Russell Lutz's profile

Fun with characters at cross-purposes, September 18, 2007

LaBounty's new novel, "The Trinity", is a deceptively simple story. A young man with a family life he needs to escape joins the Navy and is stationed in a remote location in Scotland. There he befriends a priest, who is in actuality, a totally bonkers white supremacist. The priest has grand plans of purging the non-whites from Scotland, and creates a three-man team, which he calls the Trinity, for this purpose.

The characterization of the sweet young man is in stark contrast with the insane priest, though both are fascinating to watch. But the structural component I enjoyed most was the way these two central characters so efficiently hear what they want to hear from each… Read more

Fear the Perfect Soldiers, July 11, 2006

Benjamin Benson is a sergeant in the US Army of 2013. He is stationed on the border between US controlled Iraq and a still belligerent Iran. He's a grunt, sad sack, an everyman. And "The Perfect Revolution" is his memoir.

Deadwood's first novel is told in a tightly focused voice. Not only do we learn everything through the eyes of Benson, we learn it in journal entry chunks. Our narrator is only a handful of hours ahead of the reader at any point in the narrative. This gives the reader a sense of blindness, of not knowing what lies around every turn, which just makes the whole thing more disorienting.

I've never been in the military, and know precious little… Read more

Social Science Fiction, June 20, 2006

The first thing I noticed about this book was that it isn't science fiction in the traditional sense. Though it takes place at some indeterminate time in the future - seemingly several decades - there is very little in the way of new or improved technology. "Red Ivy Afternoon" is more accurately described as social science fiction.

Julian Lightfall is our protagonist and narrator. He writes his memoir in vivid yet slightly old-fashioned prose. Much like any diarist, Julian skimps on self-description, but goes into loving detail about his Boston environment. Examples include a trendy nightclub (with the meaningful name Portfolio), and a working class eatery that transforms… Read more