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The Waking Nightmares
Welcome back to The Dream Nebula. A place with no stars… no sun… no moon… no Earth. Only the shattered wreckage of the solar system floating in an endless technicolor sky.
After convalescing for a month, Winston and Billy Joe are eager to begin their new job protecting Baron Quentin Junker in his quest to find the lost true history of Earth. They didn’t expect to be thrown into the middle of an ecological catastrophe.
An unknown enemy has unleashed an alien attack upon the moon Puala’Lolo, intent on transforming everything into a new biosphere devoid of all carbon-based life.
Now Winston must lead a confederacy of the Baron’s guardsmen and treacherous skypirates to stop the monsters before they annihilate his new home. Will he come to terms with the discovery that his worst nightmare has come someone has tampered with his mind…
…Is it still paranoia if someone is out to get you?
After convalescing for a month, Winston and Billy Joe are eager to begin their new job protecting Baron Quentin Junker in his quest to find the lost true history of Earth. They didn’t expect to be thrown into the middle of an ecological catastrophe.
An unknown enemy has unleashed an alien attack upon the moon Puala’Lolo, intent on transforming everything into a new biosphere devoid of all carbon-based life.
Now Winston must lead a confederacy of the Baron’s guardsmen and treacherous skypirates to stop the monsters before they annihilate his new home. Will he come to terms with the discovery that his worst nightmare has come someone has tampered with his mind…
…Is it still paranoia if someone is out to get you?
344 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 8, 2023
1 person is currently reading
About the author
M.D. Boncher
9 books8 followersAs an author, artist and musician, M. D. Boncher has lead, a “Writer’s Life”. He has held several careers in many different industries from hospitality to trucking, giving him a wide breadth of experience with the human condition to draw on for his work. He has a passion for history, philosophy, and his Christian faith. His hobbies include such nerdy things as Tabletop RPGs, videogames, camping, gardening and (now) hunting, but most of it is spent in artistic creations. When not creating he’s either reading or watching a movie from his extensive curated collection of sci-fi, fantasy, comics, horror, action, comedies, classics literature or film, detective fiction or pulp.
An expatriated native Wisconsinite, he relocated during the pandemic and now lives deep in the mountains of West Virginia with his wife, three very fluffy cats and small flock of feisty but naïve chickens.
An expatriated native Wisconsinite, he relocated during the pandemic and now lives deep in the mountains of West Virginia with his wife, three very fluffy cats and small flock of feisty but naïve chickens.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 11, 2023
I greatly enjoyed this book, and I'm not a sci-fi fan! The continuing adventures of Winston Harper and his loveable mechoid sidekick didn't let down in this next installment, and the return of a few surprise characters was a delightful surprise!
As I said, normally, I don't go for sci-fi, but having met the author, I did give it a shot and found that I enjoyed the story. Usually, sci fi is full of aliens and jargon that I get lost in, like the setting itself is the focus and not the story, but every once in a while I find a sci fi story that focuses on story, where the setting is the flavor, like Star Wars, for instance.
I won't go into spoilers for the story other than to say that this little monster feature has an intriguing enemy to fight and even more fun when it comes to nanotechnology and the blurring between cyberware and biologics.
I enjoyed the quick pace of the story as well as that old time feel. With all due respect to the previous reviewer, I don't consider the story having the feel of Tom Swift to be a bad thing; in fact, I consider that a major perk! I actually found all the points that reviewer made against this story to be reasons why I enjoyed it, including the fact that it actually used adverbs (gasp!), adjectives (oh the horror!) AND dialogue tags (someone get me the smelling salts!) There is a reasons that the books that have passed the test of time are classics - they focused on story and used the language they were written in as an artform in and of itself something which I frankly find severely lacking in this modern demand of editors and publishers to "streamline" novels, toss out descriptors and never, ever use dialogue tags. These things developed for a reason and used well can had much depth and color to a story, and I do believe The Waking Nightmares is on the right track in this!
So if you love the action adventure of old school pulp novels with daring do, high antics, descriptors, and the feeling like you've stepped back in time and yet have a very up to date take on technology, then give Tales from the Dream Nebula a try - you may well be as delightfully surprised as I was! And if you are looking for something that doesn't take itself too seriously, that's a quick read that's just intended for fun, give this a try; I don't think you'll be disappointed!
As I said, normally, I don't go for sci-fi, but having met the author, I did give it a shot and found that I enjoyed the story. Usually, sci fi is full of aliens and jargon that I get lost in, like the setting itself is the focus and not the story, but every once in a while I find a sci fi story that focuses on story, where the setting is the flavor, like Star Wars, for instance.
I won't go into spoilers for the story other than to say that this little monster feature has an intriguing enemy to fight and even more fun when it comes to nanotechnology and the blurring between cyberware and biologics.
I enjoyed the quick pace of the story as well as that old time feel. With all due respect to the previous reviewer, I don't consider the story having the feel of Tom Swift to be a bad thing; in fact, I consider that a major perk! I actually found all the points that reviewer made against this story to be reasons why I enjoyed it, including the fact that it actually used adverbs (gasp!), adjectives (oh the horror!) AND dialogue tags (someone get me the smelling salts!) There is a reasons that the books that have passed the test of time are classics - they focused on story and used the language they were written in as an artform in and of itself something which I frankly find severely lacking in this modern demand of editors and publishers to "streamline" novels, toss out descriptors and never, ever use dialogue tags. These things developed for a reason and used well can had much depth and color to a story, and I do believe The Waking Nightmares is on the right track in this!
So if you love the action adventure of old school pulp novels with daring do, high antics, descriptors, and the feeling like you've stepped back in time and yet have a very up to date take on technology, then give Tales from the Dream Nebula a try - you may well be as delightfully surprised as I was! And if you are looking for something that doesn't take itself too seriously, that's a quick read that's just intended for fun, give this a try; I don't think you'll be disappointed!
December 4, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫 (4.5)
🚀 🌌 ✨🤖
* I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review on all of my social media platforms.*
“So, how’s we gonna do this?”
“Carefully at first, then probably with extreme violence.”
This is the 3rd installment of Tales from the Dream Nebula.To better enjoy this book I advise first reading, ‘Dreams Within Dreams’ and ‘Lucid Reality’.
All 3 books follow the story of a pilot named Winston and his robot sidekick Billy Joe as they try to survive the crazy encounters they have after accidentally getting on the wrong side of the space government. In this particular installment they find themselves faced with sky pirates, bioengineered weapons, and a fatal spreading fungus.
As someone who does not read a lot of science fiction or space themed novels- I enjoyed this trilogy so much! A dystopian future setting with all the action you could hope for and dialogue that makes you laugh out loud. The characters are so likeable and witty I foresee myself reading these books again in the future. I learn something new every time I read his books, as the author is very knowledgeable and makes it very real for his readers.
If you like science fiction with a strong story line and even stronger characters, these are the books for you!
🚀 🌌 ✨🤖
* I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review on all of my social media platforms.*
“So, how’s we gonna do this?”
“Carefully at first, then probably with extreme violence.”
This is the 3rd installment of Tales from the Dream Nebula.To better enjoy this book I advise first reading, ‘Dreams Within Dreams’ and ‘Lucid Reality’.
All 3 books follow the story of a pilot named Winston and his robot sidekick Billy Joe as they try to survive the crazy encounters they have after accidentally getting on the wrong side of the space government. In this particular installment they find themselves faced with sky pirates, bioengineered weapons, and a fatal spreading fungus.
As someone who does not read a lot of science fiction or space themed novels- I enjoyed this trilogy so much! A dystopian future setting with all the action you could hope for and dialogue that makes you laugh out loud. The characters are so likeable and witty I foresee myself reading these books again in the future. I learn something new every time I read his books, as the author is very knowledgeable and makes it very real for his readers.
If you like science fiction with a strong story line and even stronger characters, these are the books for you!
December 10, 2023
The latest installment of the Dream Nebula saga effortlessly continues the retro adventure serial vibes. This outing confines most of the action to one planet, and has the extended shore leave of our heroes Winston, Bubby, Quentin and Dr. Amanda interrupted by an assassination attempt that unleashes a seething mass of killer flying fish and a deadly, fast-spreading fungoid life form!
Of course, those hazards are only some of the challenges they face, as past characters pop up when least expected to add to the drama and, importantly, the overall satisfaction.
As usual, Boncher expertly handles all the moving parts of this wild ride, delivering fast-paced action in prose as sleek as an art-deco space-freighter!
Of course, those hazards are only some of the challenges they face, as past characters pop up when least expected to add to the drama and, importantly, the overall satisfaction.
As usual, Boncher expertly handles all the moving parts of this wild ride, delivering fast-paced action in prose as sleek as an art-deco space-freighter!
December 10, 2023
This story is an interesting combination of genres. It is far-in-the-future Sci-Fi with incredibly powerful science — perhaps too powerful, but more on that later. The hero, Winston, is a standard poor-but-independent Space Opera pilot, but his employer, Professor/Baron Quentin, is an aristocrat/adventurer straight out of Steampunk. The secondary characters are purposefully developed stereotypes from either genre.
It takes a while for the story to get going; there are four chapters of exposition, with a whole lot of interpersonal jockeying. Once it starts, the main conflict involves the breakout of a newly discovered life form from the containment area of a scientific facility. The tension-building technique is that the beasts encounter each successive layer of security, and then breach it. This arms race continues for most of the story, with the technology getting more esoteric and the aliens more powerful. After a while, this pattern becomes repetitive, and we lose our sense of urgency, because we can guess what will happen next. Tension drops, and the story loses power.
Meanwhile, in another universe/level of reality/whatever, another character is experiencing a thematic conflict involving the personal autonomy of sentient beings. There is a lot of discussion about people not knowing what’s going on at many levels. At times, readers feel the same way.
The writing style is somewhat awkward, with fractured sentence structure:
“ I believe people learn the subject best by immersing them in it.”
Also, multiple adjectives have gone out of style, with good reason. This author would do well to try to follow along. Whatever is a “sieved inlet?”
Another historical writing element that has gone by the wayside is overuse of dialogue tags. There are times when this story sounds positively Tom Swiftian.
“This is just a formality,” the professor consoled.
This is a symptom of a larger problem: the author’s tendency to explain things that the dialogue has already told us. Another example:
“I don’t understand,” Professor Q said, lost at Winston’s statement.
We would find it much easier to maintain emotional contact with the characters and the story if the author didn’t call the points in the conflict like an announcer at a hockey game.
This novel contains a good story and great characters, but it is too fragmented and needs editorial polishing to bring it up to its potential.
This review was originally published on Reedsy Discovery.
It takes a while for the story to get going; there are four chapters of exposition, with a whole lot of interpersonal jockeying. Once it starts, the main conflict involves the breakout of a newly discovered life form from the containment area of a scientific facility. The tension-building technique is that the beasts encounter each successive layer of security, and then breach it. This arms race continues for most of the story, with the technology getting more esoteric and the aliens more powerful. After a while, this pattern becomes repetitive, and we lose our sense of urgency, because we can guess what will happen next. Tension drops, and the story loses power.
Meanwhile, in another universe/level of reality/whatever, another character is experiencing a thematic conflict involving the personal autonomy of sentient beings. There is a lot of discussion about people not knowing what’s going on at many levels. At times, readers feel the same way.
The writing style is somewhat awkward, with fractured sentence structure:
“ I believe people learn the subject best by immersing them in it.”
Also, multiple adjectives have gone out of style, with good reason. This author would do well to try to follow along. Whatever is a “sieved inlet?”
Another historical writing element that has gone by the wayside is overuse of dialogue tags. There are times when this story sounds positively Tom Swiftian.
“This is just a formality,” the professor consoled.
This is a symptom of a larger problem: the author’s tendency to explain things that the dialogue has already told us. Another example:
“I don’t understand,” Professor Q said, lost at Winston’s statement.
We would find it much easier to maintain emotional contact with the characters and the story if the author didn’t call the points in the conflict like an announcer at a hockey game.
This novel contains a good story and great characters, but it is too fragmented and needs editorial polishing to bring it up to its potential.
This review was originally published on Reedsy Discovery.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews