Come Join Us By The Fire Audiobook by Tor (season 1)

 Hey, I discovered this free to listen to a podcast(audiobook) somehow....either Tor emailed me an ad for it, or I came across it somehow. But that's beside the point. It's free to listen wherever you listen to podcasts. And they have some great authors in this short story collection. I wanted to make a note of my thoughts on this collection as I went through it, so this isn't really for the public....more for my own tracking. But I'm totally okay with anyone reading this. I may just comment on the story who it was by and how many stars I rated it. 

1. No Matter Which Way We Turned by Brian Evanson- this very short story just struck me by how beautifully written it was. This is my first time ever haven read anything by this author, and I loved it. Freaky child...with no real explanation for it, but that didn't matter. 5 stars

2. Daddy by Victor Lavalle - This was a paranoid type story with a creepy payoff. I had read this author before but in a graphic novel. 4 stars. 

3. This Guy by Chuck Wendig- A Groundhog Day horror story about a guy who kills "this guy" in many imaginative ways every day for no fucking reason but that he can. 5 stars

4. Flayed Ed by Richard Kadrey- An Alternative History tale about Ed Gein with a supernatural twist. 4 stars

5. The Pond by Paul Tremblay- This was another very short one and one that just did nothing for me. I found it to be boring and unmoving. 2 stars. \

6. My Body Herself by Carmen Maria Machado-  3 stars.

7. The Girls From the Horror Movie by Gwendolyn Kiste- an average tale of twin final girls. 3 stars

8. Those Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw- 5 stars

9. It Washed Up by Joe Lansdale- strange things happen in a seaside town. 3.5 stars. 

10. Stemming the Tide by Simon Strantzas- State park that has an event closed to the public. Zombie short story 3,5 stars.

11. Midnight Caller by Stephen Graham Jones- Summer camp counselor being stalked by a crazed killer 4 stars. 

12. Black Bark by Brian Evenson - strange cowboy fiction 3 stars.

13. The Anatomist's Mnemonic by Priya Sharma - Guy with a hand fetish seeks love and does not end how you think it would. 3 stars. 

14. Rabbit Heart by Alyssa Wong - Weird fiction very short. 2 stars

15.The Beasts of the Earth, The Madness of Men by Brooke Bolander - Sea creature tale 3 stars

16. Cold, Silent, and Dark by Kary English - another tale of the sea 4 stars.

17. When the Zombies Win by Karina Sumner-Smith - Zombies 'nuff said 5 stars.

18. Harold the Spider Man by Paul Tremblay - Eccentric old man collects spiders after the death of his wife 3 stars. 

19. Ponies by Kij Johnson - Ponies and Mean Girls 1 star.

20. Black Neurology by Richard Kadrey - death-themed 3 stars

21. Beware of Owner by Chuck Wendig - cruel father and son harbor a dark secret 5 stars.

22. The Vault of the Sky, The Face of the Deep by Robert Levy-  A senior woman's final days. 2 stars. 

23. Don't Turn on the Lights by Cassandra Khaw -  3 versions of a tale of a gruesome murder. 5 stars. 

24. Wasp & Snake by Livia Llewellyn - Aesop's retelling 3 stars. 

25. Greener Pastures by Michael Wehunt - Mysterious truck stop. 3 stars 

26. And When She Was Bad by Nadia Bulkin - Winged creatures revenge 2 stars. 

27. El Charro by John Langan - Mexican vampire story...creepy AF. 4 stars

28. Dream Home by Kat Howard - the title says it all and this was BAD 1 star,

29. Spawning Season by Nicholas Kaufman - Seaside Lovecraftian tale. 4 stars.

30. In Sheep's Clothing by Molly Tanzer - Weird apocalypse where things get primal. 4 stars

31. 57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides by Sam J. Miller - Boy with Mind Control gets his revenge 3 stars. 

32. Was She Wicked? Was She Good? by M. Rickert - Faeries get their revenge on a wicked little girl 3 stars. 

33.A Life That is Not Mine by Kristi DeMeester - swallowing darkness? Strange sickness? 3 stars

34. That Which Does Not Kill You by Lucy A. Snyder - Tale of heartbreak...told in a weird way. 3 stars

35. The Design by China Mieville - Historical horror fiction of a medical student who discovers strange designs on cadavers bones. 3 stars. 

I compiled all of these ratings into an average for a final rating for this book. While there were some really great 4 and 5 stars rated stories overall I gave this an average 3-star rating. If you are a fan of horror it is worth checking out. 

Review: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (Audiobook)

This is another book that I read as a teen and wanted to revisit it once again. I don't recall whether I had seen the film or read the book first, but it doesn't matter as they are both great. For those who haven't seen the film, I will link the trailer below. I did not know at the time that the American version of this book was shortened due to the publisher opting to only publish the first 20 chapters. I did not know until now that the rest of the world got the book in its entirety.

For those not familiar with this book it is set in a world where crime rates are extremely high due to not enough police to patrol the streets at night. Meanwhile, gangs of teenagers run rampant fighting amongst themselves or terrorizing any civilians caught out.

The book is written in a sing-song cockney mashed with Slavic/Russian mix that just has a charming way once you start to read it. For some who may not understand all of the words, you will quickly pick up what each word means after a while. For those where English is not your first language, I would urge you if you can read English to read this in its original text, as I do not know how well this would be translated to any other tongues.

The story starts out by the reader meeting Alex (the narrator) who is the self-proclaimed leader of his little gang of "droogs". He is only 15 yrs. old and surprisingly fond of classical music when he is not participating in the "ultra-violence" with his brothers. We hear a typical night for this group of thugs, and how they do this for fun, and money.

Of course, the main idea or moral of the story should I say is whether it is right or justified to control someone's behavior. Is it okay to make someone a "good" citizen even if it goes against their free will?

The American version just ends and wraps up nicely in my opinion. The reader discovers the consequences of taking away someones choice to be "good". But the original text as the author had wanted the book to be has a final chapter about Alex growing bored with being a hoodlum and wanting to settle down. I know in the scheme of things it just makes sense that eventually a young man will grow tired of things and want to grow up. 

I still really enjoyed this and rated it 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com. I feel that this is one of those books that every teen should read before they grow up. That is all I got for you. Below is a link to purchase a copy for yourself. I receive a small percentage of all sales. Thanx for reading, and take care. 

Review: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King (audiobook)

It's been quite a long time since I had read a collection of short stories by Stephen King. As a matter of fact, the last collection I read by him was Four Past Midnight, which I honestly didn't care for and was the last King book I read until a very long time later. For those who are curious Doctor Sleep the sequel to The Shining is what made me come back to his writings.

I decided to partake of this lengthy collection of short stories as an audiobook format, which clocked in around 12 hours total. I will admit it took me a few days to listen to it in its entirety, and can only imagine how long it would have taken me to read it out if I had stuck with the regular book or Kindle format instead. There were a total of 21 short stories in this collection, and I rated each individual story with a 1-5 star rating. Upon completion of the book, I averaged out the total and got an average rating of 3.23, which translated to a 3-star rating on Goodreads.com. I enjoyed the majority of the stories and rated them 3 stars. But only one was rated with a 5-star rating.

Batman and Robin Have an Altercation was the story that I rated 5-stars. I really enjoyed this one. It was about a father and son. The father who was a senior citizen suffering from Alzheimer's, and the son who came to visit him and try to keep him coherent. Not only was the phrasing that the author uses great, but the recollections of the father were pretty funny at times. I really enjoyed the ending of this one too. Road Rage D-bags is all I will say.

There were a few others that were nearly as good, such as Premium Harmony about a man who goes out with his wife on a shopping trip and things do not go quite as they plan. Another great one was The Dune about a site the gave premonitions of peoples upcoming deaths. The Bad Little Kid was a shocking one that at first I didn't think I would like, but it quickly grew on me as it went by. One of the last few stories Drunken Fireworks was a humorous tale about two families and fireworks competitions to see who could outdo the other.

Some of the stories I thought were not as good and felt that they were way too short to have any sort of meaning like Mister Yummy. This one involved senior citizens nearing their time seeing the most attractive person the had ever seen in their lives before dying. Kinda weird and creepy if you ask me. Or the Obits story about a guy who could kill someone by writing their obituary.

As I have said before the choice of narrator does either help or hinder a great book, and this collection had a nice selection of narrators. Yes, plural...narrators. I can only imagine the production cost to have made this into an audiobook. But they chose some great people to narrate individual stories.

Even though this got an average rating I still want to read some more of the author's books that I have yet to read. You see I thought he had lost his touch way back when I read Four Past Midnight, but maybe that book just wasn't for me.

 

Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (audiobook)

Back in the day before internet lists, I was very fortunate to have a friend who was in the know about philosophical books. He would key me in every time he read something interesting and of course, I would check these books out. I read a lot of dystopia as a teen. I know I read this a very long time ago. I was overdue for a re-read/listen of this classic book by Bradbury. This is slightly different from his other science fiction books.

The book starts by introducing the main character of Guy Montag. Montag is a fireman, but not in the way we think. You see in his world firemen don't stop fires they start them. They don't put out house fires they light them if they are filled with books. One day Guy walks home from his job to run into his new neighbor.  Montag's awkward interaction's with this teen neighbor show us the reader how people in his world do not talk to each other. He has to learn how to talk to a person and how to share ideas and concepts because this society does not interact with each other. They don't talk and speculate and ponder things. The main character, Montag later tries to have a conversation with his spouse and sees that she is so absorbed into her screens that she doesn't really talk but just replies with automatic responses. Their house is filled with the constant chatter of programs and music playing in the background. Programs that lack substance and no real meaning found in them. Even the music they listen to is just jingles...no real thoughts in song.

In this world, books have been removed because the concept or ideas in some may have offended someone. History has been re-written and no one must question things because if they do "they would be sad". Screens are often found in multiples, as rooms are oversaturated with electronic stimulation. This reminded me of how they were similar to smartphones and how people often ignore loved ones because they can't miss that status update. Everyone in this world has no opinion and they all think the same....even look the same in some instances. There is a fear of free thought, and ideas. People refrain from talking about politics and know nothing of other nations. They base voting a candidate based on shallow ideals such as looks and manners.

I could go on and on telling you about this world, and I hope you don't overlook some of the warnings found in this book. I would not recommend just plowing through this, as you should take the time to think about the scenes and try to understand what the author is trying to convey. I will admit that after the Fireman History speech that I had to rewind and listen to it again and then ponder over what I had heard.

I heard from a review that they thought this book was the ravings from an old man or was this rather wisdom from an elder....one who saw with the development of technology how far we would stray from being social free thinking people into something less than ideal and sheepish. In this day of fake news, and reality TV stars turned President the ideas in this book still resonate. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com and recommend this for almost anyone.

International shoppers click here - http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=geekpron
UK and Canada click here - Fahrenheit 451

 

Review: Cujo by Stephen King (Audiobook)

It's been a very long time since I had last read this book. I was very young and was just plowing through the classic King books. Now that I'm an adult I wanted to re-read some of these classic King books to see if I feel the same about them as I did back then.

This was the longest audiobook I have listened to ever. It topped in at over 14 hours. Now I'll admit I took at least a week to listen to it, and even back up some parts to relisten to some scenes. The version I listened to was narrated by Lorna Raver who is an actress. I think she did a pretty good job of narrating and did a pretty good New England accent.

For those who do not know this book is about a saint bernard that becomes infected with rabies, and murders a few people in the small Maine town of Castle Rock (that almost all of King's stories take place). The meat of the story takes place near the end which I call the siege as it's the stand down between the main character of Donna Trenton, and her 4 yr old son, Tad. A few people have criticized King for the length of this book and felt that it would have been better off as a short story or a novella. I kinda have to agree somewhat.

One of the things I remembered about this and why I enjoyed reading King's work was his way with words. Not many authors can eloquently swear or describe things in such a crude way as King, but yet skillfully. Especially describing a scene about the postman farting while delivering the mail...yeah that was pretty funny. He also has a way of setting up the scene and leaving you the reader hanging on for more. But I do think he branched off into too many side stories with this one. It would have been a much better novel if he had focused primarily on the dog. Instead, King decided to stray off and describe lengthy scenes regarding the marriage of the two main families in the book. And also about Vic Trenton's business being on the brink. In retrospect, I feel that these kinda tied up into the general idea that sometimes things happen that are out of our control much like a force of nature that we can only sit back and suffer through. But some of these scenes really want on a tangent. I later learned that the author was in the grips of alcoholism and didn't even remember writing this book. That kind of made sense after reading this.

I do think that this book made much more sense as an adult than when I was a teenager. I have more life experience and could relate a lot more to the relationship issues that the two couples were going through. I also got the main idea of the book that sometimes "shit happens" such as a good dog getting rabies and going on a killing spree. Sometimes life just isn't fair. I still decided to rate this book with a 3 out of 5-star rating on Goodreads.com. It could have been much shorter and got to the point instead of trailing off on tangents. But it still is one of those classic King stories I would recommend reading.

