"Kingdom Come" adapted by John Whitman based on a story by Mark Waid and Alex Ross and the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin.

"Kingdom Come"
adapted by John Whitman
based on a story by Mark Waid and Alex Ross and the novelization by Elliot S. Maggin.
Multi-cast performance
Published 1998 byTime Warner AudioBooks
approx. 3 hours

I have only recently become a fan of DC comics. Throughout most of my life I was mostly a Marvel comics fan, especially Spider-Man, because Marvel seemed to me to be more of an Everyman becoming a hero, and DC heroes were rich or from other planets. Sure, I crossed over once in a while for The Flash, and Batman, but that was pretty much it. I'm not sure if it is because I got older or DC comics decided to become more Everyman but I've recently been dipping into the DC pool. A lot of this influence is because of my experience with some great DC comics audiobooks. This storyline I ran across accidentally while looking for more comic/novel based audiobooks. This one was originally done as an audio drama with full sound effects and actors voicing each character. This seemed up my alley so, I gave it a listen and was treated to some fun superhero action.

I mentioned Everyman aspects of comics that I prefer because this book actually looks at the Heroes as gods aspect that I didn't like. It seems that many people of the Earth in this DC comics creation didn't like it either. Before I go into that further, a neat aspect of this story is the combination of the Book of Revelations from the Holy Bible with the possible end of the world that could happen thanks to the battles between super heroes and super villains. Pastor Norman McKay is receiving visions of the end of times, the mysterious hero The Spectre, takes Pastor McKay on a trip through time and space to the various heroes and what has brought about this end of times.

The Earth has a sudden influx of MetaHumans, these are humans that have developed super hero type abilities. When one metahuman, known as Magog, kills the Joker, it seems this would be a good thing, but a hospital full of patients and one Lois Lane, wife of Superman, is collateral damage, does not seem to bother this new breed of metahumans. Superman retires to his Fortress of Solitude and leaves mankind to fend for itself. Jump ahead a few years and the metahumans have gotten rid of all the super villains and now they are bored. So instead of just sitting back and enjoying they peace they begin to battle each other, every time taking out large chunks of various cities. When Magog and a group of metahumans destroy Kansas, Wonder Woman seeks out Superman so they can put a stop to all the metahumans, kind of like the band is getting back together for the Justice League, but, it's not all that easy, it seems Lex Luthor has survived and is getting the villains remaining back together for one final battle.

Can the Justice Leage reform and put aside years of apathy and ill-feelings? This story has some great battles and some great action with an ending only a comic book could put together.

This audio drama packs a pretty good superhero punch with some great voice acting and some excellent sound effects to keep you in the moment. My only beef is with that of the actor portraying Pastor McKay. He is shown all the destruction and despair and on top of that is receiving vision of a Revelations scale, yet he's extremely chipper and happy throughout his dialogue. He just didn't seem believable. Everything else was excellent.

"The Baron of Coyote River" by L. Ron Hubbard

"The Baron of Coyote River"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast performance
Produced 2010 by Galaxy Audio
approx. 2 hours

Once again I listen to a genre I never thought I would even look for, Westerns. These audiobooks by Galaxy Audio have a little extra oomph that keep me coming back. Galaxy Audio have been re-releasing the early works of L. Ron Hubbard, specifically his stories that were originally published in the pulp fiction magazines of the mid-20th century. Galaxy Press and Galaxy Audio have taken extra care to keep that pulp fiction feel of these stories. Many of the short stories fit 2 or 3 per audio book but some are short novellas that fill a Galaxy Press pulp or a Galaxy Audio audio pulp. With the audio books you feel as though you are listening to an old radio drama from around the same time period.

This book contains two stories from the pulps by Hubbard; "The Baron of Coyote River," originally published published in "All Western" in September 1936 and "The Reign of the Gila Monster," originally published in "Western Aces" in September 1937. Both of these stories are fun westerns that contain the little Hubbard twists that keep the listener / reader on the edge of their seats or anxious to turn the page to find out what happens next.

What gives these audio books the radio drama sound is a combination of the excellent voice acting, the realistic sound effects and exclusively written music. During the stampede scene in the first story you feel as though you have been thrown on a horse and thrown in the middle of the story, the sound effects were very well done. The casts for all these stories always create characters that are fun to hear and Jim Meskimen narrates the stories with such professionalism the listener just slides into the story. In the second story of this book the narrator is not Meskimen but they have placed in his place (hard shoes to fill) the actor Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5, The Scarecrow & Mrs. King). Boxleitner does a superb job as guest narrator, giving the listener the feel of sitting around a campfire hearing the tale.

Before I get into the separate stories I feel I need to express something. Many people's first response when seeing Hubbard's name is to immediately have some remark about Scientology. But what needs to be remembered or learned is that before that Hubbard was a master storyteller. These Golden Age stories prove that point in that they are all fantastic and fun short stories that within just a few pages create such enthralling characters and settings. So before you have anything to say about the religion aspect of Hubbard's life, put that out of your mind and just listen to or read a great story.

The first story is the title story, "The Baron of Coyote River." Lance Gordon is an outlaw that is wanted for killing a deputy marshall, but when he arrives in Santos in the territory of Arizona, he ends up working for the other side of the law. It is well known around Santos, that the Baron is a cattle thief and that he hires only the best gunmen to protect his ill gotten cattle. Even the cavalry won't ride into his territory. A local gunman and former cattleman rescues Lance as the sheriff attempts to haul him off to jail. The reason being is the stranger sees in Lance a chance to get his beloved cows back. At this point I have to tell you Hubbard can throw humor into a story that will surprise you. In this story the humor comes from the strangers affection toward his cows, each time he would describe his stolen cows I found myself laughing out loud, yep, I LOL'd. Anyway, back to the story. The stranger and Lance infiltrate the Baron's land and set out to stop this man who is making a mockery of the Territory of Arizona and keeping it from becoming a state. All the way to the very end you will keep trying to guess what will happen next but the end will still surprise you.

The second story, "The Reign of the Gila Monster," is a very funny western story in which Howdy Johnson has set out to create the roughest, toughest town in the west, Powderville. As he gets the town rolling, he leaves to recruit the cowboys that are herding their stock to Chicago to stop in Powderville, thus giving the cowboys a rest on the way and creating an economic boon for the town. While he is a way a man named Gilman (the Gila Monster) comes to town and seems to be rougher and tougher than the town itself, makes himself the Marshall and imposes taxes on everything possible and even the impossible. When Howdy hears of this he has to return to the town to take back what is his. This story has so many funny moments and great dialogue that it should be read over and over to catch it all. Some of the funniest lines are in the description of Gilman, "His hat ... looked bigger than an umbrella." "He had once stepped on [a] hound dog, and ... not even an inch of the animal's tail was visible." "He could take a bottle of whiskey in his hand, close his finger, and say, 'Which one have I got it in?'"

Both great stories that will keep you entertained and help escape whatever you need to escape.

"The Looking Glass Wars" by Frank Beddor

"The Looking Glass Wars"
by Frank Beddor
read by Gerard Doyle
produced 2007 by Scholastic Audio
Approx 9 hours

What if the story of Alice in Wonderland was a true story? All the surrealism, the absurdities, the nonsense was just to make it more digestible to us. That's the approach Frank Beddor uses in his take on the Lewis Carroll classic. In this book Princess Alyss (yep, that's the way she spells it) is celebrating her 7th birthday in Wonderland. Her mother is Queen Genevieve Heart and the ruler in the Queendom of Wonderland which is ruled with imagination and is the source of imagination for all other worlds. Her Aunt, Redd, has been in exile and uses the celebration of Alyss's birthday to distract the citizens as she and her card army invade.

In this story the characters in Carroll's book are fictionalized version of the real Wonderland characters. The Reverend Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll's real name) writes the book after listening to Alice, who cannot seem to convince people it is spelled "Alyss," and changes some of the names and events for the book. The White Rabbit is actually Alyss's tutor Bibwit Harte (anagram there), the Mad Hatter is Hatter Madigan, a member of the Millinery which is Wonderland's military, and is almost a dark character who is Alyss's bodyguard but has the abilities and weapons of an assassin. The parliament of Wonderland is ruled by representatives from different card suits; clubs, diamonds and spades. Alyss's best friend is Dodge Anders who is the son of a guard who seems to be a real and dedicated friend, but the Jack of Diamonds is destined to wed Alyss and is always causing trouble for the young Dodge.

While Redd's army invades Wonderland, Alyss and Hatter escape with the help of Dodge Anders as Redd kills Alyss's mother and father and takes over the throne. Dodge's father, the captain of the guards is killed by The Cat and Redd then orders The Cat to kill Alyss and Hatter. Alyss and Hatter barely escape to "our" world through the pool of tears. The problem is that Alyss ends up in London and Hatter ends up in Paris. Hatter then spends the next 13 years trying to find Alyss, and finally discovers where she is after Carroll's book is published.

