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Travelling Without Moving
A fast-paced adventure through a world like no other, following unique, quirky characters on the journey of their lifetime. Plenty of novels are set in domes, but none are as colourful, spellbinding, and inventive as Travelling Without Moving.
Earth is in ruins, uninhabitable, and the remaining population live in bio-domes. A Roman tribesman, Napalm Carton, believes that life in his clockwork habitat is some kind of lie. A trap, or a construct, or an experiment gone wrong, whatever. Post-apocalyptic existence makes no sense to him, and all he wants to do is escape to the reality beyond the dome of lies.
Spurred on by visions, Napalm creates a multiplayer game called tickets, with the intention of opening a door to the next level of existence. He needs the help of his sceptical friends, but first, he has to convince them that the tickets are more than a game. He also needs to confirm his suspicions that someone or something is trying to steal his invention before it’s game over for everyone.
Review excerpts from Amazon:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Open the first page, sit back, but hold on… it’s going to be a wild ride. Don’t leave something cooking on the stove when you start…”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “If you're looking for an epic tale full of wit, interesting and different characters, and a surprise around every turn, check this book out.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “This post-apocalyptic, clock-punk, dystopian, mystery/sci-fi is fantastic. Good writing, strong characters, clear witty dialogue and an exciting plot”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Travelling Without Moving is […] is like The Matrix on drugs, on a roller coaster. Its setting is so vivid it becomes like a character in itself. But Jones' writing keeps things grounded and relatable, even in this mind-bending setting. That's why this book works.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Off-the-wall names, buttery smooth dialogue, and mind-bending twists make Traveling Without Moving a superbly written SCI-FI piece.”
Earth is in ruins, uninhabitable, and the remaining population live in bio-domes. A Roman tribesman, Napalm Carton, believes that life in his clockwork habitat is some kind of lie. A trap, or a construct, or an experiment gone wrong, whatever. Post-apocalyptic existence makes no sense to him, and all he wants to do is escape to the reality beyond the dome of lies.
Spurred on by visions, Napalm creates a multiplayer game called tickets, with the intention of opening a door to the next level of existence. He needs the help of his sceptical friends, but first, he has to convince them that the tickets are more than a game. He also needs to confirm his suspicions that someone or something is trying to steal his invention before it’s game over for everyone.
Review excerpts from Amazon:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Open the first page, sit back, but hold on… it’s going to be a wild ride. Don’t leave something cooking on the stove when you start…”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “If you're looking for an epic tale full of wit, interesting and different characters, and a surprise around every turn, check this book out.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “This post-apocalyptic, clock-punk, dystopian, mystery/sci-fi is fantastic. Good writing, strong characters, clear witty dialogue and an exciting plot”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Travelling Without Moving is […] is like The Matrix on drugs, on a roller coaster. Its setting is so vivid it becomes like a character in itself. But Jones' writing keeps things grounded and relatable, even in this mind-bending setting. That's why this book works.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Off-the-wall names, buttery smooth dialogue, and mind-bending twists make Traveling Without Moving a superbly written SCI-FI piece.”
344 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 10, 2021
13 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Nathan Jones
3 books14 followersNathan Jones here. Professionally trained sheep fart tester.
Born in Blackburn, 1973, I have been privileged to live in many places but I currently reside in South Wales with my wife and two cats, Spook and Choo-choo.
I'm a long time reader of speculative fiction and just about anything else that's well-written and engaging. For a while I supported aspiring authors by offering a free beta reading service, but since I've grown in popularity, I've begun to charge a minimal fee (if you beg hard enough, however, I'll still consider helping you for free).
I very much enjoy reading self-published works and supporting self-published authors. And if I don't sell lots of books myself, I fully intend to destroy the entire universe simply out of bitterness.
I have two books published currently:
Travelling Without Moving - A post-apocalyptic, dystopian, clockpunk adventure.
Skinner - A gory, psychological thriller with horror elements.
I'm very active on Twitter and love to chat to people there @NathanJonesBook
Born in Blackburn, 1973, I have been privileged to live in many places but I currently reside in South Wales with my wife and two cats, Spook and Choo-choo.
I'm a long time reader of speculative fiction and just about anything else that's well-written and engaging. For a while I supported aspiring authors by offering a free beta reading service, but since I've grown in popularity, I've begun to charge a minimal fee (if you beg hard enough, however, I'll still consider helping you for free).
I very much enjoy reading self-published works and supporting self-published authors. And if I don't sell lots of books myself, I fully intend to destroy the entire universe simply out of bitterness.
I have two books published currently:
Travelling Without Moving - A post-apocalyptic, dystopian, clockpunk adventure.
Skinner - A gory, psychological thriller with horror elements.
I'm very active on Twitter and love to chat to people there @NathanJonesBook
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 25, 2023
This story is a bit of a mindbender, so I can’t claim I always understood what was going on!
The worldbuilding ideas are super cool – clockwork, talents/specialisms handed out by a Main Computer, the dome, the “emotion colour” drugs and so on – but I struggled to get a clear picture of how it all worked at times. That said, my confusion is partly a function of deliberate plot and style elements as the atmosphere of the story is quite trippy and Inception-ish. The reader is kept in suspense for most of the story as to whether everything is actually happening as described, happening in a drug-induced dream or delusion, or part of some big conspiracy. Nothing and no one can be trusted.
With a cyberpunk aesthetic, but dreamlike logic and tone, the whole narrative is unreliable and disorienting – deliberately so! – and it is also gritty, fun, humorous and inventive, so well worth a read for fans of post-apocalyptic dystopia with multiple layers of misdirection and mystery.
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
The worldbuilding ideas are super cool – clockwork, talents/specialisms handed out by a Main Computer, the dome, the “emotion colour” drugs and so on – but I struggled to get a clear picture of how it all worked at times. That said, my confusion is partly a function of deliberate plot and style elements as the atmosphere of the story is quite trippy and Inception-ish. The reader is kept in suspense for most of the story as to whether everything is actually happening as described, happening in a drug-induced dream or delusion, or part of some big conspiracy. Nothing and no one can be trusted.
With a cyberpunk aesthetic, but dreamlike logic and tone, the whole narrative is unreliable and disorienting – deliberately so! – and it is also gritty, fun, humorous and inventive, so well worth a read for fans of post-apocalyptic dystopia with multiple layers of misdirection and mystery.
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpres...
July 25, 2021
4.5 Stars
Napalm Carton was born into the Kaputt biodome after Earth was rendered uninhabitable. But Napalm sees Kaputt a bit differently from everyone else. He believes that he, and everyone in Kaputt, is living a lie. He creates a sort of drug/multiplayer game called Tickets that allows him to travel to different levels of reality. Travelling Without Moving is not a quick, easy read. It's sort of like The Matrix on drugs, on a roller coaster. It's setting is so vivid it becomes like a character in itself. But Jones' writing keeps things grounded and relatable, even in this mind bending setting. That's why this book works.
Napalm Carton was born into the Kaputt biodome after Earth was rendered uninhabitable. But Napalm sees Kaputt a bit differently from everyone else. He believes that he, and everyone in Kaputt, is living a lie. He creates a sort of drug/multiplayer game called Tickets that allows him to travel to different levels of reality. Travelling Without Moving is not a quick, easy read. It's sort of like The Matrix on drugs, on a roller coaster. It's setting is so vivid it becomes like a character in itself. But Jones' writing keeps things grounded and relatable, even in this mind bending setting. That's why this book works.
August 12, 2021
Napalm Erroneous Carton (all the characters have fabulous names, my favourite being Flip Zide, the DJ) lives in Kaputt, a dome world run by Main Computer and largely powered by clockwork. Of all the inhabitants of Kaputt, only he seems able to see the mechanisms by which the world is run: the clockwork lamp that is the sun, the hatches in the sky.
A brilliant student at the Omniversity, Napalm has manufactured hallucinogenic drugs which enable the takers to collaborate in virtual reality games. He hopes to use these games to find a door to the outside of the dome; his friends hope to use the games to make money. But there is another party interested in hijacking the games: is it ThinkDom, the scientific establishment, MC the Main Computer itself, or Hue, Napalm's identical twin and nemesis?
So we have a variety of levels of reality: the (illusory) reality of the hallucinogenic drugs, the (illusory) reality of the game and the (illusory) reality of the computer-controlled dome to mention just three. Can increasingly drug-addled Nathan work out which is the truth?
This book is hugely ambitious in its conception and there is a large cast and a tortuous plot, and I admit to sometimes getting confused, especially given the shifting chronology of the story. But this is a book with wonderfully weird characters. The core characters are Napalm's group of omniversity friends. These were perfectly drawn: I know students like these: "think fame and pussy, Liquid, fame and pussy." (C 2). Even more fabulously, there are literally fantastically baroque settings. I loved the fact that every colour has an emotion: eg Vigilance-orange, loathing-purple, angry-red.
The book reminded me of Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer, though with more humour, or the cult novel Dhalgren by Samuel R Delaney.
I love the descriptions which can be vertiginously over the top but contain a wry downbeat of humour, such as "Mellow, mid-tempo beats drifted from wall-mounted smart-speakers; Mokey’s pride and joy, imported from The Americas, and again, a gift from Cloche. Hoodoo-powered, mass-produced crap in his opinion. They reliably misjudged a room’s mood with impeccable timing, like bursting into jazz when someone delivered bad news, or wailing out the blues when you were close to orgasm." (C 2)
A hugely enjoyable read. This is an author with a definite voice. I am looking forward to his next novel.
A brilliant student at the Omniversity, Napalm has manufactured hallucinogenic drugs which enable the takers to collaborate in virtual reality games. He hopes to use these games to find a door to the outside of the dome; his friends hope to use the games to make money. But there is another party interested in hijacking the games: is it ThinkDom, the scientific establishment, MC the Main Computer itself, or Hue, Napalm's identical twin and nemesis?
So we have a variety of levels of reality: the (illusory) reality of the hallucinogenic drugs, the (illusory) reality of the game and the (illusory) reality of the computer-controlled dome to mention just three. Can increasingly drug-addled Nathan work out which is the truth?
This book is hugely ambitious in its conception and there is a large cast and a tortuous plot, and I admit to sometimes getting confused, especially given the shifting chronology of the story. But this is a book with wonderfully weird characters. The core characters are Napalm's group of omniversity friends. These were perfectly drawn: I know students like these: "think fame and pussy, Liquid, fame and pussy." (C 2). Even more fabulously, there are literally fantastically baroque settings. I loved the fact that every colour has an emotion: eg Vigilance-orange, loathing-purple, angry-red.
The book reminded me of Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer, though with more humour, or the cult novel Dhalgren by Samuel R Delaney.
I love the descriptions which can be vertiginously over the top but contain a wry downbeat of humour, such as "Mellow, mid-tempo beats drifted from wall-mounted smart-speakers; Mokey’s pride and joy, imported from The Americas, and again, a gift from Cloche. Hoodoo-powered, mass-produced crap in his opinion. They reliably misjudged a room’s mood with impeccable timing, like bursting into jazz when someone delivered bad news, or wailing out the blues when you were close to orgasm." (C 2)
A hugely enjoyable read. This is an author with a definite voice. I am looking forward to his next novel.
May 8, 2021
Kaputt, the setting for Traveling Without Moving, is a curved bio-dome housing the post-apocalyptic survivors of earth. Divided by a wall, Kaputt's population is split into an eastern half: Kaputt Real, and a western: The Americas, with travel forbidden between the two sides. On most days, the dome’s interior surface is an opaque white, but on Cleardays, the dome becomes transparent, revealing “earth’s dead landscape and purple poisoned skies.”
Mysteries hang over Kaputt (who created the bio-dome? what happened to the planet?) but most residents seem indifferent to the questions, and hostile to the answers. But one citizen, when not shaking off ethanol and drugs, Kaputt Real’s Napalm Erroneous Carton, the deeply (perhaps irremediably) flawed hero of this funny, imaginative and challenging cyberpunk novel (filled with exhilarating wordplay and inspired pop references) pursues the true nature of Kaputt’s reality as he simultaneously tries to escape reality through booze, drugs and “tickets,” a slippery term though defined in the novel’s 17-page glossary (you will need it) as “tiny clockwork automatons embedded in a paper medium, designed for ingestion. They are small enough to engage with the cogs of the brain, releasing various drugs and stimulants that create virtual, shared realities, played out like games.”
Designed by Napalm Carton himself while attending Kaputt’s Omniversity, the tickets challenge the characters (and readers) to navigate many levels of reality. With his girlfriend Mokey, and buddies Cloche and Liquid, Napalm takes many trips within trips within trips. Fortunately, author Nathan Jones has grounded all the high-flying with a brilliantly conceived and detailed world, mad for sure, but relatable.
Kaputt’s population is divided into tribes which include Gauls, Egyptians, Dravidians, Osterreichisch, Cro-Mags, Aztecs, Elamites, Hamites, Grimaldies, Phonecians, Nipponese, Huns and many others, each tribe with its own hallmarks (characteristics). Napalm is a Roman, a resident of NewRome in “southwest Kaputt Real, east of the Dividing Wall, south of Albion, and west of Osterreich and Skaney.” NewRome tower, the dome’s prime spot for entertainment venues, also houses ThinkDom, which may be the location of the brains behind Kaputt, perhaps a main computer.
Each tribe has its hallmarks: The Siamese, for example, guided by the main computer, bring forth children who are the lawmakers and governors of Kaputt Real. The children prescribe actions that maximize happiness and wellbeing for all individuals. Hallmarks of the Romans include colors, homoroids (a variety of drugs with restorative, stimulant and healing properties) and ethanol.
Although Napalm puts on his pants one leg at a time, gets about in Pearls (horseless, pearlescent carriages), and has wind-up pets, like everyone else in Kaputt, he sees the Bio-Dome differently. While others can see forever on Cleardays, that is see through the dome to the sad old earth outside, he sees only the Dome’s white opaque surface. Are the others seeing only an illusion? Or is he the deluded one? He wants to break out and know reality. “Rousing his determination to progress, Napalm felt the unfamiliar distant throb of genuine emotion.”
Traveling Without Moving’s subtitle is “A post-Apocalyptic, Clockpunk, Dystopian Mystery Sci-Fi Hot Fever Dream Type-Thing.” That’s somewhat understated.
Mysteries hang over Kaputt (who created the bio-dome? what happened to the planet?) but most residents seem indifferent to the questions, and hostile to the answers. But one citizen, when not shaking off ethanol and drugs, Kaputt Real’s Napalm Erroneous Carton, the deeply (perhaps irremediably) flawed hero of this funny, imaginative and challenging cyberpunk novel (filled with exhilarating wordplay and inspired pop references) pursues the true nature of Kaputt’s reality as he simultaneously tries to escape reality through booze, drugs and “tickets,” a slippery term though defined in the novel’s 17-page glossary (you will need it) as “tiny clockwork automatons embedded in a paper medium, designed for ingestion. They are small enough to engage with the cogs of the brain, releasing various drugs and stimulants that create virtual, shared realities, played out like games.”
Designed by Napalm Carton himself while attending Kaputt’s Omniversity, the tickets challenge the characters (and readers) to navigate many levels of reality. With his girlfriend Mokey, and buddies Cloche and Liquid, Napalm takes many trips within trips within trips. Fortunately, author Nathan Jones has grounded all the high-flying with a brilliantly conceived and detailed world, mad for sure, but relatable.
Kaputt’s population is divided into tribes which include Gauls, Egyptians, Dravidians, Osterreichisch, Cro-Mags, Aztecs, Elamites, Hamites, Grimaldies, Phonecians, Nipponese, Huns and many others, each tribe with its own hallmarks (characteristics). Napalm is a Roman, a resident of NewRome in “southwest Kaputt Real, east of the Dividing Wall, south of Albion, and west of Osterreich and Skaney.” NewRome tower, the dome’s prime spot for entertainment venues, also houses ThinkDom, which may be the location of the brains behind Kaputt, perhaps a main computer.
Each tribe has its hallmarks: The Siamese, for example, guided by the main computer, bring forth children who are the lawmakers and governors of Kaputt Real. The children prescribe actions that maximize happiness and wellbeing for all individuals. Hallmarks of the Romans include colors, homoroids (a variety of drugs with restorative, stimulant and healing properties) and ethanol.
Although Napalm puts on his pants one leg at a time, gets about in Pearls (horseless, pearlescent carriages), and has wind-up pets, like everyone else in Kaputt, he sees the Bio-Dome differently. While others can see forever on Cleardays, that is see through the dome to the sad old earth outside, he sees only the Dome’s white opaque surface. Are the others seeing only an illusion? Or is he the deluded one? He wants to break out and know reality. “Rousing his determination to progress, Napalm felt the unfamiliar distant throb of genuine emotion.”
Traveling Without Moving’s subtitle is “A post-Apocalyptic, Clockpunk, Dystopian Mystery Sci-Fi Hot Fever Dream Type-Thing.” That’s somewhat understated.
August 30, 2022
Travelling Without Moving is self explanatory, it transports you into another reality and allows you to live there in the thick of Kaputt with all the understanding as though you are a real inhabitant. Beautifully written with wonderfully strange and unutterably inventive descriptions and literary devices that are unique, thought provoking and just bloody-well entertaining. The world and everything fantastical within it is presented so well contextually and coherently that as a reader you shall never be lost. You can pick the book up, put it down mid-sentence, pick it up months later and still understand what the devil is going on.
The story contains everything a psychonaut could ever wish for: dubiety, exploration, humour, shock, fantasy, realism, hope, malevolence and philosophy. Pushing boundaries and scratching itches it welcomes those who have the freedom to doubt and challenge society, taking them with an easy hand and a familiar voice into the depths of a sheer witty, fanciful intoxication that coming down from is undesirable.
Travelling Without Moving is a dystopian noir, clockpunk roller-coaster. Every character is likeable and memorable from appearance to dialogue. The protagonist, Napalm Carton, is ever so enticing that you cannot help but side with him every single time, no matter the blunder, even when he shoots his brilliantly head-strong and vibrant best friend carrying his unborn child, Mokey. The novel is abundant with twists and turns, so much so that the previous sentence is not much of a spoiler, you will never be at a loss for thrill.
It is quirky, fast-paced yet saturated in detail and just downright gripping. A fan of the genre or not, I trust you will read on because of how seductively the characters lure you in and the plot drags you until the very end and even when you reach the final sentence, you are parched for more. Bring on the sequel Nathan!
The story contains everything a psychonaut could ever wish for: dubiety, exploration, humour, shock, fantasy, realism, hope, malevolence and philosophy. Pushing boundaries and scratching itches it welcomes those who have the freedom to doubt and challenge society, taking them with an easy hand and a familiar voice into the depths of a sheer witty, fanciful intoxication that coming down from is undesirable.
Travelling Without Moving is a dystopian noir, clockpunk roller-coaster. Every character is likeable and memorable from appearance to dialogue. The protagonist, Napalm Carton, is ever so enticing that you cannot help but side with him every single time, no matter the blunder, even when he shoots his brilliantly head-strong and vibrant best friend carrying his unborn child, Mokey. The novel is abundant with twists and turns, so much so that the previous sentence is not much of a spoiler, you will never be at a loss for thrill.
It is quirky, fast-paced yet saturated in detail and just downright gripping. A fan of the genre or not, I trust you will read on because of how seductively the characters lure you in and the plot drags you until the very end and even when you reach the final sentence, you are parched for more. Bring on the sequel Nathan!
August 30, 2021
This is unlike anything I've ever read before. There are plenty of under-the-dome-like stories in the world, but the similarities between this one and those end with the dome. Everything else is a brand new experience right from the very start.
Jones has a way of describing settings that just makes them come to life. The stark difference between the two halves of the dome especially caught me by surprise. On the one side, you have the dirty, gear-driven world where everything runs only because the people keep winding them up, on the other side, a smooth, sleek world where the pearl-like vehicles hover around instead of running on tracks.
The main character, Napalm, is a bit of an unreliable narrator. The story constantly shifts between real and illusionary places without notice. His opinion of the people around him changes often. He doesn't pay too much attention to what's going on around him, and so sometimes new information catches us by surprise. This leaves us constantly wondering what is real and what isn't - puts us in the mind of Napalm, who spends all of his time questioning the reality of Kaputt Real.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone who's tired of the same story tropes that have been making the rounds for the past few years. It's a jump into a world that's so different from ours, it's so easy to forget reality and get lost in Napalm's world. And that's what stories are supposed to do, show us a new world, away from the everyday hustle and bustle of real life, and this book does it nearly flawlessly.
Jones has a way of describing settings that just makes them come to life. The stark difference between the two halves of the dome especially caught me by surprise. On the one side, you have the dirty, gear-driven world where everything runs only because the people keep winding them up, on the other side, a smooth, sleek world where the pearl-like vehicles hover around instead of running on tracks.
The main character, Napalm, is a bit of an unreliable narrator. The story constantly shifts between real and illusionary places without notice. His opinion of the people around him changes often. He doesn't pay too much attention to what's going on around him, and so sometimes new information catches us by surprise. This leaves us constantly wondering what is real and what isn't - puts us in the mind of Napalm, who spends all of his time questioning the reality of Kaputt Real.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone who's tired of the same story tropes that have been making the rounds for the past few years. It's a jump into a world that's so different from ours, it's so easy to forget reality and get lost in Napalm's world. And that's what stories are supposed to do, show us a new world, away from the everyday hustle and bustle of real life, and this book does it nearly flawlessly.
September 6, 2022
First I would like to say this is an update, I wrote the first review so fast I don’t feel I did it proper justice.
I loved this book, and I really can’t say that enough. I related to its characters, its sense of humor, and its inner-workings so much I sent an email to the author! Which I would highly recommend, because they might just reply back!
This was my first real journey into the speculative fiction genre, although I think it crosses into multiple genres, and lands quite successfully with a lot of different audiences. I audibly laughed out loud on several occasions, and it has been awhile since a book has made me do that.
The setting is a dystopian clockwork dome called Kaputt, and it is powered by clockwork mechanisms that require constant winding, some self-winding, others goold old fashioned elbow grease. Kaputt is filled with a diverse cast of races, and characters that all have their set roles in the dome’s society. All except Napalm, he wants to escape reality, by designing his own.
Napalm is the third person narrator's primary point of view character, and he is quite the character. I can’t help but relate to Napalm, and I feel if you can relate to this guy, you will love this story. The story, to me, is Napalm just trying to figure out what is real or not, and he does nothing to help his case by constantly altering his mind with alcohol, and all sorts of futuristic illicit substances.
The scenes where Napalm is altered read the way altered minds think, and the touch and go relationship with reality Napalm has is one that reads as all too familiar. His constant quest to prove to everyone that the real reality is not quite as real as it seems, falls on deaf ears because his friends write off everything the drug creator, and user tells them. It’s kind of infuriating how when Napalm actually has proof of his reality, his crew still will not believe him based on his hallucinogenic track record, and it’s hard to disagree with them.
This novel has made me interested in clockwork technology, speculative fiction, steampunk, and sent me down an ever shrinking rabbit hole. You should read this book! I seriously can not recommend it enough.
Original Review:
Nathan Jones' "Travelling Without Moving" feels like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", meets "Total Recall" with a great semi-stream of consciousness 3rd person narration, and vivid imagination, give the reader plot layers to be peeled. It became a force of nature leading to sleepless nights, and was unable to be left unfinished!
I loved this book, and I really can’t say that enough. I related to its characters, its sense of humor, and its inner-workings so much I sent an email to the author! Which I would highly recommend, because they might just reply back!
This was my first real journey into the speculative fiction genre, although I think it crosses into multiple genres, and lands quite successfully with a lot of different audiences. I audibly laughed out loud on several occasions, and it has been awhile since a book has made me do that.
The setting is a dystopian clockwork dome called Kaputt, and it is powered by clockwork mechanisms that require constant winding, some self-winding, others goold old fashioned elbow grease. Kaputt is filled with a diverse cast of races, and characters that all have their set roles in the dome’s society. All except Napalm, he wants to escape reality, by designing his own.
Napalm is the third person narrator's primary point of view character, and he is quite the character. I can’t help but relate to Napalm, and I feel if you can relate to this guy, you will love this story. The story, to me, is Napalm just trying to figure out what is real or not, and he does nothing to help his case by constantly altering his mind with alcohol, and all sorts of futuristic illicit substances.
The scenes where Napalm is altered read the way altered minds think, and the touch and go relationship with reality Napalm has is one that reads as all too familiar. His constant quest to prove to everyone that the real reality is not quite as real as it seems, falls on deaf ears because his friends write off everything the drug creator, and user tells them. It’s kind of infuriating how when Napalm actually has proof of his reality, his crew still will not believe him based on his hallucinogenic track record, and it’s hard to disagree with them.
This novel has made me interested in clockwork technology, speculative fiction, steampunk, and sent me down an ever shrinking rabbit hole. You should read this book! I seriously can not recommend it enough.
Original Review:
Nathan Jones' "Travelling Without Moving" feels like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", meets "Total Recall" with a great semi-stream of consciousness 3rd person narration, and vivid imagination, give the reader plot layers to be peeled. It became a force of nature leading to sleepless nights, and was unable to be left unfinished!
December 18, 2022
This is a dystopian cyberpunk adventure and unless you’re familiar with cyberpunk tropes it will be confusing as heck at the beginning. I was lost for a couple of chapters and I think many readers would have jumped out by then. The first quarter of the book is a mess that could use some development, but the prose itself is enjoyable and easy to read.
The main character is trapped in a dome society and wants more freedom, but believes that he can find a metaphysical exit by taking custom drugs called 'tickets’ that induce virtual reality-like episodes. Multiple conspiracies swirl around him and his group leading to the revelation that there are two domes that have been warring with each other for thousands of years. I won’t go into it more but will say that the final resolution of the tale is well-done. The story would have been a slog if the ending weren’t so satisfying.
The plot was interesting and kept me intrigued right up to the surprise reveal at that end. The author has a good handle on plot and a great author voice. I look forward to reading more.
This a self-published title and the author warns us up front that there are some editing issues. There were a few that stopped me in my tracks but most are easy to excuse. As a writer myself, I would suggest a subscription to Grammarly or a similar service. It has saved my ‘ass’ many times when I really just wanted an ‘as’.
The main character is trapped in a dome society and wants more freedom, but believes that he can find a metaphysical exit by taking custom drugs called 'tickets’ that induce virtual reality-like episodes. Multiple conspiracies swirl around him and his group leading to the revelation that there are two domes that have been warring with each other for thousands of years. I won’t go into it more but will say that the final resolution of the tale is well-done. The story would have been a slog if the ending weren’t so satisfying.
The plot was interesting and kept me intrigued right up to the surprise reveal at that end. The author has a good handle on plot and a great author voice. I look forward to reading more.
This a self-published title and the author warns us up front that there are some editing issues. There were a few that stopped me in my tracks but most are easy to excuse. As a writer myself, I would suggest a subscription to Grammarly or a similar service. It has saved my ‘ass’ many times when I really just wanted an ‘as’.
March 19, 2022
Average day in Kaputt Real and Napalm Erroneous Carton has decided to become rich by creating Tickets, game realities. He has a girlfriend and a nice group of very colorful acquaintances supporting. Easy-peasy adventure. Not. It's a plot where your hero, attempting from rags to riches, starts to reach for something grand but in the end the something turns to be something much greater and more complex than he had expected. Smoke and mirrors are a plenty. Jumps between future and past are needed.
Let's use an easy way to express the experience: Reader gets entangled into a spider web woven by Dr. Caligari in cooperation with some inmate of Arkham Asylum. Philip K. Dick meets Hunter S. Thompson.
Stay tuned. All the time. As a lousy reader yours truly used too long time to read this so each reading period started by reversing a couple of pages. Actually that one missing point comes from the story wandering too deep for my taste.
The extraordinary post-apocalyptic world of Mr. Jones is created with great imagination and opens with all its oddities, miseries and characters of a dystopia in that endless way of Mandelbrot fractals.
Fans of this genre, and why not others, will be satisfied. After the last page, the last sentence, the last word, the last letter you wonder what the hell just happened.
Let's use an easy way to express the experience: Reader gets entangled into a spider web woven by Dr. Caligari in cooperation with some inmate of Arkham Asylum. Philip K. Dick meets Hunter S. Thompson.
Stay tuned. All the time. As a lousy reader yours truly used too long time to read this so each reading period started by reversing a couple of pages. Actually that one missing point comes from the story wandering too deep for my taste.
The extraordinary post-apocalyptic world of Mr. Jones is created with great imagination and opens with all its oddities, miseries and characters of a dystopia in that endless way of Mandelbrot fractals.
Fans of this genre, and why not others, will be satisfied. After the last page, the last sentence, the last word, the last letter you wonder what the hell just happened.
October 20, 2021
Wow. What a trip. In every sense of the word! If you love true dystopian, sarcasm, intriguing mysteries and VAST world-building, read this!
Napalm (first of all, these NAMES) lives in a true dystopian world under a dome of lies and secrets and no way out. Or so everyone's led to believe. Napalm creates tickets, a drug that puts you in a simulation game, with the hidden goal to get to the door—the door out of the dome to uncover what TRULY happened to Earth. Only he's not the only one looking for the door.
Okay, first off. The sarcasm and humour is golden. Hue revealing he can't hurt Napalm, so Napalm responding by clocking him? I cackled. Everyone takes everything with a grain of salt, as they should, and subsequently produces some good laughs. It nicely balances out the grittier aspects of their lives.
The concept of tickets and the door is awesome, and the world gets wilder at every turn. It has everything from cyborg spider engineers to good vs evil but-they-they-really-evil and doppelgängers and the wackiest government system I've ever read haha! And that twist at the end? You genius, Nathan. How did you come up with that? I thoroughly enjoyed where you took this, and if anyone's humming and hawing about this cyberpunk madness, do yourself a favour and pick it up.
Napalm (first of all, these NAMES) lives in a true dystopian world under a dome of lies and secrets and no way out. Or so everyone's led to believe. Napalm creates tickets, a drug that puts you in a simulation game, with the hidden goal to get to the door—the door out of the dome to uncover what TRULY happened to Earth. Only he's not the only one looking for the door.
Okay, first off. The sarcasm and humour is golden. Hue revealing he can't hurt Napalm, so Napalm responding by clocking him? I cackled. Everyone takes everything with a grain of salt, as they should, and subsequently produces some good laughs. It nicely balances out the grittier aspects of their lives.
The concept of tickets and the door is awesome, and the world gets wilder at every turn. It has everything from cyborg spider engineers to good vs evil but-they-they-really-evil and doppelgängers and the wackiest government system I've ever read haha! And that twist at the end? You genius, Nathan. How did you come up with that? I thoroughly enjoyed where you took this, and if anyone's humming and hawing about this cyberpunk madness, do yourself a favour and pick it up.
November 12, 2021
If you are a fan of old school science fiction then this complex, trippy ride will appeal to you. You will spend much of the story confused, but that’s ok. So does Napalm, our peculiar protagonist who lurches from charismatic genius to odd ball victim of (who knows). The story is set in a complex and vivid clockwork world which is wholly immersive. Thankfully the author has provided us with a thorough glossary. My advice? Read it before you read the book. It is much easier to fall into the world more fully when you already have a handle on the jargon.
The story is based on an existential crisis with Napalm unable to shake the feeling that there is something more out there beyond Dome life. Think the Truman Show mashed up with the psychedelic fun of Lawnmower Man with a dash of Brave New World. Stylistically told with dry humour (enjoyable references to almost every sci fi classic abound from Douglas Adams to Blade Runner)the characters are weird and wonderful and almost never who they seem to be.
If you are looking for an easy to read, take your brain out sort of book save this one for another day. If you are looking for something that will keep you guessing from chapter to chapter then you will enjoy this.
The story is based on an existential crisis with Napalm unable to shake the feeling that there is something more out there beyond Dome life. Think the Truman Show mashed up with the psychedelic fun of Lawnmower Man with a dash of Brave New World. Stylistically told with dry humour (enjoyable references to almost every sci fi classic abound from Douglas Adams to Blade Runner)the characters are weird and wonderful and almost never who they seem to be.
If you are looking for an easy to read, take your brain out sort of book save this one for another day. If you are looking for something that will keep you guessing from chapter to chapter then you will enjoy this.
September 22, 2021
This book is absolutely amazing, creative, witty, imaginative and fun all at the same time. It's so new and different to anything I've ever read before.
Nathan Jones, the author, has an incredible eye for creating a storyline that is so unique and one of a kind. The ending blew my mind. No giveaways but...wow. It left me jaw dropped. His world building and descriptions are done to perfection.
Everything about this book was a page turner, full of twists and turns. I had no idea what was going to come next and found it hard to put down at times.
The characters were witty and funny. I loved where the story was set, in a post-apocalyptical bubble on dead earth where a computer system is in charge. Throughout the book, the story will reveal its truths and spiral into events that will keep you hooked.
This book would make a pretty awesome blockbuster movie if it is ever made into a film.
Not one to miss and highly recommended.
Nathan Jones, the author, has an incredible eye for creating a storyline that is so unique and one of a kind. The ending blew my mind. No giveaways but...wow. It left me jaw dropped. His world building and descriptions are done to perfection.
Everything about this book was a page turner, full of twists and turns. I had no idea what was going to come next and found it hard to put down at times.
The characters were witty and funny. I loved where the story was set, in a post-apocalyptical bubble on dead earth where a computer system is in charge. Throughout the book, the story will reveal its truths and spiral into events that will keep you hooked.
This book would make a pretty awesome blockbuster movie if it is ever made into a film.
Not one to miss and highly recommended.
August 11, 2022
Travelling without Moving.
What can I say about this absolute masterpiece of writing. Nathan has created a world like no other, that twists and turns like a clockwork coaster, and with every turn you just don’t know what to expect.
Napalm Carton, through the use of tickets, (imagine drugs that enable you to travel into a VR game) spirals down a rabbit hole of his own delusions, but what is real?
Are ThinkDom (A kind of mega corp) out to stop him. Will his friends Mokey, Gene, Haust and others finally see what Napalm can, and help him change the world for them all.
With Clockwork Rats, a giant dome protecting the last of humankind and the mysterious Hue who wants to declare war on them all, travelling without moving will take you on the ride of your life until the final reveal.
Nathan has a skill with words that enables the reader to be drawn into his world with ease, characters you will love, and a story that will be a favourite for years to come.
What can I say about this absolute masterpiece of writing. Nathan has created a world like no other, that twists and turns like a clockwork coaster, and with every turn you just don’t know what to expect.
Napalm Carton, through the use of tickets, (imagine drugs that enable you to travel into a VR game) spirals down a rabbit hole of his own delusions, but what is real?
Are ThinkDom (A kind of mega corp) out to stop him. Will his friends Mokey, Gene, Haust and others finally see what Napalm can, and help him change the world for them all.
With Clockwork Rats, a giant dome protecting the last of humankind and the mysterious Hue who wants to declare war on them all, travelling without moving will take you on the ride of your life until the final reveal.
Nathan has a skill with words that enables the reader to be drawn into his world with ease, characters you will love, and a story that will be a favourite for years to come.
September 24, 2021
I'm not very good at reviews
But Travelling without Moving is pretty damn good.
It's different and throws a fair few curve balls. I loved the ending.
I feel there isn't enough stories with honest human characters. Not enough ugly characters who do shitty things sometimes. They're all too pretty and too pure (or their development arch is too good) ... I love that there is so much uncertainty behind the main characters. You really feel like there muddling through this messy thing called life.
The writing, the characters and the story is truly top quality. Nathan's book deserves to be well known as far as I'm concerned. And really is a work of art.
But Travelling without Moving is pretty damn good.
It's different and throws a fair few curve balls. I loved the ending.
I feel there isn't enough stories with honest human characters. Not enough ugly characters who do shitty things sometimes. They're all too pretty and too pure (or their development arch is too good) ... I love that there is so much uncertainty behind the main characters. You really feel like there muddling through this messy thing called life.
The writing, the characters and the story is truly top quality. Nathan's book deserves to be well known as far as I'm concerned. And really is a work of art.
April 30, 2022
Travelling Without Moving is quite an experience! The characters are so artfully brought to life in this drug-fueled story. The clockwork setting is consistent throughout the story and seems very natural after several chapters. Life for different nations/people groups is very different under a huge dome.
Some of the dialogue is quite funny and kept the story moving along at a good pace.
Napalm is determined to escape the dome to find the truth. He keeps finding clues that lead him to think their life in the dome is a lie and he wants the truth.
I enjoyed this story a lot and give 4.6 stars to Travelling Without Moving!
Some of the dialogue is quite funny and kept the story moving along at a good pace.
Napalm is determined to escape the dome to find the truth. He keeps finding clues that lead him to think their life in the dome is a lie and he wants the truth.
I enjoyed this story a lot and give 4.6 stars to Travelling Without Moving!
July 2, 2023
I really wouldn't know how to describe this complex novel, so I'm glad the author did it very well himself, as 'a post-apocalyptic dystopian adventure'. The world-building shown here is truly epic, space opera style, and it took me a little while to stop myself being distracted by the terminologies, but that's just me and it's a testament to the writer that by the second half of the book i didn't blink at the various georgraphies, knights, coloured drugs and locations. this is a hugely inventive story, and will keep you guessing as to the truth behind the hallucinations and misdirections. If you want to read something truly different and worthwhile, this is the book for you.
September 8, 2023
You know how you feel when you are reading Douglas Adams?
You know what is going on in the story, then it veers off in another direction, dragging you in its wake.
That is the vibe I get from this book. It isn't a quick read. You need to move carefully or you may get lost in a rabbit hole. I will probably go back and read this one again soon, so that I can fully appreciate the depths of the story.
Depths this story definitely has. There is no standard dystopian theme here. Expect some twists and turns because of the characters don't know where they are going, you will have to pay attention.
All in all, a good read.
You know what is going on in the story, then it veers off in another direction, dragging you in its wake.
That is the vibe I get from this book. It isn't a quick read. You need to move carefully or you may get lost in a rabbit hole. I will probably go back and read this one again soon, so that I can fully appreciate the depths of the story.
Depths this story definitely has. There is no standard dystopian theme here. Expect some twists and turns because of the characters don't know where they are going, you will have to pay attention.
All in all, a good read.
January 16, 2022
I have to admit, I’m generally not a steampunk fan. But this book described the genre of post-apocalyptic fiction quite well. It is intriguing, descriptive, and engaging from the get-go. It will grab you from the start and not let up until the end. Terrific description of imagery. It ticks along at a fast pace with fascinating characters and a great inclusion to the writing craft. Get ready for a howitzer-sized adventure. I give it four stars because drugs aren’t really my thing. It would make a great movie one day.
June 8, 2021
Traveling Without Moving by Nathan Jones. This post-apocalyptic, clock-punk, dystopian, mystery/sci-fi is fantastic. Good writing, strong characters, clear witty dialogue and an exciting plot that is going to keep me up late tonight!
May 24, 2021
This book is amazing! I love the dialogue and the scenery descriptions.
Also, the names Mokey and Napalm are very creative! I’m a sucker for good names.
Also, the names Mokey and Napalm are very creative! I’m a sucker for good names.
August 27, 2022
Great read, better yet it’s *good*. Imaginative, funny, entertaining. You won’t be disappointed
October 21, 2024
Wish it was possible to get my time back, this person has issues and I can't support this person, shame ,as I don't like leaving bad reviews, but some people bring it on themselves.
April 8, 2022
This review first appeared on my blog - https://nsfordwriter.com - on 7th April 2022.
Dystopia, drugs and doppelgängers. This is an eccentric, unnerving dive into a post-apocalyptic world. The novel has tones of Philip K Dick, William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. It's influenced by the work of Jeff Noon (I haven't read him).
The story is set in a bio-dome, where the survivors live. Everyone is divided into tribes, which have the names of ancient tribes but look very different and have a variety of powers and specialities. The protagonist of the story is called Napalm. He's invented a game-playing drug experience, 'tickets'. They might just be a way out of the dome. Everyone wants to be involved and they aren't all on his side...
I have to admit that sometimes I didn't understand what was going on. That was the only downside of the reading experience, as I otherwise found this to be a very unusual book with excellent world-building and an interesting writing style. I enjoyed the imagery and the variety of words. A bonus point for using the word 'snazzy', which is one of my favourites!
The author describes the genre as 'clockpunk', which just perfectly sums it up, as the technology is clockwork-based. I might also say it's a 'philosophical thriller' as there are deep concepts behind it.
Dystopia, drugs and doppelgängers. This is an eccentric, unnerving dive into a post-apocalyptic world. The novel has tones of Philip K Dick, William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. It's influenced by the work of Jeff Noon (I haven't read him).
The story is set in a bio-dome, where the survivors live. Everyone is divided into tribes, which have the names of ancient tribes but look very different and have a variety of powers and specialities. The protagonist of the story is called Napalm. He's invented a game-playing drug experience, 'tickets'. They might just be a way out of the dome. Everyone wants to be involved and they aren't all on his side...
I have to admit that sometimes I didn't understand what was going on. That was the only downside of the reading experience, as I otherwise found this to be a very unusual book with excellent world-building and an interesting writing style. I enjoyed the imagery and the variety of words. A bonus point for using the word 'snazzy', which is one of my favourites!
The author describes the genre as 'clockpunk', which just perfectly sums it up, as the technology is clockwork-based. I might also say it's a 'philosophical thriller' as there are deep concepts behind it.
November 8, 2022
This is a psychedelic roller-coaster of a book, taking you into an imaginary world of people (I think) who may not exactly be people as we know them, in a world that may not be what it seems, with people who may or may not be what they are on earth. Siamese, Qing, Tasmanians, Romans are tribes (my word, not the author's) with roles that may or may not be what they seem. I was blown away and swept away in scenes of an imaginary world that sometimes had me questioning the world I (think I) live in. Let Nathan/Napalm take you on a ride through his incredible imagination into a world you never knew existed, and yet it might be the world you live in, at least in your mind.
May 3, 2023
I really loved parts of this book, but I kinda got lost in other sections. Not sure if that's because some things went right over my head or I accidentally skipped sections.
I loved the characters and all the twists and turns and the build-up of conspiracy theories by each character on what the real problem was and what was really going on. I did not see the ending coming. I didn't see the truth and I loved the ending. It was fabulous and not at all what I was thinking. I enjoyed it.
I loved the characters and all the twists and turns and the build-up of conspiracy theories by each character on what the real problem was and what was really going on. I did not see the ending coming. I didn't see the truth and I loved the ending. It was fabulous and not at all what I was thinking. I enjoyed it.
July 7, 2025
An excellent, well paced read, beautifully built world in all details. Quirky humor and unexpected turns of events. Smart and well written. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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