 

Review: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (Audiobook)

I'll admit that I saw the film from 1968 that was directed by Roman Polanski. I enjoyed it very much, but I didn't feel compelled to rush out and read the book it was based on right away.  Lately, I have been giving audiobooks a chance and have listened to a few in the last few weeks.

Rosemary's Baby came up as a recommendation from another audiobook that I had listened to, and I figured I would give it a listen as I had enjoyed the film adaptation. This was narrated by the main star of the film, Mia Farrow. I thought that this was very cool that she narrated the book. Those not familiar with the film or the book is about a young couple who choose to move into a ritzy/popular apartment building with a somewhat eery past. While there they meet some strange neighbors who Rosemary later thinks are witches.

The beginning is rather slow to start, and for anyone familiar with American Pyscho there is a similar feeling with the descriptions of the apartments in NYC. For some reason, the author felt it necessary to emphasize this part of the story which I found a bit tedious and kinda boring. But once the young couple settles on their new apartment the pacing of the story starts to pick up. Things get creepy slowly at first and then they really ramp up after the first interaction with the neighbors. For those who have seen the film only you may want to read/listen to this book because there were bonus scenes which were not included in the film version. Of course, these extra scenes lead up to a sequel which I didn't know existed until listening to this book. On a side note, there was also a film version of the sequel which is hard to find in DVD format, as it must have not been as good as the first film.

Being read by the star of the film helped me to enjoy this more, and let's be honest a good narrator makes an audiobook more enjoyable especially if they are an actor. I listened to The Haunting of Hill House and found the narrator of that to be atrocious. The audio was also souped up with music at times to emphasize thrilling scenes. I will not go into too much detail as I do not want to spoil the book for those who have yet to read/listen to it.
I really enjoyed this audiobook, and I am considering giving its sequel (Son of Rosemary) a listen in the near future. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodread.com. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of psychological thrillers, and books like the Exorcist. Of course also to those who have seen the film but have yet to read the book....get out and check this book out!

Review: A Different Flesh by Harry Turtledove (Audiobook)

I'm fortunate enough that I can listen to music or whatever at my job. I don't typically listen to audiobooks, but I have become bored with listening to music and I think I have listened to so many podcasts that I have exhausted the catalog. So being an avid reader I decided to give audio books another try.

Harry Turtledove is an author whose books are some that I wanted to check out. I love the idea that he writes alternative histories, and has based whole series on how world events could have happened differently. I won't go into the whole multiverse theory, which is also interesting. Where any number of events could have happened creating a completely different timeline of events.

I decided to listen to "A Different Flesh" by Harry Turtledove which was originally published in 1988. In this novel, the world is very much different from our own in that Homo Erectus did not die off and actually thrived in the New World. In the world of this novel, Homo Erectus crossed the land bridge instead of people from the tundras of Siberia. The sheer imagination of the author to create a world where Native Americans never happened spreads out into changes to everything such as first interactions with Colonials, and even the development of colonial government. But it's not just this species of cavemen that are unique to Turtledove's New World, but there are also other prehistoric creatures such as sabretooth tigers and wooly mammoths that wander the forests.

Turtledove proposes different scenarios as we the reader get to see this new world. He presents interactions between colonists and the native cavemen. These creatures are referred to as "sims" throughout the story. How each is radically different and yet curious and fearful of each other. Turtledove mentions the phrase "beetled brow" and their lack of chins in describing these peoples numerous times. The author doesn't linger too long into each period of America as it develops into the present day but gives us a short glimpse into key events of its development.

These short glances into this world were very interesting and I applaud the imagination of Turtledove to be able to create this world. But I don't think this was his only intention to just entertain the reader with a tale of cavemen interacting with humans in our modern world. I think the author's intention was to point out just how within history we as a society have mistreated those who are different from ourselves and even treated those whose cultures were different or technologically not as advanced as being sub-human.

I will point out that being an alternate history piece that there are some potential triggers for some individuals such as racist language, and graphic descriptions of some events which some may find disturbing. This book is not for everyone. I really enjoyed this and got something out of listening to it. I plan on checking out the rest of this author's works. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com. If you are a fan of historical fiction or science fiction you may too enjoy this book.