Snow is a hardened denizen of the town of Westgate, a place that makes the old “wild west” look tame. He is a thief, con man, and when necessary a murderer, but that just makes him an average citizen in this town. While Show usually just looks after himself, young newcomer Erin catches his eye, and when the boy is about to be robbed and raped, he steps in to save the day.
Snow takes Erin back to his hovel and tries to explain the facts of life in Westgate to the young man anxious to be a bandit, but Erin is even more naive than he appears. Yet, Snow invites the boy to stick around, and Erin stays, while resisting the older man’s advances, at least for a while.
“Penetration Fascination” is a very short novelette that you can probably finish in a single sitting. The bare bones of a possibly good story are here, but they’re buried beneath a mountain of typos, scenes that are described in detail while the characters themselves are left sketchy, and one of the most rushed endings I’ve read in a very long time. All of that is on top of the missed expectations set up by the cover. The digital motif of the cover suggests some kind of futuristic science fiction content, or perhaps, given the prominence given to “Westgate”, some kind of Westworld fan fiction.
However, that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. “Penetration Fascination” takes place in some sort of alternate past, in a time when there are no guns or cars, but there seems to be large scale alcohol production as well as major marijuana cultivation. There are some interesting ideas here, but no coherent whole. It reads more like a rough draft that needs much more work, expansion and refinement rather than a finished book.
“Penetration Fascination” is available from Amazon
