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Book Review: Considering SomeplacElse by B. L.
Lindstrom
As a book reviewer I love to categorize books, but try as I
might I cannot seem to find the right pigeonhole to put this
book in. It has some aspects of Sci-Fi, some aspects of Science
Fantasy, and even a little mythology, but it truly does not fit
into any of those genres. The one thing I am sure about though
is I did enjoy reading it. The story line is deceptively simple
but Lindstrom pulls it off with such great panache you cannot
but love every page.
The action takes place in Chandler, Arizona, and a less likely
setting for utopia I cannot think of! A once homeless man wins
a $200 million jackpot lottery and sets about creating a
Utopian paradise, free housing, free medical, free
transportation, in fact free everything. Better still the
society is green and sustainable. Utopia indeed.
Or hero Norm Larson is an under achieving baby boomer who finds
himself unemployed, unchallenged, and undervalued. A chance
business card with the words 'Want some meaningful work?'
written on it takes Norm on an odyssey of self discovery. The
business card has a web site for SomeplacElse on it which Norm
visits and fills out the application form.
Before he knows it he is whisked off by limo for an interview,
but this is a job interview like none other he as ever had.
There is no interest in his resume or his previous experience,
in fact there are no questions at all. The folks at
SomeplacElse want Norm to interview them. What is it that Norm
would like to do? What is it that Norm can can contribute to
this society? Would he prefer to teach, or invent, manufacture,
design, or lead? These are confusing questions for our
anti-hero.
The heat gets turned up a notch when Norm meets the founder of
the organization, Mike. Part of Mike's philosophy is that no
one, himself included, should remain working in the same
position for more than 10 years, and his 10 years as Advocate
has expired. How would Norm like the position of Advocate? "But
I am no Mike," Norm pleads, "We don't need another Mike, we
need an Advocate, we need your fresh ideas," is the reply.
The fly in the Utopian ointment though is the corrupt
politician Adam Wainwright, who has his heart set of destroying
SomeplacElse. Can Norm save the day?
With this backdrop Lindstrom takes us on a 5 day voyage of good
verses evil, David verses Goliath.
I am not usually a big fan of Sci-Fi type books, but
Considering SomeplacElse is cut from a different piece of cloth
and well worth the effort of seeking it out. Lindstrom has a
very chatty style of writing which works well with the story
line. As I understand it, he has had considerable writing
experience but this is his first foray into the world of
fiction. Well I will give him a very high recommendation, and I
look forward to reading more books authored by him. Maybe one
of the allures for me in this book is his chatty style, it is
very much the style I like to write in. In fact I will share a
secret with you, when writing reviews I rarely refer to the
author by his or her last name, I prefer to use the friendlier
first name, but I have no idea what the 'B' in B. L. Lindstrom
stands for! So I apologize B. L. but for this review you must
remain Lindstrom
You can get your copy from Amazon.
(Originally published at Blogger News Network and reprinted
with permission of the author, Simon
Barrett).
by Simon Barrett - 2nd October 2008
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Simon Barrett is an adult educator in Calgary, Alberta. With
the 11 months a year of winter, he reads a lot of books! He is
also a contributing editor for http://www.bloggernews.net
and maintains a personal blog at http://zzsimonb.blogspot.com
.
Article Source:
http://www.creativewriter.me.uk
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