Welcome to Artistiblog!

Website Development

One of my main focuses for this blog is in promoting my up-and-coming website showcasing my artwork and creative endeavours. In these digital pages, I’ll keep you apprised of my progress on buidling my first website. While I have dedicated the last 30 plus years of my life to creative pursuits, such as writing, digital media development, and traditional art skills in drawing, sculpting, and creative design, I’ve only just jumped into the realm of web development (and me at a ripe old age of 36… go figure). If anyone has any comments or suggestions as I fumble my way through the process, please feel free to drop me a comment. And by all means, jump over to my website, ArtisticConceptions.net, and let me know what you think.

 

Media and New Media Reviews

Also, the other main focus is in reviewing media (books, movies, television) and new media (podcasts, podio books, etc.). Take a look at my posts, see what I think, and comment if it strikes your fancy.

For each review, I use the following categories:

STORY: This is a rating on the overall logic and complexity of the story or topic presented, along with how well the story drives the characters and entertains in the process.

ACTION: This rating covers the amount of action in the overall story or topic presented, whether it is of the traditional combat and physical conflist variety or of a more subtle emotional vein.

INTELLECTUALITY: This rating deals with the amount of brainpower needed to understand the finer nuances or overriding information dealt with in the story or the topics presented. A higher score here indicates a better blend of simple and complex/brainy concepts in such a way that an average adult (age 25 to 126) can easily pick up and understand without using that encyclopedia set collecting dust on your bookshelf. A lower score in this indicates either an over-the-top usage of transcendental or highly technical jargon or a work that is seriously simplified and lacks average intelligent concepts.

BELIEVABILITY: This rating covers just what it says… how believable is the story, the adventure or story hooks, and the characters (or cast) of the story or the topic being discussed.

CHARACTERS: This final rating covers how interesting the characters (or cast) of the story or topic being discussed are, including how easily it is for the average reader, viewer, or listener to relate to and get caught up in the characters’ (or casts’) actions, feelings, and the resulting story/topic.

For each of my review categories, I use the following scale of 1 to 10:

1. Absolute Crap: Not worth your time, NOT recommended (don’t bother)

2. Not Very Good: A few redeeming qaulities… but maybe not be enough to waste your time on, not really recommended

3. Interesting: There are a few things that may be worth your time, slightly recommended

4. Pretty Good: Worth taking a look at, if there isn’t anything better available, somewhat recommended

5. Average: Worth taking a look at it, recommended

6. Better than Average: Give it some consideration, recommended

7. Very Good: Some unique or interesting points, strongly recommended

8. Well Worth It: Worth the time and your consideration, very strongly recommended

9. Fantastic: Up there with the greats, make some time to give this a chance, highly recommended

10. Simply the Best: What more can I say, take a look at this now! Maximum recommendation

Podiobook Review: Scott Sigler’s “The Rookie”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.4 (Very Good)

STORY: 8 (Well Worth It: The Godfather meets Star Wars meets Rudy…)

ACTION: 8 (Well Worth It: Fights, football, beer, and aliens…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 6 (Better Than Average: Details of football plays involving aliens…)

BELIEVABILITY: 7 (Very Good: Struggling against the upbringing of a backward little planet of bigoted religious radicals…)

CHARACTERS: 8 (Well Worth It: Bigotry, pride, and honor in the far-future Galactic Football League…)

CONTAINS: Football, aliens, beer, mobsters, bigotry, spaceships, space habitats, intergalactic war, religious zealots, illegal drug use, and death.

The Review:

Scott Sigler: the newest Grand Master of science-fiction and horror-thriller…

At first glance, The Rookie, by Scott Sigler, seems to be a typical novel about football—American football.  A young and arrogant rookie quarterback, with a big streak of racism, is brought up to the big leagues to play on a multi-cultural team vying for the number one slot in the upcoming season. Behind the scenes, mobsters and players alike are influencing the outcome of the games and dealing in illegal substances. Overcoming obstacles, injuries, and even deaths on and off the field, the team begins to work well together, but is it enough to win the championship or is it too little too late? Sounds familiar, eh? If you said “Yes,” then you couldn’t be any more wrong!

The Rookie, by Scott Sigler (yes, I said his name twice and I’ll say it again) is set 700 years in the future in a galaxy recovering for a systems-wide intra-galactic war, a war in which most of the intelligent, sentient races (including humans) were conquered by the devious Creterakians. In this dark future, sports have become the solidifying factor in the relationships between the subjugated races, with aliens playing side by side with humans in the Galactic Football League (GFL). Enter into the story the young, bigoted, Rookie quarterback, Quentin Barnes, who is pulled up from the all-human tier 3 team, the Micovi Raiders, to join the ranks of the multi-species Tier 2 team, the Ionath Krakens, where he must overcome his upbringing and intense hatred and xenophobia of the other species if they stand a chance to make it to the play-offs.

This fantastic novel combines the pulse pounding action of a traditional football story and a believable science-fiction space-opera with the excitement of an organized-crime noire thriller and the social trappings of multi-cultural tolerance and personal discovery. Scott Sigler does an amazing job of blending these genres, clichés, storylines, and ideas to form a cohesive whole on par with the stories of the other masters of science-fiction, such as Stephen King, Neal Stephenson, Robert Heinlein, Clive Barker, and Timothy Zhan. The characterization, motivation, and dialogue of the players, whether human or alien, are entirely believable, as is the detail of the play-by-play action on and off the field. Although a large portion of the storyline deals with the nuances and in-season play of the game, both hardcore fans of American football and those with no interest in the sport will be entertained by the story and the heart-pounding action.

While Scott Sigler is a phenomenal mainstay in the podiosphere with is horror-thriller stories and podiobooks, and their print-media equivalents, he has made a very strong entry in the more pure science fiction arena with this multi-genre novel. Having listened to both the original podiobook release and read the print version of the book, I can honestly say that both are equally superb and entertaining. With his unique approach to storytelling, dialogue, and descriptions of the pulse-pounding action, Scott Sigler has the matchless ability to craft a story that grabs you by the scruff of the neck, shakes you, makes you laugh, cry, cringe, and swear like sailor, and doesn’t let you go until the wild ride and season is over. Whether you listen to the podiobook or read the paper-version (hey, why not do both!), be sure to visit the companion site for all your GFL team needs (do a search for “Galactic Football League” for more info), you will be enterained by this booth and you’ll crave more!

Bottom line: Get in on the ground floor on this fantastic author and listen to and buy his books today!!!

Book Review: Scott Sigler’s “The Rookie”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.4 (Very Good)

STORY: 8 (Well Worth It: The Godfather meets Star Wars meets Rudy…)

ACTION: 8 (Well Worth It: Fights, football, beer, and aliens…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 6 (Better Than Average: Details of football plays involving aliens…)

BELIEVABILITY: 7 (Very Good: Struggling against the upbringing of a backward little planet of bigoted religious radicals…)

CHARACTERS: 8 (Well Worth It: Bigotry, pride, and honor in the far-future Galactic Football League…)

CONTAINS: Football, aliens, beer, mobsters, bigotry, spaceships, space habitats, intergalactic war, religious zealots, illegal drug use, and death.

The Review:

Scott Sigler: the newest Grand Master of science-fiction and horror-thriller…

At first glance, The Rookie, by Scott Sigler, seems to be a typical novel about football—American football.  A young and arrogant rookie quarterback, with a big streak of racism, is brought up to the big leagues to play on a multi-cultural team vying for the number one slot in the upcoming season. Behind the scenes, mobsters and players alike are influencing the outcome of the games and dealing in illegal substances. Overcoming obstacles, injuries, and even deaths on and off the field, the team begins to work well together, but is it enough to win the championship or is it too little too late? Sounds familiar, eh? If you said “Yes,” then you couldn’t be any more wrong!

The Rookie, by Scott Sigler (yes, I said his name twice and I’ll say it again) is set 700 years in the future in a galaxy recovering for a systems-wide intra-galactic war, a war in which most of the intelligent, sentient races (including humans) were conquered by the devious Creterakians. In this dark future, sports have become the solidifying factor in the relationships between the subjugated races, with aliens playing side by side with humans in the Galactic Football League (GFL). Enter into the story the young, bigoted, Rookie quarterback, Quentin Barnes, who is pulled up from the all-human tier 3 team, the Micovi Raiders, to join the ranks of the multi-species Tier 2 team, the Ionath Krakens, where he must overcome his upbringing and intense hatred and xenophobia of the other species if they stand a chance to make it to the play-offs.

This fantastic novel combines the pulse pounding action of a traditional football story and a believable science-fiction space-opera with the excitement of an organized-crime noire thriller and the social trappings of multi-cultural tolerance and personal discovery. Scott Sigler does an amazing job of blending these genres, clichés, storylines, and ideas to form a cohesive whole on par with the stories of the other masters of science-fiction, such as Stephen King, Neal Stephenson, Robert Heinlein, Clive Barker, and Timothy Zhan. The characterization, motivation, and dialogue of the players, whether human or alien, are entirely believable, as is the detail of the play-by-play action on and off the field. Although a large portion of the storyline deals with the nuances and in-season play of the game, both hardcore fans of American football and those with no interest in the sport will be entertained by the story and the heart-pounding action.

While Scott Sigler is a phenomenal mainstay in the podiosphere with is horror-thriller stories and podiobooks, and their print-media equivalents, he has made a very strong entry in the more pure science fiction arena with this multi-genre novel. Having listened to both the original podiobook release and read the print version of the book, I can honestly say that both are equally superb and entertaining. With his unique approach to storytelling, dialogue, and descriptions of the pulse-pounding action, Scott Sigler has the matchless ability to craft a story that grabs you by the scruff of the neck, shakes you, makes you laugh, cry, cringe, and swear like sailor, and doesn’t let you go until the wild ride and season is over. Whether you listen to the podiobook or read the paper-version (hey, why not do both!), be sure to visit the companion site for all your GFL team needs (do a search for “Galactic Football League” for more info), you will be enterained by this booth and you’ll crave more!

Bottom line: Get in on the ground floor on this fantastic author and listen to and buy his books today!!!

eBook Review: William R. Forstchen’s “One Second After”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 6.6 (Better-Than-Average)

STORY: 7 (Very Good:  What would you do if an EMP wiped out all of the technology as we know it? How would you survive? WOULD you survive? It may surprise you that you only have about a 10% chance if you live on the East Coast of the US…)

ACTION: 4 (Pretty Good:  A couple of tense moments, but often a slow and plodding pace that reflected the stretched time effect of when you have no technology to fill you days with lights and entertainment…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 7 (Very Good:  Great combination of  technology and science with easy to understand explanations…)

BELIEVABILITY: 8 (Well Worth It:  Ever think of the luxuries you’d miss without all of our wonderful technologies. Imagine standing next to someone who hasn’t had a decent shower in a month nor a means to wash their clothes and you start to get the picture….)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good:  Decent characters, but a little stereotypical and “cut-out” at times…)

CONTAINS:  Nuclear war, terrorism, survivalists, electromagnetic pulses (EMP’s), hunger, underage pregnancy, diabetes, loss of spouse, sleepy little town, military history, martial law, tasty dog-meat, murder, cannibalism, “obsolete” technology, college life, patriotism, the breakdown of society and all that we hold dear, hoarding, power outages, Presidential death, international policies and interests, North Korea in a glowing crater, solicitations of hygienically questionable sexual intercourse with a rape victim traumatized by the unfairness of the unfolding events, and the apparent death of a great nation.

The Review:

In a picturesque small college town in North Carolina, full of trusting residents who rarely thing of locking their homes or automobiles homes, ex-army colonel John Matherson teaches college and raises two daughters, while continuing to grieve the loss of his wife to cancer.  When the power goes out, cell-phones die, and cars inexplicably stall, no one realizes that their technologically-based world has come crashing to a silent halt… no one except John, who’s familiarity with the potential for devastation by EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse), his military trained instincts driving him to load the shotgun and protect the family, beginning a tale of survival priorities and the possible reality of the rapid destruction of American society in the aftermath of a high altitude nuclear explosion of unknown origin over the US. 

With the backbone of American technology broken and trampled in the dirt, the fight for survival begins as food and medicine becomes scarce and societal breakdown proceeds with the velocity of a speeding bullet and it’s inevitable violence.  As town’s burn, accident deaths escalate, atrocities small and large are commited, and the cultural norms crumble, the common man is called into military action to protect his/her way of life at all costs.  Forstchen’s sad, riveting, cautionary tale, based on a premise which Newt Gingrich’s foreword claims is completely possible, is a chilling “what if” tale that is sure to send shivers down your spine as it raises the one over-riding question:

What would you do to protect you and your own… one second after the world falls apart? 

Or better yet:

What wouldn’t you do…?

I read this book on the Amazon Kindle and have to say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. The formatting was great.  Definitely a worthwhile and recommended read in either paper or digital!

Movie Review: The Watchmen

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 6.8

STORY: 8 (Well Worth It: It follows the original comic series story line closely enough to be true to the source, which was phenomenal and revolutionary at the time and still resonates…)

ACTION: 8 (Well Worth It: Non-Stop action and violence… this is not for kids, though, so leave them at home…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 6 (Better Than Average: Contains some quantum temporal distortion aspects that may leave the uninitiated scratching their heads in places…)

BELIEVABILITY: 6 (Better Than Average: A techno-noir thriller on a global scale in a super-hero setting… there are so many genre arch-types rolled into this modern-day superhero tale that it sometimes takes a few minutes to switch gears between the sub-story-arcs…)

CHARACTERS: 6 (Better Than Average: Unique characters with definite quirks, desires, and personalities… see below for more details…)

CONTAINS: Super-heroes, Vietnam War, President Nixon, nuclear war, high tech gadgets, sex, violence, adultery, rape, prison, mars, Antarctica, blood and guts, death, and quantum physics.

The Review:

Let me start off by saying that I read the Watchmenwhen it first came out back in the 1980′s and have not had the chance or opportunity to go back and re-read the original comic since then, so I do not have the pre-expectations that other comic-fan-reviewers have had when coming into the showing of this film. I’ve heard a lot of negativity for this film and I honestly can say that I believe much of the criticism is basically unfounded.

In order to understand the film, one should be familiar with the backstory of the original comis series. From Wikipedia:

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form. Moore used the story as a means to reflect contemporary anxieties and to deconstruct the superhero concept.

Creatively, the focus of Watchmen is on its structure. Gibbons used a nine-panel grid layout throughout the series and added recurring symbols such as a blood-stained smiley face. All but the last issue feature supplemental fictional documents that add to the series’ back-story, and the narrative is intertwined with that of another story, a fictional pirate comic titled Tales of the Black Freighter, which one of the characters reads. Watchmen has received critical acclaim both in the comics and mainstream press, and is regarded by critics as a seminal text of the comic book medium.

Watchmen is set in an alternate reality which closely mirrors the contemporary world of the 1980s. The primary point of divergence is the presence of superheroes. Their existence in this iteration of America is shown to have dramatically affected and altered the outcomes of real-world events such as the Vietnam War and the presidency of Richard Nixon. In keeping with the realism of the series, although the costumed crime fighters of Watchmen are commonly called “superheroes”, the only character who possesses obvious superhuman powers is Doctor Manhattan. The existence of Doctor Manhattan has given the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, which has increased tensions between the two nations. Additionally, superheroes have become unpopular among the public, which has led to the passage of legislation in 1977 to outlaw them. While many of the heroes retired, Doctor Manhattan and The Comedian operate as government-sanctioned agents, and Rorschach continues to operate outside the law.

