Nameless by Dean Koontz | Review

The Nameless series by Dean Koontz follows a character without a name. He, Nameless, has no memory of his life before two years ago. But, the twist is he doesn’t care that he has amnesia. He believes his amnesia to be of his own choice. Instead, he spends his time righting wrongs. He helps those that the criminal system, for whatever reason, failed them. He is not completely alone in the endeavor; a team called Ace of Diamonds supports him on his missions.

The series was differently different. Nameless doesn’t focus on figuring out who he is like characters normally do in amnesia stories. Nameless doesn’t question Ace of Diamonds like you normally see/read in these types of stories. From the beginning, he has accepted his life.

The series isn’t really a mystery series. The bad guys are known right away. Nameless doesn’t investigate; or if he does, it is very little. Before the book begins, the perpetrator is already declared guilty. Koontz leaves no question that the villain is quite evil.

The series isn’t really a thriller either. Ace of Diamonds seems to know pretty much everything. There aren’t too many incidents were Nameless is caught off guard. In fact, most of the time the perpetrator never even sees him. There isn’t some long gun battle between the two or a high-adrenaline kung-fu battle. The books almost read like a police report or some military after action report. You never fear for Nameless’ safety; Ace of Diamonds is nearly always in control.

The strange thing is that it kind of works. Maybe it’s because it is a fresh take on storytelling. Or maybe it’s that there are a few moments of suspense. It was odd. I enjoyed the first book; I didn’t find it boring or “too safe.” It wasn’t until the end that I realized how in control the protagonist was. It should have been boring. I should have been asking, “Where’s the conflict?” I guess this shows how masterful Koontz is in writing; he can make a mission report engaging.

I give the series a 4.9/5 because there is just something that nags at you. It isn’t perfect, but you can’t figure out what it is. The writing was excellent; and even though there seemed to be no conflict or rising action, I was not bored. I enjoyed this fresh idea. Maybe it comes down to personal taste. There were times that the descriptions were too vivid, like when the villains would feel themselves over.

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Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.

Infinity Train Episodes 5-6 (Spoilers and Theories)

Here’s the complete playlist: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Infinity Train is a (as of now) mini-series airing on Cartoon Network from Aug. 5-9. For now, it is ten 11 minute episodes. Each night two episodes will air. The show is also available on the Cartoon Network app.

Tulip and gang once again run into the scheming cat. This time she offers Tulip answers to the number on her hand. Instead, Tulip is trapped within her own corrupted memories. Slowly, Tulip realizes it was her corrupting them; she was replacing memories of her parents fighting with happy memories. This revelation allows Tulip to escape. Once they leave, the wire-monster-thing shows up asking where the three heroes are.

At first, I thought that the monster was interested in Tulip; but after watching the sixth episode, I started to wonder. In the sixth episode, One-One keeps saying that the Unfinished Car is all his fault and tries to fix it. Tulip tells him not to blame himself for things beyond his control, much like she blames herself for her parents’ divorce. After the trio leave, we see a round lock next to the door that looks like One-One.

It seems that One-One left the car for some reason and the car was left unfinished. Also once the three passed the car’s gate, One-One greeted Atticus and Tulip like he’d never seen them before. It seems that leaving the car erased his memory.

In the fifth episode, the monster-thing asks, “Where are they?” I thought it meant the three friends, but One-One is also two beings so they could be “they,” and One-One is not in the Unfinished Car like he is supposed to be. We also see that the wire creature has a boss–someone who responses in musical tones.

I’m thinking the wire creature is some kind of security/repair system. Tulip has left her car; that is why the creature tells her to “take her seat.” Tulip is breaking the rules by wondering around. This would also explain why Tulip seems to be the only one interested in leaving their car. The wire creature is trying to get Tulip back to where she belongs. It is also trying to get One-One back to the Unfinished Car.

Finally, throughout the series there has been an on-going joke about Tulip being the only one with opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs are usually seen as a sign of intelligence (i.e. tool-making). The one breaking the rules is a human. She leaves and ponders and experiments while the others are content to “stay in their seats.”

