I 'discovered' Brian S. Hall on twitter after he argued with me about a point I made in a blog post about the smartphone industry. I had no idea who he was; just assumed he was yet-another mobile app developer with an opinion. Then I discovered his blog and found some of his posts about the tech industry interesting; he's a good writer.
One day he mentioned in a tweet to me something about "his SF book". Whah!?! What SF book? He pointed me at the Amazon listing.
I read a LOT of SF and I tend to read everything I can by any author I like (e.g. Peter F. Hamilton). See the books I read in 2011 here: [...]
I love finding authors I haven't heard about. I really love being at the 'ground floor' of a future star author's career. So I usually give them one chance. Thus, I ordered The Empty Spaces for my Kindle.
As long as his writing continues to improve, I will read EVERY SF book he writes from here on. As a first novel The Empty Spaces is REALLY GOOD. Sure, it's a bit wordy and repetitive in places, and a bit predictable, but the story idea is solid and inventive, character development is strong (if overdone), and he does a nice job of educating the reader about stuff they probably didn't know (in this case chocolate). Sometimes the educational-back-story reads a little bit like the authors own personal research notes, but that is a minor flaw and something Brian can easily improve on.
None of my criticism should sway you from buying and reading this book; I write them mostly for Brian's benefit. I'd be shocked if you don't enjoy it.