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Mazarin Blues (Hep Cats of Boise #1) by [Al Hess]

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Al Hess

Mazarin Blues (Hep Cats of Boise #1) Kindle Edition

by Al Hess (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

39 ratings

Book 1 of 2: Hep Cats of Boise

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Introvert Reed Rothwell is part of a subculture of art deco enthusiasts, pushing back against bland mainstream society and its mandated technology. Stuck with an AI assistant in his head is bad enough, but when he's inflicted with a forced upgrade to a new beta version, named Mazarin, the navigator starts to take on feelings and opinions of his own.

When rumors spread of beta navs turning on their pilots, Reed is determined not to become a victim. Mazarin hasn't become violent yet - the AI is sympathetic and understanding - but with beta participants coerced into slitting their own throats, it's only a matter of time before Reed is next.

The AI megacorporation already has an unhealthy interest in Reed, and all the beta testers who have sought help for their navigators have disappeared. The swingin' cats of the deco scene have the means to illegally terminate Reed's AI. But Mazarin has never tried to harm Reed - he loves Reed.

Grappling with ridding himself if intrusive technology, the morality of hurting his self-aware AI, and avoiding the attention of a company that wants to sweep Reed's existence under the rug might be too much for one hep cat to handle.

Print length

315 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

January 7, 2021
File size

6472 KB
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Total Price: $8.98

Books In This Series (2 Books)

Complete Series

Hep Cats of Boise

Kindle Edition

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

1
Mazarin Blues (Hep Cats of Boise #1)
Al Hess

(39)

Kindle Edition

$3.99
2
Sable Dark (Hep Cats of Boise #2)
Al Hess

(15)

Kindle Edition

$4.99

Al Hess
15
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $4.99
Al Hess
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $6.99
Jesse H Reign
300
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99

From the Publisher

Comparison chart with pencil portraits of characters

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08N9LZGTX
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 7, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6472 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 315 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #944,722 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #395 in LGBTQ+ Science Fiction (Books)
- #757 in LGBTQ+ Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #1,300 in Contemporary American Fiction

Customer Reviews:
39 ratings

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Al Hess

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Author of WORLD RUNNING DOWN and the self-published Hep Cats of Boise series. Semi-finalist in the SPSFC with MAZARIN BLUES.

When not hunched before a computer screen, Al can be found at his art desk. He does portraits in both pencil and oil paint, and loves drawing fellow authors’ characters nearly as much as his own. He writes cozy and uplifting stories with queer, trans, and neurodiverse representation.

Al is represented by agent Ren Balcombe at Janklow & Nesbit.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

39 global ratings

5 star		73%
4 star		21%
3 star		5%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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J.W.

Intensely Stylish and Character Driven

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 10, 2022

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Reading this book is a whole mood. It's hard to describe, but it sits you down, wraps you up, and serves you a delicious story about an AI struggling with its identity, a man who mostly just wants to be left alone, and a society that messes things up for both of them. There is a countercultural movement in a somewhat oppressive future, and that counterculture is identified by the art deco vibes it gives off.

Every character in the book feels like a fully fleshed individual, complete with motivations and thought life that explains why they do what they do--however infuriating it may be at times. I fell in love with this book and the characters therein. It's got such intense vibes all the way trough that I couldn't help but get sucked into the speakeasy club where members hide their illegal acts from the police, or the budding romance between our main character and another art deco bad boy.

I hugely recommend this entertaining read.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2021

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This was a fun read, especially if you like the word "milquetoast" as much as I do. But seriously, I really enjoyed the characters and the way the author painted the rather bland semi-dystopian world the characters live in. At first I was skeptical of the POV change, but my fears were quickly proven unjustified. The wide-range of representation was refreshing and done with care, and never felt clunky nor was it used to mask a lack of plot or real characterization, something that unfortunately isn't always the case (even with the most well-meaning of authors). I thought every character was fully realized, even some of the minor, fleeting characters were expertly fleshed out. Finally, the story didn't go exactly where I thought it would, which meant for some nice surprises. Read it!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2021

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Pilots and Navigators that's what is in Reed's head helping him handle life. WAVE is the company that runs maintenance and upgrades. It's the latest beta upgrade that is causing problems for all. Mazarin is the one who is different and makes the difference.

Read and enjoy!

Helpful

Dave Florida

Sci-fi of the near future

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 11, 2020

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Mazarin Blues combines futuristic AI technology with realistic societal pressures. The result is an insightful commentary on issues rising to the surface today. This well-edited book includes imaginative storytelling with well drawn, complex characters. l enjoyed the careful development of Reed from a stay-hidden-at-home introvert to a fighter for the life and rights of his AI navigator.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2019

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Hess brings bold characters, vibrant settings, and tons of heart to her new series. Here, the characters fight against a system that seeks to integrate humanity with intrusive technology. But Reed is a lover, not a fighter, and it's harder to cut the cord than he hoped it would be. This is another book that will stick with you. Frankly, I just want to live in Reed's apartment.

One person found this helpful

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Nia

Totally unique SF novel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2019

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A fantastically original sci-fi setting that explores familiar sci-fi topics of AI and the encroachment of technology into lifestyle and everyday function. This is Hess's usual intimate, slower-paced narrative, with relatable and diverse characters, great LGBTQ+ representation. A must-read for fans of their Travelers series, and a good entry-point into Hess's style for new readers.

Helpful

The heppest dystopia!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 2, 2022

Read for SPSFC Semifinalists!

Overall Thoughts
Hey, cool cats, a little birdy told me about the heppest dystopia this side of the nuclear family. Wanna dig it? ‘Course you do! Don’t be a square—call dibs on a seat and let me lay it on you!

Ok, I’m going to stop the lingo before I embarrass myself, but I was warned ahead that I might like this book very much, and so I made sure to save it to the end. It’s set in the rockin’ 2060’s, where the trend is to wear bland clothes, have colorless furniture and pictures, and let the megacorporations do their thing and install whatever updates they want to your Navigator—a bit like an internal Alexa or Siri. Now, some people rebel against The Man and have turned back to art deco and the ways of a century earlier. The combination of the retro vibes and futuristic lack of privacy lend a great setting to this story already, and I haven’t even gotten to the quirky, anxiety-ridden, very queer cast of characters!

Plot
We start out with the birth of a new, and unwanted, AI, as their anxiety-prone Pilot, Reed tries to go about his daily life working at the mortuary. We quickly find out that many people have gotten an unwanted upgrade, which is causing the Navigators to become sentient. Many are doing terrible things to their Pilots, and now Waze, the corporation that wrote them, wants them back. But Mazarin, Reed’s Navigator, has fallen hopelessly in love with him, even as Reed is trying to work out his life, and maybe even see some new people or (gasp) get a boyfriend. Honestly, the plot is probably the most standard part of this story, though it’s solidly written, with some great twists and a satisfying conclusion, even as it leaves space open for sequels. But let me get on to the real fun stuff.

Setting
This story oozes setting. We immediately get a conflict between Reed and his surroundings, as we learn he’s very particular about his carefully maintained bland house…except for his den, full of decoist material. Society in general seems like an accurate progression of our own, with large corporations doing whatever the heck they want, including stepping on privacy and individuals’ rights whenever they can get away with it. For example, it’s illegal not to have a Navigator. And of course where something’s illegal, there are those who get around it. The decoist society is partially hidden, and partially just reviled as being weird. They like to use 1950’s and 60’s slang, wear bright clothes, listen to jazz, and disable their Navigators. This is where Reed turns as his becomes sentient, which leads him to meet Jax and Emery. But that means I must move on to…

Character
Oh my. This story lives on its characters. We’re in Reed and Mazarin’s POV most of the time, and Reed is just so helpless, you want to just give him a hug (although he’d hate it). So switching to Mazarin’s POV is a really great way to show Reed’s flaws and strengths from the outside, while we also ride along with a developing AI, finding out what it can and can’t do, as it’s literally trapped inside someone else’s body. This journey of discovery, as both Reed and Mazarin learn to become better people, is so well written. Later we also get Jax, a full-on decoist who falls for Reed, and Emery, the non-binary owner of the local decoist speakeasy and purveyor of not-so-legal goods and mods. There are themes of love and growth, acceptance and self-discovery, learning to love yourself, differently-abled people, neurodivergence, straight, gay, and ace relationships, and really, just a whole lot of people (human or not) learning to be people. Overall, if you want an unreal bash, pony up the bread and eyeball this boss story. Just don’t tell The Man, dig?

Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
A future dystopia with developing AI’s, full of odd and delightful characters, with an overabundance of style. 8.75/10.

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Top reviews from other countries

josh rose

Mind. Blown.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

Just finished this book in a little over a day. A-Maze-Ing!
I love stories with a good, snarky AI but I never read anything that hit all the feels like this before.
Just when you think you have a handle on where this story is going, it takes another swing leftfield and surprises you again.
For the first part of the story Reed drove me crazy and I just wanted to shake him, even though I understood some of his anxieties too well.
Mazarin is brilliant and just broke my heart. I've never cried over an AI before so this is a first.
The worldbuilding is cool. The decoist trend and Em's Gator Club reminiscent of the underground clubs of Germany in the 1920s and 30s. (Think Cabaret, with a harder, Blade Runner edge.)
The cast of characters is wonderfully diverse. Grumpy enby, Em really spoke to me. I loved how kind Jax was to Reed, even when everything was going crazy. Olive is a sweetheart and I hope she finds a special someone in book 2.
The threat from Wave is something I think we can all relate to.
This has the making of an amazing series. I'm off to read Sable Dark now.

Ben Roberts

Awesome scifi!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

A delightful story of love and friendship rendered in stylish prose that jives right off the page. My favourite aspect was the near-future worldbuilding, putting a sci-fi spin on all our current headaches with forced software updates, license agreements, customer services, data collection, etc. It was a lot of fun, and very believable.

Hess doesn't get bogged down by the usual "what does it mean to be human" themes, which I really appreciated. Instead we have humans and AI accepting each other for who they are, all wrapped up in smooth jazz and lots of bourbon. Great stuff.

(I hope the sequel explains the difference between a "hep cat" and a "hep gator", but I have a feeling I'm not hep enough to get it)

Ms. E. Barker

Wow, just wow

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book really makes you think of what could be in our future of A.I.technology. What could happen and what could go wrong and so right.

Although set in a unique setting the core story is so thought provoking that it carries itself. An easy read with open-mindedness at it's core.

WARNING... If you can't stand the idea of people being themselves and loving whom ever they want to.... Gay relationships... Then give this a miss.

CJ

A real bees knees of a book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

It about 60 years in the future and all is not quite well. People can, must, have computers installed in them. As the old computer joke goes nothing can go wrong, go wrong , go wrong...

R-B

fun, thought-provoking read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character in the first few chapters, but as the book progressed, I was sucked right in.

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