Friday, July 13, 2007

Antarktos Rising by Jeremy Robinson (A+)

book cover for Antarktos RisingImagine coming across a thriller that captures your attention and imagination as well as the best of stuff by Crichton, Rollins, or Koontz; an unknown work of great potential that has not yet been discovered by an agent, a major publisher, or Hollywood. Antarktos Rising is such a book, but don't look for it in brick and mortar stores just yet; Antarktos Rising is available only from Amazon.com beginning August 1, 2007.

The book begins with mysterious global climate changes as they impact the lives of various characters including Mirabelle Whitney and her partner and lover Dr Merill Clark. Separated by thousands of miles, she survives a tsunami in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, only to be trapped in her own house by arctic cold that follows the apocalyptic deluge; he, living on a research station in the Antarctic, finds that after a massive earthquake the continent of Antarctica has inexplicably thawed.

Something has happened to the earth, and the unveiling, by the titanic geological forces, of Antarktos has a lot to do with the frightening alterations. But the same forces that have rearranged the world have also caused billions of deaths, dislocated countless others by the hundreds of millions, and sparked an all or nothing race by the survivors to claim the new continent for living space.

Maribelle Whitney and her lover Dr. Clark become key players in this survival game, thanks to their expert knowledge of the new continent. But fools rush in where angels fear to tread; as the would be explorers trespass to stake out their claims, they come face to face with an unexpected danger from the Earth’s Biblical past, a danger that no one imagines possible—the Nephilim.

One cannot help but be impressed by the work that Robinson has put into this book: the internal layout is the same as you’d see in a major mainstream novel; the writing has been edited to the point where the text seems to become invisible as the story action rushes before the reader; the plot, characters, and dialogue—all these are all top of the line, too. Even the cover is mainstream.

As unbelievable as it may seem, Antarktos Rising is nearly a perfect blend of science, Biblical creatures, human drama, and suspense as a book in this genre can be; it is certainly the best disaster/apocalypse POD novel reviewed at the PODler so far, hands down. A well tuned, smoothly running, never boring, world class masterwork of suspense and thrill, this one gives mainstream apocalyptic disaster thrillers a haircut and gets away with it. Robinson is writing with the assured mastery of a best-selling author, crafting a story that every apocalyptic disaster thriller should aspire to. If you plan on buying only one POD novel this year, make it Antarktos Rising.

On August 1, 2007, you can be a part of history by purchasing Antakrtos Rising on Amazon.com. Why August 1? Jeremy Robinson plans to get enough grass-roots support to catapult Antarktos Rising to the top of the Amazon.com bestseller list by having thousands of fans purchase this book on that day. If he succeeds, pod will never be the same. So, even if you don’t like thrillers, buying Robinson’s book is worth it because you get to be part of history, and that’s always exciting. Visit his website for more information about this talented and visionary writer as well as for sample chapters of the book.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a great marketing idea.

Excellent review, too.

Henry Baum said...

Something about this rubs me the wrong way. I don’t think aping a mainstream novel is all that laudable. Especially since I think Koontz is crap. I think the way for POD to be more respected is to publish good independent writing. Unfortunately, a lot of the POD writing I’ve seen is failed mainstream writing, rather than unique writing that couldn’t find a home with a publisher.

That said, I’m interested in this book and will probably get it on Aug 1. It's a good idea to raise the awareness of PODs. And I’m obsessed with end of the world novels.

Kristen said...

I blogged about it. No one reads my blog, but if anyone does, with any luck they, too, will be compelled to make a specific book purchase on August 1.

Jeremy Robinson said...

Henry,

First, thanks for supporting the book by getting it on August 1. Second, Antarktos Rising isn't exactly a mainstream novel. It's being marketed that way to attract the maximum ammount of readers, but it's quite different from other science thrillers.

It's also not a book that failed to attract publishers. In fact, it's only been read by one who raved about it, but ultimately had to pass because of its non-mainstream elements. In short, they'd have no idea how to market it. On top of that, I didn't approach this publisher (or any other publisher because I knew ahead of time they wouldn't know what to do with it), they approached me, based on my previous sales figures. AND, they were so impressed with Antarktos that they're working with me on the novel I'm writing now.

I totally agree with POD being respected through good writing (and I think I've done this...even though it's a thriller), but the only way people are going to first notice POD is if a few of us make the headlines (which I'm starting to do--just got home from a newspaper interview and have two radio interviews lined up). Of course, to sell enough books to get any kind of attention also means having a quality book, so it's a double edged sword--quality and mass appeal.

Kristen, thanks for the support!! If you want to be on the mailing list for the last two videos and to get the results of the campaign, send me your address at info(at)jeremyrobinsononline.com. Same goes for anyone else.

Thanks again, guys! If I succeed it's because of support from people like you.

-- Jeremy Robinson
www.jeremyrobinsononline.com

Max said...

Dear PODler,

I always enjoy reading your reviews, but ...

Dr. Merrill Clark is Mirabelle Whitney's father, not lover.

I am amazed at how you could have read the entire book and completely misunderstood the relationship of these two principal characters. I am forced to suspect that you either merely skimmed through the novel, or that you were paid to write a glowing review of a book you never read.

Whether it's the lesser or greater of these two evils, it casts a shadow on the reliability of your reviews.

Pavel Kaas said...

Thanks, Max! I couldn´t write it better.

Variance Publishing said...

Hello ANTARKTOS RISING fans!

In case you are unaware, AR has been reformatted and is now available to the population in mass market paperback. If you are interested in purchasing the new format, you can do so at our website, or brick and mortar stores nationwide! And be sure to at the very least congratulate Jeremy for all of his hard work!

FYI, Robinson will be releasing his next book, KRONOS, Jan. '09, be sure to keep your eyes open for this water-bound thriller!

--Variance