Ollie and the New Moon, Carl Derham, Austin Macauley Publishers, 2013, Page Count: 369
A humorous young adult adventure/fantasy story of intergalactic intrigue. Ollie has been enlisted by the Annenians to help redirect a large asteroid on a collision course with earth and to relay the story of how the Haman’s (humans) were genetically engineered to the world.
Ollie and the New Moon is a light hearted fantasy romp that includes intergalactic themes. The story opens with a conversation between the President of the United States and Dr. Conway, the earth is on a collision course with a giant asteroid that could create damage 1. Cut away to Ollie the 19 year old drummer in a band and surfer from a wealthy British family whose mother has died and left him a small inheritance.
At any given moment he drifts into Ollie World, a place of naughty daydreams and fantasy, it is just his way. He is traveling by plane from London to Cairo to see the pyramids. Like any typical teenager, his sense of humor and daring do shines through. As he sits on the plane he is broadsided by a large woman and her children and quietly thinks, “Please don’t let them sit next to me . . . “ He sometimes has to prevent himself from punching his fist in the air and yelling “yeah”.
His seatmate shows up, Stephan Johansson who happens to work for the Natural History Museum in the Egyptology department and Ollie asks, “What do you have to do to get a job like that?” As the conversation between Stephan and Ollie continues, Ollie is invited to stay with Stephan in Cairo and even better, he can get Ollie in to see the inside of the pyramids. At Stephan’s chi-chi apartment the huge windows has a view of the historic monuments. The next day as they travel to and descend into the pyramid, Ollie is disappeared, having been pulled down into a mysterious starship inside the monument.
The ship, Robbie, tells him the story of the Annenians from a distant world. The Annenians liked to play telepathic games and the ship was run by thoughts. The Annenian population had largely been crippled by a virus, “as everyone forgot how to do more and more important things” “They were forgetting how to walk and just lying in the street until someone who had forgotten how to drive ran them over” but not before they genetically engineered a new race on a new planet, the Haman’s (humans).
“The ship explained that its original plan was to fly into orbit, announce its arrival to the whole of humanity and send Ollie to meet with the worlds leaders to relay the story of the Annenians.” However, there has been a new development, the ship “must go to Annenia and collect the necessary equipment to deflect” the huge asteroid heading for planet earth. One of the main characters is the starship computer, Robbie, practically humanoid and without flaws, there is no dialectic with the other characters, he says “Well, I couldn’t just sit by and watch it happen.
I’d grown fond of you all, for all your faults. I know that Humans aren’t ready yet for the Annenian technology, but I’ve put a lot of work into it and I wasn’t prepared to throw it away . . . ” he and this novel is the antithesis to HAL of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a movie written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. In 2001: A Space Odyssey the all seeing, all knowing intellect of HAL the computer begins to have minor lapses in judgment, what ensues is a bloodbath between the astronauts and the computer, the computer fighting to not be disconnected.
Ollie and the New Moon is not a serious read, it is not a book where you have to worry too much about real violence or any of the characters being killed off. The book is written in the third person in an easy reading and simple dialogue style, as if the writer is talking to you. Ollie and the New Moon, complete with the possibility of interplanetary war with the Theogloids and a dashing night and day after party in London, is a story of wanderlust and fantasy adventure. The story ends back in Cornwall, the surfing exodus of the U.K., boards in hand at the local pub with the locals watching telly contemplating the latest news travesty. The teenagers have it in this intergalactic fantasy, dark themes with a dose of humor, a good summer read.
A humorous young adult adventure/fantasy story of intergalactic intrigue. Ollie has been enlisted by the Annenians to help redirect a large asteroid on a collision course with earth and to relay the story of how the Haman’s (humans) were genetically engineered to the world.
Ollie and the New Moon is a light hearted fantasy romp that includes intergalactic themes. The story opens with a conversation between the President of the United States and Dr. Conway, the earth is on a collision course with a giant asteroid that could create damage 1. Cut away to Ollie the 19 year old drummer in a band and surfer from a wealthy British family whose mother has died and left him a small inheritance.
At any given moment he drifts into Ollie World, a place of naughty daydreams and fantasy, it is just his way. He is traveling by plane from London to Cairo to see the pyramids. Like any typical teenager, his sense of humor and daring do shines through. As he sits on the plane he is broadsided by a large woman and her children and quietly thinks, “Please don’t let them sit next to me . . . “ He sometimes has to prevent himself from punching his fist in the air and yelling “yeah”.
His seatmate shows up, Stephan Johansson who happens to work for the Natural History Museum in the Egyptology department and Ollie asks, “What do you have to do to get a job like that?” As the conversation between Stephan and Ollie continues, Ollie is invited to stay with Stephan in Cairo and even better, he can get Ollie in to see the inside of the pyramids. At Stephan’s chi-chi apartment the huge windows has a view of the historic monuments. The next day as they travel to and descend into the pyramid, Ollie is disappeared, having been pulled down into a mysterious starship inside the monument.
The ship, Robbie, tells him the story of the Annenians from a distant world. The Annenians liked to play telepathic games and the ship was run by thoughts. The Annenian population had largely been crippled by a virus, “as everyone forgot how to do more and more important things” “They were forgetting how to walk and just lying in the street until someone who had forgotten how to drive ran them over” but not before they genetically engineered a new race on a new planet, the Haman’s (humans).
“The ship explained that its original plan was to fly into orbit, announce its arrival to the whole of humanity and send Ollie to meet with the worlds leaders to relay the story of the Annenians.” However, there has been a new development, the ship “must go to Annenia and collect the necessary equipment to deflect” the huge asteroid heading for planet earth. One of the main characters is the starship computer, Robbie, practically humanoid and without flaws, there is no dialectic with the other characters, he says “Well, I couldn’t just sit by and watch it happen.
I’d grown fond of you all, for all your faults. I know that Humans aren’t ready yet for the Annenian technology, but I’ve put a lot of work into it and I wasn’t prepared to throw it away . . . ” he and this novel is the antithesis to HAL of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a movie written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. In 2001: A Space Odyssey the all seeing, all knowing intellect of HAL the computer begins to have minor lapses in judgment, what ensues is a bloodbath between the astronauts and the computer, the computer fighting to not be disconnected.
Ollie and the New Moon is not a serious read, it is not a book where you have to worry too much about real violence or any of the characters being killed off. The book is written in the third person in an easy reading and simple dialogue style, as if the writer is talking to you. Ollie and the New Moon, complete with the possibility of interplanetary war with the Theogloids and a dashing night and day after party in London, is a story of wanderlust and fantasy adventure. The story ends back in Cornwall, the surfing exodus of the U.K., boards in hand at the local pub with the locals watching telly contemplating the latest news travesty. The teenagers have it in this intergalactic fantasy, dark themes with a dose of humor, a good summer read.