Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Azure
    Azure
    Azure
    Ebook274 pages4 hours

    Azure

    By Grant Palmquist

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A tyrannical nation... A broken man... An extraordinary dystopian adventure...

    In Azure, history has been erased, drones populate the skies, androids and cops patrol the streets, walls have been erected to keep the people in, and the threat of execution looms for even the pettiest of crimes.

    Asher Cain is a beaten man, close to dead. His wife and son are gone, lost to him forever. All he has left is his job as a drone operator, to which he clings desperately. But one day everything changes and Asher finds himself targeted as a transgressor, on the run from the law, seeking a way out of the nation he once helped to keep secure.

    To make it out of Azure alive, he’ll have to find the courage to face the fears hiding within himself... and confront his haunting past.

    Azure is a fast-paced, eerie vision of the future that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride of sheer adventure.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGrant Palmquist
    Release dateMay 1, 2013
    ISBN9781301879069
    Azure
    Author

    Grant Palmquist

    Grant Palmquist is the author of the science-fiction novel Azure and four horror novels: A Song After Dark, Permanent Winter, Dirge, and The Seer. His short stories have appeared in Chizine, Dogmatika, and Underground Voices.

    Read more from Grant Palmquist

    Related to Azure

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Crescent City

      Dec 1, 2021

      Crescent City
      5 min read

    • Article

      Cristina Rivera Garza

      Jun 15, 2018

      She would remember everything, out of the blue and in full detail. She would see the jade ring wrapped around her ring finger and, immediately, she would see the other jade ring. She would open her eyes wide and, without knowing why, would fall silen

      13 min read

    • Article

      In Love And War

      Jun 10, 2021

      April 1943 - Krakow, Poland Irena was bent over her needlework, stitching the frayed seam of her skirt when she heard a single gunshot ring out. She jerked and then scowled. After four years of war, she ought to be used to it. Why, the other night a

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Emperors of Existence

      Dec 28, 2018

      The Emperors of Existence
      9 min read

    • Article

      79 The Terrible Grinning Men

      Sep 10, 2020

      79 The Terrible Grinning Men
      8 min read

    • Article

      ‘I Gasped When I Read It’: Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis And Louisa Harland On Ulster American

      Nov 27, 2023

      What could be cosier than lunch beside a crackling fire in the company of three affable actors wearing autumnal knitwear? Nothing really – although the subject that has brought Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis and Louisa Harland together, in this quiet L

      5 min read

    • Article

      In The Spotlight: Your Writing Genre - Busting

      Apr 4, 2024

      What an inventive lot the WM writers proved themselves to be with the ‘Genre-busting' submission call! The response was terrific, with a postbag full of playful, off-the wall writing that read as if its creators had a gonzo riot mashing up elements f

      5 min read

    • Article

      The 31 GREATEST BOOKS FOR MEN

      May 1, 2019

      Meet Rob. He’s the manager of a London record shop in which he and his sad friends make top-five lists, talk about mix tapes and obsess over albums by dead blues musicians. Then Rob decides to get in touch with five of his ex-girlfriends to find out

      8 min read

    • Article

      Excerpts From The Works Of The 2024 Whiting Award Winners

      Apr 10, 2024

      The 2024 Whiting Award winners were announced Wednesday night. Below are excerpts from their work.

      19 min read

    • Article

      Gabriel Krauze

      May 19, 2021

      Gabriel Krauze
      8 min read

    • Article

      Chuckles

      Mar 17, 2023

      Fancy yourself a joker? Email original jokes to chuckles@you.co.za or send them to Chuckles, YOU, PO Box 7167, Roggebaai 8012, and we may publish them on this page. A speeding motorist is caught by radar from a police helicopter in the sky. An office

      2 min read

    • Article

      Eyes Wide Shut

      Jul 19, 2015

      Eyes Wide Shut
      5 min read

    • Article

      La Otra Historia

      Jun 30, 2022

      La Otra Historia
      14 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems by Phillip B. Williams

      Dec 15, 2017

      The masters are yet dead. Wanting to be human,I tried to rewrite The Waste Land. The canon’s reachcasts ruinous light. The masters’ pens breachthis page where, above, my own hand spectates. Babylonrisen, exorcism in reverse, whose nature upended now?

