Indie Weekend is my effort to help Indie authors with marketing. It’s a daunting task, but if I can help even a little bit, I’m happy to do it. You can help too by sharing this review with your social media followers. Below see a book review and purchase links for Hayden’s World Volume 1. It is written by S.D. Falchetti. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Shamaan Casey. You can see a full book description in this previous Indie Spotlight.
BOOK REVIEW
Like Andy Weir, S.D. Falchetti has the ability to create fiction that keeps me interested in science, and that’s no easy feat because I have always leaned toward the “fiction” in science fiction. But this collection of stories, set in and around “Hayden’s World,” is packed with science and technology, and then fiction takes over and transports us to the future. The characters are easy to root for, and the stories are compelling. My favorites were 43 seconds and Erebus, but all of the stories are excellent. There is a chapter at the end of the book explaining the science, and I appreciated that as I am not an expert in that area.
I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator Shamaan Casey has a captivating voice. He did an amazing job of portraying all of the characters, regardless of gender or culture. This includes AI voices too! I was captivated by his performance and will seek out his work again.
My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 on sites with no half-star option.
I received a free copy of the audiobook. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (IN HIS OWN WORDS)
S.D. Falchetti
I wrote my first story at the age of eighteen. I had a work/study job at the college computer lab, and, after completing all of my tasks of refilling the printer paper and testing the mice, I sat down and slipped a five-and-a-quarter inch disk into the drive. The Word Perfect screen greeted me with a blinking cursor. Each day I typed out a few more paragraphs, maybe a scene. I’d been reading R.A. Salvatore at the time, and, not surprisingly, wove a tale of elves, wars, and magic swords. I printed the three-hundred-page manuscript on a dot matrix printer, three-hole punched it, and slid it into a black binder.
The story rode along with me and five friends in a sixteen-hour road trip to St. Louis, giving me the perfect captive audience for reading my first draft. I remember waking abruptly at a midnight gas stop, a pop, and firelight flickering from the seams of the car’s hood. The Monte Carlo’s doors opened and I tumbled out onto the asphalt with my friends. Flames shot behind us from the engine. As we scattered, someone yelled for the keys. The driver, panicked, threw them too high and they clinked onto the overhead canopy. The more courageous fetched extinguishers from the mini-mart and sprayed the car fire. It was like spritzing an inferno. Fire trucks wheeled in and firefighters laid down water streams. The engine’s flames burst into the cabin and, with a whoosh like something from the movies, a fireball plumed and billowed out of the windows, the car’s tires popping and rollicking the vehicle. When the firefighters dropped their hoses and ran, we also picked our escape routes. One of the firefighters climbed in the truck, revved the engine, and rammed the Monte Carlo, pushing it clear of the gas pumps in a vortex of sparks and smoke. Our car was left to die in the farthest corner of the parking lot, out of harm’s way. A cavalcade of red and white flashing lights filled the station’s road as the cavalry arrived. When the last tongues of flame faded, our car had been reduced to metal bones. We blinked in disbelief as paramedics interviewed us. Three hundred miles. We were stranded three hundred miles from home. No one was hurt, but there was one casualty. My story sat in the backseat.
I tried not to think of this as a sign.
But there was still the computer lab, and the blinking white cursor, and stories to be written. They weren’t very good, but I had fun writing them. I submitted a few to magazines, and like most starting writers, got the polite rejection notes. I completed my degree in mechanical engineering and went on to become an engineer, a husband, and a father. The stories took a back seat as life churned on.
One of the perks of being a dad is that you get to tell many stories. Not just stories that you read, but stories you create. Each night when I tuck my daughter into bed, I say, “What should our story be tonight?”. She gives me the setting, “A little girl and a cupcake factory that’s gone crazy.” It’s a little like a Whose Line is it Anyway sketch, creating the scene on the spot.
And it made me think of that blinking cursor, and all of those stories I wanted to tell.
So, I opened up my laptop and started pecking away. Technology has changed since those five-and-a-quarter-inch disk days, and now I can independently publish. I’m stepping up to the plate, taking a swing at the ball, and seeing how far I can run.
S.D. Falchetti’s Social Media
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER (X) | WEBSITE
ABOUT THE NARRATOR (IN HIS OWN WORDS)
Shamaan Casey
I was born in 1996 and raised in Converse, TX. Growing up, I always watched a lot of animation, which gave me a deep appreciation for voice acting, which only grew as the years went on. Even from a young age, I had a voice that commanded the attention of others. Though not an attention seeker, I always noticed how heads would turn when I spoke, and I was often compared to James Earl Jones and Morgan Freeman, even in middle school. When I chose to pursue a career in culinary arts and work as a food salesman, everyday people would tell me that I should be in radio. With years of public speaking experience thanks to my religious ministry, I finally yielded to all of the advice I had received over the years and finally embraced getting into the world of voice-over by making audiobooks.
Now, I combine my vocal talents with my love of reading to help bring stories to life. When I’m not reading, I’m cooking, baking, or gaming. Whatever I’m doing, I’ve got a story to tell.
Shamaan Casey’s Social Media
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE
PURCHASE LINKS
BEFORE YOU GO
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