory I can detail books I read and studied from 30 years ago.

   Fantasy:

   There’s some fantasy characters in parts of the novel and I enjoyed that writing the most. Perhaps that is the writer’s unknown strength.

   I say to the author, do not give up, but stop and give ideas a good think and draw them out to their logical conclusion. You can ask me for free!

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2. Guy Haley says:

   December 1, 2011 at 5:34 am

   Oh well, he didn’t like it, not everybody does. Never mind, you can’t please all of the people and all that. You can see lots more positive comments about Reality 36 here if you like. Thanks for the spotlight, SF Signal!

    

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