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Impact Earth: Symbiosis
Independence day meets Heroes in Timothy W. Long's newest take on the apocalypse
"Timothy W. Long injects a stark degree of realism into everything he writes. His horror is more horrific, his heroics more heroic, I love reading his stuff." --Peter Clines, bestselling author of the Ex-Heroes series, 14, and The Fold
*Second Edition copy edited by Dominion Editorial Services
It was a quiet Seattle morning until the skies filled with fire: without warning, a catastrophic meteor shower caused buildings to crumble and the lights to go out. Out of the rubble, five ordinary people arose to find themselves manifesting undreamed-of abilities.
Will they be enough to do what the military cannot — stop a massive alien invasion before the entire West Coast is destroyed?
"Reading Timothy W. Long is like being in a knife fight that doesn't end until the last page." --Nicholas Sansbury Smith, bestselling author of The Extinction Cycle
What readers are saying about Timothy's other work:
"Very believable, very nice mix of humor and seriousness, great characters.", "Big thanks to the author for keeping it realistic.", "Any fans of Joseph Talluto or John O'Brien's series would surely enjoy this.", "...highly recommend it to any fans of the Zombie Apocalypse genre.", "Non-stop action.", "Five stars are rare from me..."
"LONG WRITES WITH GRAPHIC GLEE!" --Tacoma News Tribune
"...witty humor and lots of jam packed action." --Audiobookreviewer.com
“Definitely a writer to watch.” --HorrorNews.net on AMONG THE LIVING
“One of my favorite zombie novels.” --BuyZombie.com on AMONG THE LIVING
"Timothy W. Long injects a stark degree of realism into everything he writes. His horror is more horrific, his heroics more heroic, I love reading his stuff." --Peter Clines, bestselling author of the Ex-Heroes series, 14, and The Fold
*Second Edition copy edited by Dominion Editorial Services
It was a quiet Seattle morning until the skies filled with fire: without warning, a catastrophic meteor shower caused buildings to crumble and the lights to go out. Out of the rubble, five ordinary people arose to find themselves manifesting undreamed-of abilities.
Will they be enough to do what the military cannot — stop a massive alien invasion before the entire West Coast is destroyed?
"Reading Timothy W. Long is like being in a knife fight that doesn't end until the last page." --Nicholas Sansbury Smith, bestselling author of The Extinction Cycle
What readers are saying about Timothy's other work:
"Very believable, very nice mix of humor and seriousness, great characters.", "Big thanks to the author for keeping it realistic.", "Any fans of Joseph Talluto or John O'Brien's series would surely enjoy this.", "...highly recommend it to any fans of the Zombie Apocalypse genre.", "Non-stop action.", "Five stars are rare from me..."
"LONG WRITES WITH GRAPHIC GLEE!" --Tacoma News Tribune
"...witty humor and lots of jam packed action." --Audiobookreviewer.com
“Definitely a writer to watch.” --HorrorNews.net on AMONG THE LIVING
“One of my favorite zombie novels.” --BuyZombie.com on AMONG THE LIVING
- GenresScience FictionAliens
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 25, 2016
About the author
Timothy W. Long
63 books156 followersWhen not sitting around watching Rick and Morty reruns in a bathrobe, Timothy W. Long writes stuff. He has a predilection for weird literature and sometimes drinks Coke for breakfast. Don't tell his mom.
Tim is the author of over 30 novels in genres ranging from cozy/Isekai, to all manner of post-apocalyptic because no one has managed to take away his word processor.
Tim is an active member of SFWA, HWA, and Thriller Writers. He recently signed a three-book deal with Aethon Books for his Dark Lord Reborn Series.
Tim is the author of over 30 novels in genres ranging from cozy/Isekai, to all manner of post-apocalyptic because no one has managed to take away his word processor.
Tim is an active member of SFWA, HWA, and Thriller Writers. He recently signed a three-book deal with Aethon Books for his Dark Lord Reborn Series.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 3, 2016
See more reviews like this at Brian's Book Blog
We're being invaded and have the most unlikely saviors
An alien invasion strike Seattle, while the attack is happening, five strangers will find themselves now flowing with very unlikely... powers. What can these unlikely heroes do to prevent this alien invasion?
Impact Earth: Symbiosis was narrated by Todd Menesses who does a wonderful job. It's always nice to hear a narration that I would consider a "full cast" ensemble with only one narrator. A lot of the accents were really well done and it really helped move the story along.
Another book that has superhero undertones to it. Looking at the cover of this you would have no idea (but I guess that's why you shouldn't always judge a book by its cover).
While I enjoy superheroes, especially those who basically came from nothing -- this isn't my go-to genre. Menesses narration really kept me interested in this and helped me to continue listening to it.
I saw a lot of reviews that were complaining about the amount of profanity, so I will warn you -- if you are overly sensitive to profanity, just avoid this book. Given some of the circumstances that these characters are put into, I can completely understand the cursing -- I even support it for a book like this. I think that Timothy W Long was trying to make the book as realistic as possible (yeah, yeah, with aliens). But real people talk like that, especially those who are going through extremely stressful and bad situations.
If you look past the cursing there was a lot of really unique detail in this book. Long does a great job trying to make sure that each character is explained, and their backstories are told well enough that you can continue to follow with them as they learn of their new and different powers.
Overall, while a combination of a style that I really like with one that I don't as much -- I found myself enjoying Symbiosis. The combination of Long's writing style and Menesses comic-book-character-esque narration made this for me.
We're being invaded and have the most unlikely saviors
An alien invasion strike Seattle, while the attack is happening, five strangers will find themselves now flowing with very unlikely... powers. What can these unlikely heroes do to prevent this alien invasion?
Impact Earth: Symbiosis was narrated by Todd Menesses who does a wonderful job. It's always nice to hear a narration that I would consider a "full cast" ensemble with only one narrator. A lot of the accents were really well done and it really helped move the story along.
Another book that has superhero undertones to it. Looking at the cover of this you would have no idea (but I guess that's why you shouldn't always judge a book by its cover).
While I enjoy superheroes, especially those who basically came from nothing -- this isn't my go-to genre. Menesses narration really kept me interested in this and helped me to continue listening to it.
I saw a lot of reviews that were complaining about the amount of profanity, so I will warn you -- if you are overly sensitive to profanity, just avoid this book. Given some of the circumstances that these characters are put into, I can completely understand the cursing -- I even support it for a book like this. I think that Timothy W Long was trying to make the book as realistic as possible (yeah, yeah, with aliens). But real people talk like that, especially those who are going through extremely stressful and bad situations.
If you look past the cursing there was a lot of really unique detail in this book. Long does a great job trying to make sure that each character is explained, and their backstories are told well enough that you can continue to follow with them as they learn of their new and different powers.
Overall, while a combination of a style that I really like with one that I don't as much -- I found myself enjoying Symbiosis. The combination of Long's writing style and Menesses comic-book-character-esque narration made this for me.
July 3, 2016
I listened to the Audio book version of this book and honestly I think that was part of the problem. The cast of this story was just far too large for one narrator to pull off alone. Longer review to come....
February 16, 2018
I wanted to shoot Bryan myself.
December 2, 2021
It was good, does anybod know if he is ever going to release the sequel?
September 3, 2018
Original and exciting Sci-Fi.
March 13, 2017
Can't wait for the second book.A very good book,kept me glued to my ebook reader.
January 13, 2017
This was a cool book. Will listen to the second and hopefully third one.
June 11, 2016
This is a cross between a Super-Hero story and an Alien Invasion story.
It has a fairly fascinating start as two alien races have a massive battle over Earth, resulting in both of the Alien vessels crashing to Earth. One of the ships is kind of destroyed and the subsequent little fragments of left over pieces of the ship actually impregnate 5 humans in the chaos of the initial crashing to Earth.
Martin, a belligerent old veteran, Victor a man disgruntled by his working life, but a happy family man, Shawn, divorced, hard-working technician, Elise a young woman trying to escape a violent relationship and start anew, and Bryon, a teenager who is overweight and struggling with being bullied for his appearance and low self-esteem.
This 5 all suddenly gain extraordinary abilities as a result of coming in contact with the 2nd alien species as it crashes to Earth, and as a result, they are tied to the fate of the Earth.
This book had some interesting concepts, and in parts, was very well written, keeping you enthralled and well engaged.
However, there are other parts, especially towards the end, in which the book seemed to drag a little, as the Author described minute details of what was happening with each of their abilities. Whilst the descriptions were well written, it kind of dragged the story out, and did little in the way of building the overall emotion, and impact of the moment, it was lost in lengthy descriptions.
This also occurred with the characters, which for me, I found a little boring and lacking in any real depth. Each character had a single layer, we learned about what they did, their immediate family and a brief history, but there seemed to be a lack of depth to the characters, a lack of connection for the reader.
Whilst the story had some concept to it, there was a reason that the Aliens were on Earth (they crashed there), there was very little explanation for any of the actions of the Aliens, the Military, even the 2nd Alien species we learn very little about throughout the entire book.
The Author does a pretty good job of describing the battles and scenes in the story and that is part of the problem, the fact that he gets lost in these descriptions, and therefore the reader does not get as much of a story as they should.
I'm not normally one to have a go at editing either, I understand that it's difficult for Indie Authors, and who am I to criticise given the state of my writing?? However the quality of editing and the amount of errors in this particular book was a lot higher than normal. It also required re-reading of several sentences to try and get the gist/meaning of the sentence due to the errors and as such, it was a bit disappointing unfortunately.
Overall this has a good premise, it has all the right bits. There are Aliens, an invasion, Super-powered humans and some pretty awesome battle scenes. It's just that overall, the story is lacking in some crucial elements that let it down, and the descriptions of the action get a bit long winded.
I will probably have a look at part 2, hoping that it has improved, because there is a cool story waiting to be unleashed.
It has a fairly fascinating start as two alien races have a massive battle over Earth, resulting in both of the Alien vessels crashing to Earth. One of the ships is kind of destroyed and the subsequent little fragments of left over pieces of the ship actually impregnate 5 humans in the chaos of the initial crashing to Earth.
Martin, a belligerent old veteran, Victor a man disgruntled by his working life, but a happy family man, Shawn, divorced, hard-working technician, Elise a young woman trying to escape a violent relationship and start anew, and Bryon, a teenager who is overweight and struggling with being bullied for his appearance and low self-esteem.
This 5 all suddenly gain extraordinary abilities as a result of coming in contact with the 2nd alien species as it crashes to Earth, and as a result, they are tied to the fate of the Earth.
This book had some interesting concepts, and in parts, was very well written, keeping you enthralled and well engaged.
However, there are other parts, especially towards the end, in which the book seemed to drag a little, as the Author described minute details of what was happening with each of their abilities. Whilst the descriptions were well written, it kind of dragged the story out, and did little in the way of building the overall emotion, and impact of the moment, it was lost in lengthy descriptions.
This also occurred with the characters, which for me, I found a little boring and lacking in any real depth. Each character had a single layer, we learned about what they did, their immediate family and a brief history, but there seemed to be a lack of depth to the characters, a lack of connection for the reader.
Whilst the story had some concept to it, there was a reason that the Aliens were on Earth (they crashed there), there was very little explanation for any of the actions of the Aliens, the Military, even the 2nd Alien species we learn very little about throughout the entire book.
The Author does a pretty good job of describing the battles and scenes in the story and that is part of the problem, the fact that he gets lost in these descriptions, and therefore the reader does not get as much of a story as they should.
I'm not normally one to have a go at editing either, I understand that it's difficult for Indie Authors, and who am I to criticise given the state of my writing?? However the quality of editing and the amount of errors in this particular book was a lot higher than normal. It also required re-reading of several sentences to try and get the gist/meaning of the sentence due to the errors and as such, it was a bit disappointing unfortunately.
Overall this has a good premise, it has all the right bits. There are Aliens, an invasion, Super-powered humans and some pretty awesome battle scenes. It's just that overall, the story is lacking in some crucial elements that let it down, and the descriptions of the action get a bit long winded.
I will probably have a look at part 2, hoping that it has improved, because there is a cool story waiting to be unleashed.
October 19, 2016
My original Symbiosis audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
Seattle is the epicenter for an alien invasion. While the attack is going on five strangers will be struck by something and suddenly have the most unbelievable and unlikely powers. They aren't sure what happened but know that they are now capable of weird things. What they don't know is that they may be the only thing left to prevent the destruction of Earth.
Todd Menesses narrates Impact Earth and he has the perfect "superhero" type narrator voice. It just feels like you are flipping the pages of a comic book or graphic novel when Menesses is behind the story. The quality of the recording was perfect with no issues at all.
A word of warning, yes this book has some profanity to it. That is known to happen from time to time. And it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But as a service to others -- be warned there is a lot of cursing in this book. I chalked it up to the types of characters that Long was writing about. They weren't your normal 9 to 5er but more like your blue collar, un or undereducated people who are known to curse from time to time.
Superheroes aren't my go-to genre, but I still enjoy them. I wanted to read this book for two reasons. One, Menesses narrated it and I love his voice, and two, I want to get more into superheroes, comics, and graphic novels. This was a nice intro for me and I found myself enjoying it more than I originally thought I would.
The book takes on the typical "normal person turned super" but does a pretty nice job with it. The new superheroes are as confused and unsure as you would think a person would be and they even doubt what they are doing as they are doing it. There were a few times I found myself laughing at the situations they were in.
The details in Impact Earth were definitely there. Long takes his time making sure that the reader knows who these people are before and after the impact. I really like when an author can do that without making me feel like they are doing that.
Overall, a great combination of science fiction (alien invasion) and comic boon fiction (superheroes). Long is able to write a book that is both enjoyable and felt like good was served!
Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.
Seattle is the epicenter for an alien invasion. While the attack is going on five strangers will be struck by something and suddenly have the most unbelievable and unlikely powers. They aren't sure what happened but know that they are now capable of weird things. What they don't know is that they may be the only thing left to prevent the destruction of Earth.
Todd Menesses narrates Impact Earth and he has the perfect "superhero" type narrator voice. It just feels like you are flipping the pages of a comic book or graphic novel when Menesses is behind the story. The quality of the recording was perfect with no issues at all.
A word of warning, yes this book has some profanity to it. That is known to happen from time to time. And it doesn't bother me in the slightest. But as a service to others -- be warned there is a lot of cursing in this book. I chalked it up to the types of characters that Long was writing about. They weren't your normal 9 to 5er but more like your blue collar, un or undereducated people who are known to curse from time to time.
Superheroes aren't my go-to genre, but I still enjoy them. I wanted to read this book for two reasons. One, Menesses narrated it and I love his voice, and two, I want to get more into superheroes, comics, and graphic novels. This was a nice intro for me and I found myself enjoying it more than I originally thought I would.
The book takes on the typical "normal person turned super" but does a pretty nice job with it. The new superheroes are as confused and unsure as you would think a person would be and they even doubt what they are doing as they are doing it. There were a few times I found myself laughing at the situations they were in.
The details in Impact Earth were definitely there. Long takes his time making sure that the reader knows who these people are before and after the impact. I really like when an author can do that without making me feel like they are doing that.
Overall, a great combination of science fiction (alien invasion) and comic boon fiction (superheroes). Long is able to write a book that is both enjoyable and felt like good was served!
Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.
