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Before We Die Alone
Since we’re all going to be dead in a week, I might as well tell you—this planet is doomed. Even if we survive the impact, or somehow manage to avoid it, humans only have a few generations left on Earth. Our habitat collapses down to an inevitable end. And that’s the good news.
411 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 14, 2016
62 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Ike Hamill
54 books188 followersIke Hamill writes fast-paced horror novels with strong, relatable characters. His books have gained a steady following amongst readers who enjoy his blend of sci-fi, paranormal, occult, and suspense. Whether focused on a small family trying to survive the move to a haunted house, or following a band of angry rebels determined to withstand an apocalypse, his stories draw the reader into the lives of real people in crisis. Readers are always sad to leave the characters behind when the book is finished.
Reviewers compare Ike to Dean Koontz and Stephen King—two of his favorite authors. His narrative often jumps between interwoven stories, presenting readers with a fresh perspective and keeping them guessing until the last chapter. Most of Ike’s readers are repeat customers. Pick up one of his books to learn why.
Reviewers compare Ike to Dean Koontz and Stephen King—two of his favorite authors. His narrative often jumps between interwoven stories, presenting readers with a fresh perspective and keeping them guessing until the last chapter. Most of Ike’s readers are repeat customers. Pick up one of his books to learn why.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 24, 2020
Oh boy. I’m not even sure how to start describing Ike Hamill’s Before We Die Alone. Dennis is a programmer, hardware guy, and project lead. He also has a friend named Adam who talks to him through the grating in the wall of his house, and a black bear at a zoo spoke to him once. One day Adam suggests he get a job with a company called puzzleBox that’s just around the corner from his home. Dennis goes in, and ends up going for coffee with his interviewer, Janice. At the coffee shop he’s attacked by the same bear who talked to him at the zoo. Meanwhile, there’s an asteroid coming that has roughly a 60% chance of hitting the earth and destroying all life. Apparently the bears could have deflected it, but they voted, and decided it was time for humanity to die. The black bear claims he voted for the humans, but a big ol’ brown bear says the black bear is a felon and thus can’t vote.
Dennis seems to accept these things with remarkable equanimity, which lends itself to an intriguing character and whimsical feel. There are bears on the moon, there are guys running around in the city naked with spears, there are chimps, apes, and gorillas living on another planet, and Dennis eventually learns how to “fold,” allowing him to travel in strange ways. There’s a blueberry heist (he needs lots of blueberries to trade for information from the black bear).
There are some things that never get dealt with. Why was there a tiny heart wired into a computer chip? What was the deal with people saying Dennis had “the mark” after he got clawed in the chest? Was Hamill on acid when he wrote this book? It gets more and more surreal as it goes.
One oddity that I didn’t entirely like was that Dennis sometimes broke into the story with the phrase “For clarity” followed by an explanation of some everyday thing like cell phones, programming, football, cars, TV, relationships, DVRs, newspapers, and shoelace-tying. If you read the author’s notes after the book you find out this is supposed to be a sort of memoir, but there’s no indication of that when you’re reading the book. So I guess it kind of makes sense in that context, but there are times in the book where it happens all too often. Also, I think one time he may have said one of them out loud, because another person comments on his shoelace-tying narration. There’s just little sense to what he feels he needs to explain, and what he doesn’t.
This book is worth reading if just for the sheer weirdness factor. There’s so much I want to comment on, but I don’t want to spoil all the bizarre hijinks.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2020/07/r...
Dennis seems to accept these things with remarkable equanimity, which lends itself to an intriguing character and whimsical feel. There are bears on the moon, there are guys running around in the city naked with spears, there are chimps, apes, and gorillas living on another planet, and Dennis eventually learns how to “fold,” allowing him to travel in strange ways. There’s a blueberry heist (he needs lots of blueberries to trade for information from the black bear).
There are some things that never get dealt with. Why was there a tiny heart wired into a computer chip? What was the deal with people saying Dennis had “the mark” after he got clawed in the chest? Was Hamill on acid when he wrote this book? It gets more and more surreal as it goes.
One oddity that I didn’t entirely like was that Dennis sometimes broke into the story with the phrase “For clarity” followed by an explanation of some everyday thing like cell phones, programming, football, cars, TV, relationships, DVRs, newspapers, and shoelace-tying. If you read the author’s notes after the book you find out this is supposed to be a sort of memoir, but there’s no indication of that when you’re reading the book. So I guess it kind of makes sense in that context, but there are times in the book where it happens all too often. Also, I think one time he may have said one of them out loud, because another person comments on his shoelace-tying narration. There’s just little sense to what he feels he needs to explain, and what he doesn’t.
This book is worth reading if just for the sheer weirdness factor. There’s so much I want to comment on, but I don’t want to spoil all the bizarre hijinks.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2020/07/r...
July 5, 2020
Well, this was not my favorite Ike Hamill novel but it was interesting and highly unusual (for Hamill). First off, it's not horror. It's sci-fi. Second, it's filled with tongue in cheek humor. Throughout, the narrator, Dennis, a software engineer, directly addresses the reader with sentences that start "To clarify..." and then goes on to give definitions of both common and technical terms as if the reader were from some alien civilization. Some of these are pretty humorous.
I suspect that the introduction of talking bears early on in the novel weirded out a lot of folks. One typical aspect of Hamill's writing, in evidence here, is that he rarely comes right out and explains stuff to the reader. Rather, he implies things and takes his time supplying the reader with enough information to let them figure out what is going on. Eventually it all makes sense, although he does always leave little bits ambiguous. The same is true here. Eventually the talking bears make sense and it becomes clear that this is a sci-fi novel involving alien civilizations and the multiverse.
The writing is typical Hamill, tight, well-written and with good pacing and a decent ending. I wouldn't start here if you've never read Hamill before, but if you have and liked his writing, odds are you will like this one too.
Recommended.
JM Tepper
I suspect that the introduction of talking bears early on in the novel weirded out a lot of folks. One typical aspect of Hamill's writing, in evidence here, is that he rarely comes right out and explains stuff to the reader. Rather, he implies things and takes his time supplying the reader with enough information to let them figure out what is going on. Eventually it all makes sense, although he does always leave little bits ambiguous. The same is true here. Eventually the talking bears make sense and it becomes clear that this is a sci-fi novel involving alien civilizations and the multiverse.
The writing is typical Hamill, tight, well-written and with good pacing and a decent ending. I wouldn't start here if you've never read Hamill before, but if you have and liked his writing, odds are you will like this one too.
Recommended.
JM Tepper
August 30, 2018
For clarity - loved this book.
Shortly after I started reading this book, I thought, *this* is what I had wanted Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to feel like. Wondering if the protagonist is sane, somewhere in the autism spectrum, or on acid, everything in his worlds turn out to be just as trippy. From interdimensional talking bears, talking gorillas and chimps, to high tech computers, tech nerds, six legged horse sized squirrels. It is a non-lineal world with instantaneous travel between places and spaces if you know what you are looking for. It's a story of how Earth was wasn't saved (not a typo) by a pervy bear, 164 yr old man who looks 50 (mental picture is the most interesting man in the world from the beer commercials) and our protagonist. After reading this, you will tend to give gulls the side-eye as well.
Shortly after I started reading this book, I thought, *this* is what I had wanted Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to feel like. Wondering if the protagonist is sane, somewhere in the autism spectrum, or on acid, everything in his worlds turn out to be just as trippy. From interdimensional talking bears, talking gorillas and chimps, to high tech computers, tech nerds, six legged horse sized squirrels. It is a non-lineal world with instantaneous travel between places and spaces if you know what you are looking for. It's a story of how Earth was wasn't saved (not a typo) by a pervy bear, 164 yr old man who looks 50 (mental picture is the most interesting man in the world from the beer commercials) and our protagonist. After reading this, you will tend to give gulls the side-eye as well.
August 21, 2020
Impressive, Strange, and Funny
I continue to be impressed with the works of Ike Hamill. The copious amount of knowledge he must have to write in the depths that he does is beyond the words to describe. Each of his stories is so diverse from the other. In this story, It got strange. And the multiple times I thought it couldn’t get any stranger, it does. But I quickly learned to appreciate it. The main character is an odd duck. I liked how Mr. Hamill showed his development by using different childhood experiences, told in pieces, to give us a backstory foundation. There is a hole/gap in how Dennis affords his prolonged retirement. Also, in what is seemingly a lack of sexual desires. Overall, it was a good read and worth my time.
I continue to be impressed with the works of Ike Hamill. The copious amount of knowledge he must have to write in the depths that he does is beyond the words to describe. Each of his stories is so diverse from the other. In this story, It got strange. And the multiple times I thought it couldn’t get any stranger, it does. But I quickly learned to appreciate it. The main character is an odd duck. I liked how Mr. Hamill showed his development by using different childhood experiences, told in pieces, to give us a backstory foundation. There is a hole/gap in how Dennis affords his prolonged retirement. Also, in what is seemingly a lack of sexual desires. Overall, it was a good read and worth my time.
December 31, 2020
A tome of Science Dysfunction
This story rambled on for page after page, taking time and energy to achieve a pointless absurdism.
Evidently the writer hoped it would be filled with whimsy. It succeeded in giving the world a bewildering miasma that seemed lacking direction or purpose.
Some books Ive read left an indelible impression on my mind, and return to memory like old friends. Others leave the same indelible impression as the legion of spam calls to my landlune and cellphones.
This book is one I look forward to forgetting as soin as possible.
Apart from that, it was okay.
This story rambled on for page after page, taking time and energy to achieve a pointless absurdism.
Evidently the writer hoped it would be filled with whimsy. It succeeded in giving the world a bewildering miasma that seemed lacking direction or purpose.
Some books Ive read left an indelible impression on my mind, and return to memory like old friends. Others leave the same indelible impression as the legion of spam calls to my landlune and cellphones.
This book is one I look forward to forgetting as soin as possible.
Apart from that, it was okay.
January 6, 2022
Sci-Fi Not Horror
Wow! At this point I will read anything author Ike Hamill writes. He's not just your typical horror story writer which is more than obvious in this sci-fi adventure told by Dennis, a programmer. Interesting characters with lots of humor and an ending you won't expect. As usual with this author a Great read.
Wow! At this point I will read anything author Ike Hamill writes. He's not just your typical horror story writer which is more than obvious in this sci-fi adventure told by Dennis, a programmer. Interesting characters with lots of humor and an ending you won't expect. As usual with this author a Great read.
January 29, 2021
Highly Enjoyable
I loved this book. Great characters, wonderful descriptions, fun and interesting story. A lot of humor mixed in. If you like stories about time travel and interdimensional travel you should definitely give this book a shot!
I loved this book. Great characters, wonderful descriptions, fun and interesting story. A lot of humor mixed in. If you like stories about time travel and interdimensional travel you should definitely give this book a shot!
August 29, 2016
I am excited to say that this is a new kind of book from Ike…sci-fi and humorous, not a bit of horror. I could even venture so far as to say that it may now be my FAVORITE Ike Hamill book. You just never know in this book where you will be when you turn the page. Fantastical things happen on each page and every one of them is completely believable in some unbelievable way. You have time-travel, space-travel, talking animals, portals, folds…just too many extremely cool things to even mention them all. It felt like someone was reading me a fairy-tale and I could see each character. I want more!
August 19, 2016
This was a very interesting mix of dark comedy and science fiction. I didn`t know Ike Hamill was funny! When I heard he was writing a book that involved talking bears in space, I had no frame of reference for that. This book had some very comedic moments, and some very sad moments. The main character, Dennis, gets thrown into a mystery and fights to save the world, and possibly the universe. This book is as insane as it is brilliant.
September 3, 2016
This is a good story, just not my cup of tea. Ike Hamill is a very sophisticated writer, which I find inspiring since it proves he's done his scientific research. This book is perfect for all those sci-fi buffs!
July 16, 2025
Loved this book. The Bears are all hilarious. Stick with it, it can be a bit technical at the start, but that's just to put you in Dennis' mindset. I really enjoyed reading it. It's a sign of a good book when you just don't want it to end.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews