"Time's Eye" A Time Odyssey, Book One by Arthur c. clarke and Stephen Baxter
"Time's Eye"
A Time Odyssey, Book One
by Arthur c. clarke and Stephen Baxter
read by John Lee
Produced by Blackstone Audio
Unabridged Approx. 11.5 hours
When It comes to science-fiction there are some authors that just have to be read. Any true sci-fi fan has read at least one Arthur C. Clarke novel, the most often mentioned would be "2001, a Space Odyssey." "2001..." was only book one of what turned out to be a four book odyssey in Arthur C. Clarke's future vision of religion, intelligence and mystery. This time around Sir Clarke has teamed up with Stephen Baxter to create another odyssey through space and time.
The total series came out to three books but the third book was published as the final chapter in the series and yet did not conclude the plot. The final book was published in December of 2007 and Arthur C. Clarke died in March of 2008 so we may never really know if there was a fourth book intended. However each of these books can be read as independent works of great science-fiction.
Blackstone audio has recently produced the first book, "Time's Eye," with John Lee as the reader. John Lee does what seems like a nearly impossible task of singlehandedly voicing the characters and brings them to life by using a diverse range of accents. This is no easy job since the characters range from British soldiers from the 1880s, ancient Greeks, Macedonians, Babylonians, Mongolians, Afghanis, Russians and Texans. John Lee keeps each character separate with their own accent and attitude.
The premise of this book creates a great "What if?" scenario. What if Alexander the Great were to battle Ghengis Khan? That question is answered in what turns out to be a great mashup of historical figures in a new world.
The story begins with an Australopithecus being (the possible missing link) observing a silver orb in the sky. She is then captured by British Empire (circa 1880) soldiers who are guarding a fort in India. The discovery of this strange creature and the floating silver orb is interrupted by the crash of a strange flying object. This object turns out to be a U.N. peacekeeper helicopter with its 3 crew members from the year 2037. The British Soldiers investigate the crash and soon befriend the crew, even though 2 of the crew turn out to be of Indian and Afghan descent.
After talking with each other the time castaways figure out they are some how in a strange timeslip that has something to do with these suddenly appearing "eyes," the silver orbs. Soon the 2037 castaways, the moderns, discover that they are not the only ones from 2037. Floating above the Earth, or whatever this newly formed planet consisting of slices of various times from Earth's history is, a Russian Soyuz capsule is returning from the space station and gets caught in the timeslip and returns to earth. They contact each other using ham radios and more is learned as the 2 cosmonauts and one astronaut from Texas, send pictures from space of the new planet they dub "Mir."
With no ground control the Soyuz capsule lands in the middle of Mongolia. The ruler of the nomadic tribes of Mongolia is the great Genghis Khan. One of the warlords immediately beheads one of the cosmonauts, leaving the other two to think fast. They go to Genghis Khan as emissaries of Heaven. Back in India, the armies of Alexander the Great meet up with the British soldiers and the first band of Moderns. Both groups decide to trek to Babylon, since that is the location of a mysterious radio signal each group of Moderns has detected.
After many months the two groups reach Babylon to battle for rights of the land.
In what turns out to be a very interesting social commentary on the ideas of peace and humankind's ability to hold the peace, Arthur C. Clark and Stephen Baxter have created an intriguing time odyssey.
Labels: arthur c. clarke, audio book, audiobook, blackstone audio, book review, books, sci-fi, Science-Fiction, stephen baxter, time odyssey, time travel, time's eye
posted by Gil T. @ 9:02 PM
The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom
The Birthing House
by Christopher Ransom
Read by Edward Herrmann
Published by Blackstone Audio
Approx 10 hours
Conrad Harrison receives a large inheritance from a father he hardly knew. In returning to his home in Los Angeles, Conrad stops in rural Wisconsin and buys a house. The century-old house was once a birthing house, where midwives delivered babies, whose history remembers countless deliveries of babies, both alive and dead. Conrad is immediately drawn to the house and goes back to Los Angeles to get his wife, Jo, so they can start over. Their marriage seems to be on the rocks, especially when arriving in L.A. Conrad finds a man with his wife. They move to the house and begin working on their marriage.
Jo doesn't feel comfortable in the house and quickly goes to Michigan for a job opportunity. While Conrad is home alone during her training period the old owner of the home stops by to drop off a photo album that has a history of the house. Looking at a photo album, Conrad sees a picture of his wife, staring back at him in rage. And from there we are launched into a horror story of possession, obsession, and murder, as Conrad descends into madness, where reality and dreams seem to blend until Conrad is completely unaware of what is real.
While Jo is gone, the neighbors take Conrad in and welcome him to the neighborhood by inviting him over for dinner. Here he meets all the neighbors and more importantly the rebellious pregnant daughter. Soon after he rescues the girl from an abusive boyfriend and shows her his project which is to try to breed some rare snakes that almost never breed in captivity. The girl points out that if this is true then they have a miracle when she discovers 9 eggs in the snake's cage. This is a female snake that has never been with a male.
Strange visits from ghostly apparitions, bizarre and violent behavior in his dogs, and an odd attraction to the pregnant teenager next door plague Conrad Harrison as he tries to understand what is happening to his sanity. Meanwhile, his wife becomes impossible to reach after admitting to him that she, herself, is pregnant but it can't be Conrad's.
This audio book is one of those haunted house stories that leaves you with chills and perking up every time you hear a sound. At the same time this haunted house story is based on births not just deaths like most haunted house stories.
Edward Herrmann is very convincing in reading this story, in that he captures every nuance and chill with the subtleties of his voice. When the main character Conrad is in his deepest state of the haunting, Herrmann's voice takes on an even more haunting chill which pulls the listener into the story so that escape is impossible.
Labels: audio book, audiobook, blackstone audio, book review, books, christopher ransom, ghost story, ghosts, haunted house, haunting, horror, the birthing house
posted by Gil T. @ 9:58 PM
"Hell House" Written by Richard Matheson
"Hell House"
Written by Richard Matheson
Performed by Ray Porter
Produced by Blackstone Audio
approx. 9 hours
Here it is folks the ultimate haunted house book, "Hell House" by Richard Matheson. The man that brought vampires (or zombies,depending on how you look at it) to life in the book "I Am Legend," created a very chilling story about the ultimate haunted house. This is the book that inspired the 1973 film "The Legend of Hell House" which starred Roddy McDowell, yes the "Planet of the Apes" guy. Anyway before we go much further let me warn you this one is not for those that have a low tolerance for bad language. The evil of this house is created through one man's excursions and the people that lived and died in the house did some very evil things, and in the playing out of some of the actions and possessions some very colorful vernacular is used. So be prepared.
The reader of this audio book, Ray Porter, does a phenomenal job of separating characters vocally and delivers the horror with the right level of chill too keep your hair standing on end. Without using digital effects Ray's voice portrays those of the haunting spirits as though the disembodied voice is right there with you, okay, i know that technically it is, with an audio book, but he does things with his voice that may creep you out.
The story follows four people; Dr. Lionel Barrett, a physicist out to prove that hauntings are merely electro-magnetic parts of nature, his wife Edith, Florence Tanner, a medium who will help clear the house of its spirits and Benjamin Franklin Fischer, a medium and the only survivor from previous excursions to Hell House.
A very rich man on the edge of life wants to find if there is, or not, life after death. The perfect place to prove this is the notorious Belasco House, Hell House. Two different groups of people have visited Hell House to explore the haunting and only one has survived. The house's original owner, Emeric Belasco, was know to throw parties in which all party goes reveled in evil. All manner of sin is said to have occurred and many people died in the house during these parties. Belasco's body was never found and his evil is said to destroy all who enter the house.
The hired experts have to spend a week in the house to clear out or to prove the evil of Hell House.
Immediately they are treated to the evil that is Hell House. From rocking chairs that rock on their own to violent attacks the party learns they are not welcome. Dr. Barrett has a machine that will clear out the haunting by using the electro-magnetic energy, but before he can get his machine running he must first survive the attacks and possessions.
This is one of those books that I so badly want to talk about the horrifying adventures, but the element of surprise is what makes this book such a great ghost story. So when listening remember even with the lights on or with someone keeping you company, it is not safe.
Labels: audio book, audiobook, blackstone audio, book review, books, ghost story, haunted house, haunting, hell house, horror, richard matheson
posted by Gil T. @ 10:07 PM