Do you think the wire creature is more interested in One-One than Tulip? Why do they keep mentioning opposable thumbs? What does the train want with the passengers? Tell me your theories in the comments.

Until next wormhole…thanks for reading.


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Infinity Train Episodes 3-4 (Spoilers and Theories)

Here’s the complete playlist: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Infinity Train is a (as of now) mini-series airing on Cartoon Network from Aug. 5-9. For now, it is ten 11 minute episodes. Each night two episodes will air. The show is also available on the Cartoon Network app.

The third episode started out a little confusing. In the previous episode, Tulip is scared by the number on her hand dropping; she believes it means she’ll die. In the third episode, she is actively trying to cause the number to change. It made me feel like there was a missing episode.

The number, however, does not change. Tulip rushes through each car telling everyone she has no time to stop. Finally, she enters the Corgi Car where she is forced to stop because a monster is blocking the exit. During her stay, she learns to slow down and be patient–the answers will eventually come. Once again, once she learns her lesson, the number changes. But, there is more to the episode.

The monster, at first, is a spider who’s shadow is distorted by a glowing orb. Soon they discover that a metal, robotic creature is taking the orbs from sections of the train car. It is shown that the sunny day scene of the car is just a hologram. Also everything in the car, from sunlight to the water, is controlled by the orbs. The “metal spider” seems to be repairing the train by taking out the orbs but doesn’t replace them. The creature is also seen to glitch. It seems obvious that the machine is broken or has a bug.

The creature then notices Tulip and screams, “Take your seat!” before retreating. Sounds like something a ticket taker, or a conductor, would say. Maybe the conductor is faulty and needs someone who likes to program–like Tulip–to fix it.

In the fourth episode, Tulip once again can’t force the “hand number” to change. She states that she has tried everything logical, but it doesn’t work. She is upset at how illogical the train seems to be. In the Crystal Car, she has to sing a song that matters to her before she can leave. It isn’t until she sings a song from her family road trips that she succeeds. The number then drops again.

It seems as if the train is teaching her to open her heart. It seems like she has walled off her feelings, because of her parents’ divorce, and built a barrier of science to block her emotions. I also found it interesting how the number drop seems to correlate to the “importance” or “success” of the lesson. When she yells at One-One, it goes down by one. When she sings the song, it drops by more.

I’m getting this sense that the train, and the world outside the train, is broken. Just like how Tulip probably feels about her family. It isn’t her love of science that frees her from the Crystal Car but her love of her family. The metal spider also seems to be broken. My theory is Tulip needs to fix it and heal herself from what is happening with her family.

I find it interesting that the creatures Tulip encounters seem to know they are on the train but have no interest in leaving it or their cars. None of the other “passengers” seem to have numbers on their hands or paws. Tulip seems to be the only human onboard. The only other passenger that seems to travel the cars is the cat, a con artist.

What are your theories? Is the metal spider the conductor? Why is Tulip the only one with a number? Are all the cars holograms/programs?

And what do you think of the show so far? Good, bad, meh?

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.


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Infinity Train Episodes 1-2 (Spoilers and Theories)

Here’s the complete playlist: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Infinity Train is a (as of now) mini-series airing on Cartoon Network from Aug. 5-9. For now, it is ten 11 minute episodes. Each night two episodes will air. The show is also available on the Cartoon Network app.

In the first two episodes, Tulip is on her way to coding camp. She is already working on a video game similar to Space Invaders. Unfortunately, her divorced parents are unable to take her at the last minute. She decides to make her own way there. Soon, she discovers a train. Upon entering, she is transported to a seemingly endless train where each car contains its own–and sometimes bizarre–universe. She needs to make her way to the Conductor in order to leave.

The first episode gives us a few theories to work with. Tulip meets a round robot that can divide itself called One-One. One side is depressive while the other is more upbeat. Both are pretty naive. One-One is looking for its “mother,” which it doesn’t know who she is or what she looks like. Since Tulip is a coder and interested in video games, it is possible that she is One-One’s “mother.” She could either create the robot as a video game character or as an actual robot.

The next big theory that I have comes from what happens after Tulip tries to escape the train. Outside the cars is a desolate wasteland. She soon runs into a cockroach-like creature that can age people/suck out their souls. It would seem like Tulip has been transported to the future, but I think the train cars are actual other worlds–either imaginary or real–with the train as some sort of hub or container. I am thinking that the train is more symbolic like the place is a dreamworld or the mind. The soul-sucking roaches might be things that cause us to give up on our dreams; they kill us on the inside.

More evidence to my dreamland theory shows up in the second episode. On Tulip’s hand is a glowing number. In the first episode it is 115, but it changes to 114 in the second. The thing is it doesn’t change during her “fails” through the other cars. She has trouble in the crossword, evil plant, and pinball worlds, but the number stays the same. It only changes after she yells at One-One for causing her trouble.

If One-One is her creation and she yells at it, and later tries to sell him/it in order for a way off the train, her dropping a “health point” could mean she’d been tempted to give up on her dreams. She states that all she wanted was to get off the train; she is willing to give up on going to camp (i.e. give up on her dreams) in order to escape.

When Tulip asks One-One what happens if the number reaches zero, One-One says she’ll be gone. He doesn’t say she’ll die–Tulip assumes she’ll die. There are other ways “to be gone,” such as giving up on your dreams or just simply getting kicked off the train. In the first episode, we do see someone getting vaporized by a strange light, but we don’t know if the person was killed or just transported away.

For now, my theory is that the Infinity Train is some kind of dreamland filled with imagination (possibly other worlds). People are brought there to come up with ideas, fight for their ideas, or learn some lesson–this part I haven’t completely figured out. It does seem the main point of Tulip’s story is her fight for her dreams. It is almost like she is deciding something–maybe does she continue running away or does she return to her family.

What’s your theory? Let me know in the comments.

Until the next wormhole…thanks for reading.


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File X-001 | Dogboy Reborn Side Quests

Incoming Message

Kkktt!!

This is Captain Stone of the International League of Super-Transbeings. The date is May 16, 2003. We have just received the following message.

Series of text messages sent from Unknown on July 10, 2019

Unknown: It’s all a lie.

Unknown: Ten years ago extraterrestrial life invaded Earth. That part is true.

Unknown: It is also true that the battle was over in three days.

Unknown: But it wasn’t the aliens that were victorious. Earth won that day.

Unknown: The governments saw this as an opportunity. War, famine, crime, violence, hate, climate change, and terrorism were all on the rise.

Unknown: They saw a chance to change all that. The drones, the ships–those are controlled by the Earth Unity Federation pilots. The few aliens we see on patrol are really Earth Unity Federation military units.

Unknown: The EUF scavenged the technology left by the aliens. They pretended to be the aliens. They created the peace treaty in order to set up new restrictions and have the aliens as the scapegoats.

Unknown: The aliens haven’t been on the Earth since July 6, 2009. It’s all been a ruse to keep us in check.

Addendum: It is now July 10, 2009. The alien invaders did arrive as predicted by the message. We, however, were able to intercept them before reaching Earth.

The Citizens remain unaware of any supernatural presence.

Kkkktt!!


Thanks for reading! Joe Rover eBooks are available at many online retailers.

Copyright © 2019 Joe Rover

International League of Super-Transbeings, Dogboy, and related characters Copyright © 2016-Present by Joe Rover

All rights reserved. No part of this post may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews or as a repost/share with link to the original post.

All characters, organizations, and locations in this post have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

Stakeout at the Docks | Ace Journeyman Side Quest

DING.

You’ve got a message from Glen.

Glen: What’cha doin’?

Ace: Stakeout with Watermark and Windmaker.

Glen: What kind of stakeout?

Ace: Someone’s illegally smuggling domesticated kaiju. They plan to use them in kaiju fights.

John Watermark: What part of “secret mission” did you not understand?

Ace: It’s just Glen.

John Watermark: I don’t care.

Ace: How’d you get into this conversation anyway?

John Watermark: That’s exactly my point. You never know who’s listening.

John Watermark: Or in this case texting.

John Watermark: How do we know that’s really Glen?

Ace: It says so right above the message bubble. Sent by Glen, March 19, 2012.

John Watermark: < : (

Ace: Wow, I didn’t know you knew how to do that!

John Watermark: I’m not *that* old.

Ace: How old are you?

John Watermark: Classified.

Glen: You should’ve let me come. I can help.

John Watermark: Sidekicks aren’t allowed on missions.

Glen: Sidekick??!!

Ace: Glen’s not my sidekick. He’s my friend!

Glen: Thanks!

John Watermark: By all means, that makes it better. Now I really should have brought him.

David Windmaker: Is this a private conversation or can anyone join?

David Windmaker: We have movement. I see three razorbacks, a bladebeak, five deathfoots, six screechers, and

David Windmaker: Is that a mousecat? What’s a cute kaiju like that doing here?

John Watermark: Probably breakfast.

Ace: WHAT??!

John Watermark: The “cute” kaijus end up as meals for the customers.

Glen: I think I’m going to be sick. You gotta do something!

John Watermark: What do you think we’re doing here!?

John Watermark: Now get off the line so we can get to work.

Glen: Who says “get off the line” anymore?

Ace: Old people…like John.

John Watermark: *sighs*


Hope you enjoyed this short tale. Consider leaving a like and sharing it with your friends.

Until July 31, 2019, many of my eBooks–like the Ace Journeyman book Alliance–will be on sale, only on Smashwords.

Thanks for reading! And until the next wormhole…bye!


Copyright © 2019 Joe Rover

Ace Journeyman and related characters Copyright © 2016-Present by Joe Rover

All rights reserved. No part of this post may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews or as a repost/share with link to the original post.

All characters, organizations, and locations in this post have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

Recommended #17

The following are my opinion and do not reflect the opinion of any organization or person.

Searching (movie): A man’s daughter goes missing. As he searches her online history, he learns that he might not have known her as well as he thought.

I found seeing the movie through the perspective of a computer screen unique—although a little like those “home video” movies. I also enjoyed how the confrontation with perpetrator at the end was closer to how it would happen in real life.

The Soulkeepers (book one of “The Soulkeepers” series) by G.P. Ching: A teen’s mother goes missing so he has to leave his home and live with an uncle he never knew he had. Over time, the teen learns there is more to his family and himself than he thought.

The story was a good read. I had trouble putting it down until the end. Near the end, I started to feel like “how much longer.” The book is very religious with the main character struggling to accept God and his role in protecting the world from fallen angels. I did like that the ending seemed like an ending. The ending answered all the questions and felt like the adventure was over but still left it open to another tale.

Grind Work

After watching YouTuber Grian’s video of him making a Matrix room in Minecraft, it got me thinking. In the video Grian talks about the hours it took him to set up a flat, white area in order to make the white map image for the room. So, I wondered what would it be like if people, like Minecraft YouTubers, contracted out others to do their grinding work. They hire someone to come on and do the mining and the level grinding.

Wouldn’t that be a weird thing to see on a resume? “I have six months experience as a Minecraft Grinder.” Or what about the job ad. “Wanted: Minecraft Grinder capable of mining diamonds and iron. Must be able to slay mobs for XP.” And just image what it’d be like if it was something taught in college. “Welcome to Grinding 101.” And what about the degree they woul–

Kkkktt.

Hello Old Friend.

Who is this?

You don’t recognize me? Well, I can’t say I’m not surprised; it’s been awhile. We were only, what was it…eight or ten when it all happened.

When what happened?

Doesn’t matter. That is the past, as THEY say. What matters is the future. Because of our old friendship, I’m giving you a warning. 

We’re coming.

Who’s coming? Jackal! Is that you?

Hahahaha-hahaha!!

Kkktt!

End of transmission.

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