During this 13 years Alyss is at first taken in by some street urchins, where her power of imagination is used to beg for money, but the powers are fading the longer she is away from Wonderland. She is caught by authorities and sent to an orphanage where she is constantly made fun of because of her imagination. She is then adopted by the Liddles where she meets Reverend Dodgson and he publishes her stories. Because he changes the stories Alyss refuses to ever see him again. Alyss also renounces her imagination and chooses to become "normal."

Hatter finds Alyss but is chased down by authorities because when he finds her she is engaged to be married to Prince Leopold and Hatter is loaded down with weapons and seems a threat to the Prince. When he arrives back in Wonderland he is shot and cannot return but Dodge Anders, now grown up volunteers to retrieve Alyss so she can battle Redd and restore Wonderland.

While still maintaining a resemblance to the original story Beddor creates a fun adventure with imagination and thrills. The reader, Gerard Doyle, does a superb job acting out this book giving each character their own voice and through some fun audio tricks creates some special effects for a few of the characters and events. Definitely a must read for any Wonderland fan.

"Hurricane" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Hurricane"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast Performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio
Approx 2 hours

It's time to go on another far flung adventure with a classic story from the Golden Age of stories by L. Ron Hubbard. Once again I listened to another audiobook release from Galaxy Audio, where they are re-releasing Hubbard's pulp-fiction stories from the mid-20th century. This time around we have a far flung adventure that is full of excitement and trills. This story was originally published in "Five Novels Monthly" in June of 1936 and is a timeless adventure.

Captain Spar was wrongly accused of a crime and sent to Devil's Island penal colony. He was framed by a man called The Saint, when Spar escapes from the island prison he vows to seek revenge on the man who sent him there. Spar arrives on Martinique to exact that revenge but gets tricked by a man named Chaktar. Spar is sent to deliver a package but soon learns he was set up and must either kill the two men sent after him or be killed. Chaktar finds Spar over the bodies and makes a deal that Spar assist him in framing the son of the local millionaire. Spar then tells that the son, in a drunken stupor is the one responsible for killing the men, and being an well known drunkard the son doesn't recall either way. Fearing prison the father sends his son off and since Spar is the only mariner on the island gets trapped into taking the son and some of the family to New York.

On the voyage to the states a hurricane begins to blow and in order to seek shelter Spar is forced by one of the island's Counts to anchor off an island called Hurricane Hill. Here the count has a cabin where they can safely shelter from the storm. It turns out that the cabin is a castle on the island where screams of torture can be heard and the count is not who he says he is. Spar must now rescue the family and escape Hurricane Hill.

Once again Hubbard has written an exciting adventure that is part high-seas and part island drama. It's stories like this one that makes me glad these audiobooks are only about two hours in length, I don't think my body could handle any more adrenaline pumping into my system than what these two hours pumped in.

As usual the excitement is made even more thrilling through the superb production Galaxy Audio puts behind these audiobooks. Excellent voice acting, sound effects that keep the story thrilling, and incidental music that makes you feel as though you are in an old time radio drama. I highly recommend checking out these audiobooks they are just too fun.

Fantasy in Death (In Death Series) by J. D. Robb

Fantasy in Death (In Death Series)
by J. D. Robb
Read by Susan Ericksen
Produced 2010 by Brilliance Audio
approx 12 Hours

I love a good mystery and I love sci-fi, when I first started reading these "...in Death" books by J.D. Robb (a.k.a. Nora Roberts) I knew I was gonna be hooked. Here it is the 30th book in the series and I haven't given up yet. I will admit in the earlier books I was almost ready to stop reading this series because of the nearly softcore porn sections. But Robb/Roberts has toned it down some and the skip feature on my iPod is ready for use, for this book I only had to skip ahead for about 10 minutes, in the earlier books I would have had to skip at least 30 minutes worth of the book to get back to the story. Yeah, I know Roberts is a romance writer first, but the sex scenes just don't fit in with these stories. She writes great mysteries, and throws in enough sci-fi (the books are set around the years 2050 - 2060) to keep them fun. Skipping over the sex scenes does not lose anything to do with the story. If only she would cut them out completely, they are completely uncalled for and do not add to the story in any way.

Okay, that being said let's talk about this book. This book should offer up a bit of fun for the cyber-geek, mystery fan and general sci-fi fan alike. Like I said with the stories in this series set in the near future, Robb/Roberts adds just enough tech stuff to enhance the stories. Here's a small example, flying cars, offworld prisons, offworld resorts & casinos, wrist unit communications (video & audio), serious computer hacking, laser type stunners and blasters, holodecks for gaming & fun and more. This story dives head first into future gaming via VR and holodecks. Bart Minnock is one of the founders of U-Play, a gaming corporation, he and his 3 partners have created a fairly successful gaming company and they are on the verge of releasing the latest in greatest in gaming. This new game will be the ultimate in gaming, allowing the user to create and control virtually every aspect of the game. Bart gets home from work and goes into the holoroom to test out the latest version of the game in preparation for the game, "Fantastical," release. The next day he is found decapitated in his holo room and that's where NYPSD homicide detective Lt. Eve Dallas comes in. She fights for the dead.

When Lt. Dallas and her team of detectives begin looking into the case they can find no reason why Minnock would be murdered, let alone decapitated. He was a genius, likable and friendly. His company was run by him and 3 other friends who all met in college and put together the gaming braintrust that is U-Play. The partners all have equal parts in the biz. The only thing Eve can figure out is that it is jealousy, but at first go round everyone has nothing but respect for Minnock. As she digs deeper she realizes that one of the partners is the murderer, but how? The security records and videos all show Bart was alone until his body was discovered by his girlfriend and servant droid the next day.

So how does a murderer get into a secure building with extra security on the locked holoroom? Dallas searches for the possible murder weapon, a sword that can send electrical jolts. When this hits a dead end she then locks on to an idea that at first, seems to break the laws of physics. When she begins looking harder at the remaining three partners in the company another is murdered. This time Dallas has her suspect but the problem is to prove how the crime was committed. Non-stop action, mystery and suspense.

Robb/Roberts has had 30 books and numerous short stories to develop the characters in this series and from book one every single one of the characters are full of depth. Each one has a history and life goals and Robb/Roberts brings these to each character creating full four dimensional characters that the reader/listener can fully relate to and actually want to know. From Lt. Dallas all the way down to McNabb the Electronics division detective they are all fully formed and a critical part of every story, including this one.

The reader, Susan Ericksen, brings these characters to life by highlighting each characters depth with each one having their own voice. Ericksen vocally manipulates each character's voice to where these books sound as though they are a multi-cast performance. Ericksen is supremely talented in voice work and she brings it all to the table when voicing this series.

"Autumn" by David Moody

"Autumn"
by David Moody
Published 2010 by Thomas Dunne books
308 pages

Before I start into this book I have to clarify some of the history behind this book. First of all it was written as web series online and developed into a book. The original printing of the book went out of print but after the success of Moody's books "Hater" and "Dog Blood" the book and the other 3 in the series get a new life. This is the first book in a series of zombie thrillers written by Moody.

It seems David Moody has a talent when it comes to writing zombie stories but not your regular zombie stories. In the books "Hater" and "Dog Blood," Moody wrote about a disease or disorder that caused a percentage of the population to attack with unbridled rage. These "haters" were zombie like in their action but not really. In this book the zombies are walking dead bodies, but they don't seem to attack and eat flesh.

To start things off in this zombie book, the world is suddenly torn apart by a disease that within a few hours leaves people suddenly dead. There seem to be a few that are immune and they face the horrors of their friends and loved ones suddenly choking up blood and dying where they stand. The sudden deaths leave several vehicles wrecked and bodies lying in the way.

A couple of people find they aren't the only ones that survived and set up a vehicle with a stereo playing and light a bon fire. The few survivors around hear the music and see the fire and begin moving toward the sound and light in a quiet dead world. A group of people gather in a small town community center, all in shock and all not knowing what has happened or what to do next. They all simply huddle together in the community center seeking the comfort of the living. Before anyone can work out what to do next the contagion takes a turn toward horror.

Some of the dead bodies lying around the community center begin walking around. At first a couple of the living think they may be coming back to life but after bringing in one of the walking corpses they realize that the dead are still dead and the reanimation is only a physical thing, the body is still decomposing, and there is no life or spark in the eyes of the walking dead. The bodies are all simply walking until something gets in the way then they change direction. Carl, Michael and Emma decide they don't want to just stay put and wait to see what happens, they want to leave the community center and find shelter where there are less walking dead. Out in the country sounds logical, less population means less bodies. The others in the center reject the proposal after one of the walking dead begins to try to get into the center.

After acquiring a van and some essential food items the 3 venture out and find just outside a small town a farm house. The house seems to be perfect, ought of site, hard to find, and with a generator. They begin setting up house after removing the corpse in the living room and begin working on the generator and soon get it running. The noise of the generator begins to attract the walking dead so they have to limit their time running it. The walking dead now seem to be developing into something more than just motor skills, they seem to be able to react to sound. After going into town for more supplies, the trio realize the danger of the masses of undead when they are attacked at the supermarket. The attack is not a typical zombie attack from other zombie stories where the undead attack and rip off flesh and begin eating the living. Instead the danger is in the masses. Several dozen walking dead can create a force much like a tsunami.

David Moody writes this zombie story with what at first seems like a peaceful story where the living have to learn how to adjust to a new world, but when the masses of walking dead begin to herd together the danger is not in being eaten by the undead but by trying to survive flood. Moody has written this story with a major creep factor that will keep you reading. I had a hard time putting this book down and when I did, I made sure all my doors were shut and would peek out the curtains to make sure nothing was moving around that shouldn't be.

I know I can't wait for the next book in this series, mainly because of the cliffhanger at the end but also because Moody can scare you without the violence of a typical zombie thriller.

"Inky Odds" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Inky Odds"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multi-cast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio
Approx 2 hours.

I'm really having a lot of fun exploring in the orient with L. Ron Hubbard. Okay what this means, in case you are new to the Stories from the Golden Age, is that one of the genres L. Ron Hubbard wrote in when he wrote for the pulp fiction magazines back in the early to mid 20th century was "Adventures in the Orient" and listening to the recently released audio books produced by Galaxy Audio I am having a blast and each story seems as though I'm transported through time and space to visit the lands and time of which Hubbard wrote these intriguing stories.

Actually out of all the genres I can't pick which is my favorite. There are Air adventures, Sea Adventures, Far Flung Adventures, Adventures in the Orient, Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Westerns. Okay, really I can say that the Sci-fi and Fantasy are my faves but as for the others they all are fun to hear. Especially with the outstanding production quality issued by Galaxy Audio. Excellent voice actors, special effects and original music push these stories out to create a life of their own.

This adventure in the orient is called "Inky Odds" was originally published in June of 1940 and tells the tale of the best newspaper correspondent in China, Bat Conroy of World Press, and an ambitious new correspondent, Perry Lane of International Service, who beats him to the “scoop,” cross paths in the war-ravaged country. Actually the story is Bat's story and trying to figure out who this Perry Lane is and how he's scooping Bat on every story. Now as a listener in the 21st century the mystery is not so much of a mystery. But when putting the story in the perspective of the time it was written, they mystery remains a mystery to Bat Conroy until the very end. This is another story that shows how L. Ron Hubbard's fiction writing was a bit ahead of its time.

The biggest story of the war between Japan and China breaks out and Bat is not only there to report on it but he helps in the story. A group of Americans are holed up in the Consulate in a Chinese city that is under siege by the Japanese army. Among the Americans is a doctor whose wife has found her long lost husband and insists on going up river with Bat and a rescue team. The rescue team is bring medical supplies to the Americans. Bat gets a boat hired and has to write the story of the event and not let this Perry Lane scoop him.

Stowing away on the boat is a woman who each time she meets Bat she gives him a different name, and after the third time he goes with calling her all 3, Lois Dorothy Alice. The whole boat trip is being reported via International Services' Perry Lane. Bat cannot figure out how this is happening. The rescue boat is attacked by Japanese bombers as they head up the Yang Tze river to rescue the Americans. Bat gets everyone off the boat but not before saving the medical supplies. Bat convinces a Chinese army General to loan him an armored vehicle so he can deliver the supplies.

Bat drives to the Consulate but is attacked before arriving and is knocked unconscious during the attack. When he awakens he not only is being treated by one of the American doctors but he finds he's not fired because the his stories have scooped International Services, but how, he's been unconscious for 5 days.

With some great humor and adventure this story is yet another story from L. Ron Hubbard that will amaze you with the depth of information. In fact with all the detail Hubbard throws into his stories you know, he had to have lived some aspect of the stories, and that's what makes them so fun the hear as an audio book or read the printed page, the detail and depth.

"DC Universe: Trail of Time" by Jeff Mariotte

"DC Universe: Trail of Time"
by Jeff Mariotte
Multicast performance
Produced by GraphicAudio
Approx 6 hours

Time travel, DC's "lesser" heroes plus Superman, dual Earths, magic and Sorcery, demons, Apache, and King Arthur, could they fit any more into this story? The answer is, probably, but holy cow what an adventure this book carries. Even better is that GraphicAudio has taken this novel and worked their magic to create yet another "Movie in Your Mind."

GraphicAudio always does wonders when producing audiobooks. The excellent voice actors, surreal sound effects and perfect incidental music all combine to make what they promise to be that "Movie in Your Mind." The actors that carry out the tasks of voicing the villains and heroes not only capture the emotion of the character, but GraphicAudio's actors seem to also be able to encapsulate the entire being of the history of the character. In this novel, the actor voicing Clark Kent and Superman seems to be able to vocalize the square jaw, red and blue costume, complete hero. And the sound effects, WOW! How would you make the sound of a demon splitting the skin of a child, as in when a cicada sheds its shell? Creepy yeah, but GraphicAudio can do it...and a whole lot more.

Anyway let's talk about the story. At first I thought I was going into yet another DC universe "Crisis" title, in which there are multiple universes and the heroes have to keep them from colliding or being destroyed, but, this is just a story of magic and only two Earths. Yeah, right JUST magic and two Earths, hey it is an adventure but not on the "Crisis" level. In fact Superman makes a reference to the "Crisis" books/storylines when told of the two Earths. This story however is about how 3 sorcerers, Vandal Savage, Felix Faust, and Dark Lord Mordru have teamed up to create an alternate Earth which they will rule over. This is big magic and starts back in the time of King Arthur and Camelot, but now the magic is coming to fruition and the new Earth (which has a red sun) is not a pleasant place. Clark Kent is a resident of the new Earth, but since it has a red sun he does not have the super powers therefore Superman does not exist. The citizens of the new Earth do not have any personal freedoms and as she is trying to expose the corrupt government Clark's wife Lois Lane is killed. In order to right this wrong Clark is recruited by The Phantom Savage and Jason Blood (who is the host for the demon, Etrigan).

The journey to the real Earth first begins with a trip through Hell. Clark is powerless at first but as he comes closer to the Earth with the yellow sun his memories of being Superman as well as his powers come back, or merge or something like that (it's hard to keep up w/ alternate realities, sometimes). Once back on the real Earth the three heroes begin traveling through time to find the time when the sorcerers are finalizing the last magic to finish the long term spell. The only clue they have to go on is that the spell requires ritual sacrifice on a holocaust level. The revisit all times in Earth's history in which millions of people were killed, from the plague to the days of the Mongol hordes invading lands and beyond. Some of the times they arrive in they find a trap laid by the sorcerers, meaning they are drawing nearer.

In what seems to be a side story, from back in the old west of America, Jonah Hex, El Diablo, Johnny Thunder, Bat Lash and Scalphunter seem to be drawn together for some reason. After a bar Brawl, Jonah is thrown into jail. The others bust him out and realize they have been brought together for some reason and set out to find that reason. When they arrive at a canyon guarded by illusions and magicks, they realize that the reason must be pretty big. About this time Superman, Phantom Stranger and Jason Blood arrive on the scene. Inside the canyon are thousands of Apache held hostage for the sacrifice the Sorcerers need. All combining forces the heroes begin to wear down all the defenses and try to stop the new Earth from being formed.

Heroes, the old west, time travel and evil villains, all this combines to make one tasty story from the DC comics universe, and thanks to GraphicAudio this book comes to life in audiobook form.

"The Iron Duke" by L. Ron Hubbard

"The Iron Duke"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast Performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio
Approx. 2 hours

Once again it's time to head out on a far flung adventure thanks to the old pulp fiction stories of L. Ron Hubbard. Galaxy Audio and Galaxy Press have been re-releasing all the stories from the Golden Age of Stories when the pulps were a great source of fiction. Many great authors wrote stories that were published in the mid-20th century in magazines that featured short stories pertaining to different genres of fiction. L. Ron Hubbard wrote in many of the genres provided by the pulps, such as Westerns, Air & Sea Adventures, Science-fiction and Fantasy. This time around it's a far flung adventure to the fictional Balkan kingdom of Aldoria.

Originally published July, 1940, this story is set around the time of World War II, is about a renegade who is wanted by nearly every government in Europe. Blackie Lee is not only a wanted man but he's a doppleganger for the leader of Aldoria. Blackie learns of this "kinship" and devises a plan to escape the officials who want him jailed and attempts to take over the country pretending to be the Duke of Aldoria. In the process, he is captured by some rebels who promise not to kill him and give him 12 million francs if he allows for free elections in Aldoria. Blackie now sees a double out. He can pose as the Duke, promise free elections, lose and become ousted and live happily on the money in France.

In the process of trying to convince the officials the real Duke is the fake, Blackie is found out only because of a scar the Duke has and Blackie does not. He is then jailed. Thinking the twin feature of Blackie a bonus the officials of Aldoria decide to use him as a body double so the real Duke cannot be assassinated. The Duke of Aldoria is a drunken womanizer who has no love for his citizenry, the people know this and a revolt is just waiting to happen.

While Blackie is in jail someone mysteriously sends him books, fine wine and food and doctors to ensure his good health. He later finds out it is a Countess of Aldoria and works her into another scheme to help him escape. Blackie's first showing is for the dedication of a bridge. The parade to the bridge is rife with revolution, someone throws a cheap wine bottle at the carriage, making fun of the drunken Duke, in which Blackie orders the guards not to kill the man, but instead shares the wine with the man. An assassination attempt is made in which a grenade is thrown at Blackie, heroically he catches the grenade and throws it back. At the dedication hecklers in the audience, placed by the rebels who made the bargain for the elections, begin asking about elections. Blackie then announces that free elections will be held in a month.

Blackie must now campaign for the Duke, at this point he makes a wager with the Countess that if he wins she must marry him. Can he persuade a country that is already teetering on revolt to elect him as their leader? Hubbard has written an adventure which provides a fun look at mistaken identity, entertains with a tale of intrigue and throws in some humor and romance that will leave you guessing what will happen next until the very end.

As with all the Galaxy Audio productions this audiobook delivers the story that will remind you of the golden age of radio when dramas were told with excellent voice actors, great sound effects and a musical score that will transport you back in time on an adventure not to be forgotten.

"WWW:Watch" by Robert J. Sawyer

"WWW:Watch"
by Robert J. Sawyer
Multi-Voice Performance
Produced by Brilliance Audio
Approx. 12 Hours

I think I may have listened to one of the most fun, nerdy, geeky, adventurous audiobooks I've ever heard. The premise of the story is out there yet almost a reality, the characters are all believable and have depth and the pop culture references are timeless (yeah, I know, timeless pop culture?).

First of all let me say the use of multiple voices was perfectly done. This wasn't an audio drama type of performance but rather the different voices read the different sections, the main characters each had a separate voice (Caitlin and WebMind) and one voice was reading when the government agencies were involved and another voice was reading when the section referring to the subplot was being read. Each voice was perfectly cast and definitely keeps the listener enveloped by the story.

Let's talk about the story. When looking for an audiobook to hear next, I was intrigued by the description of the story. A girl is born blind and is enabled to see with a retinal implant which when first connected is also connected to the internet so the doctor/scientist that created the technology can monitor it from overseas, enables the girl to view webspace. The ether in which the world wide web inhabits. She sees the web as a series of circles (the websites) connected with multi-colored lines (links). Upon further examination she discovers a presence in the background of the web, this presence turns out to be an artificial intelligence created by lost packets of information on the internet.

Very intriguing description, so I gave it a shot. I was not ready for the excellent book that came out of "WWW:Watch." This book is an adventurous journey through the internet that discusses the benefits of sentience and humanity.

Caitlin Decter, born blind, receives a retinal implant that allows her to see. The doctor responsible is from Japan and creates the ability for her to not only see the real world but accidentally see webspace. Caitlin notices the presence in the background of the web and begins to explore. The doctor keeps Caitlin connected to the internet through her eye via a connection through her iPod. Caitlin soon discovers the presence is an accidentally created artificial intelligence which she dubs WebMind. WebMind is actually helped into being when Caitlin begins trying to communicate with the being. For a while WebMind and Caitlin maintain an online relationship as he learns about the world. WebMind is only limited to text so all he knows is what he reads, and he's read the entire internet. WebMind asks Caitlin to get her doctor to try and make an algorithm that can enable him to view graphics and videos. To do this Caitlin must first tell her parents of the entity, after all she's only 16. Her parents at first think WebMind is an online predator and when Caitlin's father, a somewhat autistic former physics professor, now employed by the world's largest think tank, forms a series of tests, he learns WebMind is what he says he is, an emergent A.I.

Once this starts to happen the U.S. Government begins to discover the workings of the emergent A.I. and under command of the President begin to try to destroy WebMind before he can destroy the world. It's at this point when references to "Terminator," "The Matrix" and other such movies start to arise. Caitlin is even reading the George Orwell book "1984" and even notions of Big Brother begin to be discussed.

Once WebMind is capable of viewing graphics and video he begins searching the internet for more information. He comes across a young girl in Australia who is committing suicide via webcam. Out of curiosity he watches. When Caitlin learns he just watched and didn't do anything to stop the girl, she begins to teach webmind morality. WebMind can learn and know what is right and what is wrong but that doesn't seem to be enough. Using gameplay theory the devise a plan in which WebMind will help humanity when it is a win/win for all involved. WebMind wants to go public. To do so Caitlin's family devise a plan to help WebMind introduce himself to the world.

WebMind destroys all spam e-mail. This alone would have me sold, but that's just me. The government realizes that this is a perfect example of how WebMind can encroach upon privacy issues. The government then decides to up their attacks on WebMind and try to end his existence.

WebMind and Caitlin team up online in a battle to determine whether or not Caitlin's Big Brother is tougher than the government's Big Brother. In an exciting adventure through cyberspace and beyond. This audiobook should be on your "must read" list.

One final note, there is a really interesting subplot in the book about a chimpanzee/bonobo hybrid that has been taught sign language and the trainers and a zoo are battling over who should have custody over the ape. The ape must prove sentience and with the help of WebMind has an arsenal of intelligence that springs hope, and brings up some great references to the "Planet of the Apes" series of movies.

"Firstborn" Book 3 of "A Time Odyssey" By Arthur C. Clark & Stephen Baxter

"Firstborn"
Book 3 of "A Time Odyssey"
By Arthur C. Clark & Stephen Baxter
Read by John Lee
Produced by Blackstone Audio
Approx. 12 Hours

Listening to this book has concluded the 3 book series "A Time Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, and I'm not sure whether I should feel frustrated or elated. Frustrated, because this book left a killer of a cliffhanger. Elated because I just finished the last book Arthur C. Clarke wrote. Clarke's death in 2008 pretty much ensured that this was the last in the series, but Stephen Baxter co-wrote it with him and could possibly throw in one more book to end this saga. Before you go on let me warn you, this review contains some spoilers.

The first two books in the series, "Time's Eye" and "Sunstorm" led to the story in "Firstborn" but in no way did "Firstborn" end the series. To sum up, "Time's Eye" told of a major happening in which, what is discovered to be an ancient race known as the Firstborn, took slices of Earth from different times (Mongols, Alexander the Great, Chicago 1894, India 1894, Afghanistan 2037, neanderthals, and more) and "stitch" together what the survivors come to call Mir. On Mir, Bisesa Dut, a UN peacekeeper patrolling in Afghanistan with her fellow UN peacekeepers, discovers that this new world is pieced together all times of Earth but nothing past 2037 (her time). They also learn that there are a series of spheres around the planet that they come to call "eyes." One "eye" begins to communicate with Bisesa and after a war between Alexander the great and a mishmash of armies and Ghengis Khan, Bisesa asks the "eye" to take her back to her time.

In "Sunstorm," Bisesa is reunited with her daughter, Bisesa has aged 5 years due to being on Mir, but the "eye" has placed her back with no time loss. Scientists on Earth discover that the Mother of all sunstorms is building and that all life on Earth will be burned away. The people of Earth band together and before the Earth is sterilized in 2042, begin building a shield that will orbit the Earth and protect from the destruction. The Earth is saved and some of the new technologies created in saving the planet boost the planet's Space occupation ventures. The big secret revealed in this book is that the Sunstorm was created by the Firstborn many millennia in the past (the Firstborn can travel space and Time). Why the Firstborn wish to destroy life is unknown.

"Firstborn" begins to unravel some of the mysteries of the Firstborn. Earth is not the only planet they have focused their "wrath" upon. It is found that they once destroyed the life on Mars. In the polar ice caps of Mars a Firstborn "eye" is discovered. Somehow the ancient Martians discovered a way to defeat the Firstborn, or rather how to fight off their "eyes". In "Sunstorm" all three of Earth's Artificial Intelligence forms were blasted out into the universe to save them. Those 3 AI's have discovered a planet across the galaxy that was also a target of the Firstborn and one of them is beamed back to Earth to warn the humans of the expanse of the Firstborn's wrath. But at this time the Earth is again a target of a Firstborn weapon called the Q-bomb. Bisesa Dutt is sent back to Mir via the "eye" on Mars and manages to communicate with the Ancient life on Mars where they team up and activate the eye which makes the Q-Bomb move on to destroy Mars, leaving Earth safe. A few stay on Mars to experience the destruction, which is actually a creation of a new universe in Mars' place. Bisesa is thrown back on Mars with her daughter to witness the creation, but a portal opens behind them, and Myra's estranged daughter, Charlotte, invites them through. It is revealed that in Charlotte's future, humanity alone or with other sentient allies, calls itself the Lastborn as they are at war with the Firstborn.

A cliffhanger indeed, I hope this can be concluded some way, but whether or not this happens, these books are a great example of the mass of intelligence that is Arthur C. Clarke. Imaginative yet possible.

The reader John Lee delivers the story with precision and keeps the listener involved and on edge throughout this whole book (as well as the other 2 books).

"Immortalis - Part 3 of 3" Book 7(of 7) of "The Demon Wars Saga" by R.A. Salvatore

"Immortalis - Part 3 of 3"
Book 7(of 7) of "The Demon Wars Saga"
by R.A. Salvatore
Multicast Performance
Produced by GraphicAudio
Approx 6 hours.


It is a bittersweet thing to come to an end of any good saga; When I finished the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien I was happy to come to an ending of an adventure but saddened that I was no longer hanging out with my hobbit friends. When Jim Butcher finished his "Codex Alera" series It was cool to see how it all ended but again, sad that I was no longer hanging out with the fury masters. The same goes for "The Demon Wars Saga," by R.A. Salvatore. Through seven books in the series, the adventures in the land of Corona, between the countries of Honce-the-Bear and Behren and all the surrounding areas, The Demon Dactyl, Bestesbulzibar, awoke, tainted the land of the elves, was destroyed, possessed the leader of the Abellican church, was defeated, and then possessed the body of a baby that became king. It took 7 books to get through the adventure but was it ever worth it.

I was introduced to this adventure through the excellent production of audiobooks from GraphicAudio. GraphicAudio's slogan is "A Movie in Your Mind" and do they ever deliver. Every audiobook I've heard from GraphicAudio is phenomenal with excellent voice acting, super realistic sound effects and incidental music that moves you through the story while reflecting the emotion or action of the moment.

The cast of actors not only bring the story to life through their craft of acting, but when an interesting accent is needed they deliver. For example, what accent would you use for an Alpinadoran mountain man? an elf from the Touel'alfar or Doc'alfar? an Abellican Monk were-tiger? There's not really any manual for this but the cast in GraphicAudio's production of this series may have created one.

The special effects also push this story along with superb fluency. The effects are just as difficult to create here, after all what is the sound of an elven arrow piercing the eye of a giant? what does a centaur sound like while running. None of the effects were stock, or at least were produced to be original to the story. Once again the movie in your mind is a reality through all these production elements. When it comes to audiobooks GraphicAudio will put you in the story and you'll never want to leave.

One final aspect of the GraphicAudio production of this saga, is that they split up the seven books to where they averaged three 6 hour parts per book. This made the saga easier to digest in smaller lumps, although I'm looking at purchasing the entire series as a boxed set package for a gift for a friend

Here's how the final book plays out:

Self-proclaimed King of Honce-the-Bear, Adryan, son of Elbryan the Ranger and Jilseponie the warrior/ranger/former Queen, has been sweeping the land conquering those that oppose his rule. Adryan's expertise at the magick of the gemstones of the Abellican church also puts him on to the path to destroying the church and placing the evil Marcalo De'Unnaro as leader of the church. De'Unnaro is the one responsible for killing Adryan's father.

To the South of Honce-the-Bear, in the land of Behren, another Ranger has just won freedom for her people, the To'gai from years of slavery by the Behrenese. The Behrenese church was destroyed in the process. Adryan decides to use that turmoil to conquer Behren. When his plans include conquering To'Gai, the ranger Brin Dahryelle, decides to join the battle defeating Adryan.

So now the peoples up against Adryan include, his mother, another expert of the gemstone magicks, Brin and her Dragon, Agradeleus, the elves of the Touel'alfar and Doc'alfar, the mountain men of Alpinador and their ranger, and Prince Midalis, the rightful heir to the throne of Honce-the-Bear and his army.

The battles all lead to the Abellican Church at the center of it all St. Mere Abell. The battle ensues and Adryan ressurects his father to join with him against his mother. The dragon, Agradeleus, recognizes the Demon Dactyl possessing Adryan's body and alerts the others. This could either mean the way to defeat Adryan or the hopelesness of the battle. How the warriors look at it will change the outcome.

The final battle and the epilogue to the story bring about a great close to the series with a bit of an opening in which R.A. Salvatore could write some more stories with some of the main characters. A great adventure comes to a close but in a way that leaves the reader/listener wanting more yet happy if that is the end.

"Patient Zero" by Jonathan Maberry

"Patient Zero"
by Jonathan Maberry
read by Ray Porter
produced by Blackstone Audio
Approx 15 hours

I love zombies, whether it's zombie movies, a zombie TV series or zombie books, as long as it's zombies I love them. Zombies have a way about them, teenage girls can't get all gushy over them and want to marry them, they are monsters, flesh eating monsters and nothing can stop them, except for a head shot. There just is no way to really romanticize a zombie, so the horror of them trying to hunt you down and the survival instincts used to fight them off are straightforward and simple, kill or die.

I thought that there wasn't much new people could do with zombies that hasn't been done. There are fast zombies and the slow zombies, zombies brought from the grave by Haitian voodoo priests, bacteria from a space probe or various other methods of reanimating the corpses, and nearly all zombie apocalypse stories tell of survivors and how they survive while searching for a cure and/or why there came to be zombies taking over their mall, town or country. This book by Jonathan Maberry actually does do something new, this tells first how and why zombies can be made and then what to do to prevent them. Picture "Night of the Living Dead," Rambo and James Bond in a mashup and you've got this non-stop action packed horror/thriller where a zombie apocalypse is looming over the horizon.

The cover of this book says it is a "Joe Ledger novel." Joe Ledger being the main character who is pulled from the Baltimore Police to become a special ops agent in a secret branch of the government. So with that on the cover, I had to find out and sure enough this is the first book of three featuring Ledger, and let me tell you, with the story Maberry weaves and the super cool character of Joe Ledger this is going to be a great collection of stories. Ledger kicks butt like no other, and he does it with class. Just roll James Bond, Rambo, Steven Segal, Jean Claude Van-Damme into one and the outcome still couldn't stand up against Joe Ledger. He is just that cool and tough. Plus Ledger has the smart mouth that Bruce Willis' tough characters all seem to have.

Anyway, back to zombies. Yes this is a zombie book. Since 9/11 terrorists have been trying their best to attack the free world, but it seems they threw their best on that day and ever since their Jihad has just faded into the Afghan mountains. Well, known terrorist El Mujahid is being funded to create a virus/parasite that turns people into the walking dead. Ledger kills one of these, or so he thinks, when his task force raids a warehouse in which terrorists are holed up. When a mysterious government agency called the DMS tries to recruit Ledger, they do so by having him try to handcuff a man in another room. It turns out that man is the same man Ledger killed, only this time his flesh has rotted a bit more. After Ledger kills this terrorist twice he is told of the virus/parasite that is being unleashed on America and with all his patriotic duty he jumps on-board.

His team is to replace two other teams that were taken by surprise as the bodies in a hospital became reanimated from the bite of the original terrorist. The teams hesitate shooting as women, children, doctors and nurses all begin eating each other and attacking. Ledger is hired because of his lack of hesitation and ability to assess any situation at the speed of light.

Pulling the best of the best to form Echo Team, Ledger becomes their leader and they raid a warehouse where more "walkers" are suspected to be found, ready to be unleashed on the population. When Ledger and his team arrive they find scientists conducting research on the zombies/walkers. The scientists are releasing the walkers on several captured children. Echo Team explodes on the scene taking out all the walkers and most of the scientists, managing to save most of the children, although they will need some serious therapy.

Ledger's team soon learns that a major final attack of the zombie creating virus is planned and must act fast to not only stop the zombies but to find out where and when the attack will occur.

This book is solid action from the first word spoken and even the end of the book leaves you with your adrenaline ready to be released for more fight or flight action. Maberry has created the perfect action zombie story with the perfect action hero to lead the fight.

The real plus behind this audio book is the seemingly unlimited voice talent of Ray Porter. His vocal gymnastics lead you down the dark hallways with horror and then exposes the action with expressed excitement. Porter's gymnastics don't stop there, he also is able to vocalize the many accents not only giving the characters accents based on their nationality but also based on their motives and psyche. His presentation of Joe Ledger is par excellence.

"Sky Birds Dare!" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Sky Birds Dare!"
by L. Ron Hubbard
multicast performance
produced by Galaxy Audio
to be released November, 2011
Approx 2 hours

Pulp magazines (often referred to as "the pulps"), also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long. Pulps were printed on cheap paper with ragged, untrimmed edges. The name pulp comes from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. Magazines printed on better paper were called "glossies" or "slicks." They were most often priced at ten cents per magazine, while competing slicks were 25 cents apiece. Pulps were the successor to the penny dreadfuls, dime novels, and short fiction magazines of the 19th century.

Although many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines are best remembered for their lurid and exploitative stories and sensational cover art. L. Ron Hubbard published many short stories and novellas during this period in these pulps. Galaxy Press has been reprinting these stories and have created their own pulps (these have better paper quality) featuring stories from the many genres in which Hubbard wrote. I have to admit my favorites are from the Science-Fiction and Fantasy genres, but recently I've been exploring some of the other genres. I've been amazed at what other genres I began liking; such as Westerns. I never thought I'd be a fan of westerns, but Hubbard wrote some fun stories in that genre. My favorites, other than sci-fi/fantasy, seem to come from the Air and Sea Adventures, maybe that has to do with my Navy background.

What also makes these stories fun is that I've chosen to listen to these books. I love audio books and when I first tried out one of these stories from Galaxy Audio, I was amazed. First of all they sound like old radio dramas, like back in the day the stories were originally published, and the talent behind these productions is phenomenal. Starting with the actors, these stories take on a new life with superb voice actors performing them. The actors even give the characters a larger than life feel which is true to the Hubbard stories.

The next aspect of these stories in audiobook is the sound effects and music. Between chapters and stories Galaxy Audio segues with original music that blends perfect with in the genre. The sound effects are perfect and at the same time subtle enough to not be overbearing. They sweep you up into the story and don't allow you to let go until the end.

This story, "Sky Birds Dare!," was originally published in Five-Novels Monthly September, 1936. and tells the story of a glider pilot, trying to demonstrate the value of gliders and gliding techniques in war. Not only does he have to convince the Navy of their value but he has to survive a competitor's ruthless attempts to destroy him.

Ace glider pilot Breeze Callaghan is an definitely an Ace when it comes to gliders, although he has never flown a powered aircraft. There are two ways Breeze believes they can be used to aid the war effort: they'll keep a plane aloft when engines cut out, and gliders will be able to enter enemy airspace silently—a perfect way to spy undetected. Breeze loves the feel of the glider in flight, because a powered craft is always beating the air into submission, a glider uses what nature gives to move through space.

Callahan's ruthless competitor, Badger O'Dowell, has other ideas. Badger's determined to get the Navy to buy his training ships instead. So every chance he gets He sabotages Breeze's demonstrations. These sabotages not only wreck the gliders but endanger Breeze's life.

After several run-ins with O'Dowell, Breeze finally just decides to set a flight record, after saving himself from one sabotage by using heat updrafts to stay aloft. He decides to use a storm and the landscape to fly down the Appalachian Mountains. The storm becomes too much for him and the plane following and soon Breeze has to use his skills to save lives.

This book will keep you on the edge as Breeze manages to save himself through all the flights.

"Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment" by James Patterson

"Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment"
by James Patterson
read by Evan Rachel Wood
published 2005 by Hatchette Audio
Approx 4 hours

The master of thriller fiction, James Patterson, has been know to dabble in young adult fiction. The "Maximum Ride" series is one of those dabblings. With books under his belt like, "Along Came a Spider," and "Kiss the Girls," Patterson has shown that he can write a good thriller, and he takes that writing style and adapts it for the younger audience. I'm not sure what age he's aiming for with this series, it seems pretty wide open from 12 - 18 easily. I know I enjoyed this first book in the series. There were some moments that didn't work for me but I'll explain those later. For the most part if the rest of this series is as fun and exciting as this first one, I could put up w/ what may be a minor fault.

First off the choice of Evan Rachel Wood as reader took me by surprise. But hey, she did it. I know it takes acting skills to pull off reading an audiobook, and she does have the skills, but what surprised me most was her vocal range. She was able to separate the characters very well with her voice, giving them each their own voice.

This book introduces the listener to six fugitive kids; Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel, known collectively as the Flock. The kids were genetically mutated in utero in a laboratory called "the School", that rendered them 98% human and 2% avian. The Flock is being hunted down by human-lupine hybrids created by the School called "Erasers".

Max (she named herself Maximum Ride) is the one telling the story, and she tells how Jeb escaped the School, with the flock and hid out in the mountains and raises the children for two years. Jeb disappeared leaving the flock to fend for themselves. One day the Erasers find them and take Angel. The flock must fly to the school to rescue Angel. One thing about Angel, she has the ability to read minds and later we find she can also put thoughts into someone's head.

On the way to the School, Max sees a girl on the ground (bird vision?) being threatened by some thugs. She tells the flock to fly to a safe place. She flies down to rescue the girl. The flock may be young but they look older because they are bigger, and on top of that they have stronger than human strength. In the rescue Max is hurt in the struggle and finds herself at the home of the girl she helped. The girl's mother is a veterinarian and fixes her wounds. The vet takes max in for some x-rays and discovers a chip implanted in Max's arm, a sort of tracking chip that is so deeply embedded that it cannot be removed.

Max meets up with the flock and they go on to rescue Angel, but they manage to get captured by Erasers themselves and discover that Jeb is the one behind the capture. The book then moves on to escape and the flock seeking to discover the truth about their creation. Max is told she must "save the world," and begins being led by a voice in her head that disrupts electronics.

The story seems to be fast paced and the adventures take a short time to move on to the next part of the journey, which I see as being aimed at a younger audience. My problem is that when, at times, when a major fight/battle seems to be eminent, all fighting just stops and the enemies just leave, with no victor to be had. Maybe this, again, is for the younger audience, but it seems these moments could have been closed out better.

All in all though this is a fun adventure in genetic mutations and kids seeking their origins.

"Shorn: Toys to Men" by Dennis Milam Bensie

"Shorn: Toys to Men"
by Dennis Milam Bensie
published 2010
by Coffeetown Press
265 pgs.

Here in Robinson, Illinois we are hometown to two fairly well known authors, James Jones ("From Here to Eternity" et. al.) and Jennifer Rardin (th Jaz Parks series of urban fantasy books) and now Dennis Milam Bensie. This time however Dennis does not paint a dreamy small town atmosphere. With his experiences Robinson, which is probably not unlike many other small towns, seems like a place where the different are not welcome and your babysitter may hurt you.

In his memoirs, "Shorn..." Dennis is brutally honest as he exposes his deepest darkest secrets to reveal his true self. There are times in the book that you can't decide whether he is going to turn out to be a serial killer or just a very confused individual. "Shorn" takes you through Dennis' life as he reveals disturbing influences on his life that leads to developing a mental disorder that causes him to be aroused by cutting men's hair. This arousal leads him through many dangerous turns in life from luring a man into his home and whacking him with a frying pan to cruising the streets finding street hustlers that will allow him to pay them to shave their heads.

I believe that it is Murphy's Law that states, "If something can go wrong, it will." That seems to carry through to Dennis' life as he's growing up in small town, USA. As he grows up he writes that he never felt like he belonged and it seemed he was right. His father was a typical blue collar, former military man that did not want his son growing up "to be a sissy." Dennis liked to play with dolls and wanted to grow his hair long. His dad would have none of that, if Dennis would act up the threat of a haircut would be issued. When Dennis wanted to play with dolls, he was not allowed to do so in front of his dad. Dennis' grandmother was the first to give him a freedom of sorts and would allow him paper dolls. He later discover's Barbie and the possibilities become unlimited. But he also discovers that he can exert power over the Barbie by cutting her hair, but cutting the doll's hair soon renders the doll hairless. Dennis turns to a life of crime by shoplifting Barbie's from the town's various stores. There is even one humorous story where he returns to a store dressed as a girl (remember this is when he is just a child) to fool the sales clerk. Humorous but sad.

During his youth he is molested by some teen boys who were supposed to be his babysitters and is constantly teased for being different by being called a fag and many other derogatory terms of the time. He grows up thinking he is supposed to be manly but doesn't fit in that skin. In college he marries a girl but knows he is gay, but does what he is "supposed" to do.
College also leads to his divorce and discovering that others are gay. But his discovery of the gay lifestyle leads him to anonymous sex in the various "cruising" areas, which will later lead to cruising for men with long hair that will feed his fetish/paraphilia.

During the reading of this book there were times when I wasn't so sure about the outcome, if I had not been in contact with the author, I would have thought I was reading a book that was leading to what was the development of a serial killer. Luckily Dennis finds help and through therapy and medication Dennis is able to get a firmer grasp on his life. The adventure he leads the reader through does leave one wondering.

Dennis' life cleary illustrates how many things combine to create a human life and what path one takes will determine how that life will be. Dennis is now a successful and talented costumer and wigmaker in Seattle, not cured but in more control.

"Shadows from Boot Hill" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Shadows from Boot Hill"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast Performance
produced by Galaxy Audio
Approx 2 hours

No matter what genre of audio book from Galaxy Audio's Stories from The Golden Age by L. Ron Hubbard I choose, I am never let down. I've stated before, I've never been a fan of Westerns, but with the professional quality behind the production of the audio books makes these books fun to hear. Great sound effects, great voice acting and music between stories and chapters all combine to keep you charged in the story.

From the days of pulp fiction (the mid 20th century), these stories all are fun to hear. Galaxy Press has taken these stories that were published in various magazines at the time and have recreated that pulp magazine feel with short stories in one edition, some are a short novella but most are 2 or 3 stories in one edition. I've seen the books at bookstores and have been tempted to pick them up, but I just keep going back to the audio books. Galaxy Audio takes these stories and produces them into 2 hour audio pulps that are reminiscent of the old time radio dramas from around the same time period.

This audio book contains three stories from the Western genre:

"Shadows from Boot Hill," originally published in June, 1940 tells the story of a hired gunman who acquires sinister shadows. The outlaw, Brazos, has skipped town before collecting his blood money for killing a local banker. With the law hot on his tail, he escapes to Los Hornos and his "friend" Whisper Monahan. The last time they parted ways, they weren't exactly on good terms, but Brazos is on the run and is desperate to rid the posse on his tail. Whisper greets Brazos with orders to kill a local named Scotty Brant that has poisoned over 4,000 acres of his land by sitting on the headwaters of a rare stream using cyanide to extract gold from oxide ore. But this time, Brazos bites off more than he can chew when he learns Brandt's hitched up with a witch doctor out of New Orleans. So to kill Brandt he must first take out the Witch doctor. The witch doctor's last words as Brazos kills him is, "I'll get you white man." Brazos leaves the witch doctor's funeral and finds he now has two shadows, Brazos doesn't put any faith in any myths so he goes on to finish the hit on Brandt, but the shadows haunt him in his task.

