Circuits of the Wind: A Legend of the Net Age

Circuits of the Wind #2

by Michael Stutz

THE LYRIC STORY OF THE NET GENERATION—GROWING UP AND COMING OF AGE ON THE INTERNET The Internet is everywhere now, but Ray Valentine saw it first explode. CIRCUITS OF THE WIND is the story of Ray's quest to find himself as he grows up wandering the computer underground—the wild, global outback that existed before the net went mainstream. How else does an end-of-century slacker reach out to the world from Sohola, that northern state that's a little more Midwest than it is New England? The net holds the key to what he's after—but even as he pioneers this virtual world, the veneer of his real life begins to crack. In VOLUME TWO of the CIRCUITS OF THE WIND trilogy, the net arrives all glimmering when Ray is starting it's brighter, quicker, better than he ever knew. It's the early 1990s—a time of golden youth and of joyriding on the growing Internet, where he rises as a leader of the global generation, the ones who saw it as the gilded portal to a fabulous new age everyone was about to enter. But he's coasting aimlessly—and when his college friends move on and fashions change he sees how real life actually might not be working out.

239 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 14, 2012

About the author

Michael Stutz is an American writer. His reality fiction (including Circuits of the Wind, a three-volume novel) explores Generation X nostalgia and life in the Net Age with trademark poetic rhythms and rhapsodic lyricism.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of this succeeded in holding my interest. The main character's seeking of wonder in the world and his need for connection continue, but this volume deepens both his emotional problems and the stakes involved. I'm turning right away to the third volume, eager to see how this wraps up.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was kind of interested... but I probably won't read the last volume. The author is far too focused on flowery weird, rapturous passages than telling a good story. Even if there was a desire to write the eloquent stuff, there could have been a balance with plot and character development. But that didn't happen here. Don't waste your time.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won Circuits of the Wind in a first-reads giveaway.

The protagonist, Ray Valentine, is a computer hacker who experiences the birth of the internet. This book is the second volume; it doesn't explain what happened in volume one very well. In this volume, Ray goes to college expecting to make something of himself because of his experience in internet hacking.

I'm a little disappointed with the plot of the book. Without giving too much away, it seems like there is very little conflict or resolution. Yes, this is the second volume of a three part series, but it reads more like a biography than a work of fiction. There are positive and negative events that happen to the protagonist, but nothing that makes the reader want to keep turning the pages and discover what happens next.

If the decision was made to publish in three volumes, each volume should have a definite plot that at least lets readers get involved with the story. It may be unfair to compare this with The Lord of the Rings, but each of Tolkien's books end with a climactic event. The story is not fully told, but the reader cares about the outcome of the characters and wants to pick up the next volume to continue the story.

[David Waldron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two volumes of Circuits of the Wind capture what it was like to come of age during the early days of the information age. The author deals with universal themes related to the passage to adulthood, but does so in the unique context of the birth of the internet. He exposes the ironies associated with loneliness and alienation at the dawn of the era of universal connectedness. The author's writing is evocative and he displays real insights into the human condition. A number of the scenes he paints remind me of the work of Hesse.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I didn't like this volume as much as the other ones. Ray got a little frustrating to deal with sometimes; I didn't like him as much in this book as I did in the previous volume. I also felt like the chapters were a bit formulaic: something would happen in the present day, and then Ray/the author would go into a descriptive overview of a feeling or something intangible. I liked it in the beginning, but as the book wore on, I wanted those sections to be shorter so things would happen again.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to offer my concluding thoughts on the whole cycle with the third and final volume, but suffice to say that Vol. 2 is all about Ray Valentine at college. Once you've read one (the first) volume) you've pretty much discovered all of Stutz's tricks. Not only is the whole story a cycle, but it's also cyclical, and there are both good and bad things about that. Anyway, read on and see what I thought...

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won my copy thru Library Thing Early Reviewers. It took me awhile to read this and I had a hard time trying to stay focused. This book was not my cup of tea and had way too many acronyms in it. Maybe to somebody who was active in computers from way back might like this.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid story line and great characters. Looking forward to reading more.