ok kids...this book is out of print..but if you are lucky enough to get you hands on it, buy it...its really funny read and only has 5 grams of fat....it makes a great companion to your cliff richards biography. so if your a dirty hippie yourself, or just an angry young man with a love of 80's british comedy, then this books for you! >insert reading rainbow music here<

Most English majors think they have a novel or two in them; after reading this book I think I want to avoid the publishing world all together. Writers can be so mean and petty toward each other! That's the impression we get from this dark look at writing and the writing lifestyle, and I loved every page of it. Blacker puts in these lists of famous writers and their quirks (what they did to unblock themselves; quips about their art) that would make a good book on their own (I guess he is working on one that will be out soon). This book is unlike anything I have ever read: Keays seems so honest and trustworthy as first person narrator, but he turns out to be pond scum. And what a surprise ending! It's one of those books where you finish it and start right back at the beginning to see if there was any inkling early on that it would end the way that it did. There isn't, I checked. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Gregory Keays is a writer whose future is, as they say, behind him. One novel, a short period spent on the "young writers to watch" list, and the only thing he has produced since is a dozen unfinished novels and a series of not-yet-published volumes about other writers. He writes a column for a writer's magazine and teaches a writing class at a local institute, while his wife has become one of London's leading interior decorators, earning far more money than he ever will. His relationship with his teenage son is terrible. Gregory's envy of those who were once, potentially, his peers has been eating his guts out for years. Most of those working writers, in his opinion, are mere authors; only he is a real "writer." This is especially true of his opinion of Martin Amis -- whom he always refers to as "Martin." (One must wonder about the true relationship between Amis and Blacker, if any. . . .) Then Peter Gibson shows up in his class and Gregory recognizes true talent. He casts himself as Peter's guide to the literary world -- and discovers the young writer has just completed an amazingly mature, groundbreaking novel. A novel that should have been his. Will be his.

This book started out witty and ruefully funny; you shake your head while smiling at Gregory's corrosive ego and self-delusion. After awhile, though, he's not so funny. And by the denouement -- which I, for one, did not see coming -- he has become downright scary. This study of the decay of an admittedly intelligent man's self-image is a remarkable piece of work.

I've seen this work compared with Lowry's The Giver. I believe this comparison is easy to make but flawed. While both books are addressed at an audience ready to face questions about individuality and society, Lowry's hero faces a society of man's own creation. Blacker's title says it all. While never directly addressing religion, the book cleary suggests that intervention from "above" is evil and to be mistrusted. A Christian parent might want to read this book before giving it to their child. It is very well written, but clearly anti-religious.

"Angel Factory" is one of those rare SF stories that focuses less on actual SF elements than on things that actually make you think. It's far from flawless, but

Thomas Wisdom's family is nice. Too nice. His parents are models of patience, wisdom and kindness, and his sister is the idealized teen daughter (now dating a boringly perfect surfer). Somehow this all seems unnatural to Thomas, and soon he finds out why: His parents, his sister, his slightly nutty dog, and many other people across the world are humanlike alien constructions called "Angels," controlled by an immensely powerful intelligence from a far-off planet, sent to infiltrate human society and save us from ourselves. He himself is adopted, the son of a jaded but kindly ex-barmaid, and the only family member who is really human.

Thomas is at first willing to accept the angels and even help them, but his friend Gip is still suspicious. They uncover evidence that one of their teachers was killed for hacking into secret files about the angels, and Thomas begins to rebel against his parents and what they want for humanity. But who can he trust -- and will he be the next to mysteriously die if the angels think it's all for the best?

Terence Blacker raises a lot of questions in his novel. Is it better to give up free will for security? How much free will do we have? Do we need some bad mixed in with the good to be really, genuinely human? And should you not feel bad because that irritatingly perfect neighbor with the perfect kids might really be an angel? In the manner of Lois Lowry's "The Giver," he presents you with these questions without battering your head with them.

His writing style is pleasantly evocative, especially the soothing alien voice that tells Thomas what he should do. His angel characters are all quite flat, but that was probably intentional. Thomas is a lot more vivid, especially his growing paranoia and his hysterical response to learning that he was adopted. His buddy Gip is even more colorful, weird and X-filesian and harboring a secret of his own; Thomas's mother is a good foil to the perfect parents -- she's flawed and hardened, in a humiliating job, but she clearly cares about him.

The biggest problem is the ending. Blacker twists up a lot of sugarcoated, sinister threads and hints -- we see what the angels will do to protect their secret agenda, including murder of a few troublesome individuals. Basically, they are cold and ruthless underneath the "all-for-the-best" niceness. Yet it seems like he wasn't sure what to do in the final chapters, so wrapped it up in the most convenient way possible. Except it's also the most improbable way, short of having the pod people arrive for a showdown with the angels.

"Angel Factory" doesn't get quite as far as it clearly wishes it could, but it's a pretty good SF read. For people who liked "Giver," and "Dark Side of Nowhere."

I rate this book a 5 because it is exciting. For example, when Thomas Wisdom and his best friend, Gip Sanchez, log on to Thomas' dad's computer they find out a secret. It is that Thomas' family is not who you think they are. The secret is that Thomas' family are angels. They live in England, and once a year they go to Santa Barbara, California. Each angel has a birthmark the shape of a circle, and they each have a kewl disc that if you place it on the birthmark it can kill the angel. Mr. Rendle, Gip and Thomas' math teacher, helps them solve this exciting mystery. But then Mr. Rendle gets hit by a car on purpose. The angels have a group called The Project, and Cy Gabriel is the CEO.

In this book, humans and animals, such as dogs, can be angels.

I am in my 40s, father of two boys, and for me "Homebird" is one testament to my belief that some of the finest fiction available is in that horribly-named "adolescent fiction" category. I found this title serendipitously, and read it in two sittings. Granted it is a brief story, but truly difficult to put down as within a few pages the boy's plight is made clear, and how he will get himself out of his fix becomes a looming question. Three points that should be made about this book. The first is my only real criticism: that the dialogue and language seem condescendingly designed to appeal to a 12-year-old boy, Brit or otherwise. That said, however, a recurring device I liked was the protagonist's habit of checking himself for cliche ways of thinking, speaking, and acting. The second notable point is the method he finally uses to resolve his situation. I won't give it away, but it is realistic -- and the author depicts it in what I feel is the only honest way possible. Thirdly: Though I fondly read the first Harry Potter installment, "Homebird" seems like an antidote to that fantasy. The hero is not an orphan, but he like Harry he is plunged into a foreign world where all is not quite what it seems. And the Homebird finds that while friends come from unexpected places, the familiar is his best friend. Lastly, the title itself is perfect for its lyrical, yet frank representation of the protagonist. After getting past the sometimes-cloying dialogue and narrative, the reader aged 9 and up will find an appealing and realistic hero, a moderately-menacing central plot, and a plausible resolution.