The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt. Speed of Sound Thrillers Book #1
Introduction
Dr. Skylar Drummond has recently been hired at Harmony House. Harmony House is run by Dr. Fenton and is a place where kids with autistic disorders are housed. These kids were specifically picked by Dr. Fenton because they have savant knowledge along with their autism. Skylar connects with her patient Eddie Parks who has Asperger’s syndrome. Eddie’s project is to create a machine that can replicate sound waves, an echo box. He wants to hear his deceased mother sing. If he can make the device work, Dr. Fenton and other government agencies will take it from him. They will kill to get the device. Skylar cannot let them take it from Eddie.
Summary
Eddie Parks doesn’t want to be touched, he likes birds and has designed his room to specific sonic specifications. Skylar connects with him partially due to her experience with her deceased brother, Christopher. She helps Eddie rethink his echo box. Three factions want a working echo box. Barnes, Dr. Fenton’s security chief at Harmony House wants the box for Dr. Fenton to secure the funding for Harmony house. A mysterious group called the Heritage Foundation also wants it. They are a group that has money and connections inside the government. The Heritage Foundation put political candidates into office and assassinate undesirable targets. They want the box to record secret meetings. The third group is Homeland Security who wants the echo box to help in the war on terror.
Recommendation
This novel is a techno-thriller. Eddies’ echo box is the McGuffin that everyone wants. Events proceed quickly after the situation is set up. I thought that some of the choices of the author made the novel difficult to follow in the beginning. Giving viewpoints to characters only to kill them off did not help the reader to identify the important characters. The author’s head hopping, even sentence by sentence, disorients the reader. Readers should know that this novel ends abruptly and leaves plot threads incomplete to be addressed in the next novel in the series. I think that the next novel will be better than this one.
This is my Writing Progress Report for August 2018.
The Confluence Conference 2018 was held at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport.
Writing Progress from July 2018
Typed chapters 23, 25, 29, and 31 of Assassin in New Marl City in July of 2018. The first draft is complete at 99981 words.
Completed a Query letter I used to find an agent for Assassin in New Marl City and submitted it to the Cleveland Writing Workshop on 07-14-18.
Edited Chapter One of Assassin in New Marl City and submitted it to the Cleveland Writing Workshop on 07-14-18.
Bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid to edit the first three chapters for my novel as part of a query submission planned for August 2018.
The stories Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir has been submitted to magazines.
Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.
Events from July 2018
I attended the Cleveland Writing Workshop on July 14, 2018, at the Holiday Inn at 6001 Rockside Road Independence, Ohio. There were five presentations throughout the day. This year’s instructor, Brian A. Klems, critiqued the query letter that I submitted. Editor Ricki Schultz critiqued the first ten pages of my novel, Assassin in New Marl City. I pitched that novel to Agents Cyle Young and Gabrielle Piraino at the event.
The Cleveland Writing Workshop is run by Writing Day Workshops.
This is the link to the Cleveland writing workshop website.
Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 in August of 2018.
Complete a query for submission to Agent Cyle Young.
Edit Chapter One of Assassin in New Marl City and submit it to Pitch Wars on 08-28-18.
Complete a Query letter and a synopsis to be submitted to Pitch Wars on 08-28-18.
Edit Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio.
Polish and submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.
Submit Grognard to my writing group. Take the feedback and revise the story so it can be submitted to magazines again.
Submit Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir to other short fiction magazines.
Edit Searcher of Riven.
Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.
Edit Ruins of Yarnud.
Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Planned Events for August 2018
Attend the Cleveland Inkubator at the Cleveland Public Library on August 4, 2018. It is sponsored by Literary Cleveland. It is a one-day writing conference.
This is the link to the Literary Cleveland website.
Pitch Wars is a mentoring program contest where contestants submit a finished but unpublished novel to mentors. Each mentor picks one contestant to mentor for the program length. The submission is online on August 28, 2018. I plan to submit a query letter, a synopsis, a 35-word pitch, and the first chapter of my novel to the contest.
Purchase e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.
Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the writing program, Scrivener.
Links
Writing Progress Report for August 2018.
I wrote four blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for July 2018 linked below.
Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress. A Book from the Elements of Fiction Writing Series published by Writers Digest
Introduction
This book is a how-to guide for common problems suffered by beginning writers. The author covers the ways writers develop problems and suggests ways to fix those problems. She noticed three main issues in her writing students work. The story drags at the beginning, the story flounders in the middle, or the resolution does not complete the story arc. She covers each of these cases and suggests solutions. Writing exercises follow each section of the book.
