Slanted Jack

Slanted Jack:  a novel that bobs and weaves, takes you on a headlong race through a strange but believable future, and never slows down.

The job looks simple enough:  Jon Moore, the nanotech-enhanced, world-weary, soldier of fortune, agrees to help a con man, a friend from a part of his past he’d rather forget, protect a very special young boy.  The deal doesn’t stay simple, as each move Jon and Lobo make results in more danger and more enemies.  The situation grows even more complicated when a beautiful woman with an unclear agenda joins them in their quest.

The best con man Jon’s ever known, a ruthless gang boss, a heavily armed group of religious fanatics, and an interstellar government out to clean up a dangerous frontier world rush together toward an explosive climax—and Jon and Lobo are caught in the middle.

Slanted Jack: the second novel in the Jon & Lobo series.

While the character development, world building and thematic depth are mediocre at best, Van Name's flare for witty dialogue, breakneck pacing and nonstop action compensate for the narrative inadequacies and make this high-powered sequel to 2007's One Jump Ahead an undeniable page-turner. When nano-enhanced soldier of fortune Jon Moore and his sentient assault vehicle, Lobo, run into a former acquaintance, a conman and thief named Slanted Jack, Moore's kindheartedness gets him and his sarcastic battlewagon into a deadly predicament. A religious fanatic who moonlights as an arms dealer, an irate gang leader and a powerful government councilor are all ready to wring Jack's neck, and Moore becomes the target of their collective fury when Jack suddenly disappears with an allegedly psychic child and a cache of invaluable artifacts. The flat characters and undemanding plot may discourage more cerebral readers, but those who gravitate toward action-heavy story lines will find Moore's escapades highly entertaining. (July)
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Mark L. Van Name, whom John Ringo has said is "going to be the guy to beat in the race to the top of SFdom," has worked in the high-tech industry for over 30 years and today runs a technology assessment company in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. A former Executive Vice President for Ziff Davis Media and a national technology columnist, he's published over a thousand computer-related articles and multiple science fiction stories in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including the Year's Best Science Fiction. Jon & Lobo stories have appeared in a Baen anthology and Jim Baen's Universe.