AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Studio A: V Wars (Chapter-Author-Narrator List)



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V Wars
Edited by Jonathan Maberry

Introduction •  Dacre Stoker 
Grover Gardner

“Junk” Part 1  Jonathan Maberry 
Stefan Rudnicki

“Roadkill” Part 1  Nancy Holder
John Rubinstein

“Junk” Part 2
Stefan Rudnicki

“Love Less” Part 1  John Everson 
Gabrielle deCuir

“Junk” Part 3
Stefan Rudnicki

“Epiphany” Part 1  Yvonne Navarro
Roxanne Hernandez

“Junk” Part 4
Stefan Rudnicki

“Love Less” Part 2 (Concluded)
Gabrielle deCuir

“The Ballad of Big Charlie” Part 1  Keith R.A. DeCandido
Lisa Renee Pitts

“Junk” Part 5
Stefan Rudnicki

“Heartsick”   Scott Nicholson
Arte Johnson

“Junk” Part 6 (Concluded)
Stefan Rudnicki

 “Roadkill” Part 2 (Concluded)
John Rubinstein

 Vulpes” Part 1  Gregory Frost 
Cassandra Campbell

“Escalation”  Jonathan Maberry
Stefan Rudnicki

“Stalking Anna Lei” Part 1  James A. Moore 
Wil Wheaton

“The Ballad of Big Charlie” Part 2 
Lisa Renee Pitts

“Species Genocide”  Jonathan Maberry 
Stefan Rudnicki

“Stalking Anna Lei” Part 2 (Concluded)
Wil Wheaton

“The Ballad of Big Charlie” Part 3 (Concluded)
Lisa Renee Pitts

“Embedded”  Jonathan Maberry  
Stefan Rudnicki

Vulpes” Part 2 (Concluded)
Cassandra Campbell

“Epiphany” Part 2 (Concluded)
Roxanne Hernandez

“Last Bites”  Jonathan Maberr 
Stefan Rudnicki


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Monday, October 8, 2012

Coraline (10th Anniversary Edition)


Coraline
10th Anniversary Edition
Illustrated by Dave McKean
Published 04/24/2012

Coraline discovers an alternate reality though a small door that at first, seems to open onto a bricked  up wall in the new house that her family has moved into; but in fact leads her to her Other Mother and Other Father. Coraline's Other Parents extend a tempting invitation to remain in this Other place which is very much like the one she has left; but much better in terms of the food, care and, attention from parents that Coraline craves.

There is a temptation to view Coraline as something of a dark and distorted version of Alice in Wonderland: there is the young female protagonist, a looking glass, an enigmatic cat, a prandial setting in which the absurd reigns... and yet, to insist on this analogy would diminish Gaiman's work as merely derivative ---- which it certainly is not, at least not in the pejorative sense. There are certainly multiple influences, literary in form and style that have come to bear in this young adult tale; but it would be more apropos to consider Coraline as the extension of literary tradition. e.g. that of the Knight's Tale or even of the troubadour tradition.

The tenth anniversary edition of Coraline also includes interviews with Neil Gaiman at the end of the book: the first set of questions & answers are from when the book was first published and the second set of questions & answers are on the occasion of the book's tenth anniversary. Gaiman mentions that Coraline is a book about bravery and it is; but more than that, though Gaiman himself does not draw the correlation, Coraline speaks to the classic tales of heroism and quest that are usually reserved for boys. Coraline is a Knight's Tale for girls: Coraline is an Everygirl who wants for nothing extraordinary, but is cast upon a mission or quest for three things - three things that will engender True Love from a Mother figure and, who ultimately must confront a dragon. The leitmotif of the dragon is introduced in the epigraph by G.K. Chesterton and reinforced with descriptive phases in regard to the antagonist and again underscored in the interviews.
Fairy tales are more than true; not because
they tell us that dragons exist, but because
they tell us that dragons can be beaten. 
                            --- G.K. Chesterton 
Coraline is a fairy tale, a Knight's Tale, a very dark tale that draws on some fine literary traditions; but presents the reader with novel and creative images that make it uniquely the work of Gaiman.

For parents: The imagery in Coraline is very dark and may not be appropriate for children who are prone to fearfulness or nightmares, especially of rats, actors and/or the door in your house that leads to the crawl space. Parents may also have to answer questions about parental love, neglect and abuse, smother love, abstract concepts of creativity and parallel universes.

See Also:
Mr. Bobo's Remarkable Mouse Circus
Coraline.com

Other Stuff:
I purchased Coraline, 10th Anniversary Edition (by Neil Gaiman; with illustrations by David McKean) from the Barnes & Noble in Medford, Oregon. I receive no monies, goods or services in exchange for reviewing this product and/or mentioning any of the persons or companies that are or may be implied in this post.

This post is part of the Murder, Monsters, Mayhem feature being hosted by Jennifer L. at her blog, www.jennsbookshelves.com




Monday, October 1, 2012

Murder, Monsters, Mayhem: A Return to Blogging




I couldn't resist! It's been awhile since I've blogged; but I do so love Murder, Monsters, Mayhem that I've decided to come back, if only for a little bit! Some of the things I have in mind are a couple of print reviews, a few audiobook reviews, at least three graphic novel reviews, a couple of movie reviews and maybe a couple of photos! I'm not making a hard commitment as to what I'm going to be covering if only because I want this month to be fun and pressure free  :-)

I've been away from blogging for almost three months and there are things I've missed, i.e. being a part of the blogging community in a dynamic way. I feel a little estranged from some of my favorite people and that sucks. But what I haven't missed is the pressure to produce meaningful content while I've been working on leading a more physically active life. I've led a primarily sedentary lifestyle for too long and it was literally killing me. On top of the blogexistential crises I had been experiencing, I will be honest and admit that I didn't know if I was going to come back at all.

But now that I am back, and in order to avoid a Blogger Burnout Relapse, there are going to be couple of changes. One is is that there is not going to a regularly scheduled anything! I will post when I can and hopefully that will eliminate the anxiety attacks at 5:00 a.m. when I don't have something to go up at 7:00 a.m. And too, I like the idea of not feeling guilty if I go out to dinner instead of having epic angst-ridden battles over the correct turn of phrase (Um, yes, I did have those kind of days/nights. I know, ridiculous, yes? YES!) The second change is that some of the reviews may actually be more op-ed in style (I will clearly label them as such) -  informal and personal. Hopefully this will free me up from the strangle hold of writer's block that I would sometimes experience. They were quite a few reviews that never made it out of draft mode because I simply could not get beyond the purely subjective, and sometimes admittedly ad hominem, approach. Does that mean I'm going go about ranting unchecked? NO! It just means I need to give myself permission to let some of my personality show through. The third change is that I would like to cover a wider variety of material besides audiobooks. With that in mind, I'm thinking of blogging to a monthly theme as opposed to a format. Blogging to participate in features such as MX3 may be the way for me to go for awhile :-)

For those of you who have stuck with me, THANK YOU! You know who you are and I love you! Your patience, understanding and continued friendship mean a lot to me as I continue to find my voice and place in the blogging community.

Now let's get this blog rolling....