Rogue Clone [Paperback]

Steven L. Kent (Author)

Book Description

Series: Clone | Publication Date: September 26, 2006

Lt. Wayson Harris is one of thousands of clones born and bred to be the ultimate soldiers. But unlike the others, Harris is an outlawed model—one with independent thoughts and an addiction to violence.

Presumed dead after his troops were massacred, Harris—who blames the U.A. for the slaughter—has gone AWOL as a bounty hunter. Still, it’s hard for a clone to overcome his conditioning, and Harris finds himself drawn back into the U.A.'s service by his mentor and creator, Fleet Admiral Bryce Klyber.

Now, with separatists rebelling throughout the galaxy, the fate of the U.A. depends on Admiral Klyber’s plans for the Doctrinaire—the largest, most powerful battleship ever constructed. But there are those who would do anything to stop Klyber, and Harris must decide whether he should fight against them…or work for them.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in California but raised in Hawaii, novelist/video game fanatic Steven L. Kent turned a life-long joystick addiction into a 15-year gig writing for publications like MSNBC, Boy’s Life, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, and Japan Times. After publishing the 600-page The Ultimate History of Video Games, Kent satisfied his Pac-Man-angst and set his sights on fiction. Having just submitted The Clone Elite, the fourth book in his “Wayson Harris Trilogy,” Kent is currently writing a standalone sci-fi novel while he develops a new series based on the Unified Authority.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The fuel of violence
 
       Every clone, including me, believed he was natural-born. We grew up in orphanages, surrounded by 36,000 identical beings. Each clone believed that he was the lone natural-born on the premises. They were programmed to see themselves as having blond hair and blue eyes. When three clones shared one mirror, they all saw themselves with blond hair and blue eyes, while recognizing the brown hair and brown eyes of their comrades.
       But I did not see myself as having blond hair or blue eyes. I was a Liberator-Class clone. Other clone soldiers were built to be strong, patriotic, and ignorant of their origins. They were boy scouts and a little gland inside their brain would release a deadly hormone if they ever accepted the unnatural nature of their origin.
        I was built to be fast, ill-natured, utterly deadly, and addicted to violence. I did not have the death reflex built into my brain. Instead, I had a gland that released an addictive combination of endorphins and adrenaline into my blood to clear my head during combat…;

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ace (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044101450X
• ISBN-13: 978-0441014507
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven L. Kent has published several books dealing with video and computer games as well as a series of military science fiction novels about a Marine named Wayson Harris.

Born in California and raised in Hawaii, Kent served as a missionary for the LDS Church between the years of 1979 and 1981. During that time, he worked as a Spanish-speaking missionary serving migrant farm workers in southern Idaho.

While Kent earned a Bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree in communications from Brigham Young University, he claims that his most important education came from life.

Many of the lessons he learned from the Mexican field workers in Idaho have appeared in his stories. Later, from 1986 through 1988, Kent worked as a telemarketer selling TV Guide and Inc. Magazine. His years on the phone helped him develop an ear for speech patterns that has been well-reflected in dialog in his stories.

As a boy growing up in Honolulu in the 1960s, Kent developed a unique perspective. He spent hours torch fishing and skin diving.

In 1987, Kent reviewed the Stephen King novels Misery and The Eyes of the Dragon for the Seattle Times. A diehard Stephen King fan, Kent later admitted that he pitched the reviews to the Times so that he could afford to buy the books.

In 1993, upon returning to Seattle after a five-year absence, Kent pitched a review of 'virtual haunted houses' for the Halloween issue of the Seattle Times. He reviewed the games The Seventh Guest, Alone in the Dark, and Legacy. Not only did this review land Kent three free PC games, it started him on a new career path.

By the middle of 1994, when Kent found himself laid off from his job at a PR agency, he became a full-time freelance journalist. He wrote monthly pieces for the Seattle Times along with regular features and reviews for Electronic Games, CD Rom Today, ComputerLife, and NautilusCD. In later years, he would write for American Heritage, Parade, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune and many other publications. He wrote regular columns for MSNBC, Next Generation, the Japan Times, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

In 2000, Kent self-published The First Quarter: A 25-year History of Video Games. That book was later purchased and re-published as The Ultimate History of Video Games by the Prima, Three River Press, and Crown divisions of Random House.

During his career as a games journalist, Kent wrote the entries on video games for Encarta and the Encyclopedia Americana. At the invitation of Senator Joseph Lieberman, Kent has spoken at the annual Report Card on Video Game Violence in Washington D.C.

In 2005, Kent announced his semi-retirement from video games so that he could concentrate on writing novels. Though he still writes a monthly column for Boy's Life, he has mostly concentrated his efforts on writing novels since that time. His first efforts in science fiction, The Clone Republic and Rogue Clone were published by Ace Book in 2006.

Despite his "retirement," Kent continues to write the occasional game article or review. His sixth novel, The Clone Empire was released in October, 2010, and a seventh novel is due in 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Sequel to "The Clone Republic", October 15, 2006

By 

Marshall Lord (Whitehaven, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rogue Clone (Paperback)

This book continues the story of Wayson Harris, which began in "The Clone Republic."

At the time of updating this review in January 2009, it is the second in a series of four books, which are:

1) The Clone Republic
2) Rogue Clone
3) The Clone Alliance
4) The Clone Elite

One of the hardest things to write well is a sequel to a book in which the central character spends most of his time trying to uncover a secret and ultimately did so. In the first book in this series, "The Clone Republic" Lieutenant Wayson Harris spent much of the story wondering whether he was a clone and why he has both enemies and friends in high places. By the end of that book Harris has found out what he is. So in this second book, author Steven Kent had to find completely new mysteries for him. This could easily have been a very limp sequel, but it isn't: indeed "Rogue Clone" is probably better than the first book.

The story is set in a Universe which contains just about every "Star Wars" cliche imaginable, but Kent manages to find new things to say about most of them. The central government of the galaxy, which evolved from the USA, uses armies of clones to keep everyone in line. All the clones who provide the grunts for the marines are raised in orphanages: each is told that he is the only natural born real orphan in the institution, and programmed to see himself with different hair and eye colour. Each standard military clone is also programmed to die if he finds out that he is really a clone.

Harris really is different from all the other marines, for example we learn in "Rogue Clone" that he is four inches taller. But to the generals and admirals, both he and the standard clones just as much an expendable assets as the ammmunition for the fleet's guns.

At the end of "The Clone Republic" Harris was forced to go AWOL, but I don't think the second book's title "Rogue Clone" is meant to refer to him. As the galaxy descends into civil war and chaos after several spiral arms try to declare independence, Harris is still working for the government as a mercenary and bounty hunter. Then suddenly he is back in uniform and on a dangerous mission for the admiral who tried several times to kill him in the first book.

Then a peaceful agricultural colony is threatened by a fighter carrier commanded by a clone who really has gone rogue - can Harris stop the carrier with an unarmed transport ship and his old mercenary partner ?

Good gripping entertainment. If you enjoy the first two books, "The Clone Republic" and "Rogue Clone" you may will probably also enjoy the subsequent books in the trilogy, "The Clone Alliance" and "The Clone Elite."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continuing on from "The Clone Republic", February 22, 2007

By 

Andrew Perry (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rogue Clone (Paperback)

If you enjoyed "The Clone Republic" then your going to get drawn into the continuing adventures of Wayson Harris in this rarest of things, a sequel that is even better than the original.
Both the characters and the plot seem to hit their stride in this, the second of Mr. Kent's books.
With touches of subtle humor, and plenty of space battles, this excellent, action packed, adventure leads the reader to a surprise ending (or is it the end?).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, January 5, 2007

By 

Trevor Boll - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rogue Clone (Paperback)

Another thriller from Steven Kent. From the start of this sequel to 'The Clone Republic', you are drawn back in to the life of Wayson Harris and his constant internal battle of mixed loyalties combined with action-filled scenes that capture your imagination through to the last page. Kent does another fantastic job in this book of describing a very believable galaxy populated by very real personalities that have something in common with all of us.