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Project Prometheus
Tom Costigan is a washed-out mercenary, stuck cleaning dishes for a hole-in-the-wall bar despite his chrome arm and the computer in his head. While having a smoke break in the alley out back, he's approached by a former comrade. His former commander is putting the old team back together for a big corporate heist.
Tom isn't big on asking questions, and the money's attractive enough to make him jump for it. But when the hand-off to the buyers goes south and the bullets start to fly, Tom finds himself with a sealed container and the payout.
But the payout is encrypted, and he doesn't know what's in the container.
Even with the help of his hacker sister, will Tom be able to stay ahead of his former comrades, the buyers, and the people they stole from and why is everyone willing to kill for what looks like a bunch of silver goop?
Tom isn't big on asking questions, and the money's attractive enough to make him jump for it. But when the hand-off to the buyers goes south and the bullets start to fly, Tom finds himself with a sealed container and the payout.
But the payout is encrypted, and he doesn't know what's in the container.
Even with the help of his hacker sister, will Tom be able to stay ahead of his former comrades, the buyers, and the people they stole from and why is everyone willing to kill for what looks like a bunch of silver goop?
148 pages, Hardcover
Published February 25, 2022
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 9, 2023
Gomez delivers again with a rip roaring Tech Noir thriller involving mercenaries, rogue AI and mysterious men in black. A truly cinematic book playing out like the best B-Sci-fi actioner you can think of. Blade Runner without endless wondering at who is or isn't made from computer parts.
Gomez has turned me on to so many genres I wouldn't typically read because he grounds it in a noir setting before ramping up the weirdness along the way. Love this guy's work and sure you will too!
Gomez has turned me on to so many genres I wouldn't typically read because he grounds it in a noir setting before ramping up the weirdness along the way. Love this guy's work and sure you will too!
June 3, 2022
A wild, dystopian ride
After building a steady, impressively varied short story resume on the indie new-pulp scene, Gomez makes his short novel debut with a blend of cyberpunk and military sci-fi that moves with the speed and attitude of a hard-R 90s sci-fi action flick. The prose is sharp and cinematic, and the twists revolving around the titular Project are surprising, imaginative, and in places, unsettling. I'd previously met cybernetic mercenary Tom Costigan, along with his smartass hacker sister Sunny, in Gomez's shorter work. It was fun getting to know them better here, and I'd be down for their further adventures in the future.
After building a steady, impressively varied short story resume on the indie new-pulp scene, Gomez makes his short novel debut with a blend of cyberpunk and military sci-fi that moves with the speed and attitude of a hard-R 90s sci-fi action flick. The prose is sharp and cinematic, and the twists revolving around the titular Project are surprising, imaginative, and in places, unsettling. I'd previously met cybernetic mercenary Tom Costigan, along with his smartass hacker sister Sunny, in Gomez's shorter work. It was fun getting to know them better here, and I'd be down for their further adventures in the future.
April 18, 2022
A quick and easy job with a payout that would set them up for life, what could possibly go wrong...
Set aside a few hours in your favorite reading spot because you won't want to put this one down. Matthew Gomez delivers a fast paced pulp fiction story in a world where your friends could be your enemies, your enemies could be your potential employers and even the air is trying to kill you.
Join Tom, his hacker sister and stripper ex girlfriend as they try to survive this one last job with Tom's old mercenary crew. Gomez will have you reading through till morning and then cursing him as you realize how late it is and that there is no amount of coffee that will save your work day.
I highly recommend this and look forward to reading more from Gomez in the future.
Set aside a few hours in your favorite reading spot because you won't want to put this one down. Matthew Gomez delivers a fast paced pulp fiction story in a world where your friends could be your enemies, your enemies could be your potential employers and even the air is trying to kill you.
Join Tom, his hacker sister and stripper ex girlfriend as they try to survive this one last job with Tom's old mercenary crew. Gomez will have you reading through till morning and then cursing him as you realize how late it is and that there is no amount of coffee that will save your work day.
I highly recommend this and look forward to reading more from Gomez in the future.
March 23, 2022
It’s the old story of a man with a cybernetic arm who gets a call from his old crew to do one last job. Tom Costigan is that man of action in Project Prometheus. Shaman, Anatoliy, Ju-Won, Rayven, and their old Defiant Strategy team leader Sam has a hard-hitting heist that could use Costigan’s special tactics. One of those tactics is having a head as hard as his chrome arm. With his hacker sister Sunny as his Girl Friday, he might just get away with the biggest score of his life unless the armed drones or violent corporate operatives take him down first. Matthew X. Gomez has crafted a futuristic pulp tale where you can hear the neon lights crackle in the acid air.
May 24, 2022
LOVED IT! Old skool 90s cyberpunk vibe but none of the "era" trappings. Slick writing made it a fast, enjoyable read that was difficult to put down and easy to get into. Relatable characters. It was nice NOT to be annoyed by the cliched and often overbearing cookie cutter characters of SO MANY cyberpunk novels. Great buildup made for a tense read wherein I was worried for the protagonist, his associates and family as well as genuinely left stunned at the end. Excellent editing by the good people at Fahrenheit means I'll be going back to this indie publisher for future work from both Mr. Gomez and other authors. WANT MORE!
May 3, 2022
I’ve heard Mr Gomez referred to as a “Pulp-Fiction Ninja” online within the indie writing world, which intrigued me enough to check out his work. And I’m glad I did! Project Prometheus is a fast-paced cyberpunk noir, filled with fast-talking goons and even faster-drawing mercenaries. Excellent, uniquely-written characters, in a rich and immersive world set some time in the near future. Hints of Phillip K. Dick mixed with Raymond Chandler. Loved every minute of it!
January 20, 2024
An interesting techno crime thriller. The first two-thirds are pretty formulaic for any crime thriller but with enough razzle dazzle to keep you entertained. Then you hit the final act and it gets good. This section is what makes this one worth reading. In my edition there are several glaring grammar and spelling errors that should have been cleaned up by an editor. That takes it down a notch for me, because the amount of errors really takes me out of the story.
Good to kill a couple hours with.
Good to kill a couple hours with.
March 17, 2022
Matthew Gomez is a strong story writer as well as a talented editor, so when I picked this up, I knew I was in for a good ride. However, I was pleasantly shocked by this short and fast novel. In just a couple of chapters he creates an engrossing milieu, and then sets his characters free at a breakneck pace. I will be looking for more books by him, and you should be, too.
Rating: 4.5 stars because I did find a few typos and grammar errors here and there. Rounded up to 5 because it's from an independent publisher, and I'd rather them spend their limited budget on putting out more books than fiddling over dotted t's and crossed i's. Highly, highly recommended.
Rating: 4.5 stars because I did find a few typos and grammar errors here and there. Rounded up to 5 because it's from an independent publisher, and I'd rather them spend their limited budget on putting out more books than fiddling over dotted t's and crossed i's. Highly, highly recommended.
Read
March 12, 2022Matthew X Gomez's, new book, 'Project Prometheus',
had trapped me in my recliner for several hours straight!!
I couldn't put it down. Reading this book was like binge
watching season 1, of his character's story on Amazon Prime.
Buy or download 'Project Prometheus'.
I would encourage everyone to read it.
had trapped me in my recliner for several hours straight!!
I couldn't put it down. Reading this book was like binge
watching season 1, of his character's story on Amazon Prime.
Buy or download 'Project Prometheus'.
I would encourage everyone to read it.
Read
May 10, 2022Fast-paced with a ton of action, the plot doesn't so much move forward as race there. If you like science fiction action, a little bit of cyberpunk musing on the world and mortality, and lots of gunfire, this is your book.
February 28, 2023
A slow burn cyberpunk story that once it got rolling it just kept picking up speed. I really enjoyed this. Just so you know it wasn't slow for long. So give it a go.
February 8, 2023
Have to say, neither Sci-fi or heist novels are really my sort of thing. So a Sci-fi heist novel? What was I thinking?
After finishing Project Prometheus, what I’m thinking is how wrong I was . . .
Project Prometheus is fantastic.
So, let’s jump in . . .
Erstwhile mercenary, Tom Costigan, is offered one last job by Sam - his ex-commander in the mercenary unit Tom was a part of. The job is a no questions asked heist.
He could refuse.
He could go back to washing the dishes.
If he wants.
But who wants to do that?
Thing is, the last mission with Sam and his old buddies ended up with Tom having one less arm than he started with. But with his life going nowhere, Tom, with some trepidation, agrees to take part in the Heist.
The object of the heist is some sort of canister containing some sort of something. Sam’s keeping the whole thing very close to his chest. But Tom will get his cut. Then he can walk away. Suspicious by nature, Tom isn't happy with this, but what once he's in, he's in. There ain't no turning back now.
Although this is very much a getting the band back together kind of set-up, Tom notices pretty quickly that time, distance and friendship do not necessarily breed trust.
Two Matrix-like figures from a tech company are also tracing Tom’s every move. They make him an offer, but by this time Tom doesn’t trust anyone - other than his hacker sister, Sunny.
In a spectacularly written scene, the heist goes, let's say, a little awry, and Tom finds himself with the goods and the whole world after him. All because of this silver gloop inside this canister. Tom has more questions than answers, but has no time for either. Running is the only thing that matters. Sunny acts as the perfect foil for Tom’s anxieties and her computer knowhow keeps him one step ahead of all those seeking to chase him down.
The group of mercenaries are brilliantly drawn by Gomez - as are all the characters in the novel. Tom - and the reader - are with Tom hiding in ruined buildings, scampering down dark alleys, taking the blows and feeling his pain. And constantly trying to get a handle on the motivation of everyone involved.
The mood throughout is as noir as noir can be, yet flashes of colour and humour throw enough light to prevent it from being at all mawkish. The pace is relentless. The character list is narrow but sharply drawn - each one playing an integral role within the story. And the dialogue sharp, witty and caustic.
Make no mistake, Gomez is a top writer.
The novel is lean and muscular and whips along at a fearful pace.
What I also loved about this novel was the allusion to a wider storyline. The mission in which Tom lost his arm is often spoken of by Tom and the other members of the unit, Gomez feeding just enough to the reader whilst resisting the temptation to descend into weighty backstory. Tom’s lost years since this ill-fated mission and the beginning of the novel are not reiterated in too much detail either. A lesser, more insecure, writer might have unbalanced the novel by feeling the need to elaborate on these two aspects of Tom’s history, but not Gomez, though I’d love to see Gomez take on these two aspects in more length elsewhere.
But Project Prometheus is a novel about the sharp-edged now. And it is brilliant. It is the story of how Tom ended up with a mysterious canister from a mysterious tech company who will do anything to get it back. And they're not the only ones. What the silver gloop is within the cannister, well, we find that out towards the end of the novel.
And, blimey, it’s worth waiting for.
With nods to The Terminator, The Matrix and Blade Runner, Project Prometheus is a hugely enjoyable cyber noir heist novel
After finishing Project Prometheus, what I’m thinking is how wrong I was . . .
Project Prometheus is fantastic.
So, let’s jump in . . .
Erstwhile mercenary, Tom Costigan, is offered one last job by Sam - his ex-commander in the mercenary unit Tom was a part of. The job is a no questions asked heist.
He could refuse.
He could go back to washing the dishes.
If he wants.
But who wants to do that?
Thing is, the last mission with Sam and his old buddies ended up with Tom having one less arm than he started with. But with his life going nowhere, Tom, with some trepidation, agrees to take part in the Heist.
The object of the heist is some sort of canister containing some sort of something. Sam’s keeping the whole thing very close to his chest. But Tom will get his cut. Then he can walk away. Suspicious by nature, Tom isn't happy with this, but what once he's in, he's in. There ain't no turning back now.
Although this is very much a getting the band back together kind of set-up, Tom notices pretty quickly that time, distance and friendship do not necessarily breed trust.
Two Matrix-like figures from a tech company are also tracing Tom’s every move. They make him an offer, but by this time Tom doesn’t trust anyone - other than his hacker sister, Sunny.
In a spectacularly written scene, the heist goes, let's say, a little awry, and Tom finds himself with the goods and the whole world after him. All because of this silver gloop inside this canister. Tom has more questions than answers, but has no time for either. Running is the only thing that matters. Sunny acts as the perfect foil for Tom’s anxieties and her computer knowhow keeps him one step ahead of all those seeking to chase him down.
The group of mercenaries are brilliantly drawn by Gomez - as are all the characters in the novel. Tom - and the reader - are with Tom hiding in ruined buildings, scampering down dark alleys, taking the blows and feeling his pain. And constantly trying to get a handle on the motivation of everyone involved.
The mood throughout is as noir as noir can be, yet flashes of colour and humour throw enough light to prevent it from being at all mawkish. The pace is relentless. The character list is narrow but sharply drawn - each one playing an integral role within the story. And the dialogue sharp, witty and caustic.
Make no mistake, Gomez is a top writer.
The novel is lean and muscular and whips along at a fearful pace.
What I also loved about this novel was the allusion to a wider storyline. The mission in which Tom lost his arm is often spoken of by Tom and the other members of the unit, Gomez feeding just enough to the reader whilst resisting the temptation to descend into weighty backstory. Tom’s lost years since this ill-fated mission and the beginning of the novel are not reiterated in too much detail either. A lesser, more insecure, writer might have unbalanced the novel by feeling the need to elaborate on these two aspects of Tom’s history, but not Gomez, though I’d love to see Gomez take on these two aspects in more length elsewhere.
But Project Prometheus is a novel about the sharp-edged now. And it is brilliant. It is the story of how Tom ended up with a mysterious canister from a mysterious tech company who will do anything to get it back. And they're not the only ones. What the silver gloop is within the cannister, well, we find that out towards the end of the novel.
And, blimey, it’s worth waiting for.
With nods to The Terminator, The Matrix and Blade Runner, Project Prometheus is a hugely enjoyable cyber noir heist novel
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews