BROKEN BAYOU (audiobook) by Jennifer Moorhead

Published by Brilliance Audio in July of 2024.
Read by Sophie Amoss
Duration: 10 hours, 18 minutes.
Unabridged.

My Synopsis

Broken Bayou features Dr. Willa Waters, a child psychologist with a very popular podcast who lives in Texas. After a disastrous local television interview goes viral, Waters runs to Broken Bayou, Louisiana. This is where her two great aunts lived in a mansion on the edge of town.

When she arrives in town, there is an uproar because a body has been found in the bayou and then a young schoolteacher and her car went missing. But, some of the locals still remember her because Waters spent most of her childhood summers in Broken Bayou with her great aunts. Waters and her little sister would be brought to town by her mother. All three of them would move in and her mother would spend the summer having a good time with the locals. 

In many ways, her great aunts were the closest thing to proper parents that Waters and her sister had. Her great aunts passed away within hours of one another and they have given the house to the local historical society. Waters says that she is in town to go through some things, but really she is looking for one thing - one very specific thing from a horrible night - the last night they ever stayed in Broken Bayou... 

My Review

This book is steeped in Southern Gothic vibes. There is a brooding mood from one end to the other. The murder mystery aspect was quite good, but I found Dr. Waters' behavior to be amazingly, frustratingly, and all too conveniently self-sabotaging. This very educated woman couldn't seem to grasp the concept of taking the stuff she wanted and going to some other town (any other town) with it until it becomes too late.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead. 

Note: The publisher of this book sent me a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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.

THE TURKEYFEATHER RIDERS (audiobook) by Louis L'Amour

Published in 2004 by Random House Audio as a book on cassette.

Published in 2008 as a digital audiobook.

Multicast performance.

Duration: 1 hour, 8 minutes.

Unabridged.

Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) wrote well more than 100 novels and non-fiction works - maybe 200, depending on how you count them up. If you count individual short stories, you can add in hundreds more. L'Amour's writing career started out as a short story writer for magazines, beginning in 1938. I assume that this short story started out in a magazine but I could not find any record of when or where it was originally published. 

The Turkeyfeather Riders was adapted from a short story into old style radio play for this production. This includes special effects and multiple actors playing different characters. 

My synopsis.

The plot is pretty simple. Jim Sandifer is a ranch foreman. He and his widower boss get along fabulously, but when his boss comes home with a fiancé and her son, Sandifer becomes suspicious of their motives. When Sandifer starts to investigate, things get hairy...

My Review.

This was a fun little story. I was looking for a change of pace and this fit the bill perfectly. It's not very complicated and the performances are very good. The special effects are well done, too. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Turkeyfeather Riders by Louis L'Amour.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (BIOGRAPHIES of U.S. PRESIDENTS) (kindle) by Hourly History

 

Published by Hourly History in March of 2024.

Hourly History publishes an extensive line of histories and biographies that are intended to be read in about an hour. With that limit, none of these are the definitive biographies, but most of them  give the average reader a good sense of who the person was and why they were important. 

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) was the 36th President of the United States. One thing I particularly like about this biography is that it tells about his formative experiences in Texas as a young man, especially his short stint as a public school teacher in a very poor area of rural Texas. Getting to know those students really gave him the desire to want to create government programs to help alleviate poverty. 

This biography is a little skewed towards Johnson's early life, but it's not particularly hard to find information about LBJ's time as President and the series offers books on the big events of his administration like the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement if you would like to read more.

I rate this e-book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Lyndon B. Johnson: A Life from Beginning to End. 

AGE of REVOLUTIONS: PROGRESS and BACKLASH from 1600 to the PRESENT (audiobook) by Fareed Zakaria

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2024.

Read by the author, Fareed Zakaria
Duration: 13 hours, 2 minutes.
Unabridged.

Fareed Zakaria's Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present is exactly what the title says it is.

Zakaria writes about the beginnings of capitalism, multi-cultural societies, globalism, democracy, the industrial revolution, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, Fascism, the failed Arab Spring, LGBTQ+ rights, and the rise illiberal democracy and the return on authoritarianism and the forces that pushed back (or overturned) them.

The author

Zakaria has clearly done his research and writes in such a way that it flows from one topic to another almost as if they entire book was just one big story (which it is, if you look at it as the story of humanity, especially The West.)

If you find yourself wondering how we got here, this is a good place to start. Zakaria breaks down complex movements and ideas and makes them understandable.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present by Fareed Zakaria. 

BAN THIS BOOK (audiobook) by Alan Gratz

Published in 2017 by Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Read by Bahni Turpin.
Duration: 5 hours, 17 minutes.
Unabridged.

My Synopsis

Ban This Book is the story of Amy Anne Ollinger, a fourth grade girl who is shocked when she gets to the library and finds out that her favorite book, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, has been removed from the shelves as part of a book ban. Amy Anne reads all sorts of books (except Captain Underpants books - they're kind of silly) but she loves this book and comes back to it often. She has read it 13 times and wanted to read it again. 

Amy Anne is told that a parent has complained to the school board about several books and they skipped the established plan to deal with these sorts of complaints and simply voted to remove them. 

Amy Anne's parents buy her a copy of the book and she takes it to school to read when she can during the day. Her friends find out about the book ban, see that she has a copy and ask to read it. In return, they offer her copies of banned books that they own. Other kids see their books and things start to get interesting...

My Review

This was a thoroughly enjoyable audiobook. As the plot gets more complicated, the arguments for and against school library book bans are laid out. Amy Anne is against them in general, but she is no absolutist (and neither are her parents.) She knows that she's just not ready for some topics.

To be completely honest, the kids seem pretty advanced for typical fourth graders, but what transpires is not entirely out of the skill set of kids that age.

What I really liked about this book is that Amy Anne epitomizes what John Lewis meant when he said that we should "get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America."

And that brings us to the reason that I listened to this audiobook. In June of 2024 this book made headlines because a Florida school system banned it from its libraries. Yes, the school board rejected the established plan to deal with parent concerns about books, overruled the findings of the system they established and voted to ban Ban this Book. If that sounds familiar, that is because that is what happened in the book (see 5 paragraphs above.)

A school board member who is also a member of Moms for Liberty - a well-known source of book ban lists - asked to have this book banned. Yes, indeed. These moms are really into banning books in the name of Liberty. In fact, they've been successful at banning more than 140 books in this school system alone.

The author

The board looked at the very existence of the book as a challenge to their authority. A board member said, "The title itself and the theme challenges our authority. And it even goes so far as to not only mention books that are deemed inappropriate by school boards, including ours, it not only mentions them but it lists them."

I like this quote from the author about the book bans: "They banned the book because it talks about the books that they have banned and because it talks about book banning. It feels like they know exactly what they're doing and they're somewhat ashamed of what they're doing and they don't want a book on the shelves that calls them out."

I highly recommend this audiobook. I rate it 5 stars out of 5. Lots of fun.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Ban This Book by Alan Gratz.