NEUROMANCER by William Gibson

Read by Robertson Dean

       I prefer situations to plans. 4:26:26    

This book required two listenings for me; not that it is that difficult a book, just that I needed two tries to get myself plugged in to the literary and media gestalt that is audiobook listening. On the first pass I was evaluating it only on the level of the cool lingo and techno-noir dialog. Gibson’s terminology is so ripe that I wish I had a glossary to help me remember it all. If I could talk like his characters do I might even be cool. This is the way I first appraised it reading the paperback version years ago, and this is the only memory I had about the book. For me this book was seen as a sort of prose poem, the words were the thing. I just let them wash over my mind like a babbling brook over a moss covered rock. I never concerned myself with the story. It is the same way I engage with the movie Blade Runner: the visuals and the milieu are so convincing that I don’t mind that the story is thin. This was a mistake, for as cool as Gibson’s lingo is there is a story here. And, as I am intent on listening to the two sequels immediately after this, COUNT ZERO and MONA LISA OVERDRIVE, maybe, I thought, paying attention to what is going on in the first novel will enhance my enjoyment of the other books in the Sprawl series.

It helps me to know that this is William Gibson’s first book. That explains some of the passages where the action is hard to follow and the characters not fully realized. It does not help me to understand how Gibson could conjure up such a holographic vision of the future. I always hate it when outsiders, looking into the realm of Science Fiction, keep a scorecard on the prognostications made by various writers, as if that was the purpose of writing SF: to predict the future. Sure Gibson manages to foresee the coming internet computer age. It was predictable; many others have done the same. No, Gibson’s contribution is in melding the obvious computer age with cool techno-crime operators and the noir street sub-culture, and giving the resulting mélange a vocabulary that at once defines the culture and allows no room to question its validity. Gibson’s cyber-land has many of the technological advances we are now experiencing, but our world is nothing like the Sprawl. In NEUROMANCER we are presented with the gritty underbelly of the clean-room silicon-enabled technological culture that sometimes seems indistinguishable from magic. The Sprawl is populated with the criminal element that naturally would opportunistically arise to take advantage of the weak links in the system. Organized crime is fascinating if for nothing else its ability to capitalize on the weakness in any system. That, I believe, is Gibson’s great contribution to SF. He has extrapolated the advances technology would make like any good SF writer, then layered that future with a culture that is nothing like the modern actual cyber-culture, but one that seems far more interesting and strange while all the while maintaining a sense of inevitability, almost as if it were a sort of alternate parallel universe. If this is his first book, let’s discover how much clearer his vision has improved in his subsequent works.

The main reason I decided to listen to NEUROMANCER is that the two sequels are narrated by one of my favorites, Jonathan Davis and I wanted to review the first before tackling the others, having read it nearly twenty-five years ago. Robertson Dean’s reading of NEUROMANCER is conducive to appreciating the beautiful cyber-space prose in this novel. He has a wonderful somnambulistic voice; deeply intoned and well articulated, but with scant variation between the different characters. The female characters are particularly hard to make out sometimes. When this happens I know that I have not managed to fully see through the narrator and get inside the text. That is another reason I first approached this book on only the word level. His is not the most emotional rendering, but then the emotions of the book are below the surface level as well, so it is appropriate. On the second listening I decided to pay closer attention and extract all that I could from Dean’s voice. I still found myself drifting away from the plot unless I was able to focus on the story. But I did enjoy the second pass more than the first. Robertson Dean reminds me of another similar narrator, John Lee, who has a voice that I find so soothing that I tend to tune out the actual words and need to make an extra effort to stay tuned into the story. This audiobook can be experienced on purely the word level, but do strive to stay engaged to the plot; there’s a story in there somewhere.

This presentation features an introduction by William Gibson written in 2004, and an excellent afterward titled “Some Dark Holler” by Jack Womack. Both help give historical context to this very influential novel. 

