The Vanirim

by Tim Slee

This Publishers Weekly BookLife award winning manuscript was an experiment in style and genre, written for the joy of it, and to raise money for charity. It is now out of print.


However you can get the ebook FREE here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ep8e5l8115


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Crime noir sci-fi mashup The Vanirim was the Grand Prize winner of the inaugural Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize in Fiction.
"This superb novel has it all -- a gripping and twisty plot, well-developed characters, and excellent writing. The story centers on Tully McIntyre, a "sanctioned" 19-year-old who is accused of killing a Vanir, one of the superior beings who rule Earth. The author skillfully keeps the reader guessing as to Tully's guilt or innocence, all the while creating a complex new world with its own set of laws and systems of justice. Characterization is strong, the story progression logical and original, and while the ending clearly indicates a new installment is to follow, the book stands alone and is complete. Extremely well done. 10/10.

"I devoured The Vanirim in a single sitting, pulled in initially by the vision of life on Earth after an interdimensional alien invasion and driven forward by the twisty and mind-bending plot, centered on an enigmatic and compelling main character. This is a book of mysteries and wonders." - Tim Pratt, best selling author

(Just relisted on Goodreads after publishing rights were won back by the author.)

333 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 14, 2018

About the author

PRE-ORDER NOW: 'AGGRESSOR - A page turning technothriller from FX Holden (The Aggressor Series Book 1)

Tim Slee's first success was as winner of the Allen & Unwin INK short fiction prize. In 2016 he started independently publishing long fiction, and was the winner in Feb 2017 of the Grand Prize in the US Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize in Fiction. In 2018 he received the Banjo Prize for unpublished Australian fiction, and his manuscript TAKING TOM MURRAY HOME was published in August 2019 by HarperCollins Australia. It was released by HarperCollins UK in February 2022 and with HarperCollins USA in July 2022.

He writes future fiction under the pen name FX Holden and has been awarded two US Publishers' Weekly Stars (the Michelin Star of publishing) and the US Readers' Favorite award for Best Political Thriller in both 2019 and 2021!

The hard sci-fi Coruscant Series by FX Holden is also available on AMAZON.

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply fantastic!! One of the best semi-science fiction stories I’ve came across in a long time! Set on Earth in the near future, an alien race has appeared and plans to fix all the problems mankind has inflicted on the planet and each other.

Despite his lack of emotions, our hero Tully is genuine with a strong sense of morals. There is a huge twist in the last 20% of the book which took me completely by surprise! We end with a nice setup for the next novel, which I plan to find very quickly! Highly recommend!!

Thanks to Goodreads and publishers for the Kindle version in exchange for my honest review!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buckle your seatbelts and hang on! This rollercoaster ride is full of surprise and flips! Loved this book. The main storyline comes from Norse mythology and the coming treat of Ragnorak . After decades for war against the alien species the Varin, Earth has been taken by Varin and a new set of Regin Laws enforced by the Varin. Varin as usual look different and have different values. They follow an ethos of doing no harm to living things, environment, or serious crimes. Enter our main subject Tully, a 19 year old former soldier with 3 years of active service who is captured by the Varin and given a choice: Sanction or prison until death! Sanctioning means the loss of affection, emotions and violent activity but mental faculties survive. The Sanctioned are reassigned to socially beneficial jobs. Tully becomes a monitor of the Sanctioned or those on the fringe. The story warps into a slurry of mysteries and undisclosed secrets humans are not aware exist. As a monitor, Tully must go to each household of the candidate to be sentenced and explain the facts. Then the Varin Sanctioner will come to perform the choice. But, and buts always mean something important! The Sanctioner is found murdered, no family of the accused found and Tully on the scene as the one to notify the Varin. How could he be accused of the crime and yet certified and Sanctioned! Dive right in with your survival gear and walk into Varin country.

[Tim Slee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi, this is not a review, as I wrote the book! But I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about what on earth inspired me to write a post apocalyptic Viking murder mystery! Let alone one that could win the BookLife fiction prize.

I still kind of scratch my head about that one too, to be honest! I originally started writing the book as a straight crime noir story about a guy who becomes the key suspect in a series of murders, and starts to suspect against all reason, that he has a twin brother he never knew about that is actually the one responsible. The investigating officer begins by thinking he's crazy, then slowly comes around and starts believing it herself...I'll stop before I give away any spoilers! But the story was too orthodox for me - anyone could have written it - and after the first draft I put it away and forgot about it.

Then I moved to Denmark, and became besat with Viking history, norse religion, pagan mythology and such. I decided that was the angle I was looking for, and I started weaving norse religion and mythology into the plot, and moved the novel forward in time to a post apocalyptic world where the norse gods, the Vanir, have returned to earth and after a short and pointless resistance by Man, have taken over the world in the name of saving it (Midgard) from the destruction of Man.

They more or less let Man continue to live in peace, but with three inviolable rules:

- no violence of Man against Man (or if you will, person against person)
- no violence of Man against nature
- no violence of Man against the environment

Those who break the rule have no court of appeal, no legal loopholes. For them, there are just two options, which they can choose for themselves. Either prison for life, or 'sanction'. Sanction is like an amputation of emotion.

To quote from the book:

"Sanction. That is the Vanir name for it. We humans have a name for it too. It is called ‘cauterisation’. The way the Sanctioner reaches into your mind, and sears away the part of you that can hate, that feels anger. But taking with it the part that loves, too. Afterward, when it is done, the criminal is no longer violent, which is usually a huge relief to wife and family. Of course, at first, it seems like they are no longer themselves either. They are neither too happy, nor too sad. They feel attachment, but not exactly love. They work with resolve, but no longer with passion. But they learn, and they adapt, and gradually some of the person they were returns.
Never fully though, never really. But enough that it is better than the alternative, which is the abuser, the beater, the torturer.
Sanction is the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crimes: crimes of violence against other people, against the environment, and against nature. Only those. You could get caught for stealing a billion dollars and you wouldn’t face Sanction. Unless you did it at the point of a gun. Or you could just knock down an old lady in the street and steal her purse. First offense, the Regin would probably give you another chance, a chance to reform, knowing you don’t get a second chance. Next time, it would be Sanction or life in prison. Death in prison, to be exact.
For 90 percent of people a Sanction is a better choice than dying in prison. Doctors, lawyers, manual labourers, after they’ve been Sanctioned they can still go to work, live their lives, stay with their families. Some describe it as a life lived in sepia rather than colour. But a life in colour, behind bars? That is no life either. Like I said, for most, Sanction is the right choice. For artists and musicians though, prison is definitely the best. You take passion and emotion away from artists, and their art dies. They and their families usually choose prison, knowing that painters will still be able to paint in gaol; musicians will still be allowed to play.
My name is Tully McIntyre. I’m 19 years old and I’ve been Sanctioned."

Yep, into the middle of this world I throw our poor not-really-a-hero Tully McIntyre and the police officer who is investigating him and then starts believing his story about having a 'bad twin'. (If you know your norse mythology, you should be able to sooner or later work out whether the 'bad twin' story is true or not.)

Moving a typical crime story into this very untypical world was enough to make writing the book more interesting for me again and so I finished it off and published it!

There you have it. It isn't exactly sci-fi, or crime, or fantasy. Certainly not historical fiction. It is written in crime thriller style though, so let's call it - Cri-fi! Or Sci-crime! Psy-fi?

The book leaves itself open to a volume II, which I have just finished and which will be released in summer 2018.

Cheers

TS

[Amber - Eat, Tan, Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

A Sci-Fi Crime thriller with a Nordic Mythology twist. What a great pairing it makes! While I am not a huge sci-fi fan I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It kept me on my toes and guessing the whole way through. Is Tully the killer, or not? The twist, mind bomb! I actually had to set the book down and collect my thoughts for a minute before continuing. Well done Mr. Slee, well done! I would recommend this book to everyone, even those who claim to not be fans of sci-fi.

[JB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I won this book via the Goodreads giveaway. Take your Viking history, give it a modern day twist, throw in a huge dose of suspense, a little romance, a shake of mystery, toss in some action here and there and stir it up with great dialogue. Enjoy!

[Cassie Driggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg this book was absolutely amazing!! I was super skeptical cus I’m pretty picky on my science fiction tastes but this one was perfect and captured the essence of all that makes a good book! Seriously fell in love with the characters and this world where other forces such as the Vanrium roam the earth and how they try to make mankind do better to save the world they think is theirs but really is only ours for a limited time period. It’s awesome that one of the main characters, Stella, is also a protagonist throughout the story without it being a love story (yuck I hate those lol) but she also refers to her nonna which strike home to me since we have a nonna in my Italian American family also so I like that I can relate to her in that aspect. But you do find yourself drawn into Tully McIntrye’s story and why he was Sanctioned and don’t learn till the middle of the book exactly what his offense was and how he went about doing it so I like how the author keeps the reader wanting more and why I found this book so hard to put down! And so glad I have the second part to this set so going to start reading The Aesir right now bc I HAVE to know what happens in the “end” Really amazed how well written this book is and how much it made me want to “live” in this world and even secretly hoping Tully is the “good guy” who saves the day but of course you’ll have to read it to find out and boy u def should read it!!!!!

[Sil · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I won a copy of this book on a goodreads givaway.
Now, I really enjoyed this book, it got me hooked from the beginning. I normally read science fiction and fantasy and have to say the story wasn't what I was expecting or what I'm used to see, which is great. I'm looking forward for the second book in the cycle.

[Sue Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tully McIntyre, a 19 year old Sanctioned human, works as a domestic violence caseworker for the Department of Community Services. The world is different now, since the Vanirim arrived. They are an alien species very unlike humans, physically and mentally. There are new laws and punishments now. The laws are: 1. No violence of Man against Man. 2. No violence of Man against Environment. 3. No violence of Man against Nature. The key word is violence.
If you mess up too many times, your choices of punishment are; life in prison or to be Sanctioned.
Sanctioning is something like being lobotomized. Sanctioning removes your emotions, the good and the bad. Most humans choose to be Sanctioned. The Vanirs are Ford Built Tough creatures and unkillable by humans, so when Tully goes to a client's house where, unbeknownst to the client, he is to be Sanctioned, and finds a gutted Vanir, he is understandably confused. The client isn't there. The Vanirum think Tully did the killing, but how could he have? He has been Sanctioned. No emotions anymore. A completely emotionless killing of an unkillable Vanir by a Tully, a mere human?
I loved this book. There are definitely parts where you have to pay close attention to who is doing what to whom. I never saw the sharp u-turn twist at the end coming. Good job Tim Slee. You have a new fan.

I won this e-book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Dakota Hurlburt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a copy of this** This book was simply amazing. Mystery mixed with sci-fi and Norse mythology seems insane but it worked nicely and it's one of a kind. I was on the edge of my seat most of the book and there were many shockers toward the end that no one could have predicted. I can't wait to read the next one. Definitely recommend for anyone who likes mythology, sci-fi, mystery, sort of post-apocalyptic, or if you just want something that is one of a kind.

[Macy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thor better be in Volume 2

I downloaded this as a palate cleanser while reading Cloud Atlas and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Norse god-like beings, inter-dimensional travel, mind bleaching of feelings, rebellion against the state, multiple personalities, Loki’s brother..... this book has it ALL.
And again, Thor better be in Volume 2.

[Read Ng · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a GoodReads giveaway win.

I liked this concept. I found it interesting and it made me think about emotionless beings and the justice system depicted in this universe.

I am not sure I liked the ending, but it did end in a logical manner. It does beg for a sequel and perhaps that is what bothers me the most. I prefer books that are complete within itself. Having a storyline continue into other books is fine, but give me a book complete within itself first. If I know in advance that the books are meant to be read in an order to an end, I will sit out and wait for the series to complete and binge read the entire set. If you don't give me a concise first book, I think you are only in it for the money and out to sell as many individual books as possible. If you want to create buzz, get the first book right, then everyone will clammer for more.

I am not hooked on this book and will not be "waiting" for the next installment. I might read it if I have a chance, but I will not be actively seeking it. Don't get me wrong. I like trilogies, but I don't like waiting to finish the story. I am a binge reader, so don't start me if I can't finish in a timely manner.

Also why I hesitate to read ebooks. Yes, ebooks are more environmentally friendly, but if you can't get a publisher to print the book, then perhaps your story needs more substance. (I know, many print books have also been a waste of ink.)

Have a GoodReads.