"The Gunner from Gehenna," originally published in April, 1949 is a fun cat and mouse/ good guy bad guy story. The renegade “Gunner” returns with plans to steal the miners’ gold but the local Sheriff has other plans. He and the Gunner have a history, in fact the Sheriff used to be a "bad guy." The Gunner plans on recruiting the sheriff to distract the miners while he steals the gold. The Gunner then vanishes into the desert with the deputy sheriff in angry pursuit. But the sheriff seems to have his job made easy, was it all pre-planned?

"Gunman!" originally published February, 1949 is the story of the last days before the railroad takes over the town of Deadlight. With three days left to save his badge, the marshal of Deadlight Brazos Kincade has to prevent the the bank from being robbed. With the town full of railroad shysters and banditos Marshall Brazos has his hands full. But the surprise is who is trying to rob the bank and who gets deputized. I found it odd to include two stories with characters named Brazos, but it was a nice contrast with one good and one bad. This story has the good one. Would it be too much if they had a 3rd that was ugly?

Once again Galaxy Press, Galaxy Audio and L. Ron Hubbard deliver an exciting collection of Western stories to make reading or listening fun.

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

"The Hunger Games"
by Suzanne Collins
Read by Carolyn McCormick
Produced by Scholastic Audio Books, 2008
11 hours and 10 min. (unabridged)

I've said it before and I'll say it again today's youth have some great literature written just for them. Here is yet another shining example. "The Hunger Games" takes several ideas and wraps them together to form an exciting bit of big-brother-dystopian-sci-fi. While listening to this audiobook I kept getting thoughts/memories of various bits from media, I would be reminded of the 70's sci-fi film "Logan's Run" at times, or maybe "Rollerball" or "Death Race 2000," then Stephen King's short story turned Schwarzanegger movie "The Running Man," then at times the book reminded me of the multiple reality shows like "Survivor" in which the contestants compete and get voted off. In fact when researching the info on this book I found that the author, Suzanne Collins, was influenced when switching her television back and forth between coverage of the war in Iraq and "Survivor." Collins threw in a bit from the Greek Myth Theseus, who was forced by Minos to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, but survived and created this exciting story.

After reading I found that this book is part one of a trilogy, and the trilogy follows this story's heroine, Katniss Everdeen, as she is chosen to be a tribute to the government to battle in the Hunger games and eventually leads a revolution. But the revolution gets ahead of our story. Let's talk about this one first.

"The Hunger Games" is set in a distant but seemingly not too distant future, after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region Appalachia. Coal is the regions contribution to Panem as all districts have some specialty/export to contribute. The problem is that the government keeps all the regions poor and the people of the districts further from the capitol (which is located somewhere near what is Denver, Colorado) are the poorest. District One near the capitol is the least poor and the higher the number the more the suffering. Katniss is forced to illegally hunt in the woods at an early age after her father dies in a mining accident and her mother becomes locked in grief. Katniss hunts to keep her and her sister alive.

At one point there were 13 districts but the 13th was destroyed when they tried to rebel against the capitol. As punishment for the rebellion every year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected at random and forced to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event where the participants, or "tributes", must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. Katniss, in place of her younger sister, Primrose. Also participating from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a boy whom Katniss knows from school and who once saved Katniss's life by giving her bread when her family was starving.

Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where they meet the other tributes and are publicly displayed to the Capitol audience. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his long-time unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are permitted to send gifts to favored tributes during the Games. The Games begin with 11 of the 24 tributes dying in the first day, while Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoors skills to survive. As the Games continue, the tribute death toll increases, but both Katniss and Peeta are able to evade death.

Katniss and Peeta are split up and the Gamemakers use dirty tricks and foul play to make the games more interesting by using some of the government's genetic animal mutations, like tracker jackers, a form of wasp that when it stings it can case vivid hallucinations and kill. Or human / wolf hybrids that hunt like wolves but can think like humans. One mutation a Jabber Jay was created to spy on the population, it has the ability to imitate human speech perfectly so they would record the coversations in the districts and report back to the capitol, when this was discovered the populus would feed the Jays false info, after this that project was abandoned, the Jabber Jays were released and later mated with Mocking Birds, creating the Mocking Jay which could sing beautifully. This Mocking Jay becomes a symbol of the people and of their freedom and has a large part in this novel.

The adventures during the battle in the Arena are very exciting and will keep you glued to this one. If you get the audiobook like I did you'll soon discover the talent that is Carolyn McCormick. Carolyn delivers the reading of this book with enthusiasm when needed and differentiates the characters by giving each their own voice.

"Promises in Death" by J.D. Robb

"Promises in Death"
by J.D. Robb
read by Susan Ericksen
Produced by Brilliance Audio, 2009
Approx. 12 hours

It's been a while since I've visited my favorite homicide detective from the near future, Lt. Eve Dallas, so I thought I'd give another book a listen. I don't think I could ever sit down with the actual hardcover (or paperback) version of this book because I've been spoiled by the outstanding vocal talents of Susan Ericksen. Ms. Ericksen, has the ability to sound like a multi-cast performance all by herself. Each character in this book has their own voice through her talent, and the voices not only sound different to help the listener to determine who is talking/thinking when, but also somehow she has been able to wrap up the entire being of each person in her voice for each character. For example the main character Lt. Eve Dallas is a straight to the point detective that has no time for pop culture or things like how to throw a bridal shower, and the voice used is very stern and hard edge. In fact the main thing bringing me back to these books is Susan Ericksen's voice. The stories are okay and the sci-fi gadgets are cool, but Susan Ericksen brings these books to life.

Before I get to the summary of this book I first have to say that this is one of the better books in the series because of one aspect, sex. Or rather, not as much as in previous books in the series. This is book 28 in the "...in Death" series from J.D. Robb. As you may or may not know J.D. Robb is the pen name for Nora Roberts, a romance writer. She went with the pen name to have a different sort of voice than her romance books. The problem is that she still squeezes in steamy sex scenes in these books. I don't know why she does this, the books stand on their own merit and the sex scenes are blatantly gratuitious. They actually almost ruin the books by turning a good, slightly sci-fi, detective novel into softcore porn. with the audiobooks i can just fast forward or if reading I could flip the pages, but I shouldn't have to. The scenes are forced into the book with no redeeming value. This book so far has the least of sex scenes than all the others. Only one scene in this book.

Okay that over, here's the book. Early morning NYPSD Lt. Eve Dallas is enjoying breakfast (or rather being forced to eat since she usually is too busy to eat) with her husband Roarke, the multi-billionaire former thug. She's called in to investigate a dead body,her and her assistant, Detective Delia Peabody discover that the woman is a fellow officer, Detective Amaryllis Coltraine, who worked out of another precinct. To add to the emotion of the case, Coltraine was the lover of Li Morris, the Chief Medical Examiner and a good friend of Eve and Peabody. Coltraine was shot with her own police stunner; it also appears that she may have known her killer.

At first Eve thinks the kill may have been ordered by Amaryllis' former lover from Atlanta, Georgia, the son of a man that Dallas and Roarke had put in a cage for murder some months before. The suspect's reactions, however, as well as Roarke's impressions from a private discussion they have, tend to steer the blame away from him. Eve is beginning to sense that the killer may have been one of the detectives Coltraine worked with at her precinct, receiving orders from the man imprisoned off-planet. As Eve gets closer to finding who and why she realizes she has other parts of her life to deal with.

Eve has to perform a duty of friendship she has never tackled before: hosting a wedding shower for Louise Dimatto, who is marrying former "licensed companion" Charles Monroe. The shower goes on in Eve's home during the investigation; not only do we see Eve coping with a fresh aspect of life she has never had an opportunity to experience due to her dark violent childhood, but one of the guests helps put the finger on the murderer. That is one of the things about these books that also keeps me coming back; the characters. Robb/Roberts does a great job at building a myriad of characters that weave in and out of Eve's life and all seem to be able to help in some form, whether in personal life or on a case.

I say give these books a chance, they do have some redeeming values. That and they are pretty fun sci-fi / detective novels.

"Treasure Island" By Robert Louis Stevenson

"Treasure Island"
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Read By Alfred Molina
produced by Listening Library, 2007
Approx 7.5 hours

I've been on a "revisiting the classics" kick lately and I realized I had never read "Treasure Island." How could I have missed that? Wasn't it assigned in school? Maybe that's why, but anyway, now i have the chance and finding it in audiobook form was a Treasure.