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir

Narrated by R.C. Bray

Enjoy Your Boogie Fever

Rich Durnell is a Steely Eyed Missile Man

Mark Watney Doesn’t Die Project

You’ve read the publisher’s synopsis so you know that this is a man stranded on mars story. At first it feels like the movie Silent Running, slow and lonely. Then for a time it is Robinson Crusoe on Mars, but with better science. It then transitions into an Apollo 13 type of thing with tense moments and ingenious MacGyver type jury-rigging to get things done. But then it gets interesting, transforming into a story that is as fun and motivational as The Right Stuff with the Alan Shepard’s attitude of “fix your little problem and light this candle.” As you can see it helps to be a space geek to like this novel but it is just flat out a good story, with realistic characters and tense situations. More suspense than Science Fiction. Recommend this to your movie-going friends to get them hooked on audiobooks.

During the first part of the book, I thought that R.C. Bray was going to be a reader and not a performer, but once the earth characters made their entrance he proved to be an excellent performer. He handles both male and female characters with ease, every voice seeming appropriate. R.C. Bray is a big reason why this is a great audiobook. 

GUARDIAN OF THE REPUBLIC: An American Ronin’s Journey, by Allen West. with Michele Hickford

Read by Allen West

We Also Dream

“Socialism...Equal Sharing of Misery.” Winston Churchill

There are only two ways to end a war: to win or to lose.

Allen West here makes his case for a return to conservative governance in America. Starting with a brief auto-biographical section, in which he establishes his black conservative roots as well as his membership in the noble warrior class, Allen West proves that he is a far cry from his contemporaries in the leadership of the black community. His is the voice of reason, espousing the principles of limited government, personal freedom and private property rights; elements which he rightly identifies as the principles of modern Conservatism, which he explains has its origin in Locke’s Classical Liberalism. In other sections of the book West explains the history of the Socialist movement, both here and abroad, and how Marxists have re-branded themselves as Progressives here in America. This is a good introduction to conservative thought and will help spread the message that we are allowing government to erode our freedom piece by piece. The fact that Allen West is both a Conservative and a black American will insure that he remains a polarizing figure, and thankfully, for that very reason, that his message of reason finds a wide audience. 

HIDE ME AMONG THE GRAVES by Tim Powers

Read by Fiona Hardingham

The Elephant of Surprise

Ghosts Can’t Lie

This is a sequel to THE STRESS OF HER REGARD. The two novels share some characters and the same race of Nephlim vampires. The book is pleasant enough but failed to fully engage me. The story seemed so very pedestrian, so devoid of terror, as if Powers were trying to demystify the vampire legend. I’m sure that I would like it more on a second listen. I do think that there is enough here to make it worth my while at a later date.

Fiona Hardingham has a wonderful soothing British accent that reminds me of Susan Adams or Saskia Reeves, two of the better narrators for the novel DRACULA. Her voice is so very pleasant that, unfortunately, she succumbs to the malady of many female narrators: the book seems like it is entirely done by an all girl cast.  I often was surprised to realize than one of the characters in a scene was not a female but was supposed to be a male. Sometimes her male voices even have voices that are higher-pitched than the females in the scene; very confusing. As a result, she never manages to become transparent to the text. Her characters are entertaining but somehow never made me believe that they were anything other than Fiona Hardingham. 

THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT by Robert J. Sawyer

Read by Paul Hecht

1995 Nebula Award Winner

SF Murder Mystery dealing with Moral Questions

In the style of Isaac Asimov this novel is about “the idea.” The characters are just necessary elements of the plot to advance the idea. Sawyer does well in giving the characters logical motivation but they behave in a fashion that is so clearly useful to the story that they never seem real. But, after all, this is an idea story and not literary fiction. This book sometimes feels like a noir mystery. The writing style is very stark and spares few words that don’t advance the plot. There are several ideas here; the key ones both related to a quantum leap in the resolution of brain scan technology.

The first “idea” is the scientific discovery of the human soul. This allows Sawyer to explore several moral questions: We are challenged to explore the consequences of the effect such a scientific announcement would have on society. Sure, many people are religious and such a discovery would only confirm their beliefs, but many materialists would be forced to reevaluate their concept of reality. Sawyer also interjects the morality of abortion, given the fact that the soul enters the fetus at an early stage in gestation. Animal lovers have to cope with the fact that Old Yeller has no soul.

The other key “idea” that drives the story is that of computer artificial intelligence (AI). This is a spin-off technology from the brain-scan that discovered the soul. Now a personality can be captured. All this happens by the half-way point in the novel.

This book does what a good book should do: It provokes deep thought. Some novels accomplish this by means of great insights into the way people think and feel; expressing that humanity with great depth of characterization. Some non-fiction books do this by revealing something profound about the way the world works. This novel qualifies as a good book by raising some of the grand themes of all time: When does human life begin? Is there life after death? And on top of it all is a satisfying mystery thriller.

I have read several of Sawyer’s books and find that he is typical of many Science Fiction writers. Like Arthur C. Clarke and the aforementioned Isaac Asimov, Robert Sawyer, although a supposedly a materialist in his personal life, he often writes stories dealing with spiritual, ethical and moral questions. Clarke wrote the stories “The Star” (Christ’s natal star), and “The Nine Billion Names of God” (God is real) both revolving on religious matters. Asimov’s famous story “The Last Question” postulates the origin of God Himself. Sawyer, too, explores such themes. His novel CALCULATING GOD revolves around the idea of an advanced race of aliens that are theists, in contrast to the scientific community on earth which is largely atheistic. Sawyer’s FLASH FORWARD deals with determination and free-will. I raise this subject to make the observation that such curiosity is probably endemic to the human condition. Moral questions, like those investigated by Sawyer, and his fellows, form the basis of their most compelling work. It seems that the poetic muse for atheistic writers is thoughts of God.

Paul Hecht reads this novel in straight fashion. His tone is deep and pleasant. I usually gravitate toward the narrators who give flamboyant performances, but I found that Paul Hecht here allowed me to fully engage with the words of the story. His performance was unobtrusive and very enjoyable. As a bonus he does something that most narrators get wrong: he correctly pronounces the word “sentience” as SEN-shunce; for that alone he gets kudos. 

THE STRESS OF HER REGARD by Tim Powers

Narrated by Simon Vance

Vampire Lamia as Poetic Muse 

Tim Powers offers up an alternative mythology that is more intriguing than the inanity of the pop-culture version of Greeks and Romans that infest the social dialog. Tim Powers builds a complex world where the Biblical Nephilim are at once a source of immortality and the lamia and succubae of vampire lore. Counter that with other forces whose foresight cancels human volition and you have this odd fantasy novel. My mind was fascinated by the complicated inter-workings of the fantastical rules that govern Powers’ world; so much so, that the story lost any aspect of horror it might otherwise have had for me. It is a vampire story that is so detached from the real world that it retains nothing scary. But that is not a bad thing unless you are looking to be frightened. I was looking for Tim Powers to show off his capacity for strangeness and intricate plotting; that I did find. Powers effectively weaves his love for poetry throughout this novel. As is the case with most of his work, each section is introduced with quotes that are quite appropriate with the times and the themes of the book. Incidentally, if you are of a mind to trace the quotations, realize that the poet William Ashbless is a fabrication of Tim Powers and his friend Jim Blaylock that both draw upon to provide period citations whenever required in their books.

Simon Vance provides a journeyman effort. His delivery is soothing and so very British. Sometimes I found that I was momentarily confused at some of his gender voicings. As soon as I thought I was able to recognize his typical intonation for one of the female characters one would turn out to be a male. His talent is that of having a great accent and excellent enunciation. He is not always consistent with giving each characters his own voice, or being consistent with a voice at every appearance. 

LAST CALL by Tim Powers

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

Don’t Let Anyone Make Any Assumptions

When your mother warned you not to play poker with Tarot cards, this is exactly what she was afraid of. Typical Tim Powers weirdness accompanies this extraordinary novel populated with ordinary people in the most strangely supernatural circumstances. This novel has a lot of common elements with Powers’ later novel THREE DAYS TO NEVER: set in an earlier decade of Americana, where cigarettes are smoked in every public gathering, characters changing bodies to prolong their weary existence, alcohol used to alter the connection to the spirit realm, but here in LAST CALL it all has an unforced harmony that is lacking in the later book. As in most Powers novels the story gets very complicated as we get to know the characters and then begins to come together as it approaches the climax, feeling somehow like an inevitable force of nature.

Bronson Pinchot has very good voices for all the quirky people and sometimes goes over the top as is required by the story. He helps make this a very entertaining audiobook. 

DRACULA, THE NOVEL AND THE LEGEND by Clive Leatherdale

DRACULA, The Novel and the Legend. By Clive Leatherdale. (Kindle 2012) 
Finished 4/2/14

Trust Your Instincts

This is the first of several books in the preparation for listening to thirteen versions of DRACULA. After reading this book I came away with two observations. First was the impression that even though I have listened to this novel ar least seven times and read it twice, there are a lot of things that I did not notice. My readings have been focused entirely on the unfolding of the story; on how Bram Stoker managed to write such an engaging tale It is, after all, a work of fiction, and the mystery to me is always how an author is able to utilize words, which are literally just symbols in ink on a page (or in the case of the Kindle, just patterns of light on a screen) and evoke thoughts and emotions in the mind of his reader. Secondly, I am glad that I discovered DRACULA before I encountered the literary criticism, else I might have been detrimentally influenced to think that it is a veiled treatise on Freudian Oedipal complexes; or an occultic playing out of a reading of tarot cards; or could it be a Gnostic text extolling the virtues of Catholic superstition to be puzzled out, or even a political satire depicting the superiority of totalitarianism over capitalism? But I did learn to pay closer attention to a few things: Does Stoker ignore members of the lower classes intentionally, or is he just limiting his cast of characters? I will be comparing Lucy's slow vampire transformation to the rapid changes experienced by Mina. I also learned that Quincy Morris is seen doing nothing useful, but is always involved when bad things happen. I do not foresee that any of the preparatory material we have established will serve to enhance our enjoyment; not because we will learn something that will alter our assessment of DRACULA, but because we will have new layers of speculation with which to consider, and ultimately reject, as we find confirmation of everything we already knew when reading it without such critical thinking hovering around our heads.  In short we will enjoy the novel afresh, discovering just what we loved about it the first time, but now with firm conviction that we were right all along. 

ON STRANGER TIDES BY Tim Powers

Narrated by Bronson Pinchot

This Swashbuckler Will Steal Your Heart

Tim Powers is one of the best writers in the genre. Which genre you ask? That is not easy to answer. I am primarily a fan of Science Fiction and consider him to be an SF writer. And if you consider SF to be whatever SF readers read, then that is what it is. The Lord of the Rings was first discovered by SF readers and made popular by the SF community. Now, Tim Powers is usually considered a Fantasy writer. And in this book you will find swords and sorcery, but the work of Powers has more of the feel of horror than anything else. All I can tell you with certainty is that his books all have fantastically convoluted plots that weave in and out of different genre stereotypes effortlessly. This novel is one of his best and in it you will find bizarre situations only possible in fiction yet that are populated by characters who react in a manner that feels real.

What you will not find in this 1987 book, other than the Fountain of Youth, is much commonality with the Pirates of the Caribbean movie of the same name. I think that Disney had long ago pirated the basic ideas from this novel in the earlier movies in the series and finally thought they owed Tim Powers a tip of the hat to that fact and put paid to that debt by giving the fourth movie in the franchise the title from this book.

Bronson Pinchot performs this book like a swashbuckler with a patch over one eye, a peg leg  and a parrot on his shoulder. He gives every character a voice that is not only instantly distinguishable from the other characters, but gives them a voice that is perfectly suited to their personality. This is one of those audiobooks that I could recommend based on the strength of the narration performance alone; the fact that this is a fine novel to boot makes this a truly grand listening experience.