Conversion

by Maria Hammarblad

Rhodesia runs through the forest, hunted by creatures wearing the faces of people she loves. They plead to her to wait in the voices of her family, and the sound sends chills down her back. What is worse? Succumbing, and becoming a mindless drone with the others, or perishing in the forest, alone?

Roy Planter is a man with a mission, and he has no intention of staying on a plague-ridden planet where more humans turn into mindless drones every day. Being stuck in a city, grouped with a sword-wielding stick insect of a man and a busty blonde with a too vivid sense of humor are only temporary setbacks. He's leaving, first chance he gets. At least that's what he thinks until Rhodesia arrives.

Caring for someone won't make his life easier, but can he really turn his back and leave her behind?

101 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 16, 2014

About the author

Born in Sweden in the early 1970's, Maria showed a large interest for books early in her life. Even before she was able to read or write, she made her mom staple papers together that she drew suns in, and proudly declared them to be the "Sun Book." They were all about the sun. This fascination with books and writing lasted through her teens, but as an adult, her career veered off towards desktop publishing and technical literature.

Even on this winding road through very different employers, she managed to always incorporate writing in her work, making a living by making user manuals and documentations for computer systems. Not until the year 2000 did she find what would be her professional home at SSAB Swedish Steel, where she worked with logistics for the better part of a decade.

During 2008 she felt that it was time for a change, and she promptly enrolled in college and relocated to Florida in November that year. This change of lifestyle gave her the peace of mind and time she needed to pursue her interest in writing fiction, and this far it has resulted in three published novels; "Kidnapped," "Touch of the Goddess," and "Undercover," and several more are on the way.

Reviews

[Bex (Beckie Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conversion itself was a really imaginative undertaking one that really had its merits.
Of novella length, this was surprisingly well written and engrossing: A young girl on the run from a terrifying fate just trying to survive on a technology doomed planet.
The widely used nanites have evolved beyond there original purpose: putting everyone who comes into direct contact with those infected at risk of succumbing and becoming a mindless puppet themselves.
This is the sci-fi adventure and love story of Rhodesia and Roy Planter both inhabitants of there doomed planet: both just trying to survive by whatever means necessary in a world falling apart at the very seams.
So this was told completely from Rhodesia's POV: always a risk when trying to build a romantic connection as this is sometimes hard to achieve with such a narrow perspective.
I believe Conversion would have been better served if both POV's had been used to portray the budding romance developing between our two young lovers as I did fail initially to connect with both Roy and Rhodesia as a connected and in love couple.
I just wasn't feeling the love myself if I'm being honest here.
This is also where Conversion lost marks for me: the sci-fi aspect of this was better done than the romantic side of things which really was a shame.
It was also unclear to me if these two had sealed the deal or not: really couldn't sus that one out at all: this side of there relationship was made extremely unclear and was retold in a very obscure fashion indeed.
It was only near the end when Roy was asked how he would tell Zam that he was sleeping with his baby sister that I knew for sure.
I know this was primarily a YA read but still a touch more clarification could still have been given especially considering it was implied at the end these two were in an actual carnal relationship.
The ending for me was also a bit too easily resolved as well.
So this for me had its ups and downs and while for the most part, I did enjoy this with some added character growth and maybe some lengthening of the original story this could be so much more than what it actually was.
All the bare bones are already here to work on: this just for me had a little something missing.
I still adored the original premise: it really did catch my initial attention and as I mentioned earlier this authors writing style was also a hit for me.
So yeh this really shows great potential.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Conversion.
All opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

[Sapphyria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rhodesia is trying to escape the mindless drones trying to convert all humans. In doing so, she finds her way to a city full of others like her, trying to prevent a complete take-over. In this new city she is expected to carry her own weight. In doing so she meets Frederick, Michelle, and Planter. Rhodesia is drawn to Planter but he has made it clear he is not interested. Only, when time comes to execute his plans it would appear his heart has different ideas.

Conversion was a really good science fiction novella. Quick to captivate my attention, I was pulled into the novella. The story was well-written, creative, and sweet. Scifi is not a genre I typically read but the synopsis piqued my interest. I'm glad I took a chance on Conversion as I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the world the author created.