When Earthlings Weep

by Michael Barnett

Mickey Thorn has horribly frightening and realistic dreams, almost nightly. When he awakes, the nightmare's grip still affects him to such a point, he can't tell the difference between the dream he was just having, and reality. Mickey knows every detail of his nightmare when he first awakes, but as time passes, and his heart and breathing slow, he has already forgotten most of the details. The overwhelming emotions he goes through from first awakening until he is fully awake is; terror, fear, confusion, then helplessness. What Mickey has just gone through is very rare, and still largely misunderstood. Mickey is suffering from "Night Terrors". A symptom of the "Terrors" is a continued, long-term memory of impossible danger, terrifying monsters, and strange situations, that seem so real, Mickey can swear that they aren't dreams. Mickey has been through three sleep studies to see if anything can be done to eliminate the terrors, or at least slow them down. What his body goes through---both physically and emotionally---is taking a toll. The doctors have a real fear that Mickey will suffer a heart attack, or stroke, or embolism during one of the more intense episodes. None of the suggestions the doctors have previously given him have worked; exercise, eliminating caffeine, taking medication, and even yoga, have helped. Lately, Mickey has begun to think of his dreams in an entirely new way. What if, instead of bad dreams, this is real? In his frazzled mind, this bizarre notion actually makes sense to him. What if he really is being attacked by monsters from other worlds and dimensions? Oddly, compared to what he is already going through, this new idea doesn't scare him. In fact, a part of his mind welcomes this possibility, and now he realizes that maybe he isn't the same person he once was...at all.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

274 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2012

About the author

I was born in San Bernardino, California, in 1958, the first of four boys. My earliest memories come from those California years: a big walnut tree with a fort in it, a dog, a playhouse in the back yard, and some events far darker than any child should carry. Those years, from 1961 through 1966, became my first book, Eden Fading, a novel inspired by true events and told with a spiritual heart.

In 1972 our family moved to Lafayette, Indiana, my dad’s hometown. I read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and set out to live them: tree houses, an island on the Wabash we claimed as our own, and a homemade raft that sank. I became an Eagle Scout, pole-vaulted my way to the state meet, and earned a full academic scholarship to Purdue University.

After Purdue I joined the Air Force, which sent me to San Antonio, where I met my wife. We’ve now been married 47 years and have one daughter. I earned a BS in Computer Science at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, and eventually we settled in Dallas, where we still live.

I came to writing later in life. After my father passed away, my brother convinced me that, as the family storyteller, I should put our story into words. That became Eden Fading. My second novel, When Earthlings Weep, is a science-fiction thriller in the spirit of The X-Files and Fringe. A man wakes up in San Antonio to blood on his floor and discovers that two alien species have crossed the stars to claim him.

I’m now at work on my third novel, Raine Rising. You can find all my books, plus the free opening chapters of When Earthlings Weep, at michaelbarnettbooks.com.

Reviews

[Christina Rothfusz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mickey Thorn has recurring nightmares, nightmares in which he kills a variety of humans and unimaginable creatures in extremely violent and creative ways. Worried about him, he's fiance Patience wants him to see a doctor. Mickey soon learns that these nightmares are real and that he is becoming a monster that will destroy 3 worlds.

This book should've been much better than it was.

The narrative is all over the place and in stages very difficult to follow. I found it very annoying that whenever anyone mentioned or engaged with the main character they used he's name and surname. Mickey Thorn is now flying over the pacific. Mickey Thorn is becoming to dangerous. Mickey Thorn is killing all he's enemies - you get where I'm going?

The powers attributed to the main character is also a bit much. I love science fiction - and the writer obviously does to. It seemed that he wanted to take every super alien power ever mentioned in any book or movie and make one ubber super alien / creature.

Overall I wanted to feel more sympathy for the characters involved but just could not. It was a relief when it was over.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a huge fan of Sci-fi for over a decade and have read plenty of books in the genre. As much as I enjoy them, unfortunately after a while it starts seeming like I’m reading the same book with the same formula over and over again. This was not the case with “When Earthlings Weep” by Michael Barnett. This novel was incredibly original with a fresh twist to a familiar theme. I genuinely enjoyed being inside the craziness of Mickey Thorn’s world for a while, and was happy with the story’s conclusion. There were all the elements present that I like in my SciFi, and some that will appeal to a more “sci-fi-lite” crowd. It wasn’t a heavy space opera by any means, but there were elements of the supernatural and the extra-terrestrial that gave the book its delicious sci fi flavor. I definitely enjoyed reading it and recommend for fans of the genre who are looking for something new to read.

[Houston · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like this book because Mickey Thorn has similar dreams as I do. Mickey has realistic dreams almost nightly and i have realistic dreams. Sometimes my dreams come true.

[Buzz H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Barnett's prose needs a great deal of work. And this novel needs a good copy editor. Disappointing.

[Jayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Earthlings Weep is the story of Mickey, an ordinary Joe who suffers nightmares as a result of an experiment that was carried out on him whilst he was in the military. He morphs from good Mickey to bad Mickey, destroyer of worlds, whilst two species of aliens slug it out, one to destroy the earth, the other to save it. There is time travel, military operations, death and fantastical creatures in abundance.

First, the reason I gave it four stars, not five. The punctuation is sloppy, with commas where commas ain't ever ought to go, and the Kindle formatting changes the font sizes in unexpected places, which proves a distraction. It make it a hard read at first, but persevere, because this man can WRITE. Yes, there were places where the POV changed mid-paragraph (rookie error# but his descriptions are so beautiful, the worlds and creatures he has created so lovingly drawn, it is easy to forgive the odd technical hitch. His continuity is consistant and all the characters have relevance.

I would have loved to have learned more about Mickey, and about his life before these things started happening to him. It would have helped anchor him in my mind when reading about everyone else. and there were a LOT of characters in this book. Sometimes it was hard to follow. And I think it could have been edited far more ruthlessly, but science fiction isn't my thing and nor is militaria, so maybe what wasn't so interesting to me would have been fascinating to someone else. I also found the constant teleporting hard to follow, but in the end, just went with it, because I loved this man's writing.

Barnett writes with extraordinary range. The Jengans with their Groucho disguises and the terse dialogue of the humans bring to mind early Dean Koontz. The Bruxians, #baddies, because of their brutal name - love it# and the Farsans, cat-like evil creatures of extraordinary power and a deliciously salacious way of expressing their hunger #how delicious!# It was brave and wild and I loved all of it. Shame it was cluttered with clumsy editing #in my opinion# but definitely worth a read. The reviewer who asked for a refund did not give the book a chance. He/she missed the achingly beautiful descriptions of the Jengan world, the seas coming up to meet the captured humans, the Valshavi #although I'm still not sure what that is but sounds like a great acid trip. And the epilogue (II) almost made this earthling weep.

The ending was elegant and touching, and surprisingly down to earth. Does good Mickey save the day? Read it and find out.

[Jovon Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, I haven't read a good sci-fi novel in quite sometime and am very glad I got the chance to read When Earthlings Weep by Michael Barnett! It was an interesting read to say the least!

As I started reading, I had very mixed feelings, to be honest. I loved storyline and the crazy aspects of it all but there was also a lot of grammatical errors.

There's action, love, aliens, warfare and more!

Imagine Stephen King meets Star Trek meets a blender on high!

=]

When Earth is the battle ground for aliens from far away whens and wheres, and I loved that!

Bruxians are brutal and tunnel visioned and Jengans seem like a more peaceful race.

Drogos and Valshavi and Kree, oh my!!

While a special undercover military force tries to save the world ( and others), they come across some other brave and inspiring characters! Jason and his brother, Patience, and even a gentle and helpful girl from the future called Cassie!

Midway through When Earthlings Weep, you are taken on a roller coaster ride, nay, a interstellar speed race to save this galaxy and the next!

While I did enjoy the book, it was very hard to get through. I only kept with it because like I said before, it's easier to follow in the middle, and I was excited to see what happened at the end. Grammatical errors throughout the book made it tough as well as the "high techness" of the story in some parts.

It's probably because Barnett's imagination is so abstract it was difficult to keep up. It could also be because I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, LOL. It's probably the latter of the two!!

"...When earthlings weep, the end is nigh,
When earthlings weep, the earth does die."

When Earthlings Weep throws some curve balls at you! I found myself gasping at several points in the book and literally said "hmm...I didn't see that coming!"

I was not too fussed on the ending myself but that's a personal preference. You may find you really love it!

I would definitely recommend all of you sci-fi fans to read When Earthlings Weep! Anyone else for that matter because while it us difficult at times, it's totally worth it!

My overall thinking? Read it! It's beyond interesting! I'm certainly interested in reading more from Michael Barnett in the future!

For more great reviews, interviews and more check out Book 2 Buzz at http://www.book2buzz.blogspot.com

[Gippy Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science Fiction is not my choice of genre normally, but Michael Barnett is such a detailed writer with the most fascinating imagination I've ever read, I chose to read it through after scanning. When Earthlings Weep. First, I have to say it did not disappoint! The concept and the amazing descriptions and unbelievably solid but strange characters is why I gave this a four. The reason I kept one point off was for the sometimes difficult lack of correct punctuation and typos, especially in the beginning of the book. It was distracting and I feel no matter what one's education, professional editing/proofreading is a must. As writers, we don't always catch our own errors. Had this been done, I'm sure this would be a five star book for most.

For me, Mickey's character was a bit confusing (until the end). There was very little build-up in the beginning of the book for his character before the story led right into the 'nightmare' characters and lifestyle. It's just my opinion that there should have been a break here and there or more often going back to Mickey's normal life out of the nightmares. The last few chapters gave me insight into Mickey's normal character before the nightmares. However, if I were a huge science fiction fan as much as I am a crime fiction fan, I would have read this book twice. So I highly recommend When Earthlings Weep especially to you Science Fiction readers. It will be a luscious dessert.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pearl ruled

I only read about 25% of this book. I'll give this a two-star-rating, one of which I could think is hidden somewhere in the other 75%.

The story might be sort of interesting, but it's buried under a writing style to which I cannot find a connection. There are quite a few typos, errors and weird punctuations (commas, semicolons, ellipses) that makes it hard for me to follow. Some characters are introduced properly and then killed off right away. Others are introduced only slightly and they seem to play a more important role.
Frankly, I ask myself weather this book has been edited at all?

Also, I seriously wonder why this book rank so high on so many lists on listopia (e.g. #1 on Good Fantasy/ Science fiction books).


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[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to start by saying I'm not an avid reader of science fiction when it involves creatures from other planets or dimensions. I bought "When Earthlings Weep" because I read Michael Barnett's previous novel and enjoyed his creativity and writing style. I'm glad I did. Mr. Barnett does a great job of creating new and interesting alien beings and is able to write in such as way as to make them completely believable. The humans are also believable characters and they show that no one is perfect and we all have important choices to make which will effect our futures as well as the futures of the people around us. The plot is exciting and well-developed and will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next. There are many twists and turns which will have readers wondering who will win the final battle. If you enjoy sci-fi, you should definitely by this book. If you don't normally read these types of books, this is a good place to start.

[Ayami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. Some parts were executed perfectly and then there were moments when I was just 'blah'. There are occasional syntax and spelling errors throughout the book but not enough to be a real inconvenience. Definitely a damn original book that makes you think a bit.

[Dan Combs · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I can say is stick with this book. Ignore the typos, the misuse of commas, the clichés, and everything else about it that tells you to throw it in a nearby river, and keep reading. It may well be a work of genius.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but badly needs to be proof read. The epilogues don't add anything either also his military characters were terrible. Still a vivid imagination and some good ideas.