Official Blurb
Formed during World War II, the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS), was organized for special operations and intelligence gathering and analysis. Included in its mission was the implementation of, and training of foreign forces in, propaganda, espionage, subversion, and sabotage. After the war, OSS functions were transferred to the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
This “Simple Sabotage Field Manual” was used by OSS agents in training “citizen-saboteurs” in methods for inciting and executing simple sabotage to thwart industry and other vital functions in Axis-occupied areas.
My Review
As the blurb says this is a manual, not a story. It's an interesting choice for a reader at Librivox to have picked. There's no fun or excitement in here its raw data!
I have quite a vibrant interesting in WWII, I play boardgames based on WWII, and even have a podcast with a WWII theme, so this Librivox offering couldn't fail to appeal to me.
The book is presented in two halves with the latter half containing most of the juicey Sabotage instructions. While listening to the fairly dry material my imagination went wild and I was envisioning French, Belgium and Polish civilians reading and following the instructions. It was a real delight to me.
What about you though? this is a specialist book, if you don't have the same level of interest as me in this material I suggest you pass this by, theres no story here except what you conjure in your mind. Thus despite loving this book, I cant really give it a high rating, as that wouldn't be fair on normal peole like you!
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 1/3
Total Score 5/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Friday, 11 September 2009
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Nightmare Abbey
Official Blurb
Deep in the fens of the British coast sits the gloomy mansion that goes by the name Nightmare Abbey. It is inhabited by persons of very low opinion of the human race, and in fact they pride themselves in the depths of their detestation. Others of its denizens believe the ultimate exercise and product of the human mind ought to be chaos.
Now let the young master of the house get snared by the wiles of a beautiful young lady. And for good measure, toss in another beautiful young lady. Now Scythrop (named in honor of an ancestor who became bored with life and hanged himself) is about to find that two such make too much of a good thing!
Peacock wrote Nightmare Abbey as a satire, and he has folded in allusions to or quotations from literally dozens of other works. He makes use of many long, impressive-sounding words (some of which he very possibly made up!). Ignore these and his occasional Latin phrase, treat the rest as a farce, and you’re on track for a fun listen!
My Review
It was very well read... The reader did some excellent and amusing voices... but...
It was a rather disjointed, inconsistent narrative. It brought the odd half smile to my lips, but I basicly just didn't "get it".
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 1/3
Total Score 6/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Deep in the fens of the British coast sits the gloomy mansion that goes by the name Nightmare Abbey. It is inhabited by persons of very low opinion of the human race, and in fact they pride themselves in the depths of their detestation. Others of its denizens believe the ultimate exercise and product of the human mind ought to be chaos.
Now let the young master of the house get snared by the wiles of a beautiful young lady. And for good measure, toss in another beautiful young lady. Now Scythrop (named in honor of an ancestor who became bored with life and hanged himself) is about to find that two such make too much of a good thing!
Peacock wrote Nightmare Abbey as a satire, and he has folded in allusions to or quotations from literally dozens of other works. He makes use of many long, impressive-sounding words (some of which he very possibly made up!). Ignore these and his occasional Latin phrase, treat the rest as a farce, and you’re on track for a fun listen!
My Review
It was very well read... The reader did some excellent and amusing voices... but...
It was a rather disjointed, inconsistent narrative. It brought the odd half smile to my lips, but I basicly just didn't "get it".
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 1/3
Total Score 6/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Monday, 7 September 2009
The White Company
Official Blurb
Set during the Hundred Years’ War with France, The White Company tells the story of a young Saxon man who is learning what it is to be a knight. Raised by Cistercian Monks and rejected by a violent elder brother, Alleyn Edricson takes service with one of the foremost knights in the country. When Alleyn falls in love with the knight’s daughter, he must prove himself to be a courageous and honourable knight before he can win her hand. Alleyn and his friends set forth with the other men-at-arms to join Prince Edward in Bordeaux, from where they will take part in the Prince’s campaign into Spain. It is in Spain that Alleyn and others must prove themselves to be very valiant and hardy cavaliers.
My Review
I absolutely loved this production. The blurb gives you a very good overview of the story but does not give you any idea of the horde of delight to be found within!
I admit to being a Cadfael fan, and this book scratches the same medieval itch. From the lack of tech to the turn of phrase, this story drips with period feel. A period when knights were Gentle, squires honourable, and ladies fair.
The characters in this story jump out of the story to endear themselves to you by their subtle and detailed portrayals. Every characters seems to have their own voice within the text ( and the reader supplies a voice for them all as well! ).
The lead character is a simple honest young man, who finds himself somewhat at a loss and takes up with a pair of strong Archers who are off to war. In their company he starts the journey towards a real medieval manhood and winning the hand of his love.
Every step of the journey if exciting and enthralling by turns, from struggeling to speak of his love, to a clash of swords, this story has it all.
Now a special word about the reader of this audio delight. Clive Catterall is the reader and was a perfect choice for this text. His British accent accompanies a soft presentation that smooches your ears, it fits the genteel characters perfectly and he is able to give them each a special voice to fit their character. An outstanding audio work.
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 3/3
Total Score 8/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
.
Set during the Hundred Years’ War with France, The White Company tells the story of a young Saxon man who is learning what it is to be a knight. Raised by Cistercian Monks and rejected by a violent elder brother, Alleyn Edricson takes service with one of the foremost knights in the country. When Alleyn falls in love with the knight’s daughter, he must prove himself to be a courageous and honourable knight before he can win her hand. Alleyn and his friends set forth with the other men-at-arms to join Prince Edward in Bordeaux, from where they will take part in the Prince’s campaign into Spain. It is in Spain that Alleyn and others must prove themselves to be very valiant and hardy cavaliers.
My Review
I absolutely loved this production. The blurb gives you a very good overview of the story but does not give you any idea of the horde of delight to be found within!
I admit to being a Cadfael fan, and this book scratches the same medieval itch. From the lack of tech to the turn of phrase, this story drips with period feel. A period when knights were Gentle, squires honourable, and ladies fair.
The characters in this story jump out of the story to endear themselves to you by their subtle and detailed portrayals. Every characters seems to have their own voice within the text ( and the reader supplies a voice for them all as well! ).
The lead character is a simple honest young man, who finds himself somewhat at a loss and takes up with a pair of strong Archers who are off to war. In their company he starts the journey towards a real medieval manhood and winning the hand of his love.
Every step of the journey if exciting and enthralling by turns, from struggeling to speak of his love, to a clash of swords, this story has it all.
Now a special word about the reader of this audio delight. Clive Catterall is the reader and was a perfect choice for this text. His British accent accompanies a soft presentation that smooches your ears, it fits the genteel characters perfectly and he is able to give them each a special voice to fit their character. An outstanding audio work.
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 3/3
Total Score 8/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
.
Sunday, 6 September 2009
The Door Through Space
Official Blurb
At one time Race Cargill had been the best Terran Intelligence agent on the complex and mysterious planet of Wolf. He had repeatedly imperiled his life amongst the half-human and non-human creatures of the sullen world. And he had repeatedly accomplished the fantastic missions until his name was emblazoned with glory.
But that had all seemingly ended. For six long years he’d sat behind a boring desk inside the fenced-in Terran Headquarters, cut off there ever since he and a rival had scarred and ripped each other in blood-feud.
But when THE DOOR THROUGH SPACE swung suddenly open, the feud was on again—and with it a plot designed to check and destroy the Terran Empire.
My Review
This is not a sci fi story with huge mighty ships pushing across the void to engage in combat beyond the "door", as I had at first expected. Instead this story has a down to earth , grubby feel. It's subterfuge and underhanded nastiness at it's best.
The story is most definitely set on an alien world , but, the sci fi setting is almost irrelevant to the plot. yes the humans are interacting with aliens, yes the aliens have diferent cultures, yes the technologies are highly advanced, but this is all just a backdrop to what is really a very human story. When enemies draw knives on each other you and see the blood and the sweat in your mind.
The environment is nasty and grubby and this adds to the tension in the story. The humans are in trouble and the dirt adds to the uncomfortable feeling.
This is a really good story and exceedingly well read. The woman who starts the reading apparently "disapeared" and never returned to complete the project, an event that happens so often on such internet driven projects. However the reader who took up the reins is also very very good, so it didn't cause much of a distraction.
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 3/3
Total Score 8/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
At one time Race Cargill had been the best Terran Intelligence agent on the complex and mysterious planet of Wolf. He had repeatedly imperiled his life amongst the half-human and non-human creatures of the sullen world. And he had repeatedly accomplished the fantastic missions until his name was emblazoned with glory.
But that had all seemingly ended. For six long years he’d sat behind a boring desk inside the fenced-in Terran Headquarters, cut off there ever since he and a rival had scarred and ripped each other in blood-feud.
But when THE DOOR THROUGH SPACE swung suddenly open, the feud was on again—and with it a plot designed to check and destroy the Terran Empire.
My Review
This is not a sci fi story with huge mighty ships pushing across the void to engage in combat beyond the "door", as I had at first expected. Instead this story has a down to earth , grubby feel. It's subterfuge and underhanded nastiness at it's best.
The story is most definitely set on an alien world , but, the sci fi setting is almost irrelevant to the plot. yes the humans are interacting with aliens, yes the aliens have diferent cultures, yes the technologies are highly advanced, but this is all just a backdrop to what is really a very human story. When enemies draw knives on each other you and see the blood and the sweat in your mind.
The environment is nasty and grubby and this adds to the tension in the story. The humans are in trouble and the dirt adds to the uncomfortable feeling.
This is a really good story and exceedingly well read. The woman who starts the reading apparently "disapeared" and never returned to complete the project, an event that happens so often on such internet driven projects. However the reader who took up the reins is also very very good, so it didn't cause much of a distraction.
Reading 3/3
Production 2/3
Story 3/3
Total Score 8/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to the first chapter
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 015
Official Blurb
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.
My Review
This is another much of short sci fi stories, in fact its the 15th(!!!!) collection from Librivox. Each story is read by a different reader and comes from different authors. This of course means that when you start listening you have no idea whats coming up. Some of the stories may be familar to you, but they were pretty new to me.
The collection has 10 stories of various lengths and there were 6 that I really enjoyed.
Beyond Lies the Wub
Crysal Egg
I'm a stranger here myself
New Accelerator
Radiant Shell
Scientist Rises
The final one I've listed really appealed to me, the odd fancy of it simply appealed and gave me a chuckle.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to one of the stories
.
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.
My Review
This is another much of short sci fi stories, in fact its the 15th(!!!!) collection from Librivox. Each story is read by a different reader and comes from different authors. This of course means that when you start listening you have no idea whats coming up. Some of the stories may be familar to you, but they were pretty new to me.
The collection has 10 stories of various lengths and there were 6 that I really enjoyed.
Beyond Lies the Wub
Crysal Egg
I'm a stranger here myself
New Accelerator
Radiant Shell
Scientist Rises
The final one I've listed really appealed to me, the odd fancy of it simply appealed and gave me a chuckle.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 2/3
Total Score 6/9
Download it from Librivox
Listen to one of the stories
.
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