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Anoxic Zone #1
anoxic zone
Towards the end of the first century of the second millennium, the true end of the Industrial age, a working man with skills was rare. And so, being one was vital. Having the unfortunate opportunity to be alive at this time, when the infrastructure of the previous age was falling apart, operatives were much needed. Chosen for their aptitude, whether skilled in labor or in the sciences, these men were brought back to life again and again to become reuseables for Megacorp. Society at large never knew the making or means of this rekindling of life. Nor did the ones it was perpetrated on. At least that was the way it was supposed to be.
Megacorp was what its name implied: a massive worldwide organization that owned almost everything and everyone. Its decisions were paramount and capitalistic. It did whatever it had to do to increase shareholder dividends. Whatever would make money. It made most of its profits from the seas, filled with errant shipwrecks from thousands of years and all that they held. Metal of all kinds were the real currency in this world. Most of it was underwater.
Jake, a commercial diver and Johnny, a scientist, were regenerated as reuseables to serve this narcissistic, apathetic society. They have remained friends for over 100 years, through many lives and deaths, so to speak... A combination of human curiosity and inhuman nature conspire to have them discover just what they are. By finding out, they inadvertently release the evil that spawned them. Darkly charismatic, this evil befriends Jake and Johnny who are now fugitives from Megacorp for unleashing their dividend maker. In time, the two realize that his forged charisma belies a ruthless, pathological psychopath that has been alive for over a thousand years.
Myth and reality coalesce as the two struggle to deal with what they have become, along with the legacy that comes with it. Their nightmare takes them from deep in the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea. The darkest phantom of our subconscious surfaces to mete out his own brand of persecution to those betrayed him. Everything goes wild as the storm builds, reaching a fevered pitch. Not realizing the dissonant harmony that was happening, they release even more evil.
The book comes to its tornado-like ending, leaving you, the reader, along with the guys, thrashed in the whirlwind.
Megacorp was what its name implied: a massive worldwide organization that owned almost everything and everyone. Its decisions were paramount and capitalistic. It did whatever it had to do to increase shareholder dividends. Whatever would make money. It made most of its profits from the seas, filled with errant shipwrecks from thousands of years and all that they held. Metal of all kinds were the real currency in this world. Most of it was underwater.
Jake, a commercial diver and Johnny, a scientist, were regenerated as reuseables to serve this narcissistic, apathetic society. They have remained friends for over 100 years, through many lives and deaths, so to speak... A combination of human curiosity and inhuman nature conspire to have them discover just what they are. By finding out, they inadvertently release the evil that spawned them. Darkly charismatic, this evil befriends Jake and Johnny who are now fugitives from Megacorp for unleashing their dividend maker. In time, the two realize that his forged charisma belies a ruthless, pathological psychopath that has been alive for over a thousand years.
Myth and reality coalesce as the two struggle to deal with what they have become, along with the legacy that comes with it. Their nightmare takes them from deep in the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea. The darkest phantom of our subconscious surfaces to mete out his own brand of persecution to those betrayed him. Everything goes wild as the storm builds, reaching a fevered pitch. Not realizing the dissonant harmony that was happening, they release even more evil.
The book comes to its tornado-like ending, leaving you, the reader, along with the guys, thrashed in the whirlwind.
- GenresHorrorPost Apocalyptic
256 pages, Paperback
First published December 14, 2010
3 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
John G. Rees
4 books12 followers john g rees lives on a volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii and likes it there. He’ll return to the Mainland of the USA every few years for some weeks of hard motorcycle riding – enough to hold him for the next few years. Then back to the peace of the island.
He spends his time writing and at home with his wife, cats and chickens, in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the ocean. He likes that, too. Nothing like his novels…
john g rees was a salvage diver in the Hawaiian Island Chain for some years in the 80’s and 90’s, getting a lot of research for his novels first hand. Working in Pearl Harbor on Navy vessels to Japanese fishing boats, he dived the watery field in his youth, only to see all the horror years later. He enjoys writing it down.
He spends his time writing and at home with his wife, cats and chickens, in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the ocean. He likes that, too. Nothing like his novels…
john g rees was a salvage diver in the Hawaiian Island Chain for some years in the 80’s and 90’s, getting a lot of research for his novels first hand. Working in Pearl Harbor on Navy vessels to Japanese fishing boats, he dived the watery field in his youth, only to see all the horror years later. He enjoys writing it down.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 27, 2015
I need to start listening to my instincts. When a dark future book suddenly introduces Vlad Tepes as a speaking character, you stop reading. You don't give it another 20 pages in the hopes it gets better.
June 10, 2010
In a future, post-industrial age, ocean salvage is huge business—once you get past all the garbage dumped into the seas. Megacorp, a multi-national corporation that plays by its own rules, employs “reuseables”—divers that can operate at depths that no ordinary human can survive. Unlike humans, the reusables can die and be resuscitated. Jake and John are two of these reuseables and they’ve been friends for over one hundred years. Due to a fortuitous combination of accident, curiosity, and luck, Jake and John discover exactly what they are and how they came to be that way. Now they are on the run from the military and Megacorp…can they destroy the evil that spawned their kind before it’s too late?
The anoxic zone referred to in the title is the depths of the Black Sea, where a good deal of the story is centered. It is an ocean depth where there is no oxygen and no decay. Shipwrecks that are thousands of years old, and their contents, are preserved in perpetuity—as is the garbage dumped there. The story is told in two parts. In part 1, we meet Jake and John and find out what they are. Part two continues their story, fifteen years later.
John G. Rees throws quite a few twists into his story, and they’re good ones. The Anoxic Zone is well written, packs quite a bit of action, and has a twist ending—which is great, as far as I’m concerned. The dialogue is a little stiff, but doesn’t detract from the book. What issues I do have involve details. How and why is Megacorp so big and independent? Why are steel and other metals from the ocean floor more valuable than ancient artifacts? There’s also a major occurrence in the book that I thought was a little confusing and could have been expanded on just a bit. I was able to figure it out, but I had to go back and re-read it. Overall, though, this was a great read. I really enjoy it when a writer takes a horror standard and adds his or her own spin on things….it makes it interesting.
Contains graphic violence and gore.
Colleen Wanglund
The anoxic zone referred to in the title is the depths of the Black Sea, where a good deal of the story is centered. It is an ocean depth where there is no oxygen and no decay. Shipwrecks that are thousands of years old, and their contents, are preserved in perpetuity—as is the garbage dumped there. The story is told in two parts. In part 1, we meet Jake and John and find out what they are. Part two continues their story, fifteen years later.
John G. Rees throws quite a few twists into his story, and they’re good ones. The Anoxic Zone is well written, packs quite a bit of action, and has a twist ending—which is great, as far as I’m concerned. The dialogue is a little stiff, but doesn’t detract from the book. What issues I do have involve details. How and why is Megacorp so big and independent? Why are steel and other metals from the ocean floor more valuable than ancient artifacts? There’s also a major occurrence in the book that I thought was a little confusing and could have been expanded on just a bit. I was able to figure it out, but I had to go back and re-read it. Overall, though, this was a great read. I really enjoy it when a writer takes a horror standard and adds his or her own spin on things….it makes it interesting.
Contains graphic violence and gore.
Colleen Wanglund
June 13, 2015
rating: 3.5/5
Note: Received this book for free for an honest review.
In a society where corporations own people, Megacorp has created the perfect workers, pharmaceutically-created immortals who they have the ability to send into the harshest conditions on the planet. Jake is a diver who on a dive discovers an ancient secret, one that Megacorp wishes to own and control. But the secret is violent and erratic, and Jake is sucked into a dangerous game he never intended to enter.
Vampires in a dystopian future... what a tremendously awesome premise! The idea and plot are very original and exciting. The dystopian future could use a little refining but I am hoping more details will be included in the sequels. The tone of voice of the characters is very distinct. It is a little odd that the first section of the book is in first person POV while the second section switches between characters but I can see how it is convenient for the purposes of storytelling and after having to make a minor mental adjustment I didn't mind the switch at all. The diving aspect is very original and interesting, and so is bringing in the ultimate historical vampire into the story. I can't stress how enjoyable it was to read something so different and un-cliché as this.
I relished the novel greatly even though it had some editing problems: grammar, punctuation (mostly with commas/periods around quotations), and a little bit of a continuity issue. The continuity issue had to do with the journals, a journal was read early on in the book before the mentioning of journals to the character who read the journal beforehand. It really is a minor issue but a few years back it was my job to be picky with text so it kind of stuck. However, these issues weren't so bad that they detracted much from the enjoyment of the story (although the author should consider editing before printing the next edition).
That said, the story kept me turning the pages; it was certainly an exciting and unique read.
Note: Received this book for free for an honest review.
In a society where corporations own people, Megacorp has created the perfect workers, pharmaceutically-created immortals who they have the ability to send into the harshest conditions on the planet. Jake is a diver who on a dive discovers an ancient secret, one that Megacorp wishes to own and control. But the secret is violent and erratic, and Jake is sucked into a dangerous game he never intended to enter.
Vampires in a dystopian future... what a tremendously awesome premise! The idea and plot are very original and exciting. The dystopian future could use a little refining but I am hoping more details will be included in the sequels. The tone of voice of the characters is very distinct. It is a little odd that the first section of the book is in first person POV while the second section switches between characters but I can see how it is convenient for the purposes of storytelling and after having to make a minor mental adjustment I didn't mind the switch at all. The diving aspect is very original and interesting, and so is bringing in the ultimate historical vampire into the story. I can't stress how enjoyable it was to read something so different and un-cliché as this.
I relished the novel greatly even though it had some editing problems: grammar, punctuation (mostly with commas/periods around quotations), and a little bit of a continuity issue. The continuity issue had to do with the journals, a journal was read early on in the book before the mentioning of journals to the character who read the journal beforehand. It really is a minor issue but a few years back it was my job to be picky with text so it kind of stuck. However, these issues weren't so bad that they detracted much from the enjoyment of the story (although the author should consider editing before printing the next edition).
That said, the story kept me turning the pages; it was certainly an exciting and unique read.
February 2, 2014
3.5 stars really....the dialogue was strangely stilted which was hard for me to get past at first....but the momentum of this book is awesome! There is so much action and the narrative itself is fantastic with some beautifully crafted sentences......it totally makes up for the painful dialogue between the protagonist and his friend Johnny. Jake and Johnny are reusables: vampiric immortal creatures created by Megacorp (a mysterious conglomerate affiliated somehow with the military) to do the dangerous work that the diminished population of the future are unwilling to. Jake is a deep-sea diver and Johnny is a scientist who moonlights as his tender--both of them have wondered for almost a century how they became what they are, and a fateful dive gives them their answer.
Vlad Tepes (Dracula) is the other main character in this novel and it is a vampire novel, but I felt like it had more commonalities with Frankenstein; a novel I always preferred to Dracula anyway. Jake is the moral and conflicted equivalent of Frankenstein's monster and Tepes and Megacorp share the role of Dr. Frankenstein himself.
Overall, a worthwhile read and I will be reading John's follow-up Haloclinenext.
Vlad Tepes (Dracula) is the other main character in this novel and it is a vampire novel, but I felt like it had more commonalities with Frankenstein; a novel I always preferred to Dracula anyway. Jake is the moral and conflicted equivalent of Frankenstein's monster and Tepes and Megacorp share the role of Dr. Frankenstein himself.
Overall, a worthwhile read and I will be reading John's follow-up Haloclinenext.
April 8, 2012
Imagine the Earth in ruins and the oceans filled with treasures waiting to be found. The remains of the once-industrial age, hundreds and thousands of feet down in the sea; these were the new riches of the planet now.
This is a forward – looking novel about two salvage divers, who live a rehearsed existence of life and death, until one day life takes on one less death and everything changes.
Suddenly they are thrust into a world of horror and blood, a sphere of greed and gore. A combination of human curiosity and inhuman nature conspire to have them discover just what they are; in this process, they inadvertently release the evil that spawned them.
Myth and reality coalesce as the two struggle to deal with the nightmare of what they have become and the legacy that goes along with it!
john g rees' really knows how to use those words to make us want to know what happens to each character. he makes them real for us, as unreal as the story is…
A great read for all, as it really is about greed, avarice and the human soul. I highly recommend it~
This is a forward – looking novel about two salvage divers, who live a rehearsed existence of life and death, until one day life takes on one less death and everything changes.
Suddenly they are thrust into a world of horror and blood, a sphere of greed and gore. A combination of human curiosity and inhuman nature conspire to have them discover just what they are; in this process, they inadvertently release the evil that spawned them.
Myth and reality coalesce as the two struggle to deal with the nightmare of what they have become and the legacy that goes along with it!
john g rees' really knows how to use those words to make us want to know what happens to each character. he makes them real for us, as unreal as the story is…
A great read for all, as it really is about greed, avarice and the human soul. I highly recommend it~
April 2, 2014
The first in a series “Anoxic Zone” focuses on ‘reusables’, Jake and Johnny. The greedy corporation uses Jake and his kind to salvage the treasures because they do not need oxygen.
Yes this is a vampire story.
It’s true. I’ve grown tired of vampires ever since the bullshit that was “Twilight”. The vamps in “Anoxic Zone” don’t sparkle, but they do rock. To his credit, the author has taken vampires and placed them in a refreshing setting while avoiding some pitfalls of other vampy tales.
Others feel that the writing is disjointed and hard to follow, but I had no such problems. Guess it’s all down to preference. I haven’t read the other titles in the series but if the quality of this tale carries over to the others, then they will be a must read.
Yes this is a vampire story.
It’s true. I’ve grown tired of vampires ever since the bullshit that was “Twilight”. The vamps in “Anoxic Zone” don’t sparkle, but they do rock. To his credit, the author has taken vampires and placed them in a refreshing setting while avoiding some pitfalls of other vampy tales.
Others feel that the writing is disjointed and hard to follow, but I had no such problems. Guess it’s all down to preference. I haven’t read the other titles in the series but if the quality of this tale carries over to the others, then they will be a must read.
February 3, 2011
Loved it! I won a signed copy in a contest and wasn't real sure about it, but was looking for something new and different. Boy did I get it!!! I loved this book and the new take on vampires was refreshing and awesome. The action and suspense kept me from putting it down and I had a real hard time stopping once I started. John is an awesoem writer with a great sense of creativity and imagination. His characters left me breathless and wanting more. I can't say enough good things about his first book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews