Morpho

by Philip Palmer

When the corpse on the mortuary slab sits up and speaks to Hayley, asking for her help, she thinks she’s losing her mind. If only it were that simple…

In Morpho, distinguished novelist, screenwriter, and radio dramatist Philip Palmer delivers a tense and fast-paced tale of a secret society through which the privileged govern from the shadows, of immortality bought at a horrific price, and of a rebellion that threatens to undermine the social order of our entire world.

NewCon Press Novella Set 5 (The Alien Among Us) consists of four independent novellas by four outstanding authors, linked only by theme and their shared cover art.

Genres: Science Fiction

114 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2019

About the author

I started writing when I was 14 and wrote a short story for the school magazine about a bank robber who is killed during a heist and goes to Heaven - can't get through the Pearly Gates, and has to break in. Nicely synthesising all the genres I still love to mash up...!

I wrote five 'widescreen' high-octane high concept SF novels for Orbit Books, including DEBATABLE SPACE and VERSION 43 - blending satire with action with lashings of dark humour.

Now I am writing for film and television as well as writing prose. My recent books include MORPHO, published by NewCon Press and HELL ON EARTH, a fantasy epic about demons and cops.

My most recent book is THE GREAT WEST WOOD, a fantasy set in the fictional suburb of Westood - an urban village which is full of magic . There's crime, there's murder, and there's even a floating boy - because in Westwood, anything is possible...

Reviews

[david james · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this novella. I received it in a book pack bought from Ian Whates excellent website, NewCon Press, but had never heard of Philip Palmer or this book.

It fits a lot into it's 107 pages and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The first half of the book reminded me of David Mitchell's Boneclocks and Slade House, which I'd read a year or so ago and highly rated. The second half goes off an a slightly different tangent than Mitchell's books, but not in a bad way. Whereas Mitchell's books tell how the privileged elite feed off (literally) the ordinary masses, Palmer takes this and adds an alien factor.

If anything, I felt that the end of the novella was a bit rushed, and the story could have been expanded, but I understand the constraints of writing a novella or short story. What I couldn't fault was how well the story flowed and how well written it was. I certainly would be interested in an expansion of this book or a continuance of the story, and will be checking out this author in the future.

[Peter Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morpho (NewCon Press Novellas Set 5 Book 2)
by Philip Palmer

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...



I like the idea behind the NewCon Press Novella series. NewCon Press collects four novellas per series from different authors around a common idea. The novellas have no relationship to each other. They are just variations on a theme. For example, Set 5 explores “The Alien Among Us.”

Novellas are cool. Because they are shorter than novels, they have to cut out a lot of fat. But they are longer than short stories, so there is some room to explore character.

In this case, we spend the early parts of the book wondering what is going on. We seem to have two people who are really old and really hard to kill. We might be thinking “vampires,” but they walk in the daylight and don’t seem to be drinking blood.

We learn that these people are being hunted. They seem to be monitored by some government. Their blood has surprising life extension effects for humans.

One of them is “killed,” but wakes up in the morgue where she gives a kind of gift to surprised attendant. That starts the attendant’s introduction to this alien among us.

I didn’t find this NewCon Press novella to be as successful as the other novellas I’ve read. The perspective jumps were sometimes hard to follow. I am not sure that I approve of an alien invasive species being portrayed as a good thing. On the other hand, the author did provide us with a glimpse of the alien among us. The story read well, and the characters were interesting.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinarily different story about aliens who have been living among humans for thousands of years, with the knowledge of some humans, but at a terrible price. It’s also a story of enduring love. The writing is gripping and the story fast-paced. Hayley, the main character, is sort of difficult to like at first, but there’s a reason why she’s the way she is. All of the characters are interesting, and have their own, well-defined back stories. I’m truly impressed with this novella and am curious to check out more by this author. There seem to be some interesting new alien/parasite novels (this one and M.R. Carey’s The Girl With All the Gifts and The Boy on the Bridge are the ones I’ve read) that are forming a new sub-genre of human/other relationships novels that is really promising (this is something that could have been happening for a while and I just happened on the books). I’m definitely curious to check out some of NewCon’s other novellas.

This book was provided free of charge through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, from NewCon Press Novellas. My opinions are entirely my own.

[Jorgon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant piece of humanist music, rising to a proper crescendo at the end. Does this guy write screenplays? Yes, I thought so. Cinematic and beautiful. Will check his other work out necessarily.

[Graça · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty crazy but nicely written