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The Elsewhere #1
Infernal
Richard Farris, a man with a dark past, survives the worst blizzard to ravage the Kansas plains in decades only to discover a woman near death in a snow bank. Cut off by the storm, with only his faithful St. Bernard Charlie to aid him, Richard fights for his life, Charlie’s, and the life of the woman, Sophia, against a shadowy military unit that descends upon his farm.
His home and his life in ruins, Richard goes on the run. In California, Sophia, the woman he watched die in Kansas, finds him again -- one step ahead of another strike force sent by BanaTech, a worlds-spanning corporate empire intent on enslaving humanity at the bidding of hellish supernatural beings.
Now entangled in an ancient war between angels and demons, Richard flees with Sophia through multiple versions of the Universe and even through time, across landscapes of horror where fantasy is reality and nothing is what it seems…not even Richard’s own identity.
They were once of the All. Something wonderful and full of light. But they became wicked…defiled the All and were cast out. So they seek to destroy every good thing. They are evil in its purest form. They are Infernal.
His home and his life in ruins, Richard goes on the run. In California, Sophia, the woman he watched die in Kansas, finds him again -- one step ahead of another strike force sent by BanaTech, a worlds-spanning corporate empire intent on enslaving humanity at the bidding of hellish supernatural beings.
Now entangled in an ancient war between angels and demons, Richard flees with Sophia through multiple versions of the Universe and even through time, across landscapes of horror where fantasy is reality and nothing is what it seems…not even Richard’s own identity.
They were once of the All. Something wonderful and full of light. But they became wicked…defiled the All and were cast out. So they seek to destroy every good thing. They are evil in its purest form. They are Infernal.
ebook
First published May 1, 2015
3 people want to read
About the author
T. Joseph Browder
6 books31 followersT. Joseph Browder was born in Lima, Ohio in 1969, and is the author of 'Dark Matters,' 'Plague,' 'Infernal,' 'Nobody,' and the forthcoming 'Bark at the Moon,' a no holds barred werewolf novel in the vein of 'The Howling' and 'The Wolfen.'
Of writing, T. Joseph Browder says: "I'm an addict. Some people are addicted to alcohol, some to marijuana, coke, or heroin. I'm addicted to writing. It's my drug of choice, and like the monkey on the back of the heroin user, it compels me to sit down at my computer every day and check out of reality. If I don't 'use' often enough I suffer withdrawals. The pain is tangible. For me, writing is a high like no other. It's one helluva buzz."
A student of Psychology, T. Joseph Browder also holds Doctorates in Divinity, Metaphysics, and Religious Humanities. "I'm an ordained minister," Browder says, "but that's a prerequisite for the education I was pursuing. I've performed a wedding ceremony or two, but have never felt the urge to preach before a congregation."
Like his education, Mr. Browder's writing is driven by an insatiable curiosity for what makes people behave the way they do, make the choices they make, and feel the way they feel. Drawing on an intimate knowledge of the evil alive in humanity, his work centers on the darker aspects of life, the sudden changes and left turns life throws at all of us, and how we react to those things that lurk around the next corner and go bump in the night.
Mr. Browder currently lives in Kansas with his wife, Marie, and is hard at work on a new novel.
Of writing, T. Joseph Browder says: "I'm an addict. Some people are addicted to alcohol, some to marijuana, coke, or heroin. I'm addicted to writing. It's my drug of choice, and like the monkey on the back of the heroin user, it compels me to sit down at my computer every day and check out of reality. If I don't 'use' often enough I suffer withdrawals. The pain is tangible. For me, writing is a high like no other. It's one helluva buzz."
A student of Psychology, T. Joseph Browder also holds Doctorates in Divinity, Metaphysics, and Religious Humanities. "I'm an ordained minister," Browder says, "but that's a prerequisite for the education I was pursuing. I've performed a wedding ceremony or two, but have never felt the urge to preach before a congregation."
Like his education, Mr. Browder's writing is driven by an insatiable curiosity for what makes people behave the way they do, make the choices they make, and feel the way they feel. Drawing on an intimate knowledge of the evil alive in humanity, his work centers on the darker aspects of life, the sudden changes and left turns life throws at all of us, and how we react to those things that lurk around the next corner and go bump in the night.
Mr. Browder currently lives in Kansas with his wife, Marie, and is hard at work on a new novel.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 30, 2017
The tension and suspense from the very beginning of Infernal by Joseph Browder, kept me reading at a slower pace than normal, because the storyline does not tell me where I am going and as I traverse the pages with curiosity and caution I don’t want to miss a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Have you ever heard of Thundersnow. Well, you will now.
Joseph has done a fabulous job of creating many worlds, some with fairies, some with vampires…some beautiful and lush, some ugly and desolate, demons and devils.
Infernal has a religious bent, but not the preachy kind. It left me with more questions than answers. It reminds us to be careful when developing new science applications without knowing the repercussions.
The battle of good and evil had me questioning God, science and the idea of Utopia. One man’s ideal can be another man’s nightmare.
Why are we here? What is our purpose?
From Artificial Intelligence to God to dragons, the questions remained with me long after I finished reading.
It does start out a bit slow, as I try to figure out what’s going on, but I was devouring the pages as I approached the end, wanting to know…who will be left standing.
To see more visit fundinmental
Have you ever heard of Thundersnow. Well, you will now.
Joseph has done a fabulous job of creating many worlds, some with fairies, some with vampires…some beautiful and lush, some ugly and desolate, demons and devils.
Infernal has a religious bent, but not the preachy kind. It left me with more questions than answers. It reminds us to be careful when developing new science applications without knowing the repercussions.
The battle of good and evil had me questioning God, science and the idea of Utopia. One man’s ideal can be another man’s nightmare.
Why are we here? What is our purpose?
From Artificial Intelligence to God to dragons, the questions remained with me long after I finished reading.
It does start out a bit slow, as I try to figure out what’s going on, but I was devouring the pages as I approached the end, wanting to know…who will be left standing.
To see more visit fundinmental
August 17, 2015
Mild spoilers ahead (This review has been edited to take out the more spoilery spoilers)
I originally wrote a very bland and generic, spoiler free review of this fantastic novel by T. Joseph Browder. I didn't even begin to do it justice, despite sharing that review on sites such as Goodreads and Amazon. It's bothered me, to be perfectly honest. That brings me to this blog post, where I plan on remedying that horrible book review by posting one of my famous spoiler-filled book reports! That's right, spoilers, ladies and gentlemen. So do with that information what you will because we're about to begin the show.
Let me start out by saying this: if you're a fan of Browder and have read his previous collection of short stories, Dark Matters, or his short horror fiction tale, Plague, then you'll probably love Infernal. Infernal is T. Joseph Browder's first foray into novel territory, and he hit it out of the park as far as scope and subject matter goes. Infernal isn't an easy to categorize genre book because it touches on a little bit of everything. There's horror, suspense, religion, science, science fiction, drama, military action, historical subject matter, sexual tension (depending on how deep you want to read into it), and philosophy. All that thrown into one book, stretched out into an epic playground of multiple worlds (the Multiverse) and set into motion by a master storyteller who obviously had fun doing it.
Infernal is basically the story of Richard Farris. He's living the single life with his Saint Bernard out in the woods. He's a troubled man, a man with a past that includes a crime that's hinted at in the beginning, and that we learn much more about later on in the novel. He's been to prison, has some tight first aid skills, does his own home remodeling and just likes to be alone, it seems. During a pretty bad winter storm, though, he discovers a severely injured woman not far from his property. He brings her home and tends to her wounds, but she's out of it. He leaves Charlie, the Saint Bernard, to guard her while he goes to grab some sleep himself. He's awoken the next morning by a swat team from a company known as BanaTech storming his home searching for this strange woman.
This is where we are thrown into the meat of the story, and this all takes place within the first chapter or two. After this introduction, the rest of the novel is one adventure after another, and it doesn't let up until the last page. That's how I like my books to move - fast paced, banging out the details I need and moving on. Push the story, don't let it just sit there and meander around the description of a scene for ten pages while offering insight into what is driving a character for 6 more pages. Just hit it and go, buddy! Browder moves his story along, paces it well and keeps the flow smooth from one scene to the next. If anything at all can be blamed for slowing it down, it's the detail given to weapons and/or military gear. We really don't need to spend the time describing every single weapon someone has on them, what type of ammo it uses and how powerful it is when fired. Mention it briefly and move on. This one hang up throughout the novel is honestly the only complaint I have with it.
Discussion of firearms aside, I wasn't really sure what to expect when I received Infernal. I'd been reading the blurb on the author's website and it sounded interesting enough. Even when I started reading it, I thought it was pretty sweet considering what it was dealing with, although I still, admittedly, had no idea where he was going with certain aspects. The idea of a Multiverse and the ability to travel between the different realms using Rips is very much what the television show Sliders was all about. But then Browder throws his own turn on the situation by adding BanaTech as the guys who want to conquer the other worlds, rape the lands of their resources, rule over them all and use the Rips, the power behind them and all their fancy devices to do it. That's sort of new. But what I really dig is the background on the Rips themselves. It's also the one secret of the novel that threw me for a loop, although I saw it coming right before it hit me in the face.
Our journey from having Richard Farris pulled into the drama of BanaTech, the Multiverse and the search for The Key to where we end up by the last page is an epic one. T. Joseph Browder handled it well and I have to admit that I'm anxious to read more stories set in this universe. I was also thrilled at the mention of Hammerfall, which is an event that occurs on an alternate earth and is the basis of two short stories in the author's Dark Matter's collection. Having a good chunk of the novel play out on that very world was something of a nice nod to dedicated readers, and just served to leave me wanting more tales set in that particular world. I'm a Hammerfall Earth fan, darn it. I demand to be served! (Just kidding! But if you wanna write some stuff about it, I'll read it ...)
Infernal is a massive undertaking considering the details Mister Browder has worked in to it. He has the whole backstory, the division of alliances between good and evil, the multiple worlds upon which he has created and destroyed. He has the theories of all these science fictions and science facts and science maybes all thrown into a ball and juggled around. It's really something that deserves to be read and something that I hope Mister Browder is proud of. I started out excited, hesitated when certain aspects were revealed late in the game, but kept going and loved every page of it.
In fact, thinking over it now, I do have a complaint about how Sophia was played out in the end. Having the events transpire as they did I guess made sense, but then to have the surprise turn of events in the last page or two kind of made me do a mental double take. It was kind of like pulling a rabbit out of your hat after making darn good and sure everyone saw you grind that sucker up into a fine puree just seconds before. It left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. And this is coming from a guy who loved everything else about a novel that involves some far flung theories. Yet I'm thrown into a tizzy about this one detail that's revealed at the end.
Time will tell, I suppose, because as Richard himself points out, Sophia said herself that most mirrors have the same drive and motivation no matter what version of earth they come from.
So there you have it. My somewhat spoilery review of Infernal, by T. Joseph Browder. I loved the book, though it had issues - mainly the wordy descriptions of weapons and vehicles. The whole "hey, This is what it is" thing went over smoothly enough and I'm cool with it. But the ending concerning Sophia left something of an odd taste in my mouth. Anxious to see what's going on, and also kinda curious as to where all this will lead us.
Short verdict: Pick it up!
I originally wrote a very bland and generic, spoiler free review of this fantastic novel by T. Joseph Browder. I didn't even begin to do it justice, despite sharing that review on sites such as Goodreads and Amazon. It's bothered me, to be perfectly honest. That brings me to this blog post, where I plan on remedying that horrible book review by posting one of my famous spoiler-filled book reports! That's right, spoilers, ladies and gentlemen. So do with that information what you will because we're about to begin the show.
Let me start out by saying this: if you're a fan of Browder and have read his previous collection of short stories, Dark Matters, or his short horror fiction tale, Plague, then you'll probably love Infernal. Infernal is T. Joseph Browder's first foray into novel territory, and he hit it out of the park as far as scope and subject matter goes. Infernal isn't an easy to categorize genre book because it touches on a little bit of everything. There's horror, suspense, religion, science, science fiction, drama, military action, historical subject matter, sexual tension (depending on how deep you want to read into it), and philosophy. All that thrown into one book, stretched out into an epic playground of multiple worlds (the Multiverse) and set into motion by a master storyteller who obviously had fun doing it.
Infernal is basically the story of Richard Farris. He's living the single life with his Saint Bernard out in the woods. He's a troubled man, a man with a past that includes a crime that's hinted at in the beginning, and that we learn much more about later on in the novel. He's been to prison, has some tight first aid skills, does his own home remodeling and just likes to be alone, it seems. During a pretty bad winter storm, though, he discovers a severely injured woman not far from his property. He brings her home and tends to her wounds, but she's out of it. He leaves Charlie, the Saint Bernard, to guard her while he goes to grab some sleep himself. He's awoken the next morning by a swat team from a company known as BanaTech storming his home searching for this strange woman.
This is where we are thrown into the meat of the story, and this all takes place within the first chapter or two. After this introduction, the rest of the novel is one adventure after another, and it doesn't let up until the last page. That's how I like my books to move - fast paced, banging out the details I need and moving on. Push the story, don't let it just sit there and meander around the description of a scene for ten pages while offering insight into what is driving a character for 6 more pages. Just hit it and go, buddy! Browder moves his story along, paces it well and keeps the flow smooth from one scene to the next. If anything at all can be blamed for slowing it down, it's the detail given to weapons and/or military gear. We really don't need to spend the time describing every single weapon someone has on them, what type of ammo it uses and how powerful it is when fired. Mention it briefly and move on. This one hang up throughout the novel is honestly the only complaint I have with it.
Discussion of firearms aside, I wasn't really sure what to expect when I received Infernal. I'd been reading the blurb on the author's website and it sounded interesting enough. Even when I started reading it, I thought it was pretty sweet considering what it was dealing with, although I still, admittedly, had no idea where he was going with certain aspects. The idea of a Multiverse and the ability to travel between the different realms using Rips is very much what the television show Sliders was all about. But then Browder throws his own turn on the situation by adding BanaTech as the guys who want to conquer the other worlds, rape the lands of their resources, rule over them all and use the Rips, the power behind them and all their fancy devices to do it. That's sort of new. But what I really dig is the background on the Rips themselves. It's also the one secret of the novel that threw me for a loop, although I saw it coming right before it hit me in the face.
Our journey from having Richard Farris pulled into the drama of BanaTech, the Multiverse and the search for The Key to where we end up by the last page is an epic one. T. Joseph Browder handled it well and I have to admit that I'm anxious to read more stories set in this universe. I was also thrilled at the mention of Hammerfall, which is an event that occurs on an alternate earth and is the basis of two short stories in the author's Dark Matter's collection. Having a good chunk of the novel play out on that very world was something of a nice nod to dedicated readers, and just served to leave me wanting more tales set in that particular world. I'm a Hammerfall Earth fan, darn it. I demand to be served! (Just kidding! But if you wanna write some stuff about it, I'll read it ...)
Infernal is a massive undertaking considering the details Mister Browder has worked in to it. He has the whole backstory, the division of alliances between good and evil, the multiple worlds upon which he has created and destroyed. He has the theories of all these science fictions and science facts and science maybes all thrown into a ball and juggled around. It's really something that deserves to be read and something that I hope Mister Browder is proud of. I started out excited, hesitated when certain aspects were revealed late in the game, but kept going and loved every page of it.
In fact, thinking over it now, I do have a complaint about how Sophia was played out in the end. Having the events transpire as they did I guess made sense, but then to have the surprise turn of events in the last page or two kind of made me do a mental double take. It was kind of like pulling a rabbit out of your hat after making darn good and sure everyone saw you grind that sucker up into a fine puree just seconds before. It left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. And this is coming from a guy who loved everything else about a novel that involves some far flung theories. Yet I'm thrown into a tizzy about this one detail that's revealed at the end.
Time will tell, I suppose, because as Richard himself points out, Sophia said herself that most mirrors have the same drive and motivation no matter what version of earth they come from.
So there you have it. My somewhat spoilery review of Infernal, by T. Joseph Browder. I loved the book, though it had issues - mainly the wordy descriptions of weapons and vehicles. The whole "hey, This is what it is" thing went over smoothly enough and I'm cool with it. But the ending concerning Sophia left something of an odd taste in my mouth. Anxious to see what's going on, and also kinda curious as to where all this will lead us.
Short verdict: Pick it up!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2016
Richard Farris is a seemingly ordinary man, living in Kansas with his dog Charlie. During one particularly nasty winter storm, he finds a woman in his back yard who has been shot. Nursing her back to health threatens to be the end of him as sinister bad guys from an organization only known as BanaTech show up and want to end the woman’s life. By getting in their way, Richard makes himself a target. Tragedy ensues. Months later, living another life in another state, Richard is recruited by the woman to help her hide “the Key,” a necessary cog in BanaTech’s wheels. What follows is a madcap chase through not just Richard’s Earth, but twin earths in the multiverse. The author’s impressive imagination take us through other worlds and times to an explosive showdown, which I’ll try not to give away.
I liked Infernal a lot. At times I found the theology behind the multiverse distracting, as kind of a real deus ex machina for the characters. But the character of Richard (whose surprising identity I’ll leave to you to find out) really carries the show. I can’t imagine not rooting for someone who chose to go to prison so he could stop a vicious pedophile. Richard has a complexity of character that is rare in thrillers and it was a real treat to read about Richard developing and changing throughout the book. The plot delivered plenty of action and edge-of-your-seat thrills, as well as interesting and unforeseen directions. This book was hard to put down. Pick it up! You won’t regret it.
I liked Infernal a lot. At times I found the theology behind the multiverse distracting, as kind of a real deus ex machina for the characters. But the character of Richard (whose surprising identity I’ll leave to you to find out) really carries the show. I can’t imagine not rooting for someone who chose to go to prison so he could stop a vicious pedophile. Richard has a complexity of character that is rare in thrillers and it was a real treat to read about Richard developing and changing throughout the book. The plot delivered plenty of action and edge-of-your-seat thrills, as well as interesting and unforeseen directions. This book was hard to put down. Pick it up! You won’t regret it.
June 25, 2015
I'd love to sit around a campfire and listen to T. Joseph Browder tell tales. He's a natural! His masterful plot charges on like a runaway locomotive, and every little tangent and background story sucks the reader in. There are times when I wish that his metaphors and his descriptors had the same immediacy as his story, but the pace, plot and structure of the novel never waiver and are five star.
Are there are copies of ourselves, doppelgangers, in other dimensions? Are there maybe an infinity of such other dimensions, other worlds, where each of our copies is altered as choices are made in life? In T. Joseph Browder's world these doppelgangers are called Mirrors. Rips (I love that term) are wormholes that spontaneously appear in the fabric of space/time as a sort of pressure relief valve between dimensions to keep the energies that bind the Multi-verse from overloading. But what happens to this balance when an evil corporation develops a device that can open a rip at will? What is the motive and who is behind this corporation? Read Infernal and enjoy the journey. I'm waiting for the movie to come out.
Are there are copies of ourselves, doppelgangers, in other dimensions? Are there maybe an infinity of such other dimensions, other worlds, where each of our copies is altered as choices are made in life? In T. Joseph Browder's world these doppelgangers are called Mirrors. Rips (I love that term) are wormholes that spontaneously appear in the fabric of space/time as a sort of pressure relief valve between dimensions to keep the energies that bind the Multi-verse from overloading. But what happens to this balance when an evil corporation develops a device that can open a rip at will? What is the motive and who is behind this corporation? Read Infernal and enjoy the journey. I'm waiting for the movie to come out.
September 15, 2015
Infernal is a high-action science fiction thriller that spans the boundaries between worlds, times, and realities. The very coolest part of this book was seeing the alternate futures of different earths. There are no limits to Browder’s imagination, and he comes up with some absolutely fantastic and original ideas. The Rips themselves (methods of traveling between earths) were done very well. The book got a little more religious than I was expecting, which at first I was turned off by, but then Browder ended up doing such cool things with it that it became part of the sci fi world I was already ensconced in. Richard, the protagonist, is very likable, filled with a fire and passion that drives him beyond his limits time and again. This book delivers to the utmost everything it promises without falling short at any point. The only thing to be warned of is that there are about three scenes of very graphic violence; worth skimming and continuing on if you’re bothered. I look forward to the next release in this series!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews