Tim MajorReseñas

In short, this was a very enjoyable Peter Pan meets Hunger Games read. The plot was solid, the world-building fresh and the overall execution pretty standard. I think some of the technology ideas seemed way too similar to the Hunger Games, but were used in ways that did a great job of building tension and moving the plot along. I think it's maybe not the most original thing I've read this year, but it's definitely enjoyable enough to recommend giving it a go!

Nina Scaife and her fourteen-year old daughter Laurie have just arrived on the eponymous Hope Island, off the coast of Maine, the childhood home of Nina’s long-time partner (and Laurie’s father) Rob. Nina, a British TV news producer is a workaholic, and this is the first time that she has made time to accompany her daughter on a visit to Rob’s elderly parents in America. How ironic then that during this stay she will have to break the news that Rob is not really “away on a holiday” or on a work trip and that the reason for his absence is that he has recently abandoned a long-fraying relationship.

The novel opens with a literal jolt – Nina, just after her arrival in Hope Island, is driving towards her in-laws’ house when she slams on the brakes to avoid running over a mysterious girl ominously standing in the middle of the road. Laurie, Grandpa Abram and Grandma Tammie are in the car but do not notice the girl. Is Nina’s mind playing tricks? Soon, Nina discovers that all the children on the island seem to be acting strangely and starts fearing that Laurie will be the next to be infected with the strange malaise which seems to hold them in thrall. The “Siblings”, a sort of quasi-mystical commune who have settled on the island, and to whom Tammie and Abram belong, seem to have something to do with the creepy goings-on.

Tim Major is a writer of speculative fiction who cites John Wyndham, Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells amongst his influences. Indeed, Hope Island is based a Wyndhamesque premise combining elements of sci-fi and supernatural fiction. The novel also has a strong folk-horror vibe to it. The contrast between Nina – the sceptical journalist and outsider – and the islanders is a typical trope of that genre, as are the frenzied rituals featured in some of the book’s chapters.

What is more surprising is how much of the novel does not deal with the uncanny at all, but is actually a psychological study of a woman – Nina – who is questioning her life choices after the traumatic event of the breakdown of her relationship. Indeed, as Nina’s sanity becomes increasingly fragile, one starts to suspect that at least some of the supernatural events in the novel might be the creations of her feverish mind.

Perhaps because of this conceptual approach, lovers of page-turning, action-packed horror novels might be disappointed. Hope Island requires some patience – it’s a slow-burning read with includes symbolic dreamlike sequences which are not always easy to follow. However, you should definitely check out this novel if your idea of horror is the psychological type, where the eeriness creeps upon you slowly but surely.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/05/hope-island-by-tim-major.html

This was a pretty good Sherlock Holmes novel. I have read a lot of Holmes novels written by authors other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and this author is one of the best. One of the main things I look for in a Holmes novel is how Watson is portrayed. Sometimes he is portrayed as a bumbling buffoon. This is not the case in this novel. It is later in his relationship with Holmes and he is married to Mary. Watson knows all of Holmes idiosyncrasies and they compliment each other. I also liked how Mrs. Hudson and Mary Watson were characterized.

The Woman is back to taunt Holmes. She has devised twelve “thefts without theft” just in time to bring Holmes out of his malaise. At the same time, arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen has hired Holmes and Watson to investigate the strange appearances of fresh meat on his doorstep each morning. It this a gift or a warning to end his career as an explorer?

This takes place on Mars. It was supposed to be a popular tourist destination for people from Earth, but financial support fell off, and contact with Earth is uncommon. An investigator is sent from Earth when a human is killed and a robot is blamed. Robots are supposed to be programmed never to kill humans, and it could have major repercussions if it is possible.

Nina Scaife and her fourteen-year old daughter Laurie have just arrived on the eponymous Hope Island, off the coast of Maine, the childhood home of Nina’s long-time partner (and Laurie’s father) Rob. Nina, a British TV news producer is a workaholic, and this is the first time that she has made time to accompany her daughter on a visit to Rob’s elderly parents in America. How ironic then that during this stay she will have to break the news that Rob is not really “away on a holiday” or on a work trip and that the reason for his absence is that he has recently abandoned a long-fraying relationship.

The novel opens with a literal jolt – Nina, just after her arrival in Hope Island, is driving towards her in-laws’ house when she slams on the brakes to avoid running over a mysterious girl ominously standing in the middle of the road. Laurie, Grandpa Abram and Grandma Tammie are in the car but do not notice the girl. Is Nina’s mind playing tricks? Soon, Nina discovers that all the children on the island seem to be acting strangely and starts fearing that Laurie will be the next to be infected with the strange malaise which seems to hold them in thrall. The “Siblings”, a sort of quasi-mystical commune who have settled on the island, and to whom Tammie and Abram belong, seem to have something to do with the creepy goings-on.