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Straw Hat

      Aug 2, 2018

      The Straw Hat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Marta

      Oct 15, 2019

      Marta
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Azure

    4/5

    20 ratings12 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The book for me started fast. Then it slowed down for a little bit. But once the pace picked back up the book read quickly. Then it was one of those books you don't want to put down. The ending was a surprise but I think fitting to the characters. It is how it should have ended. I can't say that about every book I've read. Really good book. I enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      great book
    • 3/5
      A bit tough to follow at the start but a good read.
    • 5/5
      I have had this book for a long time and just got around to reading it. I finished it in a day! This is a futuristic type journey of self discovery and survival (physical and emotional). I found it to be well written with clear descriptions making for vivid mental images, easy language, and fast paced plot. I recommend this book to anyone. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters, and could not put it down! Amazing read! Thank you.
    • 4/5
      Azure is a great novel that paints a portrait of what would happen if the government totally took over our lives. The book takes place in the nation of Azure (naturally) where droids are sent to patrol the streets to kill unlawful perpetrators. Behind the droids are men like Asher who are chained to their desks and forced to do justice within the walled city.When Asher begins to silently question the motives of his government, his existence is put on the line. Somehow they know that he isn't in complete agreeance with the punishments being given, which is execution in nearly every case. That's when the trouble starts for Asher and he embarks on a strange journey to the underbelly of society. Well, truly not that strange, but it's a bit scary if nothing else.I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It wasn't the best book, nor was it the worst, but the author really shines with his writing style. The story is "believable" without too much sci-fi, but just enough to keep you wondering if this type of scenario could really become reality. I honestly wish that the story would have ended a bit differently with a happy ending for all, but that just isn't realistic. The story kept me engaged either way, though the ending was a little predictable.I received this book via LibraryThing in exchange for my honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for penning my review and all opinions expressed are my own.
    • 5/5
      This futuristic story is very fast paced and kept me interested from cover to cover. Asher is just a regular guy who just happens to have lost his wife and son and only has his job to look forward to each day. His wife and son died trying to escape the city where their lives were dictated by a strict government that does not want anyone to disobey. When Asher loses his job and finds that the government is searching his apartment when he is not home, he goes off the grid and learns a lot about its underground society.
    • 4/5
      I received this book in a LibraryThing monthly giveaway.
      Good, quick read. Likeable characters and a somewhat plausable futuristic scenario with flying vehicles, drones, and androids! Looking forward to more from this author.
    • 4/5
      Society is perfect, or at least that is what the citizens of [Azure] are told daily. What they see and experience tells them otherwise. This futuristic novel is a modern day version of [1984]. The government wants to retain control and power so badly they are willing to sacrifice everyone. [Grant Palmquist] creates a eerie prospect of the future.
    • 5/5
      This book gripped me from the start as I do love dystopian style thrillers! This book was like a cross between ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ as we were faced with an America set in the future where there are Androids and Azure is made up of Districts not States. Asher Cain was faced with a nightmarish reality where he realises that he is just a cog in the machine of Azure, where his life isn’t his own and he lives and works for the all-seeing, all controlling Government. Things pick up for him as he tries to break free and he meets Autumn and they face a fight for their lives as they try to escape the clutches of android William and the Government that are out to destroy them. The last few pages reduced me to tears as it becomes clear just what Asher would do for freedom. Spectacular ending. Top class writing. Top marks for Azure.
    • 4/5
      Azure is a tyrannical nation that controls it's people using various types of robots and other technology. Asher Cain is a wimpy, yet physically fit, guy who loses his job and is threatened to be killed by an android all within the same week. He becomes a fighter and a fugitive and eventually escapes the tyrannical nation that controls everyone and keeps everyone on check utilizing made-up newscasts, androids, drones. and a bunch of technology that is not yet in existence (or so we think). It reminds me of Hunger Games meets Terminator meets Minority Report. Aside from the author's lack of imagery, grammatical errors (like the proper past tense of a few words) and lack of supporting character development (one of the characters in this story is named "Samuel Powers"—aka Screech from Saved By The Bell; ring a bell?), the author does a great job portraying action scenes, and toward the ending of the book, it has a nice finish. The imagination is there, and the action scenes are descriptive and keeps you turning (or swiping) to the next page. What I didn't fully understand was why a small nation that is so tech-savvy would still use gold as a means of bartering or why, when you shoot at an android, "semen-like fluid" comes out. I found that sophomoric. Otherwise, it's an OK book. With a little polishing from the author though, it can be better. (Reviewed by A. Delgado of Discerning Media)
    • 3/5
      The novel starts out with a bang, several really, as our hero Asher Cain sees a mass shooting in a bar. The time is ripe for the "perfect end", thinks Cain, his mouth gratefully wrapping around the barrel of one of the shooters' weapons. But fate -- and fate is a big thing in this book -- intervenes in the form of an undercover android cop.His life is turned upside down, the veils fall from his eyes, and he gains new friends. Pretty standard stuff for a dystopia.What worked in Palmquist's short fiction, the ambiguity, the vagueness, the ludicrous, and the implausible, doesn't work in a longer length.Palmquist isn't surreal here. The violent action scenes are diagrammed competently if somewhat lifelessly. There is no doubt about the ultimate outcome of the ending, but the details of how we get there are sketchy.The pace is a bit slack in the last third before a rapid wrap-up of Cain's story.Palmquist, though, has other strengths. His dialogue is believable and crisp, and he gets to use that talent at greater lengths than a short story would allow.The book's main problem is that the dystopia seems neither plausible, in terms of historical and contemporary totalitarian societies, nor to serve any allegorical or satirical end. I even thought, at one point, we would get sort of a religious fable, but that didn't happen either. (I'll concede the term "dystopia" may have been devalued enough in the past 10 years to the point where it just means "a crappy future world" not the extrapolated outcome of some present and growing danger.)Certain images and ideas are drawn from science fiction, history, and the modern world more to provoke certain associations and emotions than for any world building plausibility. We have the modern symbol of surveillance (and sudden death) in the numerous drones, including some of the insect and animal variety. Ridley Scott movies give us not only flying cars but also androids that bleed a sort of milky white blood. History gives us workplace floggings and a dictator (perhaps an android) with a name reminiscent of an American president, James Pole (James K. Polk – a president important in the history of Palmquist's home state of Texas). Asher Cain, in his job, running a police drone and occasionally gunning down alleged criminals, is literally manacled to his desk.Those are very evocative images. But they don't add up to a believable political order.And the plot ends up on one of the paths you would expect a dystopia too.As I said, fate is a major idea here. The novel opens up with the Dante epigram: "Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift". The characters of the novel briefly and intermittently grapple with questions of whether Heaven or Hell exists exist. Ultimately, Cain opts for a fideist position -- better to believe despite the evidence.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed reading this book. The story is a fast paced action thriller. The writing was crisp and flowed nicely. The book paints a disturbing portrait of a dystopian world. The characters were interesting and the protagonist was likable. The book was a quick read in part because I was anxious to find out what happens. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a dystopian thriller.

    Book preview

    Azure - Grant Palmquist

    ebook_preview_excerpt.html}\ےǑ?c/k)Ġ(J)*L*ڷe@0O9' З<5_|qbo/~oB;߇eu/UP~;tc۔NKNEj7T+ M7buE\ܖE2~bc5cWT;|"1uEՄC>H]1WᓱwŋZtͶ.C*1E|6EvqI-?P1blG 1bZCu!zYKl5 lݹ-vbqm[oar-k_XS]!MMq8p'M|t gߥf!Bm!滬wM[J/NE=Pi}h[~qC8>`qꮯaRqSv6}5Vw붋/f]\p>|aٳ?g# O<xS^?͓֧)o~ʻg~ƻg|׳?>^w_l]p[9̏px:l!.co]s*i??~둃ߝr%mc?Vah:xUwy =vS/͔/XW7\B_] xSl{|x e07lI?kzx4lDž4%ܬAf1~T࠸OoiD ! E!FhZ-̙ \#Qs34ީ|˗vxZp /~˗||==w/:])E_t.-^4pS*D2+/$=S򦠂Tok]4 *!=S a 4+A(z!>TUKX٣Փ7?kl.\R{wqw:\RW~v'(/SB'|0 14k"R`b #i163k3 `H5ߨ?גaEՁz{&D)]pKގ2Za{Š0X栦9Mhq?Ūƾh߹3Flaw̙@+9c݌m`.|z22p|'W$vj!mf:iS@зs0kt N/1ôuz=N%wH!dsJ@5REpeX,Q ȵE=Ɠvvڍ üѩpbsG 4*!jʦnPak^ ԑ~p8:K@WlzO#,+"RS(6mf~bg э\ N!r*b3~Ӧan鈼 JE(N\F|rHf2b--vqjIMa7(Ż)6Nf=:V.bI.S9v$ֶc$b7[cm?~-Dlf~~g@%UBr{}-l<6 z\gP% =7Zz 8~ip` 1˙I# R5ZFާ6үxwx1dEd3Ґ,ɮ⽯vdPUn̺"]rnH^7SMЁ˰&>@EFHa3Q KBZ0BwEz9m)ߟ띌px .m94!ԘI3T`f>F7Jf=$b&ȿæm[(94*!S Xmf[7 b)&KXRޜ%Bo`=Z($2 RUsN-UvԢBn3咁=[NF|N^zdpQWœڝNPUщtJZsڂL(lM SM0_;a,]Q[)a7) ߖn ^ȕ%VA4L@OR в'>YLF Q}$AEGS޾h8sl|[ avޙ>_d'~Y걬@k E !f 緒%38 ; Xf,GCC})7S 7UN ̕ 0KrELT҄Ȉ2`sW4hr Ym;Nm8x!ʦ3·W*%-NTEOh[W*_{Z@iėaϮ6fOowWc>7o\t]( [M>QU;ucD9#ϟIG=V#HgE4ooif{uY߽l; @eƱ=)ީҡnǔW+SQeUn7`Ԑ)Se\M{{^X"C^QvY#ȴ$7u<9&SN T=梼1ۃ͎<`]lJ.*+9X i ^ttzl(; >1L8=[(eIPB ː 3i6B7+Knx9/d U6U<)效6|ABֆa5X:6n;euKBV M2\n)@M7G"n;&ԎIjO٭L ެ%Kks 77=|ˠ\6L Xq_8cwXCȆ~ș4\=;AKƉd(4gþ&& zKAHd24= |^eL06>IʲBȂ~j0m>[[}IXcwtsmHX9vKCLg29nv'{ݻ́5#< 4/jnKu .ļu]>fǕEnI,hV 6bSg693ڴ;m7!J(-T<=.$`T0fcu{9[hVGJ=X-o}&LMfLt۩`3 0%,w- )5l<춟IOgILhddDVg.a>Tk|lsyȉlrZ_9~=Jt7ĚD1u{<"ª齦#DYL?y^5z3O`|;BHYɸ Uu _sUϐ^ Wf~<0^* '઺5<ݻ:JfMVrbX4 5!+[4C2LR0{|פ'M&0elrQS5gMI}qKͲJzF2pDpgA0~?mtiC#sͤ}aJ Jeᮙ2v>Ђ(crT!c#5G|kJ\P9Je7|%/bkFH̰S y llXu8պlޛ=Ȍfr*XC0^J xjB9GǓٜH }f_eET1_6 ԡq{:Y1*3ynY`t*QŻ|`EeVENmh:[ [T:jAf5J|(.d|P'Ե2NU oXo>$#ǹm PW>`pA(s~Aq*&%+gzKyӸHvFM_\ѿٔ+?9ΙdнLxOrKT-tڏ1o(82S 9@:(IʴBReg|`or:┮e'jBM= y=ko 3 [?^ ]g[Ia5>h%7*_ꈏd1Lø߯ LEnajᖍ"*W> Amt2|n 7l~ *v#U y*va}ynE]-.q7gП.|l9BOnlE}&4r䍩?4OϮs)";F(ri'U9D15#6;#ǚOxC8÷<*v:(2vŽ8 nrO^22_"I:_ܔnQ2Vݰ60$"D @qr DZ: yN@`(tC*z7Ccy}֗]ţ)cO
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1