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The Laputan Factor
"TOP SECRET – “PERSEUS”
(EYES ONLY)
O’Connell, Night. Programming genius, project head – revolutionary VR technology. Vacation resort, downtime reward for exceptional work. Recovering from brief hospital stay.
Kovach, A. B., 1st Lt. Recon fgtr pilot, Starhawk III, exemplary record, auth. in-flight plasma shuriken testing. Star Cruiser Heartwielder, Gorgonea Tertia region. Training for Snake Lady squad, Medusa project.
MISSION Reliable intel indicates viable project results within production and testing parameters. Medusa programming vital. Secure project details by any means necessary.
TARGET Expendable.
OORT CLOUD ZERO ZERO ZERO
It’s okay, we’re on your side. No, really…
Worlds apart, thrown together into a shadowy world of ghost-memory and half-suspected conspiracy, Night and Kovach must widen the fine line between reality and hallucination, dream and waking nightmare, sanity and madness, life and death… or another life..."
(EYES ONLY)
O’Connell, Night. Programming genius, project head – revolutionary VR technology. Vacation resort, downtime reward for exceptional work. Recovering from brief hospital stay.
Kovach, A. B., 1st Lt. Recon fgtr pilot, Starhawk III, exemplary record, auth. in-flight plasma shuriken testing. Star Cruiser Heartwielder, Gorgonea Tertia region. Training for Snake Lady squad, Medusa project.
MISSION Reliable intel indicates viable project results within production and testing parameters. Medusa programming vital. Secure project details by any means necessary.
TARGET Expendable.
OORT CLOUD ZERO ZERO ZERO
It’s okay, we’re on your side. No, really…
Worlds apart, thrown together into a shadowy world of ghost-memory and half-suspected conspiracy, Night and Kovach must widen the fine line between reality and hallucination, dream and waking nightmare, sanity and madness, life and death… or another life..."
204 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 3, 2015
6 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Tristan Black Wolf
10 books28 followersTristan Black Wolf is an author, actor, improvist, pathfinder, pundit, and polymath. When he’s not occupied looking up fancy words to describe himself, he writes and publishes novels, stories, blogs, the odd screenplay or twenty, and various observations about the world at large. He has published “Impossible Things,” in Children of the Moon (Misanthrope Press); “The Dare” and “No More Monday Memos” (cited for an Editor’s Choice Award for Best Use of Anthropomorphism) in Allasso (Pink Fox Publications); and several works in NAF (North American Fur). He has participated in the National Novel Writing Month competition (www.nanowrimo.org) eight times, winning seven; the result of the first win is his novel The Man With Two Shadows, which won an Honorable Mention in the 2013 Great Southeast Book Festival (New Orleans) and 2nd Place in the 2013 Great Northwest Book Festival (Seattle). His works are also featured on the SoFurry website, specifically tristan-black-wolf.sofurry.com. His work has won him well over than 800 watchers and over 250,000 page views. He’s also won the SoFurry “Summer Adventures” and “Back to Pundamentals” short story contests in 2014, and the "Penny for the Song" contest in 2016. He received his PhD in Liberal Arts, in recognition of 40 years as a published writer, in August 2016.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 19, 2019
A fascinating read with an interesting concept. At times a bit convoluted, but I suppose that was largely the point, as it did have a pretty complex set up. Well played out though, and the characters were enjoyable.
April 12, 2016
Tristan Black Wolf’s The Laputan Factor is a fine story, containing generally well-written characters. Granted, there are elements that seemed to be missing, and their lack was something that I found telling in my overall enjoyment of the tale. But if I were a publishing house, I would definitely call the author with a contract in mind.
The Laputan Factor begins with the protagonist awakening. I’ve read that some people will advise against such an opening, but in this instance it actually suits the piece perfectly. The overall story takes place within a personal mystery, with the protagonist desperately trying to discern fantasy from reality, and determine how he can become truly awake, if such a thing is even possible. I’m not giving anything away when I say that there are two lives that are experienced within the narration, and one of the several challenges that our hero must face is discerning what is reality, and what is illusion. And no matter which life is real… if he is so delusional that he can’t easily tell, what does that say about him?
Another satisfying point in the story’s favour is a lack of pointlessly idiotic characters. I have long held that if a story requires a character to be a moron, especially if they’re normally intelligent, then you need to step back, set it all on fire, and come up with a better story. In The Laputan Factor, morons need not apply. Yes, there are mistakes made under stress, but at no time does a character suddenly and inexplicably turn brain-dead just to keep the plot moving, or to shoe-horn in a particular scene.
That being said, the tale is not without its problems. My copy is 141 pages long, counting the illustrations, and the author cites its word count at around 47,000 words. Unfortunately, instead of a short novella, the story reads like a draft for a novel. There are questions left unanswered, especially at the end, and places where the dialogue feels more like a recital than people interacting.
The main hero is a good-natured fellow, and an incorrigible flirt. This is fine, and he is a genuinely nice enough guy that in some scenes it even adds to his charm. But the narration also picks up this trend, more so in the beginning than later on in the book, and the parenthetical wink-wink-nudge-nudge is frankly a distraction when it happens. The shift in narrative style through the story feels like a lack of editing more than a narrative choice, but I may be missing something through being overcritical.
That said, some of the descriptions are themselves distracting. For example: the characters are all essentially a race (races?) of anthropomorphic animals, like Larry Niven’s Kzinti and C.J. Cherryh’s Hani. Their manipulative digits are referred to as “paws,” but they use technology that would seem to require thumbs to operate. This seriously messed with my visualization. If the characters are fully humanoid, then by physiological definition wouldn’t they have hands and feet? Are their “hands” actually like monkey paws, lacking a proper saddle-joint and therefore not truly formed hands? Or do they have true hands, but refer to hands and feet as “forepaws” and “hindpaws” as a cultural statement? If so, where are the “normal” humans they would be distinguishing themselves from, for such a statement to be needed? I am reminded of Watterson’s early strips of Calvin and Hobbes, where Hobbes started out with paw pads on his hands. It is worth noting that Watterson later dropped the pads as being too cluttered and distracting.
But most damning of all is probably the world-building, and the characterization of the supporting cast. Please don’t misunderstand, I actually found myself liking the characters a great deal. By the time I was on the last chapter, I was emotionally involved with their well-being, rooting for all of them, even though I knew there was no way all of them could make it out the other side. But there is so much telling instead of showing, with the cast and the worlds both. I kept wanting to go back in time and say to the author, “No, it’s okay, take your time! No good novel is actually finished in a month. It’s obvious you love these characters and their culture. Don’t just tell us why, show us.”
I would love to have seen more of the society on board the Heartwielder. Much more than that, I want to see the crew interact more, and have their merits and flaws demonstrated throughout the story, not explained in a descriptive introduction. I would love to see more of the main character’s lover, Donovan, so that I can care about him more. In fact, I would love to have seen more of every character shown through their actions, rather than described, and not have all their descriptions lumped into their opening shot. And since this all takes place in different worlds than our own, finding out more little things about the cultures throughout the story would have been beautiful. But again: show, don’t tell.
In an author’s interview on my blog, Coyote’s Adventures Underground, Tristan Black Wolf said he finished the tale in 22 days. When I read that, my first thought was, “Oh, that explains it.” Not because it’s a bad yarn; it isn’t. But it feels rushed. It feels incomplete.
Ultimately, I give The Laputan Factor three and a half stars out of five. I feel that it isn’t finished enough to get a four or five, but it’s better than a three even in its current state. As I have said before, if I were a publisher, I would call Mr. Black Wolf with an offer. But one of my caveats would be that he take however many months he needed to tweak, smooth, and fill out the story until it was the novel – long or short – that it seems to want to be. As it is, it’s fun. But it has the potential to be wonderful. The characters are engaging, the story is good, and the concept is intriguing and well-handled. I just kept wishing that was more smoothly written, that it went deeper, and that there was more to it. That being said, it is ultimately no terrible thing to look at any work of art and find yourself longing for more.
The Laputan Factor begins with the protagonist awakening. I’ve read that some people will advise against such an opening, but in this instance it actually suits the piece perfectly. The overall story takes place within a personal mystery, with the protagonist desperately trying to discern fantasy from reality, and determine how he can become truly awake, if such a thing is even possible. I’m not giving anything away when I say that there are two lives that are experienced within the narration, and one of the several challenges that our hero must face is discerning what is reality, and what is illusion. And no matter which life is real… if he is so delusional that he can’t easily tell, what does that say about him?
Another satisfying point in the story’s favour is a lack of pointlessly idiotic characters. I have long held that if a story requires a character to be a moron, especially if they’re normally intelligent, then you need to step back, set it all on fire, and come up with a better story. In The Laputan Factor, morons need not apply. Yes, there are mistakes made under stress, but at no time does a character suddenly and inexplicably turn brain-dead just to keep the plot moving, or to shoe-horn in a particular scene.
That being said, the tale is not without its problems. My copy is 141 pages long, counting the illustrations, and the author cites its word count at around 47,000 words. Unfortunately, instead of a short novella, the story reads like a draft for a novel. There are questions left unanswered, especially at the end, and places where the dialogue feels more like a recital than people interacting.
The main hero is a good-natured fellow, and an incorrigible flirt. This is fine, and he is a genuinely nice enough guy that in some scenes it even adds to his charm. But the narration also picks up this trend, more so in the beginning than later on in the book, and the parenthetical wink-wink-nudge-nudge is frankly a distraction when it happens. The shift in narrative style through the story feels like a lack of editing more than a narrative choice, but I may be missing something through being overcritical.
That said, some of the descriptions are themselves distracting. For example: the characters are all essentially a race (races?) of anthropomorphic animals, like Larry Niven’s Kzinti and C.J. Cherryh’s Hani. Their manipulative digits are referred to as “paws,” but they use technology that would seem to require thumbs to operate. This seriously messed with my visualization. If the characters are fully humanoid, then by physiological definition wouldn’t they have hands and feet? Are their “hands” actually like monkey paws, lacking a proper saddle-joint and therefore not truly formed hands? Or do they have true hands, but refer to hands and feet as “forepaws” and “hindpaws” as a cultural statement? If so, where are the “normal” humans they would be distinguishing themselves from, for such a statement to be needed? I am reminded of Watterson’s early strips of Calvin and Hobbes, where Hobbes started out with paw pads on his hands. It is worth noting that Watterson later dropped the pads as being too cluttered and distracting.
But most damning of all is probably the world-building, and the characterization of the supporting cast. Please don’t misunderstand, I actually found myself liking the characters a great deal. By the time I was on the last chapter, I was emotionally involved with their well-being, rooting for all of them, even though I knew there was no way all of them could make it out the other side. But there is so much telling instead of showing, with the cast and the worlds both. I kept wanting to go back in time and say to the author, “No, it’s okay, take your time! No good novel is actually finished in a month. It’s obvious you love these characters and their culture. Don’t just tell us why, show us.”
I would love to have seen more of the society on board the Heartwielder. Much more than that, I want to see the crew interact more, and have their merits and flaws demonstrated throughout the story, not explained in a descriptive introduction. I would love to see more of the main character’s lover, Donovan, so that I can care about him more. In fact, I would love to have seen more of every character shown through their actions, rather than described, and not have all their descriptions lumped into their opening shot. And since this all takes place in different worlds than our own, finding out more little things about the cultures throughout the story would have been beautiful. But again: show, don’t tell.
In an author’s interview on my blog, Coyote’s Adventures Underground, Tristan Black Wolf said he finished the tale in 22 days. When I read that, my first thought was, “Oh, that explains it.” Not because it’s a bad yarn; it isn’t. But it feels rushed. It feels incomplete.
Ultimately, I give The Laputan Factor three and a half stars out of five. I feel that it isn’t finished enough to get a four or five, but it’s better than a three even in its current state. As I have said before, if I were a publisher, I would call Mr. Black Wolf with an offer. But one of my caveats would be that he take however many months he needed to tweak, smooth, and fill out the story until it was the novel – long or short – that it seems to want to be. As it is, it’s fun. But it has the potential to be wonderful. The characters are engaging, the story is good, and the concept is intriguing and well-handled. I just kept wishing that was more smoothly written, that it went deeper, and that there was more to it. That being said, it is ultimately no terrible thing to look at any work of art and find yourself longing for more.
July 22, 2015
This book is impossible to review properly without offering spoilers. So I'll just say instead that this is very well-written science fiction in the rapidly evolving "furry" tradition, a sort of meta-genre in which cartoon-style anthropomorphic animals face decidedly non-cartoonish Real Life problems and challenges, and deal with them in decidedly non-cartoonish ways. Black Wolf serves as a competent guide as he leads you through a space-opera-like (and also not at all space-opera-like) universe filled with complex plots, characters and unexpected twists. The book is also illustrated, which is a reflection of its furry-fandom roots-- furs tend to be very visual-art oriented as a rule.
I can't help but note that the side-links for this work-- at least at the time I posted this-- lead exclusively to what appear to me to be gay romance novels and even out and out erotica. While the protagonist of this work happens to be gay, and so are many of the minor characters, this is very much a work of universe-questioning science fiction and not one of erotica. These side-links don't accurately represent the book's character. There's less sex-- even implied sex-- than in the average James Bond movie, though the innuendo and flirting levels and the importance of romance in general are right up there or perhaps maybe even a tad higher. I specify this because potential buyers might easily be confused. You don't have to be gay to enjoy this-- I'm not, and I did.
I can't help but note that the side-links for this work-- at least at the time I posted this-- lead exclusively to what appear to me to be gay romance novels and even out and out erotica. While the protagonist of this work happens to be gay, and so are many of the minor characters, this is very much a work of universe-questioning science fiction and not one of erotica. These side-links don't accurately represent the book's character. There's less sex-- even implied sex-- than in the average James Bond movie, though the innuendo and flirting levels and the importance of romance in general are right up there or perhaps maybe even a tad higher. I specify this because potential buyers might easily be confused. You don't have to be gay to enjoy this-- I'm not, and I did.
September 19, 2015
How are the fates of a programmer on vacation at a beach resort and a pilot aboard a starship intertwined? The answer could be far stranger than you can imagine!
I was immediately intrigued by the story, which can be described as The Prisoner meets Total Recall. The characters are well-developed and beautifully illustrated. The plot is perfectly paced, never dragging and never feeling rushed. Like a tale reminiscent of The Outer Limits, just as one mystery is cleared up, more surface – with the biggest surprise revealed at the end!
I was immediately intrigued by the story, which can be described as The Prisoner meets Total Recall. The characters are well-developed and beautifully illustrated. The plot is perfectly paced, never dragging and never feeling rushed. Like a tale reminiscent of The Outer Limits, just as one mystery is cleared up, more surface – with the biggest surprise revealed at the end!
June 20, 2015
The author has been creating great stories for a good while, and this is another fine example of his skill. A nice blend of anthro/sci-fi/conspiracy mix which kept me reading until I finished the last page (yeah, I read it in one sitting). Lots of good dialogue and references any computer gamer or sci-fi geek would get, plus some nifty twists on knowing what reality is. Kind of a book version of Inception, if you will. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good story, told well.
August 3, 2015
Pretty interesting SciFi tale with a slight Philip K. Dick-ian touch to it, thanks to all the points concerning identity and (virtual) reality. What should have been toned down though are popcultural references which seem to appear too frequent and not always very necessary. (That being said they gave me a push to finally revist The Prisoner, so they weren't entirely without effect on me. ;) )
August 3, 2015
Full review at https://www.flayrah.com/6171/review-l...
August 2, 2015
A great, great book! Extremely interesting and well developed characters, a creative and completely unpredictable plot and lots of fun, small references to all kinds of things inside.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews