Pandora's Game

Book excerpt: College students Neil Carpenter and Mark Hudson set out to create "The Triumvirate," a comic book about supernatural creatures who resist their evil natures and hunt their own kind. When Neil learns hypnosis in his Psychology class, he proposes to use it to enrich the characters -- they could hypnotize themselves into thinking that they ARE the characters, then exchange interviews. To test the idea, Neil assumes the identity of the vampire, the independently wealthy and deeply religious Alistaire Bachman. The Game begins... ...a Game that leads to a whirlwind of confusion, murder, and impossibility. Praise for Pandora ́s Game: "Pandora ́s Game is written in a unique way, where it is more of a memoire written by Neil to tell everyone what has really happened. I am not a very big fan of the first person point of view, but Andrews uses it in a way that improves the story, instead of detracting from it. Near the end of the book, the point of view changes without warning, and while not something that would be a recommended technique, it adds greatly to the plot. In many ways, Andrews writes like an author with much more experience behind him than he actually has. And while there are certain scenes that showed the inexperience, those scenes were few and far between. I expect Christopher Andrews to become a fantastic author. I highly recommend Pandora ́s Game ́ especially to those who are looking to discover a new author." -- Pat McGreal, "Horror Novels Online" Newsletter, March 2nd, 2000 "This isn ́t just a [story] of two young men going mad. This isn ́t a [story] of a hypnotism game going wrong. It is much more than that, and that is what makes this book so interesting ... Pandora ́s Game takes this to a new level ... Andrews shows a lot of versatility in this book handling 15th century Germany as well as a modern day college setting. The supernatural scenes, both set now and in the past are written with as much competence and style as Poppy Z. Brite or Anne Rice, yet at the same time other parts of the book show normal college kids getting drunk and having fun at parties. To write both in a natural way, and switch seamlessly between the two, is something that I have seen many authors try and fail. I started Pandora ́s Game because I had to review it, but I kept on reading it because I was enjoying it so much ... that is why it will be Book Of The Month in June [2001]." Lesley Meade, Booknet, June 1, 2001 Praise for Christopher Andrews ́ next novel, Dream Parlor: "Dream Parlor has been likened to 1984, [with a] tone similar to The Running Man ... I was impressed with the characters -- Corbit makes a good egotistical Villain with believable motivations -- and Eli ́s desire to fill his fathers shoes, and at the same time lack of belief in himself, made him an easy-to-identify-with hero. Dana, Jacob, Derby and the other less major characters were also well fleshed out - too often characters are used to bring the plot along then forgotten about, but that didn ́t happen here ... An amazing read, and one that I think would appeal to a much wider audience than the usual science fiction crowd." Lesley Meade, Booknet, June 1, 2001