Blog Tour & Review – Orange City by Lee Matthew Goldberg

 

 

 

Orange City

by Lee Matthew Goldberg

Publish Date March 16, 2021

by Atmosphere Press

 

 

About Orange City

Imagine a secret, hidden City that gives a second chance at life for those selected to come: felons, deformed outcasts, those on the fringe of the Outside World. Everyone gets a job, a place to live; but you are bound to the City forever. You can never leave.

Its citizens are ruled by a monstrous figure called the “Man” who resembles a giant demented spider from the lifelike robotic limbs attached to his body. Everyone follows the Man blindly, working hard to make their Promised Land stronger, too scared to defy him and be discarded to the Empty Zones.

After ten years as an advertising executive, Graham Weatherend receives an order to test a new client, Pow! Sodas. After one sip of the orange flavor, he becomes addicted, the sodas causing wild mood swings that finally wake him up to the prison he calls reality.

A dynamic mash-up of 1984 meets LOST, Orange City is a lurid, dystopian first book in a series that will continue with the explosive sequel Lemonworld.

 

 

 

Book Blurbs

“In his compelling novel, ORANGE CITY, novelist LEE MATTHEW GOLDBERG, has crafted a unique dystopian thriller that manages to reveal our greatest fears about emerging technology and our anxieties at what the future holds.” – Raymond A. Villareal, Author of The People’s History of the Vampire Uprising.

 

 

“Lee Matthew Goldberg’s brutal, fast-paced thriller is a compelling reminder of how our society is always a few small steps away from a dystopia.” — Robert Repino, Author of Mort(e) and the “War with No Name” series

 

 

 

“”Neatly paced and escalating like a sinister bar crawl, the novel gives readers the flavor of Philip K. Dick and perhaps a little Kafka and J.G. Ballard in the mixology. We’ll drink to that!” – Kirkus Reviews

 

 

“An ambitious dystopian series debut, this hair-raising science fiction novel is perfect for fans of layered conspiracies, altered realities, and eerie dystopias.”– Publishers Weekly, BookLife.

 

 

“Imagine Man in the High Tower (with a Stalin slant) mixed with Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Max Barry’s Syrup. That’s pretty much what Mr. Goldberg deftly delivers in Orange City.” — 23rd Legion “★★★★★

 

 

“An exciting dystopian thriller and pretty much a one-of-a-kind experience. I kept trying to anticipate the next twist of the plot but I could never guess where this book was going to go.” – LiteraryTitan.com 

 

 

“Colourful grittiness that delivers a fresh but consistent angle on the dystopian genre.” – Reedsy Discovery

 

My thoughts

Orange city. Or in my terms Crazy Town.

I’ve never been a fan of reading sci-fi books. After reading a book like this one,  I often ask myself WHY? WHEN did I make that decision? WHY did I make that decision? I mean I’m a HUGE fan of Star Wars and Star Trek. I’ve seen a ton of sci-fi shows and movies and loved them, (I’m talking to you Stranger Things) and I absolutely adore Hank Green’s Carls book. So what was it that swayed me away from this genre all this time? After reading Orange City, I still don’t have the answer, because I devoured this book and I loved it. So I wonder, is sci-fi going to be one of my new go-tos?

A hidden city that gives you a second chance at life, the chosen ones are felons, outcasts, and those on the fringe. You get a job, and a house, but you are bound to the city forever….. you can never leave (You’re singing Hotel California right now – don’t lie). Then there is the “MAN” who rules the city. Get this…. A giant demented spider-man with robotic limbs and everyone follows this ” man” blindly (kinda reminds us of our recent political debacles). Graham Weatherend lives in this city is an ad exec who is now ordered to test a new client, POW! Sodas. This drink can control your emotions based on the flavor you choose. Once Graham chooses the orange flavor he is instantly addicted, and the more he drinks, the more he starts to see what really is going on around him. Will he do anything about what he’s now aware of? Good question.

This one has a gradual build at the start, but give it a chance. It’s packed full of info that you need to assimilate. But once you get into a groove (and it doesn’t take long at all) things start to fall into place and the book is unputdownable. I don’t think this is like any other sci-fi/dystopian book I’ve ever encountered, and its uniqueness is what makes it such a special book. The characters are complex and written brilliantly and the plot is like nothing I’ve ever really could have imagined – yet it reminds me so much of the America we now live in. There are twists and turns in this one that you will never see coming, and it’s totally unpredictable, yet completely frightening because of how easily our own society could turn into this type of dystopia with the way our technology is developing. Please put this one on your radar, it’s a fast read, and a book you will never forget. What’s even better is that Lee Matthew Goldberg already has the sequel in the works titled LEMONWORLD.

Orange City is available now, and was just released this month on 3/16/21. I highly recommend this one for the sci-fi and dystopian lovers, and for those of you who are like me and tend to shy away from this genre, I gotta tell you, I highly recommend this read for you guys too. What a ride.

I just would like to thank Lee Matthew Goldberg, Suzanne Leopold of Suzy Approved Book Tours and Atmosphere Press for the gifted copy of this book for my unbiased and honest opinion for review.

 

 

 

 

Buy the Book

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About the Author

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of THE ANCESTOR, THE DESIRE CARD, SLOW DOWN and THE MENTOR from St. Martin’s Press. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. ORANGE CITY, his first sci-fi novel, is forthcoming in 2021 along with his YA series RUNAWAY TRAIN. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Vol 1. Brooklyn, LitReactor, Necessary Fiction, Fiction Writer’s Review, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, Essays & Fictions, The New Plains Review, and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series (guerrillalit.wordpress.com). He lives in New York City.

You can find out more Lee on his website. LeeMatthewGoldberg.com

 

 

Author Contact/Social Media

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