What's The Blog About, Alfie?

We are avid fans of literature, good literature. We prefer great writing, we'll settle for very good work, but we cannot abide anything less. We will stop reading a book if the author demonstrates mediocrity, writes incompetently, or, worse yet, simply loses our interest. That said, we will always give you our honest opinions about the books we've listened to on Podiobooks.com. We'll tell you why the great ones are great, and why the forgettable ones should be avoided.

We hope, when we've reviewed enough, you will come to this blog to see if a particular book is worthy of your time. We plan to be frank. You have come here to elicit our opinion and we shall not disappoint. Additionally, we hope this blog becomes a resource for PB.com authors to read honest and objective reviews of their efforts; no smoke blown-up the butt at any time. We have observed over time that reviews left on an author's site or iTunes are basically of two types. The first is the pie-eyed-hyperbolic-praise version of a review by a real fan. While excellent for the ego of said author, this form of assessment aids neither the potential listener nor the writer's development. The second type is the snarky-hit-and-run-slap-in-the-face negative review which may contain the kernel of an insight, but is actually significantly less valuable than the first type. Ours will be decidedly neither polar extreme. We will be as fair and complete as possible. An unavoidable off-shoot, indeed a desirable off-shoot, the clever reader will quickly appreciate is that we will undoubtably be squewering a few sacred-cows. If that happens, please keep in mind the fable of The Emporer's New Clothes and the fact that we would not review them in a less-than-stellar manner if they did not deserve it.

Our reviews are not placed on PB.com, iTunes, or any other public site. We do not wish to embarrass or ridicule any particular authors. Many of the authors are our friends, or at least were up till they read our review. We dearly appreciate that each PB.com author has poured their creative guts out for all to see with very little chance of monetary reward. This is not easy. We will not generally say anything but positives on public sites as we, in our alter ego, want the authors, even the poor ones, to have their moment in the bright-shiny sun. At the very least we want them to be happy little fish in their little ponds.

Finally a term defined, a dreaded term, one you wish never to see, one which strikes despair in the heart of any author - WSRH. This is short for "We Stopped Reading Here". Background. Our less than sainted father was a college English professor. When grading essays and term papers, especially freshman courses, we observed him many a cruel time to slash across the page with his red pen. Just below the horrific line, he would write, "I stopped reading here... F." Clearly, papa was a professor, not an editor, so he was an I while we are, well, a we. Hence, ISRH transforms into WSRH. However you begin it, it is not a good thing. Avoid writing something which earns WSRH, you will not be happy with yourself.

Your comments on our comments are most welcome. You may be as frank as we are. Contrary opinions, supported by rational argument not finger-wagging, will help the prospective PB.com readers find the books which are right for them. Bottom line: our comments plus your comments, along with author rebuttals, will in the end benefit us all, and help PB.com listeners choose wisely.

Based on the success of this blog, we have started a Forum where you can share your insights and reviews. The more information and discussion, the better informed we will all be.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Terrible Business of Salmon and Dusk // How To Disappear Completely - Never Dissapear, You Great Old Story, You

  

  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Myke Bartlett.  Seriously, thank you.  The Terrible Business of Salmon and Dusk - How To Disappear Completely (TTBOSAD) is exactly and precisely what is right and encouraging and spell-binding about new literature and the new Internet Paradym today.  This is not high praise, given our dour mood in general, it is well-earned hyperbole.  As a podcast it is a wonder to experience, and we are certain that as a read-text it would shine equally brightly.  Strong work, dude. ( We cannot believe we just called someone dude.  We must be very giddy indeed.)  Okay, composing ourselves, here's the author's teaser:

     Part film noir detective story, part fantasy adventure, part East End gangster tale, How to Disappear Completely concerns Theo Braithwaite, a failed actress and worse waitress, becoming involved in an unseen world populated by history's rejects and runaways from a secret society known as The Footmen. A stranger to London, waiting for life to come and find her, she is instead found by a part-time thief called Kilbey Salmon who, along with his rockabilly-obsessed partner, is attempting to eke out a living stealing things that have already been stolen and finding people who don't want to be found.

