Fiction

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it with the Audible app on my iPhone. This book is made up of two stories, one of them is the original Little Fuzzy short story by H. Beam Piper and the other is John Sclazi’s re-imagining. I really like both of them for different reasons. The new version fits into what I think of as modern sci-fi and the original is good solid old-school science fiction. This is the only “re-imagining” that I can think of that I would recommend. ...

This is book 2 of the Old Man’s War series and I bought it from Audible and listened to it on my iPhone using the Audible app. This book takes a deeper dive into what it would be like to be cloned special forces marine who has the body and knowledge of an adult while having the emotional growth of a child. I liked this story more than Old Man’s War, but rate them the same as they really do go together even though they do not contain many of the same characters. It is also narrated by William Dufris who continues to turn-in fantastic performances. ...

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it on my iPhone using the Audible app. John Scalzi loves to dig into the idea of a person being able to change bodies like they change underwear. In this book changing bodies is not quite that easy, but it is a prominent element of this story. It just so happens that I really like the philosophical ideas that it brings up, it is very post human and appeals to me. ...

I bought this book on Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone. John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton do it again. Redshirts is good fun in a goofy sci-fi story that I am surprised has not been made into a TV mini-series. Maybe someone will make a web series out of it one day. From the publisher: Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory. Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the facts that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed. Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives. “2012 John Scalzi (P)2012 Audible, Inc. ...

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it with the Audible app on my iPhone. I have heard about this book many times but have never read it or watched one of the movies or TV shows based on it, but I decided it was about time that I did. Written originally as a short story in 1958 and later in 1966 as a novel it is an amazing tale of a mentally challenged man who science turns into a genius with an incalculably high IQ even though he still has the emotions of a child. ...

I bought this book on Audible and listened to it using the Audible App for iPhone. James Marsters is back and as great as ever, in my opinion he IS the voice of Harry Dresden, no other will do. His performance is great. In his new role as the Winter Knight Harry Dresden leaves me feeling flat. I plan on listening to it again in a couple of months to see if I feel this way after a second listen and will update this review. ...

I bought this book on Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone. John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton knock another one out of the park. I am not listening to their books in any particular order so I am not sure if they are getting better or if I am learning to enjoy the writing and performance more and more. ...

I bought this book on Audible and listened to it on my iPhone using the Audible app. This is the first book I have gotten lately from Audible that left me very disappointed. It is a highly rated book, but it didn’t work for me. Paul Boehmer does a good job with Doctor Impossible’s portion of the story but Coleen Marlo comes across as flat and lifeless, just dull and a little bored. ...

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone. This book was a big surprise for me, the story is fantastic and the performance is top notch. Fisher Stevens does an amazing job bringing every character to life and delivering the dry humor in a way that makes it crack me up. I have always loved stories about Death, Terry Pratchett’s Mort and Neil Gaiman’s various incarnations of Death are some favorites. And now Christopher Moore has added the Death Merchants Minty Fresh and Charlie Asher to my list. ...

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone. Todd McLaren does a fine job in narrating the audiobook. This is a solid science fiction who-done-it story. I enjoyed the lead character Takeshi Kovacs and his loose morals and ethics. I look forward to reading the other books soon. The publisher appears to not have read the story, in the summary it says “assuming one can afford the expensive procedure” while in the story everyone has their mind stored as part of basic healthcare that everyone receives, but the wealthy are able to update what is stored more often so that if they die they will loose a lot fewer memories. Also the wealthy are able to have clones of themselves available so they may transfer themselves to a younger body on a whim and be perpetually young. ...