Blog Book Tour | “Drone Games” by Joel Narlock

Drone Games by Joel Narlock

Published By: Sweetwater Books (@SweetwaterBooks),
an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc (@CedarFortBooks)
Official Author Websites:  Site | @JoelNarlock | Facebook 

Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook

Converse via: #DroneGames

Acquired Book By: 

I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Cedar Fort whereupon I am thankful to have such a diverse amount of novels and non-fiction titles to choose amongst to host. I received a complimentary copy of “Drone Games” direct from the publisher Sweetwater Books (imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc) in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Interest to Read:

I started reading military fiction, espionage stories, and action / adventure novels when I was between middle school and high school; as I was seeking stories with a bit more fodder to chew than my regular choices of literary faire. I warmed to Jack Ryan through the novel Red Storm Rising but I appreciated the cutting espionage style of Gayle Lynds in her Masquerade. I was always meant to continue reading this particular genre of interest – yet time and life took me away and down different patterns of interest inside my reading life. I cannot even fathom to know how many writer’s and novel titles I have written down on scraps of paper whilst wandering through bookshoppes, seeking out my next read and being genuinely curious where the genre has gone since I last visited it’s shelves.

I started to realise that although certain aspects of my reading life have been garnishing a spotlight of attention this past year I’ve been a book blogger, there are a heap of other areas of my literary wanderings that are being excluded. I wanted to make sure that throughout my year as a 2nd Year Book Blogger I would seek to establish a bit more balance, and a more of an active dance through all my beloved genres. This includes being open and keenly interested in re-establishing myself in certain styles of thought and story that I might not have had the proper chance to read since I was 18 years old!

I think most of us have heard of the scuttlebutt surrounding ‘drones’ and know a bit about modern warfare, to the level that as fast as we are moving forward there are a few carry-over concerns about how fast we move and how we shift away from the past. Technology changes at such an alarming rate it is hard to keep track of all the innovations and all the churning tides of how to secure defense whilst being mindful of peace. Peacekeepers have a very difficult balance on their hands between where technology can take them and knowing how best to use the technology that is being advanced past anything we knew of previously being possible. At first I wasn’t sure if I was ready to jump back into the military fiction arm of literature, but after I read the premise and explored the author’s website, I felt perhaps this would be good start back into it. It is rooted in a story on the fringes of Current Events and Affairs, and I think that gives it a hearty start on a conversation that will grow out of it’s popularity of being found.

The research alone that it took to write a convincible novel such as this one was impressive enough!

Drone Games
by Joel Narlock
Source: Direct from Publisher

While  millions of Americans go about their daily lives, a deadly new terror plot is hatched halfway across the world. It's unthinkable in its devastation. It's brilliantly easy in its execution. And it's capable of bypassing all the security measures the United States implemented in the decade since 9/11.

First, a Delta flight crashes into Lake Michigan. Eight hours later, a United aircraft comes down over western Iowa. For the second time since flying was invented in 1903, the US airline industry is forced to a standstill.

The message is clear. Stop flying -- ruin the economy. Keep flying -- more people will die.

Now Homeland Security Director of Counter-Intelligence Jack Riley must lead an FBI task force in a frantic search to discover and eliminate the plot before more people are killed or the economy crashes permanently. The clock is ticking. . .

Genres: Action & Adventure Fiction, Military Fiction

Places to find the book:

Published by Sweetwater Books

on 7th October, 2014

Format: Paperback

Pages: 304

Author Biography:

Joel Narlock was born in La Crosse, WI and grew up hunting, fishing and raising a beautiful family. He’s experienced in corporate finance and small business management. He plays guitar and has performed in various local venues. He wrote his first novel about unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in 2003. He and his wife, Terri have two wonderful adult children and two wonderful grandchildren. He lives in Key West and took first place in Key West’s 2013 Mystery Fest Short Story Contest. He and his wife are active members of the Key West Sunrise Rotary Club. He enjoys an annual Canadian fishing trip with family and friends.

My Review of Drone Games:

A tv series I watched in my twenties called “Law & Order” was infamous for always letting it’s viewers be aware of the fact that most of the stories they televised in their fictional plots were really inspired by real-life events seen in newspapers. I would expect this novel to become known as the contemporary version of military fiction achieving the same score of pronouncement as the opening chapters are rife with news stories that most of us have heard at one point or another. To read one writer’s imagination for taking the everyday known facts and spun them into a living reality scenario that could be real is a credit to his research and his understanding of the capabilities of what drone technology can achieve. What was a bit startling is how accurate the information was and how up-to-the-minute the novel felt; as there is always a measure of a time delay with stories of this nature. Not the case with Drone Games which makes you think that you’ve only just turnt off the world news programmes on the tv and your continuing your updates now via the novel in your hands.

Not written for the sensitive reader, as soon as Jack Riley takes up the microphone and starts to explain different potential scenarios for massive causalities in the heart of the country, some of his descriptions did upset me a bit – not that I couldn’t handle the truth of what happens when a massive explosion goes off but rather the visual bits that I simply could have either avoided reading or just let my own mind make up the outcome of such a blast without the visual clues. Trust me. The temperature of the blast alone was enough to paint an image quite clearly. Jack Riley is the key character in the novel, as he is the the equivalence of Jack Ryan on the level that he has the knowledge, the wherewithal and ability to get things done. A formidable man with a diehard difficult job, he methodically removes his emotions from his line of sight and acts with the keen insight to know that action and emotions do not mix.

I give the author full kudos for giving such a strong presence of character without reverting to using strong language, in fact, he trumps the notion that in order to prove a point in fiction words of disfavour have to be used. His novel is a prime example of how when you leave out the explicit words, your narrative can stand on it’s own accord and still rank high on the emotional keel of where the reader needs to feel the story is going to jump the rails and become intoxicatedly lethal. The main argument of the story is how unprepared any one person is to circumvent any one instance of mass horrific events. On that point, I think everyone can agree that for each safety protocol there are several that are not even being invented yet to put into action. However, part of me did worry if the realistic measures taken inside the novel would read more like a manual than a lesson in morality and conscience. One of the supporters of the novel voiced this themselves, and I knew in that instance that perhaps depending on the reader – this novel could either be positive or negative depending on your perception of the story overall.

I did tweet earlier that the technology of the insect sized drones was more visual in my mind after having read A MidSummer Night’s Steampunk as the tech inside that particular science fiction novel was about how mech techs can be dangerously small and highly self-aware. I think without the knowledge I gained inside that previous reading, I might not have fully understood the scope of what was revealed in the Prologue of Drone Games; and the full measure of where the technology of drones can develop.

Although I knew when I requested the the novel I was going to be reading a narrative rooted in current events, but what I didn’t realise is that it would read so realistic as to give me a bit of a headache after reading the story. I think I would have preferred a bit more fiction to off-set the heaviness of the events and the story itself. To me this read more like a non-fiction personal account of events that already happened rather than a novel’s account of what could happen if vigilance is abated. Of course, this might have been the full intent behind Drone Games and therein, it is a success.

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{SOURCES: Author photograph, Book Cover of “Drone Games”, the Cedar Fort badge, the Book Synopsis, and the Author Biography were provided by Cedar Fort, Inc. and used by permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2014.

Comments on Twitter:

Whilst #reading Foreword of #DroneGames by Joel Narlock saw an eerie similarity of tech from #MidSummersNightSteampunk @XchylerPublish Wow

— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) October 12, 2014

My #reading of #MidSummersNightSteampunk by @setarbet expanded my understanding for tech on insect size levels; esp good for #DroneGames :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) October 12, 2014

Comments on Twitter:

@JLovesAStory Thanks for the Drone Games review. Well said and expressed.

— Joel Narlock (@JoelNarlock) October 15, 2014

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• Go Indie