Author: Ben Woods

ISBN: 0976432285

Genre: fiction/humour

The following review was contributed by: John Walsh: CLICK TO VIEW John Walsh's Reviews

In the small Michigan town of Malorett, where winter and snow seem perpetual
phenomena, a group of five young people work together as an internet technology
company known as The Developers. In a world of sexual tension, low-brow popular
culture and seemingly endless junk food, the developers work on their first
product, deal with the implications of its success and then struggle with the
possibilities of breaking up the company owing to unexpected and rapid
expansion. Many people will find this to be a funny and engrossing tale and will
enjoy the ups and downs of the plot and the grotesque bit part characters.

There is a difference between humour that works well on the printed page and
humour that works well on the small screen. The latter relies mostly on the
things people say and the slapstick inherent in certain situations. Authors can
certainly employ these techniques too, as for example the dialogue produced by
P.G. Wodehouse or the verbally expressed visual comedy of Kingsley Amis. Yet
authors are able to draw upon a much wider range of effects than is possible for
the television or film sphere. Indeed, to compensate for the limited range
available, screen writers will permit their characters to make humourous
comments which would not be made in real life and are, consequently, ignored by
the other characters whose job it is to advance the plot. The Developers,
similar to a large amount of recently published fictions, reads as if its author
would prefer to be writing for the screen. This is not wholly bad, of course,
since so many people prefer the visual to the written anyway. A skilled editor
would perhaps have helped to point out where the use of the unneeded expressions
becomes too obtrusive, picked up the homophone mistakes (eluded/alluded etc) and
helped to explain some of the more parochial references (who is Richard
Simmons?).

Ben Woods lucidly and quite pleasantly describes some of the issues surrounding
the establishment of a new company in the internet age. He clearly understands
plotting and structure and can put together a story with a good rhythm and pace.
I look forward to reading further installments from Malorett or from wherever
his imagination sets to work next.