An Eighty Percent Solution

The CorpGov Chronicles #1

by Thomas Gondolfi

CEO Nanogate works closely with other mega-corporate magnates to control everything in their path. Together they suborn governments, police, and anything else barring their way to greater profits.

As the cool, enigmatic leader of the Green action Militia, Sonya drives the organization’s agenda through murder and destruction among the corporate elite. The higher the body count the more their cause earns credibility.

Tony Sammis, mid-level functionary, sinks further and further into the apathy of his own dreary existence as a cog in the great commercial machine. Without a say in the matter, his life will form the intersection of a grand conflict that could change or destroy the life of every sentient being in the Sol system. As flotsam in a flood, Tony must deal with greed, terrorism, corrupt police, pathological killers, and biological warfare in his attempt to save himself and his society.

Genres: Science Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2012

About the author

- Author of the Toy World series, the CorpGov Chronicles, the Monarchy of America series, as well as one off novels such as Wayward School
- Editor of many anthologies
- Renaissance man
- Electrical engineer with BSEE
- Happily married to the love of his life
- As comfortable in a kilt as a suit or polo and slacks
- Father of 3; all grown and leading their own lives
- 30-year board gamer and roleplayer, mostly as GM
- Military brat who’s lived in ten different states
- Competitive table tennis, volleyball, and pickleball player
- Cooked for a living and experimentally at home
- Certified Flirt
- Dreams of an Australian vacation
- Inventive enough to never stop writing; 14 more novels already planned
- Favorite authors: Heinlein, Foster, Turtledove, Chalker, McCaffrey

Reviews

[Aaron Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Eighty Percent Solution CorpGov Chronicles: Book One by Thomas Gondolfi

Tony Sammis is just another insignificant drone on his way to his pointless dead-end job listening to the latest news from the biodegradable cellulose capsule he snagged floating at the ceiling of the rush hour TriMet Transit Bus. Headlines of "Unemployment Plummets to 27 Percent!", "Spiders Trounced by Packers in a 41-14 Rout!" drifted by until "BREAKING NEWS! Third Greenie Bomb this Week!" caught his attention. The Greenies, The Green Action Militia or GAM for short, had bombed yet another Megacorporate entity. The GAM: Heros or Rebels? The Megacorporations: Benevolent bringers of order to a chaotic society or Evil Exploitative Empires? Tony was wondering why anyone would disrupt the normal order of society in an unwinnable war when an ancient-looking grandmother collapsed in front of him. Heart attack. Despite the automated voice of the TriMet emergency service telling everyone to "Please step back from the victim!" Tony steps in and saves the woman's life. He is not heralded as a hero. Instead, the police order him to go home and think over what he did. Before he knows it, he has lost his job, his girlfriend and is facing charges of malpractice of practing medicine without a license. Only the GAM can help him.

An Eighty Percent Solution is an excellent read. The short version of my review is this: Cyberpunk. Mmmmm...Tasty.... OK, now the long version: Thomas Gondolfi does a fantastic job of creating a world of the future full of intrigue and technology. Right from the start the author sets the tone that establishes the story. The characters have distinctive voices and evolve into fully developed individuals by the end. I especially liked the many Corporate entities and the soulless evil they brought to the story. Very realistic. The desciptions are full enough to bring the world into focus without being overdone. The plot moved right along and kept me guessing as the bigger story unfolded. The action sequences brought it all together and gave the world the spark of life. The story was a lot of fun to read and really pulled me in! This was a great start to a longer series and I can't wait to read the second book in this series, Thinking Outside The Box CorpGov Chronicles: Book Two. Thomas Gondolfi is my latest favorite author and I look forward to reading more.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was pretty tired of the 'big corporations are evil, and by the way it's The Future' line by the end of the first chapter. There were some interesting concepts and characters, but the writing wasn't great, and I was glad to finish. That'll teach me to acquire books just because they're cheap and have a cat on the cover*

* No, it won't.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 2.5 stars. There were some interesting aspects, but the core story had issues.

The story is set in a future with greater corporate domination, more income inequality and legal expectations that citizens don't help strangers. There are also future technologies such as body alterations and implants, flying buses, references to colonies on other planets, etc. The premise is that there is an "underground" opposition group, GAM, which uses terrorist tactics - and that dissatisfaction with the status quo is contributing to growing sympathy for GAM. There is a secret group of mega-corporations which manipulates society, having more real effect than the official government. This corporate power group initiates a plan to reverse the tide of sympathy for GAM. This involves manipulating a corporate employee to become an outcast and seek out GAM believing he wants to work for their goals.

- - - - -

One point I didn't like was the fact the leader of GAM uses some magic for some tasks. This may not be a crucial element in the story, but seems out of place in a future-dystopian novel (and I, personally, prefer not to read such things.)

The terrorist element will also be an issue for many readers. A loose analogy might be made to how midwestern Americans who had been harmed by banks during the Great Depression sometimes viewed Bonnie and Clyde as folk heroes. However, I question how many readers will feel comfortable with GAM's bombings of public buildings even in the context of the book's setting. (Later in the book, GAM's tactics shift away from acts that hurt people to acts that harm corporate property / finances, but this is more a strategic decision.)

[Suzanne Hagelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, the story is a little confusing and the dystopian world it painted was harsh and depressing. Not the kind of thing I would normally pick up, but the plot was worth it, and the ending was unexpected and clever. The GAM, who were more like revolutionaries than terrorists, were battling the corp governing powers in a mostly futile effort; ripe for new leadership with more effective tactics and skill. There were a couple grisly scenes I would rather have skipped, but I found myself caring about some of the characters in spite of them. Overall, it's an interesting story with good writing.

[Daniel Yocom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Eighty Percent Solution reminded me of seeing the outcome of a cyberpunk roleplaying game. The characters are in action when they are presented. Most of the character development and motivations take place off the page. We get to sit in after the plans have been made, resources tapped and the final bits and pieces of the mission have played out.

An Eighty Percent Solution is for readers who want a fast paced story that is presented in smaller bites (the subsections of the plan).

You can read the complete review at https://guildmastergaming.blogspot.co...

[Wendy S. Delmater · Rating 3 out of 5]

My credulity was strained repeatedly by this book. Cats, illegal? They never say why, not to my satisfaction. Helping others not legal? Pfft. Magic? Not much of a case for how it shows up or is used. And—as other reviewers have stated—evil corporate entities. So done to death. I found myself skimming.

And the so-called solution at the end of the book is both crass and an echo of the end of the novel Mockingjay, at least to me

[Lorie Swearingen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start, but it's the first in a series, so I'll read the second book. I expect I'll give book 2 a higher rating.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Eighty Percent Sollution by Thomas Gondolfi takes plane in a futuristic dystopian world where billions of people live in the cities, there isn’t much food or work, laws are put in place so others can barely do anything without getting sued or losing there job, and life, to what I imagine, must suck. The story starts out with Tony performing CPR on a woman and losing his job because he did not have a medical license to do so. He ends up joining Sonya GAM to help bring back the old peaceful world that once existed. Meanwhile, a CEO of Nanogate is trying to control everything on Earth and take over police, governments, and anything in their path to gain both money and power.

The world is very detailed, the author went into great detail creating it, although I never could see it happening, that is why it is called fiction. The world reminded me a bit of Blade Runner with the crowded streets, tall buildings, and just the overall atmosphere with evil police and no one wanting to get involved.

I didn’t particularly like the main character as I didn’t really feel anything for him. He just felt like a typical sci-fi male character to me with no depth. I did enjoy Sonya as she was interesting in some areas of her life, but in the end I still didn’t feel a connection with her either.

The prose itself felt very technically and didn’t flow the way I like in a novel. One part of that problem could be that is told in third person and I never got a connection to the character. There were also some errors in the book, though not that distracting, and the use of adjectives got excessive at times. The amount of detail that goes to the scenery could be mimicked for detail within the characters mind, giving more depth, and I think it would be a lot more interesting to me.

All in all it was an interesting book and if you like hard science fiction and world building, then you should check out this book. But if you are more character centered and want to connect to the character, I wouldn’t recommend it. I give it a 3/5 because the characters could be developed some more, but the world building is well done and consistant.

[Cheryce Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, needs polish

I enjoyed the story. It picked up a free download when a promotion crossed my fb feed and was pleasantly surprised. The world and characters are good, the writing is (mostly) smooth, and story unfolds well. I can't give five stars and almost gave three because outnumber of typos, the "vintage" pop culture references were jarring for me, the timeline with the story seemed a bit wonky, and the ending was abrupt to the point of annoying. I sat on posting a review for a week, and know find myself much more forgiving of the minor flaws. It is a good story and I'll pick up book two next time I have a credit or gift card.

[Joy Rizza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a well written book probably best characterized as dystopian futuristic. The characters are well developed and their motivations are understandable. The plot makes sense, flows and is very enjoyable. I felt that this version of the future was scarily possible and that made the story even more interesting. The book is part of a series but would stand alone.

[James Bowman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh, nah, not so much.

Well, tiresome and intellectually confused and boring and pointless seem odd descriptive for a work of science fiction, but this one just lost me. I judged it not worth the effort, but perhaps it was just me.