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Travesty
Do you betray your country or your consciousness?
Stuck between capital punishment for desertion or condoning killing while possibly going insane from experimental field drugs, Peter Verum, a lifelong pacifist and patriot, must answer this question and end the battle in his mind when he receives draft summons to fight in the Sapian-Herculean war.
A prior Junior at college, Peter lives in a society run by a unitary global Party, where all citizens vote by using a phone app and tolerance is enforced to such an extreme that differing opinions can reversely land you in jail. But this is also a society that has been blessed with global peace, Peter’s generation marking a century free of war—until alien Herculeans invade a neighboring colonial planet, Nova Terra. Peter is quickly drafted like thousands of others to meet the threat, and now a year later, he has just returned back to Earth from his tour, but not in the usual way: secretly in fear for his life. Peter has survived something he wasn’t supposed to while deployed, and the information he has that the Party wants to remain a secret can cost him his life.
As the sole survivor that knows the truth behind a botched government cover up on Nova Terra, Peter wonders if anyone will ever believe him. The reason, he has skeletons in his own closet from deployment. But even more damning is his younger self following him around telling him to go back and fight till he dies, or that his only friend is a jealous cloud that encourages him to succumb back to a drug addiction that makes him homicidal. The Party doesn’t need much to prove Peter is clinically insane, but that crucial determination lies on one thing. How did Peter survive when everyone thought he was dead? And what really did happen on Nova Terra? Now as the only witness left Peter retells his story, where maybe along the way he will also figure out what patriotism really is, and what it truly means to be a citizen.
Rejected by agents and publishers alike for being too controversial, Travesty is brought to you by the author himself via Kindle.
Stuck between capital punishment for desertion or condoning killing while possibly going insane from experimental field drugs, Peter Verum, a lifelong pacifist and patriot, must answer this question and end the battle in his mind when he receives draft summons to fight in the Sapian-Herculean war.
A prior Junior at college, Peter lives in a society run by a unitary global Party, where all citizens vote by using a phone app and tolerance is enforced to such an extreme that differing opinions can reversely land you in jail. But this is also a society that has been blessed with global peace, Peter’s generation marking a century free of war—until alien Herculeans invade a neighboring colonial planet, Nova Terra. Peter is quickly drafted like thousands of others to meet the threat, and now a year later, he has just returned back to Earth from his tour, but not in the usual way: secretly in fear for his life. Peter has survived something he wasn’t supposed to while deployed, and the information he has that the Party wants to remain a secret can cost him his life.
As the sole survivor that knows the truth behind a botched government cover up on Nova Terra, Peter wonders if anyone will ever believe him. The reason, he has skeletons in his own closet from deployment. But even more damning is his younger self following him around telling him to go back and fight till he dies, or that his only friend is a jealous cloud that encourages him to succumb back to a drug addiction that makes him homicidal. The Party doesn’t need much to prove Peter is clinically insane, but that crucial determination lies on one thing. How did Peter survive when everyone thought he was dead? And what really did happen on Nova Terra? Now as the only witness left Peter retells his story, where maybe along the way he will also figure out what patriotism really is, and what it truly means to be a citizen.
Rejected by agents and publishers alike for being too controversial, Travesty is brought to you by the author himself via Kindle.
340 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 26, 2015
1 person is currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Austin Aragon
1 book2 followersAustin Aragon was born in Sonoma County Santa Rosa, CA in 1994. His interests are political science, current events, Middle Eastern History, moral philosophy and creative writing. Austin is currently majoring in a Humanities degree and is the creator of the SolarSide universe, its first novel in the series being Travesty. Influences on Austin’s writing are a mixture of historical war novels such as The Short Timers, The Things They Carried, and All Quiet on the Western Front, and the science fiction universe of 40k, Forever War, and Armor.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
dnf
January 23, 2016DNF 30% No rating
I was sent this for an honest review, but I'm not finishing it. I have three main comments on what I've read so far and they all sort of relate to one another. The first is that the author is very young. His bio says he was born in 1994, so that makes him 21. I don't usually comment on authors, just their work, but in this case I think assuming that he hasn't had the time to develop his skill is kinder than other things I could say. Because this work shows some real promise, certainly the actual writing is better than some other self published books I've read, but it's still raw and undistilled.
Secondly, I think some of the first point's effects could have been ameliorated by a good editor. An editor could have caught some of the copy edits and word misuses (there aren't a ton, but enough to notice), but more than that, an editor could have helped separate the chaff. The main reason I'm not finishing this book is that I simply got bored, bogged down in the details and inner thoughts and endless battle scene. It needed to be thinned out. Also, in the beginning there is a lot of jumping about. I understand the character is supposed to be having flashbacks and such, but I spent a lot of time just trying to catch on and another set of eyes might have helped this.
Lastly, I hate didacticism. This author has a very clear agenda. He even states in his intro that the book has been turned down by publishers for being too controversial and his aim is to make readers think. I'm all for that. But it has to be done delicately or the message eclipses the story and I was feeling that here.
It's possible that some of these issues wouldn't be so evident in the rest of the book, had I finished, and I was curious to know what happened to Peter. I have a couple guesses and I'm disappointed to not stick with it to find out. But when I balanced boredom for the sake of sating my curiosity and moving on to something more engaging for me but never knowing, the latter won the day. However, it is all together possible that this was just a poor reader/book pairing and others wouldn't be bothered as I was. If a 1984/Starship Troppers mashup appeals to you, give this a try.
I was sent this for an honest review, but I'm not finishing it. I have three main comments on what I've read so far and they all sort of relate to one another. The first is that the author is very young. His bio says he was born in 1994, so that makes him 21. I don't usually comment on authors, just their work, but in this case I think assuming that he hasn't had the time to develop his skill is kinder than other things I could say. Because this work shows some real promise, certainly the actual writing is better than some other self published books I've read, but it's still raw and undistilled.
Secondly, I think some of the first point's effects could have been ameliorated by a good editor. An editor could have caught some of the copy edits and word misuses (there aren't a ton, but enough to notice), but more than that, an editor could have helped separate the chaff. The main reason I'm not finishing this book is that I simply got bored, bogged down in the details and inner thoughts and endless battle scene. It needed to be thinned out. Also, in the beginning there is a lot of jumping about. I understand the character is supposed to be having flashbacks and such, but I spent a lot of time just trying to catch on and another set of eyes might have helped this.
Lastly, I hate didacticism. This author has a very clear agenda. He even states in his intro that the book has been turned down by publishers for being too controversial and his aim is to make readers think. I'm all for that. But it has to be done delicately or the message eclipses the story and I was feeling that here.
It's possible that some of these issues wouldn't be so evident in the rest of the book, had I finished, and I was curious to know what happened to Peter. I have a couple guesses and I'm disappointed to not stick with it to find out. But when I balanced boredom for the sake of sating my curiosity and moving on to something more engaging for me but never knowing, the latter won the day. However, it is all together possible that this was just a poor reader/book pairing and others wouldn't be bothered as I was. If a 1984/Starship Troppers mashup appeals to you, give this a try.
August 30, 2015
Do you betray your country or your consciousness? This is the central thematic conflict that is so exquisitely executed in Austin Aragon's groundbreaking novel Travesty.
Aragon, a clear talent and lover of literature, is not afraid of creating allegories that perfectly encapsulate the world's apparent popular viewpoints on war and violence. It is this bravery and fearlessness that makes every word of Travesty so riveting and true. Sometimes you just have to hear it like it is to understand what is really at play and what stakes are truly involved.
The book finds Peter Verum, a self-described pacifist, facing a major, possible life-changing decision. Is he willing to reverse his views on passivity in the act of war, or does he abide by the summons he receives to participate in the Sapian-Herculean war? Does he accept capital punishment for ignoring the summons? Or does he kill? That's a tough one.
With obvious allusions to George Orwell's masterpiece 1984, Travesty, too, depicts a society that is run by one singular entity whose lack of tolerance for any difference in opinion is met with incarceration. But, and quite explicitly, the author clearly states that this highly governed society is also a peaceful one. Unfortunately, Peter being drafted to fight this alien war regarding the invasion of a nearby planet results in apainful, life-altering experience that leaves him forever changed.
But wait - there is SO much more that happens in Travesty. Along with the aforementioned theme of conflict, many more themes are explored, ranging from the global to the personal. Aragon's ability to weave together all of the many concurrent events into one cohesive plot demonstrates his clear talent as a writer. As made obvious with Travesty, Aragon is more than a clever author. He's a visual savant and an imaginative renegade...and we all know that's a rarity in its own right.
Like this review? Check out more like it at readingotherpeople.com
Aragon, a clear talent and lover of literature, is not afraid of creating allegories that perfectly encapsulate the world's apparent popular viewpoints on war and violence. It is this bravery and fearlessness that makes every word of Travesty so riveting and true. Sometimes you just have to hear it like it is to understand what is really at play and what stakes are truly involved.
The book finds Peter Verum, a self-described pacifist, facing a major, possible life-changing decision. Is he willing to reverse his views on passivity in the act of war, or does he abide by the summons he receives to participate in the Sapian-Herculean war? Does he accept capital punishment for ignoring the summons? Or does he kill? That's a tough one.
With obvious allusions to George Orwell's masterpiece 1984, Travesty, too, depicts a society that is run by one singular entity whose lack of tolerance for any difference in opinion is met with incarceration. But, and quite explicitly, the author clearly states that this highly governed society is also a peaceful one. Unfortunately, Peter being drafted to fight this alien war regarding the invasion of a nearby planet results in apainful, life-altering experience that leaves him forever changed.
But wait - there is SO much more that happens in Travesty. Along with the aforementioned theme of conflict, many more themes are explored, ranging from the global to the personal. Aragon's ability to weave together all of the many concurrent events into one cohesive plot demonstrates his clear talent as a writer. As made obvious with Travesty, Aragon is more than a clever author. He's a visual savant and an imaginative renegade...and we all know that's a rarity in its own right.
Like this review? Check out more like it at readingotherpeople.com
June 17, 2015
I'm the author! I want to say thanks in advance to the community here and my readers, hopefully this page will get populated with a lot more reviews and discussions as my novel releases. Happy reading as always.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews