Michael Reisman – SFFaudio

Review of Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect by Michael Reisman

SFFaudio Review

Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect
By Michael Reisman; Read by Nicholas Hormann
9.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9780739382387
Themes: / Science Fiction / YA / Science / biology /

|LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT|

As another chronicle begins Simon Bloom and his friends are thrust back into mortal peril. This time the gang heads to the Order of Biology’s headquarters. When the gang gets there they find an unexpected surprise – it’s underwater! Simon and his friends must prepare themselves for battle against the evil Sirabetta (unsure on spelling) who somehow has regained her memory. Simon and his friends face enemies from other orders and the Order of Biology’s domain itself!

One of the things I liked most about this story was the author’s use of humor for the oddest things. When something gross or funny is described in the book it is described by using words like “air ripping”, or “vacuum cleaner bag smell”. I think that it is brilliant.

The reader, Nicholas Hormann, makes the experience of listening to this book all the more interesting. The way he reads just makes me laugh, you have to listen to the book to know what I mean. He is excellent with accents. When he reads characters in the story like Flangello (again not sure about spelling) he speaks with a very good Italian accent. Nicholas is not the most emotional reader, but this fact does not detract from the story one bit.

I encourage everyone to listen to this audio book, providing that one has read the first book (Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper), otherwise one might not understand the book in its full context. I absolutely loved this audiobook and I am sure any person that enjoys science will feel the same way.

Posted by DanielsonKid

Review of Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman

SFFaudio Review

Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper
By Michael Reisman; Read by Nicholas Hormann
6 CDs – 7 hours, 22 minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9780739363539
Themes: / Science Fiction / YA / Physics / School /

Ordinary sixth-grader Simon Bloom has just made the biggest discovery since gravity–and it literally fell into his lap.

This is just an ordinary universe with one little twist. There is something called the Council of Knowledge that controls everything in the universe — how it runs, events that happen, and things like this. One part of this group is the Council of Sciences, and part of that is the Order of Physics. A man named Ralphagon Wintrofly (or Ralph Winters, as other people call him) is the keeper of this group and very special book called the Teachers Edition of Physics. The group meets every week in a forest near Simon Bloom’s hometown, but this forest is hidden from people who aren’t in the Council of Knowledge.

Simon Bloom was never special in any way, just an ordinary kid at school who had average grades and no friends. He spent his time daydreaming, and hoping that something would happen to his life. He got his wish. He met another sixth-grader at his school (Owen) and they find themselves in a patch of woods on the way home from school one day. Simon accidentally calls the Teachers Edition of Physics to him, and now it calls him “Keeper”.

The book contains formulas for controlling the field of physics. Certain people want this book and it isn’t safe for long. Simon has to face the horrific Seerbetta who has formulas of her own. Simon and his friends must find a way to defeat her and figure out what the Teachers Edition of Physics is for.

Nicholas Hormann is the narrator of this story. He has a great talent for creating voices. The characters voices that he provided this story put an emphasis on their specific character. The females in this story sound a bit more male than female but it did not make it so I couldn’t understand who the character was.

I recommend this book to kids 11+. This is a great book to listen to for its mild intensity and its surprising scenes. I was surprised at what happened next and was always ready for more.

Posted by DanielsonKid, Age 14

April & May New Releases

New Releases

Two years after the first book, comes “book 2” of one of the first podcast novels…

Max Quick 2: The Two Travelers
By Mark Jeffrey; Read by Mark Jeffrey
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: April 2008 – ????
Five quiet years have passed in Starland, California since the the time of the Pocket. But when a crazed old man shows up with a warning, Max, Casey, Ian and Sasha suddenly find themselves on the run. Max and Ian go through an Arch back to 1912, where a mysterious Machine is under construction that seems connected to Max’s unremembered secret. Meanwhile, Casey and Sasha follow the old man to the strange town of Arturo Gyp. But there is more afoot than meets the eye: the enemies of Mr. E – the nefarious Archons – are abroad. And when Max is at last eye-to-eye with his secret, he realizes nothing will ever be the same again…

Only available as a commercial MP3 download…

Little Brother
By Cory Doctorow; Read by Kirby Heyborne
MP3 Download – 11 Hours 54 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio / Listening Library
Published: April 2008
ISBN: 9780739372869
Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works-and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days. When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

Audio comics! Fully dramatized…

Justice League of America: Exterminators
By Christopher Golden; Performed by a full cast
5 CDs, 1 MP3-CD or WMA Download – Approx. 5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Graphic Audio
Published: May 2008
ISBN: 1599504448
Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. The Flash. Green Lantern. They are the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, fighting endlessly against corruption and injustice. Each of them is a formidable opponent of evil, but banded together their powers are unmatched. Ever ready, they stand united as the — JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA. When a mass outbreak of super-powered individuals threatens the world, the JLA determines that latent metahuman abilities are being triggered by an alien contagion, one that’s spreading throughout Earth as it transforms its hosts into monstrous engines of destruction. Racing to contain the infection, the world’s greatest super heroes link the parasitic plague to an alien invasion from the team’s earliest days and make a horrifying discovery: the JLA itself is responsible for the imminent disaster they now face.

Said to be a “funny, fast-paced science fiction adventure” this is author Michael Reisman’s first book…

Simon Bloom: Gravity Keeper
By Michael Reisman; Read by Nicholas Hormann
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: April 22, 2008
ISBN: 9780739363539
Ordinary sixth-grader Simon Bloom has just made the biggest discovery since gravity–and it literally fell into his lap. Or onto his head, anyway. You see, Simon has found the Teacher’s Edition of Physics, a magical reference book containing the very formulas that control the laws that govern the universe! By reciting the formulas out loud, he’s able to do the impossible–like reverse the force of gravity to float weightlessly, and reduce friction to zoom across any surface! But a book that powerful isn’t safe with Simon for long. Before he knows it, he is being pursued by evil forces bent on gaining control of the formulas. And they’ll do anything to retrieve them. Now, Simon and his friends must use their wits and the magic of science in a galactic battle for the book, and the future of the universe.

Another juvenile novel, sounds a bit like The Secret World Of Og…

Puddlejumpers
By Mark Jean and Christopher Carlson; Read by Sean Kenin
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: April 22, 2008
ISBN: 9780739363379
Ernie Banks, named for the legendary Chicago Cubs shortstop, is a troubled, thirteen-year-old juvenile delinquent. Abandoned on the doorstep of the Lakeside Home for Boys when he was three years old, his only proof that he once belonged to somebody is a vintage Ernie Banks baseball card, a crystal acorn he wears on a string around his neck, and a strange spiral birthmark on the bottom of his right foot. As a last reprieve before being sent to a juvenile detention facility, Ernie is allowed to spend three weeks on a working farm. When Ernie arrives at the home of Russ Frazier, he learns that the widower’s baby was kidnapped years before. Ernie is determined to solve the case. He teams up with Joey, a local tomboy, to investigate clues that lead them on a dangerous journey into a forbidden world of dark secrets, magic puddles, and the cavernous underground kingdom of the Puddlejumpers–eleven-inch-tall water creatures with whom Ernie has a mysterious connection.

Only rarely are audiobooks embargoed, the last one I remember was a Harry Potter, here’s another, I think we can probably guess why it won’t be showing up on shelves early…

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
By James Rollins; Read by L.J. Ganser
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: May 20, 2008
ISBN: 9780739358986
Warning: SPOILERS….
It’s 1957, the atomic age is in full swing, and McCarthy-era paranoia has the nation on edge. But for Indiana Jones, the Cold War really heats up when his latest expedition is crashed by a ruthless squad of Russian soldiers. Commanded by a sword-wielding colonel who’s as sinister as she is stunning, the menacing Reds drag an unwilling Indy along as they brazenly invade American soil, massacre U.S. soldiers, and plunder a top-secret government warehouse. Their objective: a relic even more precious–and powerful–than the mythic Ark, capable of unlocking secrets beyond human comprehension.

Posted by Jesse Willis