FAT VAMPIRE (audiobook) (Fat Vampire #1) by Johnny B. Truant

Published in 2024 by Nyifie Brothers Publishing.
Read by Joe Hempel.
Duration: 3 hours, 58 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis

Fat Vampire is a unique entry into the long and storied history of vampire tales. Our protagonist is Reginald Baskin, a very overweight accountant who works for a company that sells fitness equipment. 

The rest of the office are bullies straight out an eighties frat house movie. Reginald tries to work late afternoon into the evening as much as possible and that is where he encounters the office IT guy, Maurice. 

Maurice only works the night shift. He wears dark robes and carries an umbrella as he walks home in the early morning twilight because he is a vampire - one of the oldest vampires in the world.

Another group of vampires try to harvest Reginald for his food and Maurice intervenes and converts him to a vampire instead to save his life. The problem is (as is often the case in vampire stories) Reginald is stuck with the overweight and way out of shape body he had the moment he became a vampire. That is a problem because the vampire community doesn't tolerate vampires that can't pull their own weight (pun intended.)

My Review

This is a unique story, but it is still a pretty average story. There is nothing wrong with it, but it's not very memorable, either. Case in point, I listened to this audiobook months ago and literally immediately forgot all about it as soon as I was done with it until I accidentally clicked on the "Finished" tab on my audiobook player this evening.

However, if you are a fan of vampire stories, you should give it a go.

Note: there are 10 books in this series at this time.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: FAT VAMPIRE by Johnny B Truant.

THE PRICE of HONEY (Deadly Ambition Collection #1) by Liane Moriarty

Published by Amazon Original Stories in 2026.
Book 1 of the Deadly Ambition Series.

Synopsis

The Deadly Ambition Series is a collection of six short stories about people who push too far in pursuit of their ambitions and reap the tragic rewards. 

Honey Becket is the fourth wife of a naracistic tech billionaire. Technically, she is his widow. The story begins with Honey Becket riding in an Uber on the way to her husband's elaborately staged funeral. 

This is a near future sci-fi story - there is discussion about how rare it is that the Uber driver is an actual person and not a self-driving car. Artificial Intelligence is clearly a much larger part of day to day life than it is in early 2026. 

Honey Becket is not against technology, but she still enjoys doing things for herself. When she gets to the funeral, she goes against the plan and invites the other three ex-wives to sit with her up front.

And that's when things get interesting...

My Review

What I like best about this story is the character of Honey Becket. She was a makeup artist before they were married. He frequently referred to her perfect breasts. She was the latest "type" of woman in a series of women. She was supposed to be the pretty one - a trophy wife.

And she is so much more.

This story surprised me - I was expecting a sappy emotional story and it was so much more.

I rate this short story 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Price of Honey by Liane Moriarty.

THE DIRECTOR SHOULD'VE SHOT YOU: MEMOIRS of the FILM TRADE (audiobook) by Alan Dean Foster

Published in 2024 by Tantor Media.
Read by Stephen R. Thorne.
Duration: 7 hours, 1 minute.
Unabridged.

Alan Dean Foster is a prolific sci-fi author. He has written over 50 sc-fi novels, but he is probably most famous for his numerous novelizations of sci-fi movies and TV shows, such as the original Star Wars movie (ghost written for George Lucas), Alien, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Krull, and The Last Starfighter.

The Director Should've Shot You is the story of Foster's experiences as the man who Hollywood turns to to write novelizations of sci-fi movies. He talks about how that system (usually) works, the odd experiences, his interactions with directors, producers, and faceless stuidio executives, and his various thoughts of the strengths and weaknesses of the various projects. 

My experiences with Foster as a young reader start with his two Star Wars books that he wrote when George Lucas  and his team were finishing the original movie.

As I noted, he ghost wrote the novelization of the first movie for George Lucas. He  also wrote the original sequel to the original Star Wars movie - a book called Splinter of the Mind's Eye. George Lucas asked Foster to make Splinter of the Mind's Eye a smaller story when compared to sweeping epic of the original story just in case the first movie turned out to be a bust. Lucas hoped to make a cheaper movie and recycle some of the original props and costumes in order to eke out a little profit. The runaway success of Star Wars made that plan unnecessary. 

We were so starved of Star Wars material back then. I must have read the novelization of the original Star Wars movie more than 10 times. This was back in the days when you could only see Star Wars in the movie theaters. It hadn't been played on TV yet and there were no VHS, DVD, or streaming releases. But, we had the books, the collectable cards, the toys to remind us of the story and it was an endless source of conversation.

I remember reading and discussing Splinter of the Mind's Eye until Lucas released the eventual sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. We were searching for any indication of how the stories might continue and we were trying to figure out how the Star Wars universe worked and all we really had were two little paperback books writen by Alan Dean Foster. That cover was excellent.

I must have read all of his novelizations of the Star Trek animated stories because I read everything Star Trek that I could find when I was in high school.

If you are looking for a complete autobiography of Foster, this isn't it. He offers a decent autobiography up to the point where he starts writing the movie novelizations and then it's pretty much all about those novels. That was fine by me - Foster is a critic and a fan at the same time and it was a fun listen.

The book is almost worth reading just to see what 1970s TV show paid him to write a novelization of a very special two episode story arc. It was certainly out of his normal area of expertise.

Now, I am seriously thinking about re-reading Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE DIRECTOR SHOULDVE SHOT YOU MEMOIRS of the FILM TRADE by Alan Dean Foster.

2 B R 0 2 B (audiobook) by Kurt Vonnegut

Originally published in 1962 in the magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction.

Published in 2017 by Author's Republic.

Read by Phil Chenevert

Duration: 19 minutes.

Unabridged.

2 B R 0 2 B is set in a future world where the population is kept at a strict limit so that the living can live in a clean and safe environment. When a new person is born into the world, someone must volunteer to leave because aging has pretty much been cured. The Federal Bureau of Termination keeps track of all of the births and deaths to be sure that the math works out. The phone number for the Federal Bureau of Termination is 2 B R 0 2 B - pronounced "two be or naught to be."

The story is about a father whose wife is about to give birth to triplets. One of the grandparents of the triplets has agreed to die. Unless something changes, the future parents will have to pick out two babies to kill...

This is an intentionally provocative short story that had a quick and brutal ending that surprised me. 

I rate this short story 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: 2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut.

SLAPSTICK or LONESOME NO MORE! by Kurt Vonnegut

Originally published in 1976.

Synopsis

In the essay that serves as the prologue to Slapstick, Kurt Vonnegut writes about family, connection, and acceptance. He spends a lot of time talking about his older brother - more than he usually does in his essays. He also talks about his sister - a topic of frequent discussion in his essays. She and her husband both died with days of one another, one of an accident and the other of cancer. Kurt Vonnegut and his wife adopted three of their four children. 

In his essays Vonnegut makes frequent mention of the lack of family connection in our modern world and he thinks we are far the worse off for it. This novel is all about family connection, featuring two physically deformed twins who who are psychically connected.

The twins were kept apart from society in an old mansion on a large estate in order to protect them from society and to protect the reputations of their elite, ultra-rich parents. After all, the "right sort of people" don't have freaks for children.

It was assumed that the children would have mental disabilities. It turns out that they were geniuses, especially when they were physically close to one another...

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)

My Review

This is a truly bizarre novel, even by the standards of Kurt Vonnegut. I liked the book in many ways, but I really can't say that it was a great or even a particularly good novel. There are times when it just gets so weird that the story gets buried in its own absurdities.

In one of his essays, Vonnegut graded all of his books up to that point. He gave Slapstick a grade of 'D.' I will do better than that - I give it 3 stars out of 5 (a solid 'C') because it has a lot of heart. 

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut. 

LIQUID COOL: THE CYBERPUNK DETECTIVE SERIES (Liquid Cool Book 1) by Austin Dragon

Originally published in 2016.

Audiobook published by Well-Tailored books in 2024.

Read by Shamaan Casey

Duration: 11 hours, 54 minutes.

Unabridged.

Synopsis: 

Set in a future megalopolis called Metropolis, Liquid Cool is the story of Cruz, a young hustler that wants to become a private detective.

Cruz is mostly known for restoring vintage flying cars, his fedora hat, and his super attractive girlfriend that thinks he can be more than just a street hustler.

Cruz really wants to be a private detective, but obtaining a license from the city's convoluted bureaucracy is shockingly expensive. When a local boy turned millionaire offers Cruz the chance to do some detective work on the side, Cruz jumps at the opportunity. He picks up a how-to book from a famous private detective and starts to teach himself how to do the job.

After a few of these detective side gigs, an unknown benefactor offers Cruz an office and a secretary just like the ones that all of the film noir detectives have and he opens "Liquid Cool" - a detective service that cannot legally call itself a detective service because Cruz cannot afford the license.

And that's when the trouble really starts...

My Review:

This book was simply not very good. It has the basis of a good story, but it needs to be thoroughly edited. I listened to this as an audiobook and literally hours could be cut out of it. 

I know that Dragon is world building in Book 1 of what has become an eleven book series, but he introduces what feels like hundreds of characters in what seems to be an effort to have Cruz visit every corner of Metropolis just to show the reader this vision of the future. It is clear that this book was written to have sequels follow - save some of the world building for those books.

But, I had so many questions that were never answered.

For example, why is it literally always raining in Metropolis. ALWAYS. Even cities famous for their rain like London and Seattle have sunny days, but Metropolis never does. Was it due to environmental catastrophe, a nuclear war, a weather control system that was broken? Who knows.

Also, why is it such a big deal that some people own their apartments due to inheritance? This is mentioned multiple times as if it were vitally important and I never figured out why? It was part of some historically earlier troubles that led to the government structure that Metropolis has, but it is just left at that. No description of the troubles, no explanation of the apartment ownership thing. A good editor would make a note of this and it could be edited out or actually explained.

I Mentioned that I listened to this as an audiobook. It's pretty hard to make notes of egregiously bad writing when you are driving around, but I did catch these two gems that are within two minutes of one another:

"The events not only happened in close proximity, but they happened on top of each other."

"I was burning through money like a billion sheet roll of toilet paper in the center of the sun."

The audiobook was read by Shamaan Casey, an audiobook reader with quite a few projects under his belt. He did a good job with the voices and the narration.

The author did a good thing by finding a good narrator. Now, he needs to find a good editor to help this book shine.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5. It gets 2 stars and not 1 star because I did care about how the mystery resolved itself.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: LIQUID COOL: THE CYBERPUNK DETECTIVE SERIES (Liquid Cool Book 1) by Austin Dragon.

Note: I was sent an digital copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A CANTICLE for LEIBOWITZ (audiobook) by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Originally published in 1960.
Read by Tom Weiner.
Duration: 10 hours, 55 minutes.
Unabridged.

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, 1961.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is a Golden Age of sci-fi novel that originally started out as three related short stories that were published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1955, 1956, and 1957. The author, Walter M. Miller (1923-1996) was convinced to rework them into a single novel - the only novel he published in his lifetime (a sequel to this book was published after his death.)

Synopsis:

The story is set in a dystopian future. During the late 1950s or early 1960s the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union became a nuclear war called the "flame deluge." Human life was nearly destroyed and genetic mutations are fairly common in man and nature. 

Six hundred years later the only surviving constant from the pre-war times is the Catholic Church. The story focuses on an abbey of monks in New Mexico who collect any and all information about science and technology from the past and treat them as relics of Leibowitz, the founder of their order. They collect technical drawings and anything else they can find. Over time, their abbey becomes one of the places of learning that spark a new technological revolution over the centuries because of its isolation.

The second part of the book features the beginnings of technological renaissance. Governments and universities are now recreating technology of the past and even start working together to learn and create even faster.

Eventually, after around 1800 years, in the third part, mankind has gone beyond the technology of the 1960s. There is space travel to other systems, travel around the world is easy. But, the world is not an integrated place and the world faces another Cold War with nuclear weapons...

My Review:

Like so many books in the Golden Age of Science Fiction, A Canticle for Leibowitz goes for big themes in a big way. You have to give it credit for being much more than a sci-fi adventure.

But, big themes does not necessarily mean a good read. The pacing is slow, especially in the first third of the book. I almost stopped listening to the audiobook multiple times because I could not figure out what was going on and the story seemed to be going nowhere.

The book is stuffed full of Latin phrases that may have been familiar to plenty of Catholics (when the book was written, the Latin Mass was the norm) but was not necessarily familiar to this Lutheran. I mostly followed along, allowing for context, the similarity of Lutheran and Catholic liturgies, and my knowledge of Spanish. The Latin added authenticity, but it also was also mostly unnecessary padding. I appreciate that the Latin symbolized a constant moving through time - in the story Latin, along with the Church, survived the Fall of Rome, the Dark Ages, a nuclear war, a horrific dystopian period with genetic mutations, a rebuilding, and was still here in a new Cold War.  My criticism is that a lot of it could have been translated into English with a note that said that the priests or monks were speaking to one another in Latin.

On last criticism is the reader. I am not fond of Tom Weiner as a reader. I've listened to a few books he has read and he just turns me off.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It's not bad. I am glad I read it, but it is hardly a page turner. It can be found on Amazon.com here: A Canticle for Leibowitz.

COMRADES in ARMS (kindle)(short story) by Kevin J. Anderson

Published in 2014 by WordFire Press

My Synopsis:

Veteran (and prolific) author Kevin J. Anderson delivers a compelling short story/novella in the tradition of the golden age of sci-fi with Comrades in Arms. 

Humanity is at war with an insectoid race that uses psychic energy to create weapons and even peer into the future.  The story is set in an asteroid belt way out in the middle of nowhere. Some of the asteroids have breathable atmospheres, but they're not comfortable for either race to live on for long. 

Even though the asteroids have limited value, there is no way either side will give them up so the war has ground itself into a stalemate of sorts. 

However, humanity has developed a new weapon that is starting to turn the tide. Mortally wounded humans are brought back to the base and given the Robocop treatment. Their bodies are refitted with armored limbs, organs are replaced, and a "werewolf trigger" is installed deep in the brain. The werewolf trigger sets the cyborg soldier into an out-of-control killing frenzy. These killing machines tear across the battlefield and civilian outposts, leaving behind nothing by death and destruction until the cyborg is destroyed or its system breaks down.

But, what happens if a cyborg learns to control its computerized impulses? What if it starts to question the war itself? What if it refuses?

My Review:

I enjoyed this novella from beginning to end. The story has an ironic twist at the end, but not the way that you would think. In its own way, it makes a strong anti-war statement. 

I rate this novella 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Comrades in Arms by Kevin J. Anderson.

WINGS of REDEMPTION: THE FORGOTTEN FLEET, BOOK 3 (audiobook) by Craig Andrews

Book version originally published in 2023.

Audiobook published in July of 2024 by My Story Productions.
Read by Shamaan Casey.
Duration: 12 hours, 7 minutes.
Unabridged.

Wings of Redemption is the final installment of the Forgotten Fleet Trilogy. This sci-fi series is about a future war between humanity and an insectoid species. The series focuses on a squadron of space carrier-based fighter pilots on the front lines.

The fact that it is focused on this relatively small group of people is the real strength of this trilogy. It doesn't get caught up in tales of political intrigue at the macro level, instead it follows these pilots on the bleeding edge of the front lines. There are successes and very tough losses. The risks are personal and also galaxy-wide. If these pilots can't help turn the tide, the war will be lost for everyone.

Each book of the trilogy has a distinct feel. The first book (Wings of Honor) focused on the recruitment and training of these pilots against the backdrop of an intergalactic war that humanity is losing.

The second book (Wings of Mourning) follows the fighter pilots as they are stationed on the newest, most advanced carrier in the fleet - the SAS Redemption. The Redemption is sent on a secret, desperate mission to probe into enemy territory in order find out why their insectoid enemies have changed tactics and are seemingly in retreat. Is it a real withdrawal, is it a trick, or is it something else entirely?

In Wings of Redemption, the SAS Redemption has found the answers to most of their questions and are desperately trying to outrace their enemies back to human territory. This book has large scale space battles between carrier ships, fighter dogfights, and hand to hand fights - but it really just does a good job of letting the individual characters shine. 

The audiobook reader, Shamaan Casey, helps those individual characters stand out. During the fighter dogfight scenes his individual voice characterizations help make the story feel more like a movie that you can see in your mind. In this book, I thought he did a particularly good job with the pilot with the call sign/nickname of Squawks. Like his name implies, Squawks is kind of a loud and squeaky guy. In the first two books he was often the comic relief, but he has a tragic moment in this book and Casey conveys the emotion in this voice perfectly. 

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Wings of Redemption: The Forgotten Fleet, Book 3 by Craig Andrews. 

Note: I received a free copy of the audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, this is a good trilogy.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut

The first edition cover

Published with the alternate title "The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death."
Originally published in 1969.

Listed in Time Magazine's 100 Best Novels Since 1923.

Slaughterhouse-Five is the most famous, most celebrated, and most controversial novel of Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007.) 

My synopsis:

The book serves as a memoir to Vonnegut's horrific experiences as a prisoner of war in World War II and as a sci-fi exploration of the concept of time travel. 

Vonnegut's very green unit was rotated to the front in December of 1944 in order to give experienced combat troops a break. The weather was bad, the terrain was bad, and the Germans had been retreating regularly. It was presumed that the Germans would be content to settle in to winter quarters, rest, refit, and pick up the fighting in 1945. 

Instead, the Germans launched a surprise offensive and what followed was the Battle of the Bulge. Lots of Americans were captured and taken back to Germany to be prisoners of war, including Kurt Vonnegut. Eventually, Vonnegut was taken to Dresden to work. The main character of this novel, Billy Pilgrim, was also captured and eventually taken to Dresden.

At Dresden, in February of 1945, Billy Pilgrim and Vonnegut were firebombed along with the rest of the city. The prisoners of war survived because they were being housed in partially underground slaughterhouse for hogs (the hogs had long ago been consumed.) They were in slaughterhouse number 5. 

Where Pilgrim and Vonnegut's stories separate is the sci-fi portion. At the beginning of the book we are told that "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time." 

Pilgrim is sliding back in forth in time along his own timeline. He can do nothing to change events, he just keeps sliding back and forth. 

My review:

Vonnegut graded his own books in his book
Palm Sunday. I agree with his assessment of 
Slaughterhouse-Five.

This is the second time I've read this book. This time around I really paid attention to the non-science fiction parts of the book and looked for the connections to Vonnegut's own life. Chapter One practically screams for the reader to do so, but I did not the first time around.

This time, I could really see that Vonnegut was working through his wartime experiences through the story of Billy Pilgrim and his own story as the narrator. 

I was struck by the passage describing the condition of the American prisoners of war as their overloaded train car waited on the tracks for a turn on the tracks:

"Even though Billy's train wasn't moving, its boxcars were kept locked tight. Nobody was to get off until its final destination. To the guards who walked up and down outside, each car became a single organism which ate and drank and excreted through its ventilators. It talked or sometimes yelled through its ventilators, too. In went water and loaves of black-bread and sausage and cheese, and out came shit and piss and language.

Human beings in there were excreting into steel helmets which were passed to the people at the ventilators, who dumped them. Billy was a dumper. The human beings also passed canteens, which guards would fill with water. When food came in, the human beings were quiet and trusting and beautiful. They shared."

Vonnegut in 1965.

What struck me was that there in the middle of the most destructive war in human history, enemies were taking care of their enemies like decent people. Later in his career Vonnegut would make the same point with this comment in his book A Man Without a Country:  "A saint is a person who behaves decently in a shocking indecent country."

Vonnegut's trademark humor and clever new ways of saying the same old things abound in this book. Here is his commentary on a female character: "She was a dull person, but a sensational invitation to make babies. Men looked at her and wanted to fill her up with babies right away."

And there it is in a nutshell. This is Vonnegut's masterpiece. It is profoundly sad. It is funny. It is a memoir. It is sci-fi. And so it goes.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. 

Note: This book has been challenged multiple times over the last 50 years for sexual content, foul language and teaching principles contrary to the Bible. Amazingly, it has stayed on "banned books" lists for more than 50 years. At one point, it was referred to a prosecutor to see if the school was distributing pornography to students. The prosecutor said that it was "not in violation of criminal laws." See this site for more information.

Note: This book was put on book ban lists in Tennessee in multiple counties in 2025. The article has a searchable database because the list has more than 1,100 unique titles

To its credit, the Vonnegut Museum in Indianapolis has a history of sending free copies of Slaughterhouse-Five to students at schools where the book has been banned.

WINGS of MOURNING: THE FORGOTTEN FLEET, BOOK 2 (audiobook) by Craig Andrews

Book version originally published by My Story Productions in 2021.
Audiobook published by My Story Productions in 2024.
Read by Shamaan Casey.
Duration: 10 hours, 32 minutes.
Unabridged.

My Synopsis

Wings of Mourning is the 2nd book in a trilogy about a future war between humanity and an insectoid species. While not a particularly original sci-fi concept, the first book was still entertaining and hinted at all sorts of possibilities. 

Humanity had been winning the war in space by using drone fighter based on carrier ships. The drones were so effective because the pilots would not die if the drone was shot down - they pilot could just switch to a new drone and rejoin the fight.

This was all well and good until the insectoid race (the Baranyk) developed an undetectable way to jam transmissions to the drone fighter ships, leaving the carriers vulnerable to attack. The tide of the war turned against humanity until a retired fighter pilot suggested pulling the old pre-drone fighter ships out of mothballs and put the drone pilots back into the real cockpits. 

The first book of the series, Wings of Honor, focused on the creation of the Forgotten Fleet - the revived air wing with actual pilots in the actual cockpits. 

The second book switches in tone and focus. Rather than focusing on the dynamics of the pilots of the Forgotten Fleet, it focuses on the war. The Forgotten Fleet has been fighting non-stop for six months. They may be young, but they are an experienced and dangerous unit - more than a match to any similar number of Baranyk ships.

The Forgotten Fleet has lost pilots due to death or injury and brand new replacement pilots have arrived to fill in the gaps.

Meanwhile, the Baranyk have changed their tactics and seem to be withdrawing. Are they retreating or are they pulling the fleet together for a big push? The Forgotten Fleet pushes forward to try to find out and suddenly discovers a new weapon in the war...

My Review

I liked the first book in the series quite a bit, but the second one surprised me in a good way. The book changed its tone and focus. Some prominent characters from the first book become minor characters and new characters are introduced. And, it was better than the first book.

The new threat to the fleet is hinted at towards the beginning of Book 2, but I was still very interested in what it all entails when it is finally revealed. The book takes some dramatic twists and turns, including one big twist that I was not expecting at all.

As is common in trilogies, the second act ends with a note of despair, like in the original Star Wars trilogy's The Empire Strikes Back. I am looking forward to seeing how it all works out in the end!

The reader of the audiobook was Shamaan Casey. He also read the first book in the series. He just nailed it.  

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Wings of Mourning: The Forgotten Fleet, Book 2 by Craig Andrews.

Note: a copy of this audiobook was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

TIGER CHAIR: A SHORT STORY (kindle) by Max Brooks

Published in 2024 by Amazon Original Stories.

The premise of Tiger Chair is that it is a frank letter from a mid-level Chinese officer to a friend back home. World War III has been going on for a while. It started over the invasion of Taiwan and has now spread around the world. Chinese forces are active on many fronts, including India.

China has also attacked the United States in the mistaken belief that America's racial diversity and political animosities would cause American resolve to crumble and it would be a short war.

This has turned out to be wrong and the invasion has turned into occupation duty and occupation duty has always been terrible. 

I think Brooks has an actual agenda with this book and it is a warning. It is not a warning about China. It is a warning about over-dependence on technology and the foolishness of war. On top of that, it is so easy for one country to think that they have a realistic take on another country's internal politics and culture when they really have no idea at all.

Max Brooks

Brooks lectures in military circles about successful military organizations developing blind spots and becoming incapable of conceiving of strategies that will defeat them (or make it too costly to stay.)

It is an easy thing to observe in recent history. Americans have seen it in Iraq and Afghanistan. In both situations, their governments were deposed and it was assumed that new governments would be formed and the political differences would be worked out. Instead, the different rivalries fought one another with amazing ferocity. But, they also fought the Americans because there was one thing they all agreed on - they didn't want a bunch of outsiders telling them what to do.

It is the same in this story. I'd say that it's been this way forever.

I rate this short story 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: TIGER CHAIR: A SHORT STORY by Max Brooks.

WINGS of HONOR (Forgotten Fleet Book 1) (audiobook) by Craig Andrews

The premise of this book is not particularly original, but it still enjoyable.

Originally published in book form in 2021 by My Story Productions.

Audiobook published in March of 2024 by My Story Productions.
Read by Shamaan Casey.
Duration: 9 hours, 16 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

In Wings of Honor, humanity is at war with an alien insectoid species, much like in the book Ender's Game, the movie version of Starship Troopers, and the 1990's Fox Tv show Space Above and Beyond. In this novel, the bad guys (the bugs) are called the Baranyk. 

The fight ebbs and flows - sometimes humanity is winning, but currently humanity is losing. Humans used to use a fighter/carrier system in which fighter space ships launch from carrier space ships to engage the enemy - much like another classic show and its reboot, Battlestar Galactica. The death rate for fighter pilots were atrocious so the fleet developed a sophisticated fleet of drone fighter ships. If the drone ship gets destroyed the pilot just loads up another drone and rejoins the fight.

That system worked out great and was used to push back against the Baranyk - literally turning the tide of the war in favor of the humanity. That is until the the Baranyk developed a jamming system to block out the signals to the drones, leaving the space fleet without its first and best line of defense. 

This book is about the plan to convert the best drone pilots into fighter pilots and all that it entails. There are lots of clashes between pilots with big egos, a demanding commanding officer, and the difficulty of moving from a video game type of system to really being out in the flight vehicle.

My Review:

As I stated in the title, the premise of this book is not a unique science fiction concept. That being said, the author took it and decided to really delve into the characters of the trainees and the nature of the training. I found the book to be interesting and engaging if not always riveting.

The audio reader was Shamaan Casey. His voice was perfect for the commander of the "Forgotten Fleet" - the new squadron of manned space fighters. He did a very good job and helped to make this an enjoyable audiobook. I would be interested in continuing on with this series.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: WINGS of HONOR (Forgotten Fleet Book 1) by Craig Andrews.

My review of the second book in this trilogy can be found here: Wings of Mourning.

Note: A copy of this audiobook was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

INCREDIBLE HULK: PLANET HULK written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Carlo Pagulayan, Aaron Lopresti, Juan Santacruz, Gary Frank, and Takeshi Miyazawa.

Originally published by Marvel Comics from 199-2007.

Synopsis:

Hulk is banished from Earth after helping The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and others defeat a common enemy by using Hulk's brute strength. Hulk has been rendered unconscious and placed on a spaceship. Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) leaves a video message for Hulk to find on the spaceship when he arrives at his destination - a planet with no intelligent life. Reed knows that it is a wish of both Dr. Banner and Hulk to be someplace where Hulk cannot hurt anyone and no one can hurt Hulk. 

But, a wormhole opens up and sucks Hulk's spaceship to a different destination - the planet Sakaar.

Sakaar is ruled by a despotic, deranged emperor. He rules a planet with multiple species - all of them hate each other because he pits them against them against one another. He has discs attached to their bodies to control their impulses and allow him to deliver pain at will. He wears a suit of armor that Iron Man would envy and he runs a giant gladiator contest to punish anyone who dares stands up to his regime.

That is, until Hulk arrives...

My Review:

Planet Hulk has a reputation of being THE ultimate Hulk story arc. This story is also part of the inspiration for the Marvel movie Thor: Ragnarok. 

*********Spoiler alert*********

While this graphic novel has a great reputation, I found it to be very repetitive. Hulk meets a danger, he nearly dies but he wins by just brute forcing everything. Every new confrontation makes him stronger until it just gets to the point of ridiculousness. Every time Hulk turns around there is a new species with new traditions, new prophecies, and new attacks on the Hulk that make him stronger. Eventually, he gets so strong that he can literally tear apart the planet from the inside - it just became tedious for me. The whole plot is something attacks, Hulk mad, Hulk smash, Hulk get stronger, Hulk finds peace of mind, something new attacks, Hulk mad again, and on and on and on.

*********End Spoilers*********

The art is very beautiful, though.

I rate this graphic novel 2 stars out of 5. I had to force myself to finish it, even if it is a classic. 

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: INCREDIBLE HULK: PLANET HULK written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Carlo Pagulayan, Aaron Lopresti, Juan Santacruz, Gary Frank, and Takeshi Miyazawa.

FAHRENHEIT 451 (audiobook) by Ray Bradbury

 

Originally published in 1953.

I listened to the Tantor Media audio version published in 2010.

Read by Stephen Hoye

Duration: Approximately 5.5 hours

Unabridged

Synopsis: 

Guy Montag is a fireman in a future United States. Firemen in the future do not fight fires. Instead, they burn books, newspapers, magazines that people have hidden away. If you hide forbidden media in your home your home will be burned to make sure all of the books are gone and to serve as a warning to rest of the neighborhood. 

Montag is great at his job, but he has his doubts. Every once in a while he takes a book home. He hides them in the ventilation system of the house. No one knows, not even his wife. Those doubts are accelerated when his team witness a woman die in the fire with her books rather than live without them...

My review: 

This book has an interesting history. Bradbury started building the world that this book is set in with some short stories of a dystopian future where everyone is absorbed by personalized television screens. His publisher urged him to expand the ideas into a book. Bradbury knocked out Fahrenheit 451 in just 9 days on a rented typewriter that cost him 10 cents per half hour.

The book itself has action but it oftentimes felt like essays attached by plot points. It seems to me that the speed in which the book was written probably led to this sort of construction. The essays took the form of extended trains of thought by Montag or long speeches/rants from Montag's boss, Captain Beatty. These "essays" make all of the arguments of the story such as the justifications for mass censorship, the arguments against it, and the lack of human contact in a mass media world.

Bradbury accurately predicted a lot of the modern world in this book. When it comes to technology, he predicted the ATM, giant screen televisions, and earbuds. Culturally, he predicted the rise of sports TV, the inane reality TV shows like The Real Housewives, and the addiction to pop culture and electronic media that may be a factor in the high rates of depression among young people nowadays.

This has to be considered Bradbury's masterpiece. It is such a powerful manifesto against censorship. 

NOTE: If you appreciate irony, please read this bit about how THE anti-censorship novel of the 20th century was edited to remove or change controversial and offensive words and scenes without the knowledge of the author - FOR TWELVE YEARS!

NOTE: Also on the "if you appreciate irony" category - Fahrenheit 451 was put on a book ban list in Tennessee. The article has a searchable database because the list has more than 1,100 unique titles.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury.

BATMAN/FORTNITE: ZERO POINT (graphic novel) by Christos Gage and others

Published in 2021
by DC Comics

 

When I first heard of this crossover graphic novel I thought to myself that this could be a horrible mess of a book. I actually flipped through it just to be ready to make fun of it. After all, how could a book based on a videogame that's using Batman as a promotional gimmick be any good? 

Turns out I was wrong. 

The plot makes sense. Even more importantly, it is an interesting and compelling read.

In the story, what Batman suspects is a crack in time and space opens up over Gotham City. People are fleeing. Batman consults with Chief Gordon and learns that some people are actually drawn to this tear in reality. 

As Batman gets closer to investigate he finds Harley Quinn. She is heading directly towards the tear and Batman cannot stop her. However, his efforts have placed him in a vulnerable position and a shadowy figure pushes Batman in.

Batman arrives in the world of Fortnite with no memory and surrounded by violence. The world gets smaller and smaller, making the violence more intense until everyone dies and the world re-sets with no one retaining a memory of what has happened before. 

Of course, Batman is still Batman so he figures out a way...

I rate this graphic novel 5 out of 5 stars. It can be found on Amazon.com here: BATMAN/FORTNITE: ZERO POINT (graphic novel) by Christos Gage and others.

DEADLANDS: A NOVEL (audiobook) by Victoria Miluch

 

Published in October of 2023 by Brilliance Audio.
Read by Laura Jennings.
Duration: 9 hours, 24 minutes.
Unabridged.

Synopsis:

Set in a future dystopian Arizona in a United States that is collapsing due to pollution and climate change.

19 year old Georgia lives with her father and her 16 year old brother in an outpost in the Arizona desert north of Phoenix. They are hiding away from the polluted city of Phoenix and the few people that bother to venture out into the wilderness. 

When Georgia and her brother encounter two "hikers" and their car near their outpost, everything changes...

My review:

This book starts out very interesting and then settles into a moody story about relationships, betrayals, and discovery - but I made it sound way more interesting than it actually was. In reality, it was an interesting 45 minute set-up at the beginning and multiple hints that something really dramatic could happen and then nothing happened - again and again and again.

****Spoiler Alert:**** 

Warning: there is a first sexual experience scene that, to me, seemed more like a first sexual assault scene. Some people, like me, really are repulsed by sexual assault scenes. Once again, this followed the pattern of the rest of the book - a very dramatic thing occurs and not much happens as a consequence. 

****End Spoiler****

We never really find out what's going on with America's environment, or why Georgia's father is implementing secret plans, or why Georgia knows all about swimming in oceans when she has lived her entire life in a desert and has never seen a body of water. And, so it goes on and on and on. 

I rate this audiobook 1 star out of 5. If you want to give it a go, it's on Amazon.com here: DEADLANDS: A NOVEL by Victoria Miluch.