Trent Zelazny

REVIEWED: Voiceless
WRITTEN BY: Trent Zelazny
PUBLISHED: September, 2014 by Evil Jester Press

“Voiceless” is a grim and tragic crime thriller, filled with despair, melancholy, and bitterness. But infused amongst these somber tones is a bloom of hope, love, and affirmation. Quite simply, Trent Zelazny mines the darkest of human conditions and uncovers rare gems. The protagonist, Max, is our everyman, trodden upon and victim of stacked circumstances, but even he can find strength and inspiration in the lowliest of places. Seemingly against the entire world, Max, and the dog he befriends, find victory by the unlikeliest of means. “Voiceless” sings loud, and its song is triumph.

Five out of Five stars
… (mehr)

Trent Zelazny's father is the renowned science fiction writer, Roger Zelazny. They are both great writers, but their subject matters are entirely different.

To Sleep Gently is a perfect example of the kind of noir fiction that was published in the late fifties and early sixties. Indeed, if you take the cellular telephones and the security cameras out of the story (and they are not a major part of the story), there is no way to know that the story was crafted in modern times, not fifty years ago.

It's a story of a man who has stepped out of prison after five years and, immediately, he is asked to drive out to Santa Fe for a job, but a real sweet job with a target of a very exclusive hotel in high season. It's all arranged and the others working the job have all been hired as well as the fence. All Jack has to do is show up and lend his professional experience to the task.

Although it is perhaps not the brightest idea to immediately turn to criminal behavior, it all seems to be professionally arranged, that is, until Jack meets his partners in the enterprise.

Much of the book concerns Jack's drive cross-country from Ohio to Santa Fe, the people he meets along the way, and the several days he spends in Santa Fe prior to actually executing the job. Not much of what occurs is dull, including the women he meets along the way, the barroom brawls he engages in, or the aftermath of the crime. The story also includes reminisces of Jack's "idyllic" childhood and the job that put him behind bars.

It is a perfectly executed story from beginning to end with great pacing throughout. The actual robbery and the getaway are high-octane intensity that puts in mind the idea of turning this into a major motion picture. I highly recommend this book.… (mehr)

A brief look into what seems like the mundane, lonely life of a guy who could be anyone. The pace is slow, but in a good way, and you gently drift along with the protagonist, feeling a little sorry for him, and maybe for yourself, if your life is sad like that too, and you think the scenario laid before you is a pretty bleak reflection of people and life, but it's so real. You're probably pretty sure the protagonist will eat a bullet, or strangle the single person he's decided to reach out to in a "If I can't have you, no one will" kind of scenario. As you near the end, though, Zelazny sucker punches you, and just when you think "Oh yeah, shit's about to get real," the story ends. This sounds negative, but it's not. The narrative is beautifully written, the characterization is amazing, and the need for more means shit got real before Zelazny punched you. I'll definitely read more by this author.… (mehr)

I'm a huge fan of [a:Roger Zelazny|3619|Roger Zelazny|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1207671346p2/3619.jpg], this author's father, so I wasn't holding out a lot of hope. Sequels are rarely as good. This wasn't just a step down, but a drop into the abyss. I have a fairly high tolerance for gross, weird, & repugnant. Every story was all of these things, but they were also pointless. Many were just short sketches of poorly drawn psychopaths in horrible situations. I tried hard to find any redeeming features & kept reading long after I wanted to stop thinking the next story had to be better. It never was.

Don't bother.… (mehr)