September Snow

by Robert Balmanno

In the world of September Snow Global warming and climate change have been rife for decades. Gaia, a new religion, originally devoted to preserving the Earth, has been perverted. A draconian regime controls everything – even the weather. September, a woman of intellect and physical prowess, leads a rebellion. She seeks to save the planet from a corrupt system, so the Healing Process of Earth can begin. A futuristic, dystopian story where mankind and the physical life of the planet are on a collision course.

355 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

Robert E. Balmanno earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, receiving Highest Honors. He attended the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he did post-graduate work in Politics, International Relations, and Philosophy. Later he attended postgraduate studies at the University of London, King’s College, Department of War Studies.

Balmanno served in the Peace Corps in Dahomey in West Africa from 1973 to 1975. He worked training bulls to plow fields and pull carts in a region where no outsiders have ever been before—the place where the New World practices of voodoo originated among the Adja people of West Africa.

Between 1975 and 1978 Balmanno traveled through Europe and Asia. Over a period of two decades, he dedicated his life to producing contemporary literary fiction. He has written seven full-length novels. Recently he switched to the genre of science fiction.

Balmanno is presently working on his latest book, Runes of Iona, second of what will be a futuristic quartet, The Blessings of Gaia Series. The first book of the quartet is September Snow; the second book is Runes of Iona; third book is Embers of the Earth; and the last book is Auger’s Touchstone.

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 1 out of 5]

I quit reading this book after about 30 pages. It was terrible writing. I had a hard time following it. Characters changed emotion in mid-paragraph. The writing was crude, something I'd expect from an adolescent.

I had met the author at a book signing and thought I'd purchase his book as the premise sounded interesting. He has no idea how to bring up ideas. He has a whole world to set up and he does so in a clumsy way either spelling it out or having characters dictate to you. It's obvious, it breaks the flow of the reading and it annoyed me enough to leave the book behind in a book store cafe, hoping someone else would pick it up and perhaps like it better than I did.

[Michael Hawk]

I'm only a few pages into this, but I met the author at a Barnes and Noble in San Jose right before Christmas and he was a cool guy who gave me some insight on the story etc. It sounds interesting, blending sci-fi with environmental concerns. He's worked years on getting it published so I hop eit goes well for him and I'll write a more in depth review later.

[Linden · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I have ever read, with incredibly poor word usage accentuated by bizarre changes in tone, cheesy dialogue and random use of italics/capitalization. The plot is poorly executed and mostly ripped off from Orwell's 1984 anyway. Could be used in creative writing classes as a primer on what happens when you ignore the "show, don't tell" maxim.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very good.

It actually gets better as you get through it, but it's premise is bad enough.

The best feature of this book is that I met the author, and it gives me inspiration that, if this guy can write a book, so can I!

[Saul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like many others I wanted to really like the book. I met the author at a Barnes and Noble and he was a really nice guy.
But the book is obviously written by a first time author. He did a lot of work to get this published but it was very hard to follow. The book does get better, but only after too many chapters. I don't like putting down an unread book and I almost did quite a few times. So its an interesting idea, but the execution was not the best. But as stated earlier it is his for published book and all authors get better. I remember reading the Sword of Shannara when I was a kid and really liked it but it was really only a so so book. I read more and more of Terry Brooks books and he has gotten better. Hopefully Mr Balmanno will continue to get better.

[Bradley Bartholomew · Rating 1 out of 5]

The focus of this dsytopian novel is quite interesting and unique, though the execution is not there. Odd, informal telling of each character's thoughts and jerky dialog make this tough to read. At repeated points a character will ask a question and another will respond only to have the first character either ignore the answer completely out ask the question again for some reason. Additionally the environment are described in a tell style, contributing to the flat voice in the text. I think Tim Gray owes Mr. Herbert an apology: this is nowhere near Dune (As he raves in his review on the back cover of the book).

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clunky dialogue and excessively tell-not-show, but had some interesting dystopian/climate fiction ideas.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

My daughter gave me this book. I did want to like it, especially since some of the themes resonated - but I couldn't get past the writing. First time I've used the age rule to bail out of a reading ( 100 - your age ).

[Diana Ide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best advice: Do not be intimidated or give up before chapter 9. As this is the first book, the beginning can be a bit daunting as it sets the scheme for the series. However, it is worth the effort! Filled with imaginative insights and profound quotable concepts, I relate the first two books to climbing a mountain. The struggle up takes work; the summit is epiphany inducing; and the climb down is an enjoyable glissade.

September Snow is more of a philosophical commentary on how the power of politics and religion corrupt society in a technologically advanced not-too-distant future. Even though it is a fictional Earth–the correlations to today’s Earth is perceptive and enlightening. Rich characters tell their stories as they struggle against politics, faith, violence, government control, climate change, diminishing natural resources, and the chaos that ensues when a class system is military enforced.

The intellectual properties that you retain from this novel are much more pleasurable to read in this format than if you were to read several academic essays on the same subjects. Despite some of the negative reviews, I feel that committing to this series is worth your time and inspires one to loose themselves in captivating thought beyond the reading.

[Daniel Reyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading a book I try not to critique too much, I just want to be entertained. After reading September Snow I can say that this book didn't dissapoint. One thing I noticed right away is that the author has a very good imagination in this and his second book. I have seen television shows with people living in domes, helio planes on the movie Avatar as well as many movies set in post-apocaliptic Earth following global climate changes. All this and more thought up by Bob Balmanno years ago. It was very refreshing reading this genre of book but still have originality. Upon completing the book, I immediately started reading the second one as soon as I could get my hands on it.

The style and flow of the book made for very easy reading and the author does a very good job developing his characters. I have read some negative reviews for this book and all I can say is that they must have gone into this book expecting something very specific and when it didn't meet their expectations they gave it a negative review.

If you're looking for a post-apocaliptic, syfy, futuristic story to read, then give this book a chance, you won't be dissapointed.

[Angelo Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read "September Snow" and his second book "Runes of Iona" and think they're both good books. They deal with a lot of complex social problems that he's commenting on in the guise of science fiction. September Snow starts out slow as he introduces the characters and the state of the world in which they live in, but it gets better as the action picks up. I think it's a good intro to his second book, "Runes of Iona", which moves a lot more.

[Dollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Balmanno visited our book club to talk about this book. I didn't think it was too bad although it was not my normal genre. I don't think I will move on in the series but I don't think I wasted my time reading it. Mr. Balmanno was a very interesting man. It was futuristic...somewhat fatalistic. A bit macho at times (even the women and children were a bit over the top).

[Andrea]

A friend got me this book (I guess she met the author), so I'm wondering if it's good or not . . .

[Jennifer Kyrnin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine book. Hard to get into.