FOOTFALL by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Narrated by MacLeod Andrews

     The Fun Side of Alien Invasion

This is a novel that I had read and enjoyed thirty years ago while vacationing in the Pacific Northwest. I knew that parts of the story took place in my home town of Colorado Springs so I was excited to read it, but I didn’t know that other parts took place in Bellingham Washington the very site of my holiday. This strange synchronicity heightened my interest. As a result I read this over the space of just a few days and remember thinking at the time that this was a very fun book and that Niven and Pournelle were pretty good together. I still wax nostalgic whenever I see an old Niven book on the shelf.

Fast forward to a few months ago—I had just listened to the first two Expanse novels from James S. A. Corey; another two man writing team. Those books rekindled in me the same sense of wonder and sense of fun that I used to get from Niven and Pournelle. So that prompted me to revisit some of their old titles. I listened to this immediately after Niven and Pournelle’s LUCIFER’S HAMMER. The similarities between these two books is remarkable. They both feature Colorado Springs prominently as the last bastion of government after a world-wide disaster. This difference is that in the earlier novel the disaster is natural, a comet strike, and the latter novel features an alien invasion. The parallels were fun to relate. And, in fact, the element of fun is central in both books. That is the best way to enjoy this book: look for the light-hearted fun element and you will have found the key principle of FOOTFALL.

Macleod Andrews puts a lot of effort into creating interesting voices for the various characters; some of them border of \n the melodramatic. I encourage this type of performance and so give him extra marks for that. He even gives an Yeoman’s effort into pronouncing some of the unpronounceable alien names. On the printed page your eye can just skip over these alien names but hearing Andrews say them is always a little unsettling. Without being too critical it must be said that Andrews pitch is higher than my preference in a narrator’s voice would normally be. Because of that I never really warmed up to his narration. 

LUCIFER’S HAMMER by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Narrated by Mark Vietor

    Extinction Level Event Survival Guide

In my early Science Fiction fan years I was a huge Larry Niven fan. I always enjoy the way he makes his readers think.  When Niven teams up with Jerry Pournelle the result is an added dimension of realistic technological extrapolation.  It seems also the Pournelle must be some kind of Soviet expert because his collaborations always have a strong Cold War element. What is more Pournelle understands the inner workings of the scientific community, so we are treated to the correct procedures of discovery and reporting of a comet discovery. I read this book thirty years ago and decided to revisit it in audible form recently in an attempt to recapture my youthful sense of wonder. This is a fun disaster novel, if such a thing can be said to be at all enjoyable. And even though the build-up to the inevitable comet strike and subsequent collapse unfolds slowly the situations presented are done so in such a realistic fashion that the youthful mind inside me can easily imagine going through such a crisis. It is natural for anyone who is mindful of history to try to put yourself in the place of the characters going through a crisis. I think that is a large part of the appeal of this book for me. I liked it as much this go ‘round as I did the first time.

Mark Vietor  is a steady narrator in this book. His character voices are understated but strike just the right calm tone for the serious topics and themes covered when a natural disaster devastates the globe. Vietor makes this a very enjoyable entertainment.  

HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? By Francis Schaeffer

Narrated by Kate Reading

Want To Be Left Alone? Better Read Schaeffer

I listened to this just after watching the ten part video series of the same name. This makes a great follow-up to the video series. And even though the videos total five hours of time this book goes into the subject with more depth. Francis Schaeffer, more than any other Christian author in the 20^th century properly identifies the basic problem with man and how to fix it. If you have seen the ten part series you will know that Schaeffer is a bit if an anachronism. His dress and manner of speech is from another, simpler, time. Despite personally living almost as a man out of time he has the pulse of our society on his fingertips. In this book you will learn what is really means to try to live according to the principles of Biblical Christianity in this age of declining morality. The last section deals with the pervading malady of mankind today: the persuit of Personal Peace and Affluence. Schaeffer exhorts the faithful to abandon the idea that we should just want to be left alone and accumulate material wealth. This, he says, is the very antithesis of Christianity.

Kate Reading narrates this book. At first this seemed a bit strange after hearing Francis Schaeffer talk for five hours on the videos but then her voice blended into the background and I was able to listen past her and hear the text itself.  

CALIBAN’S WAR by James S.A. Corey

Narrated by Jefferson Mays

     Playgrounds of the Mind

James S.A. Corey is a writing team to watch. Listening to this gives me the same feeling I got in the 1970s reading the early works of Larry Niven. This is now my second Corey Expanse novel and I am liking what I hear. Corey, like the early Niven, keeps getting better. The characters are great and plausible and interesting. His character building is top flight and, importantly, he competently imparts a sense of wonder all the while.

Jefferson Mays continues his journeyman effort. He also continues to improve as this series goes on. I still root for him to inject a bit more emotion into his rendering. The characters provide plenty of material to launch a bit of melodrama, which would really elevate these books into the stratosphere.