When Journalist Jason Wood finds that a suspected drug kingpin doesn't appear on photographs, he decides to investigate, suspecting that the kingpin is actually a vampire. But things don't turn out to be that simple, and Wood finds himself in grave danger from the last person he would have suspected. Trying to survive in a bizarre night world, Wood learns not only that vampires exist, but that they are part of a universe far stranger than he ever imagined...
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"I got pulled into the novel from the first page, and didn't put it down until the last."
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More About the Author
Ryk E. Spoor was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and has lived in South Dakota, Georgia, New York, and Pennsylvania. Severe asthma forced him to spend most of his childhood reading and, by the time he was six, writing. While he began reading fantasy such as Oz and science fiction starting with Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it was his 5th grade teacher that sent him on the course that would make him a science-fiction author, by lending Ryk a battered copy of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Second-Stage Lensmen; this sent him on a reading spree that devoured every science-fiction book he encountered for the next ten years, and instilled in him the conviction that being a science-fiction author was the greatest possible profession anyone could aspire to.
At the turn of the 21st century, Ryk succeeded in achieving this ambition by first launching a clever plan to be published through the diabolical strategem of insulting Eric Flint in public. (Note that neither Eric nor Ryk recommend anyone else attempt his strategy.) Subsequently, Eric brought Ryk's work to the attention of Baen Books, culminating in the publication of Digital Knight, and subsequently two stories with Eric Flint ("Diamonds Are Forever" and Boundary). His next solo novel Grand Central Arena will be released in April 2010, followed in June by the sequel to Boundary, titled Threshold.
Ryk Spoor is also Research and Development Coordinator for International Electronic Machines (IEM), where he has obtained funding for and directed/assisted in research into wireless MEMS sensor systems, power harvesting, smart video security systems, and other related fields; he holds several patents in these areas. He lives in Troy, New York, with his wife Kathleen and their four children Christopher, Gabriel, Victoria, and Domenica.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Digital Knight - A pretty good first time novel,
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This review is from: Digital Knight (Mass Market Paperback)
SynopsisDigital Knight is a series of stories narrated by the book's hero, Jason Wood, a private detective/computer geek/accidental paranormal expert. The stories chronicle his adventures as he, along with his close lady friend and psychic Sylvie, stumble into the world of the not so normal, and find that it's even more not so normal than they'd ever expected. Strange things abound, from real-live werewolves, to a vampire who is older than anyone expects to an ancient myth that turns out to be true... sort of. About the Book: The evolution of the idea turns out not to be that bad of a thing. Spoor manages to take the clichés' of these old wives' tale bad guys and creates something entirely different and unique, albeit far fetched at times. The effect is such that the reader makes discoveries at the same pace as the author and characters do. It makes for a fun read. Ultimately, the stories easily keep your interest throughout, and a number of the characters are interesting enough to make you care about what happens to them. Be warned though, if you're looking at this book for traditional vampire/werewolf series of stories, these are not them. Digital Knight is more sci-fi related than traditional folk-lore. Likewise, if you're looking for hard, deep sci-fi stories, you won't find them here, though this certainly qualifies as both sci-fi and Fantasy. Spoor's Digital Knight stories read more like detective short stories, while being light on the detective part. Overall, this is a fun read, and a pretty good entry for a first time author. I'm looking forward to a follow-up to Digital Knight or other books from Spoor.
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Author On "Digital Knight",
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This review is from: Digital Knight (Mass Market Paperback)
"So why didn't you give your book 5 stars?" is probably the first or second question to come to mind if anyone's reading this one. And the answer is "I don't want to bias results too much one way or the other". Also, if I'm taking the star rating as an objective scale, I can't honestly say I think my writing (yet) stacks up next to my favorite authors' works.Digital Knight, which I describe these days in a nutshell as "MacGyver meets the X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer", has a long history prior to publication, having had parts of it posted on the Net as early as 1992, and parts written quite some time before that. A shorter version, made up of three of the six sections found in the paperback, was available for purchase online a few years ago. The story of how it came to be published is very long, though pretty amusing, and can be summed up as following the perilous course of having insulted the right person in the right way at the right time, followed with appropriate behavior afterwards. After reading Digital Knight, it's likely the reader will have questions; all of my projected solo works take place in the same general universe, but anywhere from half a million years in the past to several thousand years in our future. As such, there are going to be things that are seen in the book which, as they are not central to the plot of Digital Knight, are only sketchily described; they will be more clearly explicated in other works. None of my immediately projected works are "series" in the sense that you have to read one to enjoy the next; while you may recognize certain elements, it won't require that you have read the other books. I welcome comments on my work, good and bad. Keep in mind: I write to entertain. I have no illusions or ambitions about writing Great Literature; all I want to do is write stories that the reader can say "hey, that was fun!" about once they're done. Thanks for reading!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligence in action,
This review is from: Digital Knight (Mass Market Paperback)
This has become one of my favorite books to reread.
What I like -- the voice of Jason Wood, the narrator, is an engaging one, with a sense of humor. And he acts intelligently. When faced with evidence of the weird, he doesn't say "impossible", he says, "um, if that's the case, how do I deal with it" and comes up with a way to handle it. In a clever and original manner. :) Jason knows his limitations -- he doesn't try to be an action hero, he uses his brains, saving the action for when absolutely necessary. And he isn't afraid to let others help him. Including his girlfriend. Which is good, because there are things he can't beat without the help of his friends... While the world of _Digital Knight_ starts out looking like our own, the differences begin to accumulate. While only those relevant to the story are explained, there are enough hints dropped that I eagerly await more books from Ryk Spoor to elaborate on them. I've read this book at least twenty times in the last year and a half, and my favorite bits even more often. If you are looking for an angsty dark vampire book, this isn't it. This is a book that ignores genre pigeon holes, cheerfully mixing mystery, horror, fantasy and science fiction tropes with wit and charm.
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