After one month on sale at Amazon and in local bookstores I have sold more copies then all my other books combined. First I should thank my fans/customers for their support and also for their positive feedback. Local book reviewer, Harriet Hart has published the first indepth review of Dream Hackers, plus reader reviews are beginning to appear on Amazon.
My take on reviews may be a little different than other authors who use them purely as marketing fodder. I use them as a barometer of public opinion and as a measurement of how I can improve as a writer. As I have mentioned before, I dont write for profit. I write for entertainment and creative expression. I am an idea mine and love to tell a story, spin a yarn, so to speak (my wife refers to all fiction writers as marvelous liars).
As a story teller, I'm always looking for feedback. As a writer I am always looking to improve my skills. Those skills include character development, story continuity, environmental descriptions and of course the proper use of the language.
Recently I have read that other authors are paying services for reviews. I find this practise abhorrent and would never pay anyone to write a review of my work. If you are interested in reading more about this new service
click here.
For those of you who prefer to read an objective review of my latest novel, here it is...
Dream Hackers by
Rob Krakoff is a futuristic novel that begins in 2099 when disenfranchised
youth are waging a cyber war against their elders who own 83% of the planet's
wealth. Elders, equipped with computational innovations to keep them alive,
live in comfortable charter cities "while ComGen, Computer Generation, are
relegated to squatter cities lacking basic necessities such as sanitary
systems. Criminals and deviants inhabit the void lands.
Androids, created as simple mechanical robots, evolved into
reasoning machines programmed to serve the elders, and are hated by humans
because of their abilities.
Thus the author sets the stage for a battle to determine who
will prevail – the selfish elders or the disenfranchised youths. He chooses to
tell the tale by using four narrators: Park, the computer hacker, Brenda, an
elder married to Clem, their android servant Andre and Alexander, an employee
of the Royal Bank of Scotland who is the same age as the ComGen hackers but who
has chosen to work for the establishment.
At the outset Park and his hacker army are engaged in a hack
attack called Over the Rainbow targeting key leaders of S.E.N.I.L.E., the elder
movement, hacking into their brains to plants subliminal messages. Clem Wellman
is targeted and becomes conscious of having too many possessions; his wife
Brenda is alarmed at the change in his thinking; his loyal android Andre
removes the chip against orders and is banished to the void lands where he falls
in with a bad bunch. Meanwhile, in Edinburgh Alexander is hired by the richest
man on earth, Pablo Corazon, to infiltrate the ComGen movement and put a stop
to bank hacking.
A summit meeting is planned in Madrid where representatives
from S.E.N.I.L.E. and the ComGen generation are to meet for peace talks. Clem
is chosen to attend, as is Park who represents the Nairobi ComGen Base;
Alexander is ordered to assassinate Clem, Brenda's feminine instincts tell her
that Clem may be in danger and sends Andre the Android in disguise to protect
him, and author Krakoff skillfully brings things to a climax worthy of The
Bourne Conspiracy.
This novel is a great read for many reasons. Krakoff
describes the global society of the future with relish: "Times have
changed the world; governments have all but vanished and the modern
military-industrial complex is now driven by banks…" There is global
drought, dried up rivers, wild fires burning and populations on the move as
coastal cities like San Francisco, New York, London and Hong Kong are flooded
by rising sea waters. The plot marches
forward relentlessly. The author moves in and out of four different mind sets of
the four narrators with ease.
But what's best about Dream
Hackers is its moral depth. At the beginning everyone is motivated by self
interest but gradually the four narrators develop in complexity. Is our species
driven by greed and the desire to live forever or can we exhibit courage and
compassion? Ironically, Andre the machine says it best: "My programming is
simple; I am here to serve. But there is so much more to celebrate about
life…the vast knowledge of the world, appreciation of culture, awareness of the
sciences, being around humans, animals, nature…to view and accept the beauty of
life is its own reward."
Author Rob Krakoff has penned a fast moving, entertaining
novel depicting a bleak future for our planet, but in the process he makes us shake
our heads in sorrow, laugh and feel tiny
twinges of hope. Copies are available for $200 pesos at Diane Pearl's
Collection on Colon or on Kindle for $4.99.
