Under the Amoral Bridge

The Bridge Chronicles #1

by Gary Ballard

Artemis Bridge is the know-to, go-to guy, the amoral fixer in 2028 Los Angeles with the connection for any illicit desire no matter how depraved. He prides himself on remaining above it all, but when an associate dies in his arms, he is burdened with a damaging video of the current mayor he can't sell or trade. With assassins dogging his every step, he has only days before the corrupt mayor is re-elected, handing Chronosoft corporation complete control.

This taut futuristic thriller is the debut novel by Gary A. Ballard, originally published serially on the World Wide Web.

Genres: Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Thriller

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

I began writing things down at the age of eleven, and I haven't stopped since. I have written far too many things that have gone unpublished, from very terrible horror novels in my teens, to comics during my time at Belhaven College until finally settling on cyberpunk science fiction after graduation. I have released three novels in a cyberpunk series called The Bridge Chronicles. The Bridge Chronicles in turn is one slice of cohesive universe that began as a pen-and-paper roleplaying game.

I currently live with my beautiful wife and three very insane dogs in Mississippi, where I continue to write my novels.

Reviews

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

My original Under the Amoral Bridge audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
Under The Amoral Bridge is the first novella in the Bridge Chronicles, a series of four books so far. Set in LA in 2028, it introduces Artemis Bridge, who is the guy who knows a guy. He is a kind of facilitator in the shady underworld who connects people for a small fee without actually touching anything illegal himself. Artemis is the amoral anti-hero of the story, but I essentially found him to be likable and amusing. He employs a bodyguard but quite happily accepts a beating because he doesn’t pay the bodyguard enough to fight for him. He has a genius hacker ex-girlfriend for whom he still harbors feelings though he wouldn’t admit it.

I know absolutely nothing about cyberpunk. This was my first book in this sub-genre, but to me Under The Amoral Bridge was simply an exciting thriller with a futuristic setting.

It’s a very quick listen, only 4 hours, so I don’t want to give the plot away, but there’s a political angle to it, corruption and shady dealings, assassins, and fights. Overall, a very entertaining listen. I thought the side characters were particularly strong. I loved philosophical Aristotle, the bodyguard, and the hacker girlfriend was a great basis for explaining all the techno stuff while also showing Artemis’ softer side.

Joe Hempel’s narration was very good. Excellent pacing and very clear voices. He emotes really well and I thought his smooth tone was very fitting for Artemis. There were no issues with the production.

I would recommend Under The Amoral Bridge to any listener who enjoys fast paced thrillers or action-packed science fiction, and for me as a complete novice, it was certainly an engaging introduction to cyberpunk.
Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com

[Brainycat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid, but not groundbreaking cyberpunk adventure. Gary doesn't tread too far off the genre's beaten path, and for most of the book the action and dialogue (though not the vocabulary; sed -e "s/cyberpunk/SomeGenre/g") could be set in any noir story from Renaissance Europe to the far distant future. It's a quick read, and it's full of likable characters.

It doesn't suffer from the drawbacks typical of episodically published stories. Each installment flows well into the next, with no unnecessary recaps or useless cliffhangers: thankfully, this book reads nothing like Charles Dickens. The denouement feels like it's tacked on; almost like Gary lit a neon sign on a drizzly evening that says, "Second Novel: Here!" with a huge flashing arrow to the only plot point he left unresolved.

I like slimy, narcissistic antiheroes and Amoral Bridge delivers. He's not a total douchebag, he operates by his own moral compass that's tuned to a darwinian inspired nihilism I found myself relating to:

Everybody wants to do something nasty and vile to somebody else. Everybody! They're all fucking shitheels with disgusting, immoral, vicious desires buried in their tiny, miserable souls just waiting for an excuse to get out. The sooner it gets out and they all burn themselves up in a fiery orgy of self-destructive gluttony, the happier I'll be. Humanity as a whole is a miserable gaggle of self-pleasuring apes ready to crack you over the head and steal your fucking bananas.

This book is a great introduction to cyberpunk for people who might not usually read scifi, and for diehard cyberpunk fans it's a great way to spend a couple of nontaxing hours.

I read the smashwords edition, and it suffered from the usual deficiencies that all their epubs have, but was generally well rendered on my reader.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was a pretty solid book. Nothing special but not bad. The main character is described as amoral, but consistently shows that he understands right and wrong and frequently chooses the "right" way.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of Story Line:

This is my first book within the genre of cyberpunk. I wasn’t really sure what that was about so I entered into it lightly. Well it’s great. Cyberpunk novels deal with hackers: a programmer who breaks into computer systems in order to steal or change or destroy information as a form of cyber-terrorism. That has the potential of becoming a disaster. However Gary Ballard really manages to give us enough of the tech stuff and enough of every day happenings to keep us intrigued. The story really flows easily and is written in a way that would make anyone want to become a cyberpunk. You can’t help but involve yourself with Bridge and feel happy, sad and pain along with him.

While this story deals with a world in 2028, it parallels what we live through nowadays. Corrupt players, do-gooders, the high and mighty. The difference? The way punishment and information is exchanged. How would like to the instead of passing business cards with your name and occupation on it, pass a business card that has your entire life coded in it?

How would you feel if someone can enter a chamber and hurt you physically while using holograms? It’s no longer a world where people post things about you online, but where they can enter a 3-D world, find out anything and everything about you, and then hurt your physical image with it. It’s insane.

Review of Characters:

I liked Bridge. I know he was the character that did good things but for bad reasons, but he sounded the most true to me. We all have that quality in us and so can quite easily relate to what he does and why he does it.

There were some issues where the bad guys had the expected sidekicks and they behaved the expected way. But really, how much do you want authors to rock the boat? If they rock everything there is no anchor.

Review of Writing:

A worry of mine when picking up this book, was how the tech information was going to be handled. Were we going to be thrown a bunch of tech words and phrases? While I am pretty knowledgeable with computers, most people when they hear about computer hacking get glossed over eyes. So this book had the potential to really cut down on its readership group.

But yet again, Gary has managed to really make the book complex enough to satisfy the techies and neutral enough to satisfy the non-techies. This is difficult, but I feel he managed to do it nicely.

Review of Editing:

I read the paperback version of this book and found about 3-4 misspellings (which is admirable) and one page was left justified instead of full justified. Does it mess up the reading or story at all? Not in the least. They are just minor issues that can be corrected in less than a minute.

Review of Cover:

The cover was nice. A little too much white space for me. But that is completely subjective.

Overall Review:

If I were to be asked if you should read this book, I would say yes. It’s a great story, great characters (whether you like or dislike them personally, you still get involved with them) and has a great reading rhythm. I look forward to the second book in the series.

About the book:

Artemis Bridge is the know-who, go-to guy, the amoral fixer in 2028 Los Angeles with the connection for any illicit desire no matter how depraved. You need it, he can get it without questions or judgment. He prides himself on staying detached from the depravity, untouched by the filth, untouchable by the law. When a young hacker is assassinated before his eyes, he is burdened with a scandalous video of the mayor on the eve of the city’s most important election of the century. With digital assassins and murderous thugs dogging his every step, he has only days before the corrupt mayor is re-elected, handing the Chronosoft Corporation complete control of the city. Unable to sell the video, he is forced further into a complex conspiracy. This taut futuristic thriller is the debut novel by Gary A. Ballard, a rising new talent in the cyberpunk genre. The trade paperback edition includes the previously unpublished short story “Feeding Autonomy.” “…well written and a joy to read, Ballard paints imaginative scenarios and environments” “Ballard does a complete and thorough job of world building.”

About the author:

Gary A. Ballard was born, raised and still resides in the state of Mississippi. Graduating from Belhaven College with a degree in Fine Arts, he has painted, photographed, drawn, and written the world as he sees it. Working as a web designer since the early days of the World Wide Web, Gary is well-versed in social media, graphic design and Internet marketing.

[Teressa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this a 4.5 star review on Audible

This was a wild ride on the cyber side. Bridge is a former hacker who now stays out of the loop while hiring others to do his dirty work allowing him to stay under the radar. He can still access the global net from anywhere but he’s pretty much a moral-lacking middleman. He has his ex-cyber chick Angela who’s an information broker hire a hacker named Kyra to do a job and they plan a meeting at a club called The Arsenal. Bridge takes along his bodyguard Aristotle and they stumble onto something bigger than they thought. Someone was after something Kyra had.

This was an interesting listen but in a few places the story was hard to follow. I think it definitely has promise as a series and I would like to hear more. It was an action-packed thriller worth a second listen before book 2 comes out. I look forward to see where Gary Ballard goes with this one. It has a lot of potential.

Joe Hempel did an awesome job narrating this story. He has great characterization skills and with multiple accents I could always tell who was speaking. He has super voice control with a nice tone. He also kept the story moving at a perfect pace with good, clean voice inflections. He made this audiobook an excellent listen.

Audiobook gifted in exchange for review.

[John Hawthorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit, I'm always hesitant to start into any cyberpunk book outside of the main powerhouses in the genre. The oft-maligned cyberpunk style is too important to me, to much an integral part of my youth, that I fear losing some of that wonder to half-hearted, self-published efforts.

Under the Amoral Bridge, the first in a series By Gary Ballard, fits perfectly into the mold of those famous writers who need not be named. With those writers moving on to other parallel genres, "Bridge" provided me with the fix that I had been longing for: a gritty setting, a barely likable anti-hero, and a situation that quickly escalates out of hand.

I strongly recommend this novel, and the others in the series, to anyone who enjoys cyberpunk. And don't worry, your childhood love of the genre is safe here.

[Joe Hempel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My full review will be posted at the Top of the Heap Review blog later today at joehempel.wordpress.com


When the words "indy author", or "indy book" come up, you often think of people who couldn't cut it in the real world of publishing deals. More and more that wall is coming down, and the bar is getting set higher and higher for writers. Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary A. Ballard is one such book. It deserves to have a publisher look at it, and it deserves to be in stores. A cyberpunk thriller set it in an alternate but not too distant future of Los Angeles in 2027, is a ride that you should take.

This is my first read in the cyberpunk genre, and if others are like this book, I like what I'm reading.

[Dennis Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time I read a cyperpunk novel and to my surprise I liked it.

I am going to give this book 3.5 to 4 stars. Mostly because of my problem with accepting characters walking away from physical attacks. But also because I found some formatting errors in the mobi copy I read.
I don’t usually read cyberpunk and I was surprised how much I enjoyed Under the Amoral Bridge. Gary Ballard has managed to create a somewhat believable future society, that is creepy and scary, not unlike the political intrigue, fake news, and lopsided security of present day. He skates around in an underworld with hackers, con artists, suppliers and, I guess, we will have to read more to see what else he gets himself involved in.
I have a hard time with characters getting beaten up and being able to walk away. But that’s one of my problems with suspending my disbelief. The character Bridge is definitely an amoral hero, but seems to walk on the side of good. I loved the character of his bodyguard, his description of the future of connecting to the net and his relationship with his female character. They all were very believable.
If you like cyberpunk Gary Ballard has done a great job in creating characters and a world you will love to be a part of.

[Mihir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review over at Fantasy Book Critic

Overview and Analysis:I had read about Under the Amoral Bridge online and after reading the first chapter, I liked the writing enough to give the novel a try. In the end I'm very pleased with my experience with this book, and am happy that I gave this novel a try.

Under the Amoral Bridge is a cyberpunk novel set in Los Angeles in the year 2028. As dystopian futures go, this one has the best that technology has to offer and showcases the worst of humanity. The novel is set in a world where technology has made the world an easy place to live in and anyone can get their heart's desires, the moral and the amoral ones, at their fingertips. For the former, can be gotten from any of the corporate entity, as in this world the federal government has collapsed due to financial reasons (a pretty grim reminder for the future based on current recession-like situations). The current set up is run by corporation's who brought the city and state governments and are now running everything in a business like manner.

For the amoral requests, there are few options in town. The only way to get these requests is to be in touch with the go-to guy, Artemis Bridge, known as "Bridge". He always knows someone who can get you what you want, be it physically or mental, or both. It doesn't matter to him what the request as long as you pay, he'll fix you up.

The story takes off when readers are introduced to Artemis doing his usual setup with a customer. As the deal proceeds and appears to be completed successfully, a previous customer of Bridge's appears. This customer had a bad experience with a hacker set up by Bridge and wants retribution. Artemis is saved at the last minute from a deadly beating by the cops and picks himself up and continues on. A major event happens to Bridge as he is entrusted with a disk and a responsibility of sorts that he never bargained for. The people who orchestrated this event want this disk back, at any means necessary. Bridge recruits the help of friends and acquaintances to figure out what is on the disk that has been sent to him and the purpose behind him being the recipient.

Artemis Bridge, our central character and the main fix in the story. He is the main protagonist of this tale as readers experience the whole story through his eyes. He is the classic anti-hero, in that he isn't easy to like, has questionable morals and is willing to bend them to survive in the world. I'm sure this has been done before in other novels and most certainly will be done in the future as well. However in this setting it works, as readers will partly disregard the character traits and learn to appreciate that Artemis is doing what he knows best how to do; survive. He might not like what he's doing but yet he still continues to do it.

In the trade paperback there is also a short story called Feeding Autonomy which is set nearly 9 months before the events of Under the Amoral Bridge. This story gives readers a nice slice of the life and work of Artemis. In doing so this shows what makes Artemis such a conflicting and engrossing character to read about!

The book is a very fast paced novel as the events happen over a period of less than 48 hours. This creates a very quick read with plenty of action for readers. Gary A. Ballard's writing is very smooth and makes for an easy read. Of course there are a couple character cliches, namely a cynical anti-hero protagonist with a wise very strong sidekick. However due to the author's ability readers don't really focus on these character traits and instead just go with the flow of the story and enjoy the novel.

Ballard does a complete and thorough job of world building. It is inserted within the story without bulking up the novel to much. There are a few major info dumps done within the novel, but these are skillfully placed between conversations and flashbacks and do not obstruct the storyline or flow of the novel.

More details about the world can be found on Gary A. Ballard's blog and can be a fun, interesting read for those that are interested in the novel and want to learn more. There is the history of Los Angeles in the year 2028 as well as information about certain events that happen within the novel are given a greater more detailed explanation. Visit the blog information page here.

In the end, I was thoroughly impressed by Gary A. Ballard's debut effort. Even though the novel was only a 155 pages long it packs within those pages a complete and compact story which makes for a fast and delectable read. Readers should go in without any assumptions of self published works, as this story will definitely surprise you. Think of Under the Amoral Bridge as a nice sports car, smooth and compact, and gives you your money's worth in thrills.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its heart, there is a reasonably entertaining thriller in this book, and there are enough interesting ideas to keep you reading it. However it's badly let down by its many flaws. I rate it 2.5 stars, generously rounding up to 3.

Summary - Bridge, our protagonist, is an underworld facilitator of sorts. If you need something shady done, for a small fee he will put you in touch with someone who can do it for you. In the course of this business, he accidentally comes into possession of some incriminating evidence on a powerful politician, and as a result has to run around trying to avoid getting killed by the unpleasant people who have been sent to get this evidence back. Yes, it does sound familiar, although there is a twist, it's not quite as simple as it sounds. And no, it's not inherently a cyberpunk work; despite the title, this is a thriller that could be set almost any time, but with a thin cyberpunk veneer applied. Much more Enemy of the State than Neuromancer.

Pros - particularly in the second half of the book, the pacing is quite good, and it's exciting enough to keep you turning the pages. There's enough of a twist on the rather familiar storyline to keep it interesting.

Cons - first half feels padded and slow. The socio-political backdrop doesn't seem very plausible (in describing the financial crisis leading to the political situation in the book, we're told that Bridge "didn't understand all the talking head blather" about how the crisis happened; to me this is code for "if I had a plausible back story for this, I'd give it to you right here, but I don't.").

The technological landscape isn't much better; there were many things that didn't make sense to me and weren't explained. For example, we find out in the latter parts of the book that Bridge has a cellular connection. But he apparently can't use it to check his messages, he has to find a "street term" and "jack in" to do that. Considering where mobile data comms is already today, that doesn't seem very futuristic.

Also Bridge disappointingly isn't actually very amoral at all, or maybe the word means something different to me that it does to the author. Bridge consistently shows that he knows right from wrong, and he does care about it. Even in the short story tacked on to the Smashwords eBook edition, seemingly with the aim of showing us how amoral Bridge really is, the author can't resist pulling his punches; Bridge once again shows that he knows right from wrong, and acts on that knowledge on the side of right. That is not being amoral. Given the title and premise of the book, this is a problem.

OK, I seem to have gone on about the flaws more than the good bits, perhaps this review seems a bit more negative than I intended. You can always go and check out the blog edition at http://amoralbridge.blogspot.com/ and make your own mind up.

[A.F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cyber-punk, near-future sci-fi, urban sci-fi, any one of those terms could describe Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary A. Ballard. It could also be described as a good yarn featuring an ambiguous, yet relatable, main character.

The plot centers around Artemis Bridge, a slightly shady go-between who can get you what you want, be it illegal or immoral. It is business as usual until one of his deals goes sour and he finds himself with killers on his tail and in possession of information he doesn’t want.

The book is a fairly standard cyber-punk sci-fi novel, but it does have a nice touch of nihilistic cynicism set in a scruffy, corrupt future. The characters are well-rounded, with the focal character neither heroic nor completely indifferent; he is just a guy trying to get himself out of a bad situation in one piece. Also, the author does do a splendid job of painting his future world, a gritty, dark place full of people turned jaded, corrupt or apathetic. The book isn’t perfect, though; the review copy had a few formatting mistakes and typos, if nothing major or overly distracting, but the novel itself was worth ignoring a few errors.

Under the Amoral Bridge started life on the blogs as serial fiction, but it translates well to book form and it is a satisfying, entertaining read.

[Patrick Sherriff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure how I happened upon this one, I think an algorithm figured out that if I dug China Mieville's The City The City then I'd dig this, you dig? And I dug it, although it would be unfair to compare the two too closely. Mieville's writing "at the height of his powers" as they say, while this is only Ballard's first.

But it's not bad, and in parts is pretty good, particularly the character of the amoral fixer (though of course with a heart of gold). It's not groundbreaking stuff, but it's a solid, readable crime caper set in the near future. A few points let Ballard down though -- a couple of minor formatting errors (paragraph breaks mid sentence) were jarring -- and he had a tendency to tell a bit too much and not show enough, to my liking. If it had been me, I'd have ditched the third person narrative and done everything through Bridge's eyes, forcing Ballard to drop a lot of the exposition and be more inventive in slipping in the necessary non-narrative bits.

But hey, it's not bad and better than that, it shows promise. Worth a read. You dig?

[Brandon Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book. And I got it for .99 on my kindle with a gift card when I was looking for some cyberpunk novels. Something I like but I have not gotten to read much. Overall I thought it was a good read, and the second book I just bought for my kindle. The plot was nice, although I did see quite a bit of it coming way ahead of time. Although I always think through the plot and try to predict it as I read. I liked Aristotle quite a bit and do wish he was expanded upon further in this book. This book has introduced me to the author Gary A. Ballard so I can check up and see when he puts out new works. Also he appears to be a self published author on Amazon kindle network which is a big plus to me.

[Patrick Todoroff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having recently suffered through several cringe-worthy self-pubbed sci fi books, I'm pleased to say "I know a guy" who went against the grain.

Read "Under the Amoral Bridge" last night and enjoyed every bit. I won't bore you with a synopsis or spoilers, but the novel deals with low-life fixer caught up in a nasty little episode of corrupt politics and murder. Nothing new there, you say. Right. This isn't a ground-breaking plot line and you won't find any breathtaking prose. It is, however, a solidly written story that kicks into gear right from the start and carries you to a satisfying conclusion. My only issues were with the paperback formatting. There were a handful of typos that should have been caught, but they don't detract from the story. If you're a cyberpunk or sci fi thriller fan, this is well worth your time and money. Support good indie authors. Gary Ballard is one of them.

[Sarah Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artimis Bridge is the guy who always "knows a guy" that has whatever you need. For the right price, he will be your Bridge and connect you to him.
Artimis loves that he can do this without ever actually crossing the line into anything illegal.
But suddenly one day he finds himself in the middle of  just the kind of mess he thought he could avoid. The kind that gets you killed.
This is the story of how he works to get himself out of it.
The catagory this book falls under is called cyberpunk.  I have no idea what that means but if there is more like this , I know I'd like to read it.
Joe Hempel does a great job as the uber charming, quick on his feet Artimis Bridge . 5 stars.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story. I like cyber-punk. You would think I would have given it a 4 maybe even a 5. I couldn't because while the story was very genre driven it was a little disjointed and heavy handed. Characters for me are what make a great story, plot and flow of a story not so much. The characters were a little too simple for my reading taste. Thats not saying I will not read the next book. I over all thought it was good, just wished for a little more character development.

[Indie e-books · Rating 4 out of 5]

The antihero of this piece - Artemis Bridge, is the ’go-to guy’ for shady dealings. He feigns disinterest in the details of the deal itself, but for a fee he can put you in touch with the right people (hence his nickname the Amoral Bridge). Inevitably however, he gets drawn in to a signifcant amount of trouble and has to navigate his way out, which is the main emphasis of this novel.

Full review at http://indieebooks.wordpress.com/2011...

[KristenR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was pretty short and streamlined and didn't get bogged down with extra twists or overly technical jargon, while still giving us the info we need to get immersed in the gritty cyberpunk world. My only complaint is that the epilogue didn't really have the same tone as the rest of the book - just seemed a little out of place, and almost unnecessary.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a little bit to decide I liked this book. As I read the following novels in the series things picked up for me. It's got some good action and the characters aren't all one dimensional, though it draws heavily on established cyber-punk tropes.

A slightly different take on the genre that I'd recommend.

[Scott Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little worried that I'd get lost in a book filled with technical jargon, but Mr. Ballard did a fantastic job of giving me enough information that I understood the premise without overwhelming me with techie speak. The fast, action packed plot kept me turning pages well into the night.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the main character in this story. Well that's not true...he's an ass. I really liked reading about this character in this story. The world Ballard created was interesting as well. Cyberpunk without going way out there like Gibson.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid cyberpunk which is a definite compliment. A little short and a little repetitive in the character description, but I'll cut some slack since it is setting up a narration that hopefully continues.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like early Gibson then this book will appeal to you. Gary Ballard writes old school Cyberpunk and writes it well.

[Gary Ballard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my debut novel.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know Gary a little and decided to read his book because, well, why wouldn't you read a book someone you know wrote? I went into it with low expectations. That wasn't because of Gary but because it's self-published, and I guess I had some kind of unknown bias against self-published books. I'm about to start reading more self-published books, though, because of how much I liked this one.

There was some really good writing - similes and moments that made me laugh aloud. It was creative and intelligent and highlighted Gary's diverse knowledge. I'm actually blown away by how good some of the writing is. There were times when I was completing immersed in it.

I thought Bridge's character was well-established and unique. His shtick was very entertaining, and I could see an entire series of Bridge stories built around it. He is obviously a bad guy but somehow a protagonist. When someone makes me like the bad guy, I know the writing is good. Moreover, I didn't struggle through the story; I wanted to keep turning the page.

I didn't give it five stars because if I'm completely honest, it could use a little extra editing here and there. It doesn't detract from the story, though. I'd definitely read another, and I'd be willing to bet that if Bridge wants another book written about him, he probably knows a guy for that.

[Leslie Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting cyber-punk/sci-fi/thriller. It held my attention enough that I would like to read the next book in the series. I feel like the characters could have used a little more development so that they would be easier to connect with. I listened to the Audible audio version narrated by Joe Hempel. As always, he did a good job with the narration and created unique voices for each character. Overall, an entertaining read perfect for fans of cyber-punk/sci-fi.

[Adam Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artemis Bridge is a fixer. You need something? Bridge knows a guy. For a finder’s fee, he can hook you up, no questions asked. In fact, the less he knows the better. As a character, he is a curious one; he is the protagonist but he is conflicted, and so, as readers, we’re never quite sure how we should feel about him.

Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/amoral-b...

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

you can tell this was written quite some time ago, because of the way it talks about the setting's past.

References are made to the years 2023 and 2026 that seem amusing looked at from the year 2024.

This book was good but i'm unsure if I want to continue the series.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary Bollard is the first novel in The Bridge Chronicles trilogy. Originally published in installments on the author's blog, Amoral Bridge is a story about a hacker-turned-fixer named Artemis Bridge. With a healthy bit of hatred towards the human race, Bridge is forced to play a game of dealing in deadly secrets with morally reprehensible enemies.

Artemis knows people. Whether you have a dirty deed that needs doing or a festering secret that needs burying, he can fix it for you. For a price.

Amoral Bridge is an enjoyable read that never slows down. Artemis Bridge, although clever when he needs to be, isn't ashamed of getting his hands dirty. Unfortunately this always leads to him as the punching bag (his strength is in cunning not physical prowess). But that's okay because he's an awesome character that keeps getting back up! Until he falls back down again. What can I say? Fixers have it rough!

Another thing I really liked about the novel is that it gives off a very Altered Carbon feel, very noir. The world itself is a downtrodden and gritty, one where questionable deeds become the norm. The reader is made to sympathize with the anti-hero. He reminds me a bit of Lenny Nero from Strange Days. His story is more central to the plot than the world itself and, since the writing is great, that story is worth reading.

While Under the Amoral Bridge had the potential to be a really great cyberpunk read, there are a few things that prevented me from loving it as much as I could have.

The characters are too few. Aristotle, his "bodyguard," is just there for show, only somewhat interesting during the last 20% of the novel. Without giving too much away, Angela's "change" at the end of the novel is too sudden, too cliché. Similarly, there's also no character development. We get the whole "is he really amoral?" thing just by the first few pages, but there's almost no self-reflection. The novel is more about the main character's actions and not his motivations.

One of the things I didn't like was that the world was also too barebones. There's little life of its own there and it would do with more world-building. Under the Amoral Bridge nails the dark and gritty part but uses its setting as a backdrop more than a living place to enjoy. Many concepts were borrowed from other works in the genre. SimSense (Shadowrun)/StimSim (Gibson) and Dumpshock for cyberdecks was used here for crèche (an awesome idea with the saline, though), the corporate LGL legislation to replace government and restore order, etc. All cool ideas but they could have been implemented better. Customized tailored.

Not every cyberpunk novel needs to be hardcore or re-invent the wheel. Under the Amoral Bridge is a quick, well-written read with an interesting main character and decent story. While it's not super original or thought provoking, it's definitely entertaining and worth reading. (3.8/5 Edge; 4/5 Goodreads)

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary A. Ballard In this cyberpunkian near future novel, Artemis Bridge is a fixer – the go-to guy for when you need something illegal or under the radar. Bridge doesn’t care how foul your need is, he simply finds you the guy who can make it happen, taking a small fixer fee along the way. He’s proud to say he himself never does anything indecent; he merely facilitates. Of course, that all goes sideways when a dying associate feeds him a recording of the present mayor doing something quite distasteful.
Our main character Bridge likes to think of himself as a cool cat, making his money on the morally depleted but never dipping in the dirty waters himself. I can’t say I particularly liked this character, but he was so fascinating I didn’t have to. He obviously has morals concerning his own behavior and yet holds back on enforcing those morals on others. Plus he makes most of his money off of one type of degenerate or other. He has a body guard (Archimedes is his handle) who is paid to look aware and tough but not paid enough to take a punch for Bridge. I found their banter and dynamic both comical and interesting.
While there are few females in this story, they are integral to the plot (hurray!). The main female character is Bridge’s ex-girlfriend. I think she got all the brains in the relationship. She too is an interesting character with her own values and hobbies and actions. Much of the cyberpunk hardware belongs to her and hence, much of the the cyberpunk scenes include her.
The plot has a few unexpected twists and turns and they were a treat to watch unfold. Bridge has to call in favors, rely on friends, and outwit the bad guys. However, bad guys are nearly all he deals with, so there’s plenty of fancy foot work to stay ahead of a bullet. All in all this was an enjoyable ride with an original lead character. Definitely worthy of my time.
The Narration: Joe Hempel had a variety of voices, each distinct, for all the characters. He even pulled off a few accents as the roles required. While I found his voice for Bridge more of a boy-next-door voice instead of shady, slick, psuedo-criminal, he still made it work and I connected with the character through the narration. He even went the extra length with one of the cyberpunk voices, giving it the echo described in the scene.