“False Cargo” by L. Ron Hubbard

“False Cargo”
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multi-cast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio (July 2012 release date)
Approx 2 hours

If you will allow, I’m going to give you a heads up on your summer audiobook listening. First of all, this July Galaxy Audio / Galaxy Press will be releasing another audio pulp and paperback collection in the Stories from the Golden Age releases. They have been releasing L. Ron Hubbard’s stories that were originally published in the pulp magazines in the early to mid-20th century each month since 2008. I’ve been enjoying the audiobook versions of these books for a few years now and glad to see they have lots more to come. The July release will be a collection of two Sea Adventure stories featuring the title story “False Cargo” and a second story “Grounded.”

While reading these stories in the paperback form will still give you that real pulp-fiction feel, the audio versions of the books are superb. The paperback versions have the feel because they have simulated the old pulp paper that have the pulp magazines the nickname, but even better the covers of the books are thick and use the original artwork from the magazine covers of the time, also the stories have illustrations every so often to give that extra oomph. But what makes the audiobooks so awesome, in my opinion, is that they are produced with sound effects, excellent voice acting and music that all together give them an almost old-time radio feel. (Almost, because as the listener you don’t have to listen to the actors sell you soap or hair cream.)

The first story and the title story of this release is, “False Cargo,” originally published in the May, 1935 issue of “Five Novels.” The story starts out with a bit of mystery where Brent Calloway takes on the identity of a ruthless killer known as Spike O’Brien. Calloway does this to gain access to the ship, the “Barclay.” Calloway as it turns out is an insurance fraud investigator and is sent to make sure the shipment makes it safely to port. The problem is that the crew is out making money scuttling ships and collecting the insurance money, and are not prepared to let anyone take away their golden calf.

When O’Brien makes his appearance, surprisingly, on the ship Calloway and Dorothy a passenger on the ship and a friend of one of Brent’s best friends are in danger of losing their lives. Calloway now has to get himself, Dorothy and the ship safely to San Diego while fighting the insurance thieves. Danger on the waters and danger on the ship threatens the lives of everyone in this Sea Adventure.

“Grounded” is the second/bonus story in this release, and from all the research I put in I could only find that this adventure story was written in April of 1932. It seems to be the second short story written by Hubbard and doesn’t have the same type of ending as his pulp-fiction writings. Usually the good guy wins and gets the dame, this time though, the good guy wins but at the cost of his own life. With his reputation ruined by the death of a friend in an air incident, a Royal Air Force lieutenant seeks to redeem himself on patrol in pre-World War II China. This story has a great feel to it and yet it is dark and foreboding, and even has a bit of a morality tale feel as well.

Two great adventure stories on the sea from the master storyteller, coming July 2012 from Galaxy Audio and Galaxy Press.

“Zombies vs. Nazis; A Lost History of the Walking Dead” by Scott Kenemore

“Zombies vs. Nazis; A Lost History of the Walking Dead”
by Scott Kenemore
published by Skyhorse Publishing
259 pages

Sometimes you just have to read a zombie book for fun. I know, that’s kind of hard to do with zombies being the flesh-eating creatures wanting to eat brains, but if you ever pick up a zombie book by Scott Kenemore you’ll see what I mean by a fun zombie book. Scott is the same author that brought to the zombie literary world; “The Zen of Zombie,” “Z.E.O,” “The Art of Zombie Warfare,” and his novel “Zombie, Ohio.” He always takes the fun approach to zombies and sometimes applies them to possible practical uses.

Scott Kenemore is a fan of all things zombie and throws in as much of his knowledge as can fit into each book. This time around he breaks out some lost communications between the leaders of the Third Reich and some scientists sent to Haiti to find the secret to making zombies so that the Fatherland could send armies of zombies to trample the allied forces and lead to the Rise of the Third Reich as THE world power.

The book is written as if they are communications from three scientists sent to Haiti to find the secrets of zombie making. The communications are reports from each member 2 of which are under the guise of lepidopterists, in search of the Haitian Monarch Butterfly and a third disguised as a member of the clergy. One of the scientists begins his excursion falling from the heat and complaining non-stop even threatening the “Obergruppenfuhrer” with punishment from his influential family to get him back to the Fatherland. This scientist is Franz Baedecker, and his communiques are some of the funniest in the book.

Baedecker soon changes his tune and goes native. Baedecker even sends messages to not tell the other two where he is and that he is seeking further information by entrenching himself with the voodoo practitioners to learn more.

Gunter Knecht, under the guise of a clergy, places himself among the other clergy sent to convert the heathens to Christianity, Judaism or Muslim by the other clergy on the island. Knecht is taken in by Father Gill (a drunken Irish priest) and shown a zombie making ceremony, but before the ceremony begins, is abducted and tied in a cave in a compromising position as a warning.

The three eventually find zombies, battle zombies and even make zombies, but problems and in-fighting prevents the three from bringing the secrets back to Hitler, thus allowing the Allies to win the war.

“Zombies vs. Nazis” is a hilarious book that will keep you giggling at the exploits of what seems to be the Nazi equivalent of the Three Stooges.

“Phantom Universe: Summer Chronicles, Book 1″ By Laura Kreitzer

“Phantom Universe: Summer Chronicles, Book 1″
By Laura Kreitzer
Read by Karen Savage
Published by Revolution Publishing
8 hours 38 minutes

Once again it’s time to take a romp into the world of Young Adult fiction, and sticking to my favorite genre overall, Science-Fiction.  Some of the most interesting stories come from Young Adult fiction, but then again so have some of the worst, I won’t mention any names (cough, cough, Twilight, cough, cough), but I think you know some.   Anyway this book and what looks to be a series is among one of the most interesting.   I will admit it was a bit frustrating, but in a fun way.  Frustrating because it was so cleverly written that it kept me trying to guess what was happening next, and constantly changing that guess.

This audiobook is read by Karen Savage, and I’ll be one of the first to jump on her bandwagon.  Ms. Savage captures the voice, or rather the inner-voice of Summer, the main character in the story.  She also is able to differentiate the separate voices of the other characters with  ease and let me tell you that is no easy feat.  The voices range from Scottish and British accents, to pirates, to Native American, to Canadian, and even some Southern American.   Each one is performed beautifully in order to enhance the telling of this romp through time.   So now I have one more audiobook voice artist to put on my list to listen to more often.

Oh, I see you caught that time travel hint.  Well the time traveling done in this first book of the Summer Chronicles is only one way with a large amount of people traveling 200 years into the future.  But before I get caught up in that aspect, which was one of the frustrating parts of the story for me, remember, frustrating in a good way.

Summer lives in the modern day world as a slave.  Yes this book talks about child slavery and gets a bit rough, but it is all done to further the story and create the what turns out to be a strong character in Summer.  Summer was sold into slavery by, what at first seems like her mother, but more is learned to deter that idea later in the book.  She is sold at the age of 4 and is beaten with a whip until she learns to not make any noise.  The lessons of the whip are so harsh that Summer, even at the age of 16, does not talk.   She communicates with expressions and by writing on a very few trusted people’s palms.  I have to throw in at this time that this is another time to send kudos to both the author and the reader in representing the thoughts and actions of summer, the author provides the perfect descriptions and the reader presents these words in such a manner that I could visualize easily the facial expressions and emotions of Summer.

At the age of 6 Summer is sold to a Captain of a Pirate ship.  Yes this is modern times, and the pirates, capture ships and sell the cargo.  The Captain of this ship has a liking for large screen TVs and captures container ships carrying this cargo.  Throughout her life on the ship, Summer never talks and becomes the Captain’s favorite because she doesn’t talk.  This section of the book is told with flashbacks throughout her life on the ship to modern day of Summer at 16 years old with the flashbacks talking about different things that shaped her character.  One such event is one where she is nearly raped by a crew member but is saved by another slave, a boy near her age by the name of Landon.  Summer and Landon become best friends from then on.

About halfway through the book a surprising event happens and the Pirate ship is boarded by The Secret Clock Society in search of Summer.  Jaiden, a slave from before Summer was sold to the pirates, is sent to find Summer, but instead she betrays the Society and helps Summer escape just as the ship explodes.  Jaiden and Summer manage to make it to shore, but are unsure of the fate of Landon.

On shore a strange thing happens and the two wake up to the intrusion of a military force capturing the two girls and rounding up what are called “Outlanders.”  Summer strangely begins to feel something for the commander of the force, Gage, and for some odd reason trusts him, this trust comes from deep within and she doesn’t understand why when she has never trusted anyone in her life, except for Landon.

