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Spectrum
Jason Randwulf comes to Towers City to find his future, but instead finds his life taking a few steps back. The only job he can get is at a local coffee shop — which pays nothing — and then he learns his former boyfriend is currently involved with someone new. Lovely.
But when Jason answers an ad for a mysterious experiment, he’s suddenly imbued with amazing and spectacular powers. So logically, he decides to become a superhero and tries to take on his arch Sur Reel, the fallen God of Chaos — with decidedly mixed results.
Spectrum. A one-of-a-kind superhero story.
But when Jason answers an ad for a mysterious experiment, he’s suddenly imbued with amazing and spectacular powers. So logically, he decides to become a superhero and tries to take on his arch Sur Reel, the fallen God of Chaos — with decidedly mixed results.
Spectrum. A one-of-a-kind superhero story.
198 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2012
14 people want to read
About the author
Jason K. Melby
14 books3 followersA California native. Jason K. Melby grew up in the humble town of Canoga Park with his mother, father, sister and an army of dogs and cats. He has been writing for over ten years now, only taking it more seriously AFTER earning his first college degree. He's written several feature scripts and novels over the years and optioned one of his screenplays a couple of times. He's been a comic book fan for several years and has longed for the day when he would unleash his own creations upon the unsuspecting world, and that day has finally come! BWA-HA-HA! He currently resides in sunny and warm Van Nuys, CA where he continues to write, whether anyone reads it or not.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 28, 2013
DNF at 25%: Confusing and boring - not a good combination
This had way too many WTF moments on too few pages.
It had no real world-building in the first quarter of the book, so I was not sure where this whole story takes place - in an alternative universe? In the far future? Now, but in a different country (as Americans tend to "invent" countries, preferably in Europe, that don't exist and are totally unrealistic in novels)?
This was simply annoying, as there was no framework to explain anything. There are coffeehouses, but people act totally strange. There is gay-bashing but no explanation what kind of society it is. There are cars, but they also seem to work different than ours.
The story didn't even really start until this point.
And since WTFs + scant world-building + boring = DNF, it ends here.
Status updat at 18%
I dare to disagree:
"He always took pride in that since he had been told that dreaming in color was a sign of intelligence. He just assumed audio dreaming was an even greater sign of intelligence."
First of all: No. Just no. The guy didn't show any kind of intelligence yet.
Second: No. I call bullshit. Dreaming in color has no scientifically verifiable connection to intelligence. The only correlation two Russian scientists, Mjassnikow and Uskow, argued was, that it ties to personality (colorful for creative, expressive personalities, b/w for rational personalities).
DNF, where are you, when I am in need?
Morbid fascination, like watching a car crash, keeps me on board a little while longer...
Status update at 7%
....aaaand back with the pedantry...
"The events of the day played back in his head. Every polite nod and shook hand."
To my uneducated ear that should have been "Every polite nod and handshake."
It just sounded so strange- but I am no native speaker - so maybe I am wrong.
Also, the potential boss, begging him to work for him and going on his knees and grabbing Jason's legs - creepy much?
This goes a certain direction for me - I'll give it some more %, before I decide if I will waste more time after already wasting money on it.
Status update at 5%
Aaaaaand: I am a pedantic a**hole, so I of course noticed the little logic error right at the start. Or maybe it's magic?
Chapter 2: Jason cruises with his car around the town to find his new appartment. It is a truck.
Chapter 3: starts with this "Jason didn't have a car and he didn't want to waste any money on a cab, so opted to take his bike into downtown."
Little mystery of the missing truck and the suddenly appearing bike...
Besides this: an ok read so far - the writing's solid, but I didn't like the intro, with a god of chaos who is proud to kill trillions of beings. I have dark suspicions that he will be a major player in the story and I dislike him already.
This had way too many WTF moments on too few pages.
It had no real world-building in the first quarter of the book, so I was not sure where this whole story takes place - in an alternative universe? In the far future? Now, but in a different country (as Americans tend to "invent" countries, preferably in Europe, that don't exist and are totally unrealistic in novels)?
This was simply annoying, as there was no framework to explain anything. There are coffeehouses, but people act totally strange. There is gay-bashing but no explanation what kind of society it is. There are cars, but they also seem to work different than ours.
The story didn't even really start until this point.
And since WTFs + scant world-building + boring = DNF, it ends here.
Status updat at 18%
I dare to disagree:
"He always took pride in that since he had been told that dreaming in color was a sign of intelligence. He just assumed audio dreaming was an even greater sign of intelligence."
First of all: No. Just no. The guy didn't show any kind of intelligence yet.
Second: No. I call bullshit. Dreaming in color has no scientifically verifiable connection to intelligence. The only correlation two Russian scientists, Mjassnikow and Uskow, argued was, that it ties to personality (colorful for creative, expressive personalities, b/w for rational personalities).
DNF, where are you, when I am in need?
Morbid fascination, like watching a car crash, keeps me on board a little while longer...
Status update at 7%
....aaaand back with the pedantry...
"The events of the day played back in his head. Every polite nod and shook hand."
To my uneducated ear that should have been "Every polite nod and handshake."
It just sounded so strange- but I am no native speaker - so maybe I am wrong.
Also, the potential boss, begging him to work for him and going on his knees and grabbing Jason's legs - creepy much?
This goes a certain direction for me - I'll give it some more %, before I decide if I will waste more time after already wasting money on it.
Status update at 5%
Aaaaaand: I am a pedantic a**hole, so I of course noticed the little logic error right at the start. Or maybe it's magic?
Chapter 2: Jason cruises with his car around the town to find his new appartment. It is a truck.
Chapter 3: starts with this "Jason didn't have a car and he didn't want to waste any money on a cab, so opted to take his bike into downtown."
Little mystery of the missing truck and the suddenly appearing bike...
Besides this: an ok read so far - the writing's solid, but I didn't like the intro, with a god of chaos who is proud to kill trillions of beings. I have dark suspicions that he will be a major player in the story and I dislike him already.
January 30, 2014
Some basic ideas about setting and characterization in this M/M SF novella are good and I like the understated approach to super powers.
Rhythm is painfully slow, though, and it is hard to care for a lead who is on the dimmer side of pale: the end result is a book annoyinly easy to put down.
Rhythm is painfully slow, though, and it is hard to care for a lead who is on the dimmer side of pale: the end result is a book annoyinly easy to put down.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews