Posts by: Dave

Ever Felt Like a Convention Wanted to Kill You? -- Dave Reviews I Am Providence

Posted on 2017-08-31 at 04:57 by Dave

I Am Providence
By Nick Mamatas, Narrated by Joel Richards and Rachel Jacobs
Length: 8 hours, 58 minutes
[Audible]

The first convention I ever went to was San Diego Comic Con, right around 1998. It was a huge deal, but you could still buy tickets easily enough and you didn't have to camp out overnight waiting to get into the panels. But it was enormous, and it was crowded. The second convention I went to was a small SF/F/H literary con also in San Diego, where the panels averaged about 10-20 guests. I

Posted in reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged fandom, h.p. lovecraft, joel richards, nick mamatas, rachel jacobs

"You Want Me to Blow Up the Afterlife?" Dave Reviews City of Blades

Posted on 2016-11-03 at 05:34 by Dave

City of Blades (The Divine Cities, Book 2)
by Robert Jackson Bennett, Narrated by Alma Cuervo
Length: 20 hours, 27 minutes

The gods have been destroyed. This isn't myth or ancient history -- it happened less than a lifetime ago. They were oppressive and made slaves of much of humanity until the eventual uprising came. But if the gods are all dead, then what happened to the afterlives they created, and those left in them?

But really, I'm only scratching the surface. Straight up: City of Blades is the best

Posted in reviews | Tagged alma cuervo, divine cities, reviews, robert jackson bennett

Why Are People Sending You Legs? -- Dave Reviews Career of Evil

Posted on 2016-08-31 at 04:34 by Dave

Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike, Book 3) by Robert Galbraith, read by Robert Glenister Length: 17 hours, 58 minutes Buy: [ Downpour | Audible | IndieBound ]

"How many people do you know would send you a severed leg in the mail?" an investigating police inspector asks Cormoran Strike just after the detective reported he'd received an appendage in the post.

"Four," replies Strike, without missing a beat.

Welcome to Career of Evil, the third Cormoran Strike book by Robert Galbraith, a.k.a. J.K. Rowling's

Posted in reviews | Tagged cormoran strike, j.k. rowling, robert galbraith, robert glenister

For Those of Us Who Have Spent Way Too Much Time at IKEA! Dave Reviews Horrorstör

Posted on 2016-03-07 at 04:59 by Dave

Horrorstör By Grady Hendrix, narrated Tai Sammons and Bronson Pinchot Length: 6 hours, 16 minutes

Does anyone else out there have an aversion to IKEA? Like, someone suggests we pop over there real quick, maybe bribes you with coffee and cinnamon rolls, and then BAM. The whole Saturday has mysteriously disappeared? Wait, what just happened to me this past weekend?

Horrorstör is one part Office Space, and one part haunted house story. Thankfully, the haunted house in Horrorstör is essentially an IKEA.

I

Posted in reviews | Tagged bronson pinchot, grady hendrix, horror, humor, tai sammons

It All Goes Around -- Dave Reviews Ancillary Mercy!

Posted on 2015-12-29 at 15:36 by Dave

Ancillary Mercy (Imperial Radch, Book 3) [Downpour | Audible] by Ann Leckie, Read by Adjoa Andoh Length: 10 hours, 54 minutes

"There is always more after the ending. Always the next morning, and the next. Always changes, losses and gains. Always one step after the other. Until the one true ending that none of us can escape. But even that ending is only a small one, large as it looms for us. There is still the next morning for everyone else. For the vast majority of the rest of the universe that ending

Posted in reviews | Tagged adjoa andoh, ann leckie, Imperial Radch, pretty fucking bad ass, reviews, space opera

This is Not a Woman To Be Underestimated! The Tremontaine Listen-A-Long

Posted on 2015-11-16 at 00:16 by Dave

"Heavenly Bodies" (Tremontaine, Episode 3) by Joel Derfner, Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Nick Sullivan, and Katherine Kellgren Length: 2 hours

Last week Sam told me he'd been able to get around to listening to the Pilot episode of Tremontaine, and while he enjoyed it, suggested I maybe oversold the sex. (But not the chocolate!) And I suppose that he was right -- the sex in the first episode (and last week's) was insinuated. But "Heavenly Bodies" was such a delicious double-entendre, I think we

Posted in reviews | Tagged riverside, serial box, tremontaine

"What is Necessary is Not Always Just!" The Tremontaine Listen-A-Long Continues!

Posted on 2015-11-10 at 06:25 by Dave

"The North Side of the Sun" (Tremontaine, Episode 2) by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen and Nick Sullivan Length: 1 hour, 38 minutes

While last week focused on the different introductions to Riverside and this cast of characters, this week the story seemed to tighten it's focus on Kaab in particular, though we also spent time with Micah, Rafe, and (SURPRISE) Tess and Ben. Kaab's storyline drove the whole episode -- she's sent on an errand to the Fenton household to secure saffron

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged listen, riverside, serial box, tremontaine

Hot Chocolate and Sex! Dave Begins The Tremontaine Listen-A-Long!

Posted on 2015-11-03 at 07:28 by Dave

Finding out that there was a new story set in Ellen Kushner's Riverside was kind of like waking up to a delicious cup of chocolate and then sporting with the beautiful woman beside me. And then some more chocolate. And then some more sport. You get the idea.

Welcome to the Tremontaine Listen-A-Long! Here there's swordfighting, chocolate, sex

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ellen kushner, fantasy, katherine kellgren, listen-a-long, riverside, sarah mallo-christensen, serial box, tremontaine

Good Monsters?

Posted on 2015-10-31 at 19:42 by Dave

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, read by Christian Rummel Length: 9 hours, 8 minutes

Nothing says Halloween quite like monsters. Over the last few weeks, two books I've listened to have focused on monsters and our reactions to them: Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes and Clive Barker's Cabal. Both of these books are considered classics of their eras, and listening to them back-to-back, I found their

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged all hallows listen, clive barker, monsters, ray bradbury

There is No Redemption in the Sea -- Dave Revisits THE SCAR!

Posted on 2015-10-08 at 04:38 by Dave

The Scar by China Mieville, read by Gildart Jackson Length: 26 hours, 58 minutes

Some books just leave a mark on you. In China Mieville's The Scar, a character is told "Scars are not injuries...a scar is a healing. After injury, a scar is what makes you whole." I don't know whether or not that's true -- or if in the context of the book, Mieville is actually suggesting it's true. Probably he's saying it's a possible truth. Because in this book, every character has their share of scars -- be they physical

Posted in reviews | Tagged bas lag, china mieville, fantasy, pirates, reviews, sea monsters, the-scar