NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW ON-LINE

This novel comes out at about 150 thousand words and is published here as a CD-ROM. The format is good and there are a number of options on the CD to allow the reader to view the story either in their own browser or as a PDF file in an Adobe reader which is suplied on the disc. This last gives it more of a book like feel with clearly delineated pages instead of the continuous page of script you get in the browser version.

The story deals with two strands, the first is the investigation of a murder, the second is the anouncement that the earth will be destroyed in a few days time. It comes down to either doing your duty or giving in to the fact of the world's end and how an individual can deal with that. There are other subplots which help to develop both of these strands and tie them together.

Overall the theme and plot are interesting and develop well. But the novel is dialogue driven and after a while the characters tend to melt into each other as there is not much variety of tone. For me that was the principle weakness, but overall it was outweighed by the strengths of the story which had a few unique ideas.

A book on a CD eh? Very futuristic! Personally I like the smell of a new book in my hands. Clicking through the pages of a CD Rom book just isn't the same. But, I digress...

UNDECLARED WAR by SAM SMITH is the first of the PATHS OF ERROR trilogy and reads more like a straight up narrative than anything else. Early on the dialogue between characters is kept to a minimum with plenty of narrative and descriptive prose leading the way.

At first it is rather clumsy, coming off more like a tongue twisting linguistic limerick rather than flowing prose — 'Cool coloured ice-cream parlours', and '...ribbed rubber flippers.' Some of the similes are rather gut wrenching too, '...bungalow estates multiplied like a rash of venereal scabs.'?! Yuch! But as gross as it is it does rather underline the bleak shabbiness of the area the author is describing.

Set within a seaside town and chronicling the lives of a group of rebellious teens during the height of the MOD/Rocker era during the 60's, UNDECLARED WAR makes for bleak reading. But it showcases the interweaving of the characters and the images they have chosen for themselves perfectly. If Quadraphenia stoked your fire then you'll certainly get off on this. The question remains though, in his youth was Sam Smith a MOD or a Rocker? Roll on books two and three.

This is the second book in Sam's "PATHS OF ERROR" trilogy. The first was entitled "UNDECLARED WAR". Each novel analyses the way changes in attitudes towards religion, education, women and society have affected the lives of individuals in a small English town.

As the author of an online novel I am curious as to how quickly or not this medium will catch on. Sam is a very talented writer. This novel is on a well-presented CD in a hard plastic case. I have already installed Adobe Acrobat Reader on my PC. Therefore all that was necessary was to insert the CD into the disk drive and within seconds the lead title appeared on the screen.

The font was clear and easy on the eye. Yet I have to say after fifteen minutes of reading, I need to break off to do something else. With written text my concentration levels are longer. Online novels are a two-sided coin: text is more easily and tidily stored; books get dog-eared and dusty. A book can be read anytime, any place, anywhere; our PC is constantly being fought over.

Because Sam's story shows the paths of a number of individuals, I find this is an easy book to repeatedly pick up the threads from. We are introduced to the schoolgirl lover, the ageing woman who uses her barrenness as a weapon against the Pope's ideals. With the celebrations of the Millennium firmly behind us, this is a very topical analysis of the relevance of religion in a constantly moving-on society. Rather bluntly the question is asked that if the Pope were to become pregnant, then would he be so against contraception? Religion is, in my opinion, a very personal thing. But because others do not see it as purely personal, then we have only to watch the global news to view the outcome. Until we can love or even just tolerate each other as individuals, there will never be world peace. Turn up the music and send in the clowns, is what I say!

Yet another beauty of having the CD is if there's a page of text you'd like to keep on hard copy, it's there ready to be highlighted and printed. You can't do that with a paperback unless you have a photocopier to hand. You have? Oh, alright, have it your way! Still, as a thoroughly modern, up-front and personal writer I welcome the idea of a paperless society. So why did I scribble the draft of this review in an exercise book?

Answer: I'm desperately seeking a laptop!