My Book: Becoming Od

Hey, Thanks for your slight interest in my book. I'm currently looking for people interested in reviewing my novel. This would require a pleasureful read of a 60 thousand word novel, which I will print and deliver, within 2 weeks. You are not expected to be an editor ... in fact any low level syntax / structure feedback will be completely rejected.

Planet Barne, a satellite colony of Earth, is an ecological utopia. Meredith Od enjoys his quiet, predictable life there. Working as an environmental analyst, his research is about to greatly influence the future of Barne. But when Meredith is framed for the murder of a newly elected minister, his world is turned upside down. Luckily, his best friend Alex is there, if not to pick up the pieces, then to arrange the pieces into a curious picture. Alex, a wise-cracking military commander who has an itch for extra-curricular adventure, takes it upon himself to rescue Meredith from his impending arrest. The pair – an Od couple, if you will – flee civilization and are given shelter by a band of hairy guerillas, people who live in the jungle and make their living in illegal trade with Earth. All the while the two are pursued by government forces, a pair of unscrupulous contractors, and a sexy, mysterious assassin dispatched from Earth. Unfortunately, the minister’s death has put Barne’s independence in jeopardy, and the only person who can resolve its simmering relations with its mother planet is Meredith Od. In order to do this, he will have to become nothing short of a revolutionary, and perhaps drink less coffee. Can Meredith overcome his mild nature, and achieve an extraordinary destiny?

Becoming Od, in addition being a riff on the traditional hero’s journey, is also a trenchant comment on our ever-expanding consumer culture. Though Becoming Od is only Science Fiction by the most generous definition, it does have its antecedents in the genre-defying books of authors like Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams.

Justin Girard grew up in rural Ontario, Canada, where he was subjected to all the dubious joys of hobby farming. Raised by a visual artist and network engineer, he learned to do everything from filling six-feet tall canvases to resurrecting small engines. These days he works as a software architect. In his spare time, he enjoys visual arts, spoken word, working on his motorcycle and fencing.

Back to the reading: What I'm looking for at this point, just before the query letters go out to agents, is feedback on chapter level issues. "chapter 1-3 were too slow", "I'm confused about pages 7-18", "Why does Meredith want to XXX". I would like to address confusion and flow issues. Examples of undesired feedback are "on page 17 the sentence about Meredith is too wordy", or "I feel like in chapter 8 Alex should be sitting not standing". This low level feedback is impossible to attend to.

I understand it's subjective, but trying to record low level comments will transform a 2 day read into a 3 week one. It will become a chore for you, and I will not have time to attend to your hard work anyway. Let's not both disappoint each other - just spend a day or 2 reading a book, putting *s next to hard to read pages, and pass it back to me.

So after all that, if you are still interested and would like to help out, plug in some into into the form below!