Title: Number One with a Bullet
Author: Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff
Genre: Action Adventure
Released: 22 November 2006 – 16 March 2007
Located: Author’s Site, iTunes
Formats Available: podcast, print

Rating: R for violence, language, sexual situations.

I recently completed a review with Richard Green’s wonderful Geek Out with Mainframe podcast, where Richard surmised that I had probably run out of my original slush pile of listened to podcasts. For the most part, I have, but there remain a couple that I listened to early on and have never reviewed. I remembered being entertained by Number One with a Bullet, so decided to relisten and give it a review.

So, on to the review.

Synopsis:

When the world’s top ten hitmen compete in a last man standing, winner take all contest for over $100 million dollars, the only rule is to stay alive. And for retired assassin Johnny Dane, getting out of the business doesn’t mean getting out of the game.

Production: This story is an old one. It is one of the earlier works of podiofiction reaching all the way back to 2006. That being the case, it is a pretty good listen. The production quality is pretty high, though a bit inconsistent at times. The story so far is firmly in effect and the author includes gratuitous emails sent in praise of the story and author at the end of every ep.

Grade: B+

Cast: First time ever that I’ve had to state that this podcast is both a self read and a full cast. It starts out as a full cast and continues happily along its way, when suddenly the author begins to do a self read. One of the dangers of too much metatalk, in my opinion, is that some listeners (me included) might not end up listening all the way through and might miss reasons such as this. However, the abrupt change really throws the story for a loop.

Grade: C-

Story: A simplistic story where the hero is forced into a life left behind in order to save the love of his life. Told in present tense in the form of a [rejected] movie script. Number One with a Bullet did win a Parsec in 2007 for Best Non Speculative Novel.

Grade: D

Verdict: Back in 2006 early 2007, podcast fiction was still in its infancy. There weren’t nearly as many stories to listen to. Maybe that is what enabled me to enjoy this story at that time. However, listening to it now, it almost seems like it would work better as a parody of an action story as every scene if full of bombast. The fight and chase scenes are unbelievable, and I don’t mean that in a good way. The hand to hand combat scenes lead me to believe that author has never taken a martial arts class. The chase scene between a Porsche 911 and a Hummer are a physicists nightmare. I did recommend another story by this author, Transistor Radio. I would gladly listen to it again and wished I had rather than give Bullet another try.

Shameless plug: Don’t forget, if you send an audio comment to me at Odin1eye at viewfromvalhalla dot com, I’ll include it in the podcast version of this episode next weekend (or when I receive it). You can also leave voicemail, for this or any other story, at the Valhalla Hotline simply by calling 956-307-ODIN (6346)

Disclosure: I’ve never met Mr. Nemcoff. I don’t know if he’s on twitter. I’ve never conversed with him and I’d still take a Porsche over a Hummer any day.

Title: The Hidden Institute
Author: Brand Gamblin
Genre: Science Fiction/Alternate futuristic fantasy
Released: 6 March 2011 – 28 March 2011
Located: Author’s Site
Formats Available: podcast, ebook, dead tree
Rating: PG-13 for some violence and brief strong language

So after weeks of reviewing books that I don’t remember where or when I heard about them, I find Brand Gamblin’s The Hidden Institute has been completed and though I had all ready had it on my radar, I admit to bumping it way up due to the fact that Richard Green enthusiastically recommended it. Having enjoyed Tumbler by the same author, it didn’t take much persuading on Richard’s part.

So, on to the review.

Synopsis: Cliffy is a child born on the streets of a Neo-Victorian world. Witnesses to a murder, he blackmails a nobleman, receiving a unique bribe. In exchange for his silence, the nobleman introduces him to the Malcolm Rutherford Holden Institute of Regentrification. There, Cliffy learns to walk, talk, and act like a nobleman, so that he may infiltrate high society. But that type of fraud is punishable by death, and when Cliffy uncovers a plot to assassinate a head of state, he’s hunted by more than just the aristocracy.

Royal intrigue, daring escapes, sub-dermal machines, and bear polo. A grand adventure in a not-so-distant world. (Stolen from Amazon.com)

Production: Although this is the second book I’ve heard by Mr. Gamblin, it is the first that was a self read. This changes the production somewhat in my mind. The production is very well done. The episodes are very nicely timed and no obvious errors were made. The music Mr. Gamblin chose is entirely appropriate for this story. However, if there is one production area I would note being bothersome, that would be the length of the musical interlude between scenes. Though I enjoyed it, it seemed very long. Of course this could have been due to the fact that I mainlined all 15 episodes in a two day period.

Grade: A

Cast: Mr. Gamblin does an excellent job in not over-selling his characters. Each character is unique and breaths with a life of his/her own without an over effusive reading. Very nicely done.

Grade: A

Story: The Hidden Institute is a unique story that is really unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. In interviews, I’ve heard Mr. Gamblin refer to it as Harry Potter meets Henry Higgins (you know, My Fair Lady? The professor chap in charge of ladyfying Ms. Doolittle?). This is a fair elevator pitch, though it is a bit darker than either of the tones recalled by those stories (yes, I know Harry gets dark, but the series doesn’t feel that way). This story is still completely young adult (13+) friendly.

Grade: A

Verdict: I enjoyed The Hidden Institute very much and I really believe you will too. Mr. Gamblin has done a remarkable job of characterization and world building. I know I’ve mentioned it somewhere before, but it is worth mentioning here again. I’m not a big fan of world building when it is obvious that is the goal. World building completed within the guise of the story, however, when done well is quite enjoyable. The Hidden Institute is proof of that.

As a final thought, the paperback is available on Mr. Gamblin’s website. That’s where I ordered it from, and you should too.

Disclosure: I do follow Brand on Twitter and I do tweet with him on occasion. I was not offered a Bear Polo season pass or anything else in exchange for this review however. Darn.

Title: Vatican Assassin
Author: Mike Luoma
Genre: Science Fiction
Released: 31 July 2009
Located: Podiobooks, iTunes, Author’s Site
Formats Available: podcast, ebook
Rating: R for violence and strong language

This is another story that had been recommended to me. Again, for one reason or another, I’ve lost the link between the book and the person that recommended. I have had this one sitting on my phone for ages and finally had a chance to sit down and listen.

So, on to the review.

Synopsis: Bernard Campion, aka “BC”, is an assassin for the Pope, struggling with his work’s inherent contradictions while trying to take care of “business” during an out of control interplanetary religious war in 2109. BC is a killer disguised as a priest of the New catholic Church. His current assignment? Eliminate the Governor of Lunar Prime, the free state on the Moon. BC has no idea this latest assignment will change everything… (Stolen from Podiobooks.com)

Production: Mr. Luoma does a decent job of the production on Vatican Assassin. As noted in the title, I am reviewing the remastered addition. I have no idea why it was remastered or what issues might have been present in the first. I’ll restate however that the production of the remastered version is pretty good. I think I caught a repeated line or two, but it is hard to tell as the speaking patterns of certain individuals might include a certain repetitiveness. In cases like that, I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the author.

However, in a disturbing trend, I’m finding several episode lengths to be much too short. I’ve discussed this before and won’t go in depth here, but I think podcast eps should be at least 20 minutes long. Of course, that is just me.

Grade: A-

Cast: Vatican Assassin is an author read story. Mr. Luoma does his best to read the story with gusto. Perhaps too much. I personally found the continued ebullient voices grating after a while, but your opinion may differ. (If so, you know where the comment section is, right?) The character list for a podcast story was just right and I had no difficulty remembering or tracking characters.

Grade: B-

Story: Mr. Luoma states at the beginning of each episode that Vatican Assassin is the beginning of a trilogy. In his world, this must mean that the first book is basically meant to create multiple open threads and close very few of them. This is exactly what Vatican Assassin does. We follow B.C. around for thirty eps watching him blunder from one storyline to the next without closing any of them along the way.

Grade: C-

Verdict: I personally can not recommend Vatican Assassin. I found the premise of the concept of a unified “Christian” church under the auspices of the New catholic church (small “c” on catholic intentional) to be implausible but very interesting. I also found corruption in the church to the extent where they include a branch of assassins to be novel and clever. (Yes, I know there is probably historical precedent, but that is not what I’m talking about.) In implementation though, I found the story lacking. From the reading to the slapdash antics of the protagonist, I just never grokked this book. One of the things that probably annoyed me the most about this story was the fact that it was written in 3rd person present narrative. “B.C. looks out the door. He turns and looks out the window. He sees nothing and sits in a chair.” (NO, that is not out of the book, it is an EXAMPLE of 3rd person present.) I hated this writing style as it felt to me more like a screen treatment than a book. Again, this might be just me. But it annoyed me badly enough I almost discontinued listening.

