What do you think?
Rate this book
Crank Tech One: Destruction
Tim Bailey is an author who needs a model to promote his new Sci-fi novel.
He eventually finds his character, Crank Tech One, at Andy's Sci-fi auction. But, writing about a renegade robot and actually owning one are two different things.
When his plans go wrong, what can he do? Can his younger brother, David, help him, or are they both in way above their heads.
He eventually finds his character, Crank Tech One, at Andy's Sci-fi auction. But, writing about a renegade robot and actually owning one are two different things.
When his plans go wrong, what can he do? Can his younger brother, David, help him, or are they both in way above their heads.
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2012
120 people want to read
About the author
Colin R. Parsons
23 books25 followersColin R Parsons is a children's and YA fiction author. He lives in South Wales with his wife Janice. He has two sons Kristoffer and Ryan.
Colin has written many books in different genres. He loves science fiction, fantasy, supernatural and steam punk.
He loves reading as well as writing novels. If you like fast paced action with a sprinkling of danger and interesting characters, you'll love Colin's books.
His new picture book: 'Amaya's Imagination - Traffic Cone Trouble' age 5-7yrs, is available on Amazon.
Colin has written many books in different genres. He loves science fiction, fantasy, supernatural and steam punk.
He loves reading as well as writing novels. If you like fast paced action with a sprinkling of danger and interesting characters, you'll love Colin's books.
His new picture book: 'Amaya's Imagination - Traffic Cone Trouble' age 5-7yrs, is available on Amazon.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 8, 2015
Sci-Fi Action, Adventure, and Crank Tech One, too.
Despite the cover image, and title, the story takes place in modern times, and follows a writer named Tim Bailey. The cover of 'Crank Tech One: Destruction' doesn't capture the humor and wonder of the story. It instead gives the feeling that this book is a cyber punk, robot must 'kill you now' feeling, which made me dread listening to the audio book at first. I'm thankful that this is not true. It shows a one armed Crank trying to complete its mission, to open a sealed chamber, but without the second arm needed to open the vault, it sets itself to self "Destruction". My suggestion would have been to put the silhouette of a person in the foreground, reacting to Crank in the distance. With the person's hand on his forehead, and gestures as if saying "Could this day get any worse?" The back of the paperback book gives a much better view of the stories contents, with the tag line "Some Robots Should Be Left Well Alone".
The books main character is Tim Bailey, a writer of sensational action packed stories. To help promote his new book {about a robot on the rampage} he goes looking for a prop. The book is called "Crank Tech One", also the name of the robot. Through various misadventures he acquires a prop, that turns out to be a real, hi tech robot. Through a accident the robot gets damaged and ends up using his book as a program, and mission objective. The robot then heads off to the city center of Cardiff, weapons armed, and all sorts of unexpected events happen, as the robot crosses the U.K. country side.
The character of Tim Bailey is someone who would like nothing better then to write a book, stay at home, enjoy some nice tea, and watching television. The kind of guy that would get tongue tied when a pretty girl makes eye contact with him. As Crank ends up missing, things get more complicated when his 14 year old brother David comes to visit him. Off they rush to prevent the inevitable mayhem, yet at every turn they end up going one step forward, and two steps back.
There are bully like characters introduced simply by their attributes, Gorilla the grumpy fellow, and Weasle his side kick. There is the annoying, and snooping next door neighbour lady trying to find out what secret Tim and his brother are hiding. Creepy secret agent guys known as Bod and Huey, and even a eccentric scientist. About half way through the book there are two female characters introduced, a police detective, and her college professor friend.
The story as cartoon type violence, of being cut in two with a lazer, and people turning to ash. There are plenty of action moments, explosions, car chases, and the occasional brawl. The story is generally children friendly, and reminds me of an old 1930's type movie serials with lots of cliff hangers at the end of each chapter. In some ways it reminds me of the first half of the film 'Short Circuit'. And a bit of the Isaac Asimov/Janet Asimov book 'Norby: the Mixed-Up Robot' with a similar female officer, and the older brother's relationship with her.
Unlike the 'Back to the Future' movie, or 'The Goonies', which have quite a bit of adult language at the beginning, and what some people might consider crude humor. This book incorporates that sense of wonder, adventure, and humor, but in a more 'all ages' way. I think that anyone that enjoyed those movies or the 'Indiana Jones' films, they will enjoy this book. The book has several references to films of the 1980's, and to the other science fiction shows like Dr. Who, which had several of it's episodes filmed in Cardiff. The mishaps, the comic situations, and adventure quest formulas are all here. Supplemented here and there in the story, the reader also gets a glimpse of what the 'Crank' is thinking and it's motivations to complete it's task. This type of humor, comedy, and dispare of a robot situation gone bad is one of the reasons I loved the earlier animated music video 'Chiron Beta Prime', which gives a good glimpse of the world would be like if Crank accomplishes his mission. in that style, this book follows in that line of great sci-fi action, comedy made popular by things like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The author Colin R. Parsons mostly writes children's fantasy books, all with this sense of wonder and adventure. The story itself is rather good, with the mixture of unbelievability, and realism that draws the reader into going along for the ride. The story also leaves many questions unanswered, and gives a foreboding feeling that this story isn't over. However it has a 'several years later' type ending, which means that any second story would be much later in the characters lives. Just like the main character in this book, Colin also gives talks to schools, and reads segments of his book in public. Several of his other books are also supposed to be turned into audio books, by a company called Living Audio, but so far I haven't been able to find them. This book is also produced by a different company called "In Ear Entertainment".
Colin R. Parsons, author's website.
http://www.colinrparsons.com
Living Audio, audio book versions of his other fantasy books.
http://livingaudio.co.uk/
The audio book version of "Crank Tech One: Destruction" by "In Ear Entertainment", is much like a one man show, where the actor preforms each character, in a different tone, accent, and with different voices. The story itself is written in a way that it can be easily read aloud, and these two features blend together wonderfully. Like any great voice over artist the reader Dave Bulmer, can change his voice in mid sentence, and can shout at the drop of the hat when needed.
The Audio Book Producer: In Ear Entertainment, producer of audio book version of this book, and creator of other audio book collections, and podcasts, including one of my favorite "Supermarket Matters".
https://www.inearentertainment.com/
The Narrator: Dave Bulmer, artist, singer, comic book writer, commercal artist, and voice over actor.
http://www.dumpylittlerobot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/DemonToma...
Despite the cover image, and title, the story takes place in modern times, and follows a writer named Tim Bailey. The cover of 'Crank Tech One: Destruction' doesn't capture the humor and wonder of the story. It instead gives the feeling that this book is a cyber punk, robot must 'kill you now' feeling, which made me dread listening to the audio book at first. I'm thankful that this is not true. It shows a one armed Crank trying to complete its mission, to open a sealed chamber, but without the second arm needed to open the vault, it sets itself to self "Destruction". My suggestion would have been to put the silhouette of a person in the foreground, reacting to Crank in the distance. With the person's hand on his forehead, and gestures as if saying "Could this day get any worse?" The back of the paperback book gives a much better view of the stories contents, with the tag line "Some Robots Should Be Left Well Alone".
The books main character is Tim Bailey, a writer of sensational action packed stories. To help promote his new book {about a robot on the rampage} he goes looking for a prop. The book is called "Crank Tech One", also the name of the robot. Through various misadventures he acquires a prop, that turns out to be a real, hi tech robot. Through a accident the robot gets damaged and ends up using his book as a program, and mission objective. The robot then heads off to the city center of Cardiff, weapons armed, and all sorts of unexpected events happen, as the robot crosses the U.K. country side.
The character of Tim Bailey is someone who would like nothing better then to write a book, stay at home, enjoy some nice tea, and watching television. The kind of guy that would get tongue tied when a pretty girl makes eye contact with him. As Crank ends up missing, things get more complicated when his 14 year old brother David comes to visit him. Off they rush to prevent the inevitable mayhem, yet at every turn they end up going one step forward, and two steps back.
There are bully like characters introduced simply by their attributes, Gorilla the grumpy fellow, and Weasle his side kick. There is the annoying, and snooping next door neighbour lady trying to find out what secret Tim and his brother are hiding. Creepy secret agent guys known as Bod and Huey, and even a eccentric scientist. About half way through the book there are two female characters introduced, a police detective, and her college professor friend.
The story as cartoon type violence, of being cut in two with a lazer, and people turning to ash. There are plenty of action moments, explosions, car chases, and the occasional brawl. The story is generally children friendly, and reminds me of an old 1930's type movie serials with lots of cliff hangers at the end of each chapter. In some ways it reminds me of the first half of the film 'Short Circuit'. And a bit of the Isaac Asimov/Janet Asimov book 'Norby: the Mixed-Up Robot' with a similar female officer, and the older brother's relationship with her.
Unlike the 'Back to the Future' movie, or 'The Goonies', which have quite a bit of adult language at the beginning, and what some people might consider crude humor. This book incorporates that sense of wonder, adventure, and humor, but in a more 'all ages' way. I think that anyone that enjoyed those movies or the 'Indiana Jones' films, they will enjoy this book. The book has several references to films of the 1980's, and to the other science fiction shows like Dr. Who, which had several of it's episodes filmed in Cardiff. The mishaps, the comic situations, and adventure quest formulas are all here. Supplemented here and there in the story, the reader also gets a glimpse of what the 'Crank' is thinking and it's motivations to complete it's task. This type of humor, comedy, and dispare of a robot situation gone bad is one of the reasons I loved the earlier animated music video 'Chiron Beta Prime', which gives a good glimpse of the world would be like if Crank accomplishes his mission. in that style, this book follows in that line of great sci-fi action, comedy made popular by things like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The author Colin R. Parsons mostly writes children's fantasy books, all with this sense of wonder and adventure. The story itself is rather good, with the mixture of unbelievability, and realism that draws the reader into going along for the ride. The story also leaves many questions unanswered, and gives a foreboding feeling that this story isn't over. However it has a 'several years later' type ending, which means that any second story would be much later in the characters lives. Just like the main character in this book, Colin also gives talks to schools, and reads segments of his book in public. Several of his other books are also supposed to be turned into audio books, by a company called Living Audio, but so far I haven't been able to find them. This book is also produced by a different company called "In Ear Entertainment".
Colin R. Parsons, author's website.
http://www.colinrparsons.com
Living Audio, audio book versions of his other fantasy books.
http://livingaudio.co.uk/
The audio book version of "Crank Tech One: Destruction" by "In Ear Entertainment", is much like a one man show, where the actor preforms each character, in a different tone, accent, and with different voices. The story itself is written in a way that it can be easily read aloud, and these two features blend together wonderfully. Like any great voice over artist the reader Dave Bulmer, can change his voice in mid sentence, and can shout at the drop of the hat when needed.
The Audio Book Producer: In Ear Entertainment, producer of audio book version of this book, and creator of other audio book collections, and podcasts, including one of my favorite "Supermarket Matters".
https://www.inearentertainment.com/
The Narrator: Dave Bulmer, artist, singer, comic book writer, commercal artist, and voice over actor.
http://www.dumpylittlerobot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/DemonToma...
February 8, 2019
I really liked this book. I read it years ago and now of course I can't find it. It is funny and we'll written. I'd like to find my copy and re-read. I think it was on my tablet and of course that's debunked. I'll find it and rewrite this review. I know I wrote one years ago.
December 13, 2012
This book is funny, fast-paced, and fully awesome! It has a super high tech robot, a story within a story, a bit of romance, great relationship between two brothers, and two different 'villains.' Many characters are introduced throughout the book, and when things finally come crashing together, it's entertaining to see how things end up.
All in all, my biggest problem with this book was the ending. It's just not enough! It does tidy everything up in to a neat bow, though.
Disclaimer: Beta read this book
All in all, my biggest problem with this book was the ending. It's just not enough! It does tidy everything up in to a neat bow, though.
Disclaimer: Beta read this book
December 11, 2012
This book was originally published in England and the American edition retains that flavor. I felt that the story was only fair but I'm not really the target audience for this book. It's really geared more to young adults.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews