Memory & Desire: A Postcard from Neo Tokyo

The Jennifer Yanchez Diaries #1

by C. Vandyke

When a rich socialite from the exclusive Upper region of Neo Tokyo needs help finding her missing husband, Jennifer Yanchez thinks her luck is finally changing. A decade after her girlfriend Hiro was killed, Jennifer is still trapped deep in the bottle and even deeper in debt, but this job promises to change all that. However, when a visit to the woman’s apartment ends in a fiery explosion, Jennifer finds herself drawn into the orbit of a mysterious, robot-fighting woman who seems to be aligned with a terrorist cell. Distracted by her employer's erotic advances and haunted by memories of her girlfriend’s death, Jennifer needs to sort the truth from the lies before the past repeats ... and she ends up dead herself. "Memory & Desire" is the first in The Jenifer Yanches Diaries, a series following the adventures of a cyberpunk private-eye. It is also part of the Postcards from Neo Tokyo universe, short pieces of fiction all taking place in a shared dystopian future where robots rule the world and humanity teeters on the brink of existential extinction ... or liberation.

60 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 23, 2019

About the author

Chris Vandyke was born in 1979 and spent the first 16 years of his life in the small coastal town of Gold Beach, Oregon. Since 2002 has been a High School English Teacher in the New York City Public School System, which is, needless to say, somewhat different than his hometown. He is the founder and president of Skullgate Media, a writer-owned publishing collective, as well as the editor-in-chief of Tales from the Year Between, a weird-fiction anthology. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, two children, and a menagerie of animals. They are currently one goat shy of a petting zoo.

Reviews

[Chris Durston · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's only very short, and it's nothing but entertaining from start to finish.

I sort of feel like there's no point saying more than that, 'cos you could read the whole thing in the time it'd take me to say anything else meaningful about it. If you're a fan of gripping cyberpunk and mysteries that are just complex enough to be gripping while also being really simple to follow, check it out.

[Mitch Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memory & Desire: A Postcard from Neo Tokyo (2019) by C. Vandyke is the first book in the Jennifer Yanchez Diaries.

This book follows Jennifer Yanchez who is a private eye. The story begins when a rich and beautiful socialite Carlotta enlists Jennifer’s help in locating her husband Steven. Encouraged to take the dangerous job on by a combination of desire for money, attraction to Carlotta and as a way to get away briefly from the pain of her girlfriend Hiro’s murder, Jennifer decides to take on the case. But soon she finds herself in deeper than she ever thought possible when she is almost killed in an explosion at Carlotta’s apartment in the richer part of the city. However she is saved by Hyacinth Girl who she finds herself also attracted to. In a world filled with attractive women and lies and deceit, Jennifer must find out what on earth is going on before it is too late.

The short novel is intriguing from start to finish. The ending wasn’t totally surprising but some of the details were. Jennifer as a character is very easy to relate to. She is struggling to pay the rent and her head is wrecked with her landlord Manny who ain’t the most understanding though he shows a little compassion in letting her keep Hiro’s vase at one stage. I love how the author weaved class issues into the plot through the differences in Jennifer’s and Carlotta’s situations. I loved the plot, I love a good mystery and I loved the character of Jennifer who I related to in so many ways from her roots of going from paycheck to paycheck and her situation of being pulled into situations by gorgeous women. Only thing we didn’t have in common was her bravery. I would probably have ran a mile at the start to be fair!

A great write full of mystery with a dash of romance. Very gripping all the way through.

[Jacob Klop · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool cyberpunk detective novella. I liked the characters and the world building is top notch.