I know that many of the story lines will be concluded in the next two books (or believe they would have to be), but this will happen without me. I believe that in any series, at least the first book should be self contained. If the author chooses to make further books mandatory to receive closure, I’d prefer they just roll it into the original book, even if it makes that several hundred thousand words long.

Someone recommended this book to me. What did I miss that would make you recommend it? Give me your side in the comments. Please.

Disclosure: I’ve never tweeted with Mr. Luoma or conversed with him in any other way. I’ve seen him continually putting up new works at podiobooks.com, and for that I thank him.

Title: Digital Magic
Author: Philippa Ballantine
Genre: Science Fiction and Fantasy
Released: 10 November 2009 – 13 March 2011
Located: Podiobooks, iTunes, Author’s Site
Formats Available: podcast, ebook and dead tree (dead tree is no longer being published, so you might have to search)
Rating: R for violence and sexual situations

Thank God it’s over. I’ve been waiting to review this since November of 2009. For those of you keeping score, yes, that is when Podcast Review #1 dropped. And, yes, it is also when the first ep of Digital Magic was released. I purchased the book a year before that and had been waiting for the podcast so that I could review it!

So, on to the review.

Synopsis: Penherem is a quaint, sleepy English village where people go to escape the 21st Century. Hiding from the world of laptop computers, the Internet, and wireless communication, is Ella. A writer, now barren of ideas and drive, she resigns herself to a quiet life of solitude. Everything changes with the arrival of a shapeshifting thief. Suddenly, everyone begins to change–from the local librarian to the lady of the manor–revealing their true natures and dangerous secrets. Something in this sleepy English village is awakening… something that might be better left alone. (Stolen from Podiobooks.com)

Production: It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that has ever heard Ms. Ballantine’s work that the production is superb. She is well known as a voice actress in the podcast fiction community and I’ve rarely (never?) heard any of her audio that was less than excellent. Hmmm.. well maybe her first work of podcast fiction Weaver’s Web, but truthfully I don’t recall and would have to listen again. Suffice it to say, I heard nothing in Digital Magic that needs pointed out in a negative way.

However, the production schedule might make some take notice. Yes, it really did take over a year for this podcast to be completed. It is strange listening to early eps now and hearing advertisements (that word really is/should be pronounced Ad-ver-tis-ments… no long vowels, it’s just nicer that way) for The Boom Effect. Ms. Ballantine has been a very busy person during the course of this podcast and has consistently shared with us the deadlines and issues she has faced and the delays these have caused. If you’re podcasting, and you face delays, share that with your listeners. Perhaps even in the feed without an ep attached. Let us know. We’ll stay loyal when we know you haven’t left us.

Grade: A

Cast: Ms. Ballantine has moved a bit more into the full fledged cast with Digital Magic. She has regularly used multiple cast members, but I “think” this might be the largest she has utilized. The full cast can be found here.

Grade: A

Story: Digital Magic was written as a sequel to Chasing the Bard. However, two more different stories linked by the same content would be hard to find. I submit you would easily be able to listen to or read either story without having any knowledge of the other and have little to no issues arise from that fact. The story does continue with Puck as a main figure, but transverses the globe from Britain to New Zealand to the virtual worlds of the future internet. Digital Magic is Shakespeare as envisioned by William Gibson and written as only Ms. Ballantine could write it.

Grade: A

Verdict: I loved Chasing the Bard, but I adored Digital Magic both in its print form and this podcast version. I will also say, as long as there was between eps, I still had no problem following the story without a TSSF. If you like Science Fiction without spaceships and still want a bit of magic thrown in, you’re not going to find a better story than Digital Magic. Go, subscribe now.

Disclosure: Ms. Ballantine is one of my best friends. Pip is generous to a fault and one of the most talented people I know. I suspect she figured I’d review this podcast eventually, but she never asked or promised anything in return.

Title: House of Grey
Author: Collin Earl
Genre: Fantasy
Released: 5 September 2008 – 7 March 2010
Located: Podiobooks, iTunes
Formats Available: podcast only
Rating: PG for anime type (and referenced) violence

I have no idea who recommended this podcast to me. Whoever you are, I don’t know whether to thank you or curse you. It was recommended to me quite a while back and I simply never got around to it. Recently, I fixed that.

So, on to the review.

Synopsis: 14-year-old Monson Grey faces the same challenges that any freshman high school kid would. Difficult classes, weird teachers, food fights…girls. Except Monson Grey is not Monson Grey. At least, when he looks at himself in the mirror, the scarred face staring back is not someone he recognizes. Now he finds himself attending an extraordinary school, the recipient of an incredible scholarship, among ridiculously rich classmates, and with no memory of how he got there or what to expect. As bizarre events start to unfold around him, Monson wonders what secrets lay locked in his hidden past. Add all this to a mysterious silver stone, an Indiana-Jones-copycat professor, Merlin the wizard, and even Atlantis, and you’ll find yourself in a fantastic tale in which magic does exist and everything is never as it seems. (Stolen from Podiobooks.com)

Production: House of Grey does some things very well. Without getting into the cast (which comes next of course) the producers did some remarkable work with computer altered voicework. I’m usually not a fan of this, but 8 out of 10 times, they did it very, very well. There is a The Story so Far that morphs during the course of the podcast, though never becomes something I enjoyed. In the last ep there is one or two repeated lines. Occasionally, the pieced together audio sounds like exactly what it is, but as the grade shows, never quiet enough to take me out of the moment.

One final note on production. This story has some of the longest eps I’ve ever heard. Many approach an hour and several surpass, with at least one hitting two and a quarter hours of content.

Grade: B+

Cast: The House of Grey was read by Chris Snelgrove. He does a commendable job of voice inflection and personalization of each voice. Yes, even the ladies (which pay a large part). If you choose to listen, you’ll have very little trouble differentiating the characters.

Grade: A-

Story: Occasionally, it is hard for me to distinguish between the “Story” portion of these reviews and the “Verdict”. This particular story is one of the hardest for me to differentiate.

I would label House of Grey a young adult title whether the author would or not. The protagonists are all high school kids in a prestigious west coast school. The violence is much like the anime the characters are hooked on. The problems they face range from the typical high school type of problems to saving the world.

House of Grey is also a story that unwraps as you go along. I love/hate stories that I’m half way through when I’m asked, “What’s it about?” and my only answer can be, “I have no idea.” House of Grey firmly resides in this camp.

Grade: B

Verdict: I LOVED House of Grey. Seriously gang. I know not every story is for everyone, I accept that. However, this story truly resonated with me. I have no idea why. It just did. I am not claiming everything is perfect. The story is bloated. At almost 40 hours of content I’m guessing it is at least 200,000 words and would probably surpass 500 pages in mass market paperback form. I’m also guessing a good editor would probably trim at least a third. That didn’t matter to me. Mr. Snelgrove’s over enthusiastic ep intros annoyed me. That, too, didn’t matter. What it come down to was, I was so enthralled with the story that the writing issues just didn’t matter. And for me, THAT is rare.

By now, you’re probably suspecting that my verdict would be an unqualified listen. And until the last episode, you would have been correct. The last two and a half hour episode. The one that was one huge battle sequence. The one that, with 30 minutes left, you’re beginning to wonder “How is Mr. Earl going to tie this up?” And yes, the one that with three minutes left we forget about trying to tie it up and change the point of view to a highly unlikely cast member and leaves the audience completely in the dark about how ANYTHING in the story is resolved. Let me make this clear. The story does not end. If Tolkien had left us during the scene inside Mount Doom with Frodo and Smeagol wrestling, you might get the idea. I have to admit that my initial reaction to the last episode was anger. But then again, all I really paid for all of these hours of exuberant, thrilling imaginative entertainment was my time.

So, can I recommend House of Grey to you? No. Unfortunately not. I only review finished stories, and I’m sorry to say, that although this story is marked “complete” I would beg to differ. And I cannot recommend this story to you. Why? Perhaps you noticed the first ep dropped over 2.5 years ago and there is no sign of anything new on the horizon. And for the rest.. I ask you to follow me down to the disclosure.

Disclosure: As stated multiple places and multiple times, I keep my twitter feed pretty lean. If I follow you it is because I feel you add something to my stream. A couple of eps before the end, I found and followed Mr. Earl on the basis of how much I enjoyed this story. I don’t recall ever having done that before. Through a few innocuous questions, I have discovered that he is currently planning a rewrite of House of Grey (which as much as I loved it, I agree it needs) before going on book 2. This rewrite is planned to occur in 2012 with part two following sometime after.