End Turn

John Becmane #1

by Hew J. La France

Almost everyone in nerd culture plays the trading card game Battle Kaiju, including World Champion Elliot Mikkelsen and bank teller John Becmane. John would love the chance to play in the annual tournament and knock Mikkelsen out of the top spot, but what are the odds of that happening? More than John thought, because now he's been hired by the game's creator to enroll in the tournament and prove Mikkelsen is cheating. No one wins that often just off pure luck, right?

342 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2017

About the author

Hew La France was born in Chicago, IL, but has spent most of his life in the St. Louis, MO area. As of February, 2019, Hew works as the evening lead of the registration department at a local hospital, but previously held positions at a shipping container test lab, a bank, and McDonald's (these experiences periodically wiggling their way into his writing from time-to-time).

In addition to writing fiction, he also write articles for his church's magazine, The Flame.

Hew hadn't always wanted to be a writer. After high school he had begun working on a degree in film, but dropped college after a few semesters after realizing how impractical such a degree would actually by "in the real world". During high school and the bit of college he'd taken, Hew had written a few scripts recreationally, and had drafted only a few stories. He'd written a lot when he was younger, but he'd never considered it as a plausible career path/hobby.

One of the first pieces of fiction he'd ever written was a fan-fiction based around the Lego series 'ThrowBots' (Slizers). It was an epistolary, written as a series of journal entries from a NASA astronaught, and one of the 'ThrowBots' (oh to go back to those simpler times). After that, he produced numerous Godzilla Fan Fictions, and did several Transformers Fan Fictions in the form of stop-motion animations (which were horribly juvenile).

On July 3rd, 2016, Hew published his first novel, a paranormal mystery titled "Straight Arrow Heart", which was inspired by Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera". His second novel, a thriller set in geek-culture titled "End Turn" was published February 1st, 2017. "End Turn" has had 2 sequels published to it ("AFK" in 2018 and "With English Subtitles" in 2019), and will have a fourth entry in its series released in 2020.

Presently, Hew resides in southern Illinois with his sister and their Pit Bull, Winnie. His favorite drinks include Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Pitch Black, Earl Grey tea, Moscato, and Sake. He is a very skilled cook, so long as what he's cooking is quesadillas.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A pessimistic nerd without much of a life is given an opportunity of a lifetime. He gets to go to a Magic type card game tournament and compete against the long time reigning champion, to try to prove the champion is cheating. Plus, he gets 50 grand and a beautiful woman as a bodyguard. Turns out there's more to it than a card game.

The main weakness in the novel is that the actual card playing itself never really comes alive and is hard to handle. I've read other books featuring poker, bridge, and of course, baccarat, (but never cribbage, unfortunately), and this one just didn't measure up.

The rest of the book is actually pretty entertaining. Maybe if the game wasn't fictional, it would be better.

[Janell Roedl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book! I was a little worried when I read the first pages depicting a "battle" in the trading card game that this book revolves around. I was slightly lost, but intrigued at the same time. I'm not well-acquainted with nerd culture, even so, I was still able to "get" many of the pop-culture/nerd-culture references, which made me chuckle throughout. And I even began to catch on to the game by the end. The main character being a normal-guy, nerd with a splash of James Bond made him endearing. I also love that the female love-interest is not the typical "Bond-girl". And, the theme of hope and brotherly love playing throughout are uplifting. Great read! Highly recommend.

[Kerry DeOrnellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I started this book. I can say I was very pleasantly surprised with how engaged and entertained I was throughout the entire story. I was captivated and intrigued to see how the story would end. Very entertaining and fun read. I can’t wait to read more about John Becmane and his adventures.

[Rachel Large · Rating 4 out of 5]

End Turn was a wonderful read. The story, the characters, the struggles they went through; it all felt like I was there as the events were unfolding. I could relate to many of the scenarios and feelings that John went through and the way the writer fleshed out his character made him feel real. The card game the story was based around, Battle Kaiju, was explained very well, and the nerd and sci-fi references made me laugh everytime they came up. The only minor critique I have is how the book sets itself up into three parts, and I was taken out of the experience just a tad when I had to flip though 2-3 pages to get to the next part. Overall, I would give this book a 4.5 stars, however, Goodreads only let's me do 4. I would highly recommend End Turn to anyone who wants a good book to read :3

[Christi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admittedly had a hard time getting going and sticking with this book. HOWEVER, when I got back into it after settling down after a big move and some other life happenings, I could NOT put it down!! It appealed to my love of gaming, my love of mystery and suspense, and my love of the underdog. What a great read! Immediately jumped into reading the second book, AFK, in the Becmane series. Well done!

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads Kindle Win

John Becmane is a bank teller who is into a nerd car trading game. He would like to beat the world champion in the upcoming tournament but it is just a long shot even to attend.

But somehow he finds himself hired by the game’s creator to prove that the world champion is actually cheating. Welcome into the world of game and the high risks of the stakes.

[Amy Ingalls · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

This is not my usual type of story-- I do not know much about this type of gaming or nerd culture. However, my husband used to play Magic the Gathering with his brother, so I wasn't completely clueless to the concept of a card tournament.

This book surprised me-- it kept me entertained, and I felt the tension in that final card battle. I also wanted to find out more about what happens to John after this story ended, so I was pleased to see that there is a sequel.

My only critique is that the writing pulled me out of the story at times. Some of the word choices and figurative language were a bit odd. Also, the switch in tense (like Yoda) was like nails on a chalkboard. It just felt like the author was trying too hard (trying too hard, the author was).