Showing posts with label audiobook review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audiobook review. Show all posts

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Audiobook Review - Wake the Dead by Stacey Rourke


*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

AMAZON
A long long time ago (a.k.a. ten years ago), I found myself becoming a fan of the supernatural television series after watching the first season of True Blood and a little bit later I became a fan of the "Sooke Stackhouse" book series by Charaline Harris. Then I started reading other supernatural authors, such as Laurell K. Hamilton and Kim Harrison.

In late August, I listened to my very first supernatural audiobook, titled Wake the Dead by Stacey Rourke, which is book one of six in The Journals of Octavia Hollows series. The paperback and eBook versions were released by Anchor Group Publishing back in February 2019. The Audio Flow just released the title as an audiobook on August 23rd with Brenda Scott Wlazlo as the narrator.

Wake the Dead centers around necromancer Octavia Hollows, a woman who has the ability to bring the dead back to life. Along with her pet pig, Bacon, Octavia finds herself helping to solve the mystery to why a young boy is rapidly growing old! The one and only person who might have knowledge to what is going on is the boy's nurse, Nikki, who happens to be dead! 

Octavia must use her supernatural skills to bring Nikki back from the dead to solve the mystery. However, things are easier said than done as this nurse as a slew of issues that Octavia has to deal with first. 
 

Final Thoughts

Monday, February 4, 2019

Audiobook Review - Self-Discipline by George Pain

*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine.


We could all use a bit more self-discipline in our lives.

Last year was extremely stressful for me for many reasons, and my procrastination issues didn't help any; which resulted in many late reviews and posts on this very blog.

Over the weekend, I spent an hour listening to the Self-Discipline ($3.95) by George Pain, which is basically a self-help audiobook narrated by Giles Miller.

In this 60-minute audiobook, where you will learn about the following:
  • Cognitive Principles of Behavior
  • What is a Habit Loop?
  • Replacing Habits in a Habit Loop
  • The power of delayed gratification.
  • Understanding the Psychology of Procrastination
  • Utilizing Habit Pyramids with Examples
  • Areas to Apply Self Discipline

Self-Discipline can be purchased at: https://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Discipline-Volume-1-Audiobook/B074KLCWG8

Final Thoughts

Monday, February 13, 2017

Audiobook Review: Junie B. Jones: First Ever Musical Edition!

*This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine.

Random House Audio; 1.5 hours; $20.00; Amazon
Wow! I had no idea that the Junie B. Jones series by the late author Barbara Park will celebrate it's 25th anniversary this year. I was a bit too old to read the book series during the 90s; though I have become a June B. Jones fan as an adult. Over the years, I have bought a few of the titles at thrift stores. The books are a delight to read.

Now available to own from Penguin Random House Publishing is the two-disc audio book Junie B. Jones: First Ever Musical Edition!, featuring the audio book First Grader (at last!) and songs from the Junie B. Jones, The Musical.

The audio version of the book "Junie B Jones, First Grader (at Last)" is on the 1st CD. The story centers on Junie B. Jone's first days of first grade, where she finds out things have changed a lot since kindergarten. To make matters worse for her, she has a difficult time reading the blackboards, which means only thing - June B. Jones needs glasses.

The 2nd disc features all the songs from the Junie B. Jones, The Musical with lyrics by Marcy Heisler. The musical is adapted from the books Junie B. Jones, First Grader; Junie B. Jones, Boss of Lunch; Junie B. Jones; One-Man Band; and Top Secret, Personal Beeswax: A Journal by Junie B. (and Me!) by Barbara Park.

Tracks/Songs on the disc are:
Introduction
Top-Secret, Personal Beeswax
Lucille, Camille, Chenille
You Can Be My Friend
Time to Make a Drawing
You Need Glasses
Show and Tell
Now I See
Lunch Box
Gladys Gutzman, Queen of Snacks
Kickball Tournament
Sheldon Pott's Halftime Show
When Life Gives You Lemons
Kickball Tournament (Reprise)
When Life Gives You Lemons (Reprise)
Writing Down the Story of My Life

Monday, October 17, 2016

Review - Battlefield Earth: A Saga Of The Year 3000


*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Galaxy Audio; 47.5 hours; $59.95; Amazon
For the past two months, I have been listening to the new Battlefield Earth: A Saga Of The Year 3000 audiobook. The 44-disc set is produced by Galaxy Audio (Press), the same company that produces the "Stories From The Golden Age" audiobooks.

Battlefield Earth was originally published in 1982, written by the late L.Ron Hubbard. While the novel was a New York Times Bestseller, there was plenty of controversy at time it was released. I'm not going to go into too much details, but it did involved the fact that the author was the founder of Scientology.

Since I'm a Christian, I don't follow Scientology, but I have listened to several of L. Ron Hubbard's "Stories From the Golden Age" over the years. I'm a book lover, so I will pretty much read any book or listen to any audiobook I can get my hands on. Despite my love for reading, I'm not the biggest fan of the science-fiction genre (minus a few Start Trek titles). I became aware of Battlefield Earth about the time the movie adaptation was released in 2000, which is considered one of the worst movies ever made. I rented the movie once on VHS, and I thought it was one of the silliest things I had ever seen.

Due to my distaste for the movie, I had never attempted to read the original 1000+ pages novel. Well, that is until I heard Galaxy Audio was bringing out a new massive audiobook this year, and I thought I would give the novel a try.

When I say massive... I really mean it!

Monday, March 9, 2015

Review - The Baron of Coyote River


The Baron of Coyote River
by L. Ron Hubbard
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Pub. Date: February 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1592123773
Running Time: 2 hours 13 minutes
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

A new western novel is hard to come by these days, but there are many classic western adventures being re-released for a next generation of readers. Galaxy Press has been releasing paperback and audiobooks based on the western novellas and short stories from on the late author L. Ron Hubbard. These stories were published during the 30s' and 40s' or otherwise known as the Golden Age, a time when countless adventure stories appeared in Pulp Magazines.

The Baron of Coyote River was first published in the September 1936 issue of All Western Magazine and was released as an audiobook on February 1, 2010 along with the short story Reign Of The Gila Monster. The voice cast includes Martin Kove, Bruce Boxleitner, Bob Caso, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen (whom also directs), Fred Tatasciore, Josh R Thompson and Michael Yurchalk.

The first tale is centered on a wanted man, Lance Gordon, who has been dodging the the law ever since he killed his father's murderer, a Deputy Marshal, in a fair fight. There is a price on his head and everyone is out to get him, including the US Cavalry. He almost runs out of luck in Santos, when he is surrounded by the cavalry, but out of nowhere, a stranger, Tyler, rescues him. To return the favor, Lance agrees to ride to Coyote River to stop a cattle-stealing Baron.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Review - Tinhorn's Daughter


 
Tinhorn's Daughter
by L. Ron Hubbard
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Pub. Date: October 20, 2014
ISBN: 978-1592123438
Running Time: 123 minutes
Buy Link: Audio, Paperback, Kindle

Review:
 
While audiobooks have been around for decades, I didn't really start listening to these types of books until I was introduced to the Stories from the Golden Age series from Galaxy Press. This series features the short stories from the 1930s and 1940s by author L. Ron Hubbard. Galaxy Press has been adapting these stories into audiobooks for a whole new generation to enjoy. The stories are also being released on Kindle and paperbacks.

The western audiobook Tinhorn's Daughter was released just a few a months back and features the voices of Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson), Corey Burton, R.F Daley, Jim Meskimen (who also directs) and Tait Ruppert. The two-disc audiobook also features the short story When Gilhooly Was In Flower.

Tinhorn's Daughter first appeared in the December 1937 issue of Western Romances and centers on a man named Sunset Maloney, who is trying to fight back against the cruel land-stealer Slim Trotwood in the Big Sky country of Montana. While Slim may look like just another gambler, he has been stealing the Puma Pass lan from the homeowners. Sunset is known for his fast shooting  and he plans on taking Slim down that is until he meets the tinhorn's daughter, Betsy. Now blinded by love for his enemy's daughter, his trail for justice will be a lot harder than he thought it would be.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Review and Giveaway - Gunman's Tally

Gunman's Tally
by L. Ron Hubbard
Studio: Galaxy Press
Release Date: March 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1592122752
Pages: 120
ASIN: 978-1592123780
Running Time: 125 minutes
Buy Links: Audiobook, Paperback

Review:

Besides from listening to a a few children audiobooks on cassettes when I was a kid, I have never been a fan of audiobooks until I started reviewing titles from Stories from the Golden Age, which are short stories that were written in the '30s and '40s by L. Ron Hubbard. With a banquet of 153 stories, Galaxy Press has been releasing these titles onto audiobooks and paperbacks for a new generation of readers.

Recently, I received both the audiobook and paperback of Gunman's Tally, a western short story that was originally published in the November 1937 issue of All Western Magazine. This title also includes an additional title, Ruin At Rio Piedras. The audiobook is directed by Jim Meskiman and features the voice-actors of Shane Johnson, R.F. Daley, Christina Huntington, Jim Meskimen, Phil Proctor, Enn Reitel, Josh R. Thompson and Michael Yurchak.

Gunman's Tally centers on Easy Bill Gates, the landowner of the Las Pinas ranch who has a gentle heart. He had never succumbed to violence until his brother was murdered by the outlaw Fanner Marsten. He tracked down Fanner and struck him down. Little did he know that Fanner was one of the fastest gun in the west, so now Bill has a reputation as a gunslinger.

George Barton is the villain of this story and he wants to claim Las Pinas as his own. He is afraid of Easy Bill Gates, so he hires the fastest and meanest gunslinger to either run Bill off of his land or kill him in the process, but Bill won't give up his land without a fight.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Review - Gun Boss of Thumbleweed


 
Gun Boss of Thumbleweed
by L. Ron Hubbard
Director: Jim Meskimen
Voice Cast: Luke Baybak, Corey Burton, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen, Tamra Meskimen, Taylor Meskimen, Rick Pasqualone, Josh R. Thompson, Michael Yurchak.
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Pub. Date: June 23, 2013
Retail: $12.95
ASIN: 978-1592123841
Running Time: 2 hours 13 minutes
Buy Link: Audiobook, Paperback

Review:

Many people know that L. Ron Hubbard was the author of Battlefield Earth and the founder of the Church of Scientology, but he also wrote countless short stores that were published in "pup magazines" during the 1930s and 1940s. Galaxy Press has been releasing these short stories on audiobooks and paperbacks for a new generation of readers.

Gun Boss of Thumbleweed was originally published in the April 1949 issue of Thrilling Western, but it is now the main feature, as well as the title of the Galaxy Press's audiobook that was released last summer. The story centers on a gunslinger named Mart Kincaid, who is blackmailed into threatening locals to leave their land by the evil taskmaster, Gar Malone - a man who knows a bit too much about Mart's brother. Mart does attempt to do as Malone instructed, but he has a change of heart when he meets Drake and his daughter, Sally, whom own the land on the Singing Canyon. Mart decides that he has had enough of Malone's wickedness and fights against him and his hired guns.

The second story is Blood On His Spurs, which first appeared in the September 1949 issue of Thrilling Western. The tale centers on two men, Iron Jaw Bates and Larry McClean, who have been life long enemies. The two must put aside their differences to stop a group of deadly cattle rustlers.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Review: Under The Diehard Brand by L. Ron Hubbard

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.
Besides from AMC's Hell On Wheels, the western genre is almost extinct on television. There use to be dozens of western novels being published monthly, but now there are only a few. Luckily for western readers, Galaxy Press is releasing all of L. Ron Hubbard's short stories from the 1930s and 1940s as audiobooks and paperbacks; giving a new generation a chance to read his works, which includes several western adventures.

Under the Diehard Brand was originally published in the March 1938 issue of Western Aces and centers on a  young trail-hand, Lee Thompson, who journeys from Texas to Montana to search for his father, Diehard Thompson.

Diehard is the sheriff of Wolf River, but time has caught up with him and he is not capable of handling the town's troublemakers anymore. He hadn't seen his son, Lee, in over fifteen years, so when Lee arrives in town, he doesn't recognize the boy.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Review - Cattle King for a Day

Cattle King for a Day
Director: Jim Meskimen
Voice Cast: Michael Yurchak, Corey Burton, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen, PhilProcter and
Studio: Galaxy Press
Release Date: September 21, 2010
ISBN: 978-1592123650
Running Time: 2 hours 4 minutes
Buy Link: Audiobook, Paperback

Review:

Step back in time with the Stories from the Golden Age series, featuring classic tales of adventure, mystery and thrill rides from the 1930s and 1940s, all written by the late author L. Ron Hubbard. Galaxy Press is releasing all over Hubbard's short stories (over 150 tales) to paperback and audiobooks.

Originally published in the March 1937 issue of All Western Magazine is the exciting western Cattle King for a Day. This tale centers on the cowboy Chinook Shannon, who heads out for Arizona after learning of his grandfather's sudden death. He plans on running his grandfather's cattle ranch Slash S, which he inherited upon his grandfather's death, but he is in for a huge surprise when he learns that the ranch has less than 24 hours before it is foreclosed. To make matters worse, all the cattle on the land have died. To get the answers of who or whom has put his grandfather's ranch in jeopardy, Chinook heads into town, but there are three road agents blocking his path. With time running out, Chinook is in a race against time to find his grandfather's murderer and save the Slash S cattle ranch.

For an added bonus, there is one additional western tale, titled Come And Get It, which first appeared in the October 1938 issue of All Western Magazine. The story centers on Bill Norton stepping off of the train at Wolf Junction, Wyoming and is excited to take over the Bar N, which was left to him by his late father, whom was supposedly killed by a wild horse, but Bill is shocked to learn that the bank left Red Mike Doherty as the trustee of the ranch. With nowhere else to go, Bill settles as second cook at the ranch, biding his time until he can find out who is really responsible for his father's death.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Review - Shadows From Boot Hill


Shadows from Boot Hill
by L. Ron Hubbard
Directors: Jim Meskimen and Tait Ruppert
Voice Cast: Phil Procter, Corey Burton, R.F. Daley, John Mariano, Jim Meskimen, Tait Ruppert, Fred Tatasciore, Josh R. Thompson
Studio: Galaxy Press
Release Date: October 24, 2011
Retail: $9.98
ISBN: 978-1592123476
Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Buy Links: Audiobook, Paperback

Review:

Saturday, July 26, 2014 is the official National Day of the Cowboy, which is an official holiday in 8 states. To celebrate the holiday, I'm reviewing several western titles by the late L. Ron Hubbard. The audiobooks are produced by Galaxy Press using a talented voice cast and outstanding sound effects. These stories were published in the 1930s and 1940s, or otherwise known as the Golden Age, in Pulp magazines.

Shadows from Boot Hill first appeared in the June 1940 issue of Wild West Weekly and centers on the hired-gun, murderer and outlaw, Brazos, who bailed out on his payment for killing a banker, as lawmen were hot on his trail. He takes shelter briefly in Los Hornos, where his so-called friend, Whisper Monahan, offers him $200 to murder a man named Scotty Brant.

Scotty Brant has beeb using cyanide to extract gold from an oxide ore, which is located on the land owned by Whisper. Now all 4,000 of acres of his land has been poisoned. All Brazos has to do is kill Brant and collect the $200. It may sound simple enough, but Brant has a surprise in store for him - a witchdoctor, who happens to put a curse on Brazos.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Review - Orders Is Orders


Orders Is Orders
Stories form the Golden Age
by L. Ron Hubbard
Directed by Jim Meskimen
Voice Cast: Brooke Bloom, Corey Burton, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen, Josh R. Thompson and Michael Yurchak
Studio/Publisher: Galaxy Press
Release Date: March 16, 2009
ISBN: 978-1592122332
Running Time: 2 hours 33 minutes
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Long before Kindles, Nooks and the Tablets, people relied on paperbacks, newspapers and magazines for their reading entertainment. In the 1930s and 1940s, cheap-made magazines, dubbed Pulp Magazines, flew off the newsstands, featuring adventure stores of every genre by well-established writers, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Elmore Leonard and Ray Bradbury. The great science-fiction author, L. Ron Hubbard, published over one-hundred-fifty short stories during this era, known to most as the Golden Age. Galaxy Press has been releasing Hubbard's titles on audiobooks, with a talented voice-cast and amazing sound effects.

Each and every month, I participate in the Earlier Reviewers program on LibraryThing, in which a reader gets a chance to win a copy of a book in exchange for a review. Over the last four years, I have won a handful of titles, several eBooks, a few paperbacks and a couple of audiobooks. Back in November 2013, I won a copy of Orders Is Orders, which I received a few weeks later in December. I was busy around the holidays, so I kept pushing the audiobook aside, well that is until last month when I finally got around to listening to it.

Orders Is Orders first appeared in the December 1937 issue of Argosy and is set in the worn-torn Chinese city of Shunkien, The US has a small consulate that is filled with frightened and starving refugees in the city. To make matters worse, some are suffering from the Asiatic cholera. Their only hope is the USS Miami, which is located two hundred miles away, but the US can't take any sort of military action, including bringing supplies to the consulate, without causing an 'act of war' with the Japanese.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Review - The No-Gun Man


The No-Gun Man
by L. Ron Hubbard
Directors: Jim Meskimen and Tait Ruppert
Voice Cast: David O'Donnell, Luke Bayback, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen, Tait Ruppert, Josh R. Thompson and Michael Yurchak
Studio: Galaxy Press
Release Date: June 23, 2014
Retail: $12.95
ISBN: 978-1592123834
Running Time: 2 hours 8 minutes
Buy Link: Audiobook, Paperback

Review:

Arriving in paperback and audiobook format this month is the thrilling western adventure, The No-Gun Man written by the late L. Ron Hubbard. Though the author is known for the classic science fiction epics, Battlefield Earth and the Mission Earth Series, many people have probably forgotten that Hubbard wrote countless stories during the 1930s and 1940s, or otherwise known as the Golden Age. During this era, readers devoured adventure stories. Whether it was set in WWI or on a distant planet, the Pulp magazines that contained these stories flew off the magazines racks. Galaxy Press has been releasing Hubbard's short stories and novellas on audiobooks and paperback editions.

To celebrate the upcoming National Day of the Cowboy on July 27th, Galaxy Press is releasing a few new wild west titles, including last week's release of The No-Gun Man, featuring an outstanding voice-cast and amazing sound effects.

Originally published in the May 1950 issue of Thrilling Western, The No-Gun Man centers on Monte Calhoun, a young man with a rocky past. When he was a child, his gold obsessed father dragged his ailing mother and him across the country to find riches, but his mother ended up dying, though his father did strike it rich. As soon as he was old enough, Monte left to become his own man.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Review - Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light


Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light
By
David Downie
Narrated by Max Winter
Pub. Date: 2011
By Blackstone Audio
ISBN of the paperback: 978-0307886088
Duration:  9:58 hours
Genre:
Nonfiction/Travel
Source:
Audiobook Jukebox
Goodreads
With all the nonfiction books I have recently read on Paris, you would think I know it all, and I would be rather blasée about it. Far from it! When I saw Audiobook Jukebox had Paris Paris available for review, I did not hesitate.
David Downie has been living in central Paris since 1986. His book is rich of all the walks he has been taking there, attentive to every detail around him. Honestly, I have found in this book information I had NEVER encountered any where else.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Review - The Ocean at the End of the Lane


The Ocean at the End of the Lane
By
Neil Gaiman
Narrated by Neil Gaiman
Publisher: HarperAudio
Pub. Date: June 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-0062263032
Duration:  5:48 hours
Genre:
Fantasy
Source:
public library
Goodreads: Goodreads Choice winner for Fantasy (2013)

Review:
Apart from a cute children’s book, Chu’s Day, I had never read anything by Neil Gaiman, so I seized the occasion when I saw I could listen to it through my library audio book service.
I very rarely read fantasy, I can’t even recall what was the last fantasy book I read, but I got caught in the story right away through Gaiman’s voice. His narration is dreamy, hauntingly beautiful and irresistible, a bit like some of his dreadful characters, although in a positive sense!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Review - Sutton by J.R. Moehringer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13624439-sutton-cd
Sutton
By J. R. Moehringer
Narrated by Dylan Baker
Publisher: Hyperion
Pub. Date: 2012
Duration: 15.12 hours
Buy Link
Reading Challenge

Review:
At my block book club, each member shares about the book he/she read and liked during the previous month. One member shared with excitement about Sutton So I had a very long trip planned by car, I decided to listen to it. What a great experience it was!
In the French literature, we have a long tradition of the "gentleman cambrioleur", a thief who is at the same time a gentleman, robbing without violence. The most famous one is Arsène Lupin, a character invented by Maurice Leblanc  in 1906.

But the "gentleman thief" is not necessarily a fictive character only. Indeed, Willie "The Actor" Sutton (1901-1980) was a notorious bank robber in the US, even making it to the first FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. He managed to escape several times from maximum-security prisons. As the legend and folk hero he had become, crowds cheered him when he was finally released from Attica State Prison on Christmas Eve 1969.

To avoid being bothered forever by journalists, he made a deal to spend a day with a newspaper reporter and photographer, taking them on a tour of his life.
This book is precisely organized  around what that day might have been – Sutton left two autobiographies, but as they contradict each other, the author had some margins to write a believable fiction based on some known facts.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Review - Mrs. Pollifax on Safari

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari
Mrs. Pollifax On Safari
By Dorothy Gilman
(Book 5 of The Mrs. Pollifax series)
Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Publisher: Recorded Books
Pub. Date: 1992 - originally published in 1976
Duration: 6.75 hours
Buy Link
Reading Challenge

Review:

It is really time to rediscover Mrs. Emily Pollifax, who's been called Miss Marple's cousin. She's a very active grand-mother, member of a garden-club, growing roses and orchids, and practicing karate. She still feels bored however, so ends up going one day to the CIA to see if by any chance she could work for them. A grand-mother always carrying flowery hats, she definitely does not have the regular profile of a spy, and can so be very helpful.

In each book of the series, she is thus sent to special missions in a different country.

In Mrs. Pollifax on Safari, Emily is sent to Zambia. The CIA knows that an assassin nicknames Aristotle is preparing a coup against the president of that country, but they only have one clue: that he will meet with an accomplice on a safari, to discuss the details on their plans. So Emily's mission is simple: to go on that safari, and pretending to take lots of pictures of the wild animals around her, to take pictures of all the members of the safari, to try to identify the future murderer.

As in all her previous missions, things do not turn out that simple.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Review - The Sky Devil

The Sky Devil
By L. Ron Hubbard
Director: Jim Meskimen and Tait Ruppert
Voice Cast: Yasmine Hanani, Corey Burton, R.F. Daley, John Mariano, Jim Meskimen, Tait Ruppert,Fred Tatasciore, Josh R. Thompson and Michael Yurchak
Studio: Galaxy Audio
Release Date: October 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1592123292
Running Time: 2hrs 38mins.

Review:

Galaxy Press has been releasing L. Ron Hubbard's short stories onto audiobooks, featuring a talented voice-cast and outstanding sound effects. All the short stories used come form the Golden Age of the 1930s and 1940s, a time when the newsstands were covered with pulp magazines containing great adventures from well-known authors to amateur writers.

Coming out tomorrow is "The Sky Devil" by L. Ron Hubbard, which originally appeared in the September 1935 issue of Top-Notch. At a running time of over an hour, the story centers on the American pilot Vic Kennedy, who happens to find himself on the wrong side of the Greek war after he had personally brought in the rebel leader to the ancient city of Alexandria, but he now finds himself as an outsider. He has nowhere to go as the British won't let him stay, the French don't want him and the Greek wants him dead!

Wounded and with his plane running low on fuel, Vic makes the decision to land in the Sahara oasis, heal his wound and get more fuel. At least that was his original plan until he crosses path with a beautiful captive princess. Her father (the King) is forcing her to marry an ugly man, whom she doesn't love. When she meets Vic, she mistakes him for a genie known as The Sky Devil. Vic will be praying for a real genie or a miracle if he is going to survive the Sahara and save the princess.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Audio Review - The Lieutenant Takes the Sky

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.



During the 1930s and 1940s pulp magazines covered the newsstands, which were filled with creative’s stories ranging from romance to adventure; all were written by unknowns and well-publicized authors, such as H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Elmore Leonard, Louis L'Amour, Max Brand, and Ray Bradbury. During those years, author L.Ron Hubbard published countless short stories and all of his stories are being released on paperback and audiobook from Galaxy Press under the Stories from the Golden Age series.

Today, I listened to an ARC of The Lieutenant Takes the Sky by L. Ron Hubbard which is a high-flying air adventure centering on the Irish-American pilot Mike Malloy, who happens to find himself thrown into a Moroccan military jail after he accidentally punched a Colonel, a Lieutenant-Colonel, and the General's aide; all of which may have deserved it. His punishment is five long years behind bar, which was actually a little lenient as anybody else would have received the death penalty for such actions.

Surprisingly, Mike is released from prison and assigned to a suicidal mission. He, along with another pilot, are to pilot a French politician, Mr. DeLonge, and an American woman, Lois Degann, to the Middle Atlas on an expedition to find the 800-year-old lost Arabian alchemist's book called the L'Aud, which is rumored to contain a recipe to make gold from base metal. It may sound easy at first, but the book is located in the middle of enemy territory. It’s either stay in a Moroccan jail for five years or risk his life for a mysterious book that may or may not exist. Of course Mike chooses the expedition.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Review - Spy Killer

Spy Killer
By L. Ron Hubbard
Director: Jim Meskimen
Voice Cast: R.F. Daley, Lori Jablons, Shane Johnson, Jim Meskimen, and Tait Ruppert
Studio: Galaxy Press
Pub. Date: September 8, 2008
ISBN: 978-1592121663
Running Time: 2 hours 2 minutes
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

The classic short stories that filled the pulp fiction magazines from the 1930s and 1940s are hard to find these days. Galaxy Press has been releasing author L. Ron Hubbard's short stories from that time onto the Stories from the Golden Age audiobooks. I received a free copy of the Spy Killer in exchange for my honest review.

Spy Killer first appeared in the April 1936 issue of Five-Novels Monthly and tells the tale of an innocent man, Kurt Reid, being charged of murder and grand larceny!  He barely escapes off the ship Rangoon and flees to pre-Communist China and Shanghai.

By chance, Kurt meets the White Russian Varinka Savischna in a tea house and he manages to save the beauty from the Chinese intelligence services. Instead of going into hiding, Kurt agrees to help Varinka in her crusade against the Chinese intelligence, but of course trouble is never too far behind him as  he soon gets himself captured.