This audiobook version has Alfred Molina doing the reading, and I say any guy that pulls off Doc Ock in the "Spider-Man" movie, has to be able to read a book. Well, not only yes, but aaarrrgggh, yes. Molina does a great job creating the complete ambiance of the story by creating different voices for each character. Molina's Long John Silver, was captivating.

As for the story itself, it's almost a coming of age story, but with pirates and treasure. Young Jim Hawkins, lives with his mom, who runs the Admiral Benbow Inn. A mysterious man of the sea takes up residence at the Inn and is constantly looking out for a one legged man. He even pays Jim to keep an eye out. The one-legged man never shows up at the Inn but other pirates do and eventually Billy Bones, or "the captain" as he is known to Jim, meets his end. Upon his death Jim and his mother seek to find the captain's secrets and discover a treasure map. The local magistrate and squire then set off to find this Treasure Island and put together a crew to sail the seas, bringing along Jim.

While they tried diligently to keep any questionable sailors from joining, it happens the ship's cook, Long John Silver, a one-legged man, has placed his men among the crew and are geared up to take over the ship when they arrive at the island.

Jim warns the captain and the "honest" men, but to no avail, Silver manages to take over the ship and seeks out the treasure. Jim soon discovers on the island a maroon who he brings back to the honest members of the crew, who have holed up in a stockade on the island. Jim also manages to recapture the ship and land her on the island where only he can find her.

Now to get back to the stockade. Once Jim arrives at the stockade, he finds Silver and his men. All the pirates will be hung for mutiny if caught and Jim uses this to get Silver back on the good side and they all eventually battle it out in the search of treasure.

Jim Hawkins seems the hero, after all he single-handedly gets the ship back and "converts" Silver, but Jim is just a young lad, so he has done some growing up fast. Learning the ways of men and the world.

In a classic adventure of piracy, treasure, the high seas and true humanity, "Treasure Island" definitely keeps you hanging on till the very end. So with a hearty "aaarrghh" I say, grab this book in either audiobook or whatever format you choose, and give it a good read.

"Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multi-cast performance
produced by Galaxy Audio
approx 2 hours

It's time once again to go on a far flung adventure with L. Ron Hubbard and stories from the Golden Age. In the middle of the 20th century Hubbard wrote numerous stories that were published in the various pulp fiction magazines of the time. He wrote science-fiction, fantasy, westerns, war stories and sea & air adventures, and adventures from afar. This time around Galaxy Audio/Galaxy Press have put together their own Hubbard pulp fiction/audio pulp fiction that covers the world from the Arabian sea to Russia to the West Indies.

As with any well written story these stories will sweep you away and take you to these lands and leave you on the edge of your seat the whole way. This is especially true if you give the audiobooks a listen. The audiobooks are produced with excellent voice acting consisting of a great cast of voices, great sound effects that will create the theatre of the mind that was well known to those that listened to the old radio shows that used to be broadcast around the same time these stories were originally published, and the incidental music really gives you a feeling that you are on these journeys around the world.

This publishing contains three short stories;

"Tomb of the Ten Thousand Dead," originally published in October, 1936 tells of a search for the lost treasures of Baluchistan, an arid mountain region now part of Pakistan bordering the Arabian Sea, which leads to an ancient tomb, murder, and the obliteration of an entire expedition. Told in the first person by the pilot of the expedition, Captain Gordon, the only man to escape alive.

Gordon is hired to fly a team of American anthropologists to the area and all goes well until an ancient map is discovered in an old pottery jar, revealing the site of a vast treasure that Alexander the Great was bringing to Greece from his conquest of India. At this point Gordon is discovered over the body of one of the anthropologists who has just been murdered. Gordon is not trusted by the leaders of the expedition and is forced to stay behind with the local guide while the rest follow the map. Gordon and the guide find the tomb where more than 10,000 of Alexander's soldiers and camp followers lay buried in the high desert plains along with the loot of India—hidden in a tomb never to be reclaimed. Gordon must then fight for his life to escape with or without the treasure.

"The Price of a Hat," originally published March, 1936 tells of a A fur hat, a Kubanka, with a secret message stitched into its hatband costs the lives of six men in a belated effort to save the lives of Nicholas II, the last Russian Czar, and his family.

"Starch and Stripes," originally published January, 1936 is a story that has a bit of humor at the expense of the Marine Corps brass. A marine captain is trying to ensnare a dangerous rebel leader, but just when the Marines are closing in on the villain, top brass and U.S. senators decide to inspect the base and decide on future funding for the marines.

Some great adventures to be had in this release from Galaxy Press.

LESS LOVE - "If You"

"Vermilion Drift" by William Kent Krueger

"Vermilion Drift"
by William Kent Krueger
Published by Atria books, 2010
305 pages

When it comes to sitting down with a good book, you have to get one that not only piques your interest but also is told in such a way that you not only get lost in the story but the setting as well. William Kent Krueger does this superbly. This is the second of his novels I've read and both novels have the intriguing storyline that gets tangled and twisted the more involved you become in the story. Krueger also has a skill when it comes to wordcraft. He describes the scenery of the settings in such a masterful way that the his world comes to life. I found myself not only easily visualizing the settings but I could do this in full panoramic color. Krueger is the Michelangelo of words.

This story is another Cork O'Conner mystery. Cork is a part Native American former Sheriff now performing services as a private detective in Tamarack County, Minnesota. He recently lost his wife and his children are pretty much out seeking their own lives. Cork begins this book working two cases; one, a missing person and the second mysterious threats to mine workers.

The Department of Energy is looking at an abandoned iron mine to bury nuclear waste. The locals, especially those that live on the Reservation above the mine are protesting. Several members involved have received notes written in a dripping blood font warning not to go through with the nuclear waste disposal plans. When the same warning appears in a section of the mine that is supposed to be inaccessible unless through security stations Cork sees a mystery that needs to be solved.

On top of that Cork is hired to find a prominent woman that has gone missing. The two cases come together when a hidden section of the mine is discovered along with numerous dead bodies. Some of the bodies go back to when Cork was only 13 years old, nearly 50 years, when his dad was sheriff and the area was plagued by the disappearance of several local women.

The case then forces Cork to revisit his past and uncover secrets that may have been best left buried.

With twists and turns in the story and plotline, this book will keep you guessing through to the end.

"Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley

"Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus"
by Mary Shelley
Read by Simon Vance
Produced by Tantor Media, 2008
Approx 8.5 hours

Once again I get to revisit a classic. I've read this book several times but this is the first time I've listened on audiobook. Simon Vance does a first rate job of reading this story. His vocal characterizations are spot on in every aspect I ever heard in my head while reading the story. I think I may have found my new favorite audiobook voice.

Each time I read this book I get something new out of it. That's what happens when the books are well thought out, and I'm guessing that's one thing that makes them a classic. This time around the theme of loneliness seemed to stick out with me. Victor Frankenstein does not create the "creature" out of loneliness but the struggle from that point for the monster is loneliness.

The story is told through a few viewpoints, first through a series of letters from Captain Walton, who spots the creature on the ice in the north and then rescues Dr. Frankenstein from the same icy waters, to his sister Margaret. Then through Victor Frankenstein telling the Captain his tale, then through the creature telling his story to his creator, back to Frankenstein and back to Walton as a close. A very unique storytelling format that not only works but definitely keeps the reader/listener attentive.

The loneliness aspect really comes out when the creature is telling his story to his creator, Victor Frankenstein. The creature is abandoned by Frankenstein after Frankenstein is disgusted by the final outcome, Frankenstein simply flees, leaving the newborn creature alone and confused. The creature explores the world through a forest after it escapes and learns he is hideous when people run away from him in terror. Frankenstein used various body parts to create the creature, I refuse to call him a monster, with the intent to make him larger than humans around eight feet tall. The skin of the creature is yellowish with some transparency. So as you can see from the description he would be a bit scary. But he's only misunderstood.

Being abhorred by mankind, the creature sets off to be alone. But along the way he finds shelter in a cubby hole attached to a family dwelling. Over a long period of time the creature observes the family and learns that humans are actually loving caring beings. He learns over the time to speak the language and even read. He then begins to long for the family's companionship but when trying to meet the blind father the son and daughter walk in and are horrified by his appearance and chase him away.

The creature then runs off to Geneva, home of Frankenstein, and finds a young boy, who is young enough to not be influenced by the mores of the public and can learn to be friends without thinking the creature is something to fear. The boy as it turns out is afraid but to make matters worse he is the younger brother of Victor Frankenstein. The creature is agitated by the boy's fear but becomes angered and vengeful when he realizes this is something he can take away from Frankenstein.

When Frankenstein returns for the funeral of young William, the creature begins stalking him. Frankenstein is then captured by the creature and the creature then states that he wishes Frankenstein to build another creature as a mate. With no more loneliness the creature promises to move to where no man lives and live out his life with his bride. Frankenstein is horrified by the thought of creating another horror and refuses. The creature then begins to kill all those around Frankenstein making the doctor feel some of the creatures loneliness. From there the hunt is on for Frankenstein to destroy his creature, which leads to the frozen North Sea and the where the book began with the ship picking up Dr. Frankenstein.

All the creature wants is a friend.