FIXER IS OUT

Just posted the below review to Amazon using your provided link. Should be visible soon. I will put something up on Goodreads as well.

Fixer Delivers

Fixer, the free short story delivered as an introduction to the soon to be published We Are Not Good People, is a great introduction to the dark, gritty, vicious and often brutal world that Jeff Somers has created for his Ustari Cycle.

One of the things Jeff does so well is weave humor into his post apocalyptic, people are generally bad narratives. Anyone who has read his Avery Cates series can attest to how entertaining this recipe can be. As a result, Fixer showcases a world of con artists and hustlers all the way through to megalomaniacs, but without the heavy, drag you down feeling so many “grimdark” novels elicit. Sometimes, even in the worst of situations, your only real defense is laughter, and this philosophy comes through in spades in all of Jeff’s work.

The best part of where I see this series going is the cost and consequence of the magic system. It opens up a million interesting questions and scenarios that we get to see the characters explore. The price of magic is blood. More blood equals more powerful magic.

And so we get to explore:

Do you only use your own blood? Do you take blood from others, steal from hospitals? Pay for volunteers?
Where do we stand on the ethical constraints around acquiring the “gas” for these spells? If you bleed a dozen people, but the resulting spell diverts a hurricane, saving thousands, are we alright with that?
If the bleeders are volunteers, if they are paid, if they are in comas, does that change the equation?
How do we feel about the extreme examples? Those who would engineer a plague, cause that very hurricane in order to cast something truly massive in scale? Does it depend on what that something is?

These are just some of the ambitious questions Fixer begins to ask, and We Are Not good People will continue to explore. I highly recommend you download Fixer (good things aren’t often free), and if you like it pick up the continuation when it is released. I promise you, it is worth your time.