In October 1985, New York City police are investigating the murder of Edward Blake. With the police having no leads, costumed vigilante Rorschach decides to probe further. Discovering Blake to be the face behind The Comedian, a costumed hero employed by the United States government, Rorschach believes he has discovered a plot to eliminate costumed adventurers and sets about warning four of his retired comrades: Dan Dreiberg (formerly the second Nite Owl), the super-powered and emotionally detached Doctor Manhattan and his lover Laurie Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre), and Adrian Veidt (once the hero Ozymandias, and now a successful businessman, also known as the smartest man alive).

 I personally found the film to be a faithful retelling of the original story that I remember, with all of the special effects that the modern age has to offer, without falling into the trap that many superhero movies tend to fall into, with the exception of the more recent film adaptations (Batman Dark Knight and Iron Man come to mind). I feel it is the Watchman film that always should have been made, but couldn’t have been realized until the technology caught up with the imagination of the original comics.

For me, the visuals of the film, were, of course, wonderful and spot-on… but the key selling point of the film was the overall casting of the characters. below is a rundown of the main cast and how they added to the overall positive aspects of the film.

• The Comedian / Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan): The character of The Comedian is a ruthless, cynical, and anarchic superhero, with an penchant of deeper insight, who becomes one of the only two government sanctioned superheroes after the Keene Act. The movie kicks off with the death of this character, which sets the entire movie’s plot in motion, with memory and dream sequences sprinkled throughout, providing a deeper insight of this complex and dangerous character. Probably best known for his role as John Winchester in the TV series, Supernatural, Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays this character pretty much just as I pictured him, bringing out the deranged and ruthless aspects of Blake that brought chills, especially in the post photo-op scene with the original Silk Specter (played by the ever-lovely Carla Gugino). Character Grade: B+
• Doctor Manhattan / Jonathan Osterman (Billy Crudup):  Scientist Jon Osterman gained superpowers when he was caught in an “Intrinsic Field Subtractor” in 1959, causing him to live in a quantum universe where he could not perceive time with a linear perspective, which caused him to initially retain “human habits” and to grow away from them and humanity in general. Portraying the pre-transformation Jon Ostermanand acting in a white suit which was later replaced with a computer generated post-transformation Doctor Manhattan, Billy Crudup gives a believable performance of the character with a straight, quite approach that worked. Character Grade: B-
• Nite Owl / Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson): Dan Dreiberg is a retired superhero who’s alter-ego was the Batman-like gadgeteer with an Owl-Theme, the Nite Owl. Showing an impotence and fear at the role of the hero many years after the Keene Act, Dan Dreiberg appears to be a middle-aged engineer when in his civilian persona, but literally flies into action when donning his owl-based high-tech costume. With hidden feelings for Doctor Manhattan’s girlfriend (Silk Spectre / Laurie Juspeczyk), one of the key layers of this story is Dan’s pre-occupation and relationship with her. Patrick Wilson, perhaps best known as the voice for the MasterCard “Priceless” commercials, really sold me on the washed-up and wimpy Dan Dreiberg and did a decent job portraying the Nite Owl. Character Grade: C+
• Ozymandias / Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode): Adrian Veidt was once the superhero Ozymandias (inspired by Alexander the Great), but has since retired to devote his attention to the running of his own enterprises and is believed to be one of the smartest men on the planet. Once part of the same superhero team as Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, and The Comedian, he is one of the few superheroes who has publicly announced his secret identity to the world. Best known for his role as Mandy Moore’s romantic interest in the 2004 film Chasing Liberty, Matthew Goode does a decent job as both Adrian and Ozymandias, although there were several other actors who may have been better for the role, such as Jude Law. Character Grade: C
• Rorschach / Walter Kovacs (Jackie Earle Haley): A vigilante who continues to fight crime despite his outlaw status, Rorschach wears a white mask that contains a symmetrical but constantly shifting ink blot pattern. One of the key lynch-pins of the story, Jackie Earle Haley brings both the vigilante and his alter-ego, Walter Kovacs to life. By far, this character was probably the most accurately portrayed. Character Grade: A-
• Silk Spectre / Laurie Juspeczyk (Malin Åkerman): The daughter of the first Silk Spectre and another superhero, the Laurie Juspeczyk is the young love interest of Doctor Manhattan. Portrayed by supermodel/actress Malin Åkerman, the Silk Spectre starts off as nothing more than the lover of Doctor Manhattan and the secret romantic interest of Dan Dreiberg , but ends up as one of the more important characters by the end of the film. Character Grade: B

Watchmen is the most controversial, complex, and celebrated graphic novel of all time, and the film delivers on a superb adaptation of that pivotal comic series on so many levels. While it delivers everything that every fanboy and fangirl could possibly want, many Watchmen die-hards or non-superhero viewers may find fault with this movie typically because it is ultra-violent (it is… and so was the comic), it is 2 hours and 41 minutes long (you don’t notice it), or that it didn’t exactly follow the comics panel by panel (hey fans, the Tales of the Black Freighter is getting released direct to DVD, so stop the whining).

If you love dark and visually stunning superhero movies, you should love this one!

Podiobook Review: Nathan Lowell’s “Double Share”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.6

STORY: 7 (Very Good: A much more realistic and non-Utopian view of his Golden Age universe, leading to a very satisfying story…)

ACTION: 8 (Well Worth It: Combines the socio-economic trappings of the previous books with a large helping of verbal, physical, and cultural conflicts that test our views of shipboard life…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 7 (Very Good: Like the previous books, this combines a good blend of futuristic science and technology presented in a believable manner and approach that most can understand…)

BELIEVABILITY: 8 (Very Good:By shrugging off some of the Star-Trek-like Utopian society restrictions and incorporating in some of the darker aspects of  humanity, Nathan makes a much more believable story…)

CHARACTERS: 8 (Well Worth It: More characters in this story than previous offerings, with more diverse characteristics and personal motivations…)

CONTAINS: Mega-corporations, space ships, colonized planets, futuristic technology, intergalactic finance/trading, sex, tribal totems, seduction, Bunk Bunnies, implied rape, totalitarian military hierarchy, rating exams, subterfuge and spying, field day, and Tai Chi… plus more Coffee!

The Review:

Nathan Lowell returns to his Golden Age of the Solar Clipper universe in the fourth installment of the ‘Share mega-series (or the first book of his new ‘Share trilogy) with the release of  Double Share, continuing the everyman story of Ishmael Horatio Wang. 

This new story arc drives Ish in a slightly new direction, taking up his story at the end of his Academy years right after graduation, just as he is heading off to begin his life as an officer in the Diurnia Quardrant, taking the role of Third Mate on the SC William Tinker. The story begins with Ish’s journey from the Academy to Diurnia on a Fast Packet, remembering his Academy years, catching up on his reading, and learning some defense techniques from one of the fellow passengers, painting a laid-back and easy-going transition that effectively foreshadows his approaching time on the Tinker.

Arriving in Diurnia, Ish joins up with the Tinker, a trading vessel for a small company, and rapidly realizes that he may have made a mistake.  When serving on the Lois, her crew were the perfect example of efficiency, professionalism, and etiquette.  The Tinker is almost opposite the Lois in most of the ways that matter. Almost at once, Ish is thrust into an unfamiliar territory, with a crew that is rude, disrespectful, and repressed under the current command, as is evident in the attitude of the lower-level crew, the nasty smells and prevalent grime of the general spaces, and the fear that underlines the day-to-day activities.  This pervading ship culture is further enhanced and driven home by Ish’s realization that The Tinker has the Bunk Bunny approach to underway life, conflicting with Ish’s philosophy of “Don’t Screw with Crew”.

