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Cunningham #3
Maximum Effort
Lord of The Living Dead. Thousands of Worm Brains had already undergone the startling transformation to something that was less, and somehow more, than human. Helen McIntyre was one of them-but with a difference. She could hear their thoughts in her head, and they worshipped her for it. But the mind she most cherished was closed to her, for the man she loved, Blaise Cunningham, was only normal, and each day he was slipping farther away from her. Blaise knew that it was up to him to protect Helen and her kind, but he didn't know how. And the Worm Brains' answer-that he take the final step himself and become one of them-was not an acceptable solution. But Helen and the others who had once been human knew the truth: Blaise Cunningham was the key to God...
300 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 12, 1987
11 people want to read
About the author
G.C. Edmondson
42 books2 followersGarry Edmondson (full name "José Mario Garry Ordoñez Edmondson y Cotton").
He also wrote Westerns under the names Kelly P. Gast, J. B. Masterson, and Jack Logan.
He also wrote Westerns under the names Kelly P. Gast, J. B. Masterson, and Jack Logan.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 11, 2012
review of
G.C. Edmondson & C.M. Kotlan's Maximum Effort
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - May 10, 2012
This is the last bk in a trilogy. By happenstance I read the 1st bk 1st w/o having any idea that it IS a trilogy. That bk's called The Cunningham Equations. Then I read the 2nd part of the trilogy, The Black Magician, & was surprised to find the same characters again. Still no clue that I was reading a trilogy. This is not as stupid of me as it might seem: looking at the 1st 2 bks, there's no indication on the 1st editions that I have that they're part of a trilogy. Maybe these authors didn't start out w/ that intention, maybe they thought they'd never get all 3 published. Dunno. At any rate, by the time I read THIS ending bk, I knew it was the last part. I'd also more or less forgotten the content of the 1st two. Too much time had passed between readings.
Given that I only very vaguely remember the 1st 2 bks, I decided to look for my reviews of them here on GoodReads. To my surprise I HAVEN'T reviewed them. That means that more time may've lapsed since I read them than I realized. I did find a surprisingly long review of Edmondson's The Man Who Corrupted Earth ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76... ) in wch I found this:
"Plus he has characters like "Blaise Cunningham" who "was a Nobel-Prize winner, the world's foremost expert in artificial intelligence and one of the best computer programmers alive. He was also a falling-down drunk whose only friends were an intelligent computer, a good woman, a bad scientist,and a frisky puppy named Dobie" - from the back cover blurb of Edmondson & C. M. Kotlan's "The Cunningham Equations". In other words, he has dysfunctional & alienated characters that I can identify w/."
The Cunningham referred to is the protagonist running thru the trilogy. I vaguely remember reading The Cunningham Equations & finding it to be a sortof 'California Slacker' novel reminiscent of Rudy Rucker but w/o Rucker's breezy writing style. Somehow, Edmondson/Kotlan's writing is too 'normal'.
Now, tho, reading Maximum Effort was like plunging mid-stream into what Barnes & Noble calls something like 'Teen Paranormal Vampire Romance'. The back cover blurb heading for Maximum Effort reads: "LORD OF THE LIVING DEAD" wch doesn't have much to do w/ anything - except perhaps trying to tap into the vampire market.
This bk was probably more Gothic than it was SF - although there is a 'cosmic' element to it. All in all, I found it to be a desperate mix of "worm brains" (weirdness) + government nastiness (National Security Council bad guy turned into computer network memory storage device as punishment) +, perhaps most importantly of all, RELIGION. Yes, religion. Much of the action takes place in a church that's a refuge for the worm brains. & there's an Indian Medicine Man too to add to the cultural mix.
It's hard for me to tell whether the authors are just 2 really philosophically confused guys or whether this somehow seriously reflects their thinking. In a way, the mix was so over-the-top ridiculous that I might've liked it as parody if it hadn't ultimately seemed like some sort of desperate attempt to tap into some variation on the Gothic Romance market.
While this might seem contrary to what I've just written, in the end I sortof feel like this wd make a great Hollywood blockbuster. Don't those folks ever get tired of remakes?! This story is at least different from what Hollywood seems to keep doing over & over & it has tons of interesting details & drama to keep things rolling. Oddly, what I dislike about it as a bk wdn't really interfere w/ its being a completely engrossing CGI monstrosity.
G.C. Edmondson & C.M. Kotlan's Maximum Effort
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - May 10, 2012
This is the last bk in a trilogy. By happenstance I read the 1st bk 1st w/o having any idea that it IS a trilogy. That bk's called The Cunningham Equations. Then I read the 2nd part of the trilogy, The Black Magician, & was surprised to find the same characters again. Still no clue that I was reading a trilogy. This is not as stupid of me as it might seem: looking at the 1st 2 bks, there's no indication on the 1st editions that I have that they're part of a trilogy. Maybe these authors didn't start out w/ that intention, maybe they thought they'd never get all 3 published. Dunno. At any rate, by the time I read THIS ending bk, I knew it was the last part. I'd also more or less forgotten the content of the 1st two. Too much time had passed between readings.
Given that I only very vaguely remember the 1st 2 bks, I decided to look for my reviews of them here on GoodReads. To my surprise I HAVEN'T reviewed them. That means that more time may've lapsed since I read them than I realized. I did find a surprisingly long review of Edmondson's The Man Who Corrupted Earth ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76... ) in wch I found this:
"Plus he has characters like "Blaise Cunningham" who "was a Nobel-Prize winner, the world's foremost expert in artificial intelligence and one of the best computer programmers alive. He was also a falling-down drunk whose only friends were an intelligent computer, a good woman, a bad scientist,and a frisky puppy named Dobie" - from the back cover blurb of Edmondson & C. M. Kotlan's "The Cunningham Equations". In other words, he has dysfunctional & alienated characters that I can identify w/."
The Cunningham referred to is the protagonist running thru the trilogy. I vaguely remember reading The Cunningham Equations & finding it to be a sortof 'California Slacker' novel reminiscent of Rudy Rucker but w/o Rucker's breezy writing style. Somehow, Edmondson/Kotlan's writing is too 'normal'.
Now, tho, reading Maximum Effort was like plunging mid-stream into what Barnes & Noble calls something like 'Teen Paranormal Vampire Romance'. The back cover blurb heading for Maximum Effort reads: "LORD OF THE LIVING DEAD" wch doesn't have much to do w/ anything - except perhaps trying to tap into the vampire market.
This bk was probably more Gothic than it was SF - although there is a 'cosmic' element to it. All in all, I found it to be a desperate mix of "worm brains" (weirdness) + government nastiness (National Security Council bad guy turned into computer network memory storage device as punishment) +, perhaps most importantly of all, RELIGION. Yes, religion. Much of the action takes place in a church that's a refuge for the worm brains. & there's an Indian Medicine Man too to add to the cultural mix.
It's hard for me to tell whether the authors are just 2 really philosophically confused guys or whether this somehow seriously reflects their thinking. In a way, the mix was so over-the-top ridiculous that I might've liked it as parody if it hadn't ultimately seemed like some sort of desperate attempt to tap into some variation on the Gothic Romance market.
While this might seem contrary to what I've just written, in the end I sortof feel like this wd make a great Hollywood blockbuster. Don't those folks ever get tired of remakes?! This story is at least different from what Hollywood seems to keep doing over & over & it has tons of interesting details & drama to keep things rolling. Oddly, what I dislike about it as a bk wdn't really interfere w/ its being a completely engrossing CGI monstrosity.
October 8, 2014
Hm. Bad title, but the back cover does mention something about Worm Brains. So can't be all bad.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews