Patience Press
Patience Press, LLC • P.O. Box 2757 • High Springs, Florida 32655 • 352-215-9251 (M-F 9-5 ET)
Our Books
Books > Our books
Robert Mason
The memoir of a combat Huey pilot during the Vietnam War. Chickenhawk was a New York Times Bestseller and has been in print by Penguin since 1983. Now available on Kindle and iBookstore and all ebook stores.
Reviews:
"...Violent, deafening, treetop world of 1000 Viet Nam helicopter missions...its vertical plunge into the thickets of madness, will stun readers as well..."
—Time
"A hypnotic narrative"
—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times
"How extraordinarily touching it is that these men who have suffered so much still want to make us better...If I sound just a little overwrought, I defy you to read this straightforward, in many ways underwrought, narrative and feel any differently...filled with the grim humor of men under pressure, filled with details..."
—Robert Wilson, USA Today
"Unaffected, straightforward... His descriptions of flying air assault, med-evac and ammo-resupply missions make exhilarating reading...an important addition to our growing Vietnam War literature.
—C. D. Bryant New York Times Review of Books
"Mason recounts the war as experienced in mission after mission behind the cockpit's vulnerable Plexiglas windshield...Mason's gripping memoir...proves again that reality is more interesting, and often more terrifying, than fiction."
—John Patrick Diggins, Los Angeles Times
"A wry undertone of ironic wit...one of the best...a superb piece of story telling, really excellent."
—Larry Heinemann, (Close Quarters ), Chicago Sun Times
"The sounds and sensations of flying helicopters dominate...When he flies so does his book..."
—Lee Lescaze, The Washington Post
"It is very simply the best book so far out of Vietnam—the best book so far and the best book by far."
—Harry Levins, St. Louis Post Dispatch
Robert Mason
Weapon was Robert Mason’s first try at fiction. “I'd always been interested in the possibility of Artificial Intelligence, so that's what I wanted to write about.” Solo is a robot designed to be one thing, a weapon. During tests in Costa Rica, it becomes obvious that Solo has a mind of his own. And emotions. And has no desire to ever be "human."
“Marvin Minsky of MIT, the originator of the term "artificial intelligence", once told me Solo was his favorite robot, and that I explained AI better than he did. He's wrong of course, but it was a terrific compliment!”
In 1995, WEAPON was made into the movie "SOLO" starring Mario Van Peebles. “The best thing I can say about the movie is that it's nothing like the book.”
Robert Mason
Solo, the charming super robot who was left to drown at the end of Mason's WEAPON (1989), found that his waterproofing was better than design specs called for. His fans should be quite pleased that he has bobbed back up.
Every bit as personable as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator but, with his black carbon-fiber exterior, less-well-human, Solo has pulled himself back from the bottom of the ocean, paid a courtesy call on his adopted Nicaraguan family, wowed a Stone Age Indian tribe, hacked into the Defense satellite-computer system for an update on the military-industrial complex, watched old movies to brush up on the fine points of being human, and stowed away in the bilges of a banana boat on his way to New York. In Manhattan, he hooks up with a brokenhearted bag-lady whom he reconstructs and with whom he builds a thriving business based on his marvelous ability to talk heart-to-heart with the computers at Merrill Lynch, Shearson Lehman Bros., and Nomura Securities. Solo needs his newly earned fortune to rebuild his batteries so he can go disconnect from Con Ed and go to florida. He wants to rescue his younger, stronger brother, an Army colonel who's programmed to kill without question. Solo can't do it alone. He needs the help of his brilliant and filthy-rich inventor, who is only too glad to leave the office and have some fun.
The techno-thrills are secondary to such amusements as Solo adapting to N.Y.C. and N.Y.C. adapting, more or less, to Solo. Much fun for the techno-credulous.