science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
novel by American author
Peter Clines
Peter Clines (31 May 1969), born in Cape Neddick, Maine is an American author and novelist best known for his zombies-vs-superheroes series, ''Ex-Heroes'', and Lovecraftian inspired Threshold novels 14 and ''The Fold''. His short stories can b ...
.
Plot
''14'' follows Nate Tucker, who lives in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, is stuck doing data entry and doesn't know what he's doing with his life. Just as he needs to move out of his old place, Nate hears of an apartment building with extremely low rent at an after work get-together, and once Nate signs his lease for 565 dollars a month (including utilities) at the Kavach building, the mysteries of the old Los Angeles brownstone begin to unravel.
Nate discovers that his building manager Oskar Rommel is reluctant to tell him much about the building. He also discovers that there is a colony of bright green, seven-legged cockroaches that skitter around his apartment, his kitchen light is a black light no matter what kind of bulb he puts in, and the four massive padlocks that are on apartment 14. In addition to discovering the visible oddities of his building, Nate also encounters his neighbors Veek, Roger, Xela, Clive, Debbie and the newly moved-in Tim. Together, they slowly unveil the deeper hidden secrets of the Kavach building. Over the course of the novel, the group, with Nate at the lead, discover that the building is not hooked into the Los Angeles power grid and instead pulls its power from a series of Westinghouse generators that draw from a fault line almost a mile underneath Kavach. They also discover writing on all of the walls of various apartments that includes scientific formulas, population growth algorithms and a letter from one of the men who created Kavach, Aleksander Koturovich, which helps answer the mysterious questions about the nature of the building. Aleksander Koturovic along with Whipple Van Buren Phillips and
Terminus
Terminus may refer to:
* Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination
* Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination
Geography
*Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...
''.
* Anne - Played minor characters in both ''14'' (as a temp at Nate's work) and in ''The Fold'' (as a receptionist) but is the major antagonist in ''Terminus''.
Reception
For the novel ''14'', Nerds on Earth reviewer Joseph Robinson praised the work for the mysterious build-up that occurred during the novel as it was something that defied his own expectations for the piece. Robinson also comments that the characters in the novel are not completely fleshed out and only really make decisions that further the plot of the book.
Origins
In the afterword to ''14'', Peter Clines reveals that the debut of ''14'' started as an
advanced readers edition
An advance reading copy, advance review copy, advance reader's edition, advance copy, or a reader's edition (ARC or ARE) is a free copy of a new book given by a publisher to booksellers, librarians, journalists, celebrities, or others, or as a con ...
copy that Clines sold at the 2012
Crypticon
Crypticon is a horror-oriented media event held annually in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Seattle, Washington, and Kansas City, Missouri. Guests have included authors, actors, directors, producers, and writers from classic and upcoming horror titles.
O ...
in Seattle prior to the actual publication of the book.