Thomas

Compelling and Timeless Stories Excellently Narrated.

Revisado: 04-06-25

I had never read a story by Puskin before and had no idea of what to expect. But compelling, suspenseful, hilarious, and adventurous stories written as if yesterday was what I got. I could not stop listening. What a literary genius. There's none of the verbose, aimless meanderings of many 19th Century writers in love with their own voice. In fact, some stories end rather abruptly, almost too abrupt in one case. Even if you have never heard of Pushkin, there is a story in this fine collection for you.

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Another Wonderland and Detailed Entry in Video Games

Revisado: 02-03-25

It's thorough just like the first one this time taking on video games in the 21st Century. There are plenty of dips back into the 80's and 90's as well. While everything was great and deep, the final segment about video games made into movies went on a little long. I realize it was making a case for whether video games are art or not but did we really have to go through Uwe Boll's entire filmography? I especially liked the segment about the recent video game bar craze in the States, especially the one in Chicago where the original programmer of NARCS added an extra level to the arcade game. Hopefully the next volume gets into the Switch and the VR revolution as well as PS4&PS5. And keep the narrator, he is awesome!

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Beautiful End to the Holly Series

Revisado: 08-27-24

Those of us who love the character Holly with all her quirks and compulsions will be (or are, already) delighted with this possibly last edition of her stories. King makes a break from his usual terrible or batpoop endings (as Holly would call them) and ties everything up nicely with a bow.

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So Good It's a Crime

Revisado: 11-20-23

Every new Harry Hole book offers something new. A new insight on the state of killing in Scandinavia and so on. The series has been to Australia, Thailand, the US, random European scenes of war during WWII, and the US. This time around, it offers a chilling series of murders which delves deeper and deeper into a truly disturbing area, even for Harry Hole novels. All I can say is the killer's methods are very original. The most original and terrifying I have ever heard of. Check it out at your own risk.

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Perfect for Halloween

Revisado: 11-09-23

What an extra tasty morsel just in time for Halloween. The narrator is none other than the great Stephen Fry. Not only does his masterful telling of the stories delight but his introductions really get you in the mood for the next tale. It really gives you the feeling as if you're at a spooky public reading. The tales are literary and beautifully told. The music and atmosphere are wonderfully appropriate. I listen to it while driving but I imagine with the right set of headphones or earphones, you could be plunged right into the heart of the spooky tales.

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Slow Start but a Strong Finish

Revisado: 08-28-23

The opening of Black House is very stylistically particular. It is a floating eyeball enticing the reader/listener to look at things both quaint and horrible without any context whatsoever.
While the predecessor "The Talisman" was wholely original without any seeming connection to any other works of the two authors, "Black House" finds itself connected to one of Stephen King's major I.P.s. I was a bit disappointed at that but it doesn't take away from the story. The last 3-4 hours contain some of the nastiest, most grisly scenes ever written. They are also pretty suspenseful. Not as much time spent in the Territories this time around. Despite its length, it's more of a hard boiled murder and kidnapping mystery than anything.
The characters are much more lovable and/or despicable, more defined as characters than in King's solo outings. Henry was my favorite and the narrator performed every single voice with a special kind of passion. The guy can do anything.
He even makes Moby Dick interesting. Give him a try.

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So One-sided it's Hilarious

Revisado: 11-03-17

This is a very difficult book to rate. First, the good.
Console Wars is written in a novel-like structure based on the result of over 200 interviews. This varies from the documentary-like structure of the standard, objective, and excellent "The Ultimate History of Video Games," which, despite its rather pretentious title serves up a holistic scope of computer games, console and handheld games, up to the demise of Sega's Dreamcast. It let each side tell its tale without adding an opinion other than those quoted in the interview. Here in Console Wars, we see everything basically through Tom Kalinske's eyes via the third person although the perspective changes to others at times. This story structure makes it fun to listen to the awkward beginnings of the Toy Industry legend's story. And it's a compelling story. Unfortunately after enough time has passed, we begin to doubt the reliability of the narrative style. Which brings me to the bad.
This was a biased, unbalanced, hilariously one-sided book. When I say one-sided, I don't just mean Sega Vs. Nintendo. It's like episodes of Twenty-Four where Jack Bauer can do no wrong. Everyone is against Tom Kalinske: Sega of Japan, Nintendo, retailers, marketers, Walmart, Toys R Us, the American people, the Japanese people. There is so much use of hindsight that the writer rearranges as foresight by Kalinske that one would think him to be chosen by God to lead Sega to victory. And gosh, he would be able to do it if Sega of Japan wasn't so conservative, so controlling, so out of touch, if the games they made weren't so great. The innovation by the Sega tech crews in Japan is given a slight mention and it's usually blindsided by Prophet Tom's "you missed a spot" comment which is the "truly" important part of the innovation and the "true" secret of its success. An openly racist character, Steve Reyes is quoted openly calling Japanese "Japs" and calling a Sega of Japan executive a banana "yellow on the outside and white on the inside." to which Tom remains commiserating as "mirroring his own frustration." He calls Nintendo's practices un-American at one point, lambasts the admittedly horrible Super Mario movie. The biggest piles of BS were Tom Kalinske giving a proposal to Sega of Japan executives to which apparently they cussed him out calling him crazy. I have lived in Japan for 15 years and in every single business situation I have ever been in, there has been no yelling save for Parliamentary proceedings. That is a sign of weakness. Showing any sort of open emotion especially to your inferiors is an easy way to lose face. Another BS story was the one where another Sega of America exec goes out with Sega of Japan employees to a Fugu or Japanese puffer fish restaurant. They dare the American to eat it and he does but then they refuse to for fear of death. This is utter BS! Fugu is among the most expensive and delicious foods out there. Japanese sushi chefs have to undergo rigorous training for all possible foods to grace a bed of rice. Fugu isn't the only potentially poisonous one. Eel blood is poisonous so eel must be thoroughly cooked before. There is no way Japanese people would be afraid of fugu if prepared in Japan by a qualified chef. The last was the hilariously "high moral ground" Sega took when it decided to establish a rating system which wasn't expected to be enforced by stores at all, it was just backpedalling to save it's own ass when Senator Joe Lieberman began looking into violence in video games. The letter Kalinske wrote to Nintendo to also "take part in this effort to shield our children from violence" was so hypocritical I laughed out loud. Sega lets utter smut like Night Trap and Sewer Sharks and the original bloody version of Mortal Kombat onto its consoles, which is fine. However, it did nothing to rate these titles then until they felt they might get in trouble and them claim the high ground against Nintendo? who cut out the bloody scenes at great financial loss? BS!

Despite these BS parts, it is a compelling read. Prepare to wince at the Japan hating, the constant marketer-like appeal to make every sentence overly snappy, the outright BS.
But also prepare to marvel at the journey of Sega of America, which really made a poignant effort to combat Nintendo not always cleanly but always in a determined fashion. Tom Kalinske, despite the writer's hero-worship of him is actually a great guy who really did turn around things at Mattel and Sega and who despite all the exaggerations in this book, deserves our respect and gratitude for helping, through his battle with Nintendo to up the ante for video games worldwide.

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Creepy, Found-Document Style Stories.

Revisado: 10-19-17

While HP Lovecraft was a man of his time ie xenophobic isolationist beliefs that all out America and Europe are savage and prey to sordid beliefs, the Found-Document method in the style really of Edgar Allan Poe albeit without unreliable narrators, his characters speak of hidden horrors in various parts of the world and in derelict hamlets of New England. Not too long and perfect for Halloween season. I think his standalone story The Hound is probably the most effective although the Madness from the Sea part of the first story arc is good and great fun with an even better payoff than At the Mountains of Madness (not included here).

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A Wonderful and Thorough Companion to Video Games

Revisado: 09-27-17

Focuses on all video games but covers the computer angle more thoroughly. Great narrator.
It's not as thorough on all the game consoles as "The Ultimate History of Video Games" but it branches more into computer games in the U. K. and many parts of Europe and gives a more thorough background into how computer culture influenced second generation consoles and on. Brings video games up to 2012 and the advent of indie games on Steam. "Ultimate History" ends with the death of Sega as a console producer. The two books complement each other nicely.

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Depressing Hiding of a Poor Man

Revisado: 02-21-16

Imagine A Christmas Carol but with Cratchet visited instead and shown the Future. Great narration.

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