Gage and the others are members of the Canadian military and reveal to Jaiden and Summer that they are now in the year 2210.  This is where it got really frustrating for me.  How did they travel through time? Why?  Summer is examined by a medical personnel and it is decided she is not in any shape to be taken to the Outlanders internment camp.  So she spends some time in a hospital where the years of starvation and severe beatings are treated.

In the year 2210 the Canadian government has taken over most of the civilized world.  While the United States and the rest of the world were busy with World War III, the Canadians were tired of wars and wanted peace and were able to invade through covert actions and behind the lines invasions.  I found this odd but so did some of the other characters from the past so this part was not treated too lightly and an explanation is provided, but I will leave that up to you to discover.  One of the things that caused the Canadians to be able to take control was an “Exodus,” in which 200 million people disappeared.

So how did Summer travel to the future? and why?  Well that is the fun of this story, and it would be a spoiler, so I won’t be telling you, but it completely changes the character of Summer and all her friends new and old, and starts a saga that is only begun in this book one of “The Summer Chronicles.”  I’ll warn you now, don’t try and figure out why or how, just enjoy the great storytelling and when it is explained, just say, “Ahhh, of course.”  Oh also as is in most Young Adult fiction you have a bit of silly teen romance going, but that is not the bulk of the story, so just let that slide as well.

“The Toughest Ranger” by L. Ron Hubbard

“The Toughest Ranger”
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multi-cast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio
Approx. 2 hours

Wanna get roped into a fun story from the golden age of stories?  Read on and I’ll tell you about a fun collection of stories that will be released this coming June from Galaxy Audio and Galaxy Press.

Galaxy Press and the audio book equivalent Galaxy Audio have been releasing the stories from the Golden Age, other wise known as the days of pulp fiction, since 2008.   During the early to mid 20th century in America there were all sorts of cheaply printed magazines that specialized in everything from sci-fi, mysteries, crime-stories to westerns.  The magazines were printed on cheap paper that was so cheap that the pulp was clearly seen and felt, thus the name Pulp Fiction.  Many writers used these magazines as outlets to release some of the greatest stories ever written.  During this time L. Ron Hubbard was prolific at putting out the stories and he would write in every genre of fiction that was printed in these magazines.  Galaxy Press has been re-releasing these stories creating a newer version of the pulps.  These books contain stories written by Hubbard in these magazines and picking up these books you can escape back in time and enjoy some fun short stories from the master storyteller.

Galaxy Audio is the audiobook side of Galaxy Press and they release the books in audio form that still create that feel of the pulps.  The audiobooks sound like an old-time radio drama from those same days.  With the over the top Hubbard characters, the actors bring to life the written word with some great vocal acting.  The music is created for each genre and really push the emotions and excitement of the stories.  One other thing, being like an old-time radio drama they have sound effects that not only perfectly match the events and ambiance of the story settings but keep the story in your head so you can still create your own theatrical performance.

This time around I listened to another group of stories from the Western genre.  This is a genre that I never had even thought of reading, let alone listen to in audiobook form.  I was just never a Western fan.   With the excellent productions I had heard from Galaxy Audio in the Sci-Fi stories from L. Ron Hubbard, I ventured into some of the Fantasy, Mystery and Adventure stories and finally broke down and gave the Westerns a chance.  I was not at all surprised at the production being just as superb but I was surprised that I now look forward to listening to another Hubbard Western story.  The two aspects that sold me are the excellent vocal skills of all the actors and the realistic but subtle sound effects, even the rattlesnakes sound like they can strike if you get to close to the speakers.

This book, which once again will be released in June of 2012, contains 3 stories from the Western Pulp Fiction magazines.

“The Toughest Ranger,” originally published in the June, 1938 issue of “Western Story Magazine,” tells the story of a  scared, exhausted, and half-starved young Petey McGuire, a saddle tramp on the run from one beating to another, crying sensitively when a lame horse has to be shot.  He finally gets angry or maybe hungry enough to become the toughest Ranger.  Petey finds his way to the headquarters of the Arizona Rangers looking for a job.  Needing food for himself and his horse, Petey creates a new ornery personality; he claims to be the toughest man around from Kansas City to Nawlins (New Orleans for you city folk), a man so tough he’d give a rattler nightmares. But when the chief Ranger, Captain Shannon, calls Petey’s bluff and sends him after the most dangerous desperado in the state, Petey must discover what it really means to be Ranger-tough.

The second story, “The Ranch That No One Would Buy,” originally published in the October, 1939 issue of “Western Yarns,” tells the tale of when a fearful young man comes to town to buy a ranch for a friend and is challenged to a gun fight for cheating by the local bully.  The outcome of the six-gun showdown seems sadly predictable.   But this is an L. Ron Hubbard book and one of the things he’s best at is throwing twists and turns into a story, and the ending may surprise you a bit.

“Silent Pards,” originally published in the November, 1938 issue of “Western Story Magazine” is a fun tale that tells of an old prospector, Old Cherokee, who gets his gold stolen from him twice, but when of  rattlesnakes have Old Cherokee marked for their hungry fangs, they overlook his two silent partners, his dog, Hardtack, and Joe the mule.  This one was the best story to close out this collection, in that it was just plain fun, and you knew the bad guys were gonna get what’s due.

So venture off into some fun stories from the days of Pulp fiction and escape.

“11/22/63″ by Stephen King

“11/22/63″
by Stephen King
Published by Scribner (2011)
849 pages

If I remember right, “Christine” was the very first Stephen King book I read, and since then I have read every book published by Mr. King. The King of Horror is my go to man when it comes to wanting something to read and not sure what I want to put my hands on. He has never let me down and always creates a story that is not only intriguing but can envelop the reader completely. I have read every thing he has written to date, and when he announced he was retiring, I desperately sought out other similar authors; Dean Koontz and Clive Barker were a couple, but none seemed to grab me as much as Stephen King. I have other favorite authors, but Stephen King will always be my utmost favorite. So with that in mind, understand I enjoy every Stephen King book and don’t think I could give them a bad review if I tried. This one is no different.

A lot of critics say he gets too wordy, but I think that is what I enjoy in a Stephen King novel, the expansion of the main story into something else entirely and eventually he will bring you back to the main idea that started the story in the first place. This book is exactly that. The main premise is that there is a portal that goes back to September, 1958, and when you return it is only as if two minutes have passed, no matter how long you stay in the past. So with that as the main part of the story and the title of the book “11/22/63,” you know someone is going back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Again, this is a Stephen King book and the development of a story doesn’t stop with that idea. There are whole lives involved and whoever goes back to the past has to live in the past for five years before the event happens, so now the story really unfolds.

Basically Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. In the beginning of the story he receives an essay from one of the students, which is a true Stephen King gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk. Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on a mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

It seems Al has tried this but the past is obdurate and does everything it can to prevent the future from being altered. Al has been diagnosed with cancer and is about to die. Jake is the only one that can change the past to make the future better. Before he does something as drastic as preventing Kennedy’s assassination, Jake decides to first try and save Harry Dunning’s family from his murderous father. While the past does try to keep Jake from changing the outcome, he manages, barely, to save all but one member of the family. When he returns to the present he sees that it can be done but that there are consequences.

One other thing, each time someone goes back through the portal to 1958, the past/future resets. So Jake must save several people on the second time round and eventually move to Texas and get ready for the big mission. Here’s where the story gets involved and becomes more than just a time travel novel. Jake, Now George Amberson, has taken up teaching in a small town while he stalks Lee Harvey Oswald, to confirm he is the one and only shooter and to plan on how to stop Oswald before the deed is done.

During this time Jake/George, falls in love, finds his life is teaching and that he loves helping out the students, but all the while Oswald lurks near and must be stopped.

So while enjoying a story of a man out of time thoroughly getting lost in life, the time travel aspect keeps coming up, especially the mention of the “butterfly-effect,” and how much of the future is changed by his simple interactions with people and especially students. This effect is made even more prominent when near the end of the book he returns to his own time, only it is not his time anymore.

Can this simple (really not that simple) plan of saving one of history’s favorite Presidents be a good thing or a bad thing. In writing this story King not only relied on his gift of an elaborate imagination, but he also had many discussions with historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin and actually has a fully thought out and debated plan for the future with Kennedy surviving, which may surprise you.

All around this is a fun book and yet another Stephen King book that provides one more answer to the What If question.

“World War Z” by Max Brooks

“World War Z”
by Max Brooks
Multi-cast performance
Published by Random House Audio (2006)
6 hours and 3 minutes

Yes it’s another zombie book review from me. Hey, I just can’t help myself, I love these zombie books. Some are terrifying, some are humorous and some, like this one, just make you think. Nearly every zombie movie and book has somewhere in it the saying about when Hell is full the dead shall walk the Earth, they may not quote it exactly but it seems to be a great explanation for a zombie apocalypse. It also provides a great excuse for religious zealots to appear in zombie movies. Either way I’m not waiting for Hell to fill up, I’m getting prepared for the zombie apocalypse now, and Max Brooks books (World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide) seem to be great resources.

This book tells of the Zombie Apocalypse and how all the nations of the Earth handled this horror show. Told in a series of interviews by the author, the apocalypse is reviewed from start to what may be the end. The interviews are with doctors, soldiers, the vice-president and other prominent political leaders. While this is a fun book with lots of pop-culture reference, it does, at times, seem like a slam toward government and bureaucracy. Due to the other conflicts in the world the army is not prepared for a horde of living dead that have no central command. At one point in the book a young Palestinian doesn’t believe the dead are rising and thinks it a trick of the Israelis. The war at first looks like it may be a total loss but when the president of the United States holds a U.N. meeting (or rather what is left of the U.N.) onboard the USS Saratoga he finally is able to get the world to band together to fight off the zombie horde in a fashion that will secure the world for the living.

At first there are problems, with the thinking of zombies cannot survive the frozen north, many people migrate to colder climates for what they at first think is a simple camping trip, but once arriving and winter setting in, realizing they are not prepared, and when supplies run low, the people turn on each other.

I have to tell you a bit about my journey into this full-cast production of the audiobook before I let you know how awesome this recording is. I knew I would be reading this book or listening to it, especially with my love of zombie books, but I was planning at first to read the “Zombie Survival Guide” by Brooks. But thanks to a few friends telling me how awesome this book was I decided to do this one first. I first checked out the unabriged version with a single reader and got through a few chapters of the book and was getting bored. The reader was doing a straight read and no acting, and this book really requires some acting involved. I was looking for information on the book while listening and found that a full cast version was recorded, albeit abriged. I don’t normally listen to or read abridged books, but when I saw some of the cast members of this book, I couldn’t resist.

The cast includes; Alan Alda, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, John Torturro, Henry Rollins, and more. Just those names mentioned and I had to get this book. I mean, c’mon Hawkeye Pierce in a Zombie book? Let me tell you It was worth it and more. The actors were superb, of course, and the mult-cast made this book much more believable due to the many people “interviewed” in the book. It was a blast to hear this version and I never regretted the abridged version.

The social commentary made a lot of sense especially the aspect of Hollywood stars and social elite being totally worthless, and Joe the Plumber or Joe the Carpenter becoming the most valuable of citizens in time of disaster. The interview with Henry Rollins’ character T. Sean Collins, a bodyguard to the rich, proves this point perfectly in this book.

This book combines horror, social commentary, and some fun into a must read, or in this case listen, zombie book. From this book you’ll learn just how close the human race is to becoming extinct. Whether you are a fan of zombies or not, trust me you will enjoy this book, and as an added bonus, you’ll learn how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.

And now for the good news; There will be a movie made from this book. I can’t wait.

“Immortality, Inc.” by Robert Sheckley

“Immortality, Inc.”
by Robert Sheckley
read by Bronson Pinchot
published by Blackstone Audio (2011)
Approx 6 hours.

Okay first of all I want to apologize for the time between reviews, this time around I have picked 2 long audiobooks and one extremely long printed book. But soon I’ll be back on track. They have all been worth it, especially squeezing in this 6 hour fun journey into the future.

I knew this was the right book to be listening to, right now, because of the subject matter and the side stories created. First of all this book is a nice piece of classic science-fiction that involves time travel and immortality. So right there you know this is going to be interesting. But the book also involves ghosts, spirits, the afterworld, hauntings, and zombies. The cool part of this was that, of the other books I was reading or hearing at the time, one was a zombie book, one was a time travel book and then there’s this one. As for the ghosts, well, in case you didn’t know it I’m also a paranormal investigator with a local group (on facebook http://www.facebook.com/psiofi ) and one of the side ventures I was doing that may have helped to delay this book was a little ghost hunting on the side, so all the subjects covered in this were fitting in with all my other projects.

“Immortality, Inc.” was first published in 1959 and gave a bit of a grim look at humanity’s future. Sheckley’s unsettling vision of the future is told in a bit of a witty sort of way so as not to be one of those depressing dystopian novels, like “1984″ or “A Brave New World,” I loved those books, but every time I read them I get just a bit depressed. This book however had some fun moments. In fact there is one moment in the book that is so humorous it was represented in the animated series “Futurama.” The moment is when the main character, Tom Blaine, finds himself transplanted from the year 1958 to the year 2110 and in trying to escape the hustle and bustle of the city of the future, finds himself in line for a suicide booth.

This story was said to be the basis of the 1992 film “Freejack,” starring Emilio Esteves and Mick Jagger. But from what I remember of the film, Hollywood took some creative license and mucked around with the story quite a bit. I’m going to have to rent that again and compare sometime soon.

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this intriguing and thought provoking sci-fi piece of art, I need to first talk about the reader. Bronson Pinchot is the reader, and after listening to the whole book, I have to say he does a superb job. I will admit that starting out the story I was worried because he seemed to be delivering the story in a very dry manner, but looking back that worked for the intro. As the story progressed and the characters started making their appearance, Pinchot shined. His ability to create voices for the separate characters was stunning. In some cases it was quite comical and worked perfectly with the humor written into the story. My favorite was his representation of a sleazy “transplant” street seller. Transplant is the ability to place your mind into any other body (and it doesn’t necessarily have to be human) and the salesman was like the combination of a pimp and one of those old trench coat wearing counterfeit watch sellers, and the picture i got while he voiced the guy almost made me feel slimy listening. Bravo!

So, what’s this story about anyway? Well, Tom Blaine dies in a car crash in 1958 only to wake up alive in the year 2011. The Rex Corporation has taken Tom’s essence, soul, spirit from the past and put it into a “donated” body. The breakthrough of time travel is not new, but this form of transplanting the soul through time is new. They plan on using Tom as their poster-child for the process, until they learn the Government won’t allow this process. So they shut down all the plans to use Tom. He is released from Rex Corporation and goes out to explore the world in his new body. Maria Thorn, a representative from Rex Corporation soon rescues Tom from a body snatcher and helps him to properly view life. Body Snatchers take young healthy bodies (people) and kill them to allow the older rich people to reincarnate into them.

The rich can do this legally but the illegal bodies are usually healthier and easier to come by. In fact, one of the doctors that brought Blaine over to 2110, is about to be reincarnated into a young body, but something goes wrong and the doctor is pushed out in the process by another spirit. The other spirit takes too much time acquiring the new body and becomes what is known in the year 2110 as a zombie. A zombie is a spirit that inhabits a body but the body is still dead and decaying fast.

This zombie soon starts following Tom around, because he has some tie to Tom but cannot fulfill his mission until he remembers what that is. The zombie population help Tom escape when Tom is placed on a wanted list, but the threat of the one zombie still lingers.

Tom is soon hunted down and after receiving conditioning to be able to make the journey into the afterlife, by being gifted with hereafter insurance, the Rex Corporation wants to kill him to cover up their crime of saving a soul without prior written consent. Tom then has to travel the world to escape the hunting squads and to find what the purpose of the zombie’s constant companionship.

A story about man’s future and how even after finding there is an afterlife, humanity finds a way to ruin that. Some funny moments and even some nice thrilling moments. This should be added to any true sci-fi fan’s library.

“A Million Suns” by Beth Revis

“A Million Suns”
by Beth Revis
Read By Tara Carrozza & Lucas Salvagno
Published by Penguin Audio
10 hours and 18 minutes

Young Adult fiction is one of those great genres that appeals to all ages, and can be a hit or miss. Recently the “Twilight” series of young adult vampire romance took the world by storm (hopefully that waste of time is over), before that there was Harry Potter and now “The Hunger Games” has been released as a movie. So the young adult fiction genre is one worth checking out, no matter your age. Many of the stories are extremely well written and just having the main characters as teenagers puts them in the YA category. While listening to this audiobook, I was (and still am) listening to another YA audiobook. This one is science fiction and the other is a Zombie Apocalypse YA book. So as you can see lots of directions you can go with this genre.

This book is book two of the “Across the Universe” trilogy with the third book due (at the time of this posting) early 2013, so If you haven’t read the first one or listened to the audiobooks you still have some time so get going. Being the second book in the series there are some things that need to be stated to help you get caught up. The ship Godspeed is a multigenerational ship that has been sent on its 300 year mission to a planet that orbits the twin suns of Alpha Centauri. The crew consists of a group of people who have been set up in the ship with specific duties to keep the ship running generation after generation. The citizens of Godspeed are led by an Eldest who trains an Elder to rule the next generation. The ship’s main cargo consists of around a hundred or so people from various walks of life who are frozen in cryogenic chambers to be thawed upon arrival at Centauri Earth.

There has been a bit of a mutiny in the Eldest/Elder community where one Elder is thought dead and a younger Elder is being trained to replace Elder. The missing Elder has taken the name Orion and started unthawing the “frozens.” Amy has been thawed out and joins Elder in solving the mystery of who is killing the frozens. Amy discovers that there are engine problems and that Godspeed may not arrive for another 50 years. Soon Orion is caught and frozen to be thawed and tried by the other “frozens” upon arrival at Centauri Earth. But not before it is revealed that the population of Godspeed have been controlled through drugs, and fooled for generations about the arrival at Centauri Earth.

Here in book two, Amy now has settled with the fact she may never see her parents again (they are among the “frozens”) and has to start her life on Godspeed and decide if she is going to have a relationship with Elder. Elder is now in charge of the Godspeed, following the death of Eldest. He is determined to be different in his leadership style, no more lies and no more drugging his people. But rebellions begin rising up, laziness threatens food production, and there’s another murderer onboard. Meanwhile, Amy stumbles across a thread of clues left behind by Orion, explaining his extreme actions and revealing more secrets that will affect the entire ship, leaving Amy and maybe Elder with a choice to make. One of those secrets is that Godspeed is no longer moving through space, not merely moving slower than expected.

This story mixes a coming-of-age type story with mystery, romance and adventure with some superb science-fiction. The science-fiction aspect should be the one that grabs you but with all the rest thrown in, it’s pretty hard to resist.

Both teen and adult science fiction fans will enjoy this extraordinary coming-of-age story. Filled with intense suspense, adventure, mystery, and a bit of romance – A Million Suns is pure excitement from beginning to its cliffhanger ending. This fantastic space opera trilogy is a must-read.

The book is separated with each chapter told from the point of view of either Amy or Elder and the team of Tara Carrozza and Lucas Salvagno doing the reading the story flows perfectly. Each able to capture the main characters and all their personalities, as well as vary their voices well enough to still allow for the multiple character’s dialogues to be perfectly translated.

 

“The Ringworld Throne” by Larry Niven

“The Ringworld Throne”
by Larry Niven
read by Paul Michael Garcia
Produced by Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Approx 14 hours

I’m not sure what it is but with sci-fi book series there seems to be a hit and miss for each book. The first book in the series seems to always be a hit (I guess otherwise there wouldn’t be sequels) but the next books can range from being as good as the original, sometimes better, or sometimes worse. With the “Dune” series, the sequels and prequels were hit and miss but always had something to contribute to the collection. I think the same could be said about this “Ringworld” series. The first book, “Ringworld,” was phenomenal, especially in the creation of the Ringworld and the physics involved. What also made the first book so good was the mystery behind who created the ringworld and why. Now that I have just read this 3rd book in the series, I think since the mystery of who created the ringworld has been answered it lacks some of that air of mystery. Now the struggles to keep the ringworld alive seem trivial. But nonetheless, this book contains some nice sci-fi and was a nice addition to the series.

I will have to say one of the things that kept this audiobook so enjoyable, was the voicework of Paul Michael Garcia. Garcia did an excellent job of narrating the story, but the best was his ability to give a voice to the vast array of characters representing several different homonid and non-homonid races. At times I almost felt as though I was listening to a multicast performance. His ability to adjust his voice to not only clarify the different characters speaking or thinking but to also represent the sound of the alien species was phenomenal and made the listen a lot more fun.
This is the third book in the series and takes place just a few years after the events in “Ringworld Engineers.” The ringworld has been restabilized after Louis Wu uses a gas expulsion from the sun to knock the ringworld back into proper orbit. The problem with this method that weighs heavy on Louis is that millions died in the process. This book begins with showing that not as many of the ringworld’s inhabitants died as was expected. In this third book in the series the book is actually split into two separate stories that merge into one in the end of the book.

The first story tells of the different species of homonids who are out to destroy a nest of vampires who feed on the ringworld’s inhabitants. The main group is somewhat let by some of the characters Louis met in the second book. The second story continues with Louis Wu and his crew who are taken prisoner by a vampire protector. The Protectors are a race that evolve from the species they protect. The Vampire protector here, who Louis names Bram, uses Louis to regain control over the Ringworld’s defenses.

With some very interesting species and some nice science to create the sci-fi, this book is still a must read in the series, but it does lack that air of mystery that made the first book a top read.

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
by Ransom Riggs
Published by Quirk Books (2011)
352 pages

Okay before we start on this book I have to share some info that took place in the reading of this book. While reading this fascinating young adult fiction, I opened up a store with a friend of mine. While opening the store I started reading this book in hardcover format, that’s important and will be explained later. The store we have opened is True Hideaway Family & Gaming ( http://www.truehideaway.com or find us on face book) The central focus of the store is for gamers especially those that play “Magic; the Trading Card Game,” we have friday night tournaments and are looking at maybe doing tournaments other nights since we’ve become popular.

We affectionately refer to our store as a “nerd store,” because it is home to all things nerdy. My part of the store is comic books and collectibles, the other aspect is we sell books (manga, reprinted pulp-fiction books, sci-fi / fantasy novels and graphic novels) as well as all the gaming materials. We even have regular “old-fashioned” board games and anyone can come in anytime and play a game. Role playing games seem to be highly popular and we have folks come in and play their campaigns. I am liquidating my old comic book collection of around 2,000 or so comics and when I sold an old “Kiss” comic from the mid-70s for $70, I decided to reward myself by finally buying a kindle.

With my rewarded kindle in hand, I loaded up some books that are on my to-read list and took off. The first book I loaded was this book, I was halfway through the hardcover, but I thought what better way to launch than to get this “peculiar” book rolling. I am now in love with my kindle, but every so often I know I’m going to go back to a regular tree killing book, but for now, I’m a kindler.

Okay let’s move on to this book, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.” When I first picked up this book I wasn’t aware that it was a Young Adult fiction, I knew it was fiction, but the goal is for ages 13 and up. The and up is very true, this book is very well written, with a fascinating story and some great adventures thrown in that make this book perfect for all ages.

The book was originally intended to be a picture book with the photographs that were collected by various people from bins of lost photographs found at flea markets and such. But thanks to a genius editor at Quirk Books, Riggs wrote a story based on the photographs. The photos are all peculiar in and of themselves and putting them together to form a story the author shows not only genius himself but a storytelling ability that would put any comic book writer to shame.

The bulk of the pictures feature various weirdness of subjects; a man posing with a rock in the background looking as though he’s lifting the boulder, a young boy’s head on a dog’s body, a young girl looking as though she’s holding a flaming orb. Many of the pictures are a bit creepy and sometimes when the story behind them created by Riggs is told they can seem extremely normal or even creepier.

The story revolves around Jacob whose grandfather had escaped Nazi invasion by fleeing to a children’s home on an island off the coast of Wales. The children are all “peculiar,” at least according to the stories from Jacob’s grandfather. There is the invisible boy, a teacher that is a bird, a strong man, a girl that floats, one that controls the growth of plants. So at times this school seems to have come out of an issue of X-men comics. But the story goes even further when Jacob witnesses the death of his grandfather at the hands of a shadowy figure. Jacob tells his story and immediately branded as suffering a mental breakdown due to the loss of his grandfather. His grandfather’s last words were to follow the loop to September 30, 1940 and find the bird. Cryptic yes, but after exploring his grandfather’s possessions he finds that the school his grandfather survived the war in exists.

When Jacob and his father make a trip to Wales, the dark secret behind “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children” is revealed and soon Jacob must save the children and possibly the world.

Superb creativity that will capture the attention of anyone of all ages.