Tamper Paperback – June 17, 2009

TAMPER is a coming-of-age novel which reads like a cross between the Hardy Boys and William S. Burroughs (except nice); the best part is it's based on the writings and ideas of Richard Sharpe Shaver, a brilliant and possibly schizophrenic guy who was probably the best selling sci-fi writer of the late 1940s. The twist was he said all his stories were true, and his wily editor, Raymond Palmer, did a sort of early version of tabloid magazines by saying, "Is it true or not? What do YOU think?" Lots of people agreed, and a lot of regular sci-fi fans though it was all outrageous and raised hell about it till the publishers shut it all down.A very good story. For the nonfiction, go to THE WAR OVER LEMURIA by Richard Toronto.

Bill Ectric's "Tamper" is a relatively short book and an excellent one. I think Eric D. Lehman's comment on the dust jacket is totally accurate: "For a book described by the author as The Hardy Boys meet William S. Burroughs, `Tamper' is a surprisingly tender book about growing up on the edge of magic." "Tamper" is like the Hardy Boys in that it is a kind of mystery novel in clear/concise language, and it is like Burroughs in the sense that there is a presiding desire to break free of some kind of invisible system of control. Yet, the system of control in Ectric's novel is not the oppressive and determinate force of language (as it is in Burroughs); instead, it is memory, nostalgia, and melancholia. "Tamper" is, in this sense, a coming-of-age novel that is unwilling to ascribe to the rigidity of the coming-of-age narrative. Whit, the central, character does mourn his lost past but continues to revolt against the loss of wonder, imagination, and the possibility that the strangeness of life is more nuanced than we are often enthusiastic to admit.Ectric gets his title from the infamous "Shaver Mystery"--a kind of minor publishing scandal in the 1940s that played out between science fiction magazine "Amazing Stories" and the American author and artist Richard Sharpe Shaver. Part of Shaver's fiction (which Shaver claimed to be true) was that the Earth was inhabited by subterranean mutants who would torment the brains of humans using invisible rays. Shaver called this process "Tamper." This is the central metaphor of Ectric's book: "something" that is visiting and revisiting Whit's mental experience. We find that in Ectric's work (as a kind of creative critical reading of Shaver's mental illness that is evident in the Shaver's work) that tamper is less of a paranormal force than it is a psychoanalytic phenomenon. Tamper, here, seems to me to be more or a metaphor for the uncanny resurfacing of memory and the fear of losing the marvel of childhood. Tamper is melancholia and nostalgia: "The air vibrated with fractal spirits of children running in all direction on the uneven lawn," Ectric writes, "memories of the past almost overpowered my senses. I could barely stand it and I wanted a drink. A strange noise registered in my brain. Here we go again with the weird buzzing in the walls, I thought. Tamper. Or is that a bumblebee I hear, zipping around among the flowers? I know I hear something" (Ectric 230).One thing that is most striking about Ectric's novel is how it acts as a kind of reminder that so much that is strange, odd, zany, and on the fringe of rational articulation is also what is so emphatic about everyday lived experience. Just as Whit sits with his origami lotus fortune-teller, manipulating "the four paper diamonds with [his] thumbs and forefingers, open/closed, side-to-side/front-to-back, watching the chapters of [his] life converge and scatter, converge and scatter" (Ectric 240), Ectric's novel looks back-and-forth, side-to-side interrogating memory with a kind of mourning for the imagination where consolation is always just so slightly out of reach. For all the entertaining paranormal intertextuality and insightful mischievousness, what really lingers after reading "Tamper" is its thoughtfulness and warmheartedness.

It's like one summer from your youth that sticks in your mind. Adventure, Suspense and Humor. A truly great read...

This strong first novel follows two paths. On the one hand our narrator has perceptions of the world that are strange and mystical. He wonder's if Richard S. Shaver -- who wrote about evil underground dwellers callefd the "dero" that "tampered" with mankind was right. The other thread is the storyof a young man in the 70s coming of age and overcoming mental illness. But neither path is the Truth. Truth comes from synthesis -- of Wonder and the day job, of Terror and home maintence. This book provides hope and Horror, Wonder and responsibility with a good dose of humor and a healthy disrespect for authority. Besides it includes a diagramfor making a "cootie catcher." This is a happy, tender version of themes that Phillip k. Dick obsessed with. A good book from a writer to watch -- I reviewed in more detail in the _Nw York R3eview of Scince fiction._

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bill Ectric's novel TAMPER. It occupies it's own unique space, splitting the difference between being a magic realism coming of age story and a coming to grips psychological adventure, finding ground somewhere between Machen's The Hill Of Dreams, and Blatty's Twinkle, Twinkle,"Killer" Kane!

Many things in this book rang true, like those strange synchronicities that seem to happen to those that investigate esoteric topics. I really enjoyed this novel and can't wait for the next one!

Tamper was a welcome read, a great novel about the things we see, and the things we believe we see - and, is there a difference there? The story setting is familiar and exotic at the same time - with flashbacks to a time that's not there anymore, and that was filled with wonder.There's an underlying tension to the book - something you would find in Stephen King or HP Lovecraft, and I don't pass comparisons with a light heart; the story picked up pace and the writing was wonderfully crafted to serve the adventure the main characters were living.I recommend this book to anyone that's looking for a story that will stay with you long after you've read it.