First of all it’s important for my review readers to know I don’t generally like speculative fiction. What I gleaned from a specific correspondence with Rebecca Luella Miller is that the term “speculative” can refer to fantasy, sci-fi, and basically any fiction that “speculates” about “how things could be” built into story form. That’s a bare-bones definition because the point is I would classify the CFBA Tour’s featured Eternity Falls as sci-fi speculative fiction. Is that redundant?
Kirk Outerbridge is the author of this Marcher Lord Press speculative novel, and it is precisely because of Jeff Gerke’s Marcher Lord Press offering for the CFBA Tour that I ignored my normal distaste for the genre and signed up to read Eternity Falls. You might remember Jeff Gerke’s interview here some time back. What he’s doing in the publishing industry deserves recognition and I commend him for his efforts. Now he’s announced a new contest to check out if the speculative market is of interest to you.
Honestly, I wanted to check out the quality of Jeff’s selection in publishing Kirk Outerbridge’s novel to see if Eternity Falls would be a good sell for Jeff’s independent publishing status. Kirk Outerbridge did not disappoint with his writing skills. The cover is well done—not my favorite but there’s nothing wrong with the quality of design. When an independent publisher produces a book, most eyes take on a critical stare either desiring to pick the book apart or to determine if it’s a worthwhile project and professionally presented. From the production standpoint, the novel is equal to royalty publishing standards even though there were some copy-editing errors which weren’t caught in this Advanced Reader Copy, but this is in no way any different from many of the big publisher’s final books. No one likes to see errors in the copy, but it happens. And there have been plenty in recent novels produced by all of the big name CBA publishers. So the few noted in Eternity Falls don’t separate its overall quality from any other publisher. This is an equal endeavor on all counts.
One of the reasons I don’t necessarily enjoy speculative fiction in the areas of sci-fi, and definitely not fantasy, is probably because it seems somewhat cartoon-ish to me. I’ve never been a fan of cartoons. Maybe it’s because I have an inferior imagination when it comes to futuristic gadgetry, technology, and the abilities to “excel” beyond humanity. Maybe it’s because I can’t get past “what you see is what you get” in my current reality unless you bring me into speculative fiction of the spiritual realm: then I’m totally involved and a true believer. Don’t get me wrong here, in Kirk’s novel he makes most of what he presents plausible for the future, but it just feels like in sci-fi, a story has to keep adding on to the established technology, asking the reader to yet again bend or stretch his imagination to “visualize” and/or accept the possibility. This contemporary reader isn’t up to that challenge.
When the story begins, we’re introduced to widower Rick Macey, retired Colonel from the CDI (Civil Defense and Intelligence), who is working on private investigation projects, although often allowed to use his CDI credentials by his friend who remains in the department. Macey accepts a job from a feminist PR/Marketing guru for the Miracle Treatment product which insures its users will live young for as long as they keep taking the product. One of their most famous users, an aged actress who’d managed to look as young as a 20-something, has just died of natural causes with a signed Bible on her chest. The marketing woman, Sheila Dunn, is convinced that someone must have created an antidote to their eternal life product and administered it to the actress in order to destroy the company that produces Miracle Treatment—and Sheila’s career.
When Macey sees the inscription in the Bible, he knows he must involve himself in the case but doesn’t reveal any of his private reasons for doing so. Once he signs on to the case, the dangerous pursuit for a possible counter formula to the Miracle Treatment and the one whose name appeared in the Bible amps up big time with more high-tech, cyborg snap-crackle-and-pop action than you can imagine—or at least more than my finite mind can imagine. But that’s okay because for the most part it’s quite entertaining.
Outerbridge does a good job of demanding a reader stay tuned to the subplots, but I think as he creates more novels, he’ll do what many of us must do as we advance our writing skills: he’ll get less preachy. In a few parts there were too many unnecessary explanations of the Christian elements in the story. It’s a common error by those of us who evangelize in our stories. It isn’t the scenes themselves—it’s the overdone presentations of biblical data and interpretation. When we do this, we slow the story down, and this is a rip-roaring adventure which only occasionally required a break in the action.
Eternity Falls presents an interesting and action-fed premise of futuristic cyborg abilities combined with emaciated cities, cruel existences, and the age-old human conflicts. Think Robo-Cop merges with the Six Million Dollar Man (although with inflation maybe it’d be the Six Billion Dollar Man). The writing is crisp, bold, sometimes harsh but realistic, and the book bodes well for Kirk Outerbridge and Marcher Lord Press. Congratulations, Guys! Well done.
Father, you give us imagination. And even with the magnificent extensions of that imagination such as that of Kirk Outerbride, we still cannot fathom how great you are. Thank you for Kirk's devotion to you and his wonderful effort to put your Truth into a futuristic story. Please bless both Kirk and Jeff for their efforts to glorify you with their talents. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.