An episodic narrative, Kilbey and Nero's capers will drag Theo through the forgotten parts and people of London, hunted by ancient sects, carnivorous shadows, cannibalistic butchers and off-duty policemen. Along the way she'll meet the Eternal Footmen, blow up Hammersmith Bridge, reach the end of history and quite possibly disappear completely.

If Theo is to survive, she'll need to get her life sorted before all of our futures catch up with her.

   
NARRATION: A "20" if ever there were one.  You simply have to hear Myke's masterful narration of this beauty.  His voice, his cadence, and the correctness of his acting for this book is perfect.  He is sassy, irreverent, and chameleon in his narration, complimenting the text superbly.  He is so good, one cannot help but read the next few items one reads with his voice in mind, and it makes even a memo from the personnel office seem dodgy.  The casual manner he can toss out and insult or spin a denial, well it make us wish we had him with us, Cyrano de Bergerac-style, when we're speaking with our bosses.  The only pairing to voice and task we can recall as being so perfect is Toothless; heady company to keep, indeed.

EDITING/TECHNICAL:  Every Achilles must have his heel and every silver-lining a cloud, it would seem.  This aspect of TTBOSAD is the only one where significant fault can be found.  Especially the early episodes are plagued with rough sound quality.  Not being a technical guru ourself, we cannot pin-point the problem, possible a bad microphone, possibly poor understanding of the recording program.  In any event, these flaws are easily overlooked and forgiven, but they would be oh so easy to fix also.  A 16 pointer on this aspect.

ORIGINALITY OF STORY:  Back to a full 20 points on this count.  The dark fantasy, bordering on the steam punk-genre quality of the tale, is delicious.  There exists a seperate culture of The Lost, The Fallen, dirty and inconsequential, living amunst us.  There are ghosts, magic, and super-human super-powers guiding the wold like puppet-masters.  Time travel, booze, sex, fighting - come on, people, what more can you want?

QUALITY OF THE WRITING:  Really top-notch.  Myke is, by trade, a journalist and his writing skills are evident through out.  Crisp when crisp is needed, humorous where humor fits, and confused uncertainty when appropriate.  The story is truly woven-together and tailored to fit Myke's vision, not simply told to get it done, like so many podcasts on PB.com.  The characters are independent, deep, empathetic where needed, and despicable where called-for.  The bizarre become the believable and the impossible to-be-expected.  We can award 20 points confidently to Mr. Bartlett on this count.

WOW FACTOR:  You can see our opinion coming, can't you?  Tongue hanging out, drooling, begging for more.  Yeah, fairly obvious, we expect.  Look, TTBOSAD is fresh, expertly crafted, irreverent to beat-the-band, intoxicating, and fully, like, cool, dude. (oh my, we said it again, didn't we)  Yes, 20 originality point for Table One, if you please!

EXTRA CREDIT:  In all candor, there is nothing present we commonly award extra credit points for.  This is a solo-read, now thunderous sound effects or spell binding music.  We will, because we can, award Myke 2 point extra because of the bad-ass sarcastic narrationn he achieves.  Very cool cat, this Mr Bartlett.

TOTAL:  A near-perfect 98 for this pioneer podcast.  Mr Bartlett show remarkable promise for the future and has thrown down a podcast gauntlet which others will be wan to pick-up.. Thanks again, Myke.

The link to the podcast: http://www.podiobooks.com/title/how-to-disappear-completely

More information about Myke Bartlett:  http://mykebartlett.com/
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2 comments:

  1. jennJune 2, 2011 at 8:09 PM

    I am slightly afraid to sound too fangirlish, but honestly, this story (and the following season of Salmon and Dusk short stories) deserve it. My dogs are named Kilbey and Theo, that's how much these stories speak to me. And I hold a Minor in English, so I am persnickety about even my entertainment reading. These characters simply live in my head now. The only ones in all of the hundreds of novels I have read to move in so completely. I like them there. I hope they never leave. Thank you for the considered and agreeable opinion of my favorite novel.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 4, 2011 at 7:06 AM

    Our pleasure. Yes, we fancy some day we will be as cool and sauve as Kilby - if just for a day.

    ReplyDelete

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