Bodacious Creed

The Adventures of Bodacious Creed, Book 1

By: Jonathan Fesmire

Narrated by: D Golden

US Marshal James Creed has known loss, starting from the untimely death of his wife and daughter in a sudden fire. His work, chasing down and arresting outlaws across the Wild West, is all he has left to live for. Then one day, in 1876, the infamous killer Corwin Blake catches Creed by surprise and guns him down.

Creed awakes after a mysterious young woman resurrects him in a basement laboratory beneath a brothel. Half alive, Creed feels torn between his need for justice and his desire to fall back into the peace of death. Creed's instincts drive him to protect the city of Santa Cruz, California, from the outlaws it harbors while searching for Blake.

He uncovers a secret criminal organization, likely protecting Blake, determined to use resurrection technology for its own ends. The former marshal, now faster, stronger, and a more deadly shot than ever before, must work with a brothel madam, a bounty hunter, and the remaining marshals to uncover the criminal syndicate before they can misuse the machines of rebirth and create more mindless zombies. Meanwhile, he must also stop Blake, before the outlaw kills the only people he cares about.

His own death can wait.

©2017 Jonathan Fesmire (P)2017 Jonathan Fesmire

Steampunk zombies!

A great take on the zombies genre! It's amazing no one else has thought of this.

Steampunk Prometheus

Since I recently read and reviewed the eBook BODACIOUS CREED, I concentrated on the narration while listening to the Audible edition. I have often read print books and then listened to the audio version in the past; however, I have not done this before in such close proximity in time. Where the author of the words in print dictates the tone of a book, it is the narrator that is the tone of the audiobook. D. Golden's use of her voice gives each character distinct personality. Her voice for the nineteen year old sociopath, Corwin Blake, is irritatingly spot on.

I did notice that Ms. Golden pronounced one or two words throughout the book in a way that made me think she is pretty young and unfamiliar with them. Most notably, the way she said 'hearth' which, by some reckoning, might be a somewhat archaic term.

I often wonder if the popularity of audiobooks goes beyond convenience. When I listen, the days of bedtime stories always crosses my mind. This may also be due to the fact that I almost can't go to sleep without reading my own version of the bedtime story. The drawback, of course, to listening before sleep is that one can lose one's place and have to figure out just how far back to go in order to get the whole story. I read the eBook so recently that if I did miss a bit in the listening, memory filled in the blanks. I have also gotten in the habit of noting the Audible chapter number (which always seems to be the author's chapter plus one) before I turn out the light.

So much for the audiobook; on to the book review. Having read and listened just days apart, the following is my review of the book as it appears on Goodreads and Amazon.

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of TV westerns. In my old age, I have become a big fan of steampunk, a sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy, in all of its many forms. BODACIOUS CREED is a perfect marriage of the wild, wild West and steam.

As we grow older, it is sometimes difficult to remember those little joys of childhood. I am reminded of a time when I was 8 or 9 years old when I used to play TV westerns with the kid next door. We had bikes for horses and six-shooter cap guns. We became the heroes and bad guys from our favorite shows. We had no grass or dirt paths, but in a child's imagination, even concrete Bronx sidewalks can be dusty trails with tumbleweeds. Jonathan Fesmire brought all that back with his descriptions of U.S. Marshals, bounty hunters, and their horses.

What I am not is a fan of current zombie fiction… no Walking Dead for me. Such zombies are just too nihilistic. I have always had a fascination with Voodoo and its tradition of creating a zombie slaves. As horrible as that may be, at least they don't feed on others to make more of their kind.

So how do steampunk cowboys end up with zombies? Steampunk is a very broad spectrum sub-genre of science fiction. As such, there is an 'anything goes' acceptance of everything so long as it runs on steam and can be described as mechanical. Extrapolate from that the need for gears and levers and add in the ether (or aether) and you have all the ingredients for raising the dead with science rather than ritual.

Although the setting is Santa Cruz, California, there is a Dodge Cityesque saloon run by a "soiled dove." Anna Lynn Boyd is the strong, intelligent woman who happens to be the madam of The House of the Amber Doves. This is her story as much as it is U.S. Marshal James Creed's.

While reading BODACIOUS CREED, the movie "Cowboys and Aliens" kept coming to mind. That was a must see movie for me that I truly enjoyed. There is something about the flavor of this book and that movie that seem to overlap. Also, if you are a fan of the Will Smith movie "The Wild, Wild West" you might just love this book as much as I did.

So without telling the story, what we have here is a well-written tale capable of making an old soul feel young again. That feat of legerdemain is accomplished with charismatic, well developed characters and writing that pays homage to attention to detail without getting bogged down in repetitive minutia.

I would highly recommend that upon finishing this book you avail yourself of the short story offer on Jonathan Fesmire's website. "The Obstructed Engine" provides a starting point for some of the characters in the Creedverse.

Oh yes, and I love the cover art.

Highly entertaining steampunk zombie story!

When I think of zombie stories I imagine blood, gore, and mindless entities eating all manner of living things. However, when I listened to Bodacious Creed that’s not what I got, I was amazed how well the author wove so many familiar story elements into a very entertaining and original story about Bodacious Creed and how he came to be a “zombie.” This story is filled with action, romance, steampunk elements and familial love and loss. If you are looking for entertainment that is original and highly addictive, get a copy of the audiobook for Bodacious Creed and give it a listen as D. Golden takes you on a journey to a California filled with outlaws, steelies, and more.

wow!

an amazing story and a great performance. the narrator will suck you into the story with all of her fun voices.p

Great Story!

This is an excellent story with great characters and narration! I highly recommend this Steam Punk Zombie Western!

Really need to make this story into a movie.

Loved the steampunk and western mix. Both two genres I never normally go towards. The science and the steampunk was extremely well thought out, you could tell the Author had thought a great deal about this side of the story. It was great to see a female of that time be one of the main characters and a badass. Both physically and mentally.

Really need to make this story into a movie.

a surprising story.

This story remineses of Fallout: New Vegas. the level of steampunk was very minimal from what I was expecting. There wasn't much in the way of actual steam or gear technology.

the story is hard to follow certain details starting off. it is a little too drawn out and I did not particularly like the person that read the story.

Fun western steampunk story

This is a fun steampunk romp. Good characters and a neat twist on the genre.

A master of his craft.

Jonathan Fesmire has crafted a steampunk novel unlike any other I've read. His character development is engrossing. The narrative of his settings are so detailed as to take you directly into the modern/historical version of Santa Cruz. An, of course, the action is very suspenseful. I enjoyed every page of the novel and loved hearing the audio version of it. I truly cannot wait for book 2 and look forward to Fesmire's continued writings in the world of the steampunk genre. Well done, Jonathan!

A Great Beginning To A Steampunk Series

This was my first experience with Jonathan Fesmire's work and I was surprised by how entertaining I found it. The author has created a fascinating world by melding the period of the "Wild West" with super futuristic technology that enhances the abilities of humans and other creatures. I enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series. I recommend this book to others who enjoy this genre. D Golden's narration was great and she added to the enjoyment of the story. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.