James

Twilight Zone

Reviewed: 10-12-23

The first half of the book is spent defining the characters by what is going on in a horrendously abusive environment and how the individuals react. Then the author inserts a twilight zone plot twist, Boom! Out of nowhere the background story changes; which renders all that you know about the characters moot, and the characters are redefined anew by a different environment. This was a clumsy illogical device which destroyed any empathy I felt for the characters. Nyla K is no Rod Serling. There was nothing profound about this wrenching plot twist.

From a psychological view point the book suggests that a hetero sexual man can be behaviorally reconditioned to be gay in the first half of the book. This is bullpucky! Changing behavior to avoid punishment would not necessarily alter sexual orientation. Not to mention being morally repugnant.

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Psync Enchanted University book 1 by: Zile Elliven

Reviewed: 06-26-22

THE AUDIO BOOK FROM HELL!

I bought “Psync” having never read or listened to this author before. The narrator, Zachary Zaba, I had listened to in several other audiobooks. Based on that history, I felt confident the experience would be pleasant. Boy; I am disappointed for the following reasons.

Some idiot in the production staff decides there was a difference that needed to be made clear from “descriptive narration” (that details who, what, where, when, why, how) and sets the background for character dialog. The character dialog, that one character speaks to another or in this case thinks telepathically to another is treated with a normal speed and cadence. Telepathic dialog has a slight reverb echo added to it. That was a good decision.

However, the “descriptive dialog” was speed up slightly which has the effect of raising the pitch and mudding up the words making them difficult to follow. The effect of this idiotic decision makes the descriptive sound like a long play 33 1/3 RPM record played at 45 RPM. No one wants to hear, “We walked hand and hand across the warm sandy beach as the sun dipped below the horizon;” as if Alvin and his chipmunks buddies were having an argument.

I found this swerving back and forth between, fast “descriptive narrative” and normal speed “character dialog narration” jarring and unpleasant to the ear.

Based on this experience I will not be buying the second book in this series. I strongly urge you to save your ears and the money and not buy the first.

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Bought It and Liked It

Reviewed: 05-19-22

Nice combination of plot, action, passion, and drama. Despite all the references to wolfs and alphas there is no shifting of species.

The narration by Blake Lockheart was very good and he goes on my list of highly competent narrators. When trying out an unknown audiobook author I often rely on the narrator’s name to point the way to a satisfying listening experience.

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Cognitive Dissidence

Reviewed: 05-15-22

My only objection to this story line is modern day cell phones do not fit comfortably into a fantasy world where multiple kingdoms are waring over magical god-stones. The same applies to modern day cars, and modern machine guns. Just when I am comfortably slipping into a magical fantasy story I am jarred back to the 21 century and all there gadgets. It creates a cognitive dissidence that shatters the fantasy world.

The introductory plot outlined in book one is a good one. This is a story of political intrigue between kingdoms at war. There is a sub plot of forbidden romance between a prince and his bodyguard / advisor. The plot contains a murdered Queen, the prince’s mother. What’s not to like and get lost in, until the 21 century rears its jangling head? CRASH! There goes the suspension of belief necessary to embrace the myth.

On the plus side Kale Williams does an excellent job narrating the peace. His voice is a pleasure to listen to.

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New TIN series

Reviewed: 02-20-22

This is not the old former THIRDS agent, clueless, socially irritable, and utterly charming Dexter J Daley. The THIRDS series ends with Dexter (a human) and Slone (a Therian) get married after many trials and misadventures in the THIRDS series. Now Dexter and Slone are part of TIN the new agency and name for this new series. What makes this series different is Dexter has changed but does not know it at first. He is still outwardly human but a new secrete part of him reviles a new super Therian subconscious self that reveals itself in this book’s climatic ending. Is this new subconscious self-going to be Dexter’s friend or foe? Will he be the Mr. Hide to Dexter’s Dr. Jekyll? Will this darker id subconscious self-spoil Dexter’s innocence and charm for the reader/listener? Finally what will this change do to Dexter’s and Slone’s marriage? Time and the new TIN series books will tell. Personally I am not sure I am ready for this new change in Dexter. If he is no longer totally human can I still identify with this character? If he is a super Therian how will that impact regular Therians, Slone, and Dexter’s human father.

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ZERCY: IS ORIGINAL SCIENCE FICTION!!!

Reviewed: 11-05-21

Zercy is one of the most original science fiction stories I have read in years. Some examples of this originality are the concept of an alien “male” race discovering how to use semi-sentient plants as tools, instruments, and machines to perceive, study, and affect their will on their environment. The plot involves an intrepid crew of an earth rescue team who fall captive to the native warrior when their weapons prove less effective then needed to subdue the local wildlife. On the edge of being killed by the animals the natives offer help that leads to capture of the team. As this planet has all-male warrior races; it has to have an alternant way of reproducing the race. Rather than fall back on the literary trope of an “omega” male “capable of giving birth” this author doubles down on the symbiosis between the plant and animal kingdoms by inventing a “tree of life” referred to as mother, with a female name for each tree with this capability. This tree when fertilized by the seed of two males can join the DNA and incubate a child in a plant womb adorned with flowers until the child is viable enough to join their fathers. WOW! What a mind bending idea. So often in science fiction of interplanetary cultures are often reflections of our own. They use variations of the same metal tools, reproduce in similar ways, and view life through our own evolutionary prospective. With the science fictional elements cited above one has a feel of true alien otherness. It is a separate and distinct evolutionary story of coming into being. The narrator, Zane Daniels, in the audio book version is in a word MAGNIFICENT. It is not just a reading it is a performance with distinct characters and voices tailored for each character and scene. He is one of the best narrators I have had the pleasure of listening to. Too often narrators just read the story with little or no emotion reflection the characters mental or emotional state. This is not the case with Mr. Daniels. He is superb! I am excited to see what he can do with other authors.

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An Elf and Paladin ordered tea at a bar

Reviewed: 08-22-21

If one is going to stick an “elf” in with a Roman legion, why not a medieval paladin? This work is replete with historically inaccurate customs and characters; it has not only an elf (a bit of whimsy) but customs such as tea drinking and smoking of pipes (relatively newer social vices). When a Paladin from the Middle Ages was added the book charm lost its appeal for me. It is too bad, as the action of the story is set in the grind of the Roman legion life and politics. To me it is like listening to piano with deliberately dissident notes being thrown in for no apparent reason. Still, if one can overlook the cognitive and temprol dissidences of “that can’t be right” the story, as an adventure, is good and the narration is excellent.

This story is more Twilight Zone then it is a Historical Novel. Proceed with caution lest your farcicalities become impaired.

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Mixed Genre Palette Cleanser

Reviewed: 07-18-21

This book combines the best of several genres. It is excellent science fiction. There is a bit of a undercover spy/agent theme. It is a good buddy paramilitary future fiction. And it has a whimsical dash of the language from the old west to spice the mix with a touch of comedic relief. This combination of literary flavors is a delight to the mental palette. I am looking forward to the authors next book in a hinted at series.

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More Than a Simple Book

Reviewed: 07-12-21

The major plot line of this book is obviously patterned on the Purdue Pharma OxiContin scandal. The major difference is in the book the owners of the company ultimately took responsibility for their company’s actions and made financial restitution for the aggressive marketing to their victims. In real life the extended family that owned Purdue Pharma forestalled legal action so they sold out their shares leaving the company’s corpse/assets and new owners to be consumed by bankruptcy judgements by the victim’s claims. In selecting the above plot line the author, Emma Scott, allows us to see the injustice between her fictional just solution and real life legal but morally unjust solution. She also provides a great background to set the love story of our two protagonists, Max and Silas. She also explores the horrors of addiction (Alcoholics’ Anomalous and Narcotics Anomalous) and PTSD gay deprogramming trauma. The audiobook is more then capably narrated by the team of Greg Tremblay and Zachary Johnson. The upshot is a great book that satisfies both on an emotional and intellectual level as well as the aesthetically pleasing narration.

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A Gem of a Story

Reviewed: 06-26-21

The Troll Whisperer is a wonderful gem of a story. The writing is excellent. The plot is anything but run of the mill same old plot as a dozen other mm romance books. The characters are both interesting and believable. The characters are interesting because the background stories of the two protagonists are richly textured and anything but common or cookie cutter. If you are bored with all this genre of book this one is a well needed breath of fresh air.




I am very pleased to say the audiobook companion measures up the excellent writing in that the narrator, Michael T. Bradley, has a full and talented vocal range to impart distinctly separate vocal qualities to the characters that make it a choir of delight doing three part harmony to listen to. So many bad narrators chatter on in a monotone fitting only to depict a teletype machine. Mr. Bradley is a very good narrator.

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