Through many trials and tribulations, verbal and physical conflicts, and temptations of the flesh, Ish is finally able to overcome the issues by the end of the story, although not in the clean and somewhat easy way he has in the previous ‘Share stories.  This story takes on more realistic trappings with Ish tackling the issues and conflicts in his normal methodical manner, sometimes successful and other times resulting in more ramifications than he anticipates; much more dire ramifications that will cause you to spend a good portion of the story wondering if he’ll get spaced before the end.  Through the very effective storytelling, we also get to see the full gamut of arch-types through his portrayal of the officers and the crew, which lends further realism to the topics and hurdles, painting a very vivid picture indeed.

In this installment of the story of the common man, Nathan takes us further into his Golden Age of the Solar Clipper universe, bringing back some of the common elements that he had introduced in the early stories (Whelkies, for example) while expanding on others (such as the Bunk Bunny culture)… and introducing us to some of the darker aspects of his setting that were not evident in his more Utopian stories for the first ‘Share arc (Quarter Share, Half Share, and Full Share).

I blasted through Double Share in record time and I found the handling of the delicate subject matter to be very effective and realistic, with his normal charm and subtlety.  Overall, I love the direction that Nate appears to be going, taking Ish from a naive and almost adolescent view of his universe and his place in it, while growing and maturing him along the way as he is exposed to the underlying reality of his adult world.

[NOTE: Having been in the navy on an aircraft carrier in a rate that had previously been exclusively male (Nuclear Propulsion Program, Electronics Technician), some of the situations presented parallel the situations we had when we received our first batch of female sailors in the department… it’s amazing how many of the personal conduct rules and regulations are broken underway when there is no authority to be seen, mostly by willing participants, resulting in the potential for something akin to Nathan's Bunk Bunny philosophy.]

I’m very interested to see where he will take Ish in the future ‘Share books (Captain’s Share and Owner’s Share)… and I know that no matter where the story leads us, it will be an interesting and unexpected trip.

Podiobook Review: Nathan Lowell’s “Full Share”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.6

STORY: 7 (Very Good: Another strong release, appears to be the work of an author with more commercial experience…)

ACTION: 8, for emotional, physical, and social “action” (Better Than Average: Character and action driven story, with a nice change of pace by having a futuristic sci-fi story focused on a commercially-expanded society instead of a militarily-expanded society…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 8 (Better Than Average: It isn’t simplistic nor is it driven by mind-bending advanced technology and sciences/information… it’s just the right blend…)

BELIEVABILITY: 7 (Very Good: You can picture yourself next to Ish each step of the way, especially if you have prior naval experience…)

CHARACTERS: 8 (Well Worth It: Only a hand full or so characters, but each are unique and well-thought-out, each able to pull you into their story very quickly…)

CONTAINS: Mega-corporations, space ships, colonized planets, futuristic technology, intergalactic finance/trading, tattoos/piercings, ghosts, sex, seduction, near misses, burned out electronics, rising CO2 levels, and an unexpected family reunion.

The Review:

The final story in Nathan Lowell’s original three-story arc, Full Share continues the story of Ishmael Wang begun in Quarter Share and Half Share. As the story opens and begins to unfold, we find Ish taking his test for Spec 2 (Environmental) and getting pressure to join the Confederation Merchant Officer Academy… and getting some disturbing news about his future on the SC Lois McKendrick. In a surprising turn of events, the entire ship is placed in grave danger before Ish meets the newest shipmate, CC.

Without giving too much of the plot and events away, this story delivers a continuing commentary on the social and economic struggles of the common man and introduces an element of danger and pulse pounding excitement not seen fully in the first two podiobooks. Throughout the story, we see Ish coming into his own as he is thrust right into the center of the excitement and it’s fallout and getting to experience his maturing process as he comes to grip with his uncertain future. Nathan continues to explore the more adult oriented themes in this sequel, exploring nudity, sex, and references to Judeo-Christian religions, maintaining the similarities to several of Heinlein’s juvenile books some of his later adult oriented books as well.

As with the first two podiobooks in the series, Nathan competently and effectively steers his stories away from the common trappings of science fiction, such as ray guns, alien invaders, militaristic space battles, larger than live heroes, and impossible scenarios; instead, he focuses on the social and economic ramifications of space travel in a society driven and run by interstellar corporations.

Overall, I loved this entry the most out of the three I’ve listened to so far, mainly since it seems to have finally fully come into it’s own by providing physical action in addition to his established socio-economic commentary. Pick up and listen to Quarter Share, Half Share, and Full Share today!

eBook Review: Stephen King’s “UR”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 5.6

STORY: 5 (Average: Not King’s best work, nor his worst… a nice, recycled, common story basis…)

ACTION: 5 (Average: Like many of King’s stories, there is a lot of character development, story development, interspersed with spurts of action…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 7 (Very Good: Good blend of typical human worries and concepts combined with multiverse theory…)

BELIEVABILITY: 5 (Average:Along the lines of King’s recent work with alternate realities, this blends the average and mundane with the supra-natural…)

CHARACTERS: 6 (Better Than Average: Only a couple characters, but each are well-developed and have unique quirks and motivations…)

CONTAINS: Amazon kindle, college professors, college coach, true love, alternate realities, lost literary works, prophesy, the Beam and the Tower, Regulators, drunk driving, and credit card charges.

The Review:

Stephen King’s UR is his first story that is only available as an eBook and is exclusive to the Amazon Kindle only. Originally scheduled to coincide with the release of the Kindle version 2 on February 24th, Amazon delighted their Kindle-toting, eBook reading, techno-geek customers by releasing it on February 12th, and at a very reasonable $2.99. As a newly converted Kindle-Geek (I finally received my first kindle on February 25th 2009, after being on back-order since late November 2008), UR was the first eBook that I purchased and downloaded to my newest favorite gadget… and I was NOT disappointed.

UR is both a marketing campaign for the Kindle and a good techno-fantasy, combining each aspect smoothly. The core story involves a college English professor (Wesley Smith) at a little known, but apparently decent, university, who after breaking up abruptly with his girlfriend (a coach at the same school), can’t seem to get her parting shot out of his head: “Why can’t you just read off the computer like the rest of us?” Irked by her comment and intrigued by the recommendation of one of his students, Wesley places an order for Amazon.com’s revolutionary eBook reader, the Amazon Kindle. The device that arrives in the familiar a box stamped with the smile logo (via one-day delivery that he hadn’t requested) opens up worlds of literature that would make even the most avid of book lovers drool in anticipation/jealousy.

Once the pink Kindle arrives (instead of the normal white Kindle), King transitions into marketing mode, describing the normal features of this fantastic device that every owner of the Kindle can relate to:

• Surprise of having the Kindle tips and tricks manual easily accessible in the device
• Debating if Kindle books are real books
• Resisting the temptation of buying too many books (or at least more than one can afford)
• Amazement that the expected color screen is actually a somehow-more-exciting grey scale
• Describing the joys and fun of using a Kindle to someone who doesn’t have one
• Testing the experimental features

It is these experimental features that lead into the rest of the story, opening the door (quite literally) to more literary works than Welsey ever imagined, as this Kindle can download and display multiple publications of the masters, such as Hemingway and Poe, from all of the accessible UR’s (Alternate or Unlimited Realities). This and another unique feature has Wesley scrambling and emotionally torn as he tries to win back the love of his ex-girlfriend, causing him to face the consequences of breaking the Kindle UR agreement, in a story resolution that only King can delivery.

For those of you who have a Kindle and like Stephen King, give this one a try. If you come to like it, go ahead and say “Thankee-Sai”… if you find that you don’t care for it, they I cry your pardon.

Book Review: Raymond E. Feist’s “Magician”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.4

STORY: 8 (Well Worth It: Amazing use of a traditional fantasy setting with a unique twist…)

ACTION: 7 (Very Good: Sword fights, bow and arrows, magical duals, sieges, and poison… who could ask for more…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 8 (Better Than Average: Magical transcendentalism mixed with a much simpler time… good blend…)

BELIEVABILITY: 7 (Very Good: It’s very easy to immerse yourself into this well-conceived magical world…)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good: Very unique characters with the typical flaws and differences… cast of dozens of major characters and thousands of minor…)

CONTAINS: Young love, castle life, honor, dragons, elves, dwarves, goblins, dark elves, slavery, caste systems, sea travel, oriental adventures, political intrigue and turmoil, invasion, magic and sorcery, pirates, siege tactics, heroes, and villains.

The Review:

There are hundreds of epic fantasy series available these days, with a very small number of them standing the test of time to become what one could call “classics”. Raymond E. Feist’s original fantasy series, the Riftwar Saga is one of the few series of books that still has me returning twenty-five years after I first read them as a teenager. While the Riftwar Sage is actually only two books, Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master, many consider the Riftwar saga to include the next two books in the series as well (Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon).

Magician (consisting of the books Magician: Apprentice and Magician Master) is set in the world of Midkemia, a somewhat typicical fantasy world resplendent with castles, humans, dwarves, elves, dark elves, goblins, and established in a somewhat traditional feudalism society. The series begins with introducing the main characters: Pug, a young orphan boy of about 14 years old, who works in the kitchens in the Duke’s Castle in Crydee, on the western shore of the Kingdom, and Tomas, the cook’s son and Pug’s adopted brother. After a series of events leads them to being apprenticed in very different careers, the Kingdom is thrust into war as invaders cross it’s borders… from another world a universe away.

As the worlds of Midkemia and the Kelewan engage in a very dangerous and desperate conflict, Pug and Tomas are forced into growing up and taking a much larger and critical role in the survival of both of the worlds. This epic adventure makes great use of fantasy races, travel, magic, introspection, battles, and even a castle siege as the story unfolds, providing plenty of opportunity for each of the dozens of main characters to be fleshed out and made more real against this backdrop.

If you are looking for a great epic fantasy series to sink your teeth into, I would whole-heartedly recommend at least the two Magician books of the series. Raymond E. Feist has elevated his stories of Midkemia and Kelewan to an almost cult level, placing him on firm footing with some of the other recognized masters of fantasy, such as Robert Jordan, Tolkein, Weis and Hickman, and David Eddings. While some belittle his works as simplistic and a rehash of the same old tired themes, his world-building and character-driven stories are above and beyond much of the traditional hack and slash fantasy settings available.

Book Review: China Miéville’s “Perdido Street Station”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 6.4

STORY: 6 (Better Than Average: A little confusing at first, but worth making it through…)

ACTION: 7 (Very Good: Blends love, intrigue, political beliefs, racism, and the industrial revolution with magic and technological progress…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 6 (Better Than Average:  A little tough to follow at times in the beginning, requires the reader to immerse him/herself into this new world for it to really take hold, many strange and bewildering concepts…)

BELIEVABILITY: 6 (Better Than Average: Once the strangeness of this new setting fades, the setting becomes very easy to picture…)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good: Story and the characters become very enjoyable, each with their own quirks, dreams, and flaws…)

CONTAINS: Totalitarian state, strange races, inter-species sexual intercourse, industrialized magic and alchemy, steampunk, industrial revolution, transcendental beings, artificial intelligence, destruction, and personal loss.

The Review:

Perdido Street Station is set in New Crobuzon, a large metropolis, teeming with life (and death), in an alternate world conceived by Miéville. From a technology standpoint, the world seems to have developed from more of a magical or sword and sorcery world, with steam magic and alchemy as the basis for many of the worlds advances; at the point in history portrayed by in the story, the world has achieved somewhat of an industrial revolution in it’s technological progression. In this case, think steampunk mixed with the supernatural mixed with a traditional sword and sorcery story, and you almost will have an idea of what this world is about. Throw in a world unfettered by hygiene and industrial waste control standards, and you’ll be even closer. All in all, it is a very gritty and grimy world setting, which is made all the more plausible because of it’s faults.

A large number of strange and wondrous sentient species populate the city:

• The Remade are usually (but not always) the resulting sentence of the criminal justice system. Instead of imprisoning criminals, the city of New Crobuzon send convicted criminals to punishment factories, where “bio-thaumaturges” warp and twist their bodies in a variety of humiliating, disgusting, and painful ways. Some are combined with machines, causing them to be enslaved to one particular purpose, while others have bizarre limbs or organs grafted onto their bodies, turning them into freaks of nature.
• The Khepri are a race of humanoid scarab beetles. Female khepri possess bodies very similar to those of human women (except that their skin is crimson and they have large scarab beetles in place of heads); since they are mute, they communicate with each other via movements of their “headlegs” and squirts of chemicals, while some khepri communicate with humans via sign-language (although most simply use writing). Male khepri, on the other hand, are lobster-sized, non-sentient scarabs, without the depending humanoid body.
• The Cactacae are enormous plant (cactus) people, often towering over human beings; although their young grow out of the ground, they nurse them as mammals do. They are known for their strength, and are often employed as laborers and bodyguards.
• The Vodyanoi are fat and frog-like, with webbed feet and toes. They are skilled in water magics, able to fashion temporarily-solid objects out of water.
• The Wyrmen are semi-sentient flying creatures, similar in appearance to gargoyles, and no more than a foot tall, with bright red skin and small bat wings. They are crude, vulgar, and laugh at anything and everything.
• The Garuda are nomadic humanoid birds of prey and are hunters with a fierce sense of individualism; they resemble winged humans with avian heads and feet.

The central character in the novel is a human scientist/alchemist known as Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, who, though still affiliated with the university, is working (not too successfully) on his own scientific experiments. Isaac is involved romantically with Lin, a khepri, and they are in what appears to be a somewhat frowned upon relationship, possibly due to the inter-species aspect. When Yagharek, a garuda whose wings have been removed (for some terrible crime he committed among his own kind), comes with a commission for Isaac with the hope that the scientist can get him airborne again, the scientist can’t resist. Thus begins the sequence of events that spiral out of control and present a mounting danger to Isaac, Lin, Yagharek, New Crobuzon, and possibly the entire world.

Miéville introduces this gritty, dirty, and apathetic fantasy initially in a slow, methodical fashion, without unnecessarily describing each element as it appears, but rather offering it as the way things are in this world. He fleshes out the details, where necessary, but a great deal is left to the reader’s imagination, an approach which seems to work quite well.  It’s a wild, dirty, dark, and disease riddled world in which the story unfolds, with Miéville vividly building the unique urban setting: New Crobuzon is a large part of the story, almost a unique character on it’s own, and lends itself to the success of the story as much as Isaac, Yagharek, or Lin.

Miéville allows the story to unfold in multiple layers, taking several misleading twists and turns before the central storyline is reached (which doesn’ always leading to the obvious), and carries it through to the end with some unexpected twists in the resolution. Perdido Street Station is an involved book which doesn’t get straight to the point (or the action) in the beginning; but as the story unfolds, the reader will be thankful for the world introduction provided by these ‘false starts’, allowing them to become comfortable with the setting before the ‘real’ action begins.

Overall, an impressive achievement and an entertaining read, developing into a very solid and memorable fantasy.

Book Review: Richard K. Morgan’s “Woken Furies”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.0

STORY: 8 (Very Good: It kept me guessing right up to the end…)

ACTION: 8(Very Good: Brings in some great philosophical and political debates…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 6 (Better Than Average: High Tech gadgetry and technology are in prolific use…)

BELIEVABILITY: 6 (Better Than Average: Very believable integration of hi-tech and the impact on the earth-based cultures and politics…)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good: Quite a few characters, each of which are believable for the most part…)

CONTAINS: Extreme sexuality, Mega-Corporations, political intrigue, intense combat, drug/alcohol use, clones, colonized planets, futuristic technology, guns, mind transferal, and criminology.

The Review:

Common Technology: Most people have stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories; human personalities can be stored digitally and downloaded into new bodies, called sleeves; if their body dies, their stack data can be stored indefinitely. 

While Altered Carbon was a gritty sci-fi noir techno police thriller and Broken Angels was a more traditional sci-fi military, Woken Furies blends traditional sci-fi thrillers with political intrigue and is by far more intense, complex, and engaging that the previous two Takeshi Kovacs novels by an entire order of magnitude.

Woken Furies marries magnificent suspense and action with a more logical and intellectually fulfilling plot exploring the dynamics of power and politic, along with the consequences of revolution from a more neutral perspective that is neither overly sardonic and prejudiced nor idealistic. Furthermore, Takeshi Kovacs himself comes into his own as more of a true hero, shrugging off the trappings of the typical boilerplate antihero.

In this third (and, according to Morgan, final) Takeshi Kovacs novel, we find that Kovacs has returned to his home planet of Harlan’s World and is in the midst of a vicious vendetta against the Knights of the New Revelation, a group of religious fanatics who were responsible for failing to resleeve Kovacs’ friend (and implied lover) from the previous novels (Sarah). In this novel, he’s in debt to a childhood buddy and local crime-lord, who’s loaned him the cash to pursue this bloody quest of revenge against the Knights. He’s on the cusp of meeting his moral obligations when he rescues a young woman named Sylvie from the clutches of the Talibanish Knights, and is promptly swept up in an adventure that could have repercussions for the whole of Harlan’s World.

Bringing the Kovacs trilogy to a satisfying and resounding end, Woken Furies is the culmination of the emotional journey of Takeshi Kovacs, resulting the the best book of the series, and completing what could be the best series in science fiction today.

Book Review: Richard K. Morgan’s “Broken Angels”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 6.6

STORY: 7 (Well Worth It: It kept me guessing right up to the end…)

ACTION: 7 (Very Good: Brings in some great Hi-Tech military combat…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 6 (Better Than Average: High Tech gadgetry and technology are in prolific use…)

BELIEVABILITY: 6 (Better Than Average: Very believable integration of hi-tech and the impact on the earth-based cultures…)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good: Quite a few characters, each of which are believable for the most part…)

CONTAINS: Extreme sexuality, Mega-Corporations, intense combat, drug/alcohol use, clones, colonized planets, futuristic technology, guns, mind transferal, and criminology.

The Review:

Common Technology: Most people have stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories; human personalities can be stored digitally and downloaded into new bodies, called sleeves; if their body dies, their stack data can be stored indefinitely. 

While Altered Carbon was a gritty sci-fi noir techno police thriller, Broken Angels wears the trappings of a more traditional sci-fi military thriller with pride. Set 30 years after the events in Altered Carbon, Broken Angels unfolds with Takeshi Kovacs having escaped Earth, fleeing both the consequences of the events in Altered Carbon and the relationships he was forced to abandon on Earth and elsewhere. 

Now serving in Carrera’s Wedge on Sanction IV (a mercenary unit fighting against the rebellion against the local corporate sponsored government), Kovacs becomes embroiled in the search and recovery of a Martian artifact discovered on Sanction IV before the breakout of the war. Through a series of events, including the rescue of a war-ravaged archeologue and the recruitment of a megacorp to fund the expedition, Kovacs and the assembled crew are able to locate the artifact and so much more: a prize so deadly that it could spell extinction for the human race.

Broken Angels is a violent, angry, cynical story that features a great deal of gunfire and gore… with a large helping of irradiated sex to boot. The best part of Broken Angels is Kovacs’s succinct attempts to survive through adversity and still live with the consequences of his actions. While pretending to have few morals (and often times even believing it), he still honors deserved obligations, while discarding undeserved ones, showing the layers of honor and depth that make up his persona. Broken Angels is a more pure and focused book than Altered Carbon, concentrating on a close examination of the military system of Morgan’s future and Kovac’s deep-seeded resentment and philosophy of the military caste. If you like military soaked sci-fi, then Broken Angels is the embodiment of the genre and is well worth the read.

Book Review: Richard K. Morgan’s “Altered Carbon”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 6.6

STORY: 8 (Well Worth It: It kept me guessing right up to the end…)

ACTION: 6 (Better Than Average: Great fight scenes…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 6 (Better Than Average: High Tech gadgetry and technology are in prolific use…)

BELIEVABILITY: 6 (Better Than Average: Very believable integration of hi-tech and the impact on the earth culture…)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good: Quite a few characters, each of which are believable for the most part…)

CONTAINS: Extreme sexuality, intense combat, drug/alcohol use, clones, colonized planets, futuristic technology, prostitution, law enforcement/detective, guns, mind transferal, and criminology.

The Review:

Richard K. Morgan’s debut book, Altered Carbon, is set some five hundred years in the future in a universe in which the United Nations Protectorate oversees a number of extrasolar planets settled by human beings. In this future, most people have stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories; human personalities can be stored digitally and downloaded into new bodies, called sleeves; if their body dies, their stack data can be stored indefinitely. 

As the story unfolds, we find Takeshi Kovacs waking on a strange new world (earth), after he downloaded into a sleeve formerly inhabited by Bay City (formerly San Francisco) policeman Elias Ryker.

Kovacs was an Envoy, a member of a military unit formed to cope with the challenge of interstellar warfare. Faster-than-light travel is only possible by transmitting a digitally stored consciousness across space into a new sleeve. Transmitting normal soldiers in this way would severely inhibit their effectiveness, since they would have to cope with a new body while fighting. To combat this, Envoy training emphasises mental techniques necessary to survive in different bodies over physical strength, and the sleeve in which they are transmitted has special neuro-chemical sensors which amplify the power of the five senses, intuition and physical capabilities. The effectiveness of the Envoy Corps’ training is such that Envoys are banned from holding governmental positions on most worlds.

On Earth, in this future, most people cannot afford to get resleeved more than once per lifetime, so while some people can live indefinitely, only the wealthy are able to acquire replacement bodies on a continual basis. The long-lived are called Meths, short for Methuselahs. The very rich are also able to keep copies of their minds in remote storage, which they update every so often. This ensures that even if their stack is destroyed, they can be resleeved.

One such Methuselah–a man named Laurens Bancroft–has apparently committed suicide. He is resleeved from a backup, but his other stack was destroyed. Because his stack is on a 48 hour back-up schedule, he has no memories of his actions during the previous 48 hours. He believes his apparent suicide was actually a murder and hires Takeshi Kovacs to investigate his death.

Kovacs’ special Envoy training (and his dubious criminal past) makes him the perfect investigator. Initially, when he meets resistance from the local police (and when he is almost kidnapped by highly trained goons as he is checking into his A.I.-owned hotel), he becomes convinced that Bancroft’s death must have been more than a simple suicide. Throughout the course of the novel, Kovacs’ investigation takes him through a sleazy high-tech world of sleeving services (both legal and illegal), brothels (both real and virtual), and through cyberpunkish fight-to-the-death spectator sports. Bombarded by and dragged through fast-paced action, Kovacs is able to piece together what actually happened to Bancroft; he continuously risks his life not only to make sure the bad guys pay, but also to repay some of the victims he has uncovered in his investigation, hearkening to his deeply buried sense of honor.

Richard K. Morgan’s first novel, Altered Carbon, is a gritty and complex mosaic that is completely believable, with little of the usual weaknesses commonly expected from new authors’ first novels. Altered Carbon is more believable (and definitely much more mature) than most of the books and movies that have been spawned by the cyberpunk genre over the last couple decades; the characters’ motivations are plausible and logic driven, the high-tech sex and violence being integral to the plot, and the ability to record and re-embody people makes the gritty future plausible and logically inevitable.

Altered Carbon is an superb debut for Richard K. Morgan; it’s difficult to imagine anyone writing a more engaging, gritty, far-future, cyberpunk-style, thriller murder mystery than this.

Podiobook Review: Nathan Lowell’s “Half Share”

The Overall Rating (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.0

STORY: 6 (Better than Average: Good sequel to Nathan’s initial release, Quarter Share…)

ACTION: 6, for emotional and social “action” (Better than Average: Character driven story, dealing with the social ramifications of serving on a space freighter/transport…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 9 (Fantastic: Just the right blend… very consistent with the first release, Quarter Share…)

BELIEVABILITY: 7 (Very Good: You can picture yourself next to Ish each step of the way, especially if you have prior naval experience…)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good: Only a hand full or so characters, but each are unique and well-thought-out, each able to pull you into their story very quickly…)

CONTAINS: Minor sexuality, seduction, unrequited sexual angst, fashion sense, mega-corporations, space ships, colonized planets, futuristic technology, intergalactic finance/trading, tattoos/piercings, shamanism, and lots of coffee.

The Review:

With a solid follow-on to his initial release, Quarter Share, Nathan Lowell continues the coming of age story of Ishmael Wang in Half Share after he is promoted to the environmental section. Focusing on he growing relationships with his shipmates (specifically Big-Bad-Bev, Diane, and Brillo), Ish is thrust into facing his dubious fashion sense, his personal beliefs, the continuing mystery of several of his peers, and his own self-doubt and naivete. Through the gentle and persistent proddings of his friends, Ish starts to discover just who he is, determines what his real relationships are with his closest friends, and learns how to best display his overall package in a way that is both pleasing and practical, as he begins to solidify what is means to be a spacer  in the Deep Dark and a man.

Nathan continues his story of the common man, with Ish, as he explores more adult oriented themes in this sequel, branching off into nudity, sex, and references to Judeo-Christian religions. With similarities to several of Heinlein’s juvenile books (and a touch of his later adult oriented books as well), Nathan’s Trader’s Tales from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper deals with an atypical sci-fi setting that is more about the social and economic ramifications of space travel than about space combat, conquest, and larger-than-life heroes. Like his Quarter Share debut, I just couldn’t stop listening to Half Share; while it doesn’t have the flash and “excitement” of traditional sci-fi novels, all of his character’s are extremely well-thought-out and rounded, with their own quirks and senses of style. This is the type of series that draws you into the story by making each of the characters totally relate-able; many times, I felt as though I was right there with Ish and the crew, especially since I have a navy background and the space travel community that Nathan conveys is very similar to terrestial navy life.

My overall recommendation is to give this story a try, no matter what your preconceived notions of the sci-fi genre are. Leave your normal sci-fi genre expectations at the airlock and travel a bit with Ish, Pip, and the rest of the Lois McKendrick crew as they travel the known trading routes in search of profit. This one is well worth the time! You won’t be sorry.

Where can I get this podiobook or see more information:

• http://solarclipper.com,
• iTunes,
• Plus many other suppliers of audiobooks and podiobooks, such as http://www.podiobooks.com.

Podiobook Review: J. C. Hutchins’ “7th Son: Book One – Decent”

The Overall Rating (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.0

STORY: 7 (Very Good: A very strong initial release, amazing voice talent…)

ACTION: 8 (Well Worth It: Psychological, physical, social, emotional, it’s got a little of them all…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 7 (Very Good: It has some advanced concepts here, but enough explanation to understand it without having to look them up…)

BELIEVABILITY: 6 (Above Average: Although J. C. does a great job interweaving fact and fancy into a believable story, some of it is borderline contrived, requiring a somewhat active ‘disbelief of the fantastical”…)

CHARACTERS: 8 (Well Worth It: Very nicely developed characters, amazing considering that the core ones have such similar backgrounds…)

CONTAINS: Loss of parent(s), secret organizations, sexuality, futuristic technology, drug use (cigarettes and alcohol), murder, conspiracies, illegal activities, guns and explosions, torture, teenage sweet hearts, military operations, Nazis, espionage, riddles, talking walls, and insane cyber hacker(s).

The Review:

A traditional modern day action adventure, riddled with cutting-edge, fantastical sci-fi, J. C. Hutchins’ debut podiobook, 7th Son: Decent, is a mind-blowing joyride into the world of conspiracies, clones, and world domination.

“The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy…”

With that opening statement, the story of seven strangers who are assembled after the assassination of the U.S. president begins… seven strangers who all appear to be the same man … with identical childhood memories. These seven men are unwilling participants in a human cloning experiment and are pulled together by a deep conspiracy; these “John Michael Smiths” are gathered together to catch the man who murdered the president. And who is their target, the man who killed the Commander-in-Chief?

None other than the very man they were cloned from; the original John Michael Smith, code-named “John Alpha”.

This story is an amazing decent into multiple layers of deceit, conspiracy, awesome technologies, and the emotional trauma of men, who, one day unique, suddenly discover that they may not be anything more than a cheap copy. However, while each clone has the same memories up to age 14, each of them were placed in different circumstances for the remainderof their childhood, allowing each to grow up and develop as differently as possible. In fact, each has a very different outlook on life, different occupations, and each have even chosen different variations of the name “John Michael Smith” (John, Jack, Michael, Dr. Mike, etc.), which aids in keeping them individualized during the telling of the story. Adding to this, each of the supporting characters have fully fleshed-out personalities, providing a very rich character pool from which to develop the story… and what a story it is.

J. C. has developed a superb modern thriller with fantastical technologies woven seamlessly throughout, along with enough conspiracy, mystery, action, dialogue, and twists, turns, and cliffhangers to ensure that there is enough to get just about anyone hooked. If you are a fan of sci-fi or techno-thrillers, pick up this one today… you won’t be disappointed.

Where can I get this podiobook or see more information:

• http://www.7thsonnovel.com/,
• iTunes,
• Plus many other fine suppliers of audiobooks and podiobooks, such as http://www.podiobooks.com.

Podiobook Review: Nathan Lowell’s “Quarter Share”

The Overall Rating (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.4

STORY: 7 (Very Good: A very strong initial release, appears to be the work of an author with more commercial experience…)

ACTION: 6, for emotional and social “action” (Better Than Average: Character driven story, with a nice change of pace by having a futuristic sci-fi story focused on a commercially-expanded society instead of a militarily-expanded society…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 9 (Fantastic: It isn’t simplistic nor is it driven by mind-bending advanced technology and sciences/information… it’s just the right blend…)

BELIEVABILITY: 7 (Very Good: You can picture yourself next to Ish each step of the way, especially if you have prior naval experience…)

CHARACTERS: 8 (Well Worth It: Only a hand full or so characters, but each are unique and well-thought-out, each able to pull you into their story very quickly…)

CONTAINS: Loss of parent(s), mega-corporations, space ships, colonized planets, futuristic technology, intergalactic finance/trading, tatoos/piercings, and lots of coffee.

The Review:

Let me start out this review with a more personal perspective. I initially read the summary of this podiobook about a year ago and my first reaction was “this one is not for me, it seems a bit too tame.” At that point, I really didn’t think that I would ever give this one a shot. Strangely enough (in fact one may call it fate or destiny), about a month or two ago (late 2008), I was catching up on one of my guilty pleasures (the Sci-Fi Surplus podcast) and they had Nathan Lowell on as a guest, speaking about Quarter Share and his other stories from his “Age of the Solar Clipper” universe. I was struck by a few things about the interview, namely: his subtle humor, his enunciation and verbal delivery, his approach and philosophy on story telling, his participation in the literary and new media communities, his evident intellectuality, and the similarity between our chosen fields (instructional design and distance/blended learning). Based on these alone, I decided to give his first story, Quarter Share, a chance… and I am extremely happy that I did!