Tim Major is a writer of speculative fiction who cites John Wyndham, Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells amongst his influences. Indeed, Hope Island is based a Wyndhamesque premise combining elements of sci-fi and supernatural fiction. The novel also has a strong folk-horror vibe to it. The contrast between Nina – the sceptical journalist and outsider – and the islanders is a typical trope of that genre, as are the frenzied rituals featured in some of the book’s chapters.

What is more surprising is how much of the novel does not deal with the uncanny at all, but is actually a psychological study of a woman – Nina – who is questioning her life choices after the traumatic event of the breakdown of her relationship. Indeed, as Nina’s sanity becomes increasingly fragile, one starts to suspect that at least some of the supernatural events in the novel might be the creations of her feverish mind.

Perhaps because of this conceptual approach, lovers of page-turning, action-packed horror novels might be disappointed. Hope Island requires some patience – it’s a slow-burning read with includes symbolic dreamlike sequences which are not always easy to follow. However, you should definitely check out this novel if your idea of horror is the psychological type, where the eeriness creeps upon you slowly but surely.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/05/hope-island-by-tim-major.html

Mystery writer Miss Abigail Moone has an unusual case for Holmes and Watson. While people watching, she chooses one and imagines a prospective murder. When her most recent "victim" does indeed collapse and die seemingly as she had imagined, she knows it looks bad. The more Holmes investigates, the more the clues seem to point to the lady being the only culprit. Has a mystery writer crossed the line?

When I finished reading this one, I wasn't sure what I thought of it. And while I am writing this, I'm still having trouble untangling my thoughts. On the one hand, the author caught Holmes and Watson very well. Spot on characterization!

On the other hand, the mystery was odd. The premise had my attention from the start: a writer taking inspiration from the world she observes was a relatable situation. Having her imagined murder come true was a fascinating concept. Miss Moore herself was...an enigma. Every scene was was in left me uncomfortable. I didn't trust her at all, and I never understood her. Even for being a forward-thinking woman, she didn't feel like she belonged in a Victorian tale.

So overall, this was an interesting read. I'm not sure I would reread it, given how much I disliked Miss Moone and she was in the tale a lot. But it had great characterization of Holmes and Watson, and the solution was a surprise.

For readers looking for a new Holmes tale, I'd probably recommend this one. I received a free copy from NetGalley and am reviewing of my own choice.

1898. Miss Abigail Milne writes murder mysteries under the non de plume Damien Collinbourne. She approaches Holmes when her latest 'victim' is actually killed. Can Holmes and Watson prove her innocent before the police find and arrest her. But why was her victim Ronald Bythewood killed.
An interesting and entertaining well-written historical mystery.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a sucker for new riffs on the Holmes theme, so I knew I wanted to read Tim Major's The Back to Front Murders the moment I first heard about it. Major has a lot of the Conan Doyle moves down—easily embarrassed Watson, preoccupied with his own opinions regarding appropriate gender roles; irritatingly recalcitrant Holmes; shifts in time, location, and narrative method. Major also gives readers a mystery worthy of Holmes: complex with multiple threads spinning together then tearing apart repeatedly. A female mystery author writing under a male pseudonym realizes that the novel she's been planning features the same victim and method as a real-life murder. Is she actually a murderer, as well as a writer? Who was the murdered man and what motive would anyone have for killing him?

If, like me, you're always glad to discover a new Holmes variation, you'll want to read this title. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own.

Abbey Oma is an optic (investigator) dispatched by Sagacity, the “world banker,” to Mars to investigate the death of Jerem Ferrer, a scientist. The victim lived in a now-defunct crawler base and it appears he was murdered by a robot. Robot labor underlies Earth’s social and industrial base. A verified finding that a robot could harm a human would have catastrophic consequences.

The story unfolds in a series of brief episodes. Oma travels from place-to-place to meet with idiosyncratic characters. Her destinations are selected without prior rationale, given the plot a jerky quality. In each location, the structures and people are described in extensive detail, further slowing plot movement. The creatively imagined locations and characters vary from inept smugglers to gifted artists and include a pair who kidnap Oma and maroon her in an abandoned museum without life support.

The story ends when Oma determines how the robot was fooled into causing the death of Ferrer. The identity of the killer is not determined. Most likely, the two that attempted to murder Oma were involved, but they were not identified either. Apparently, the sole objective of Sagacity, Oma, and the author was to eliminate the fear that a robot could murder a human.

Readers will no doubt experience the discomforting side of the Zygarnic Effect.½

I am grateful to the NewCon Press for providing me with a pdf review copy of "Universal Language" by Tim Major.

This short science fiction mystery is entertaining and holds the reader's interest. As a publisher's blurb declares, the book draws upon the robot stories of Isaac Asimov and classic "sealed room" mystery stories, both of which are welcome sources for new material. It also reads like early Heinlein, another plus. The story hinges upon whether a robot is capable of killing a human being. Abbey Oma, the six-foot-three female "Optic" from an all-powerful entity called Sagacity, arrives on Mars from Earth prepared to conduct a personal investigation. She is assisted by the first Mars colonist that she encounters, Franck Treadgold.

The Mars crawler base, where the death occurs, is sparsely populated, and Oma's first person narrative introduces us to few of the human inhabitants. We get better acquainted with the potential robot killer, Ai383, and with several other robots, known collectively as aye-ayes (pronounced "aye-eye", for articial intelligence), which have a superficial resemblance to humans, but no facial expressions. Their arms are fingerless, ending instead with electronic blue circles capable of manipulating materials magnetically simply by pointing.

Ever resourceful, Oma survives murderous attacks before bringing her investigation to a satisfactory conclusion, leaving the increasingly competent Franck to clear up the final loose ends. The locked room solution is clever and satisfactory.

The time period for the story isn't clear, but it must lie in the far distant future, since Oma makes the trip from Earth to Mars in less than eight days, an achievement requiring not simply newer technology, but new physics. In addition to its incredible speed (up to half the speed of light would be necessary), the spaceship that brings Oma from Earth to Mars was so simple to operate and so energy independent that a colonist on Mars could hijack it and fly it back to earth. There is a reference to the year "ninety-five". I doubt that the necessary new science would be available in 2195, so 2295 seems more likely, if our dating system is still in place.

Besides meeting the essential requirement that it is a pleasant, enjoyable story, the narrative describes a reasonable Martian colony. Future devices are capable, but not described in detail, which is appropriate for a first-person contemporary narrative. A sexual encounter is understated and compatible with evolved social customs. There is an appropriate Martian life form, similar to a crab on earth, which produces silicon diamonds, and these creatures lend interest. Finally, the aye-ayes are treated as "real" organisms, not machines. They attend religious services, and their inclusivity is praiseworthy.

On the other hand, many details reflect contemporary England, and these anacronisms are a distraction. Examples include English units (six-foot-three) and currency (20-£ coin), analogue clocks, a "Columbo squint", music by Alice Coltrane and Nina Simone, and abundant adolescent cursing. Someone might listen to Coltrane and Simone in 2195 or 2295, but she would certainly mention more recent artists, and it is composers, not performers, whose work survives the ages. No attempt has been made to add language appropriate to the story's setting, as Orwell did by making "Ford" a time reference and "mother" a swear word in "Brave New World".

I enjoyed this book. It had an interesting mystery, and I liked the protagonist. I did find some of the action scenes a bit dull though. If you are looking for a quick, fun, sci-fi mystery, I would recommend it.

[Disclaimer: I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program] It's no doubt the story starts really well. Ok, you may or may not appreciate the Asimovian echoes; but I appreciated the choice of Tim Mayor to build up slowly the feelings, and even the exterior aspect, of the main character, Abbey Oma. Unfortunately, while going on I got lost in a plot which at least for me does not have head or tails. There are characters who remain dangling, like the niece of the victim Hazel Ferrer or even Franck, the "Watson" of Oma. At the end of the book the killers are not even exposed: Oma just shows who is the instigator. Even the title is a dead clue: sometimes it seems to be the key of the plot, but at the end it was not even a red herring, but just something which could have been happened but is irrelevant. It's a pity, since the story had potential.

An interesting premise: have Asimov's three rules of robotics failed to protect a human from robotic attack? If not, who killed the scientist in the airlocked room. This challenge brings Abbey Oma to Tharsis Caraway to resolve the mystery. Her painstaking investigation sorts through the rubble of the abandoned but still inhabited crawler base whose premise seems very much like early Florida history. Abbey the Optic would seem to be a reasonable premise for an interesting future-based mystery series.

Review of eBook

The murder of scientist Jerem Ferrer brings investigator Abbey Oma to Tharsis Caraway, a Martian crawler base. The colony, virtually abandoned by Earth, struggles on with no clear purpose. As Abbey investigates, she discovers there are more questions than answers in a case that is far more convoluted than she’d imagined. And the resentment of the few remaining colonists isn’t helping her investigation.

But a man was murdered. In his airlock-sealed laboratory. By a robot incapable of harming a human being . . . .

A strong sense of place anchors this compelling murder mystery that incorporates a respectful nod to Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. With well-defined characters and an intriguing premise, the unfolding story keeps the reader guessing as it takes several unexpected twists.

Abbey Oma, the Optic sent to investigate the scientist’s death, is an appealing, nuanced character who brings an emotional depth to the telling of the tale. She’s smart and observant, with a penchant for badinage; she also has a past with the Martian colony.

Martian crabs, silicon diamonds, aye-ayes, unsettling dreams, and sandscapes keep the story firmly anchored in the science fiction genre, but the heart of the story lies in the space tourist dream that brought the colonists to Mars only to be abandoned and left to their own devices with no support from Earth. There’s a heart-wrenching agony to their story as they doggedly work to keep the base nominally operational; it’s become clear that they don’t matter to Earth or to the company that once supported their colony. And yet, despite an underlying sense of futility, they’ve refused to surrender.

Readers who enjoy science fiction and / or a good mystery will find much to appreciate in this captivating novella.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Readers program

Suppose you're just hanging out and then all of a sudden, giant slugs, (Blighters), start falling from the sky. Freaky, right? But what happens if when people get close to said slugs, they begin to experience the happiest, most contented feelings they've ever felt in their whole lives? So happy, in fact, they'd be willing to kill, just to feel that way again? You'll have to read this novella to find out!

Young Becky Stone likes to drink and listen to her father's old records while she mourns the passing of both her parents. She sees her friend Gail fall under the happy spell of a Blighter, but Becky suspects that something is not right. Now all Gail wants to do is return to the Blighter's "circle of calm", but Becky knows that Gail is in danger and she sets out to protect her friend.

This is the funny, strange, science-fiction-y, label-defying scenario that Tim Major dropped me into, so I went with it. There's so much going on here than just a fun, creature-feature. There's a mystery, (more than one, really), there's friendships and maybe even a moral to the story. (In this respect, Blighters reminded me a bit of the old sci-fi mags and even early Star Trek episodes where there were morals thinly disguised in the plots-though I think Blighters did a better job of the disguising.)

And then! Then after the very satisfying end of the story, we learn that Invaders From Beyond! is going to be a novella series from Abaddon Books. Not necessarily about Blighters, but other types of Invaders. This feels to me like the old magazines I read as teen with stories of giant insects, Martians and whatnot. In other words, this sounds like a blast! I'm not sure when the next one is being released or what it will even be about, but I can tell you, if it's anywhere close to being as good a book as this was, I'm all over that series like a miserable human on a Blighter!

This was a fun, meaty novella that was a creature feature, but SO much more. Highly recommended-especially to fans of the old Sci-Fi/Fantasy stories and magazines!

A free e-copy was provided to Horror After Dark in exchange for an honest review. This is it!*

Find this review and others like it at HorrorAfterDark.com.

You Don't Belong Here is a story that is very difficult to categorize. It's a time travel/mystery/psychological mind game. How's that?

The premise is a good one: a man, Daniel Faint, steals a time machine. He doesn't know anything about it, (like how to operate the thing, for instance), and to learn, he needs to find a safe place to set it up and experiment. The solution presents itself when he obtains a job as a house sitter at a large manor. Daniel is a strange man, with no friends, and a mysterious brother named William, that he thinks about often.

The story progresses with time machine experiments, though not exactly scientfic in nature, and Daniel does figure out a few things. My problems with the story began here; I thought the pacing was too slow. When things did happen, the descriptions became rather vague, and my understanding of the events became a little hazy. Turns out there were reasons for this, but for me, it was too long of a wait for the reveal. Another thing that bothered me was that I didn't like any of the characters in the story. I know that I can enjoy a book with no likable characters whatsover, but the tale has to be outstanding for me to do so, and unfortunately that was not the case here.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I thought it was well written and had an excellent premise. It was just the reasons I listed above that caused me to give this rating. I do recommend it to those that find the premise intriguing, because your mileage may vary.

*I received a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*

I nabbed this from the Horror After Dark review list because I like what's going on at Omnium Gatherum. I've read a few books from them now and a couple of them have knocked my socks off. I include this novella in that category.

Carus and Mitch are the names of two girls living alone in a house. Their house is barricaded throughout and the girls only have access to a couple of the rooms. They have live chickens in the dining room. Their mother's locket hangs on the wall.

That's all I can tell you. Why, you ask? The fun that I had with this story was teasing out the truth of the narrative, and I don't want to spoil that for anyone else. I'm still not sure that I have all the answers, but I find as I'm thinking about the story now, a few more things have become clear. (Or have they? I'm not sure!) But I have always enjoyed ambiguous tales and this is definitely one.

I thought this story was well written and cleverly told. I expected answers that I wasn't given, and I liked that. I liked having to work a little bit to understand things. I enjoyed not having everything tied up in a pretty little package. In this way, Tim Major reminds me a lot of Greg F. Gifune and that's the highest compliment I can think of right now.

To summarize, I recommend this novella to lovers of ambiguous and sophisticated dark fiction. I call it sophisticated because this is more than just a straightforward story, it needs the reader's input to be complete. This reader loved it!

An enjoyably dark and twisted little read that keeps you guessing long after the book is done.