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:
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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