Hey Jyvyr Entropy - I finally, yes finally, read my very special, autographed, hard cover edition of Combustion. My taskmaster Pilipina wife wanted me to spend the day chopping vegetables for our planned New Years party, so I was forced to sneak out of the house before she buried me in chores. Most hen-pecked husbands spend their frustrated hours at a seedy strip club or watering hole. But considering I am the president of the El Paso chapter of the Jyvyr Entropy Army local lodge #43, I figured I had a higher calling. I snuck away with my signed, hard cover edition of Combusion and finally read the entire novel in one frenzied reading session while hiding from my furious wife.
First off, THANK YOU for mailing it to me last year. I am truly honored.
Second off, if I can talk a bit about myself, Combustion reminded me of a very inferior novel that I wrote around 1983 that I called The Chimera. The similarities were shocking. My story was about a couple of kids who, for lots of contrived reasons, torch their evening sitter with a bucket of gasoline and a box of matches. I was very young when I wrote it, and I confess that it is very bad, but there are many shockingly similar themes. I still have it in a storage crate somewhere, and considering I typed it up with loads of handwritten edits, I will not be uploading The Chimera anytime soon. God, even that title sucks!
Jyvyr, I thoroughly enjoyed Combustion, and I am planning a fun critique on my YouTube channel, but it may be a week or more because I want to be a little creative. It certainly kept me guessing, even when I felt sure I knew where it was going. It had a great balance of paranormal, psychological, and suspense. It is certainly not perfect though, and there are several story contrivances and pacing that I believe could be improved. I also have a list of typos that I found in case you are interested in for your latest edition. Overall though, a very exciting and thoughtful read.