The Servicing and Maintenance of Wayland Snowball

by Steve Dean

Wayland Snowball doesn't want much from life. A fast car, huge amounts of money, and two gorgeous women with big... personalities. Unfortunately, Wayland is one of life's losers; a shallow and work-shy youth whose only purpose in life seems to be to get drunk, upset people and try to find a way for his only friend to lose his virginity. But with a bit of luck, lots of luck and unbelievable amounts of luck, even he may make something of himself. This is a novel that's strictly for mature readers only!

244 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Steve Dean was born and still lives in the city of Nottingham in the UK. He began to read at a very early age and soon became an avid consumer of genre fiction. Over the years, he tried several jobs before ending up in IT support. During this time, Steve began writing his own fiction, eventually becoming a full-time freelancer. In the last twenty-five years, Steve has created a wide range of works, including science fiction and fantasy novels, short stories, and material for a variety of tabletop and video games.

Inspired by many of the top names in genre fiction, his stories are filled with action and adventure but are always told through the eyes of fully-rounded and deep characters. Humour is also important to Steve, whether in his full-on and more adult comedies, or just the occasional lighter moments in the darkest of tales.

When not dreaming up strange monsters and robots, Steve plays tabletop and video role-playing games far too much, watches science fiction as well as science and technology documentaries, and reads from his ever-growing library of genre novels. Just for a change, he also grows cacti and house plants, makes furniture, and tinkers with computers and other technology.

Reviews

[Sue Philips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a new author for me and I must say, he was worth waiting for.
Wayland Snowball's story is an addictive, lighthearted story of a young man who doesn't really excel at anything other than pissing people off. He gets fired from his job and sent to a remote new job where he is working with a group of people whose main aim is to protect the local plant life. He accidentally gets lost in the jungle while on a field trip with his new work colleagues and for two weeks he learns a lot about the local plant life and fruit and accidentally learns he has an empathic connection with what he calls the sensor vines.
The ensuing adventures, accidental meetings with other humans, and subsequent rescue open the door to a huge opportunity for Wayland.
How much will his decision change his life and will it be for the better or worst.
This story was so enjoyable I am definitely going to be looking for more from this author.