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Novel Ideas
Penny Reed’s hopes for the future came to a crashing halt when her father died, making her a ward of the state. Knowing her grandfather was still alive and recognizing she’d never survive in the “system,” she stole her father’s boat and sailed away.
Forrest Reed was a man who danced to the beat of his own drum. Having little tolerance for most people and appalled by the worsening political climate in America, he created his own island somewhere in the Pacific to escape the madness. He thoroughly enjoyed his quiet, sheltered existence. Imagine his surprise when Penny showed up, claiming to be his granddaughter. Could Forrest say good-bye to a life of solitude, making room in his heart for his only grandchild, or would events from a painful past always stand between them?
Novel Ideas will touch your heart and stir your soul; it will demonstrate how courage and determination can change your world.
Forrest Reed was a man who danced to the beat of his own drum. Having little tolerance for most people and appalled by the worsening political climate in America, he created his own island somewhere in the Pacific to escape the madness. He thoroughly enjoyed his quiet, sheltered existence. Imagine his surprise when Penny showed up, claiming to be his granddaughter. Could Forrest say good-bye to a life of solitude, making room in his heart for his only grandchild, or would events from a painful past always stand between them?
Novel Ideas will touch your heart and stir your soul; it will demonstrate how courage and determination can change your world.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 11, 2012
4 people want to read
About the author
J.C. Allen
20 books101 followersBorn and raised in the Charleston, WV area, J.C. Allen started writing as a way to stay connected to his children, to entertain them as they grew.
Having written over 20 novels - ranging from political thrillers to teen fiction - he has six titles published to date: M.O.D., Novel Ideas, and Chronicles of Time: Books One, Two, Three, and Trilogy.
source: http://www.amazon.com/J.-C.-Allen/e/B...
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Having written over 20 novels - ranging from political thrillers to teen fiction - he has six titles published to date: M.O.D., Novel Ideas, and Chronicles of Time: Books One, Two, Three, and Trilogy.
source: http://www.amazon.com/J.-C.-Allen/e/B...
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 6, 2013
This book starts out almost like a modern day family drama but as you get into it you realize we are reading the future. Not as we hope it will be but the way it could be if bad things happen. Not bad enough for war but how one ideology can go wrong and still think it is protecting the people.
The heart of this story is a relationship, that between a grandfather and his granddaughter. The incredibly prolific writer who becomes a recluse is almost cliche now a days but having an unknown child come into his life and change it and him is so worth reading. You come to care for these two character and the cast of secondary characters around them.
While you might not agree with where the author took America and the rest of the world the story is very well written and the characters are enchanting. A fine read for a cold day.
The heart of this story is a relationship, that between a grandfather and his granddaughter. The incredibly prolific writer who becomes a recluse is almost cliche now a days but having an unknown child come into his life and change it and him is so worth reading. You come to care for these two character and the cast of secondary characters around them.
While you might not agree with where the author took America and the rest of the world the story is very well written and the characters are enchanting. A fine read for a cold day.
August 4, 2016
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main..." Apparently, multi-billionaire Forrest Reed never read, or perhaps took heed of, English Renaissance Man John Donne's quote.
It is 2040 AD and Forrest Reed is America's last free-thinker and creative genius. Writing an average of five unique novels a year and amassing $48.9 billion in box office receipts from movie adaptations, Reed is a Renaissance Man in his own right and should be a celebrated hero. Instead, he is reviled by an "oppressive, socialist regime" that has taken over America. After the state hounds him for more and more of his earnings, Forrest leaves and creates his own Pacific Ocean island retreat. With enough money for hovercraft-delivered groceries (that cost $10,000 a week) and a computerized, holographic butler at his disposal, Forrest seems to have the "island, entire of itself" after all. That is, until a small sailboat approaches. And its lone occupant, a 12-year old little girl named Penny, will remove Forrest from reclusiveness and draw the world--"the continent"--once again to his doorstep. But this time, more is on the line than mere book and movie offers. At stake is the resurrection of global creative and economic freedom.
Author JC Allen meticulously constructs a convincing future world that is rich in detail and character development. "Novel Ideas" oscillates between the thawing cynicism of Forrest Reed and the rekindled creativity and maturity of Penny. While both characters are well-realized symbols of perseverance and dedication to creative freedom, against all obstacles, it is Penny who emerges as the soul of the story and the catalyst for a better world. Her voyages across the Pacific and encounters with alien wonders (like fresh-grown garden produce, an old-fashioned TV, and outlawed movies like STAR WARS) are reminiscent of the bemusements of Alice in "WONDERLAND" or Gulliver during his famous "TRAVELS."
However, "Novel Ideas" doesn't fail to remind readers that it, at its core, is a cautionary tale, not a fairy tale. Instead of being content with the benign entertainment values of ALICE IN WONDERLAND or GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, it at times strives for the darker dystopian tones of 1984 and ATLAS SHRUGGED. While a noble attempt, unfortunately it lacks the subtlety in message of these classics. While it starts off well, when "Novel Ideas" goes into message mode it is often done in a blunt, straightforward political and socio-economic narrative. Allen's approach may unintentionally lead some parents to hesitate in exposing their young children to the book (or at least its more controversial concepts).
For example, China--though it is approximately 26 years in the future--is the story's designated "moral leader" who defends Forrest's "reclusive fort on the sea" against a relentlessly repressive US. And Penny cheering when Iran sides with China against a UN resolution that asks for her arrest (as a fugitive terrorist escaping American justice) seems like a miscalculation in how much message to tell or, perhaps more accurately, in whom should tell what parts of it.
Overall, JC Allen still succeeds in presenting a future that is generally bright--if made so by glittering technology--and salvageable. Hopefully, the tone of some of the polemic "novel ideas" forwarded won't exile the book to "an island." That instead, Penny and Forrest's representation of the best of the past and present and how each can work together to shape the future will endure and make "Novel Ideas" "a part of the [reading] main."
It is 2040 AD and Forrest Reed is America's last free-thinker and creative genius. Writing an average of five unique novels a year and amassing $48.9 billion in box office receipts from movie adaptations, Reed is a Renaissance Man in his own right and should be a celebrated hero. Instead, he is reviled by an "oppressive, socialist regime" that has taken over America. After the state hounds him for more and more of his earnings, Forrest leaves and creates his own Pacific Ocean island retreat. With enough money for hovercraft-delivered groceries (that cost $10,000 a week) and a computerized, holographic butler at his disposal, Forrest seems to have the "island, entire of itself" after all. That is, until a small sailboat approaches. And its lone occupant, a 12-year old little girl named Penny, will remove Forrest from reclusiveness and draw the world--"the continent"--once again to his doorstep. But this time, more is on the line than mere book and movie offers. At stake is the resurrection of global creative and economic freedom.
Author JC Allen meticulously constructs a convincing future world that is rich in detail and character development. "Novel Ideas" oscillates between the thawing cynicism of Forrest Reed and the rekindled creativity and maturity of Penny. While both characters are well-realized symbols of perseverance and dedication to creative freedom, against all obstacles, it is Penny who emerges as the soul of the story and the catalyst for a better world. Her voyages across the Pacific and encounters with alien wonders (like fresh-grown garden produce, an old-fashioned TV, and outlawed movies like STAR WARS) are reminiscent of the bemusements of Alice in "WONDERLAND" or Gulliver during his famous "TRAVELS."
However, "Novel Ideas" doesn't fail to remind readers that it, at its core, is a cautionary tale, not a fairy tale. Instead of being content with the benign entertainment values of ALICE IN WONDERLAND or GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, it at times strives for the darker dystopian tones of 1984 and ATLAS SHRUGGED. While a noble attempt, unfortunately it lacks the subtlety in message of these classics. While it starts off well, when "Novel Ideas" goes into message mode it is often done in a blunt, straightforward political and socio-economic narrative. Allen's approach may unintentionally lead some parents to hesitate in exposing their young children to the book (or at least its more controversial concepts).
For example, China--though it is approximately 26 years in the future--is the story's designated "moral leader" who defends Forrest's "reclusive fort on the sea" against a relentlessly repressive US. And Penny cheering when Iran sides with China against a UN resolution that asks for her arrest (as a fugitive terrorist escaping American justice) seems like a miscalculation in how much message to tell or, perhaps more accurately, in whom should tell what parts of it.
Overall, JC Allen still succeeds in presenting a future that is generally bright--if made so by glittering technology--and salvageable. Hopefully, the tone of some of the polemic "novel ideas" forwarded won't exile the book to "an island." That instead, Penny and Forrest's representation of the best of the past and present and how each can work together to shape the future will endure and make "Novel Ideas" "a part of the [reading] main."
May 29, 2013
Set in the year 2040 the world has become a place where socialistic regime rules nearly all. Forrest Reed is a world renowned writer, the last of his kind and he refuses to be a slave to the government. He has built his own floating island in the middle of the pacific to escape the new laws that the countries have created. Preferring his own company, he is more than surprised when Penny turns up claiming to be the granddaughter he never knew he had. Forrest doubts the legitimacy of penny.
The book is expertly written and is a brilliantly thought out plot. There is a lot of emotion in the relationship between Penny and Forrest that you are dragged into in the hopes everything will be ok. Absolutely loved the book, it made me cry at the end. It's a heart-warming tale infused with aspects of the futuristic avatar.
The book is expertly written and is a brilliantly thought out plot. There is a lot of emotion in the relationship between Penny and Forrest that you are dragged into in the hopes everything will be ok. Absolutely loved the book, it made me cry at the end. It's a heart-warming tale infused with aspects of the futuristic avatar.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews