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Saturday, June 30, 2012

Review of Beta Test


Book Review of Beta Test sponsored by Bewitching Book Tours




Title: Beta Test
Author:  Eric Griffith
Hardcover - 278 pages
978-0-9839531-0-4
Publisher: Hadley Rille

Book blurb: 
 
Sam Terra is having a bad week. He lost Molly, the woman he secretly loves, when she vanished before his eyes at the exact same time that ten percent of the inhabitants of Earth disappeared.

Naturally upset, Sam follows clues about the global vanishing with questionable help from his friends including a misanthropic co-worker and a childhood pal. When Molly reappears in the body of a man during a night of monster-laden devastation, Sam finally learns the truth. Not just about her, but about the planet Earth and the entire cosmos surrounding it.

What we consider mundane reality, others consider a game...and not a very good one. The whole thing is about to be shut down.






Author bio: 

Eric Griffith is the author of the sci-fi novel BETA TEST from Hadley Rille Books, which Publishers Weekly called “an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale.”  By day he works as the features editor for PCMag.com. By night he sneaks out of the house to write fictions. He currently lives in Ithaca, New York. You can follow his online exploits daily via http://egriffith.info
  



Hardcover copy links:

Ebook:  Kindle   Nook

Excerpt:


Sam didn’t bother calling her. He sprinted down the stairs, taking some two at a time, occasionally by accident, carefully gripping the inside railing at each landing to spin his large body to the next set of stairs. He concentrated on the steady rhythm of his sneakers slapping each step, preparing for the next spin, knowing one miscalculated stride, or worse, a trip, might prevent him from ever seeing Molly again. He knew that was true, deep in his deep gut.
It was a surprise when he almost ran right into her on the landing between the second and third floor.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Molly stood, arms crossed over her chest.
“I. . .” Sam had to huff a couple of times to catch his breath. “Worried . . . about you.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, let her arms drop. “I know, big guy. Thanks.”
“Are you . . . quitting? Cuz if you are. . .” He wanted to say, I’ll go with you, but settled for, “Then I quit, too.”
“Oh, Sam.” She reached up and put a hand on his hairy jowl.
“This place wouldn’t be . . . right without you.”
“What’s right about it now?” Molly grinned.
“I mean it.”
“I know you mean it. That’s part of what makes it all so hard.”
“What’s hard? Quitting? Seemed pretty easy when you mushed Melvin’s face.”
“That part was just plain fun.” Her smile dropped and her face darkened. “I’m leaving, Sam.”
“The company?”
“Not only the company.”
“The industry?”
“Stop being dense,” Molly said.
Sam put a hand self-consciously on his abdomen.
“I’m leaving . . . the city. California. The country.”
“Why? How? When?”
“All great questions, Sammer. I’ll answer the last one and say, ‘soon.’” Molly looked again at the vintage Mickey Mouse watch on her wrist.
“You’re leaving for good?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Is someone coming to pick you up?” A boyfriend? She’d never mentioned one before. “Are you moving away with someone?” Sam didn’t even know he’d backed up, staggered really, until his back hit the wall of the grey stairwell, next to a coiled fire hose in a glassed-in cabinet.
“Sam.” She went to him, put her hand on his chest. “It’s nothing like that.”
Sam clasped her hand, his fingers swallowing hers whole. He leaned down and she stood on her tip toes. Their lips met in the middle. It was a kiss Sam wanted to last the rest of his lifetime.
It didn’t. Molly took back her hand and said, “I’m all out of time.”
“What are you talking about? Are you sick? I can help. I mean . . . I can take care of you.”
Molly bit her lip in a way he found utterly adorable. She wiped at her eye with a sleeve. “That, right there, is why I don’t want to go. But it’s out of my hands.” Another glance at the watch. “As it is, I’m breaking the biggest rule there is, letting you see this. But you know what? Fuck it. I don’t care.”
“What are you talking about? See what? You make it sound like you’re being forced out.”
Molly tapped the side of her nose a couple of times, and pointed at him, Charades-speak for, You got it, big guy.
She did something that really scared him—for a moment her eyes rolled into the back of her head. He thought she was having some kind of pre-predicted stroke. A moment later, she was fine. She said, “I left you something.”
“Left me what?”
She took another look at her watch. Perfect woman or not, that was starting to annoy him. But it was contagious. He looked at his own: 9:45am.
“Good-bye, Sam. Take care of yourself.” Molly turned away.
Sam moved to grab her arm, to hold her and not let her go. He touched her shirt for a split second and then—nothing.
She didn’t step. She didn’t jump. She never moved. There was no sound.
Molly flickered like a bad TV screen and ceased to exist.

Author bio: 

Eric Griffith is the author of the sci-fi novel BETA TEST from Hadley Rille Books, which Publishers Weekly called “an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale.”  By day he works as the features editor for PCMag.com. By night he sneaks out of the house to write fictions. He currently lives in Ithaca, New York. You can follow his online exploits daily via http://egriffith.info


Book Review:

            When I first started reading this book I thought it was like a “B” movie.  I mean here was this story in third-person limited following this schlep, Sam, a big beefy, man who is secretly in love with a pixyish woman, Molly, at his office.  His office is a Dilbert-ish office, complete with his best friend, office loud mouth Melvin.

            Then the day he finds out that the girl he likes also likes him, she quits.  He follows her down the stair and they share a sweet kiss.  He offers to go with her, take care of her, unable to understand what is going on… when she vanishes.  (GASP, what?!?  Then what?)

            Well that was certainly a sharp twist.  Now I really want to read the story.  This twist definitely moved it up to an A+ grade.  Unfortunately due to computer error, I only received the first chapter… thus the gasp, what?, and a sharp cry because I SO want to know what happens next.

            I give this preview a 4 out of 5, leaning toward 4.5 with the fabulous twist in the end of chapter one (be sure to read the excerpt).

This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

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