What Am I Reading Wednesday: False Positives by Kim Aleksander

Well! I have to say that even though the cover says A Techno-Thriller on it, this lovely piece of intrigue falls perfectly into the conspiracy genre. Hold up kiddies there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. I love a good conspiracy, almost as much as I love paranormal romance.

Kim puts together a cast of characters who bring a strong presence to every part that they are in.  I found two weak point the whole book where I wasn’t feeling them but good googly moogly, who cares.

The story is based the idea that computer programming could possibly be the reason for the start of world war three. Sound familiar? It should there are enough movies about this same idea. I think own a few... 

We open with a college student circa the Viet Nam era tripping on something and creating the first computer bug by hand, punch card style. The book flashes forward from there to 2007, but then makes it a point to follow this genius throughout important parts of said tripper’s life. The books leads you, the reader, to the business end of Washington DC, divey areas of Thailand, the fall of Saigon, and even to Tehran. A lot of research went into this book and it’s not lost on you as you traverse the world with the characters.

I can say that this book comes with all the requisite ingredients for a thriller: deranged military and government officials, creepy assassins, and old men considered harmless or crazy, good stuff really. What makes this a stand out for me is the random Thai tranny, the girl on girl action, and the fact that everyone seems to have daddy issues. How they feel about Daddy seems to motivate just about everyone even those who’s father isn’t even relevant. 

Junior the voiceless and some would want to think brainless machine, makes a perfect foil for all America’s fears. The program operates without concern for moral rightness. It is business, the opposite of humanity and ironically created by humans. It’s after results, and humans constant need to have a decision made for them makes the system so easy to abuse. It’s a means to an end but is it the right end?

I think a good portion of time was spent understanding why this machine should not exist, inside each characters mind. The way that they eventually blended together and worked toward the solution for Junior was neatly arranged. If that time was not spent I think the characters would have been flat and the story would have suffered. Some books I’ve read lately have not been able to pull that off.

What did I not like about the book? Not much. Because this book does not really need romantic undertones, it’s just that good, what little romantic interactions there were, could have been omitted. I’m not even really strong on that stance because the story doesn’t really have to reach that far AND it’s done in such a matter of fact ay that you don’t even really question it. I did love how smitten one of the minor characters became with the aforementioned tranny. I especially loved it when he got warned by both his/her father and brother. Freaking classic, as a comic relief moment goes that was superb.

The end was a little too tidy but what do you expect? These are, despite their collective big brains, humble citizens of the world and all they really wanted in the end was to just live in peace. Sorry no sunsets or sailing off into the moon light here.

Was this a good book? Yes. Did this live up to it’s techno-thriller title? Yes. We already said this was a great conspiracy novel. Super Yes. Is this a guy book? MMM maybe, but not so much a guy book as just a really good book.

Thanks Kim Aleksander for putting some seriously good hard work into this story. It was totally worth the wait ordering the print copy.

So does Kim get two thumbs for this? Of course he does. You can find your copy of False Positives at Amazon.com here. Or you can go find it some other way and then you'd be on you're own.

What are you still hungry for a little more? You're in luck I've vlogged this review and if you just click a little further you can watch me wax poetic some more.

What Am I Reading Wednesday- Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

I have to admit folks I truly forgot to post until I was on Facebook commenting on someone else's blog.


Sad, children, very sad.


So this week I came back with another romance novel. I love them so. It has vampires so there's that blood fetish that seems to be all the crazy lately. Frankly I'm not complaining. There is always something terribly naughty about drinking someone's blood.


Not that I want to subject myself to the worlds greatest hickey, I just like reading about it.




Okay then:
Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost
So we've got Leila a circus performer who can electrocute people with the touch of her hand. What that really means is a life time of lonely nights on cold sheets and not even a dog to keep her company. Luckily she works with carney folk and strange is normal.


The book gets pretty interesting when she's accosted by three vampires. Normally most girls would pass out of they were kidnapped by vampires but this tough cookie works with one a little one named Frank. I mean he's really a wee little man. The other vampires need her some for dastardly deed and will not take no for an answer.


She complies and telepathically (for lack of a better word) meets Vlad, who is all about protecting her after she gave him the skinny.


For the rest of the book we watch the two of them grow in their attraction for each other. Those lonely nights we picture are gone for good because Vlad Tepesh here likes being shocked all the time. Vlad I knew you were a kinky bastard...


What's really cool about this book is the fact that Ms. Frost went through a lot of trouble creating a place  somewhere in Romania that has to be the most beautiful area in Eastern Europe. She makes it sound like a winter wonderland. I love how she describes the town below Vlad's castle and the touristy spots that surround the Dracula legend. Seriously that was a very special touch.


I also love that Vlad is a cross between old and new school where he has expectations of the people around him and has to adapt his way of thinking for Leila.  She really test him a couple of times in the book, and that they manage to compromise on some serious decisions is freaking priceless. It's very humorous to read how he reacts to Leila's independent spirit. The guy sets things on fire when he's angry. It's not over played here.


Frankly this book should not fall into the Trashy Mass Produced Romance Novel category, but it does and my wallet is not complaining about that. Once Burned gets two thumbs, seriously because it's got romance, danger, gory death and a strange family reunion that make sense. Can we say over the top in a pleasant happy ending sort of way. YES


You can watch the vlog if you like:

 If you'll excuse me and my seriously bad hair day we can wrap this up.




Next week is the second installment of Fifty Shades by EL James with Fifty Shades Darker. Oh La La

What Am I Reading Wednesday- The Gunfighter &The Gear Head by Cassandra Duffy

Right, so hhmmm. What do I say about this book? First off I liked most of it. As rich as this story was, in certain spots there were some serious holes. But let me set up the story first.

This is some time I’m assuming in the future, set in the mid south west in of all places Tombstone. Tombstone being the place where all good and bad gunslingers of the old wild west go to drink themselves stupid or get shot to death. 

We have Fiona a red head with no remorse, a former Victoria’s Secret Model cum hand cannon bad ass. Scratching a living hunting remnants of an alien invasion called the Slark. The currency in Tombstone is strangely enough thier heads.

Then we have Gieo, who is a dirigible pilot that crash lands outside Tombstone, right at the beginning of some kind of political (for lack of a better word) uprising. 

These two, depite the crazy odds, happen to be very attracted to each other and managed some semblance of a relationship. Gieo plays the submissive, even goes as far as donning a collar in public to for bother her’s and Fiona’s benefit. Okay so we have two factions already right? Right. The Slark who   had superior technology and now just have too many extremities. Then there are the folks that run Tombstone which is headed up by this Slark hating man named Zeke.

I would have been okay with Zeke and the Slark ducking it out till the end of the book I think that would have been enough here. But there’s blind Methanol drinkers who have some kind of cult that’s waiting for The Rapture. There’s also this three headed syndicate called the Raven Ladies. They are kind of the leading authority since there really is no dominating government anymore. It’s run by three queens on a chess board two of which had a very bad relationship with Fiona.

I wasn’t feeling that Cult at all. What I was feeling was the Slark. They aren’t that bright. They attack constantly even thought they clearly have the sucky hand in this card game. Every time they attack they end up retreating. Freaking weird. I wish there was more on this though. It would have totally made up for the blind cultist. What I wanted to know was why the came in the first place.

Man there is so much packed into this book that I had to back track several times just to make sure I had some things straight. I’d still recommend this book though just for the fact that it was highly entertaining for most of it.

I like that Gieo actually has to kill someone close to the end and it changes her a little but with guidance was able to bounce back from it. These tender points actually make the book.

I give this 1 3/4 thumbs up too much cultist and not enough Slark. Would I read the second Raven Ladies book? Most likely. Cheers Ms. Duffy great read.

Want to see my vlog about this?

I had to look up some stuff before I read this so I might as well share.
http://www.airships.net/dirigible

Also if you like Cassandra Duffy here is her blog. It's called Erotic Answers, she does advice


Steam Punk-in it out 


Next Week: More Trashy Mass Produced Romance With Vampires. I love me some Vampires.  Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

What Am I Reading Wednesday: Amped by Daniel H. Wilson

This week I'm super excited to bring you Amped by Daniel Wilson. Danny is what I'd call a certified Geek. Hell yeah, me and Chewy love certified geeks. The book cover says this guy has a Ph. D. in robotics. So if all else fails (which it won't because the guy is flipping brilliant) he could always work at  Myth Busters. That's not a bad idea.

Amped first off is not something I'd pick off the the shelf I'm not even sure how I found it on Amazon.  No one recommended it to me either. The lucky thing sort of fell into my shopping cart. Weird.


Anywhoo, the book as I mentioned on Facebook, begins with the suicide of a teenage girl. Not the kind you'd think either. She wasn't saddened over the next installment of Twilight. (Though the though of Twilight makes me want to shoot myself or hurl) She saw the future of what as to come and decided to check out early.


What is amazing about this story is that Daniel uses fear and ignorance to motivate both the pro and antagonist in this story. Fear works the best when coupled with ignorance and that fear if cultivated, can make the mob do amazing things. Oh yeah there's a mob and there's politics to at it's filthiest.


In this alternate universe or possible future depending on how you look at it, people with disabilities can be cured with a piece of technology inserted into their brains. That's a great innovation until everyone with this implant becomes such a better human. Of course the pure humans get mad. Their livelihood becomes threatened when these super humans start actually being super.


Enter a place where the hate is commonplace, accepted and even encouraged. The book is history repeating itself when these advanced humans are forced into camps with no laws protecting them against the angry masses that surround them. Enter unlikely savior, Owen.


Owen 's lived most his life with an implant he thought he knew everything about. He'd spent that life trying desperately ignoring the problems being an amp dealt with in hope of just being normal. All that goes way of the dinosaur in the this book and he's forced to embrace his abilities then choose how he's going to use them.


I found myself hoping he won the entire time. I won't ruin the ending on this one. Let's hope I haven't done that so far with any book. On my Vlog I gave it two thumbs up. Unless we come up with a better rating system that's the best I got.


Want to see the video?

 Hey don't forget to check back  tomorrow for the Bean Counter and then Friday for The Flash Fictioneers.


Want to read next week's book with me? Go pick up  Under a Vampire Moon by Lynsay Sands.