Faction 9: A Novel of Revolution

by James Firelocke

Meet Jack Tone. Thirty years old. Depressed and lonely. An information analyst in the sprawling Federal security bureaucracy. It’s the year 2041, and America is a country ruled by ruthless billionaires and war profiteers.

In Jack’s America, the aristocrats live in luxurious depravity, while regular citizens struggle for existence. And the politicians just smirk—all the way to the bank to deposit their bribes. The government, far from defending the people, is a quagmire of fumblebuck bureaucracy. But most citizens are so zonked out on “Pharmatainment Tech” (including virtual reality games, interactive security dramas, screwball porn, and spirituality pills) that there is little organized resistance to the tyranny.

Jack is barely shuffling through life, uninterested in the sleazy distractions the corporate government feeds the people to keep them sedated. He also hates his job spying on citizens from a dreary office seventeen stories underground. So it’s understandable when, in a desperate moment, he decides to join a group of peculiar revolutionaries who call themselves “Faction 9.” They are everything Jack is not: impulsive, passionate, unpredictable, conspiratorial, hard-partying, and utterly devoted to a radical and thoroughly un-American imperative: Hatred of Greed is the Salvation of Love.

But once Jack goes rogue, he realizes he can’t go back. And once Faction 9 decides to take out sociopathic billionaire Gregory Randolph Reid, Jack realizes that only two final cards remain for him in the deck of life: Liberty—or Death!

Genres: Fiction

393 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 19, 2018

About the author

James Firelocke worked as a wage-serf for a gigantic global technology company. Having escaped with his sanity mostly intact (but not entirely), he now writes and does freelance editing.

Firelocke is a radical supporter of local democracy and the absolute equality of all human beings. He believes we need a country whose political and economic leaders are not a pack of rich, self-serving, blithering idiots.

His hobbies are napping, meandering aimlessly, laughing at his own jokes, and reading optimism-improvement books (most of which are crap).

Firelocke can be reached at jmfirelocke@gmail.com and facebook.com/jmfirelocke.

Reviews

[Case Tatro · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book I thought the idea of corporations acquiring ultimate power was plausible and an interesting idea. In terms of making sense, this aspect is the only one that did. Humans changing into monsters, alien species forming the major conflict for this book diminished the degree to which I can comfortably say this book is science fiction and not fantasy. Not a bad book, it was entertaining and easy to read, but it did not live up to the expectations I had for it coming in.

[William J Gallagher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sophomoric

Could have been written in a frat house by a bunch or beer swilling (like most of the characters did most of the time) frat brothers overusing a thesaurus due to a lack of vocabulary. You might like this book if you are afflicted by the disease called liberalism and enjoy outlandish political parody and satire. Bernie Sanders and the Squad would make this their bible.

[Richard McHugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new type of fiction from Amazon

This book almost got a quick toss back to Amazon; the first 30 pages made me so confused about the plot. Don't give up on this book. It's a different approach to the shoot-em-up novels currently popular today. THe good guys are not known until halfway through the book 'cause everybody seems to have a hidden agenda. Stick to it, though. It's a fun ride. Hope this author keeps writing.

[Brock T.I. · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. The world of Faction 9 was interesting, but the world-building was told through large infodumps, not shown through the story. I felt the style of the prose was also grating to me, with an overreliance on adverbs and dialog tags. The novel could have been salvaged with a proper edit. Unfortunately, it didn't get one.

[Menion · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easy to review. This sucks. No question. Written by someone who tried inventing a story to push a political agenda, and boring readers to tears in the process with inane writing. At least Chuck Wendig can do the story and his agenda together, this book does neither. Avoid at all costs. Actually, it might appeal to some Bernie Sanders bootlickers, that's about it.

[Rich Fiege · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story. Hopefully there will be more set in this disturbing world. Disturbing because it's just an exaggeration of what's going on now.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book! This is not a book for everyone (i.e. very liberal). If you have a great sense of humor, can see the irony in life and our choices and can keep an open mind, you will love this one.

[Michelle Quigley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It's a witty, irreverent tale of the coming Corporateocracy with some hilarious characters. A must read, especially for sci-fi lovers.

Michelle Q.

[Lauren Bourke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagining, and hopefully exaggerating, a world in the far future where our current political climate has led to corporations that flagrantly control the government and steer our country's policies to result in maximum profit, the book focuses on those who still resist. The story is oh-so-scarily possible given the results of 2016 and the resulting chaos, but like all good dystopian novels, the story highlights those who refuse to succumb to the madness and try to rescue humans from themselves. Of course there is a lot of sci-fi thrown in, but that doesn't stop the story from being relatable. A good read and a reminder as to why we must work hard now to avoid a bleaker future.

[PsycoKai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm an avid reader of the Dystopian genre. Human nature and how societies (real or fictional) work is just a facination of mine. Reading the description of Faction 9 sounded like it was right up my alley because corporate run government dystopias have been particularly appealing to me as of late. I've been extrodinarily anxious about something out of my control and needed a distraction, so I picked up my Kindle with Faction 9 on it, curled up, and started reading. I honestly wasn't that fond of Jack, though I didn't actively dislike him neither. When I start finding out his back ground and his motivations for what he's doing I can sympathize and I root for him. If I had to choose a favorite character I'd say it's Polyvox. It was a lot of fun getting to know her, and I'd love to learn more about her and her people. Then there were a few well placed science fiction elements that I wouldn't necessarily think of for a government run dystopia story, but I liked some and loved others. I felt everything worked well together and I finished Faction 9 in one sitting. I then raved about it to my mom because I'm not spoiling anything for her since it's not a book she would choose to read. She humors me like that. I'm looking forward to, hopefully, getting to see more of this world and further exploits of those in it.

[Catherine Griffin]

In a near future, dystopian America ruled by the corrupt super-rich elite, a government agent joins the rebels. Satirical science fiction.

This starts out as a satire on bureaucracy and security, with government agent Jack Tone dutifully trudging through his work. The satire is heavy-handed in places but amusing. Then it turns into a parody of dystopian science fiction as genetically-engineered monsters, a lost ancient civilisation of cat-people, threatening aliens, and a foaming-at-the-mouth villain are introduced.

The humour is a long way from subtle and is often pretty crude. If you can tolerate that, this is enjoyably daft and hectic.