Readers’ Favorite gives ‘Breakaway: 1977′ a full five stars, touting it as ‘Very highly recommended.’
See the full review here: https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/breakaway-1977
A new review of ‘The Voyages of Ralf’ will be posted on the Indie Reader website September 14th.
Here is the entire review, as received via email:
“TITLE: THE VOYAGES OF RALF
AUTHOR: R.M. Kozan
GENRE: Humor
RATING: 4 stars (out of 5)
Strap in for a thrill ride of aliens, space travel, warfare, and a Douglas Adams sense of humor in R.M. Kozan’s THE VOYAGES OF RALF.
Science fiction is a venerable genre with roots that go back hundreds of years but whose modern form began, according to most authorities, in 1926, when Hugo Gernsback published Amazing Stories, the first American sci-fi magazine. Humorous science fiction is somewhat younger. Douglas Adams practically invented the genre with his The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and John Scalzi, Jasper Fforde, and David Wong are other modern masters. With its opening paragraph–“In the beginning, was this universe. It was uniform and conformed to the laws of itself. Thus being law-abiding, it was kin to all other universes: unexceptional, and therefore not meriting a pay increase.”–R.M. Kozan’s THE VOYAGES OF RALF announces that it, too, belongs in the conversation.
The book centers on Ralf, an intern on the star ship Enterprise–I mean, Nosferatu. The year is 1969 S.R., or Since Reset, a cataclysmic solar storm that wiped all electronic data. Mars runs things from atop a mysterious galactic polity called the United Federation of Planets–I mean, the Triang-Dromed-Way Alliance. Ralf is a member of Starfleet–I mean, Space Corps. He’s smart but irreverent, daring but reckless, making him the perfect protagonist for a thrilling adventure of self-discovery.
As hinted above, the book will be familiar to Star Trek fans since it trades in the same tropes: space travel, aliens, captain’s logs, and conflict between Klingons and humans–or, in this case Martians and Terrans. Kozan ratchets up the hilarity with a few of his own inventions: the Supreme Purple Worm, “ugly” being a swear word, and a deity called Aron, aka Celestial Acceptor of Late Fees and All-Mighty Guarantor of Authenticity. Star Trek was, and is, a political allegory, addressing issues such as racism, economic disparity, and military hegemony. In other words, it was more than Spandexed heroes shooting Lazer Tag props at Fangoria centerfolds. Ralf’s odyssey lacks this dimension, being pretty much what it seems to be: a cool story full of action, other worlds, and Kozan’s dry wit. In an America where war between worlds couldn’t make conditions worse, this isn’t a bad thing to be at all.
IR Verdict: Trading on science fiction’s most-established themes, R.M. Kozan’s THE VOYAGES OF RALF makes up in thrills and comic brilliance what it lacks in originality.”
The first review is in! 5 stars received! Read the details here:
https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/the-voyages-of-ralf
The paperback and eBook editions of The Voyages of Ralf, Vol. 1: The Arc of Purchaser by R.M. Kozan have been released for pre-order. The actual release date is August 17th, 2020.
Here are the Amazon.ca links:
Paperback:
https://www.amazon.ca/Voyages-Ralf-Vol-Arc-Purchaser/dp/0992011922/
eBook:
https://www.amazon.ca/Voyages-Ralf-Vol-Arc-Purchaser-ebook/dp/B08F4HV7NP/
If you enjoy this book, please consider leaving a positive review on Amazon, or wherever you made your purchase.
The eBook (ePub) for ‘Breakaway:1977′ has been released on Amazon Kindle.
Here is the Amazon.ca link:
https://www.amazon.ca/Breakaway-1977-R-M-Kozan-ebook/dp/B08F4JVV46
If you enjoy the book, please leave a positive comment on Amazon.
A new short story, ‘Visiting Hours’ by R.M. Kozan, has been published in the Chaos issue of Free Lit Magazine.
Check it out here:
https://issuu.com/freelitmagazine/docs/v4i5
The short story ‘How To Make A Sociopath Laugh’ written by R.M. Kozan, the author of Breakaway:1977, is featured in the September 2017 issue of Free Lit Magazine, ‘The Monsters Issue’.
The story can currently be accessed via either link below.
Link to the current issue:
https://www.freelitmagazine.com/magazine
Explicit link to The Monsters Issue (Volume 3, Issue 5):
https://issuu.com/freelitmagazine/docs/v3i5
Breakaway: 1977, our debut release by R. M. Kozan, has been endorsed by the very wonderful Sylvia Anderson, the co-creator of many iconic SF TV series such as Space: 1999, UFO, Thunderbirds, and Fireball XL5.
On September 9th, 2014, Sylvia sent Fresh Blue Ink the following statement:
“Breakaway: 1977 is a fiercely compelling read by R. M. Kozan – a truly creative writer who brings to life real characters across a blazing backdrop of imagination.”
Needless to say the author is chuffed that the original creator of Space: 1999 would see his work, with its deep tie-ins to the Space:1999 universe, in such a positive light.
Fresh Blue Ink is extremely proud to make this announcement on the first anniversary of our release of Breakaway: 1977 and on the 15th anniversary of that fateful moment in Space: 1999 when the Moon breaks out of Earth orbit: September 13th, 1999.
To read more about Breakaway: 1977, click here.
Sylvia and daughter Dee are currently working on a new series “The Last Station”. We wish them every success and eagerly anticipate its debut.
Today Fresh Blue Ink has received a completed draft manuscript for R. M. Kozan’s second novel. Copies are currently being scrutinized by much the same team of linguists and friendly readers as examined Breakaway: 1977.
More details will be released soon.
Let me first be clear about my ambiguous term ‘space lizards’. This appellation is intended to reference a range of phenomena, generally of disputed reality, found in science fiction, fantasy fiction, conspiracy theory, and UFOlogy.
Space lizards, space reptiles, reptilian humanoids or reptoids, space dinosaurs: all these are included in my menagerie. I admit that biologists and purists might argue that a lizard is a specific type of reptile. This distinction, however, is unimportant for my purposes and I will therefore cling to the shorter, snappier ‘lizard’ label. (Additional admission: ‘snappy’ might be more a personality than a species descriptor.)
A sympathetic view of space lizards (space dinosaurs in this case) is found in Robert J. Sawyer’s masterful Quintaglio Ascension trilogy of novels, proving that one cannot judge an entity by its species. (Note to self: devise pun about specious prejudice).
Most views of space lizards are far less sympathetic. The conspiracy theory regarding subterranean reptilian humanoids seeking to control human affairs first emerged in a Los Angeles newspaper article in 1934. It was not until much later, in the 1990s, that David Icke’s vision of mysterious reptoid overlords infiltrating and controlling humanity permeated our popular culture.
In 1954, movie-goers were treated to the amphibious biped of “The Creature from the Black Lagoon”. In that same year, they were also introduced to the giant lizard Godzilla. More modern incarnations include the Visitors of the television series “V” in both its 1980s and more recent version.
The lizard, despite its terrestrial origin, seems alien. It invokes shudders and powers phobias. These creatures are cold-blooded and devour live prey. They are the ready-made monsters every harried ‘creature feature’ writer adores.
Both the psychopath and the reptilian personality mesmerize us – they are indecipherable and contain nothing we recognize as human. They effortlessly represent evil and are the prototypical alien spawned in the imaginations of writers occupying the borderland between science fiction and horror.
Emotion arises from the workings of the amygdalae, a pair of structures classified within the limbic system and not present in the reptilian brain. Altruism (even in its self-interested rational form) requires a neocortex. Love and mercy, therefore, do not exist among lizards.
This incapacity for emotion renders reptiles alien to our perspective and allows us to conflate their type of cognition with psychopathy. It is oft stated that the eyes of psychopaths are reptilian, that is, devoid of any spark of emotion or compassion. This provides a tie-in with the second theme of Fresh Blue Ink’s planned short fiction anthology Space Lizards Of Canada.
Additionally, space lizards provide allegorical access to and linkage between military-industrial complex and alien occupation conspiracy theories.
So, c’mon. Writing about space lizards is fun!
(See the Fresh Blue Ink SUBMISSIONS page for more details.)