Quarter Share (and from what I understand the rest of the Share stories are similar in this regard) is not your typical futuristic sci-fi story. It is not a combat or physical conflict based story based on waring nations or individuals bent on conquest or domination, so it does not easily fit into the mold of what many of us have come to expect from the sci-fi genre. Instead, it seems to break the mold by concentrating on the life and experiences of what Nathan refers to as the “common man”. As I started listening to this, at first I was very sceptical of this type of sci-fi story for the first couple chapters and was very unsure of where it was going, but then without really realizing it, I was fully immersed in the story and found that I was very interested in where Ish (the main character) was going to end up in his life, or at least where he was going to be by the end of the story. It was a strange transition for me, having come to expect conflict and danger for the majority of my sci-fi “hero” characters I normally get into, to suddenly be so into a story about the simple, average, and repetitive everyday struggles of a common person (which strangely enough were very similar to the everyday tedium of my own personal naval experience). By the end of the story, I was more invested emotionally and more interested in the small victories that these common characters were able to accomplish throughout the story than i honestly expected I’d be… in fact, I find that the characters in this story have resonated and stuck in my mind more than most of the other sci-fi books I have read (and I’m talking about dozens, maybe hundreds of sci-fi books and series). Don’t get me wrong, I love a good action oriented hero story set in the sci-fi genre as much as anyone else… it’s just that this one is so unlike those other storytelling methods that I enjoyed Nathan’s Quarter Share equally as much, just in a very different manner.

The story revolves around Ishmael Wang, known as Ish to his friends and intimates, a young man who is growing up on a corporate-owned planet. After his mother dies in a tragic (fateful) flitter crash, Ish is suddenly thrust into the real world when he is notified that he must vacate the planet (since he is not a company employee), forcing him to make some quick and difficult decisions about his potential future. A young man with no real marketable skills (or so he believes) and no idea where his future lies, Ish lands a job as a low level crew member (with a “quarter share” of the ship’s profits) on an interstellar solar clipper called the Lois McKendrick. Starting out in the ship galley making coffee and working to feed the crew, Ish begins to see a brighter future unfold where once he had little interest or premonition of his future, as he begins to learn the ins and outs of shipboard life. The story conveys the normal trials and tribulations of a young sailor on an interstellar trading vessel as he finds his place in the grand scheme of things and starts planning to have an active role in the development of his future, with very lucrative results.

My overall recommendation is to give this story a try, no matter what your preconceived notions of the sci-fi genre are. Leave your normal sci-fi genre expectations at the airlock and travel a bit with Ish, Cookie, Pip, Big-Bad Bev, Mr. Maxwell, and the rest of the Lois crew as they travel the known trading routes in search of profit. This one is well worth the time! You won’t be sorry.

Where can I get this podiobook or see more information:

• http://solarclipper.com,
• iTunes,
• Plus many other suppliers of audiobooks and podiobooks, such as http://www.podiobooks.com.

Book Review: Warren Hammond’s “Ex-KOP”

The Overall Rating (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 6.6

STORY: 6 (Better Than Average: Pretty good, a strong sequel to Hammond’s first book, KOP…)

ACTION: 6 (Better Than Average: pretty good…)

INTELLECTUALITY: 8 (Well Worth It: written for those desiring a good mental escape, not intellectual mind drains…)

BELIEVABILITY: 6 (Very Good: you can almost feel the desperation and smell the invasive stink of mold…)

CHARACTERS: 7 (Very Good: for this setting the characters, while few, fit their environment perfectly…)

CONTAINS: Strong sexuality, minor combat, drug/alcohol use, space ships, colonized planets, futuristic technology, prostitution, law enforcement/detective, guns, slavery, and criminology.

The Review:

Warren Hammond continues his writing career with a strong sequel to his first book, KOP, carrying on with his style of gritty Sci-Fi Noir with another story of greed, corruption, and the overpowering might of mega-corporations on the distant colony planet, Lagarto.

Juno Mozambe returns in this hardboiled science fiction thriller after having been booted off the police force over a year ago (placing this novel in approximately the year 2788 or 2789). As the story opens, Juno is barely getting by as a low-level bagman and photographer for the scandal rags in order to try and support his wife, who is in critical condition at the hospital, leaving Juno without the ready cash to pay her mounting bills. Desperately needing cash, Juno reluctantly agrees to help his ex-partner, Maggie Orzo, solve a difficult case.

A young girl waits for her execution on death row, accused of brutally murdering her own parents. While she’s confessed to the murders, Maggie isn’t buying it, so she hires Juno to get some answers. In the process, Juno comes into contact with her new partner, Ian, who is as dirty as they come, eager to rise throught the ranks no matter what the cost. With Ian, a vicious serial killer, and the accused girl on death row all connected somehow. it’s up to Juno and Maggie to discover the truth before more people die.

While the story seems convoluted in many places, like it’s predecessor, it is a exciting trip into a story of morally gray characters, ambiguous alliances, necessary betrayals, and a lot of heart, with Juno trying to find meaning and a future in a world that is tough and just doesn’t care.

Book Review: Warren Hammond’s “KOP”

The Overall Ratings (1 through 10):

AVERAGE SCORE = 7.2 (Very Good and Well Worth It)

STORY: 7 (Very Good: pretty good, especially considering this is Hammond’s first book…)

ACTION: 5 (Average: …)

INTELLECTUALITY: 8 (Well Worth It: written for those desiring a good mental escape, not intellectual mind drains…)

BELIEVABILITY: 8 (Well Worth It: you can almost feel the desperation and smell the invasive stink of mold…)

CHARACTERS: 8 (Well Worth It: for this setting the characters, while few, fit their environment perfectly…)

CONTAINS: Mild sexuality, minor combat, drug/alcohol use, space ships, colonized planets, futuristic technology, prostitution, law enforcement/detective, guns, slavery, and criminology.

The Review:

Warren Hammond makes a strong debut as a gritty writer of Sci-Fi Noir with a story of greed, corruption, and the overpowering might of mega-corporations on a distant colony planet.

KOP (which stands for Koba’s Office of Police) is set in the city of Koba on the colony planet of Lagarto in 2787, a down-trodden and economically-stunted backwater planet on the outskirts of human-controlled space. In a universe where technology can provide extended lifespans and bio-technology to the rich and well-to-do offwolders, the Lagartan’s can barely make ends meet, many unable to buy the medications necessary to fight off the local fungal infestations common to this tropical slum. This economic situation on Lagarto hasn’t always been this desperate: in the early years, the planet exported a unique and highly intoxicating brandy made from the local flora for big profit, until Earth was able to synthesize the drink, causing Lagarto’s economy to crash in a big way.

Back during the economic boom, Juno Mozambe was a young cop working for KOP, with hopes and dreams of breaking the local drug trade wide open with his partner, Paul Chang. Fast forward a couple decades and now Juno is a dirty cop on the take, broken in body and spirit. Using strong-arm tactics gained in his early years, Juno works for the chief of police (Paul, Juno’s old partner) to keep the local Bandur crime family in power to maintain a perverted  level of prosperity and peace on their impoverished colony planet, while a secret corruption grows in the ranks of the cities elected government. Sensing that the mayor is close to uncovering KOP’s secret alliance with the Bandur cartel to remove them as opposition, Juno is teamed up with a new rookie partner, Maggie Orzo, to investigate a murder by an apparent serial killer, all the while trying to uncover a secret  more corrupt than their own.

With only a few fragmented clues to go on, Juno and Maggie begin their investigation behind a facade of purging corrupt government officials (starting with those at KOP)… but can they uncover the truth in time to prevent a crime worst than anyone on Lagarto has ever experienced? Throughout their investigation and with pieces of his own corrupt past coming to light, some small part of Juno has not given up hope that things can be made right, despite his past sins and his present problems.

While the story seems convoluted in many places, it is a thilling ride into a story of morally gray characters, ambiguous alliances, necessary betrayals, and a lot of heart, with Juno as a gritty and sympathetically desperate hero trying to do what is right in a world where doing right is often only slightly less criminal than doing wrong.