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"Let's Be Buddies"
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“...this canine race had ravaged the planet and destroyed mankind.”
After being discharged from her position as a commanding rank Star Soldier, Hamilton Pomeranian is sent back to earth to reintegrate with civilization. Upon arrival she receives a not so civil welcome, when a mugger tries to pull an old fashioned stick-up. Luckily for Hamilton, an old buddy just so happened to be nearby to save the day. She sets out to prove herself a hero in more ways than one, when she makes Hamilton a lucrative crime fighting offer in this Jefferson Ball adventure, “Let’s Be Buddies”.
After being discharged from her position as a commanding rank Star Soldier, Hamilton Pomeranian is sent back to earth to reintegrate with civilization. Upon arrival she receives a not so civil welcome, when a mugger tries to pull an old fashioned stick-up. Luckily for Hamilton, an old buddy just so happened to be nearby to save the day. She sets out to prove herself a hero in more ways than one, when she makes Hamilton a lucrative crime fighting offer in this Jefferson Ball adventure, “Let’s Be Buddies”.
Readability
The plot follows two main characters, and their adventure develops on a linear storyline. The story starts off well-paced but then feels rushed as it nears the ending, and much of the narrative is driven through character dialogue. The chapters were a bit on the longer side, with only seven spanning the length of about one hundred pages. I think the structure of this novella could have benefitted greatly from some more editing. In several sections of the text it looks like the lines are out of place and made it seem like I was reading a blog post rather than a literary work. I know that indie authors can be experimental when it comes to format structure, and I am by no means a stickler when it comes to that sort of thing, but when the structural format switches up throughout the story, it disrupts the flow. I had to readjust my reading every time the method by which the author expressed, emphasized, and presented the content changed in form (i.e. a single sentence per line, a fragment of a sentence per line, jumbled dialogue contained in one paragraph without tags).
Creativity
Perlmutter animates man’s best friend through the anthropomorphic characters in this furry novella. I was caught off guard at first, but quickly realized I should have been able to put two and two together when there’s a character with the last name “Pomeranian”. It makes sense, since Perlmutter has shared his fascination with cartoon characters in some of his other written works. In “Let’s Be Buddies”, I picked up on what I believe were some references to famous individuals from the industry (Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese). I think Perlmutter shares what I can only assume are a couple of his favorite science fiction authors, with streets in the story named after Asimov and Pohl. I think he even has a go at America’s “greatest” president of all-time, represented by a character with orange fur working as a scummy loan shark named “D.T. Poodle”, how subtle. I think the orange fur represents a stereotypical characteristic in the story, when the main characters encounter an alien race of the same color. The aliens speak with a southern drawl, and the main characters denigrate their level of intelligence. It’s a creative concept that I thought left some room for reader interpretation, but more in like a “benefit of the doubt” kind of way than simply being a suggestion of the author’s intended purpose. Many classic cartoons play with the idea of characterizing stereotypes, and I think that is also apparent in the loony universe of “Let’s Be Buddies”.
Delivery
The narrative begins by covering Major Hamilton’s backstory as a Star Soldier. Her character was in charge of keeping her subordinates in line and keeping them safe during missions. When one mission ends up going sideways, she suffers injuries and is promptly court martialed, awarded with a severance package, and discharged from the fleet against her wishes. When her character crosses paths with Jefferson Ball’s character, she appears grateful for Jefferson’s help (yes, both females have men’s first names that are clearly referencing the U.S. founding fathers), but quickly turns into a nagging self-righteous bitch… literally (because she’s a dog). On more than a couple of occasions, Hamilton goes off on a tirade of moral grandstanding that only served to shine a spotlight on her character’s hypocrisy when she later proceeded to stick her foot in her mouth through her actions. Those actions often manifest in melodramatic or downright bipolar fashion, just like in the cartoons. One minute she’s giving Jefferson a sophomoric lecture on what it means to be civilized, and the next - Hamilton pulls a gun on her because Jefferson dared to question Hamilton’s authority on the subject. It didn’t exactly strike me as tongue in cheek humor either, and if was intended to be then it missed the mark. The two characters eventually forget all about the attempt they made on each other’s lives as if it had never even happened, loony indeed. These were the type of characters that made me want to back away slowly and just leave them to hash things out on their own, because I couldn’t relate to either one of them.
The use of anthropomorphic characters mixed with adult themes didn’t really appeal to me from the get go, but in all fairness I guess it’s not that far off from the idea of orcs and elves in traditional high fantasy. Even still, there’s just something about imagining humanized canines deep in discussion about their sex life that was off-putting to me. It’s like picturing Porky Pig from your childhood, and envisioning him sticking his snout where it doesn’t belong, you know what I mean? And that’s all folks!
The plot follows two main characters, and their adventure develops on a linear storyline. The story starts off well-paced but then feels rushed as it nears the ending, and much of the narrative is driven through character dialogue. The chapters were a bit on the longer side, with only seven spanning the length of about one hundred pages. I think the structure of this novella could have benefitted greatly from some more editing. In several sections of the text it looks like the lines are out of place and made it seem like I was reading a blog post rather than a literary work. I know that indie authors can be experimental when it comes to format structure, and I am by no means a stickler when it comes to that sort of thing, but when the structural format switches up throughout the story, it disrupts the flow. I had to readjust my reading every time the method by which the author expressed, emphasized, and presented the content changed in form (i.e. a single sentence per line, a fragment of a sentence per line, jumbled dialogue contained in one paragraph without tags).
Creativity
Perlmutter animates man’s best friend through the anthropomorphic characters in this furry novella. I was caught off guard at first, but quickly realized I should have been able to put two and two together when there’s a character with the last name “Pomeranian”. It makes sense, since Perlmutter has shared his fascination with cartoon characters in some of his other written works. In “Let’s Be Buddies”, I picked up on what I believe were some references to famous individuals from the industry (Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese). I think Perlmutter shares what I can only assume are a couple of his favorite science fiction authors, with streets in the story named after Asimov and Pohl. I think he even has a go at America’s “greatest” president of all-time, represented by a character with orange fur working as a scummy loan shark named “D.T. Poodle”, how subtle. I think the orange fur represents a stereotypical characteristic in the story, when the main characters encounter an alien race of the same color. The aliens speak with a southern drawl, and the main characters denigrate their level of intelligence. It’s a creative concept that I thought left some room for reader interpretation, but more in like a “benefit of the doubt” kind of way than simply being a suggestion of the author’s intended purpose. Many classic cartoons play with the idea of characterizing stereotypes, and I think that is also apparent in the loony universe of “Let’s Be Buddies”.
Delivery
The narrative begins by covering Major Hamilton’s backstory as a Star Soldier. Her character was in charge of keeping her subordinates in line and keeping them safe during missions. When one mission ends up going sideways, she suffers injuries and is promptly court martialed, awarded with a severance package, and discharged from the fleet against her wishes. When her character crosses paths with Jefferson Ball’s character, she appears grateful for Jefferson’s help (yes, both females have men’s first names that are clearly referencing the U.S. founding fathers), but quickly turns into a nagging self-righteous bitch… literally (because she’s a dog). On more than a couple of occasions, Hamilton goes off on a tirade of moral grandstanding that only served to shine a spotlight on her character’s hypocrisy when she later proceeded to stick her foot in her mouth through her actions. Those actions often manifest in melodramatic or downright bipolar fashion, just like in the cartoons. One minute she’s giving Jefferson a sophomoric lecture on what it means to be civilized, and the next - Hamilton pulls a gun on her because Jefferson dared to question Hamilton’s authority on the subject. It didn’t exactly strike me as tongue in cheek humor either, and if was intended to be then it missed the mark. The two characters eventually forget all about the attempt they made on each other’s lives as if it had never even happened, loony indeed. These were the type of characters that made me want to back away slowly and just leave them to hash things out on their own, because I couldn’t relate to either one of them.
The use of anthropomorphic characters mixed with adult themes didn’t really appeal to me from the get go, but in all fairness I guess it’s not that far off from the idea of orcs and elves in traditional high fantasy. Even still, there’s just something about imagining humanized canines deep in discussion about their sex life that was off-putting to me. It’s like picturing Porky Pig from your childhood, and envisioning him sticking his snout where it doesn’t belong, you know what I mean? And that’s all folks!
#LFLR Indie Rating: 4/10
I thought the moral and ethical diatribes contained in this story were intellectually tiresome. I didn’t find any of the characters relatable, and the overall narrative suffered from too many plot conveniences to keep my interest peaked throughout. “Let’s Be Buddies” is a genre of speculative fiction that falls somewhere between comic books and Saturday morning cartoons, by stirring together cutesy figures with adult themes. David Perlmutter has published several works that feature superhero and/or cartoonish characters, including his nonfictional books: “The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows” and “America Toons In: A History of Television Animation”. Most of his work blends elements of science fiction with superhero/villain fantasy, but he has also contributed to a variety of short story compilations that center on different genres, like the lighthearted ideas in “Strangely Funny”, a paranormal comedy anthology.
I thought the moral and ethical diatribes contained in this story were intellectually tiresome. I didn’t find any of the characters relatable, and the overall narrative suffered from too many plot conveniences to keep my interest peaked throughout. “Let’s Be Buddies” is a genre of speculative fiction that falls somewhere between comic books and Saturday morning cartoons, by stirring together cutesy figures with adult themes. David Perlmutter has published several works that feature superhero and/or cartoonish characters, including his nonfictional books: “The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows” and “America Toons In: A History of Television Animation”. Most of his work blends elements of science fiction with superhero/villain fantasy, but he has also contributed to a variety of short story compilations that center on different genres, like the lighthearted ideas in “Strangely Funny”, a paranormal comedy anthology.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
