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Peter Clines grew up in the Stephen King fallout zone of Maine and — inspired by comic books, Star Wars, and Saturday morning cartoons — started writing at the age of eight with his first epic novel, LIZARD MEN FROM THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. He made his first writing sale at age seventeen to a local newspaper, and at the age of nineteen he completed his quadruple-PhD studies in English literature, archaeology, quantum physics, and interpretive dance. In 2008, while surfing Hawaii’s Keauwaula Beach, he thought up a viable way to maintain cold fusion that would also solve world hunger, but forgot all about it when he ran into actress Yvonne Strahvorski back on the beach and she offered to buy him a drink. He was the inspiration for both the epic poem “Beowulf” and the motion picture -Raiders of the Lost Ark-, and is single-handedly responsible for repelling the Martian Invasion of 1938 that occurred in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. Eleven sonnets he wrote to impress a girl in high school were all later found and attributed to Shakespeare. He is the author of numerous short stories, EX-HEROES, EX-PATRIOTS, 14, THE EERIE ADVENTURES OF THE LYCANTHROPE ROBINSON CRUSOE, and an as-yet-undiscovered Dead Sea Scroll.
The Fold, a science fiction thriller by Peter Clines, came out on June 2. I thought it was a perfect summer vacation read. Clines is known for the superhero-zombie series that began with Ex-Heroes, (reviewed by Pat, one of our guests) and for the horror novel 14 (reviewed by Kat). During a busy “launch” of The Fold, Clines took some time to answer a few questions for me.
I’ve got a copy of The Fold to send... Read More
Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines
I don’t really enjoy reading about superheroes. While it may be fun to read about Superman or Batman kicking ass and taking names against enemies far less powerful, I usually lean toward reading about flawed heroes or at least ones that can die. Having a hero like Superman, who’s nigh-invulnerable, removes the element of tension and the thrilling feeling you get when the hero is in danger. On that basis, I was hesitant to read Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines, but Mihir at Fantasy Book Critic convinced me otherwise.
Zombies and superheroes – two themes that are everywhere in modern film and literature. Man of Steel, The Dark Knight, the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, Read More
The Junkie Quatrain by Peter Clines
I don’t read much zombie fiction, but I enjoyed Peter Clines’ 14, and his The Junkie Quatrain has been sitting in my Audible library for two years, so I decided to give it a try. It contains four inter-connected zombie stories that are actually the same story told from four different perspectives. Each story starts with the sentence “Six months ago, the world ended” and proceeds to tell of events that have happened since a virus outbreak in China six months previously. Those who’ve been infected quickly lose their humanity and become mindless killer “Junkies” who prey on other humans. They don’t live long. The world’s population has been decimated, most government and civil str... Read More
14 by Peter Clines
Nate Tucker needs a new place to live and it needs to be cheap. When a co-worker recommends a place that’s inexpensive and close to work, Nate thinks it’s too good to be true. That’s because it is. After Nate moves in, he starts to notice some weird stuff going on — glowing mutant cockroaches, the light in his kitchen that turns into a black light no matter what kind of bulb he inserts, the elevator that never works, all the padlocks on apartment 14. There’s a lot of strangeness going on in Nate’s new home, but the manager is tight-lipped and disapproves of curiosity.
All of Nate’s neighbors have also noticed that there’s something wrong with their apartments, and the whole building, but most of them are happy to remain ignorant — too many questions can get you kicked out. But a few of the neighbors are willing to join Nate in his snooping. These folks are an eclectic mix. There’s Veek, the Indian woman ... Read More
The Fold by Peter Clines
The Fold, by Peter Clines, is a science fiction thriller with a superhero aspect, a bit of Sherlock Holmes and a bit of H.P. Lovecraft thrown in. It’s got dry humor, plenty of pop-culture references and an engaging main character who can be surprisingly vulnerable. This is a perfect summer read; the ideal vacation book. It’s a book you’ll want to pass along to your friends when you’re done.
Leland “Mike” Erickson teaches high school English in a small town in New England. His life is tranquil and even uneventful, until his college friend Reggie, who works for the Department of Defense, comes for a visit. Reggie is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and his division oversees a project in San Diego called the Albuquerque Door. The scientists running the Door project insist that they can fold space, transporting matter across t... Read More
Paradox Bound by Peter Clines
Peter Clines’ 2017 fantasy novel Paradox Bound is a sweet, creamy double-scoop of time-travel, secret history, scavenger-hunt story and road trip, as Eli Teague, the protagonist, travels with Harriet Pritchard — she likes to go by Harry — across the continental US through various time periods, searching for something elusive: something unique to, and desperately needed by, the US if it is to continue as a nation.
Eli is eight and a half years old when he meets Harry. It is his first time meeting her, but her third time meeting him (although she doesn’t recognize him at first). Eli lives in Sanders, Maine, a town that feels mired in the 1980s. Eli longs to get out, do something with his life, but circumstances conspire, it seems, to keep him there, along with the class bully Zeke, ... Read More
Dead Men Can’t Complain and Other Stories by Peter Clines
I love Peter Clines’ weird ideas and a short story collection seems the perfect way to experience a bunch of them. I found Dead Men Can’t Complain and Other Stories (2017) at Audible. At this moment there is no print version of this collection, but the audio version, with narration by two of my favorite readers (Ray Porter and Ralph Lister) is excellent and well worth picking up. It’s only 5 hours long.
The stories, which cover 10 years of Clines’ writing career, are:
"Mulligan" — The NSA has been called in to speak to a cop who has just interrogated a man in a lizard costume. As the cop tells his story, it gets weirder and weirder.
"Bedtime story" — A young boy tells his parents that one of his teachers has been bad-mout... Read More
