Autoren-Bilder
12 Werke 25 Mitglieder 2 Rezensionen

Über den Autor

Beinhaltet die Namen: Benson L. Grayson, Benson Lee Grayson

Werke von Benson Grayson

Getagged

Wissenswertes

Für diesen Autor liegen noch keine Einträge mit "Wissenswertem" vor. Sie können helfen.

Mitglieder

Rezensionen

Don't be mislead by Sam Sam's review above. She is apparently rather tolerant of mediocrity and ignoble, as she has given 5 stars to all 61 of her books. I can honestly say this is the worst book I've read since I joined Goodreads a couple of years ago. I have never written a review previously, but I am posting one now because I am offended that this pile of rubbish masquerading as science fiction was recommended to me by Goodreads. Don't be mislead by the book title either, as I was. This self-published book contains not a single story that I would consider legitimate science fiction. Rather, it is an asinine compilation of trite, hackneyed, or even reprehensible social and political satires that only a grouchy semiliterate member of the Tea Party and his ilk could enjoy.… (mehr)
 
Gekennzeichnet
TairaNagasawa | Jul 10, 2021 |
When Maynard Snodgrass's mother drops him off, at age seven, at an orphanage, the other kids quickly nickname him "Nerdly." It's not kind, but it is true. With looks plain enough to be boring and not ugly enough to be interesting, an excellent brain, and a self-effacing personality, Maynard evokes either complete disinterest, or a certain amount of resentment because it's just human nature to resent those you take advantage of. And Maynard gets taken advantage of a lot, because he doesn't have the confidence to say no. It's still happening when he's an assistant professor of physics at Miles Standish University, writing the department chair's papers and getting no publication credit, and not even getting tenure. So he pursues a dream, and invents a time machine.

He decides to make a quick test trip to the US Civil War, and bring back a photograph of himself with several Union officers to prove he's made the trip. Other people might realize that more than one person can buy a replica Civil War uniform, but that would involve the people skills that poor Maynard, as smart, kind, and well-intentioned as he is, just doesn't have. Unfortunately, he goes wildly off-course geographically, and winds up in Paris in 1870 rather than near a major Union Army encampment in 1863. He's in the middle of the German siege of Paris, and he knows no German and very little French. But, determined only to protect his time machine and his ability to get home, he's sufficiently forceful that he rallies a small unit of the French National Guard, achieves a small local victory, and finds himself the welcome guest of senior French officers. Surrounded by people who think he's a successful American military officer who served in the U.S. Civil War, rather than by people who know he's an ineffectual, easily-exploited physics professor, he finds a confidence and decisiveness he hasn't experienced before, and starts to wonder if he's really the worthless creature he's always thought himself.

Once he gets safely home, he finds himself getting kicked around again, even by his cat. His attempt to convince the National Physics Society that he's invented a working time machine go about as well as you'd expect, and everything goes downhill from there.

What he does next is even nuttier, has even reason to be successful, and plays out in ways that are as unexpected for the reader as for Maynard, despite the fact that we and he have quite different expectations. Saying anymore would be a spoiler, so I'll limit myself to this: There's too much wish-fulfillment here, but it's nicely-plotted, fast-paced, and funny. Not belly-laughs funny, but you'll smile through much of the book. Maynard is likable to begin with, and he learns quite a bit from his experiences. There's a bit at the end where I'd have liked to have seen an editor slap Grayson's hands and make him fix it, but this really is an enjoyable book, and I'll look forward to seeing more from him.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the author.
… (mehr)
 
Gekennzeichnet
LisCarey | Sep 19, 2018 |

Statistikseite

Werke
12
Mitglieder
25
Beliebtheit
#508,561
Bewertung
2.0
Rezensionen
2
ISBNs
13