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Xenoman
Xeno yearns to have access to the Nth Dimension like The White Boys, famed telepaths who suffered brain damage when they made contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Out of work as a bartender since the Shoki Pao dance club mysteriously burned down, Xeno's lackluster lifestyle in the city of Metropa is getting harder to maintain. The public pill silos that dispense Sunlite, a one-size-fits-all antidepressant, haven't been refilled in months, so the citizens of Metropa turn to designer drugs, like Black Magic, an addictive Sunlite knock-off with terrible side effects.Having survived an overdose of Black Magic, and successfully revived by Drinama, a brain implant slipped to him as a Mickey at a job fair, Xeno earns an entry level position as an agent for secret service organization Intellegella. Garry, his handler, introduces Xeno to the industrial version of the black box, allowing Xeno's pineal gland access to SSP-synthetic sensory perception-with the turn of a dial, along with the Noumenol patch, a skin absorbed drug that stabilizes his vital signs so that he doesn't suffer a cardiac arrest. Xeno's initial mission is to test the black box in the field, under Garry's watchful eye, and to locate Trianne, an ex co-worker, ex pole dancer, ex model, gone missing and showing signs of spontaneous human combustion, an emerging side effect of Black Magic, and a public safety hazard. All Xeno has to do is bring Trianne back to Intellegella for treatment. It's that simple . . . according to Garry.
- GenresScience Fiction
353 pages, Paperback
Published August 2, 2017
2 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
About the author
Adam Martin
3 books16 followersAdam Martin wrote for the Orange Coast College Theatre Department, and The Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Santa Ana, Ca. He graduated from CSULB with a BS in film & video production. When he’s not installing wireless networks, he has a keen interest in philosophy, playing lead guitar, and graphic design. Contact Adam Martin at: nthdimension@cox.net
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 4, 2019
My rating 3.7
The book "Xenoman" by Adam Martin is a good novel with a perfectly designed world, but the action of the story, in my opinion, should be better. The book takes us through the world fascinated by electronics and drugs, which are all supervised and monitored, which are artificially created people a normal thing. Occasionally I had to come back and read again some pages that would be spectacular because there are so many details and words that I did not understand, and I had to use a dictionary. The story in the book is in some places so slow that I know often give up and start to read a book a day or two later. But regardless of all this is a good novel, with a lot of silly conversation between the characters and all in all fans of the genre SF dystopia might enjoy the book. I honestly do not know how to briefly explain the story because it is intertwined like a ball of wool. But in the story, you will find many characters, the world of Metropa that fascinates. All its inhabitants are addicted to drugs, electronics, neon-glitter advertisements from all sides, even the main character Xeno is not immune to it. But what is a reality, and what an illusion, no one can figure it out. I would recommend the book to lovers of science fiction and dystopia.
The book "Xenoman" by Adam Martin is a good novel with a perfectly designed world, but the action of the story, in my opinion, should be better. The book takes us through the world fascinated by electronics and drugs, which are all supervised and monitored, which are artificially created people a normal thing. Occasionally I had to come back and read again some pages that would be spectacular because there are so many details and words that I did not understand, and I had to use a dictionary. The story in the book is in some places so slow that I know often give up and start to read a book a day or two later. But regardless of all this is a good novel, with a lot of silly conversation between the characters and all in all fans of the genre SF dystopia might enjoy the book. I honestly do not know how to briefly explain the story because it is intertwined like a ball of wool. But in the story, you will find many characters, the world of Metropa that fascinates. All its inhabitants are addicted to drugs, electronics, neon-glitter advertisements from all sides, even the main character Xeno is not immune to it. But what is a reality, and what an illusion, no one can figure it out. I would recommend the book to lovers of science fiction and dystopia.
October 7, 2019
Adam Martin creates an exciting action adventure in Xenoman! After inadvertently joining a secret intelligence agency, Xeno is sent to hunt down one of his former coworkers, a mission he discovers isn’t everything it’s cut out to be. I loved Martin’s almost cyberpunk world and the action was very well done! Check out Xenoman if you’re looking for an actiony futuristic thriller!
May 27, 2020
Bizarre Psychedelic Cyberpunk
Xeno lives in a peculiar near-future world in the city of Metropia (which eerily echos Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' in a few ways). When supplies of the regular antidepressant (ironically called ‘Sunlite’) run out people seek escape through other drugs including one called Black Magic which has the unfortunate side-effect of leading addicts to spontaneously combust. Xeno gets offered a job which requires him to find a missing friend before she suffers that fate.
Xenoman is a very odd book. Shades of William Gibson mingle with those of Robert Anton Wilson. Extravagant scenes in which what is reality is completely up for grabs, mingle with gritty cyberpunk dystopian moments.
What I enjoyed:
The writing style. The writing is rich and vibrant, showing an amazing command of language and has some wonderful descriptive passages.
The weirdness. It's a book that has you off-balance all the time. Just as you think you are beginning to get a grip on the plot, it shifts into something unexpected.
The humour. There is a lot of this, mostly satire. Sometimes it is a touch overplayed, but can also be incredibly dry and biting.
What I struggled with:
The characters. Well, not so much the characters themselves as the lack of emotional connection I was able to achieve with them or any sense of development. It sometimes felt more like they were only there to let the author show off a gallery of weird, often disconnected, scenes and concepts and reflect on them.
The confusion. Yes, I get that this is intentional, but it is excessive. There seems to be no piece of solid ground on which the reader can rest. The author sums it up nicely: "Nothing holds its form long enough to register what it refers to." Robert Anton Wilson managed this kind of approach to superb effect in 'Illuminatus' and 'Schrödinger's Cat', but this book just doesn't quite qualify for that league, in my opinion.
Overall:
If you are looking for a really different sci-fi with in-your-face satire and have no time for boring literary conventions like logic, plot or character development, this is something you should definitely check out!
Xeno lives in a peculiar near-future world in the city of Metropia (which eerily echos Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' in a few ways). When supplies of the regular antidepressant (ironically called ‘Sunlite’) run out people seek escape through other drugs including one called Black Magic which has the unfortunate side-effect of leading addicts to spontaneously combust. Xeno gets offered a job which requires him to find a missing friend before she suffers that fate.
Xenoman is a very odd book. Shades of William Gibson mingle with those of Robert Anton Wilson. Extravagant scenes in which what is reality is completely up for grabs, mingle with gritty cyberpunk dystopian moments.
What I enjoyed:
The writing style. The writing is rich and vibrant, showing an amazing command of language and has some wonderful descriptive passages.
The weirdness. It's a book that has you off-balance all the time. Just as you think you are beginning to get a grip on the plot, it shifts into something unexpected.
The humour. There is a lot of this, mostly satire. Sometimes it is a touch overplayed, but can also be incredibly dry and biting.
What I struggled with:
The characters. Well, not so much the characters themselves as the lack of emotional connection I was able to achieve with them or any sense of development. It sometimes felt more like they were only there to let the author show off a gallery of weird, often disconnected, scenes and concepts and reflect on them.
The confusion. Yes, I get that this is intentional, but it is excessive. There seems to be no piece of solid ground on which the reader can rest. The author sums it up nicely: "Nothing holds its form long enough to register what it refers to." Robert Anton Wilson managed this kind of approach to superb effect in 'Illuminatus' and 'Schrödinger's Cat', but this book just doesn't quite qualify for that league, in my opinion.
Overall:
If you are looking for a really different sci-fi with in-your-face satire and have no time for boring literary conventions like logic, plot or character development, this is something you should definitely check out!
June 5, 2018
Did not like this one as much as I was hoping. RTC.
March 31, 2019
This book is what would happen if the Church of the Subgenius tried to write the Fear and Loathing version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Xeno, a young man wakes up in a mens bathroom. From their we are introduced to the strange world of Xenoman. It is a commercial dystopia populated by fame-crazed, drug addled pop stars, love-sick videogame avatars, orgy couches, a slightly terrifying fast food franchise named Klownburger and a designer drug with the minor side effect of causing people to burst into flame, sentient flower pots, headless synthetic humans, telepathic tapeworms, devastating shortages of Sunlight in pill form... the list goes on.
Xeno is recruited by a force called Inteligencia. His handler, a kind of 80's hair band burnout named Gary, sends him on a mission to find and rescue his friend Triana before she spontaneously combusts, a fate that already befell their mutual friend, Zoom.
And from there, it gets weird.
Xeno embarks on a wild odyssey where reality, drug induced hallucinations and psychic phenomemon blend together. He is fitted with a new type of technology which allows him to train his pineal gland to merge with the Nth dimension just like his favorite band, the White Boys. As he gets closer and closer to the Nth dimension, he has to avoid the murderous duplicate humans, Klownburger drug manufacturers and the occasional un-dead friend trying to give him a hug while on fire. And the closer he gets to solving the mystery of what happened to Triana, the more he realizes that the world he knows is not the world as it is.
Xenoman seems to violate everything I know about creating a compelling story with an almost insanely snarky glee. The narritive is, at the best of times, hard to follow. The main characters feel flat on the page and are yanked from one situation to the next with little to no agency. The titular character and hero, in particular, seems to react to his entire world like a disaffected teenager on forced on a family holiday. Many times I wasn't even sure what I was reading. Was it suppose to be humor? Satire? Hard sci fi? Dystopian? All of the above mashed into a little ball and fired from a cannon?
All I know is that I'm going to have to read this book at least one more time.
This story got it's hook into me almost immediately and I don't really know why. Maybe it was the bizarre, absurd situations would have me laughing out loud. Maybe the imagery that I have been unable to concoct in my own head since giving up hallucinogens. Or maybe it was just the sheer out-of-control feel of the book. I'm fan of the almost stream-of-consciousnes works of Hunters S. Thompson or Milton Buroughs and this book had the same feel. Plus something about it, and I can't quite put it in words, something just compelled me deeper into this book. It was a bit of Alice in Wonderland that way. I didn't know what was going to be on the next page but it damn sure wasn't anything I could expect. In a world where I keep running into the same story over and over again I can say without fear of being proven incorrect, that this story isn't one of those. Like it or hate it, you gotta admit, it's different.
And this book is clearly not for everyone. People who have trouble following or enjoying non-linier storylines will probably have a hard time with it. Likewise people looking for a deep look into a compelling character will probably not find a lot to like here. (That's not to say there aren't some wild characters wandering around a world that seems to be the logical conclusion of untethered capitalism, but they are mostly parodies of an archetype with snarkily funny names like Fayke Tan or Blouse Demise.)
But if someone is in the mood for a fun, sarcastic, lunatic ride, I heartily recommend this book. Because, as one character puts it, "In the Nth dimension, it's all just one big powercord."
Xeno, a young man wakes up in a mens bathroom. From their we are introduced to the strange world of Xenoman. It is a commercial dystopia populated by fame-crazed, drug addled pop stars, love-sick videogame avatars, orgy couches, a slightly terrifying fast food franchise named Klownburger and a designer drug with the minor side effect of causing people to burst into flame, sentient flower pots, headless synthetic humans, telepathic tapeworms, devastating shortages of Sunlight in pill form... the list goes on.
Xeno is recruited by a force called Inteligencia. His handler, a kind of 80's hair band burnout named Gary, sends him on a mission to find and rescue his friend Triana before she spontaneously combusts, a fate that already befell their mutual friend, Zoom.
And from there, it gets weird.
Xeno embarks on a wild odyssey where reality, drug induced hallucinations and psychic phenomemon blend together. He is fitted with a new type of technology which allows him to train his pineal gland to merge with the Nth dimension just like his favorite band, the White Boys. As he gets closer and closer to the Nth dimension, he has to avoid the murderous duplicate humans, Klownburger drug manufacturers and the occasional un-dead friend trying to give him a hug while on fire. And the closer he gets to solving the mystery of what happened to Triana, the more he realizes that the world he knows is not the world as it is.
Xenoman seems to violate everything I know about creating a compelling story with an almost insanely snarky glee. The narritive is, at the best of times, hard to follow. The main characters feel flat on the page and are yanked from one situation to the next with little to no agency. The titular character and hero, in particular, seems to react to his entire world like a disaffected teenager on forced on a family holiday. Many times I wasn't even sure what I was reading. Was it suppose to be humor? Satire? Hard sci fi? Dystopian? All of the above mashed into a little ball and fired from a cannon?
All I know is that I'm going to have to read this book at least one more time.
This story got it's hook into me almost immediately and I don't really know why. Maybe it was the bizarre, absurd situations would have me laughing out loud. Maybe the imagery that I have been unable to concoct in my own head since giving up hallucinogens. Or maybe it was just the sheer out-of-control feel of the book. I'm fan of the almost stream-of-consciousnes works of Hunters S. Thompson or Milton Buroughs and this book had the same feel. Plus something about it, and I can't quite put it in words, something just compelled me deeper into this book. It was a bit of Alice in Wonderland that way. I didn't know what was going to be on the next page but it damn sure wasn't anything I could expect. In a world where I keep running into the same story over and over again I can say without fear of being proven incorrect, that this story isn't one of those. Like it or hate it, you gotta admit, it's different.
And this book is clearly not for everyone. People who have trouble following or enjoying non-linier storylines will probably have a hard time with it. Likewise people looking for a deep look into a compelling character will probably not find a lot to like here. (That's not to say there aren't some wild characters wandering around a world that seems to be the logical conclusion of untethered capitalism, but they are mostly parodies of an archetype with snarkily funny names like Fayke Tan or Blouse Demise.)
But if someone is in the mood for a fun, sarcastic, lunatic ride, I heartily recommend this book. Because, as one character puts it, "In the Nth dimension, it's all just one big powercord."
December 6, 2018
Xenoman is a weird tale. A touch post-apocalyptic and a touch dystopia, the main focus is never really the world, nor the characters I’d say but rather the snarky, twisted pop-culture references. There’s a fast food chain named Klownburger amongst other things.
While some of the snark present in the obvious jab at consumerism are funny (The National Thrashional, an Asian fighting character name Fayke Tan, Blouse Demise, ASS as an acronym for an IT assistance gimmick or some such, and several others), after a certain point, the book seemed to become more about those references than about any story. I lost the count of the number of times I was taken out of the story by things like a Satan-o-scope being brought about or the repetitive ASS jokes (can your ASS make sunlight? Will the ASSes go haywire,etc.). After a beginning that draws you in, the story meanders between episodic chapters, but they miss a conductive wire that would have helped keep the interest. Until one of the characters goes missing, and the protagonist goes hunting for her…only it never feels like hunting. It feels like the man is stumbling blind from one scene to the next, never really worrying (or expressing any emotion whatsoever for that matter) or caring for anything or anyone. At one point all I could think of was that this was the story of perpetual side tracks.
Now I touched upon the absence of emotions. Perhaps there is a good reason for it which I missed, but Xeno just isn’t involved in the story. Yes he goes here and there, though sometimes we don’t even get a reason why, but he’s a spectator in his own story. People literally die in his arms, and he doesn’t feel or express anything… And the rest of the cast almost act and behave as if they somehow knew they were in a parody of a reality.
I rarely mention grammar, but this book is sorely in need of proofreading. I’ve read professionally edited books which still had a few typos here and there. Up to twenty-something in a novel I can deal with, but this is not the case here. Typos, missing words, out-of the blue dashes in the middle of words (likely formatting problem), mistakes like “you’re pregnant and your go go dancing?” run rampant (I stopped counting the number of times I came across that same mistake).
I said in another review that sci-fi is at its best when it pushes/extrapolates modern concepts or elements to extremes and leaves us wondering whether we’re on the right tangent or not. Xenoman doesn’t do that. Oh the setting might have been an interesting take on just how far consumerism can take us, but beyond anecdotic laughs and sarcasm I didn’t see much there which made me curious as the focus was more on the aimless satire rather than the characters and the world they were living in. Even the ending left me somewhat stumped and though similar concepts have been done before, the “progress” (or lack of) made in the whole story left me somewhat perplexed at the purpose of this whole story.
So, perhaps I’m just not the target audience for that kind of work, but for me, this was ok. I had to mention them, because it was jarring, but the numerous grammar mistakes don’t make the story incomprehensible. It is competently written, and despite the lack of involvement from the protagonist, there are some parts of the story which had some emotional involvement. I didn’t like Xenoman, but I’ve read worse. I rate Xenoman two (2) stars. Perhaps someone who loves a story with a heavy focus on comedy and satire rather than characters and world building will love it better than I did.
While some of the snark present in the obvious jab at consumerism are funny (The National Thrashional, an Asian fighting character name Fayke Tan, Blouse Demise, ASS as an acronym for an IT assistance gimmick or some such, and several others), after a certain point, the book seemed to become more about those references than about any story. I lost the count of the number of times I was taken out of the story by things like a Satan-o-scope being brought about or the repetitive ASS jokes (can your ASS make sunlight? Will the ASSes go haywire,etc.). After a beginning that draws you in, the story meanders between episodic chapters, but they miss a conductive wire that would have helped keep the interest. Until one of the characters goes missing, and the protagonist goes hunting for her…only it never feels like hunting. It feels like the man is stumbling blind from one scene to the next, never really worrying (or expressing any emotion whatsoever for that matter) or caring for anything or anyone. At one point all I could think of was that this was the story of perpetual side tracks.
Now I touched upon the absence of emotions. Perhaps there is a good reason for it which I missed, but Xeno just isn’t involved in the story. Yes he goes here and there, though sometimes we don’t even get a reason why, but he’s a spectator in his own story. People literally die in his arms, and he doesn’t feel or express anything… And the rest of the cast almost act and behave as if they somehow knew they were in a parody of a reality.
I rarely mention grammar, but this book is sorely in need of proofreading. I’ve read professionally edited books which still had a few typos here and there. Up to twenty-something in a novel I can deal with, but this is not the case here. Typos, missing words, out-of the blue dashes in the middle of words (likely formatting problem), mistakes like “you’re pregnant and your go go dancing?” run rampant (I stopped counting the number of times I came across that same mistake).
I said in another review that sci-fi is at its best when it pushes/extrapolates modern concepts or elements to extremes and leaves us wondering whether we’re on the right tangent or not. Xenoman doesn’t do that. Oh the setting might have been an interesting take on just how far consumerism can take us, but beyond anecdotic laughs and sarcasm I didn’t see much there which made me curious as the focus was more on the aimless satire rather than the characters and the world they were living in. Even the ending left me somewhat stumped and though similar concepts have been done before, the “progress” (or lack of) made in the whole story left me somewhat perplexed at the purpose of this whole story.
So, perhaps I’m just not the target audience for that kind of work, but for me, this was ok. I had to mention them, because it was jarring, but the numerous grammar mistakes don’t make the story incomprehensible. It is competently written, and despite the lack of involvement from the protagonist, there are some parts of the story which had some emotional involvement. I didn’t like Xenoman, but I’ve read worse. I rate Xenoman two (2) stars. Perhaps someone who loves a story with a heavy focus on comedy and satire rather than characters and world building will love it better than I did.
May 13, 2019
You need to take what the author took to read this book. It's that psychedelic!
Xenoman is so out there that I need to break my usual review format just to get started. Right off the bat - literally, the first few sentences - I felt nostalgic and was reminded of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Unfortunately, the next few lines obliterated that feeling and sent me rushing to the nearest brain imaging center to make sure I hadn't suffered a massive stroke. Nothing made sense, and what was supposed to be a hook to keep me invested in the book almost made me throw it - figuratively in this digital world - aside for my next promising read. Fortunately, I did press on, and after the first chapters pieces slowly started to fall into place.
The importance of being true to the author/reader contract is something I always stress to my students and clients. In a nutshell, as an author you have a professional obligation to deliver a well written, polished work in the genre you've promised. Don't advertise romance when you're actually delivering a how-to-get-fit-in-two-days book. That, however, is the minimum requirement. You also need to be aware that the reader has millions of options for investing their time and you want them to invest it in your book. This means that those first few paragraphs not only need to hook the reader, but must also set the tone for what is expected. It's a shame to have someone choose your work - in an infinite sea of books - only to put it down and move on.
The first chapter is where Xenoman fails with its hook. The author's ASK is simply too much for the reader in a very confusing start.
In Xenoman, Mr. Martin hits the sci-fi genre bulls-eye, no doubt. He clearly sets the genre and transports us to a future where extreme materialism and self-indulgence is the norm. The world is a modern version of the 80s with neon lights, fascinating technology and electronics, but with twists like the black box everyone carries around. There are many references to 80s culture which I found quite entertaining, but that wasn't enough to make me overlook problems with the narrative and plot. The main arc, Xeno's quest, is not strong enough and needs more development.
My overall assessment of Xenoman is:
Cover: ★★
Concept: ★★★
Execution: ★★
Grammar: ★★
Is the story original? Yes. I particularly enjoyed the satirical approach.
Are the characters well developed? Yes and no. Each character is presented and developed to have a unique voice, but Xeno's relationships with his friends and handler need more development. Things are too fuzzy and confusing.
Does the story move at a good pace and keep you wanting more? Unfortunately, no. Despite the humor and cynical presentation of today's world seen through a futuristic lens, the main story is not developed enough to maintain the tension necessary to keep the reader invested. This is mostly due to the writing style and confusing plot flow.
Is the manuscript well edited? It is clearly obvious that Mr. Martin is a talented writer with a very imaginative mind. However, the editing in Xenoman is quite sub-par. A rewrite will greatly enhance the book.
Any recommendations? Revisit the first chapter.
Do you recommend this book? Only to die hard sci-fi fans who enjoy getting their minds messed with and have a lot of time to re-read passages.
Xenoman is so out there that I need to break my usual review format just to get started. Right off the bat - literally, the first few sentences - I felt nostalgic and was reminded of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Unfortunately, the next few lines obliterated that feeling and sent me rushing to the nearest brain imaging center to make sure I hadn't suffered a massive stroke. Nothing made sense, and what was supposed to be a hook to keep me invested in the book almost made me throw it - figuratively in this digital world - aside for my next promising read. Fortunately, I did press on, and after the first chapters pieces slowly started to fall into place.
The importance of being true to the author/reader contract is something I always stress to my students and clients. In a nutshell, as an author you have a professional obligation to deliver a well written, polished work in the genre you've promised. Don't advertise romance when you're actually delivering a how-to-get-fit-in-two-days book. That, however, is the minimum requirement. You also need to be aware that the reader has millions of options for investing their time and you want them to invest it in your book. This means that those first few paragraphs not only need to hook the reader, but must also set the tone for what is expected. It's a shame to have someone choose your work - in an infinite sea of books - only to put it down and move on.
The first chapter is where Xenoman fails with its hook. The author's ASK is simply too much for the reader in a very confusing start.
In Xenoman, Mr. Martin hits the sci-fi genre bulls-eye, no doubt. He clearly sets the genre and transports us to a future where extreme materialism and self-indulgence is the norm. The world is a modern version of the 80s with neon lights, fascinating technology and electronics, but with twists like the black box everyone carries around. There are many references to 80s culture which I found quite entertaining, but that wasn't enough to make me overlook problems with the narrative and plot. The main arc, Xeno's quest, is not strong enough and needs more development.
My overall assessment of Xenoman is:
Cover: ★★
Concept: ★★★
Execution: ★★
Grammar: ★★
Is the story original? Yes. I particularly enjoyed the satirical approach.
Are the characters well developed? Yes and no. Each character is presented and developed to have a unique voice, but Xeno's relationships with his friends and handler need more development. Things are too fuzzy and confusing.
Does the story move at a good pace and keep you wanting more? Unfortunately, no. Despite the humor and cynical presentation of today's world seen through a futuristic lens, the main story is not developed enough to maintain the tension necessary to keep the reader invested. This is mostly due to the writing style and confusing plot flow.
Is the manuscript well edited? It is clearly obvious that Mr. Martin is a talented writer with a very imaginative mind. However, the editing in Xenoman is quite sub-par. A rewrite will greatly enhance the book.
Any recommendations? Revisit the first chapter.
Do you recommend this book? Only to die hard sci-fi fans who enjoy getting their minds messed with and have a lot of time to re-read passages.
November 22, 2017
I’m usually not a futuristic novel reader, but sometimes I do pick one up. Some of them are just so over my head that I lose interest, but it was not this way with Xenoman.
Xenoman takes place in a future where the majority of the population is addicted to a drug called Sunlight. But when Sunlight is no longer available, most people turn to Black Magic, a designer drug that unfortunately causes spontaneous human combustion. It’s a culture where everyone walks around with a little black box on their chest and listens to 5-track music. (If you are having a hard time picturing this, think future meets the 80s.)
Xeno has always wanted to enter the Nth Dimension like his idols, The White Boys, a traveling band who are rumored to be telepathic. He goes to take the Zener Test, and unknowingly gets an implant placed in his brain. Xeno’s implant starts to act up, but his friends Zoom and Trianne don’t believe him. Things start getting a little weird when Zoom disappears, presumably dead, and Trianne begins to smoke. Xeno is recruited to Intellegalla to save Trainne, and then things start to really get interesting – Klownburger characters, robotic synths, and aliens are just to name a few. With everything going on, Xeno starts to even question reality.
“The more I see, the less I see. Time, space, onjects, are all smeared like dream logic. The dream has a logic, but the logic is occult to me. Nothing holds its form long enough to register what it refers to. Reality as it really is, is . . . incoherent.”
Xenoman really seems like a satire on culture and a reminisce of the 80s. A future where technology is a black box strapped to your chest and connected with a black node on your forehead, (seems a bit like the large boom boxes and first cell phones), music is provided via 5-track, and the villians are strangely similar to the old McDonald characters. Though all these references are before my time, I found them rather amusing and entertaining.
Xenoman really took me by surprise (I actually started out with ebook but didn’t connect to it at first, I went ahead and bought a hard copy and personally that made a big difference). Martin has a very thought out plot and I actually enjoyed going on the mission with Xeno.
A few things would have helped me out more in understanding the story at first. There was a back story that we don’t get a lot of information at first, I found myself a little confused at first. I would have liked to know a little more in the beginning how Xeno, Zoom, and Trianne became friends.
Another I would have liked to see more developed was Xeno’s relationships. Especially between Xeno and Trainne. But one of the one’s that really confused me was his relationship with Garry, his Intellegella handler. They really hit off, but Xeno just met the guy, found out they put an implant in his brain, and then willing goes on a dangerous mission all within a day.
Overall, Xenoman is an entertaining sci-fi that really took me for a spin.
Xenoman by Adam Martin gets 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Adam Martin for providing me with a copy of your book to review.
Xenoman takes place in a future where the majority of the population is addicted to a drug called Sunlight. But when Sunlight is no longer available, most people turn to Black Magic, a designer drug that unfortunately causes spontaneous human combustion. It’s a culture where everyone walks around with a little black box on their chest and listens to 5-track music. (If you are having a hard time picturing this, think future meets the 80s.)
Xeno has always wanted to enter the Nth Dimension like his idols, The White Boys, a traveling band who are rumored to be telepathic. He goes to take the Zener Test, and unknowingly gets an implant placed in his brain. Xeno’s implant starts to act up, but his friends Zoom and Trianne don’t believe him. Things start getting a little weird when Zoom disappears, presumably dead, and Trianne begins to smoke. Xeno is recruited to Intellegalla to save Trainne, and then things start to really get interesting – Klownburger characters, robotic synths, and aliens are just to name a few. With everything going on, Xeno starts to even question reality.
“The more I see, the less I see. Time, space, onjects, are all smeared like dream logic. The dream has a logic, but the logic is occult to me. Nothing holds its form long enough to register what it refers to. Reality as it really is, is . . . incoherent.”
Xenoman really seems like a satire on culture and a reminisce of the 80s. A future where technology is a black box strapped to your chest and connected with a black node on your forehead, (seems a bit like the large boom boxes and first cell phones), music is provided via 5-track, and the villians are strangely similar to the old McDonald characters. Though all these references are before my time, I found them rather amusing and entertaining.
Xenoman really took me by surprise (I actually started out with ebook but didn’t connect to it at first, I went ahead and bought a hard copy and personally that made a big difference). Martin has a very thought out plot and I actually enjoyed going on the mission with Xeno.
A few things would have helped me out more in understanding the story at first. There was a back story that we don’t get a lot of information at first, I found myself a little confused at first. I would have liked to know a little more in the beginning how Xeno, Zoom, and Trianne became friends.
Another I would have liked to see more developed was Xeno’s relationships. Especially between Xeno and Trainne. But one of the one’s that really confused me was his relationship with Garry, his Intellegella handler. They really hit off, but Xeno just met the guy, found out they put an implant in his brain, and then willing goes on a dangerous mission all within a day.
Overall, Xenoman is an entertaining sci-fi that really took me for a spin.
Xenoman by Adam Martin gets 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Adam Martin for providing me with a copy of your book to review.
April 29, 2019
This took me quite a while to get through, mostly because I kept starting over, sure I had missed something. I nearly accused Molly, my Chihuahua bestie, of stepping on my Kindle and turning pages!
Molly's innocent. The narrative is just that hard to follow from scene to scene, and while I'm sure it's intentional, it's chaotic and confusing.
Main character Xeno is living in a nightmarish futuristic city called Metropa. Here we have a populace of drug addicts who can no longer get their hands on "Sunlight" and have made an ill-fated switch to a designer knock-off called "Black Magic". Long term use leads to spontaneous human combustion. Of course, the manufacturers haven't bothered with a recall or a warning.
If this is a veiled statement about pharmaceutical companies, I get it. I was amused by a disclaimer ad including side-effects dizziness, business, silliness, etc.
Citizens--and their synthetic companions--are equipped with a black box that seems to function as cell-phone, stereo system, 2-way camera and an all around forget-about-privacy-forever-monitoring device. Xeno has also been infested with a bugging devise to test his telepathic abilities.
Xeno, after all the drunken, drug induced jumping from place to place for no particular reason, finally learns that being bugged and drugged was to confirm that his pineal gland allows him to receive telepathic messages.
He is recruited into an organization called Intelligella, and embarks on a search for his missing friend, Trianne, who disappeared during a little date night excursion to a music club. Now sporting a higher-tech black box and supervised by Garry, his handler, Xeno begins a new career.
There are a lot of other things going on here, and I wouldn't dream of adding spoilers. Suffice to say that there are several characters and sub-plots that are sometimes amusing and often confusing, but somehow it starts coming together. Some of it. Sort of.
I really wanted to like this more than I do. It has so much potential. I feel like the story suffers due to lack of graphics. I could get behind this as a graphic novel or comic book series with a "groovy" color palate. Klownburger just begs to be depicted in psychedelic reds and purples, lime greens and orange. No black and white in this colorful world! Some stories are meant to be seen as well as read, and I think Xenoman might be one of those.
Molly's innocent. The narrative is just that hard to follow from scene to scene, and while I'm sure it's intentional, it's chaotic and confusing.
Main character Xeno is living in a nightmarish futuristic city called Metropa. Here we have a populace of drug addicts who can no longer get their hands on "Sunlight" and have made an ill-fated switch to a designer knock-off called "Black Magic". Long term use leads to spontaneous human combustion. Of course, the manufacturers haven't bothered with a recall or a warning.
If this is a veiled statement about pharmaceutical companies, I get it. I was amused by a disclaimer ad including side-effects dizziness, business, silliness, etc.
Citizens--and their synthetic companions--are equipped with a black box that seems to function as cell-phone, stereo system, 2-way camera and an all around forget-about-privacy-forever-monitoring device. Xeno has also been infested with a bugging devise to test his telepathic abilities.
Xeno, after all the drunken, drug induced jumping from place to place for no particular reason, finally learns that being bugged and drugged was to confirm that his pineal gland allows him to receive telepathic messages.
He is recruited into an organization called Intelligella, and embarks on a search for his missing friend, Trianne, who disappeared during a little date night excursion to a music club. Now sporting a higher-tech black box and supervised by Garry, his handler, Xeno begins a new career.
There are a lot of other things going on here, and I wouldn't dream of adding spoilers. Suffice to say that there are several characters and sub-plots that are sometimes amusing and often confusing, but somehow it starts coming together. Some of it. Sort of.
I really wanted to like this more than I do. It has so much potential. I feel like the story suffers due to lack of graphics. I could get behind this as a graphic novel or comic book series with a "groovy" color palate. Klownburger just begs to be depicted in psychedelic reds and purples, lime greens and orange. No black and white in this colorful world! Some stories are meant to be seen as well as read, and I think Xenoman might be one of those.
December 22, 2018
A graphic novel without the pictures.
I was very turned off by the pretense of the story: a bunch of tweakers obsessed with the drug black magic incapable of emotion and lacking personalities. That gets old real fast. For about the first quarter of the book, I really tried to find something I liked, but found the attempts at humor flat and no depth to the characters. The only character I remotely liked disappeared for most of the book. So maybe this book is a spoof? At one point I was thinking that maybe the author meant for it read like it was written by someone on drugs. But alas, the main character, Xeno, manages to get off black magic (a drug that causes spontaneous human combustion but people are so addicted they don't care) to search for his friend Trianne. The story does not improve with the sobriety of the narrator. Many things happen and I don't understand how or why. I guess, the plot twist at the end can account for why things are so utterly ridiculous.
So I'm not sure formatting this book like a graphic novel would save it, but it would certainly cover up what it lacks. For instance, nearly the entire book is dialog. The world Xenoman is set in is completely over the top, which reminded me of Gotham. I imagined these characters animated.
On the positive side if you enjoy graphic novels and/or drugs, you will probably be able to get into this story.
I was very turned off by the pretense of the story: a bunch of tweakers obsessed with the drug black magic incapable of emotion and lacking personalities. That gets old real fast. For about the first quarter of the book, I really tried to find something I liked, but found the attempts at humor flat and no depth to the characters. The only character I remotely liked disappeared for most of the book. So maybe this book is a spoof? At one point I was thinking that maybe the author meant for it read like it was written by someone on drugs. But alas, the main character, Xeno, manages to get off black magic (a drug that causes spontaneous human combustion but people are so addicted they don't care) to search for his friend Trianne. The story does not improve with the sobriety of the narrator. Many things happen and I don't understand how or why. I guess, the plot twist at the end can account for why things are so utterly ridiculous.
So I'm not sure formatting this book like a graphic novel would save it, but it would certainly cover up what it lacks. For instance, nearly the entire book is dialog. The world Xenoman is set in is completely over the top, which reminded me of Gotham. I imagined these characters animated.
On the positive side if you enjoy graphic novels and/or drugs, you will probably be able to get into this story.
October 15, 2018
Addiction, designer drugs, technical medicine, and secret agents create the plot of this adventurous Sci-fi romp.
Xeno, ex-bartender, junkie (though everyone in Metropa is), overdose survivor, gets thrown into several comical, and intriguing situations that keep the reader chuckling especially when he becomes an agent with a simple first task--bring back a missing ex-stripper before she spontaneously combusts!
Martin pens likable characters, realistic conversations and reactions, and engages the reader either through interesting gadgets, medical treatments, or just simply with the adventurous plot. There is definite commentary on cultural dependence on drugs and technology but its not shoved down your throat to make this novel a glaring protest. The writing for me is a bit flowery and super descriptive. Some sentences had two or more adjectives to describe menial things and it helps to be versed in IT terms to truly appreciate the technical aspects of the gadgets in this world.
Overall, this was a fun sci-fi novel that does not disappoint!
Xeno, ex-bartender, junkie (though everyone in Metropa is), overdose survivor, gets thrown into several comical, and intriguing situations that keep the reader chuckling especially when he becomes an agent with a simple first task--bring back a missing ex-stripper before she spontaneously combusts!
Martin pens likable characters, realistic conversations and reactions, and engages the reader either through interesting gadgets, medical treatments, or just simply with the adventurous plot. There is definite commentary on cultural dependence on drugs and technology but its not shoved down your throat to make this novel a glaring protest. The writing for me is a bit flowery and super descriptive. Some sentences had two or more adjectives to describe menial things and it helps to be versed in IT terms to truly appreciate the technical aspects of the gadgets in this world.
Overall, this was a fun sci-fi novel that does not disappoint!
June 15, 2020
Xenoman is a bizarrely unique piece of cyperpunk fiction centered around the titular character as he tries to get to the Nth Dimension. Made up of equal parts satire and surreal, the writing style of Xenoman is so unique the only way to accurately describe it is as a graphic novel without any pictures. The author spends a lot of time describing the world he has created in the form of signs, advertising, and other written-visual aids. Though a great tool for building the world, the tendency to description does seem a little excessive. Sometimes, I even felt like I was being pulled out of the narrative and I often found myself wishing the author had included illustrations, instead. That being said, the descriptions were funny and most certainly creative.
The characters were well crafted, the dialogue was witty, and the story was fun to follow. In the end, Xenoman is a unique and creative attempt at science fiction that fans of cyberpunk and dystopian science fiction will certainly enjoy.
The characters were well crafted, the dialogue was witty, and the story was fun to follow. In the end, Xenoman is a unique and creative attempt at science fiction that fans of cyberpunk and dystopian science fiction will certainly enjoy.
November 26, 2018
Xenoman is a fun-filled adventure taking place in a future that I can’t quite figure out, and that’s where a lot of the fun is. The book deals with designer drugs, synthetic humans, black boxes, and shadowy corporations. It will keep you guessing and turning the pages as the main character Xeno, tries to figure out just what the hell is going on, and where his not-girlfriend, girlfriend went.
I’m a huge fan of dystopian fiction, but this isn’t that. I’m less of a fan of cyberpunk, but that’s okay, since this isn’t that either. This is something different. This is something fun and original that’s well-written and humorous, including a few honest-to-God laugh out loud moments.
In an offbeat mode? Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.
I’m a huge fan of dystopian fiction, but this isn’t that. I’m less of a fan of cyberpunk, but that’s okay, since this isn’t that either. This is something different. This is something fun and original that’s well-written and humorous, including a few honest-to-God laugh out loud moments.
In an offbeat mode? Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.
December 29, 2019
Here's my first one star review. I only happened to find it because I was bored at work and googled my own novel. Since CathodeCathay didn't bother to post it on Goodreads, I did it for her. I like it: She really sticks it to me on Apple Books. Kind of like an extra caffeine jolt in your coffee.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/xenom...
CathodeCathay ,
03/11/2019
I’d rather watch paint dry
Kept waiting for some logical plot or completion - nope - just more irritating silliness. What a waste!
https://books.apple.com/us/book/xenom...
CathodeCathay ,
03/11/2019
I’d rather watch paint dry
Kept waiting for some logical plot or completion - nope - just more irritating silliness. What a waste!
May 15, 2020
A graphic novel without the pictures--which is cool.
This is a book for gamers. A high tolerance for the surreal is needed. It is an extremely visual book. Individual scenes and situations would be fabulous as artwork. The plot is fast-paced and always interesting, even though I frequently was as confused as the main character, and he is confused most of the time. I had trouble getting emotionally involved, but I don't think the author intended an emotionally involving book. It's an action/thriller with a futuristic twist and a heft dose of weirdness.
This is a book for gamers. A high tolerance for the surreal is needed. It is an extremely visual book. Individual scenes and situations would be fabulous as artwork. The plot is fast-paced and always interesting, even though I frequently was as confused as the main character, and he is confused most of the time. I had trouble getting emotionally involved, but I don't think the author intended an emotionally involving book. It's an action/thriller with a futuristic twist and a heft dose of weirdness.
December 12, 2017
I received this for free in a Goodreads giveaway
In exchange for honest review
I normally like this sort of genra but I didn't like this much.to many tech words to make it sounds futuristic. The writing style and I didn't click very much so I was slightly bored with it.still give it a try it's worth it :) don't just take my opinion on it in sure there's tons of people who like it.
In exchange for honest review
I normally like this sort of genra but I didn't like this much.to many tech words to make it sounds futuristic. The writing style and I didn't click very much so I was slightly bored with it.still give it a try it's worth it :) don't just take my opinion on it in sure there's tons of people who like it.
May 11, 2018
The story was interesting. If it was a movie or a TV series, it should be more fun. However, somehow it was hard to visualize each scene in my brain. Plus, it had too many tech words that made me look up a dictionary so many times and read it slowly. I guess it's not that tough for native English speakers, though.
(I received this book from the author for an honest review.)
(I received this book from the author for an honest review.)
July 29, 2018
The narrative was crisp, and the sci-fi spin was refreshing. In fact, I found the world-building very interesting and quite clever. The main character, Xeno is likable. He attracts trouble and interesting circumstances like a magnet. Honestly, I was kind of hoping for a steamy love affair with Trianne. They seemed like a perfect match and early on, it appeared she was hoping for one too.
January 14, 2019
The author has a great vocabulary and his prose is often well written. However, I had trouble following the story and understanding what was happening and why. Never did get where the story was going and did not finish the book. I feel a lot of the problem was me and not the book or author.
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