October 16, 2016
This audiobook is fantastic! I have to admit though I almost felt like I needed a flow chart in the beginning to keep track of everyone in this book! But don't worry by the end you really feel connected to each and every one of the five main characters in this audiobook. It also took a little getting used to the author jumping between characters, but once I got a feel for each character, I honestly enjoyed how the story was told multiple points of view, it made total sense. What really helped was the narration by Todd Menesses, but we'll talk more about that later. So, in this ensemble cast, you have Brian, the overweight pimply faced 16-year-old kid. Elise, an abused woman just starting to rebuild her life. Sean, the big, kind-hearted divorcé. Martin, a crotchety old veteran dying of cancer and last but not least, Victor, the family man.
While the entire population of Seattle is caught up in an alien invasion, these five characters are fighting not one but two alien invasions. Talk about sensory overload! I'm not one for spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. Timothy W. Long really takes his time building this story, so expect this tale will roll out over several books because I really feel like book one is just the beginning! Speaking of that, I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but when I went to Long's website to see when the next book in the series was scheduled for release, I looked high and low and found zilch, so I'm assuming it will be awhile before book two is released... sigh.
OK, so let's talk about narrator Todd Menesses, I dare anyone to tell me that narrators are not actors of the highest caliber and that one person is voicing ALL of the characters major and minor! Genius! Each character has their own distinct voice and not once did I have to question which character was talking and trust me it's quite a feat to keep that many characters straight!
Amazing story, awesome narration!
While the entire population of Seattle is caught up in an alien invasion, these five characters are fighting not one but two alien invasions. Talk about sensory overload! I'm not one for spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. Timothy W. Long really takes his time building this story, so expect this tale will roll out over several books because I really feel like book one is just the beginning! Speaking of that, I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but when I went to Long's website to see when the next book in the series was scheduled for release, I looked high and low and found zilch, so I'm assuming it will be awhile before book two is released... sigh.
OK, so let's talk about narrator Todd Menesses, I dare anyone to tell me that narrators are not actors of the highest caliber and that one person is voicing ALL of the characters major and minor! Genius! Each character has their own distinct voice and not once did I have to question which character was talking and trust me it's quite a feat to keep that many characters straight!
Amazing story, awesome narration!
March 23, 2016
Good suspense and fast action
I read this book through my kindle unlimited. I liked that this story focused around normal and diverse characters. Not really heroes, but they have decisions to make about staying or running. Once the action takes off, it is pretty much constant. There is an underlying humor and good character building. The editing has some slight flaws. A few grammatical mistakes and a few places where the sequence of a character's reflections seemed off of the timeline or were contradictory to what was previously written. It didn't distract from the intensity of the story, but there was a moment when I thought it should have been rather obvious during editing. I did almost choose 4 stars because of that problem. Instead, I decided that I raced through the book in hours because I wanted to know what would happen to these characters. That makes for five stars. This book should appeal to readers who like science fiction with aliens, earth, and a possible apocalyptic event. While it has a clear ending, it is obviously going to have more books to finish the tale.
I read this book through my kindle unlimited. I liked that this story focused around normal and diverse characters. Not really heroes, but they have decisions to make about staying or running. Once the action takes off, it is pretty much constant. There is an underlying humor and good character building. The editing has some slight flaws. A few grammatical mistakes and a few places where the sequence of a character's reflections seemed off of the timeline or were contradictory to what was previously written. It didn't distract from the intensity of the story, but there was a moment when I thought it should have been rather obvious during editing. I did almost choose 4 stars because of that problem. Instead, I decided that I raced through the book in hours because I wanted to know what would happen to these characters. That makes for five stars. This book should appeal to readers who like science fiction with aliens, earth, and a possible apocalyptic event. While it has a clear ending, it is obviously going to have more books to finish the tale.
March 9, 2016
Fast-paced
This book is a really good story, and extremely exciting. I usually enjoy books that really let you get to "know" the characters but this story line moves so fast you don't get a lot of in depth info.....however this is the first book of a series so hopefully we will get to learn more about them as time goes on. What I do know is that this book leaves me wanting more so I'm happily anticipating the next book. Don't hesitate to get this book, it's very much worth reading and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did! Happy reading y'all.
This book is a really good story, and extremely exciting. I usually enjoy books that really let you get to "know" the characters but this story line moves so fast you don't get a lot of in depth info.....however this is the first book of a series so hopefully we will get to learn more about them as time goes on. What I do know is that this book leaves me wanting more so I'm happily anticipating the next book. Don't hesitate to get this book, it's very much worth reading and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did! Happy reading y'all.
March 13, 2016
Not to shabby
I only ran into one problem of note and it was toward the end of the book, guy was worried about the girl he had met and it said he had no way to contact her, not even a phone number. A few lines later it mentions having her number in his wallet. This mistake took me out of the flow, as I has to think back to remember if she'd even given him the number. She did.
Overall a fun read that I enjoyed. I will be getting the sequel. Won't you join me?
I only ran into one problem of note and it was toward the end of the book, guy was worried about the girl he had met and it said he had no way to contact her, not even a phone number. A few lines later it mentions having her number in his wallet. This mistake took me out of the flow, as I has to think back to remember if she'd even given him the number. She did.
Overall a fun read that I enjoyed. I will be getting the sequel. Won't you join me?
May 20, 2016
Wow
The book is like Misfits meets War of the World with wonderful charters. I could not read finish the book fast enough, found it really difficult to put down even when i was about to sleep. the story was so interesting and intriguing that i had read the prologue again.
Author: Please bring Yuri into the mix, in book two.
The book is like Misfits meets War of the World with wonderful charters. I could not read finish the book fast enough, found it really difficult to put down even when i was about to sleep. the story was so interesting and intriguing that i had read the prologue again.
Author: Please bring Yuri into the mix, in book two.
July 25, 2016
Wow....
Wish I could give more than 5 stars!
This book started out with a bang and just kept going! Seems as if a couple of battling alien species have blundered to close to the earth. And they have brought their war with them.
One of the alien species has brought a little something extra for our heroes. Find out how and why they excel against astronomical odds!
This book was action packed and kept that storyline all the way thru. Can't wait for the next installment!
Wish I could give more than 5 stars!
This book started out with a bang and just kept going! Seems as if a couple of battling alien species have blundered to close to the earth. And they have brought their war with them.
One of the alien species has brought a little something extra for our heroes. Find out how and why they excel against astronomical odds!
This book was action packed and kept that storyline all the way thru. Can't wait for the next installment!
March 27, 2016
Symbiosis
I am not a reader of alien invasion. Came upon this book by accident. I am so glad I did. It read like a SYFY movie. It was great!!! I read it in one sitting because I could not put it down.
Good writing Timothy Long!
I am not a reader of alien invasion. Came upon this book by accident. I am so glad I did. It read like a SYFY movie. It was great!!! I read it in one sitting because I could not put it down.
Good writing Timothy Long!
June 7, 2016
Mr. Long offers up a great science fiction story.
With a believable cast of heroes, well some of them are heroes, Seattle braces for an alien cage match. Grab your coffee and hang on!
With a believable cast of heroes, well some of them are heroes, Seattle braces for an alien cage match. Grab your coffee and hang on!
January 8, 2017
Good new approach to superheroes
Great character development very good action. Enjoyed the plot. Really want to see how things turn out in the sequel. Really hope it isn't a long wait.
Great character development very good action. Enjoyed the plot. Really want to see how things turn out in the sequel. Really hope it isn't a long wait.
March 18, 2016
Hero in making
Loved the characters but would've been nice to see more growth in some of the characters maturity after they got skills.
Loved the characters but would've been nice to see more growth in some of the characters maturity after they got skills.
May 16, 2016
good times...
November 26, 2016
Amazing
This book was absolutely amazing I loved every second of it can't wait for the sequel. I wonder what type of powers the other have
This book was absolutely amazing I loved every second of it can't wait for the sequel. I wonder what type of powers the other have
December 22, 2016
Very good story line and the writing is excellent.
November 18, 2016
Till now a great book
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews