Geek Mafia
Geek Mafia
Fired from a job he hated at a company he loved, videogame designer Paul Reynolds is drowning his sorrows in late-morning margaritas when he meets an alluring, pink-haired conwoman named Chloe. With her gang of techno-pirate friends, Chloe helps Paul not only take revenge on his former employers, but also extort a small fortune from them in the process. What more could a recently unemployed, over-worked videogame designer in Silicon Valley ask for?
Book Excerpt
r sandwiches on white bread she said, "So, tell me Paul, why are you getting fired tomorrow?"
"I'm not really entirely sure," he said, although this was a stalling tactic. He knew pretty well why he was getting fired; he just didn't quite know how to put it into words. It'd only been a couple of hours since his high school friend and CEO had told him what was happening. "I mean, they gave me reasons, but they're not really reasons. They're not things I did wrong."
"What does that mean? They didn't like your looks?"
"Yeah, basically," said Paul. "More to the point, they didn't like the look of how I was doing things. What I mean is, I'm not a tech guy right? I'm an artist and a writer. I'm used to working at home and scribbling away and meeting my deadlines. So when I helped start this company, I figured it would be mostly the same. I figured I'd sit in my office and do my work and hit my deadlines and go to my meetings and all that."
"But you didn't do that?" asked Chloe as she pla
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I skimmed this, reading the beginning and short excerpts here and there.
This isn't as bad as some of the worst comments have made it out to be, so perhaps some improvements have been made along the line. Spelling, for instance, has been cleared-up.
OTOH, it's amateurish, poorly paced, lacks believable characters, seems to have a silly plot, and isn't something I'd want to read without a good rate of pay.
In addition, in RTF, at least, it's poorly formatted, an additional irritant. In the future utilize Styles, use a book typeface such as Palatino or Gentium, make paragraphs shorter.
This isn't as bad as some of the worst comments have made it out to be, so perhaps some improvements have been made along the line. Spelling, for instance, has been cleared-up.
OTOH, it's amateurish, poorly paced, lacks believable characters, seems to have a silly plot, and isn't something I'd want to read without a good rate of pay.
In addition, in RTF, at least, it's poorly formatted, an additional irritant. In the future utilize Styles, use a book typeface such as Palatino or Gentium, make paragraphs shorter.
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I agree with both the positive and some of the negative comments. Yes - There are flaws, especially the spelling. But this is a free book. If you want perfection, go and buy a full-priced book where they can afford to pay an editor to correct the author's mistakes. Rick has produced a terrific novel with some original ideas. It is definitely worth reading. Just enjoy it and ignore the minor flaws.
12/12/2011
It always amazes me that there is such an vast gap between professional and amateur writing. There is a decent plot and story, here, but it would have benefitted a great deal from an editor and a few revisions. The characters are inconsistent, and the dialogue between them is plain awful, cliched, unauthentic, uninteresting and at times, lacking any semblance of conflict. The protagonist is the weakest I have ever read, and instead of driving the story, gets dragged around by his johnson while his love interest ignores, patronizes and condescends to him. How can I get on board with a hero who is merely a puppy dog, seemingly incapable of making a decision for himself? The author prefers to let his characters vomit out unnecessary and trivial details of their behind-the-scene contributions to the plotlines in the story. We get it - you've thought every detail through. That doesn't mean we want to know every detail, because the unnecessary detail KILLS the story's flow. Likewise, just because you think your character might have an interesting back-story doesn't mean you need to spend an entire chapter explaining it in detail. There are better ways to develop your characters. What's worse, he uses the OLDEST cliche in the book: the villian who goes into unnecessary detail explaining their sinister plan to the heros. Give me a freakin' break, Scooby Doo. I think I'll skip the sequel.
11/04/2011
I see that in the reviews of this book that it was a real love or hate affair, with most people seeming to like it. I'm in the agreement with the majority. I've now read both books, and I feel that they were a good piece of escapism. Beievable? nop really, enjoyable? most definitly!
09/26/2011
Great book! Yes the left in the 60's-70's did kill a few but less than the National gard did against unarmed college students who were against the war. And, of course 57,000 died in nam which makes any comment against them pail in comparison. Old people start wars young people die in them. This book is the first of two both are good
05/13/2011
Great read!
10/23/2010
This is a decent thriller, if you are into hippie fantasies, stereotypes and a whitewashing of history. Contrary to the author's assertions, the radical left did kill innocents. The action is OK, the author's strident politics are probably what prevented it from becoming a published novel.
09/26/2010
This was an entertaining book with an interesting storyline, but the on-going spelling errors, occasional grammar mistakes, and other minor issues that an editor would normally fix were enough to make me not want to read any of the other books in this series.
09/16/2010
Excellent read. Definitely a page-turner. Along the lines of The Sting, Ocean's 11, etc. but in geekdom.
07/21/2010
If you're looking for a honest-to-goodness page turning thriller, you've got one right here. The characters are compelling, the motivations feel honest, and the storyline holds together very well. The author is deliberate about leaving the reader tense and in suspense to the very end.
06/08/2010
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