Summnary
Beginnings are covered first. The first scene is important to every story. The main character must be identified and established. It must show at least a hint of the conflict to come. It must set up a tone that follows throughout the whole story. The second scene can be one of three types. A backfill scene is one of expository background. A flashback scene goes back in time to illuminate the opening scene. The continuation of the storyline dramatizing whatever happens next to the viewpoint character. Do not be tempted to continuously revise the beginning of a story. The clarity of the ending will influence how the beginning starts, so better to have that ending before attempting a major revision.
Middles are next covered. The middle is everything after the introduction and before the climax. Three choices must be made by the writer to have a strong middle. Decide whose story the writing is about, the person who defines the book’s plot and its meaning. Decide the point of view character or characters. Then decide the throughline of the story, or what happens to the protagonist. The main character must also show four things in the middle of the story. The character must have a want, show the ability to change, a series of events push the character to change, and the character must switch to a new motivation.
Last is the ending. The climax must do four things. It must relate to the implicit promises raised at the beginning of the story, deliver emotion, deliver a level of emotion like the rest of the story, and be logical to the setup of the story. Everything after the climax must show the consequences of the climax and anything not addressed in the climax.
Recommendation
The definitions, examples, and exercises in this book were informative. I’m glad I read this book. It gives clear examples and solutions to a writer’s problems. One of the short stories referenced in the book was “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. I got a copy of the story and reading it helped illustrate the points made by the author of this book. This is the first book I have read of the eleven books I know of in the Elements of Writing Fiction Series. I intend to read more of them.
Zoe Bentley is a profiler working with the FBI at Quantico. She is new to the area having worked in Massachusetts on high-profile cases. She has a dark past. Tatum Gray is an FBI special agent forcibly transferred from the Los Angeles office for disciplinary reasons. Tatum gets assigned to the Strangling Undertaker case in Chicago and requests that Zoe help him with the case. They fight the serial killer, the Chicago Police, the BAU Chief, and each other. Can they set aside their differences to catch the killer?
Summary
The first chapter of the novel is from the perspective of an unnamed killer who will become known as the Strangling Undertaker. The novel is set in the summer of 2016. The lead character is Zoe Bentley who is from Maynard, Massachusetts. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a JD from Harvard. She assisted in cases in Boston but has moved to Dale City, Virginia to help the FBI at Quantico. Unit Chief Mancuso is the head of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI who assigns Zoe a case about a Highway Serial Killer before Agent Tatum arrives at Quantico. They meet briefly before Mancuso sends Tatum to Chicago. Tatum’s life is complicated by caring for his recently widowed grandfather, Marvin, who lived with him in Los Angeles and came with him to Virginia.
Tatum leaves Marvin to watch his home and goes to Chicago. He works with Lieutenant Martinez of the Chicago PD and an ineffective profiler named Dr. Bernstein. Tatum requests that Mancuso send Zoe to help him. Zoe comes to Chicago and they investigate the case but their unorthodox methods alienate them from Lieutenant Martinez and he sends them away when they screw up. The reader learns Zoe’s backstory through flashback chapters set in Maynard in the fall of 1997 when she was a girl and a serial killer was operating in her hometown. Both cases intersect in unpredictable ways and resolve at the climax of the novel.
Conclusion
This novel is a tight thriller with enough surprises to keep the reader guessing. It’s almost like a written version of the television show Criminal Minds. If that intrigues you then I can recommend this novel to you. The television show is about the agents at the BAU investigating serial killer cases and that is what this novel does as well. The only weakness I can point out is about the points of view. The killer, Zoe, and Tatum are the main points of view and they work.
There are three other single chapter points of view that are not as successful. I can understand the viewpoint of a potential victim but I don’t want to get inside a character witness’s point of view. It doesn’t add to the narrative for me. Then there is one more point of view, follow me here. You know that scene at the beginning of Law and Order, the one where you know that the person doing whatever they are doing will stumble onto a murder victim. You know that scene, well that scene is a single chapter in this novel. It would have been better left unsaid. Other than that, this novel did what it set out to and did it well. I plan to follow Zoe Bentley on her next adventure for novel #2 IN THE DARKNESS due to be released on July 16, 2019.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of A Killer’s Mind by Mike Omer.
My son started working for Grubhub on July fourth. He delivered a couple of orders that day. It’s been a great job for him.
Writing Progress from June 2018
I typed chapters 12, 15, 19, and 20 of Assassin in New Marl City in June of 2018.
The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir have been submitted to magazines.
Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.
Events from June 2018
I attended Killer Heat: A Mystery Writers Weekend on June 9th, 2018. It was sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library. The location was the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch on 1876 South Green Road South Euclid, Ohio 44121.
There was a keynote address, a presentation, three panels, and an interview.
The highlights were Megan Testa, MD a forensic psychiatrist taking us “Inside the Criminal Mind” and the interview with the keynote speaker, Laura DiSilverio.
Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 in July of 2018.
Type Chapters 23, 25, 29, and 31 of Assassin in New Marl City in July of 2018.
Edit Chapter One of Assassin in New Marl City and submit to the Cleveland Writing Workshop on 07-14-18.
Edit Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at Parma, Ohio.
Polish and submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.
Submit 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir to other short fiction magazines.
Edit Searcher of Riven.
Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.
Edit Ruins of Yarnud.
Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Planned Events for July 2018
Attend the Cleveland Writing Workshop on July 14, 2018, at the Holiday Inn at 6001 Rockside Road Independence, Ohio. There are five presentations throughout the day. This year’s instructor, Brian A. Klems, will critique the query letter that I have submitted. Editor Ricki Schultz will critique the first ten pages of my novel, Assassin in New Marl City. I will pitch that novel to Agent Cyle Young at the event.
The Cleveland Writing Workshop is run by Writing Day Workshops.
Attend the Confluence Conference from July 27 to July 29, 2018, at the Airport Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
My Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine Collection Update #2
Here is the last issue purchased for my collection which was received on 06-23-18.
Introduction
I made a post on the status of my Asimov’s Science Fiction Collection on February 22, 2018. At that time, I had collected 363 issues of the 420 issues released from Spring 1977 to March 2014. I have read 331 of the 363 issues. Unread issues are from February 2011 to March 2014. I decided to purchase the 57 issues that I missed and then read them all.
The first update post was made on March 24, 2014. From February 22 to March 24, I purchased a total of 35 issues for $108.43, averaging $3.10 per issue. In February, I bought 19 issues; 10 from Amazon.com for $25.00, 5 from mycomicshop.com for $21.25, and 4 from ebay.com for $15.74. In March, I bought 16 issues; 2 from Amazon.com for $11.88, and 14 from ebay.com for $34.56. There were 22 issues remaining to be purchased.
Update
This second update covers March 24 to July 4. I purchased 21 issues in April including 18 issues from mycomicshop.com for $43.05, one issue from ebay for $5.99, and two issues from Amazon for $14.49. The last issue to purchase was the June 1998 issue. I ordered the issue from ebay in April but it never arrived and I was refunded the purchase price. It was difficult to find the issue. I searched for the issue but only found it at backissues.com. I purchased it from backissues.com for $15.99 and received it on June 23, 2018.
The total cost for 57 issues was $187.95, $3.30 average per issue.
In the rest of this post, I will make notes for each year from 1977 to 2014.
Notes 1970’s
1977: 4 issues printed with 3 issues at start labeled summer, fall, and winter. 1 issue purchased in April: Spring 1977 (issue #1).
1978: 6 issues printed with 0 issues at start. Purchased 5 issues in February and 1 issue in March. None remaining to be purchased.
1979: 12 issues printed with 0 issues at start. I purchased 4 issues in February. 8 issues purchased in April.
Notes 1980’s
1980: 12 printed and 12 issues at start.
1981: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1982: 13 printed and 7 issues at start. I purchased 1 issue in February. 5 issues purchased in April.
1983: 13 printed and 0 issues at start. Purchased 13 issues in March. None remaining to be purchased.
1984: 13 printed and 0 issues at start. Purchased 10 issues in February. 3 issues purchased in April.
1985: 13 issues printed and 10 issues at start. Purchased 1 issue in March. 2 issues purchased in April.
1986: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1987: 13 printed and 12 issues at start. 1 issue purchased in April, currently reading.
1988: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1989: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
Notes 1990’s
1990: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1991: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1993: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1994: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1995: 13 printed and 13 issues at start.
1996: 11 printed and 11 issues at start.
1997: 11 printed and 11 issues at start.
1998: 11 printed and 10 issues at start. 1 issue purchased in June.
1999: 11 printed and 11 issues at start.
Notes 2000’s
2000: 11 printed and 11 issues at start.
2001: 11 printed and 11 issues at start.
2002: 11 printed and 11 issues at start.
2003: 11 printed and 11 issues at start.
2004: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
2005: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
2006: 10 printed and 9 issues at start. 1 issue purchased in April.
2007: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
2008: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
2009: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
Notes 2010’s
2010: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
2011: 10 printed and 10 issues at start. The January issue is the last I have read so far.
2012: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
2013: 10 printed and 10 issues at start.
2014: 3 issues, March 2014 was the last issue in my subscription.
Conclusion
That ends my collection. I enjoyed reading the stories for many years. And now I have copies of the first 420 issues of the magazine. I have read 331 issues and am currently reading the September 1987 issue. Later, I plan to write another post about my favorite stories that I have read in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.
Links
This is the link to Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.
Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time Book #1
Introduction
Rand and his father Tam are sheepherders near the village of Emond’s field. The Trollocs invade and threaten their world. Trollocs are minions of the Dark One. The Dark One longs to break out of his centuries-long imprisonment. The Dark One is threatened by three young men from Emond’s field, Rand and his two friends Matt and Perrin. Will they be killed by the Dark One’s minions or will they escape to the mythical city of Tar Valon?
Summary
Rand and his friends are helped by five people early in their journey to Tar Valon. Nynaeve, the Wisdom of Emond’s field, and her apprentice Egwene. A wisdom is a female healer and weather forecaster found in villages. The Aes Sedai, Moiraine and her Warder named Lan. The Aes Sedai are female magic users from Tar Valon who use the One Power to do their magic. The last helper is the gleeman, Thom Merrilin. Gleemen are traveling entertainers who are found infrequently in the villages. They try to avoid the Trollocs, their commanders called Myrddraal and other followers of the Dark One called Darkfriends. The group faces the dangers of Shadar Logoth and the Children of the Light. They are helped by Min, the Tinkers, the forest dweller and friend of wolves named Elyas Machera, and the Ogier Loial. The young men are named ta’veren, a person who the Wheel of Time revolves. The Wheel of Time is the pattern where the ages repeat again and again. They must find the Eye of the World to defeat the Dark One.
Recommendation
This novel is an epic that begins an epic series of fifteen books (fourteen novels and a short prequel novel). While inspired by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, there is much more in this novel. Ran, Mat, and Perrin have different personalities and wants. The narrative pushes them to face the Dark One through dreams and increasing danger from his minions. The Dark One has an objective and a way to achieve it. This novel ends with a bigger world beckoning and a reluctant hero beginning to understand his place on the Wheel of Time. I have waited a long time to start this long journey of reading this series, but I am glad that I have chosen to start it now. This first book is great and I look forward to reading the last three novels which were completed by Brandon Sanderson, one of my current favorite authors. On to book number two, The Great Hunt.
Review of The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. Rand searches for the Horn of Valere since he needs it for the Last Battle. Rand becomes the Dragon Reborn and Nynaeve learns how to use the One Power. Amazon Prime Video will adapt the first two novels of the series in 2020.
Homicide detective Sam Porter knew it was going to be a bad day when he woke up to a call about a suspicious death. An apparent suicide, the case turns when Sam finds a diary in the man’s pocket. The diary is from an uncaught serial killer that Sam has searched for in the past. As Sam investigates the suicide and studies the diary, he enters the mind of a killer. Will he crack the case or will he become the serial killer’s next victim?
Summary
The Four Monkey Killer has operated in Chicago for the past five years before this story takes place. The killer has claimed seven victims. Three boxes per victim. See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil, Do no evil. An eye, an ear, a tongue, and a body. Sam was assigned to the 4MK task force to catch the killer but they have not been able to. The apparent suicide is assumed to be the killer but Sam figures out that he was just another victim since the man holds box number one.
Sam follows up the clues on the victim’s body, the clues in the diary, and the clues discovered by the task force. The points of view of the novel alternate between Sam and the diary until a third viewpoint is introduced. Fifteen-year-old Emory Conners is the third viewpoint character who appears to be the killer’s next victim. The readers follow Sam as he learns who she is and tries to save her. The task force reconvenes including detective Claire Norton. They help Sam’s quest to catch the killer.
