Customer Reviews

Pathfinder I

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

PATHFFINDER I is a fascinating experiment. Simmons' earlier works, particularly his Half-Life series, were entertaining, with humor leavening the mix. PATHFINDER I is totally different. It's still entertaining, but in a completely different way. It's a continuing, evolving tale set in a post-apocalyptic world.

The story will unfold in a series of chapbooks (for those unfamiliar with the term, a chapbook is a saddle-stapled booklet, usually of about seventy pages and with a business-card quality cover. Chapbooks are often shorter works, collections of short stories, essays, or poetry. In this case, it is episodes of a longer work. Chapbooks are the most, perhaps the only, economical way for a small press to publish, and that's where most of the action now, with the major publishers doing little experimenting.) This one is a work in progress with Simmons working within a story arc but with the execution subject to experimentation. This is called working on the trapeze without a net.

Simmons only gives us glimpses into this scarred world he's invented, with peeks at some of the marvels he'll reveal in good time.

Perhaps the hardest thing for a writer to instill in his readers is trust. It's hard enough to get a reader to pick up any one book, but it's every writer's goal to inspire readers to buy all his/her works because it means the reader has come to trust the writer, saying to himself or herself, "I don't really know what's going to be in this book but this writer creates characters, scenes, situations, and stories I know I'll enjoy."

And having read PATHFINDER I, Simmons is a writer I, more than ever, trust.

This chapbook (which is a form of book that is what is called saddle-stitched) is published by Yard Dog Press which is a most excellent legitimate small press.

Wm. Mark Simmons writes a scary post-apocalyptic future of angels, demons, Army of the Lord, and the paths. Check out this book. It's a quick read and you'll enjoy it.

I come to Simmons' work with no expectations, other than that Yard Dog Press (a real, books-in-the-warehouse regional press, by the way -- ) has put out many quality chapbooks. (One of their books won the World Horror Award, a few years back.) As for PATHFINDER I, all I can say is WOW. Simmons displays the well thought out world building of Neil Gaiman, and the control of dialog and character personality of an early Zelazny. I was pulled into the story quickly, and I could not put it down. I hope Simmons is working on the next chapbook, because this story rocks! It is the best after the apocalypse/garbled Christianity tale I've seen yet.

When you can tell who is speaking by the dialog alone, you know you've found something special. Highly recommended - and we need to go to the Yard Dog Press site and tell them we want MORE!

I was first acquainted with Simmons's work with One Foot in the Grave. His preface to Pathfinder I states that this is an experiment: the start of a novel that will be put out as a serialized work.

As a reader, It's hard for me to resist a challenge like that. Too often we've become used to being spoon fed our literature the way New York likes to package it: by the pound, In ponderous novels of 150,000 words or more.

In the experiment of Pathfinder, I'm reminded of the age of serialized pulp literature: novels great (and some not so great) doled out in small doses, with the reader always being left hungry for more.

The writing itself never disappoints. Simmons has a talent with turning a phrase that makes me want to re-read individual lines to savor them (sometimes jealously, with the wish that I had thought of them first).

In this first installment, Simmons was obviously setting the stage for what is to come: The doomsday has come and gone. The world has suffered the nuclear holocaust. What remains is a population divided between "Demons," telepaths, mutants, and human factions divided between a secularized government, and a militant "Army of the Lord."

The characters Simmons introduces are complex, and the setting is richly detailed. Overall, Pathfinder I is a satisfying read. My hope is that the next installment is released soon.

I love Wm. Mark Simmons' work which was why I pounced on the Amazon offering of Pathfinder I even though there was no description. Caveat Emptor readers! It was a disappointing 67 pages of fantastic work.
Pathfinder I was published on a staple fold format (like a magazine but less sturdy) by Yard Dog Press, what appears to be a subsidy press with connections.
Bottom line, the content is excellent, and the story of a post-apocalyptic world is a plausible possibility with the trademark prose and fantastic concepts of a Wm. Mark Simmons work, but value versus cost was disappointing, as was the format and cheap unprofessional pamphlet-like appearance of the book itself. Add Amazon's shipping and handling and it is a rip-off.
Call this a Jeckyl and Hyde review but I was wowwed by the story, but mortified on behalf of the author and the amateurish presentation by yard Dog Press.