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reviews

Dar Williams

“Like Marge Piercy and Margaret Atwood, Jim shows us an exciting and absorbing future world that is neither zombie-land nor un-relatable utopia. I’m a busy person, but I could not put his book down. ” [...] read more

Review by author Nora McKinney

This book was strange, innovative, and had depth. A satisfying read! What I particularly liked was that there was no clear resolution of the issues the writer puts forward: we don't reach a decision of what the best societal system is, although all the pros and cons of the different systems in his partly dystopian post-apocalyptic Earth are discussed. We know what's better, but we are also given to understand that human constructs aren't perfect, and what about AI? This grey approach (instead of the black-and-white approach people favor these days) is very much to [...] read more

Video Review by E.G. Stone

This week's Wednesday Reads book review is the really fascinating The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide: to New New England and Beyond by Jim Infantino. Random Fact: I sort of want a unicycle, now. [...] read more

Review by Geoffrey Dutton

What I Was Reading About that book I didn’t want to finish: It’s a look into the future called The Wakeful Wanderer’s Guide to New New England , a 2018 novel by Jim Infantino . He’s a Boston-based musician who fronts and writes most of the material for the band Jim’s Big Ego . I bought a hard copy online from his site after noting a Black Friday special he hawked on Twitter. I took my time finishing it not because it’s bad or boring, but because it’s full of provocative speculative [...] read more

Review by Terry Kitchen

Some genuinely new ideas on society in an absorbing & amusing sci-fi context Before we even crack the book, let's talk about the title. The bible of humorous sci-fi also of course contains the word Guide in it. But whereas Douglas Adams takes on the whole galaxy (repeatedly making the point of how insignificant our own blue planet is in the big picture), Jim Infantino's focus is narrower: the U. S. , specifically New England, specifically New New England, in the [...] read more

David Wilcox

“I love how your book lets me see the world so beautifully / differently. It’s a powerful altered state. Freeways look so archaic! I’m also enjoying the way you gift wrap things so we can discover them. I love the subtle way you planted the sound of the song: The Age of Aquarius -within the name of the hotel. And here on page 44, I love the way you call Marto’s travels a book tour. In this future, the tour isn’t just for promoting a book, it’s for creating it. So if [...] read more

Kirkus Reviews

Debut author Infantino launches his cli-fi series in a post-apocalyptic U. S. Infantino sets his Wakeful Wanderer series on an Earth devastated by catastrophic climate change. Rising sea levels caused a “Great Tide,” a doomsday event that sent North America into anarchy. The poor and self-righteously angry hunted and killed the wealthy in a murder spree known as “The Vengeance. ” Many of those same mobs (and some surviving dynasties) filled the power gap, ruling regions in a feudal style. An exception to the force and brutality is the “Interconnected,” high-tech humans with neural implants [...] read more

Amazon Reviews:

The Wakeful Wanderer series is a thoroughly different look at a possible future, and its social and economic systems. They are very thought provoking books! The second book continues the larger world plot involving the threads of many separate characters. Sadly, I'll probably never see the Interconnected, because I'll die in the Tide or the Vengeance. Highest ratings for this offering! 😊 I really enjoyed reading this novel. People say "it's all been done before", but this story was original enough to make me question that common assumption. First book [...] read more

Early Readers’ Reviews

“It’s really fantastic and beautifully crafted. And I couldn’t put it down. ” – S. L. “Wow. Really cool and really really unlike anything else I’ve read that could be called science fiction or speculative writing. It’s its own thing. And I mean that in the best possible way. That’s the good news. The bad news: you better keep those chapters coming in a timely fashion or I’ll catch a flight to Boston and do my Raider impersonation. ” – L. C. “The Wakeful Wanderer has captured my imagination. The [...] read more

Other reactions

I'm loving the first book! The world that Jim has created is clever and interesting. Like Jim's music, this book is in its own category. You just cannot pigeon-hole this man. His work is unique. -Jude P. [...] read more