Conclusion
This is a great thriller. The novel moves fast following many false leads and containing many surprises. What I liked the most was the diary sections because it was a puzzle of how much to believe the killer. Is the killer an unreliable narrator, telling the truth, or somewhere in between? Read the novel to find out. I plan to read the next novel in the series, The Fifth to Die. It is scheduled to be released on July 10, 2018.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Fourth Monkey by JD Barker.
South Euclid/Lyndhurst Branch of the Cuyahoga County Library
Writing Progress from May 2018
I typed the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 24 and 26 in May of 2018.
I typed chapters 10, 27, and 28 of Assassin in New Marl City in May of 2018.
The stories Four Humors, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir has been submitted to magazines.
Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0 different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and 0 rejections.
Events from May 2018
I attended the Pitch Perfect Workshop on May 8 and May 22. The Workshop was sponsored by Literary Cleveland. It covered how to create a pitch letter for freelance writing. The workshop content was applicable to writing query letters for agent representation by fiction writers.
I attended the Marcon Conference on May 12, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. I drove to Columbus from Cleveland in the morning. The first activities were scheduled at 10:00 AM. I arrived at 10:30 AM, registered for the day, and went to the con suite for an early lunch. Activities were spaced in 90-minute blocks. The activities generally lasted 75 minutes with a 15-minute break until the next activity. The categories of the activities were Anime, Art, Comics, Cosplay, Fan Life, Filk, Gaming, Literary, Media, Science, and Youth. I attended four panels and two game shows.
Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 in June of 2018.
Type Chapters 12, 15, 19, 20, 23, 25, 29, and 31 of Assassin in New Marl City in June of 2018.
Polish and submit the stories Space-Dog Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.
Submit 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir to other short fiction magazines.
Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.
Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Planned Events for June 2018
Attend Killer Heat: A Mystery Writers Weekend on June 9th, 2018. It is sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library. The location is the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch on 1876 South Green Road South Euclid, Ohio 44121.
Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.
Put the first ten chapters of Assassin in New Marl City into the writing program, Scrivener.
Work on completing a Query letter to use to find an agent for Assassin in New Marl.
Links
Writing Progress Report June 2018
I wrote five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for May 2018 linked below.
In Armada by Ernest Cline, Zack Lightman is facing a life crossroads during his last week as a high school senior. He fights a bully, Douglas Knotcher, he struggles with his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Ellen Adams, and he hangs out with his best friends, Cruz and Diehl, aka the Mikes. Zack tries to connect with his dead father by playing computer games, watching VCR tapes, and listening to music that his father liked. Zack’s favorite current game is a spaceship simulator called Armada. What happens if the game becomes real? That is the dilemma that Zack will face in this novel.
Summary
Zack’s mother is a single mom so Zack must work to earn the money to buy his games. He works at Starbase Ace, a used video game shop, for Ray, who is an older father figure to Zack. Ray is just as committed as Zack to sci-fi gaming, movies, and TV shows. Zack buys his gear from Ray. This book is set in 2018. In the book, a video game publisher called Chaos Terrain begins operations in 2010. A few years later they release Terra Firma, a first-person shooter video game. A year later they release Armada, a space combat simulator.
Zack has been playing Armada for the past few years. Zack is so accomplished in the game that he is #6 on the worldwide leaderboard. The plot is similar to the movies Iron Eagle, Ender’s Game, and The Last Starfighter. The movies all had a kid learning to train for real-life combat by using a video game simulation. At the end of Phase One of the novel, something unusual happens to change the novel from a high school drama to a military operation based on the video game Armada. In Phase Two, Zack meets many new people including Lex and goes on a dangerous mission. In Phase Three the book wraps up with a final battle where Zack must make a complicated and important decision.
Recommendation
I enjoyed this novel almost as much as Ready Player One also by Ernest Cline. Both novels had protagonists that looked back in time to the 80s and 90s to find the answers to the questions of their narratives. The references were familiar to me. I particularly liked the Raid the Arcade Mix tape that Zack’s dad had made and Zack found and liked listening to. There are 28 songs on the tape. Thirteen songs were in my collection and obtained 6 more from the library. I thought that Lex did not have enough conflict with Zack as his romantic interest. I also thought that the ending was too easy for Zack to solve and too open-ended. It will make a great movie.
Raid The Arcade Mix Tape
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Armada by Ernest Cline.
This is the link to my review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Wade Watts is poor. The year is 2044. The only way out is to win a contest for a billionaire’s fortune. The contest started five years ago but no one has won it yet, so Wade is determined to win it to secure his future.
