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SPECTRUM
A post-apocalyptic America, fueled by bigotry and the unintended consequences of technology, blooms behind a walled city run by the crisping-addicted strongman, George Polk. Enter Mere Roosevelt, a down and out sort, sick of his bad luck, but good at his job. He has a comfortable life working for Polk, but when Mere quits, he discovers Polk needs him for more than research. On the run for his life, Mere must seek out help in the underworld where skin hue means everything to characters from his dark past while the police and strange contract killers attempt to hunt him down. Spectrum asks us to examine the nature of black and white and, as Mere discovers, love and hate, in a world designed by a an organic supercomputer.
- GenresScience Fiction
241 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2016
2 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
About the author
Martin Ott
14 books127 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Born in Alaska and raised in Michigan, Martin Ott served as an interrogator in U.S. Army military intelligence.
He moved to Los Angeles to attend the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC, and often writes about his adopted city, including in the novel The Interrogator's Notebook (currently being pitched by Paradigm as a TV pilot) and poetry books Captive, De Novo Prize Winner, C&R Press and Underdays, Sandeen Prize Winner, University of Notre Dame Press (Fall 2015).
Social and political themes are prevalent in all of his books, particularly Poets' Guide to America and Yankee Broadcast Network, coauthored with John F. Buckley, Brooklyn Arts Press and his short story collection, Interrogations, Fomite Press (Spring 2016). His novel Spectrum, C&R Press, (Fall 2016), asks what if a wall is built in a post-apocalyptic America, fueled by bigotry and the unintended consequences of technology.
His most recent poetry book, LESSONS IN CAMOUFLAGE, C&R Press, 2018, explores the hidden reservoirs of his life as an interrogator, divorced father, and estranged son to a dying mother, all with an eye on truths easy to conceal and sometimes painful to reveal.
His Writeliving blog - http://writeliving.wordpress.com/ - has been read by more than 30,000 people in 100+ countries. More at www.martinottwriter.com.
Born in Alaska and raised in Michigan, Martin Ott served as an interrogator in U.S. Army military intelligence.
He moved to Los Angeles to attend the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC, and often writes about his adopted city, including in the novel The Interrogator's Notebook (currently being pitched by Paradigm as a TV pilot) and poetry books Captive, De Novo Prize Winner, C&R Press and Underdays, Sandeen Prize Winner, University of Notre Dame Press (Fall 2015).
Social and political themes are prevalent in all of his books, particularly Poets' Guide to America and Yankee Broadcast Network, coauthored with John F. Buckley, Brooklyn Arts Press and his short story collection, Interrogations, Fomite Press (Spring 2016). His novel Spectrum, C&R Press, (Fall 2016), asks what if a wall is built in a post-apocalyptic America, fueled by bigotry and the unintended consequences of technology.
His most recent poetry book, LESSONS IN CAMOUFLAGE, C&R Press, 2018, explores the hidden reservoirs of his life as an interrogator, divorced father, and estranged son to a dying mother, all with an eye on truths easy to conceal and sometimes painful to reveal.
His Writeliving blog - http://writeliving.wordpress.com/ - has been read by more than 30,000 people in 100+ countries. More at www.martinottwriter.com.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 26, 2019
I really enjoyed Spectrum! It’s always such a pleasure to find science fiction that is not just a great concept and story, but also well written. Much like the visual atmospherics in the Blade Runner movies, Spectrum is written in a way that captures Ott’s post-apocalyptic vision in everything from word choice to sentence structure to pacing. And it does so while adding texture (and without ever slowing down) a great fun story. Highly recommended.
December 23, 2016
‘Maybe humanity could finally overcome its destructive nature. Maybe they could learn. There was nothing to lose by trying.’
Los Angeles author/poet Martin Ott was born in Alaska, raised in Michigan, and served as an interrogator in U.S. Army military intelligence. He now lives in Los Angles and as much as any writer this movie star handsome poet captures the essence of this city better than any other current poet. He is well schooled – earning a Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC and for all his youth he is already well established as a poet and author of the highest rank. His poems are ‘must reads’ – ‘Underdays’, ‘Yankee Broadcast Network’ among others. Having read his novel ‘The Interrogator's Notebook’ and admiring his abilities to weave complete stories, for this reader the true pleasure of his work is his intense poetry with social and political themes pushing off the page to be glued in our psyches.
And now Martin surprises us again with ‘Spectrum’ – a dystopian, science fiction, post-apocalyptic fantasy – that in Martin’s hands becomes utterly credible. He opens and closes his book with a Preface and an Epilogue that focus on a man named ‘Greek’ – a amalgamation of psyches described in a manner that promises that his true nature will be exposed in the context of the novel (the little conundrums such as ‘crisping’ stir the imagination, guaranteeing we will stay with this intensely interesting story to the last words.)
Martin supplies a synopsis that outlines scantily the gist of the story – ‘A post-apocalyptic America, fueled by bigotry and the unintended consequences of technology, blooms behind a walled city run by the crisping-addicted strongman, George Polk. Enter Mere Roosevelt, a down and out sort, sick of his bad luck, but good at his job. He has a comfortable life working for Polk, but when Mere quits, he discovers Polk needs him for more than research. On the run for his life, Mere must seek out help in the underworld where skin hue means everything to characters from his dark past while the police and strange contract killers attempt to hunt him down. Spectrum asks us to examine the nature of black and white and, as Mere discovers, love and hate, in a world designed by an organic supercomputer.’
And that would be enough were Ott not so sophisticated a construction engineer of words (aka, a wordsmith). But fortunately for the reader he provides enough of a challenge to piece together his narrative that his demands on our attention span are great. The way he weaves paragraphs and conversations is not at all unlike that manner in which he distills his poetic paintings. Martin Ott continues to rise in the realm of important contemporary authors.
Los Angeles author/poet Martin Ott was born in Alaska, raised in Michigan, and served as an interrogator in U.S. Army military intelligence. He now lives in Los Angles and as much as any writer this movie star handsome poet captures the essence of this city better than any other current poet. He is well schooled – earning a Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC and for all his youth he is already well established as a poet and author of the highest rank. His poems are ‘must reads’ – ‘Underdays’, ‘Yankee Broadcast Network’ among others. Having read his novel ‘The Interrogator's Notebook’ and admiring his abilities to weave complete stories, for this reader the true pleasure of his work is his intense poetry with social and political themes pushing off the page to be glued in our psyches.
And now Martin surprises us again with ‘Spectrum’ – a dystopian, science fiction, post-apocalyptic fantasy – that in Martin’s hands becomes utterly credible. He opens and closes his book with a Preface and an Epilogue that focus on a man named ‘Greek’ – a amalgamation of psyches described in a manner that promises that his true nature will be exposed in the context of the novel (the little conundrums such as ‘crisping’ stir the imagination, guaranteeing we will stay with this intensely interesting story to the last words.)
Martin supplies a synopsis that outlines scantily the gist of the story – ‘A post-apocalyptic America, fueled by bigotry and the unintended consequences of technology, blooms behind a walled city run by the crisping-addicted strongman, George Polk. Enter Mere Roosevelt, a down and out sort, sick of his bad luck, but good at his job. He has a comfortable life working for Polk, but when Mere quits, he discovers Polk needs him for more than research. On the run for his life, Mere must seek out help in the underworld where skin hue means everything to characters from his dark past while the police and strange contract killers attempt to hunt him down. Spectrum asks us to examine the nature of black and white and, as Mere discovers, love and hate, in a world designed by an organic supercomputer.’
And that would be enough were Ott not so sophisticated a construction engineer of words (aka, a wordsmith). But fortunately for the reader he provides enough of a challenge to piece together his narrative that his demands on our attention span are great. The way he weaves paragraphs and conversations is not at all unlike that manner in which he distills his poetic paintings. Martin Ott continues to rise in the realm of important contemporary authors.
January 19, 2022
3.5
Really fun read. Strong imagery. I wish there was a little bit more on the 'Crisping.' I was entirely gripped for the first half, and blown away in the early stages. It lost a little steam by the end for me, but definitely a good read and quality science fiction.
Really fun read. Strong imagery. I wish there was a little bit more on the 'Crisping.' I was entirely gripped for the first half, and blown away in the early stages. It lost a little steam by the end for me, but definitely a good read and quality science fiction.
April 26, 2019
A unique post-apocalypse sci-fi "what-if". As described by another reviewer, this is definitely unique, 'WIERD" fiction - but definitely worth the read. This book reminds me of the cult movie ". . . "Barton Fink." Because after the movie, I remember MANY bumper stickers saying "Honk if you understand Barton Fink." This is not a spoiler, because even AFTER reading this gripping novel, I don't know what "crisping" is. But this is really engaging science fiction The story move very fast. And, if you get started, it is very hard to put down. I will share this booi with my daughter.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2019
I won this as a Goodreads First Read.
Pretty good. Some of the ideas in the book are a little far fetched, but if you get past it, Spectrum is a good sci-fi story with not to subtle racial overtones. For some reason I kept thinking of bladerunner. Not really sure why.
Other than a few editorial errors, Spectrum was a decent read about race, hate, and redemption with a lot of out there sci-fi.
Pretty good. Some of the ideas in the book are a little far fetched, but if you get past it, Spectrum is a good sci-fi story with not to subtle racial overtones. For some reason I kept thinking of bladerunner. Not really sure why.
Other than a few editorial errors, Spectrum was a decent read about race, hate, and redemption with a lot of out there sci-fi.
December 4, 2018
Interesting, unusual, some startling imagery. But felt a bit emotionless.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews