What do you think?
Rate this book
2nd Earth: Shortfall
When we get to the surface it is not dark, so now we are totally confused. We couldn’t have slept all night and most of the day on that train. The crowds during the morning rush would definitely have woken us up. While we are looking around for Tim to recognize where we may be, we hear what sounds like someone screaming for help. It sounds like it is coming from a couple of blocks over, so we head in that direction. By the way, there are cars all over the place, but no people on the street. This is starting to get kind of spooky.
When we turn the corner, we see three young men running. They are being followed by a young lady, who is apparently the one yelling for help, because following her are four other young men who look like fugitives from a punk-rock concert. I don’t stop to analyze the situation because the punks are gaining steadily on the young lady, who is yelling at the guys running in front of her.
When we turn the corner, we see three young men running. They are being followed by a young lady, who is apparently the one yelling for help, because following her are four other young men who look like fugitives from a punk-rock concert. I don’t stop to analyze the situation because the punks are gaining steadily on the young lady, who is yelling at the guys running in front of her.
Audible Audio
First published December 13, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 3, 2011
Sci-fi has not been my thing of late. I have read some of it, and found it to be wanting. This though is different and imaginative in many different ways, including the fact this penned by a husband and wife team, not too shabby. Wait, it is Sunday, the end of the work week for me. I get no time off as usual, and I have my posting schedule set for the coming week, so I suggest you check out my Goodreads homepage; it has the novels, graphic novels, self-published novels and digital shorts I will posting on for the week. If you are not my friend there, or on Twitter or Shelfari, please become my friend, I am a very lonely guy. Also The G-Zone has a great line-up again this week and Saturday we are doing another Improvised Digital Short Story. This month’s theme is Girls vs. Guys. It is going to be fun. Also I was lucky enough to guest post on Vincent Zandri’s Vox; check it out, here is the link: http://vincentzandri.blogspot.com/201...
Back to the self-published novel at hand, what is between the covers?
“When you fall asleep on the subway you can wake up to some out of this world experiences.
When we get to the surface it is not dark so now we are totally confused. We couldn't have slept all night and most of the day on that train. The crowds during the morning rush would definitely have woken us up. While we are looking around for Tim to recognize where we may be we hear what sounds like someone screaming for help. It sounds like it is coming from a couple of blocks over so we head in that direction. By the way there are cars all over the place but no people on the street. This is starting to get kind of spooky. When we turn the corner we see three young men running. They are being followed by a young lady who is apparently the one yelling for help because following her are four other young men who look like fugitives from a punk rock concert. I don't stop to analyze the situation because the punks are gaining steadily on the young lady who is yelling at the guys running in front of her.
When Jon and Tim boarded the subway to visit Tim's family they had no idea what kind of life changing adventure they were going on. They will need all the training that they have had as Navy SEALS to survive in a world that is familiar yet totally different.”
Interesting plotline, good characters, and a deep sense of family values made this a good read for me. Some people like to point out different things about self- published work like this, mostly negative but that is not my gig. I would prefer instead to highlight the best parts of this heartfelt and honest work. The characters have a very nice deep sense of not just themselves but their values. For me, too often authors go a different route and make this type of stuff way too dark, foreboding and just downright unpleasant. Instead the Vought’s take the high road and present to us an alternate, alternate world, one where the characters are not in Kansas anymore and need to make the best of it. The positive mental attitude displayed is one that I enjoyed and has caused me to look forward to the next installment in the series. I want to read how far these poor people thrust into a new time and alternate reality can go and do. Makes one not want to fall asleep on any kind of vacation break. I personally don’t want to wake up on 2nd Earth, this first one is fine for me.
What are you reading today? Have you checked out our new blogtalk radio show The G-ZONE? Check us out and become our friend on Shelfari, The Novel Spot &Twitter. Go to Goodreads and become our friend there and suggest books for us to read and post on. Did you know you can shop directly on Amazon by clicking the Amazon Banner on our blog? Thanks for stopping by today; We will see you tomorrow. Have a great day. http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com
July 7, 2014
So, here’s the premise for “2nd Earth;” co-written by Edward and Eunice Vought...
Good friends and Navy SEAL comrades, Jon and Tim are on leave and headed for home. They board the subway together and since both are extremely exhausted from their most recent search and rescue operation they fall into a deep sleep. When they awaken, seemingly hours later, although they know it's not possible, they find that the subway car they are on is completely deserted. The train is stopped and Jon and Tim are left trying to figure out what they slept through. Is this particular train’s service done for the night and they somehow missed the all the activity? Has something on the car broken and they both slept through all the noise of its evacuation? Or has something much more sinister happened?
Intent on finding an answer to their current dilemma they step off the train and into a foggy and desolate world. As they walk through this murkiness they hear what sounds like a woman screaming. Jon and Tim’s protective instincts kick in and they hurriedly move in the direction of the sounds. What they see shocks them. A lone woman is chasing after three young men while four other men who look like hoodlums are chasing her. Needless to say the hoodlums don’t stand a chance against two trained Navy SEALS especially when they know they are defending a woman’s honor.
Jon and Tim save the young lady in question and give a stern lecture to the three men who were leaving her to fend for herself. Jon and Tim then find out that this isn’t the same world they fell asleep in and they now realize they must build a new life and possibly a new civilization.
“2nd Earth” has a decent plot but unfortunately the writing skills of the authors are mediocre at best. “2nd Earth” is a strange compilation of past and present tenses throughout its entirety and the story itself drags on for four hundred and seventy eight pages. (Yes, I read them all.) Truthfully this book would have had the same impact if it had been shaved down to a mere three hundred.
While I appreciate the authors need to explain almost every little minute thing; I think the Voughts need to understand that when you’re dealing with the rebuilding of an entire culture / civilization detailing everything out becomes...tedious...to read. Not to mention that the good fortune of everyone was extremely...unbelievable...at best. Anytime anything was needed it was miraculously and almost instantaneously found. Amazing! Especially since 21st century technology was also frequently found in a 1960’s setting...
In summary, not a terrible book to read so long as you can handle the poor grammatical structure and the many, many, many pages of explanation.
(Reviewed in association with Rebecca's Reads).
Good friends and Navy SEAL comrades, Jon and Tim are on leave and headed for home. They board the subway together and since both are extremely exhausted from their most recent search and rescue operation they fall into a deep sleep. When they awaken, seemingly hours later, although they know it's not possible, they find that the subway car they are on is completely deserted. The train is stopped and Jon and Tim are left trying to figure out what they slept through. Is this particular train’s service done for the night and they somehow missed the all the activity? Has something on the car broken and they both slept through all the noise of its evacuation? Or has something much more sinister happened?
Intent on finding an answer to their current dilemma they step off the train and into a foggy and desolate world. As they walk through this murkiness they hear what sounds like a woman screaming. Jon and Tim’s protective instincts kick in and they hurriedly move in the direction of the sounds. What they see shocks them. A lone woman is chasing after three young men while four other men who look like hoodlums are chasing her. Needless to say the hoodlums don’t stand a chance against two trained Navy SEALS especially when they know they are defending a woman’s honor.
Jon and Tim save the young lady in question and give a stern lecture to the three men who were leaving her to fend for herself. Jon and Tim then find out that this isn’t the same world they fell asleep in and they now realize they must build a new life and possibly a new civilization.
“2nd Earth” has a decent plot but unfortunately the writing skills of the authors are mediocre at best. “2nd Earth” is a strange compilation of past and present tenses throughout its entirety and the story itself drags on for four hundred and seventy eight pages. (Yes, I read them all.) Truthfully this book would have had the same impact if it had been shaved down to a mere three hundred.
While I appreciate the authors need to explain almost every little minute thing; I think the Voughts need to understand that when you’re dealing with the rebuilding of an entire culture / civilization detailing everything out becomes...tedious...to read. Not to mention that the good fortune of everyone was extremely...unbelievable...at best. Anytime anything was needed it was miraculously and almost instantaneously found. Amazing! Especially since 21st century technology was also frequently found in a 1960’s setting...
In summary, not a terrible book to read so long as you can handle the poor grammatical structure and the many, many, many pages of explanation.
(Reviewed in association with Rebecca's Reads).
January 23, 2016
2nd Earth is told from first person POV by narrator Jon Gorman who along with another Navy Seal, his buddy Tim, go to sleep on the subway on the way from New Jersey to Manhattan... After they wake up they begin an adventure that is right out of an H.G. Wells scenario!
When I started to read the book it took a while for me to get used to the narrative writing style, however the more I read the more engrossing the story became! After the first few chapters I no longer noticed the first person point of view and just relaxed and enjoyed reading what was taking place with Jon and his family !
I enjoyed the Twilight Zone feel to the story. The action was ongoing throughout, there was an aura of mystery at times that when explained made perfect sense to the reader and the sheer scope of the undertaking of a group of people to survive in a world without rules and without the technology we take for granted every day was not only vividly detailed by the authors but done in a way that keeps the readers attention from start to finish...
This post-apocalyptic novel is a positive showing of the best of the human spirit that we all share. I truly enjoyed seeing what could be accomplished by people with the common goal of surviving without losing their compassion for their fellow man... Too often we read stories that pit man against man only showing the evil that we are capable of! Thankfully this book shows both sides, doing it in a manner that allows the reader to enjoy a wonderful adventure and at the same time be taught (without preaching to the reader) that if we learned to live together in harmony that our world could be a much brighter place for us all to inhabit!
This is one for Sci-Fi, adventure lovers and anyone who loves a good old fashioned yarn!
While this book can be read as a stand alone as it is the first one written in what is to be a series, it would be great to get my hands on a copy of the next book when it comes out just to see how far the characters manage to rebuild their world in comparison to the way it was before!
When I started to read the book it took a while for me to get used to the narrative writing style, however the more I read the more engrossing the story became! After the first few chapters I no longer noticed the first person point of view and just relaxed and enjoyed reading what was taking place with Jon and his family !
I enjoyed the Twilight Zone feel to the story. The action was ongoing throughout, there was an aura of mystery at times that when explained made perfect sense to the reader and the sheer scope of the undertaking of a group of people to survive in a world without rules and without the technology we take for granted every day was not only vividly detailed by the authors but done in a way that keeps the readers attention from start to finish...
This post-apocalyptic novel is a positive showing of the best of the human spirit that we all share. I truly enjoyed seeing what could be accomplished by people with the common goal of surviving without losing their compassion for their fellow man... Too often we read stories that pit man against man only showing the evil that we are capable of! Thankfully this book shows both sides, doing it in a manner that allows the reader to enjoy a wonderful adventure and at the same time be taught (without preaching to the reader) that if we learned to live together in harmony that our world could be a much brighter place for us all to inhabit!
This is one for Sci-Fi, adventure lovers and anyone who loves a good old fashioned yarn!
While this book can be read as a stand alone as it is the first one written in what is to be a series, it would be great to get my hands on a copy of the next book when it comes out just to see how far the characters manage to rebuild their world in comparison to the way it was before!
March 18, 2011
Written by Edward and Eunice Vought for their grown science-fiction-loving children, 2nd Earth is a post-apocolypic novel set in the late 1990's in another realm.
The novel had me a little confused as to how the characters ended up in the timeframe they did, and why, and I'm still not sure I'm fully in the loop on those answers. But, I did begin to understand a little more further into the story.
2nd Earth is written in the first person, which I will admit, is not my preferred style of writing. I find it hard to get lost in a story when it is written thus, and this book I found to be no exception. However, the storyline was a healthy mix of mystery, adventure, and action that I found I couldn't tear myself away from, in certain chapters when certain scenes were plqaying out. The storyline is an intriguing one; trying to make it in a post-apocolyptic age where chance of survival is slim and predators are decreasing your odds of making it to the next day.
One nuance I have is that there were so many characters involved that it was difficult to keep up with "who is whom", and it was really hard to "take to" a particular character because other than Jon, the story-teller, they have no real dimension. But, perhaps I am nit-picking, for I still enjoyed the overall story. It is a story that shows the power of family, and it shows the level of evil that can exist in a law-less society, but it also shows how banding together and working towards a common goal can accomplish almost anything.
The novel had me a little confused as to how the characters ended up in the timeframe they did, and why, and I'm still not sure I'm fully in the loop on those answers. But, I did begin to understand a little more further into the story.
2nd Earth is written in the first person, which I will admit, is not my preferred style of writing. I find it hard to get lost in a story when it is written thus, and this book I found to be no exception. However, the storyline was a healthy mix of mystery, adventure, and action that I found I couldn't tear myself away from, in certain chapters when certain scenes were plqaying out. The storyline is an intriguing one; trying to make it in a post-apocolyptic age where chance of survival is slim and predators are decreasing your odds of making it to the next day.
One nuance I have is that there were so many characters involved that it was difficult to keep up with "who is whom", and it was really hard to "take to" a particular character because other than Jon, the story-teller, they have no real dimension. But, perhaps I am nit-picking, for I still enjoyed the overall story. It is a story that shows the power of family, and it shows the level of evil that can exist in a law-less society, but it also shows how banding together and working towards a common goal can accomplish almost anything.
February 7, 2012
I enjoyed the first half even though it seemed strange to write it in present tense. But got bored with the redundancy and over-detailed descriptions of daily life. It did not move along fast enough for me. Shorter, and 3rd or 1st person POV would have been more entertaining, imo.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews