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John Golden
John Golden, Freelance Debugger
John Golden is a debugger: He goes inside the computer systems of his corporate clients to exterminate the gremlins, sprites, and other fairies that take up residence. But when he gets a frantic call from Serpentine Systems, a top-of-the-line anti-fairy security company, John finds out he's on much more than a simple smurf-punting expedition. With the help of his sarcastic little sister Sarah (currently incarnated in the form of a Dell Inspiron) and a paranoid system administrator, John tackles Serpentine's fairy problem. But the rabbit hole goes deeper than he thinks, and with the security of all of the company's clients in danger, there's more at stake this time than John's paycheck!
60 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 3, 2014
12 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
Django Wexler
52 books3,741 followersDjango Wexler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science, and worked for the university in artificial intelligence research. Eventually he migrated to Microsoft in Seattle, where he now lives with two cats and a teetering mountain of books. When not planning Shadow Campaigns, he wrangles computers, paints tiny soldiers, and plays games of all sorts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
February 3, 2014
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...
I'm a tough sell when it comes to novellas. Even tougher when it comes to urban fantasy. Don't get me wrong; I love this genre, but the truth is there's also a lot of books and series out there. These days, ideas in urban fantasy have to be special and different enough in order to stand out and hook me.
But as soon as I read the description for this book, which is about a character whose job as a "freelance debugger" involves getting fairies out of computers, I knew it had me. Speaking as someone who is often convinced she has problems way worse than fairies mucking about in her PC, I think I need this John Golden guy in my life.
Django Wexler is also the perfect person to write this. That might come as a surprise if you've only read his epic fantasy, but I've discovered that he's also an amazingly versatile author. And as a former programmer and someone clearly used to being called upon for impromptu IT work, he definitely knows his way around computers and networks. He's taken that knowledge and mashed it up with elements from urban fantasy, creating a world where the land of the fae exists as part of a "Wildernet", and its denizens wreck havoc on our servers and systems by infesting them with their nasty "burrows".
I think the first thing most readers will notice is "Hey, there's a bunch of footnotes in this!" Wexler has decided to do something different here by using footnotes for humorous effect, having John Golden's business partner Sarah fill us in with her commentary in the form of annotations. Sarah is an interesting character, with her being a ... well, I think I'll just leave that little bit out as a surprise for now! In any case, I personally appreciated the footnotes as part of the book's unique flavor, though they did trip me up a little at the beginning. Ultimately though, it's worth your time to read Sarah's snarktastic comments, since they often add to the narrative or give you more details about the world. Not to mention she's downright hilarious.
I would recommend this to everyone. It's the perfect urban fantasy for computer geeks, with its IT jokes and references, but it's also fun for those who are not. Take me, for example. I wouldn't say I'm hopeless with computers, but at the same time what I don't know could fill an Olympic-size pool, and yet I still loved this book! It's quick, it's entertaining, and I have to say I got a real kick out of its geeky pop culture references and humor.
Can't wait for more, especially since Wexler has teased that the next book will have a gamer angle. I know his other fantasy series will likely take precedence, but I really hope he'll keep finding time to write John Golden stories. A premise this amazing simply demands further exploration!
I'm a tough sell when it comes to novellas. Even tougher when it comes to urban fantasy. Don't get me wrong; I love this genre, but the truth is there's also a lot of books and series out there. These days, ideas in urban fantasy have to be special and different enough in order to stand out and hook me.
But as soon as I read the description for this book, which is about a character whose job as a "freelance debugger" involves getting fairies out of computers, I knew it had me. Speaking as someone who is often convinced she has problems way worse than fairies mucking about in her PC, I think I need this John Golden guy in my life.
Django Wexler is also the perfect person to write this. That might come as a surprise if you've only read his epic fantasy, but I've discovered that he's also an amazingly versatile author. And as a former programmer and someone clearly used to being called upon for impromptu IT work, he definitely knows his way around computers and networks. He's taken that knowledge and mashed it up with elements from urban fantasy, creating a world where the land of the fae exists as part of a "Wildernet", and its denizens wreck havoc on our servers and systems by infesting them with their nasty "burrows".
I think the first thing most readers will notice is "Hey, there's a bunch of footnotes in this!" Wexler has decided to do something different here by using footnotes for humorous effect, having John Golden's business partner Sarah fill us in with her commentary in the form of annotations. Sarah is an interesting character, with her being a ... well, I think I'll just leave that little bit out as a surprise for now! In any case, I personally appreciated the footnotes as part of the book's unique flavor, though they did trip me up a little at the beginning. Ultimately though, it's worth your time to read Sarah's snarktastic comments, since they often add to the narrative or give you more details about the world. Not to mention she's downright hilarious.
I would recommend this to everyone. It's the perfect urban fantasy for computer geeks, with its IT jokes and references, but it's also fun for those who are not. Take me, for example. I wouldn't say I'm hopeless with computers, but at the same time what I don't know could fill an Olympic-size pool, and yet I still loved this book! It's quick, it's entertaining, and I have to say I got a real kick out of its geeky pop culture references and humor.
Can't wait for more, especially since Wexler has teased that the next book will have a gamer angle. I know his other fantasy series will likely take precedence, but I really hope he'll keep finding time to write John Golden stories. A premise this amazing simply demands further exploration!
February 4, 2014
John Golden is a hell of a lot of fun. It moves fast, and has a relaxed, self-assured feel to it that makes it easy to just sink into and enjoy (once you get used to the footnotes). The world, while fairly narrow in scope, is very well fleshed out. Some stylistic things might be off-putting to some readers, like the technospeak and the footnotes, but you’ll soon realize just how clever they all are. All in all, John Golden is a novella that could easily have been a novel. There’s a lot here, and while it is a lot of fun, it really shows off just what Wexler is capable of as an author. He’s confident, dynamic, and really sticks out. He takes saturated genres and he makes them his own. He did it with The Thousand Names, and now he’s done it again with John Golden.
There are some novels you read and you just know the author had a ton of fun writing them, and so they are fun to read because of that. John Golden is one of those. I think Wexler must have had a blast writing it, and I ended up having a blast reading it.
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2014/02/...
There are some novels you read and you just know the author had a ton of fun writing them, and so they are fun to read because of that. John Golden is one of those. I think Wexler must have had a blast writing it, and I ended up having a blast reading it.
Read my full review here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2014/02/...
February 2, 2014
This is an awesome book with a unique spin on incorporating the fairy realm into our own. John Golden works in IT, he is a debugger, and his job is to delve into computer networks and eliminate fairy infestations. When I say he delves into computer networks, I mean that he can move himself into a different dimension called a burrow where the network and the fairy infestation are manifested as a sword and sorcery medieval world, and once inside the burrow he can get to work exterminating the fairy presence. Its kind of like The Matrix meets A Midsummer Night's Dream.
This book is full of lots of geeky / nerdy / pop-culture references and plays on words (like when John Golden learned how to program in KOBOLD), and has been written in a unique way with the main character's sister providing something similar to director's commentary as footnotes to the story. I feel like the footnotes are a little too frequent and slightly jarring at the start of the book, but after reaching the first quarter mark they started to feel much more like a natural extension of the story. The humour is quite dry and understated, constructed from observations of how IT support is largely treated. If you have ever worked in IT or if you enjoy watching The IT Crowd, then I think you will really get a kick out of this book.
This book is full of lots of geeky / nerdy / pop-culture references and plays on words (like when John Golden learned how to program in KOBOLD), and has been written in a unique way with the main character's sister providing something similar to director's commentary as footnotes to the story. I feel like the footnotes are a little too frequent and slightly jarring at the start of the book, but after reaching the first quarter mark they started to feel much more like a natural extension of the story. The humour is quite dry and understated, constructed from observations of how IT support is largely treated. If you have ever worked in IT or if you enjoy watching The IT Crowd, then I think you will really get a kick out of this book.
July 8, 2015
Čitava priča ima blagi prizvuk Neuromancera samo što nije tolko crno, plus imamo i dašak fantastike.
Likovi su zabavni, priča je dosta pitka i predvidljiva ali to nije smetalo previše.
U svakom slučaju preporuka.
Likovi su zabavni, priča je dosta pitka i predvidljiva ali to nije smetalo previše.
U svakom slučaju preporuka.
February 6, 2014
You can find the full review over at The Founding Fields:
http://thefoundingfields.com/2014/02/...
Shadowhawk takes a look at the first ever urban fantasy novella from Django Wexler, the start of a new series and published by Ragnarok Publications.
"A great mix of technology and magic, John Golden: Freelance Debugger is a hilarious, fun and action-packed novella." ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields
One of the things that I find crucial for urban fantasy settings is that they really need to make themselves come across as unique. There's only so many stories that can be told about vampires and werewolves and witches and wizards before they all start to merge together into one giant ball of CLICHE. A good execution of cliches and tropes can only go so far. I've read a handful of urban fantasy stories in the last couple years, featuring the above-mentioned characters and while there have been ones that I really enjoyed, there have also been ones that I didn't. For me, the most unique have been the Split Worlds novels by Emma Newman, which have all been rather good, start to finish. Their one defining thing: they are stories about Faeries and the Fae, a character/race/species type that I haven't yet come across in my reading all that much. And that's where Django Wexler's John Golden: Freelance Debugger comes in.
In this new series of novellas about the character John Golden, Django has created an alternate world where magic is real in the sense that faeries and gremlins and others of their ilk are real and very much a thriving subsection of the supernatural society. Particularly, the faeries in this world love to inhabit computer networks and exist in a pseudo-online sphere where they create burrows inside these networks. Essentially, they are like a virus. And John Golden is a freelance debugger who is called in to clear these networks and his is quite the respected, and essential, profession as far as the IT industry is concerned.
When this story starts, John is called in by the head of a software firm that is about to launch a new AntiFae software. There has been a sudden faerie invasion in the company's networks, all under very mysteriou s circumstances, and so John acts the part of both investigator and clean-up crew.
John Golden: Freelance Debugger is a really fun story. For starts, John has some really great humour that is often front and center in his conversations with the other characters. He is somewhat of a typical urban fantasy protagonist in that regard (the two default states being either broody and dour or upbeat and cheerful), and his character arc, as well as his development here, handled very well. Being a first person story, we really get to go into his brain and see all the things that make him tick.
And speaking of going into his brain, he carries around a Dell Inspiron laptop that houses his sister's consciousness. A digital simulacra, Sarah no longer has a physical body. She exists only in the digital world. There's quite a backstory here that Django doesn't delve into much, but we get to see a lot of Sarah here nonetheless since she is a part of John's work and is both his controller and his backup and his partner. There are a lot of footnotes in the story and these provide a running commentary on whatever the scene presented on the particular page is. The story is all first person from John's perspective, but the footnotes are all first person from Sarah's perspective.
I loved that duality, to be perfectly honest, and I feel that I learned a lot about either character from those footnotes, not to mention all the commentary we get on the world that Django has created, and that was a really neat touch. Points to Django for that.
http://thefoundingfields.com/2014/02/...
Shadowhawk takes a look at the first ever urban fantasy novella from Django Wexler, the start of a new series and published by Ragnarok Publications.
"A great mix of technology and magic, John Golden: Freelance Debugger is a hilarious, fun and action-packed novella." ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields
One of the things that I find crucial for urban fantasy settings is that they really need to make themselves come across as unique. There's only so many stories that can be told about vampires and werewolves and witches and wizards before they all start to merge together into one giant ball of CLICHE. A good execution of cliches and tropes can only go so far. I've read a handful of urban fantasy stories in the last couple years, featuring the above-mentioned characters and while there have been ones that I really enjoyed, there have also been ones that I didn't. For me, the most unique have been the Split Worlds novels by Emma Newman, which have all been rather good, start to finish. Their one defining thing: they are stories about Faeries and the Fae, a character/race/species type that I haven't yet come across in my reading all that much. And that's where Django Wexler's John Golden: Freelance Debugger comes in.
In this new series of novellas about the character John Golden, Django has created an alternate world where magic is real in the sense that faeries and gremlins and others of their ilk are real and very much a thriving subsection of the supernatural society. Particularly, the faeries in this world love to inhabit computer networks and exist in a pseudo-online sphere where they create burrows inside these networks. Essentially, they are like a virus. And John Golden is a freelance debugger who is called in to clear these networks and his is quite the respected, and essential, profession as far as the IT industry is concerned.
When this story starts, John is called in by the head of a software firm that is about to launch a new AntiFae software. There has been a sudden faerie invasion in the company's networks, all under very mysteriou s circumstances, and so John acts the part of both investigator and clean-up crew.
John Golden: Freelance Debugger is a really fun story. For starts, John has some really great humour that is often front and center in his conversations with the other characters. He is somewhat of a typical urban fantasy protagonist in that regard (the two default states being either broody and dour or upbeat and cheerful), and his character arc, as well as his development here, handled very well. Being a first person story, we really get to go into his brain and see all the things that make him tick.
And speaking of going into his brain, he carries around a Dell Inspiron laptop that houses his sister's consciousness. A digital simulacra, Sarah no longer has a physical body. She exists only in the digital world. There's quite a backstory here that Django doesn't delve into much, but we get to see a lot of Sarah here nonetheless since she is a part of John's work and is both his controller and his backup and his partner. There are a lot of footnotes in the story and these provide a running commentary on whatever the scene presented on the particular page is. The story is all first person from John's perspective, but the footnotes are all first person from Sarah's perspective.
I loved that duality, to be perfectly honest, and I feel that I learned a lot about either character from those footnotes, not to mention all the commentary we get on the world that Django has created, and that was a really neat touch. Points to Django for that.
February 4, 2014
Freelance Debugger is a smart, quick mystery set in a world made from an interesting mix of cyberpunk and urban fantasy. I really dug this concept of the fae and their dependence on metaphor. I can't wait for the next installment to see the world get more fleshed out.
Side note, the books includes a lot of footnotes. The ebook is formatted with these inline and marked by dashes and italics. For the shorter footnotes, I actually preferred this to having to refer to the bottom of the page, sometimes the longer notes broke up the flow of the narrative a bit. That said, I think having them inline was a much better way to handle this than using hyperlinks.
I'm glad this was a short story because I couldn't put it down. The next John Golden book is due out in August and is going on my must read list.
Side note, the books includes a lot of footnotes. The ebook is formatted with these inline and marked by dashes and italics. For the shorter footnotes, I actually preferred this to having to refer to the bottom of the page, sometimes the longer notes broke up the flow of the narrative a bit. That said, I think having them inline was a much better way to handle this than using hyperlinks.
I'm glad this was a short story because I couldn't put it down. The next John Golden book is due out in August and is going on my must read list.
April 10, 2014
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
Reading JOHN GOLDEN: FREELANCE DEBUGGER was in a way refreshingly different from what I’ve been reading in the urban fantasy genre. The main reason for even picking up this book was to find out how a freelance debugger ‘debugged’ computers of fairies. I was not disappointed. It fuses fantasy with scifi and modern technology, and come out with a fresh, sarcastic story that I wish was longer. there are a lot of pop culture references and IT jokes that will make any computer geek smile.I loved the way the insides of computers become a completely separate world in which the fairies exist. Making fairies into sort personifications of viruses and other malware who create burrows in our servers is a great new take on fairies.
Aside from the most excellent battle against pesky fairies who want to take over our servers; the main characters, John and Sarah are a fun duo whose brother/sister dynamic was reflected in the unique footnotes at the bottom of the pages. At first I was confused about why there were footnotes with Sarah’s sarcastic comments on what was happening to John in the main text. The footnote confusion was only temporary as Sarah is hilarious and really smart and I came to keep glancing down just to see Sarah’s response to something John said. The footnotes add to the humor, worldbuilding and flavor of this novella.
With its sarcastic wit, pop culture jokes, and unique take on fairies I would recommend JOHN GOLDEN: FREELANCE DEBUGGER to everyone who likes a good quick adventure story. After reading this novella I await more John Golden adventures and I will for now blame any computer virus on those pesky pixies setting up burrows in the server.
Reading JOHN GOLDEN: FREELANCE DEBUGGER was in a way refreshingly different from what I’ve been reading in the urban fantasy genre. The main reason for even picking up this book was to find out how a freelance debugger ‘debugged’ computers of fairies. I was not disappointed. It fuses fantasy with scifi and modern technology, and come out with a fresh, sarcastic story that I wish was longer. there are a lot of pop culture references and IT jokes that will make any computer geek smile.I loved the way the insides of computers become a completely separate world in which the fairies exist. Making fairies into sort personifications of viruses and other malware who create burrows in our servers is a great new take on fairies.
Aside from the most excellent battle against pesky fairies who want to take over our servers; the main characters, John and Sarah are a fun duo whose brother/sister dynamic was reflected in the unique footnotes at the bottom of the pages. At first I was confused about why there were footnotes with Sarah’s sarcastic comments on what was happening to John in the main text. The footnote confusion was only temporary as Sarah is hilarious and really smart and I came to keep glancing down just to see Sarah’s response to something John said. The footnotes add to the humor, worldbuilding and flavor of this novella.
With its sarcastic wit, pop culture jokes, and unique take on fairies I would recommend JOHN GOLDEN: FREELANCE DEBUGGER to everyone who likes a good quick adventure story. After reading this novella I await more John Golden adventures and I will for now blame any computer virus on those pesky pixies setting up burrows in the server.
May 30, 2015
There is nothing exciting about working IT. Nothing. Django Wexler found a way to make it exciting though, and all he had to do was throw in a metric ton of sci-fi and fantasy to do it. Sounds about right. It's hard to pin down, but I suppose if you took The IT Crowd, threw in some Johnny Mnemonic, then you might wind up with John Golden: Freelance Debugger.
It's less than a hundred pages, and the Audible version I listened to clocked in under two-and-a-half hours. And the story just whizzes by with action and snark galore.
So imagine a world in which faeries are real and they have a knack for infecting technology. Enter John Golden. He's like a Ghostbuster ... well, a Faebuster. Just a blue-collar guy with a particular set of skills and his sister, Sara, backing him up on the job. While managing to provide a good amount of tension and daring do through the course of the novella, things are kept fairly light as far as tone goes. A lot of witty repartee between John and Sara, especially with her serving as a bit of a narrator or voice of reason through a series of footnotes that complement the story.
Kevin T. Collins and Jorjeana Marie do a great job bringing the characters to life with an instant chemistry that has them, if not battle weary siblings, at least a familial bond in battle.
There's a second John Golden book, which I'll be reviewing soon, and after that who knows. I'd like to think Wexler has more stories in this universe to come, because if not then this is a cruel tease of what might have been.
It's less than a hundred pages, and the Audible version I listened to clocked in under two-and-a-half hours. And the story just whizzes by with action and snark galore.
So imagine a world in which faeries are real and they have a knack for infecting technology. Enter John Golden. He's like a Ghostbuster ... well, a Faebuster. Just a blue-collar guy with a particular set of skills and his sister, Sara, backing him up on the job. While managing to provide a good amount of tension and daring do through the course of the novella, things are kept fairly light as far as tone goes. A lot of witty repartee between John and Sara, especially with her serving as a bit of a narrator or voice of reason through a series of footnotes that complement the story.
Kevin T. Collins and Jorjeana Marie do a great job bringing the characters to life with an instant chemistry that has them, if not battle weary siblings, at least a familial bond in battle.
There's a second John Golden book, which I'll be reviewing soon, and after that who knows. I'd like to think Wexler has more stories in this universe to come, because if not then this is a cruel tease of what might have been.
February 4, 2014
4.5 Stars
I picked this story up because I was aching for something fun and quirky and entirely different from what I’ve been reading lately. This fit the bill admirably. And, since I’ve always suspected that computers are inhabited by otherworldly forces (possibly maleficent) and that IT specialists are a peculiar species of wizard, the premise of the tale did not overly strain my willing suspension of disbelief.
The best thing about this story is the narrative voice. It’s told in first person by the main character (John Golden) with editorial footnotes by his non-corporeal sister and business partner, Sarah. The footnotes introduce an interesting rhythm to the text, creating a comic timing to the punchlines. At its best, the tone is snappy, smart and very funny. Occasionally it flirts with excess, maybe throwing in one footnote too many, but that’s a small transgression given the overall quality. The plot is not overly complex but substantial enough to carry this short piece and showcase the world and the highly entertaining personalities in it.
Would I revisit this world? Absolutely. This isn't the same old, same old.
I picked this story up because I was aching for something fun and quirky and entirely different from what I’ve been reading lately. This fit the bill admirably. And, since I’ve always suspected that computers are inhabited by otherworldly forces (possibly maleficent) and that IT specialists are a peculiar species of wizard, the premise of the tale did not overly strain my willing suspension of disbelief.
The best thing about this story is the narrative voice. It’s told in first person by the main character (John Golden) with editorial footnotes by his non-corporeal sister and business partner, Sarah. The footnotes introduce an interesting rhythm to the text, creating a comic timing to the punchlines. At its best, the tone is snappy, smart and very funny. Occasionally it flirts with excess, maybe throwing in one footnote too many, but that’s a small transgression given the overall quality. The plot is not overly complex but substantial enough to carry this short piece and showcase the world and the highly entertaining personalities in it.
Would I revisit this world? Absolutely. This isn't the same old, same old.
February 5, 2014
This can be described as cyberpunk, but with more awesome and less angst.
The footnotes were good, the characters were good, but the short-story thing didn't really work for me. There are five or six points where Sarah says: "This is referring to events from (other story), see there for more details", and of course (other story) isn't written yet. I think the intent was to make the world feel developed and lived-in, but what I'm actually feeling is cliffhangered.
Don't get me wrong -- there _is_ a complete storyarc here. It's just all the links to nonexistent stories in the same universe, combined with how short-stories are naturally less complex than novels, made it feel incomplete.
The footnotes were good, the characters were good, but the short-story thing didn't really work for me. There are five or six points where Sarah says: "This is referring to events from (other story), see there for more details", and of course (other story) isn't written yet. I think the intent was to make the world feel developed and lived-in, but what I'm actually feeling is cliffhangered.
Don't get me wrong -- there _is_ a complete storyarc here. It's just all the links to nonexistent stories in the same universe, combined with how short-stories are naturally less complex than novels, made it feel incomplete.
April 10, 2014
You don't have to be an IT person to get this book, but it certainly helps with some of the inside jokes. A super fast, delightful read that genuinely entertained me for a couple of hours. John Golden debugs computer systems. However, It's not only viruses he cleans up, but faerie folk as well, those little buggers that get into your system and take up residence in the circuits and gears. Awesome idea! Very happy to have chosen this one for my April TBR.
John's little sister, Sarah, steals the show just a bit with her crass but affectionate remarks which are noted in the footnotes
John's little sister, Sarah, steals the show just a bit with her crass but affectionate remarks which are noted in the footnotes
July 23, 2017
This might not be for everyone, but I just loved it!
Review 2: Had to go back to this and read it again while waiting for new John Golden stories. It was as great as I remembered - problem is I am now even mre impatient for the next one!!!!!!
Review 2: Had to go back to this and read it again while waiting for new John Golden stories. It was as great as I remembered - problem is I am now even mre impatient for the next one!!!!!!
February 14, 2014
As I was reading this on the train, people kept looking at me funny because I kept snickering out loud at pretty much all of Sarah's footnotes.
This novella hit every note just right. Hilarious, well-thought-out, fast-paced, and frankly, just plain fun.
This novella hit every note just right. Hilarious, well-thought-out, fast-paced, and frankly, just plain fun.
February 19, 2014
This was a fun, fast book that was unlike anything I've ever read before. His sister's footnotes (once I figured out what was going on) were clever and enjoyable. I read this book in one sitting while drinking a hot chocolate. It was an absolutely enjoyable experience.
January 2, 2025
It's definitely one of Wexler's earlier works, and it's rather rough around the edges--his later books have somewhat more sophisticated characterization. That said, it's an amusing, straightforward story with some very good visuals, so. Call it a 3.5, rounded up to 4 because it *is* fun.
March 31, 2014
I've been a fan of Django Wexler ever since reading his debut novel, MEMORIES OF EMPIRE, which I then immediately pushed onto all of my friends. After the release of his second novel, SHINIGAMI, Wexler dropped off the radar for long enough that I ceased waiting with such bated breath for his next project. Just when I thought maybe he'd died in a car accident or something, along comes a handful of new titles available on Amazon, including an e-book novella entitled JOHN GOLDEN: FREELANCE DEBUGGER. Didn't sound promising, but, hey, I'd buy a book called ROCK, SCISSORS, PAPER FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED if it was written by Wexler...
Django Wexler's previous novels are a mix of traditional fantasy, video-game-style storytelling, and Japanese anime. JOHN GOLDEN, on the other hand, is more of an urban techno-geek fantasy with cutesy comedic overtones, written for the sort of people who spend half their day hunched over a computer and the other half reading authors like Kim Harrison and L.A. Banks. The book's hero, John Golden, is a character who can jump inside computers and battle software viruses in various alternate realities reminiscent of the cutaway sequences from SUCKER PUNCH.
Unfortunately, I have a lot of complaints about this book. The concept seems lame to me, and the fantasy aspects are complicated and largely nonsensical. The writing was solid, but I could have used a lot more description of the "otherworld" environments. The "mystery" of the story was anything but, and the plot was incredibly predictable overall. The worst part though, were the constant footnote interjections by John Golden's sister. I know her comments are supposed to be funny and cute, but I found them annoying. Hell, I don't even appreciate Terry Pratchett's penchant for footnote comedy, and I think Pratchett a comedic genius.
JOHN GOLDEN was a disappointing waste of three dollars, but, considering how good Wexler's new THE SHADOW CAMPAIGNS series looks, I'm not giving up on him any time soon.
Django Wexler's previous novels are a mix of traditional fantasy, video-game-style storytelling, and Japanese anime. JOHN GOLDEN, on the other hand, is more of an urban techno-geek fantasy with cutesy comedic overtones, written for the sort of people who spend half their day hunched over a computer and the other half reading authors like Kim Harrison and L.A. Banks. The book's hero, John Golden, is a character who can jump inside computers and battle software viruses in various alternate realities reminiscent of the cutaway sequences from SUCKER PUNCH.
Unfortunately, I have a lot of complaints about this book. The concept seems lame to me, and the fantasy aspects are complicated and largely nonsensical. The writing was solid, but I could have used a lot more description of the "otherworld" environments. The "mystery" of the story was anything but, and the plot was incredibly predictable overall. The worst part though, were the constant footnote interjections by John Golden's sister. I know her comments are supposed to be funny and cute, but I found them annoying. Hell, I don't even appreciate Terry Pratchett's penchant for footnote comedy, and I think Pratchett a comedic genius.
JOHN GOLDEN was a disappointing waste of three dollars, but, considering how good Wexler's new THE SHADOW CAMPAIGNS series looks, I'm not giving up on him any time soon.
April 28, 2014
Super interesting story in a world with not just Viruses and Trojans, but now Fairies can infect computers as well. Our hero John Golden gets tapped by a security company to do some debugging work. Debugging is the act of going into a fairy burrow that's infecting a computer and getting rid of it, in this case. Only some people can do it (a select few actually) and John is one if the top dogs. This is an excellently written, humorous, extremely well done tale from Django Wexler, who you may know from his debut The Thousand Names.
Fantasy fans of all shapes and sizes will enjoy this but IT people and gaming people will get some of the little jokes as well. Oh did I mention John Golden's sidekick is his little sister Sarah? No? Yea, she's stuck in a Dell Inspiron laptop. And she annotates the story as it was obviously written on 'her' before it was published.
Fantasy fans of all shapes and sizes will enjoy this but IT people and gaming people will get some of the little jokes as well. Oh did I mention John Golden's sidekick is his little sister Sarah? No? Yea, she's stuck in a Dell Inspiron laptop. And she annotates the story as it was obviously written on 'her' before it was published.
March 6, 2014
Not too often one comes across an original concept. Combining the notion of faeries with the world of cyberspace Wexler creates a truly original world. What makes the book however, are the "footnotes" from the narrator's sister, whose soul or whatnot is trapped in a laptop computer. She's sarcastic, funny and takes the narrator down a few pegs more than once. Want more stories that take place in this world as long as Sara is along for the ride.
July 16, 2014
I wasn't sure what to expect of this book, but once it got started, I couldn't put it down!
I love sci fi and stories about fae, and Django Wexler combined the two in such an interesting and well-thought-out way. The writing is remarkable, and the footnotes were brilliant. It was so great to hear what multiple characters have to say in such a fluid way.
I look forward to the next book.
I love sci fi and stories about fae, and Django Wexler combined the two in such an interesting and well-thought-out way. The writing is remarkable, and the footnotes were brilliant. It was so great to hear what multiple characters have to say in such a fluid way.
I look forward to the next book.
April 26, 2014
Pretty cool
I really enjoyed this bit of urban fantasy/sci-fi combination.
It's clever and well written and the ghost in the machine sister with the backsass footnotes was a nice touch.
I'd read more of these.
I really enjoyed this bit of urban fantasy/sci-fi combination.
It's clever and well written and the ghost in the machine sister with the backsass footnotes was a nice touch.
I'd read more of these.
July 23, 2014
Computer Sci Fi, as John Golden goes inside the computer to clear out the fairies tying everything up. Only to encounter much more than pesky pixies. Fun.
March 20, 2015
This was a bit silly really. Lighthearted enough that I enjoyed it some, but nothing to dive into too seriously.
July 16, 2015
A lot of fun at times, super interesting concept - just wasn't really for me. I love Django and his novels, and have friends who really enjoyed this piece.
September 10, 2015
3.5 will review at www.fantasyliterature.com
April 10, 2020
Short and to the extremely sharp point, Django Wexler’s novella featuring a debugger who ousts fairies from computer systems makes an impressing in few words, with delightfully witty commentary from the protagonists’s discorporate computer-bound sister.
I do love the concept behind this novel. Fairies invading the virtual space made my computers, causing havoc as they interact and reroute and I swear now that they’re the cause of all the times I error messages and then can’t reproduce them when tech support’s actually watching. Damn fairy mischief. There’s a whole culture of debugger built up behind the scenes of this book, keeping this info from most people while still fighting to keep the supernatural away from technology, with fun wordplay to go along with it (direwalls instead of firewalls, for instance.) For such a short piece, Wexler manages to cram a hell of a lot into the pages, letting the story spread out behind him without needing to go into every single detail. There are hints dropping in casual conversation, enough to make the whole thing feel incredibly realistic while still keeping the focus tight on the main plot.
Is this the sort of storytelling that I’ve missed by not having read Wexler’s other books yet?
Above all else, this novella is simply fun. The prose is tight, the dialogue quick and real, and Sarah’s commentary on John’s thoughts and observations had me occasionally fighting the urge to laugh aloud (something I try to keep under wraps when I’m reading in public). The footnotes were a little odd to get used to at first, but a few pages in they start to flow well with the narrative, and they add so much to the story that I wouldn’t wish them away.
My biggest complaint seems to be one that I’ve seen in a few other reviews: it’s not long enough to satisfy! I’ll grant you that making this one story any longer would have taken much of the punch from it and spoiled some of the fun, but it’s the kind of thing you get through quickly and then wish you hadn’t, because the story’s over and there’s no more, no matter how much you want it. And believe me, I wanted more. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to be a one-shot novella, and more John Golden stories are in the works (or so I hear; please correct me if I’m wrong). I’m already looking forward to future installments!
John Golden: Freelance Debugger has been getting glowing reviews from all over, and I’m adding my voice to the mix that says it’s worth every one. It’s a taste of a larger world, one that I want to see more of, and it’s definitely bumped Wexler’s books further up my reading pile (not that they weren’t fairly high up there already). It’s everything you want in an urban fantasy novella: creativity, wit, action, and a refreshing gender balance that I don’t see as often as I’d like. Do yourself a favour and take an hour to give this a read. You’ll find yourself as hooked as the rest of us!
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
I do love the concept behind this novel. Fairies invading the virtual space made my computers, causing havoc as they interact and reroute and I swear now that they’re the cause of all the times I error messages and then can’t reproduce them when tech support’s actually watching. Damn fairy mischief. There’s a whole culture of debugger built up behind the scenes of this book, keeping this info from most people while still fighting to keep the supernatural away from technology, with fun wordplay to go along with it (direwalls instead of firewalls, for instance.) For such a short piece, Wexler manages to cram a hell of a lot into the pages, letting the story spread out behind him without needing to go into every single detail. There are hints dropping in casual conversation, enough to make the whole thing feel incredibly realistic while still keeping the focus tight on the main plot.
Is this the sort of storytelling that I’ve missed by not having read Wexler’s other books yet?
Above all else, this novella is simply fun. The prose is tight, the dialogue quick and real, and Sarah’s commentary on John’s thoughts and observations had me occasionally fighting the urge to laugh aloud (something I try to keep under wraps when I’m reading in public). The footnotes were a little odd to get used to at first, but a few pages in they start to flow well with the narrative, and they add so much to the story that I wouldn’t wish them away.
My biggest complaint seems to be one that I’ve seen in a few other reviews: it’s not long enough to satisfy! I’ll grant you that making this one story any longer would have taken much of the punch from it and spoiled some of the fun, but it’s the kind of thing you get through quickly and then wish you hadn’t, because the story’s over and there’s no more, no matter how much you want it. And believe me, I wanted more. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to be a one-shot novella, and more John Golden stories are in the works (or so I hear; please correct me if I’m wrong). I’m already looking forward to future installments!
John Golden: Freelance Debugger has been getting glowing reviews from all over, and I’m adding my voice to the mix that says it’s worth every one. It’s a taste of a larger world, one that I want to see more of, and it’s definitely bumped Wexler’s books further up my reading pile (not that they weren’t fairly high up there already). It’s everything you want in an urban fantasy novella: creativity, wit, action, and a refreshing gender balance that I don’t see as often as I’d like. Do yourself a favour and take an hour to give this a read. You’ll find yourself as hooked as the rest of us!
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
December 7, 2017
4.5 stars
Oh my goodness, what a breath of fresh air after some rather flat reads.
I loved this so much! The concept and execution was so great. I'm torn because I so wanted to stay in the world Wexler has built longer, but the story was the perfect length.
I need me more some more John Golden, please!
Oh my goodness, what a breath of fresh air after some rather flat reads.
I loved this so much! The concept and execution was so great. I'm torn because I so wanted to stay in the world Wexler has built longer, but the story was the perfect length.
I need me more some more John Golden, please!
January 19, 2021
John Golden and his sister Sarah are debuggers
Just so happen his sister Sarah no linger has a body and lives in a Dell computer. They are hired to debug a computer system and meet Delphi the programmer before finding cause.
Just so happen his sister Sarah no linger has a body and lives in a Dell computer. They are hired to debug a computer system and meet Delphi the programmer before finding cause.
April 28, 2021
Fun
This was a quick, fun read. It helps of you know a bit about computers but you'll get the gist of the humour without. There was lots of action and the world building was creative.Fast paced and quirky, give it a go.
This was a quick, fun read. It helps of you know a bit about computers but you'll get the gist of the humour without. There was lots of action and the world building was creative.Fast paced and quirky, give it a go.
August 30, 2020
Very enjoyable quick read. Think Mr Wexler will be on my "must-read-all-he-writes" list.
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