Author: Dave Nelson

I bought this hardcover book used from the Book Nook in Marietta Georgia.

I loved Dirty Jobs so much that I keep hoping that Christopher Moore’s other books would be as good, but sadly the ones I have read are not. Don’t get me wrong, this book is OK, I enjoyed it overall, although some of the narration in supposed gothy-teenage slang really got on my nerves, the story itself is solid.

But it just didn’t have the zing or depth of Dirty Jobs.

From the publisher:

The city of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, and my manga-haired love monkey stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public.

Whoa. And this is a love story?

Yup. ‘Cept there’s no whining. But there is everybody’s favorite undead couple, Tommy and Jody, who’ve just escaped from imprisonment in a bronze statue. And now that they’re out they’ve joined forces with Abby, her boyfriend Steve, the frozen-turkey-bowling Safeway crew, the Emperor of San Francisco and his trusty dogs Lazarus and Bummer, gay Goth guy Jared, and SF’s finest Cavuto and Rivera to hunt big cat and save the city. Really.

I rate this book a 6 out of 10 and recommend it to Christopher Moore fans.

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone.

So this is the last Paolo Bacigalupi book I will be reading/listening to for a long while. I liked Windup Girl but everything else has not excited me, and this book is no exception.

If you have read Windup Girl you have already read one of the best stories in this book, go read Windup Girl instead of this one.

From the publisher:

Paolo Bacigalupi’s debut collection demonstrates the power and reach of the science-fiction short story. Social criticism, political parable, and environmental advocacy lie at the center of Paolo’s work. Each of the stories herein is at once a warning and a celebration of the tragic comedy of the human experience.

The 11 stories in Pump Six represent the best of Paolo’s work, including the Hugo nominee "Yellow Card Man", the Nebula-and Hugo-nominated story "The People of Sand and Slag", and the Sturgeon Award-winning story "The Calorie Man". The title story is original to this collection.

With this book, Paolo Bacigalupi takes his place alongside SF short-fiction masters Ted Chiang, Kelly Link and others, as an important young writer that directly and unabashedly tackles today’s most important issues.

©2010 Paolo Bacigalupi (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 5 out of 10 and only recommend it to Bacigalupi fans.

I bought this audiobook on a sale at Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone.

Dutch is an angry story about an angry young black man from an angry place. Not being an angry young black man myself this book misses the mark for me. It does not speak to me and was not meant to.

This is not a mainstream story targeted at a widespread audience, but is targeted squarely at an urban teen African American audience, whether that was the author’s intention or not. As a movie it would probably have wider appeal.

It is well written and if you like stories about angry young black men getting over on the system at the cost of other people’s lives, usually the lives of other young black men, then you will enjoy this story.

The performance by Ezra Knight is very good, I hope to hear more from him.

From the publisher:

Teri Woods has built a considerable literary legacy thanks to her compelling urban novels. The first volume of a trilogy, Dutch follows the criminal career of street hood James Bernard Jr., a.k.a. Dutch.

Even while stealing cars, Dutch knew he was destined for more, and it wasn’t long before he saw his chance to seize power in New Jersey. Now a Jersey kingpin, Dutch is coming under fire from an upstart DA—but it won’t be easy to take down this streetwise criminal.

&copy2003, 2009 Teri Woods (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

My rating is a 5 out of 10 and think African American teens would rate it much higher.

I bought this audiobook from Audible and listened to it on my iPhone using the Audible app.

I absolutely love Neil Gaiman and can’t get enough of his stories, not only did he write this one but he also narrates it. I really enjoy hearing stories as read by their author. The author is able to put more inflection and emotion into the characters than any other narrator could and Neil Gaiman is a fantastic narrator.

While listening to this book I went out of my way to find opportunities to listen to it. I don’t think I can give any audiobook a higher compliment.

From the publisher:

Sussex, England: A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet sitting by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean), the unremembered past comes flooding back. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie – magical, comforting, wise beyond her years – promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly’s wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

©2013 Neil Gaiman (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

I rate this book a 9 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone!

I bought this audiobook from Audible and listened to it on my iPhone using the Audible app.

This is book 2 in the Shipbreaker series, the first being "Shipbreaker".

I did not really get into Shipbreaker, but I did like some of the characters enough to give the second book a try. The half-man Tool was my favorite character in the first book and it was great getting so much time with him in Drowned Cities.

But again, this story didn’t really draw me in. Mahlia and Mouse are very good characters, and their stories are compelling, but… I don’t know, just not for me I guess.

Joshua Swanson delivers another wonderful performance bringing the characters to life. I can’t point at the narration for my feelings about this book.

From the publisher:

Soldier boys emerged from the darkness. Guns gleamed dully. Bullet bandoliers and scars draped their bare chests. Ugly brands scored their faces. She knew why these soldier boys had come. She knew what they sought, and she knew, too, that if they found it, her best friend would surely die.
In a dark future America where violence, terror, and grief touch everyone, young refugees Mahlia and Mouse have managed to leave behind the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities by escaping into the jungle outskirts. But when they discover a wounded half-man – a bioengineered war beast named Tool – who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers, their fragile existence quickly collapses. One is taken prisoner by merciless soldier boys, and the other is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save a friend, or flee to a place where freedom might finally be possible.

This thrilling companion to Paolo Bacigalupi’s highly acclaimed Ship Breaker is a haunting and powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.
Apocalypse now: also listen to Ship Breaker.

©2012 Paolo Bacigalupi (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 6 out of 10 and recommend it to fans of Paolo Bacigalupi.

I bought this audiobook from Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone.

I really enjoyed Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi and decided to give his other books a try.

This book is a solid story. The pacing is good; the characters have clear motivations and believable emotions. But meh…

I’m not sure why but this book just didn’t reach me. It is very post-cyberpunk, I should like it a lot, but I don’t. I like it some, just not a lot.

Joshua Swanson does a great job narrating the story, he does bring the characters to life and does a great job conveying their emotions.

From the publisher:

In America’s Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota – and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it’s worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life.

In this powerful novel, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers a thrilling, fast-paced adventure set in a vivid and raw, uncertain future.
©2010 Paolo Bacigalupi (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 6 out of 10 and only recommend to fans of Paolo Bacigalupi.

I bought this signed hardback from Powell’s Book Store in Portland Oregon.

I have been hearing a lot about this book from every direction. Audible, Amazon, and a lot of friends have pushed it at me. But I wasn’t impressed by any of them; most of the time when a writer is unable to get a story published it is for a good reason. Wool is an exception, at least the story as a whole is, I am not sure I would have made it much past the first section of the book if I had to wait for the next section to come out. I want to say a big thanks to all of the people that encouraged Hugh Howey to keep writing.

I enjoyed reading Wool, enough so that I stayed up all night reading it.

The entire time I was reading Wool I couldn’t stop thinking about the "Fallout" series of video games. In Fallout the player begins in a "Vault" which is like the Silo in Wool, the similarity is impossible to ignore if you have played the game.

It was not a book that blew me away. I really enjoyed it, but it didn’t have a lot of "WOW" factor. Nothing that got me really excited.

From the publisher:

In a ruined and toxic landscape, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo’s rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside.

His fateful decision unleashes a drastic series of events. An unlikely candidate is appointed to replace him: Juliette, a mechanic with no training in law, whose special knack is fixing machines. Now Juliette is about to be entrusted with fixing her silo, and she will soon learn just how badly her world is broken. The silo is about to confront what its history has only hinted about and its inhabitants have never dared to whisper. Uprising.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone looking for a solid science-fiction apocalypse story.