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Human. Male. From an obscure planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. Sci-fi novelist with a PhD in philosophy. Likes chocolates, Labradors, and zombies (not necessarily in that order). Werbeloff spends his days constructing thought experiments, while trying to muster enough guilt to go to the gym.
He’s written two novels, ‘Hedon’ and ‘The Solace Pill’, and the short story anthology, ‘Obsidian Worlds’. His books will make your brain hurt. And you’ll come back for more.
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Reviewed by Marilla Mulwane for Readers' Favorite
Jason Werbeloff's Obsidian Worlds is a collection of short science fiction stories that span nearly every sci-fi theme imaginable. The stories also take on moral issues of today, and being able to take on these issues without sounding preachy and tell a good story is quite a feat. It seems that Werbeloff's goal was to make readers think and he does that in every story.
Some of the stories, such as the first one, Your Averaged Joe, or Falling for Q46F, read like an episode of the Twilight Zone. There are several other mind benders like them throughout the book. Mind bending sci-fi that gets you thinking about something you never would have imagined before, that hits you in the brain and surprises you, and makes you want to read more is the best kind of sci-fi. Of course, I could be biased; I come from the Binghamton, NY area, home to Rod Serling. Others, such as F*cking Through the Apocalypse and Dinner with Flexi take on moral issues of today including homosexuality and the sex trade, but with a sci-fi dystopian flair. There is no question how Werbeloff feels about these subjects so it's like he's letting his fiction tell the world his stance, but without it being in your face.
All of the stories have interesting premises that keep you reading, but it's also Werbeloff's writing ability that makes the stories so good in Obsidian Worlds. His words flow perfectly without any choppy sentences that make the plot slow down. He knows how to develop characters in as few words as possible since these are short stories. You want to learn more about the characters and the worlds he creates and wish these were full books. As for the book title, Obsidian Worlds, it seems Werbeloff likes the word "obsidian" over something mundane and boring like "black," so where a not-as-awesome writer would use the word "black," he changes it to "obsidian" and connects the worlds throughout the book with that single word.
