Codename: Velocity

by Schuyler Thorpe

On the eve of her 20th birthday, Velocity's life as a genetically engineered bio-weapon has hit an impasse. For one, nobody knows when they'll be sent on their first real mission and that's been driving her nuts. Her second problem is her ongoing relationship with her Controller. It's been at a standstill for awhile now and Velocity is worried that she'll miss a chance at some real romance if something doesn't happen fast.

Despite some assurances from her close friend and partner, Velocity decides to jump the shark a bit in that department, which creates its own set of problems--both good and bad. And despite some lingering hang ups, Velocity finds herself being given a second chance to start things right with the man she's adored and loved since she was a little girl.

But along the way towards a possible whirlwind romance with her Controller, Velocity also has to mend fences with her ex-rival and play referee with her partner at the same time--seeing how the two of them have been lovers for quite some time.

In the midst of that, rumors start flying about the Compound with regards to the true nature of the war, the Horde, and the effectiveness of Project Titan--giving everyone reason to question and doubt their own abilities and skills.

Even worse, an upcoming--and last minute--training drill may end up testing everyone to their limits before they even cross paths with the enemy. And it's an event that will have everyone putting all their eggs into one basket and seeing things through the bitter end--no matter what it costs.

And for Velocity, the Combat Arena may be the only place left where she can find some personal absolution in the end. The only question is will she be able to accept it?

ebook

Published December 19, 2018

About the author

Lives in Everett, Washington

Married to April Thorpe (Feb. 20th, 2002)

Favorite hobbies:

RV shopping
Observing people from a distance
Collecting comics
Reading books
Otaku fan
Anime buff
Video games
Taking walks

Reviews

[Emily]

"Critics are assholes who don't write."

Hard pass on this one, thanks.

[T. Doyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely do not finish books that I start reading. This book is one of the few I simply could not force myself to continue. Not only did it fail to capture my attention by way of plot or characters but the style of writing itself was difficult to get through. This book has 44 chapters. I stopped before I could no longer count the chapter numbers on my fingers.

Overall, this book is in desperate need of an editor. There are spelling errors and words that are completely misused. Not to mention that the author throws around awkward and vaguely "sci-fi sounding" words in a way that leaves you feeling like he is just spinning a wheel and putting any words together without any actual world building happening. No glossary can help if there is no in-text connection of the language to the world of the story.

The book is written in a very stilted manner and the way all the characters talk, especially Velocity who is supposed to be nearly 20, comes off as juvenile. Velocity curses frequently and for no real reason, it seems. Now, I'm a big fan of a good string of expletives myself, but the way it is done here, peppered in at odd times alongside phrases like "So sue me!" gets old very fast. Rather than curse words being used to give emphasis to an adult woman's frustration, they read like a 13-year-old who just discovered the word "f*ck."

Even ignoring the childish way the characters speak and think, nothing about characters makes me want to care about any of them. Velocity says over and over again how she is so emotionally cold and isolated and yet she throws an actual hissy fit when a girl she doesn't like scores higher than her on a training test. This is the behavior of a middle schooler. Not a 19-year-old who, from what I could gather from the book, has spent her whole life being trained as some kind of genetically engineered super-fighter.

Speaking of world building, I have no idea what is supposed to be happening in this story or what context it is set in. Velocity mentions something called "the Horde" once or twice but as far as I read, there was no further context given to what exactly the premise of this story is. Before writing this review, I went back and looked through what I had managed to read to see if maybe I had just been overtired or not paying attention before. Nope. The book actually makes no sense.



From what I could gather, we are in a futuristic world where there has been some kind of apocalyptic thing that happened and now there is this "Horde" that they need to fight. Velocity and her friends are some kinds of bioengineered fighters. The book starts set in some kind of training facility and...that's about all I got. They have the ability to genetically engineer humans, build "accelerator suits" that apparently let the wearer move faster than an SR-71 Blackbird (Mach 3+), and yet Velocity calls a picture of a car a "mechanical carriage." In short, way more research and thought needed to go into the world building and development of this book.

Since science fiction as a genre often takes the reader into a world wildly different from the one we live in, a writer needs to be able to give their readers some kind of idea of the world they are now in. Without that, it ends up feeling disjointed. And if a book can't manage to clue the reader into what is happening at all in the world and why we should care within the first 10% of the story, then it fails its readers. The characters feel like they are moving through a shapeless void rather than an actual place and time.

My final issue is that this book should NOT be filed in "Lesbian Fiction" in the Kindle store. The presentation of same-sex attractions is...disappointing to say the least. A good part of what I read focused on Velocity's attraction to and near-obsession with her (male) "controller. And from the summary and outset of the book, it plays a pretty big role in the story. Perhaps there is some token lesbianism further in the book than how far I could force myself to read but what is presented in the beginning is cringe-worthy bordering on the offensive.

The book initially sets but both Velocity(female) and her friend Mari(female) as liking boys. Especially Velocity who seems to be hopelessly crushing on her "controller." After that is all set up, there is this supremely creepy scene in what I think is a locker room where Mari essentially sexually propositions her to "teach" her how to get with the guy she likes. The whole thing is absurdly sudden and comes off as more than a little predatory on the side of the friend seeing as how naive Velocity is written. It is incredibly uncomfortable to read as a queer woman. I repeat: This book should NOT be filed in "Lesbian Fiction" in the Kindle store.

tl;dr - Save the $6, go buy yourself some coffee and a doughnut.

[Alex Harvey-Rivas · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is hard to put my thoughts about this book into words, but alas I shall try.

There are many glaring issues with this book. Some technical, some artistic, some plain factual details that just... make me scratch my head.

Let me perhaps get the easiest of these out of the way. This is miscategorized as lesbian fiction. I’ll explain this better in a bit, but this is the first glaring mistake.

Moving into the book itself, I feel this author has a deep misunderstanding of first-person POV. There are several times we are given details Velocity as a narrator CANNOT know. There are plenty of examples just in the 10% sample alone. Consider:

“My best friend took this as a challenge and shrugged indifferently” (Loc 361) Velocity cannot know how Mari took it. She can INFER, sure, but she cannot state it as definitive fact.

Or, consider: “My friend wasn’t buying that line. Not for one second” (Loc 416). Once again, Velocity is not Mari. She cannot read minds. She cannot know this. And it’s a bunch of one-liners like this littered throughout the narrative like the author decided to play 52-Pick Up with POV slips.

Even if we take the author’s ravings in mind about the situations this book is surrounded in [I will not spoil it but, if you come from Wattpad you know a fact about this world that gets revealed in later books]. But I digress. Even with this information in mind, it doesn’t make sense for Velocity to tell us these things she has no way of knowing.

Let’s talk more about Velocity. From what I can garner, she is a genetically-engineered woman with the capacity for going really fast. Like, faster than Mach 3 fast. She’s almost 20 years old. Despite all of this sophistication, all of these mentions of rigorous training [and harsh electroshock punishment if she messes up], she talks like she’s a thirteen-year old with a thesaurus that she uses poorly... all the time.

Like, “The door opened, of course, allowing my companion and partner to come in unencumbered – bearing an armload of books and wearing a sheepish expression on her face for all of her troubles” (Loc 329).

Aside from the sheer wordiness of this sentence, do you see the problem here? It’s the use of that one word. Unencumbered. Unencumbered means to not have any burden or impediment. So sure, she came into the room without problems, but she is as a physical descriptor overencumbered. There are better word choices that could have been made here – had one needed to be made at all.

And that’s before I start listing off the myriad of bookism combined with adverbs that are on every single page. This is the book they should use when explaining to people why said isn’t dead. It’s other similar word choices and really, the writing as a whole that drives me up the wall. I distinctly remember a scene in chapter two which served no purpose but to skeeve me out. The conversation had no point. They just TALKED. Until we, suddenly, miraculously, bumble into Mari propositioning Velocity.

I’ll come back to that later.

Even on a grander scale, the writing continues to make no sense. The worldbuilding is vague at best, rife with handwaving and inconsistency. As preciously mentioned, Velocity is almost 20 and reads more like she’s thirteen. Now, this could be because the original draft – as said by the author – she was fourteen years old and the author just. Never realized that an older woman should... act like an older woman. I don’t know. And it’s not just her. The characterization of everyone is shallow. The relationships with everyone is shallow. For god’s sake, our relationship options in this novel are “father figure who it super reads like isn’t interested in her, and yet Velocity tries to force things anyway,” and “just gal pals who fuck whose relationship is just to further the relationship of aforementioned daddy figure”

And, on a final note, we return again to the incorrect listing of a lesbian relationship.

I am coming from this as a queer person who was hopeful to see some decent queer fiction. Instead, what I got was a poorly-wrote novel with a voyeuristic, fetishized approach to lesbians. Not even lesbians, really. It’s a misnomer. These women are bisexual – and that’s if they have any real same-gender inclinations at all. And aside from another genetically-altered person later on in the book who decides to confess her feelings, the only source of wlw content we get is Mari propositioning to teach Velocity how to have better sex – just so she can eventually “please” the man she’s pining over stupidly. HER FATHER FIGURE, I might add. I read through one sex scene that seemed to last three chapters and made my skin crawl the entire time. This isn’t a man writing about two women in love. This is a man writing about two women through a perverted, voyeuristic gaze. This is lesbian porn personified – it's not made for lesbians in mind. Make no mistake. This is and always has been for straight men.

By all means, you’re welcome to read this for yourself, but I would read the sample first. You get almost the first five chapters when you do. And this undoubtedly is not worth seven USD.

[L. Hart · Rating 1 out of 5]

To keep this short, we'll start with the writing. It's barely even copy edited and the prose is obnoxiously bad. As for the characters, everything about Velocity's relationships is fucked up. Velocity is attracted to the man who raised her and the man who abuses her if she breaks the rules. The book portrays this relationship as appropriate and healthy. Velocity is also in a sexual relationship with her "best friend" Mari. Neither character ever addresses their bisexuality or lesbianism, nor do they pursue romantic relationships with each other or other women. This isn't lesbian fiction. This is a fucked up heterosexual romance with voyeuristic lesbian sex scenes. DNF.

[Soup · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kudos to anyone who actually made it past the first chapter, because I had to DNF this before then. I probably shouldn't be writing a review with that little read, but oh well.

Anyway, my biggest issue, and what caused me to stop reading this, was the sheer wordiness of it, and not in a good way. It felt like I was constantly being spoonfed information that I could have easily inferred on my own. This author is notorious for saying that he writes in all tell, but this goes beyond telling. This reaches 'treating my readers like idiots' territory. Despite this, the sentences are all rather long and convoluted, which I didn't even think was possible, yet here we are.

The main character, Velocity, in my honest opinion, was kind of eh. The stereotypical introverted badass character that doesn't like people, who really doesn't feel like there's much life to her (but again, I DNFed pretty early). I got just past Mari's introduction, so I don't really have much to go on for her.

Now, I have skimmed through one of the earlier versions of this that was available elsewhere and uh, yeah. I remember nothing beyond the two chapters of straight up fetishised lesbian sex (oh yeah, as others have said, this isn't LGBT, this is a straight guys fantasy fulfilment), the kind that was clearly written by someone who doesn't really understand sex between two women beyond porn.

Of course, in saying all this, I may just be too young and dumb to truly understand the magnificence of this authors works, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

[Nora McKinney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Velocity, a 19-year-old genetically enhanced girl, has been in love with her "controller" (i.e. the man who by all appearances raised her from a small child) since forever. When she tells him that, he says he always knew and he might be in love with her too. The story, as far as I could stomach to read, has "CHILD GROOMING" all over it.

There are many more things that are not ideal in this text, for example, a series of amusing typical men-writing-women snippets (this is not helped by the fact that the story is written from the point of view of the 19-year-old). Also, there is some weird use of words and expressions, and the reactions of the characters often didn’t make sense to me. But the fact is, I was too disturbed to keep reading, so I’ll leave it at that.

I stopped reading at about 13%.

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quick note: The immaturity of this book is epic. I can tell this book did not make it past the first edit. Meaning, I am sure Mr. Thorpe didn't even bother with any suggestions from his so called editor, if he or she even gave him any. No self respecting editor would allow something this horrible to be even published. This is the reason why this book was self published through Amazon. The author wouldn't even stand a chance having this book published any other way.

As a queer non binary individual, I found the idea this author attempted to sell this book as an LGBTQ+ book appalling. The author wrote those disgusting scenes through the eyes of a man who watched too much bad lesbian porn, or read too much bad lesbian anime porn.

Do yourself a favor and don't even bother reading the summary of this book. The author has no idea how to even write one of those, by the way.

[Judy Ferrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Future far from perfect.

Schuyler Thorpe shows us a world that is far from perfect and the beings who are trying to defend it. In Codename: Velocity you get a lot of sex but you also get a mystery. Who is pushing the buttons? I'm looking forward to the next book!

[Sahreth Bowden · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the biggest complaints I hear from consumers is that there are no truly new ideas out there. Meanwhile, many writers fear that their work may be too predictable or not 'new' enough to interest those looking for something fresh. 'Codename Velocity' takes place in a far-future version of Earth where everything from science to culture to psychology to relationships is vastly different than anything we currently know or conceive. As well, the characters are all unique in personality, abilities, interactions, and reactions.

On the scientific aspect, it can be likened to reading about technology from a superior alien race that we (as humans are now) can only barely grasp the concept of. The way characters interact or are told to conduct themselves from psych professionals is sometimes the exact opposite of how it would be in the current real world. The culture is the thing closest to what we know, but with refreshing alterations such as how non-heterosexual or non-monogomous relationships simply exist without need for explanation and without provoking fear or hatred from said normatives.

In a war-torn apocalyptic world, what could best be described as super soldiers (such as Velocity) are bred and trained to combat a fearsome alien force known as the horde, which threatens to devour the planet. Velocity's powers are a type of speed and agility based on concepts of gravity, light, and mass. Velocity has only recently broken out of the shell to which her mind was forced in order to deal with terrible trauma. Her relationship with her girlfriend is sweet (although their sexual encounters do not seem to portray complete realism of lesbian sex. But, as I said, everything about this story is based on the concept of an entirely new world that has almost nothing to do with our own reality), though somewhat codependent (personal take on the matter). She is fully supportive of Velocity emotionally and even of her pursuit of another (male) romantic partner (who is likewise supportive of the polyamorous arrangement).

It's far from being a light read, but it is an interesting one. Many things are left up to the reader to put together. Not in the sense that the plot isn't clear, but in that the author doesn't just outline every single detail. I think this is cool because it makes the audience think and learn to infer or collect knowledge from multiple sources along the way...which reflects the numerous facets of the world and its infinite nuances that constantly change or are interpreted differently based on the individual's existence and mindset. It also gives the feeling that we are in Velocity's head, forced to think as she thinks (and not as we ourselves do) and having to put everything together (including at times her emotions) along with her rather than having it laid bare for us. Another thing I'd like to point out is how the dialogue is not entirely precise like most authors typically write. The characters ramble, they repeat themselves, they get off-topic...and none of this is a bad thing. It helps the reader further understand the world and characters in a natural way and makes it feel as though you are actually eavesdropping rather than consuming a concise speech.

There are a lot of aspects both psychological and scientific to be unraveled and studied purely through the reader's own take and analysis that some might prefer to have actually described in full, but the author's style of presenting a scenario and letting the audience figure out many of the details is thought-provoking and unique to itself. Another cool thing about the story is how these soldiers learn about Earth history. It shows the incredible journey our world has taken in this version of it. Their references to old sayings, movies, etc from the era we are currently living in real life is really cute and quirky.

With as much as this book has going on, it would have also been boring had the reader narrated every little thing. This massively unique and purely creative take how a people and their advancement (even that of our own world) could be is what makes 'Codename Velocity' so intriguing. But be sure to enter its atmosphere with that in mind though, or the content will be lost on you. This is not a world you know. This is not a world you would have fully conceived based on what you do know. The characters and their experiences are their own, not to be compared to actual persons from the reality in which we live. It's a book that you must pay close attention to.

Now that this first installment has thrown me into abandoning what I know to align my thinking to how their minds/culture/etc are, I'm interested to see what happens in book 2. Especially since my favorite aspect of the plot which entails a previously hidden and fantastical achievement that Velocity has was not revealed until closer to the end. Kudos to the author for a truly new experience with characters and plot that is, in a word, mind-altering.

My main complaints are for one, that it was sometimes difficult to keep up with. I do wish a few things were a little more clear, but if you give it its due focus, the important things are mostly present. A couple things required a bit more thought than was convenient for a casual read, but could be figured out if you wished to take the time. The other thing is what I briefly mentioned above in regards to the lesbian relationship. It isn't an accurate portrayal of real lesbian sexual relationships which at a few moments felt outright misogynistic. But one thing that must be remembered that the girls are not lesbians, but are bisexual.

However, only one of these things (the use of mostly only oral sex) cannot be accounted for by analyzing the two characters involved. For instance, there is a scene where Velocity comments that her girlfriend just hasn't had the right dick yet and ***** her with a dildo while pretending to be some other male character. From a general standpoint, it is an offensive portrayal, but judging by their personal relationship, I saw this as Velocity, knowing her gf is bisexual but scared of a relationship with a male after the heartbreaking loss of her boyfriend, trying to help her past her grief and fear to regain the ability to pursue the numerous males she still finds attractive. I really only disliked the use of the word virginity in reference of having hetero-sex even though it is later clarified in a comment from the girlfriend that the puncture is the loss of virginity, not sex with a male. This does go back to the 'only oral' aspect though and also seems to portray belief that anything other than puncture is not 'real' sex.

These two are both highly sexual and Velocity does more than once take her girlfriend's amazing support for granted. In this story at least, she is willing to flirt/kiss/enter relationships/etc with other people if she feels like it, without real regard for how it affects her girlfriend. But this is a fault of the character, not a comment or belief regarding polyamorous or lesbian persons. Studying Velocity, you can see that due to her trauma which left her with a fear of loss, abandonment, and being alone, actually has difficulty saying no to people who have ever acted or spoken in any way like they loved her.

As I said, it seems that the girlfriend is codependent. She is willing to sacrifice her own worth and needs to make Velocity happy. In regards to Velocity's male love interest, this at first comes off as a portrayal that her girlfriend is less important and could be interpreted as a comment that if a male is in the picture, he is inherently more important/better than any female partner. However, by psycho-analyzing these two girls, you can see that isn't the case. It isn't to do with him being male, but the man specifically as a person. Even later on in the story, you see that the girlfriend isn't really okay with being second place and Velocity, while maintaining her position that she loves both partners equally, has to re-evaluate her feelings and her actions in this matter. She's a very dynamic character: constantly changing.

The last comment I want to make is that her relationship with her male partner can be considered creepy, considering she was 'sort of' raised by him. But the advancement of their relationship is mature. He was never in love with Velocity and seems to only be trying to be in a relationship with her at this point (now that she's an adult) because she herself has pressed the matter. Regardless, it is a work of fiction and I personally don't see this as any worse than the stories about immortal vampires in a relationship young, even young teen persons or 'imprinting' on people as young as children (btw the erotic sex in the story is not between this male figure and Velocity, but instead focused on her and her girlfriend). It is simply telling a story, not promoting relationships that would be deemed inappropriate in real life. It is largely due to the writing style of leaving the reader to put a lot of things together that give it these sometimes misogynistic feelings as it is up to the reader to understand why some of these things are happening as they are. But if those topics are sensitive to you, this may not be your type of story.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love indie novels. They always seem to hit harder somehow. This is an awesome novel of sci-fi and romance. I don't normally read books about girl/girl relationships, but this one will definitely grab your attention with mind-blowing detail. I don't do spoilers, so you will have to discover what this gem holds for yourself. =)