Instant Karma A Novella edition by Eric Christopherson Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : Instant Karma A Novella edition by Eric Christopherson Literature Fiction eBooks 
Former hippie Gordo McCain suffers a brain aneurysm in 2015 and awakens after surgery with retrograde amnesia. He can't remember a thing past the year 1969.
He doesn't recognize his wife and family. He doesn't even recognize his own name because it's no longer Gordo McCain but instead Robert Hurlbut. Gordo learns that he is the last fugitive member of the radical underground group known as Stormfront and living under an assumed name.
He tries to keep low and continue living as Robert Hurlbut. But the successful sell-out he'd become disgusts Gordo, and he trades in his new Jaguar for a vintage VW bus, paints it in psychedelia, and hits the road to "find" himself. Along for the ride is his 15 year-old granddaughter, Emily Hurlbut, an alienated goth and the only member of the family Gordo can relate to.
Meanwhile, the FBI picks up his trail ...
Instant Karma A Novella edition by Eric Christopherson Literature Fiction eBooks
Eric Christopherson’s novella Instant Karma begins on a misty San Francisco day. Robert Hurlbut, a petroleum drilling engineer in his late 60s, suffers an aneurysm at work, and wakes up in hospital. Surgery has saved him, but he’s lost his memory. He tells everyone he isn’t Robert Hurlbut, but Gordo McCain, a hippie activist in his 20s, and his memory is frozen in 1969. His family despair as he adopts Woodstock-era clothes and argot.But Gordo has an unpleasant surprise in store. The Hurlbut identity was a disguise. Gordo McCain was a member of the radical underground, and is still wanted for the firebombing of a Federal building. In fact, he has been on the run for over 40 years. To try and get to the bottom of all this, Gordo takes off across America to find his 1969 lover, Saffron. He does this in an old VW Kombi van that he has painted with flowers. He takes the one person who seems to understand him – his granddaughter Emily, a 15-year-old Goth, who has just been thrown out of school. Meanwhile, the FBI are surprised to find that Gordo McCain has surfaced. And they still want him.
I rather liked this novella. The end is a bit sudden and doesn’t quite work as well as it should – and I also wondered if Christopherson could have done more with the story, especially from the thriller angle. I’m also not too keen on the use of the present tense to tell the story. Even so, Instant Karma is entertaining. The whole thing is a bit wacky, but it sort of works because Christopherson has a deadpan, matter-of-fact writing style that gives it all an odd credibility. Gordo and Emily are sympathetic, and things keep moving along at the right speed. Also, every now and then, it’s very funny. There’s a priceless scene in an Austin restaurant, when Gordo organizes a protest in support of breastfeeding mothers, and Emily summons a flashmob in support, using her iPhone. In fact there were a few points in this novella where I found myself chortling out loud.
Despite some flaws, Instant Karma is fun and I do recommend it. Christopherson has written several full-length thrillers and I wouldn’t mind giving them a try.
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Instant Karma A Novella edition by Eric Christopherson Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
First, the good. Instant Karma was funny, which was the goal. Imagine a 60s hippie suddenly waking up in today's world. If it is written reasonably well, how could it not be? For fans of music of the era, you'll find subtle references from the John Lennon inspired title to a Grateful Dead reference near the end, and plenty more in between. And while the character of Gordo is a bit cartoonish (not inappropriate for satire), he's a likeable guy and the plot has more than enough conflict for a novella-length story to keep me plenty interested in where it was going. I especially liked the relationship that developed between Gordo and his granddaughter, Emily, who could be viewed as her generation's equivalent to Gordo, in that she's a bit of a non-traditional non-conformist who likes to test limits.
Now the not-good-for-me. This goes strictly to personal taste and you may feel differently. Hopefully I'll get the terminology correct. The book is narrated in third person (a narrator who isn't a character, but sees all). This kind of narration is hard to pull off without errors, but the author dodged them here (or I missed them). It's also written in present tense. I'm not a fan of either of these, especially the second one. A double dose is worse. However, as I mentioned above, not everyone is going to react the same to this and both are valid writing styles.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
I really liked the concept of this story. A baby boomer has a medical problem that causes his memory to freeze at 1969. He was a radical hippie who may have blown up a building and is wanted by the FBI unbeknownst to his wife and Goth granddaughter. So now he’s reverted to his hippie ways and everything is groovy as he decides to search for his former hippie girlfriend, Saffron. I thought the novella was too short at 65 pages and the writing too concise. The could've been a full length novel. Otherwise a fun groovy story. I also like the cover.~
Eric Christopherson’s novella Instant Karma begins on a misty San Francisco day. Robert Hurlbut, a petroleum drilling engineer in his late 60s, suffers an aneurysm at work, and wakes up in hospital. Surgery has saved him, but he’s lost his memory. He tells everyone he isn’t Robert Hurlbut, but Gordo McCain, a hippie activist in his 20s, and his memory is frozen in 1969. His family despair as he adopts Woodstock-era clothes and argot.
But Gordo has an unpleasant surprise in store. The Hurlbut identity was a disguise. Gordo McCain was a member of the radical underground, and is still wanted for the firebombing of a Federal building. In fact, he has been on the run for over 40 years. To try and get to the bottom of all this, Gordo takes off across America to find his 1969 lover, Saffron. He does this in an old VW Kombi van that he has painted with flowers. He takes the one person who seems to understand him – his granddaughter Emily, a 15-year-old Goth, who has just been thrown out of school. Meanwhile, the FBI are surprised to find that Gordo McCain has surfaced. And they still want him.
I rather liked this novella. The end is a bit sudden and doesn’t quite work as well as it should – and I also wondered if Christopherson could have done more with the story, especially from the thriller angle. I’m also not too keen on the use of the present tense to tell the story. Even so, Instant Karma is entertaining. The whole thing is a bit wacky, but it sort of works because Christopherson has a deadpan, matter-of-fact writing style that gives it all an odd credibility. Gordo and Emily are sympathetic, and things keep moving along at the right speed. Also, every now and then, it’s very funny. There’s a priceless scene in an Austin restaurant, when Gordo organizes a protest in support of breastfeeding mothers, and Emily summons a flashmob in support, using her iPhone. In fact there were a few points in this novella where I found myself chortling out loud.
Despite some flaws, Instant Karma is fun and I do recommend it. Christopherson has written several full-length thrillers and I wouldn’t mind giving them a try.
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