espionage – Page 7

Aural Noir Review of Dimiter by William Peter Blatty

Aural Noir: Review

Dimiter
By William Peter Blatty; Read by William Peter Blatty
8 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2010
Themes: / Thriller / Religion / Christianity / Espionage /

In 1973 a nameless prisoner is being tortured in an Albanian prison, where “grace and hope had never touched.” Colonel Vlora, known as “The Interrogator,” is frustrated and mystified by a man they have come to call The Prisoner because they cannot even make him speak. Is he an American spy, Paul Dimiter, known as the “agent from hell?” The solution to this stalemate while expected on one level is a complete surprise on another. This turns out to be emblematic of William Blatty’s book. Part 1 is an appropriate foretaste of this complex, suspenseful, and fast paced thriller.

The scene shifts to Jerusalem where we meet Moses Mayo, a neurologist, who is investigating a series of seemingly natural deaths that are nevertheless linked. He also is plagued by a gruesome murder, reports of apparitions and mysterious miraculous healings. We also meet Mayo’s life-long friend, Peter Meral, an Arab Christian, who is a police detective. Among other things, Meral is investigating a strange car explosion and the mysterious disappearance of the men involved, a CIA cover-up, and a body found at the Tomb of Christ.

The body count climbs and complications arise from the interweaving of all the events. This sounds somewhat like a standard thriller, however, it is anything but. We know the deaths are real but what about the reported miracles? Is everything really connected and, if so, what could possibly be the logical link? The solution is not only surprising but also provides an extremely moving moment of redemption.

Dimiter‘s suspense keeps the listener fascinated while also raising it above the ordinary by not being afraid to have characters who care about spiritual searching, loss, redemption, and love. The spiritual element will make this work especially interesting to those who are drawn to themes that investigate good versus evil. This is not an element that should surprise those who remember that Blatty is the author of the justly famous horror novel The Exorcist. Although this novel is strictly in the thriller vein, I must admit that I did find the torture scenes rather horrific and did fast forward through a few of them.

The author narrates his work and does such an effective job that I often forgot I was not listening to a professional voice talent. The only downfall was that during fast-paced scenes with more than two male characters, such as CIA interrogations, there was not enough differentiation between all the voices to make it easy to tell when dialogue shifted from one person to another. This was not a huge problem but it did require me to back up a couple of times until I figured out the tempo. Otherwise, William Blatty’s reading was a sheer pleasure, especially in voicing his more eccentric characters who he brought to life in a most vivid fashion.

Highly recommended.

Posted by Julie D.

New Releases: Robin Hood, Jane Slayre, Fools Die, The Twilight Zone Companion, and MORE!

New Releases

Here’s a batch of new Blackstone Audio audiobooks that have my frontal lobes salivating … huh … while I’m waiting for them to arrive maybe I should consult a doctor on this salivating brain thing.

First up, a new movie-tie-in audiobook for the upcoming Ridley Scott movie of the same name…

Robin Hood
By David B. Coe; Read by Robin Sachs
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 8 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: April 27, 2010
ISBN: 9781441755964 (cd), 9781441755971 (mp3-cd)
In 13th century England, the legendary figure known by generations as Robin Hood leads an uprising that will forever alter the balance of world power and will make one man of humble beginnings an eternal symbol of freedom for his people. An expert archer once interested only in self-preservation, Robin now serves in King Richard’s army. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation. There he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion, who is skeptical of the motivations of this mysterious crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marion and to save the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct the injustices of the sheriff.

Here’s another re-mixed vampires in classics book inspired by the success of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies. Scott figures this fad has run its course. I’m thinking it has at least a couple of more seasons left in it.

Jayne Slayre (The Literary Classic…with a Blood-Sucking Twist)
By Charlotte Brontë and Sherri Browning Erwin; Read by Rosalyn Landor
12 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 14.2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: April 13, 2010
ISBN: 9781441752185 (cd), 9781441752192 (mp3-cd)
Raised by vampyre relatives, Jane grows to resent the lifestyle’s effect on her upbringing. No sunlight, keeping nighttime hours, and a diet of bloody red meat is no way for a mortal girl to live. Things change for Jane when the ghost of her uncle visits her, imparts her parents’ slayer history, and charges her with the responsibility of striking out to find others of her kind and learn the slayer ways. After trying her luck at a school full of zombies, Jane finds a position as a governess, where she meets and falls in love with Mr. Rochester. But evil strikes in the form of Mr. Rochester’s first wife, a violent werewolf he keeps locked in the attic. Jane departs to study the slayer tradition with her cousins, but finds herself yearning to reunite with Mr. Rochester. She returns to find that Mr. Rochester has been bitten by the werewolf, and only she can release him from his curse.

I first read this book, Fools Die, when I discovered an unabridged Books On Tape edition of this in a Port Moody thrift store years and years ago. It may have been my best thrift store find ever. Marked at $5.00, it was a steal and a half. It has been out of print for years, so I know a ton of folks are going to want to hear it. It’s all about gambling, brotherhood, corruption and the meaning of life, and its so well written you’ll think about it for years to come. I know I do.

Fools Die
By Mario Puzo; Read by Kristoffer Tabori
16 CDs or 2 MP3-CD – Approx. Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 9781441715005 (cd), 9781441715012 (mp3-cd)
From the blockbuster author of The Godfather comes this bold international best-seller about the feverish world of a big-time gambler. Merlyn and his brother, Artie, obey their own code of honor in the ferment of contemporary America, where law and organized crime are one and the same. Set within America’s golden triangle of corruption and excess—New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas—the novel plunges into the glittering and ruthless worlds of gambling, publishing, and the film industry, where greed, lust, and violence hold sway. As high rollers, hustlers, and scheming manipulators use power, sex, and betrayal to win, the strongest survive—but fools die.

This looks like it could be terrific! In the tradition of The Aneid, the original re-mix of a classic story…

The Hittite
By Ben Bova; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
8 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 9.3 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: April 13, 2010
ISBN: 9781441728135 (cd), 9781441728166 (mp3-cd)
Ben Bova brings us an exciting new take on the timeless legend of Troy. This is the tale of Lukka, the Hittite soldier who traveled across Greece in search of the vicious slave traders who kidnapped his wife and sons. He tracks them all the way to war-torn Troy, where he proves himself a warrior to rank with noble Hector and swift Achilles. Lukka is the man who builds the Trojan horse for crafty Odysseus, who topples the walls of Jericho for the Israelites, and who steals the beautiful Helen—the legendary face that launched a thousand ships—from her husband Menaleus, fighting his way across half the known world to bring her safely to Egypt.

From the author of The Blue Max!! Here’s an audiobook I almost overlooked, first published in 1982…

Florida Is Closed Today
By Jack D. Hunter; Read by Tom Weiner
5 CDs – Approx. 5.6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 9781433219580 (cd), 9781433219610 (mp3-cd)
CIA sleuth Roger Wagner has retired and moved to Florida with his smart, pretty wife. But his leisure is disrupted when the body of a fellow secret agent washes ashore near his beach-front house. The incident launches him on a frantic, hazardous race against time to neutralize a doomsday bomb hidden by a group of terrorists, who are holding his wife—and the entire state of Florida—as hostages.

And finally, a non-fiction audiobook of the kind I’d love to see a ton more of. Also included, in this audiobook package, is a batch of pictures on a CD-ROM. Nice!

The Twilight Zone Companion (Second Edition)
By Marc Scott Zicree; Read by Tom Weiner
13 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 15.4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 9781433223426 (cd), 9781433223457 (mp3-cd)
The Twilight Zone Companion is the complete, five season (1959-64) show-by-show guide to one of television’s greatest series. Zicree’s well-written account is fascinating reading for even the casual fan. Coverage of each episode includes plot synopsis, Rod Serling’s opening narration, behind-the-scenes stories from the original artists who created the series, and a complete list of cast and credits.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: D-99 by H.B. Fyfe

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox Jerry Pyle, one of the participants in the Fourth Annual SFFaudio Challenge writes in to say:

hey jesse…

good news! i just completed D-99! you can find it here:

http://librivox.org/d-99-by-h-b-fyfe/

this was such an amazing experience. i just want to thank you for letting me be a part of the sffaudio challenge.

jer

Thank you Jerry!

Jerry has that all backwards of course – it was Jerry, along with the other cool folks at LibriVox that deserve our thanks. He and they have made us all a public domain Science Fiction audiobook that we can both enjoy and share with our friends forever and ever! If there’s any gratitude left after Jerry and LibriVox take their fair share it should go to Rick Jackson of Wonder Audio. Rick both suggested and commisioned the proofing of the etext for the Challenge. H.B. Fyfe himself is beyond accepting our thanks personally – he was transmuted, in 1997, into a force more powerful than we can possibly imagine. Should we need to we could spread any other deserved thanks a little further afield – we could also thank one of the audiobook publishers who supplied the prizes from which Jerry can now pick!

So Jerry, which 4th Annual SFFaudio Challenge prize would you like?

D-99
By H.B. Fyfe; Read by Jerry Pyle
20 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 03, 2010
EARTHMEN IN TROUBLE Harris was caged in an underwater “zoo” by a pack of blue lobsters. Maria drew a five-year sentence on a puritanical planet for trying to buy a souvenir–and for being excessively feminine. Taranto and Meyers had committed the crime of being shipwrecked on a planet that didn’t like strangers. Gerson was simply kidnapped. And nobody had any idea why five citizens of Terra were being held on other worlds–and the ultra-secret Department 99 existed only to set them, and others like them, free. This tense novel is the story of one evening’s work for Department 99–their successes and failures–and of the strange crisis that almost wrecked D-99.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3755

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The audiobook is also available in two etext formats |PDF | and |HTML| – in case you’d like to read along!

[Special thanks also to Barry Eads (aka KiltedDragon) and James Christopher (aka Steampunk) @ LibriVox and Rick Jackson @ Wonder Audio!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Naxos Audiobooks: 3 FREE Sherlock Holmes short stories

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Naxos Audiobooks, in partnership with AudioFile Magazine, is offering three unabridged Sherlock Holmes short stories FREE for download until December 29th, 2009! The first of these had already been made available, but the other two are definitely new to my collection (and SFFaudio). Narrator David Timson has a really terrific voice for Sherlock Holmes narration. Have a listen to Timson talk about Doyle and Holmes |MP3|. He’ll make you want to get the rest of the Sherlock Holmes short stories and the four Sherlock Holmes novels he narrated for Naxos.

The Adventure of Silver Blaze
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 60 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
One of the most famous images of Sherlock Holmes, Sidney Paget’s drawing of Holmes, complete with Deerstalker and Inverness cape, leaning eagerly forward to a an attentive Watson in a railway carriage as they hurtle towards their next adventure comes from ‘The Silver Blaze.’

The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
In Stock-Broker’s Clerk, the intrepid pair travel by train to Birmingham, and it is nostalgic to think that despite it being 1889, when Holmes and Watson alighted at New Street station they would have been greeted by cobbled streets, eighteenth-century houses and a town still largely undeveloped.

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 71 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
Trains feature consistently throughout the canon, incidentally and as a main component of the story as in ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. It is popular amongst railway enthusiasts, as a significant part of the investigation takes place among the subterranean tunnels of the London Underground system.

[via AudioFile]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #040

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #040 – Jesse and Scott are joined by Steve Feldberg of Audible.com to talk about Audible Frontiers and other Audible.com projects. We talk audiobooks the whole show, giving particular attention to those produced by Audible.com itself. Steve tells us all about a bunch of the upcoming Science Fiction, Fantasy, espionage, and crime audiobooks we can expect to see showing up in the Audible catalgoue this year and next!

Talked about on today’s show:
Audible.com, Audible Frontiers, Gateway by Frederik Pohl, Robert J. Sawyer, Frederik Pohl, how to translate font and textual changes to audio, Oliver Wyman, Jonathan Davis, METAtropolis |READ OUR REVIEW|, Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer |READ OUR REVIEW|, narrator performance, The Wind Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, how do you pick stuff?, Battlestar Galactica, Mike Resnick‘s Starship series, space opera, dialogue driven audiobooks, David Weber‘s Honor Harrington series, female protagonists, Mike Shepherd‘s Kris Longknife series, military SF, Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta’s War series, novella and novelette length audiobooks, METAtropolis, Michael Hogan, Alessandro Juliani, Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer, Stefan Rudnicki, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card |READ OUR REVIEW|, Scott Brick, Hopscotch by Brian Garfield, espionage novels, Death Wish by Brian Garfield, Hopscotch (1980) starring Walter Matthau, Six Days Of The Condor by James Grady, mystery and thriller audiobooks, Jim Thompson, copyright disambiguation, Hard Case Crime, BBC Audiobooks America, Christa Faust, The Ghosts Of Belfast by Stuart Neville, Gerard Doyle, Eragon by Christopher Paolini, Jeremy Gage, Lawrence Block, pseudonymous narrators, Grover Gardner (aka Tom Parker), Mercedes Lackey‘s Elemental Masters series, fairy tales, Starplex by Robert J. Sawyer, WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer |READ OUR REVIEW|, Golden Fleece by Robert J. Sawyer, Kristine Kathryn Rusch‘s Retrieval Artist series, William Gibson, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Count Zero, All Tomorrow’s Parties are all coming to audiobook, wouldn’t a multi-voiced version of Neuromancer be great? Yes it would!, Stanisław Lem, audiobooks are coming, Gene Wolfe‘s The Book Of The New Sun is coming to audio, epic fantasy is hard to turn into audiobooks, David Eddings, Subterranean Press, how the audiobook experience is different than the paperbook experience, Harlan Ellison as a narrator, we need some Jack Vance audiobooks, Brilliance Audiobooks, On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, Seeing Ear Theatre, audio drama, James Patrick Kelly, copyright disambiguation part II, the Bradbury 13, J. Michael Straczynski‘s City Of Dreams, Mary Burkey’s Audiobooker Blog, audiobook reading groups, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Audible.com’s internal book club.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Aural Noir Review of Paranoia by Joseph Finder

Aural Noir: Review

Paranoia
By Joseph Finder; Read by Scott Brick
Audible Download – 13 Hours 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: July 2009
Provider: Audible.com
Themes: / Thriller / Espionage / Business / Crime / Corporate Culture /

Adam Cassidy is 26 and a low-level employee at a high-tech corporation who hates his job. When he manipulates the system to do something nice for a friend, he finds himself charged with a crime. Corporate Security gives him a choice: prison – or become a spy in the headquarters of their chief competitor, Trion Systems. They train him and feed him inside information. Now at Trion, he’s a star, skyrocketing to the top. He finds he has talents he never knew he possessed. He’s rich, drives a Porsche, lives in a fabulous apartment, and works directly for the CEO. He’s dating the girl of his dreams. His life is perfect. All he has to do to keep it that way is betray everyone he cares about and everything he believes in. But when he tries to break off from his controllers, he finds himself in way over his head, where nothing is what it seems and no one can really be trusted. And then the REAL nightmare begins…

I quite enjoyed this audiobook. That surprised me quite a bit. I was fairly skeptical going in. Books about business are often too much like self-help books. At worst they can be all full of untestable advice, formulaic reformulations of Sun Tzu’s The Art Of War, dogmatic variations on Machiavelli’s The Prince or even, horror of horrors, creating their own Baconian-style methodology (writing lists of commonalities). But, I told myself, this is a business thriller and not a business book, so I gave it a try. Now,after reading this thriller I think I’d be up for reading a good book on real world corporate espionage. It might be more interesting than any other kind of non-fiction business book I’ve read. A few other things struck me about Paranoia. First, Joseph Finder can write. This isn’t Oprah fiction, this literature that fits in somewhere in between John Grisham and Nelson DeMille. Second, there are a few twists and turns along the fairly predictable path. Some of these came rather unexpectedly. Those being generally in a good way. Third, Adam Cassidy, our flawed hero, is a fairly likable protagonist. This is helped by having the story told first person (and narrated the ever lovable Scott Brick). As to the novel’s formula, there were a couple of rough patches. At several points throughout the novel Finder seems to make a special effort to distance Cassidy from the techie world he works in. This felt a bit odd for the story, but it seems like a ploy to make a thriller set in the iPhone world more mainstream than it really is. At certain points Finder has Cassidy far less familiar with his tech business than he should be. In my experience techies usually don’t think of their toys as mere tools. I’ve never worked for Palm or Apple or Research In Motion (they make the BlackBerry), but I’m betting that the folks who work there are a lot more techie than Adam Cassidy. Another issue, the family and friends felt constructed into the plot – put there to provide a break from the main thrust of the story. Despite this I found myself not too upset with the author’s manipulation. Scott Brick again probably helped here. I’m not convinced he’s the best narrator for a lot of novels I hear him reading, but for those told first person, I must admit he’s got to be one of the best. Lastly, as with the character being blatantly aimed at the mass market, rather than more realistic for his position, there is comparable problem with the novel’s title. Sure there is a bit of paranoia in Paranoia – but that title has more to do with crappy generic book titling culture than the book itself. Corporate suits get there way on this all the time, and we consumers aren’t calling them on it. I would much rather read We Can Remember It For You Wholesale than Total Recall. The first tells me something about the story.

I picked up Paranoia during Audible.com’s free giveaway of the audiobook a few weeks back. After getting my first taste for free I think I’d be willing to pony up an Audible credit for the next Joseph Finder novel to come out. One Audible reviewer gave the novel a low star review because it has “more F-Bomb’s in it than any other book that I’ve read.” Thinking back, I can’t say I remember that many. The odd “Fuck!” now and then was present, but given the circumstances Cassidy is dealing with from chapter to chapter leaving them out would have been far more noticeable than having them there. Real drama tends to have swearing. I don’t usually like to talk about adaptations of audiobooks into other mediums. My ususal thinking is that fiction is best in the audiobook form, but I realized about two thirds of the way through that Paranoia might be improved further. There is a chapterized serial cliff-hanger feel to it that is similar to that of some of the best of modern television programs (the likes of Dexter, Breaking Bad and Weeds). Thematically, of course, this theoretical television adaptation would be far more similar to the short lived Fox TV series Profit. If there is going to be an adaptation of this novel, I suggest it be to cable TV, if only to keep the all the swearing.

Posted by Jesse Willis