Basil Sands – In The Shadows

Kia ora

I have talked about Basil Sands Podcast Novels before, this is a collection of his short stories.

From his website

A collection of Short Stories full of action, adventure, and a little sci-fi mixed in the bunch. If you want short bursts of explosive action, these twenty minute episodes will get your heart racing and your muscles tense. Be prepared for a wild ride. You might wanna wear your seat belt.

Also from his website

From the wilds of America’s Last Frontier come the heart pounding novels of Alaska’s premier new writer.

Basil Sands has been called the next Tom Clancy, Jack Higgins, Michael Crichton, Frederick Forsyth, and Ken Follett all rolled into one.

This collection hits the mark perfectly (for me). Most of the stories are between 18 and 30 mins, which is as I like it. They are enough different as to make each of them interesting. Some of the stories relate to characters or events, in his previous books. They are well narrated without being over-produce. The stories are hard and have an violent/thriller edge to them, romances they are not.

If you haven’t read / listened to any of Basil Sands stories then I suggest that you give this collection a try.

His books can be downloaded through podiobooks    http://www.podiobooks.com/index.php

Podiobooks is a great place to pick up some damm good listening.

Dave A

Audio Drama – Soul Rift – Dreamseed.com

Kia ora

This is a fantastic audio drama, not only a good story, well acted, but it also has very high production values.  Its not free but then again, its not expensive.  (Less than one handful of $) My understanding is that episode 2 is currently being cast. Hopefully it wont take months to release that one. I’m told the first is the hardest.

Soul Rift is the cop / FBI type drama set in the not to far future (about 25 years).  The main character is Detective Alice Walker and her partner ( Spectre) is a ghost. This is a drama played across and through the planes. The first episode (Masochism) starts of in the VIP basement of a S&M club. A young (willing) victim is found dead with her “soul” stolen.

As I said previously, this is high class Audio Drama. I goy my copy from Echo Fiction http://www.echofiction.com/titles/soulrift/e01.php  . The only minor disappointment was the state of their website http://www.dreamseed.com/  its very sparse, and under construction, without the warning.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

Kia ora

For many of us oldies the old image is one of the most enduring sci-fi images of all time. Its from the 1951 original movie. To be honest I dont remember the original movie ( It helps that I wasn’t born in 1951 ).

The impressions dragged up from my sub-conscious are that when I eventually saw it, it seemed fairly dated then ( It must have been on the TV in the 60′s ).

I am sure this remake will offend some people but it does arrive at a timely moment in history, and it carries a message. Now there is one thing I hate and that is being ” preached to ” by American media, but with this movie I can get past that.

As an independent entertainment artifact it ranks 5/6 out of 10. Jennifer Connolly stands out, but to me she will always be the girl in Labyrinth.  Talk about typecast!  Yet again an American movie throws up a stunning young child actor Jaden Smith (who I believe is Will Smiths son).

The plot is simple Alien comes to earth, earth ( well USA ) responds the only way it knows how, with brute force and violence. Alien decides best way to save the planet is to eradicate humans ( Alien is probably correct! ). Humans persuade Alien not to allow human race to be exterminated, Alien swayed by both Jaden and Jennifer Connolly (well she is hot! ) does his best and flies away.

There is no sex or violence in it, so it can be watched by all. As I said before a good entertainment artifact, and despite the hollywood slush the message is clear.

This planet is very close to the tipping point !

Dave A

P.S GORT is amazing!

James Rollins – The Last Oracle

Kia ora

Finished this before Christmas, just haven’t written it up.

This is one of those adventure thrillers, throw in a myth, a few facts, and then weave a conspiracy around it.

This is a Sigma force novel. So the characters (most of them) are well known to readers of Rollins books. Like all of his books this can be read as a stand alone. Like all his books the Sigma force will have to save the world, and the world will  not even know its in trouble.

The story starts with the killing of the last Oracle of Delphi way back in Roman times. There are forces out there who are trying to engineer people with “oracle type powers“. The plot ranges from India to Chernobyl with groups of scientists in Russia and USA trying to use the oracle powers to create a new world order. Thrown in there is an interesting take on Romany history and culture.

This is a good read, nothing to taxing, but good interesting entertainment.

This is from the back of the book

What if you could bio-engineer the next great world prophet: scientifically produce the next Buddha, the next Muhammad, or even the next Jesus? Would it mark the Second Coming or initiate a chain reaction with disastrous consequences?

Dave A

David Gibbins, Facebook, Liverpool

Kia ora

Preston 0 – Liverpool 2

The good news this weekend is that Liverpool played and beat Preston in the FA Cup. A 2-0 win, and we have Everton in the next round. Even better news is that Torres played and scored. From a negative perspective both Monster and Alonso have injuries.

Facebook

I have recently joined Facebook following an invite from my brother. Well that has a way of eating into your time, but it has been interesting to catch up with Nieces, Nephews and In-Laws. The only person I haven’t caught up with is the brother who invited me to join!

Wellington Phoenix 3 – Newcastle Jets 0

We have only missed a couple of home Phoenix games this season, and at halftime I was wishing that I was missing this one. I think I watched the worst 45 minutes of professional football I have seen. 0-0 at half time and both sides were absolute garbage.  If one side strung more than 2 passes together I missed it. However as the catch phrase goes 90 minutes 90 emotions so the second half was better. Three goals including a stunner from Smeltz. The Phoenix are going to miss him next season. Anyway 3 points gained, there is still a chance we will finish in the playoff spots (top 4) but already a top season.

David Gibbins – Atlantis

David Gibbins – Crusader Gold

In the run up to and following Christmas I have read both the above  David Gibbins books.

If you like Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, James Rollins and / or Steve Berry then you will enjoy these novels, adventure with a capital A, and just enough fact thrown in to keep you hooked.

Although the books are in sequence Atlantis first, they are stand alone plots and there is no need to read Atlantis to enjoy Crusader Gold.

From his website – (  http://www.davidgibbins.com/ )

” David Gibbins is a bestselling novelist and archaeologist, and a world authority on ancient shipwrecks and sunken cities. He was born in Saskatoon, Canada in 1962, to English parents, and grew up in Canada, New Zealand and England. An early fascination with archaeology led him to study at the University of Bristol, where he graduated with First Class Honours in 1983. He then attended Cambridge University as a Research Scholar of Corpus Christi College, where he was awarded a PhD in archaeology in 1991. For much of the next decade he held a permanent faculty position as a university lecturer in the UK, where he taught archaeology, art history and ancient history, before leaving teaching to devote himself full-time to writing novels and carrying out fieldwork. “

With his background the Author is obviously able to draw on both his Archaeological and diving background to craft his stories. The first book Atlantis is self explanatory. It is basiaclly the search for Atlantis, with some mythology and terrorist action thrown in. Plus a love interest. What more could you ask for. Many of us hope that Atlantis was real and that one day it will be found, this book pulls at those wishes and presents a very plausible scenario with regard to its whereabouts and its history.

The second book Crusader Gold is not so clear cut, it follows on a few months after Atlantis (well the heros have to have time to heal don’t they). It has all the same elements that made the first book a good read

• A blend of fact and fiction
• Jewish treasure
  
• History
• Supposition
• Archaeological mystery

Interestingly the title although very relevant is infact more than a little misleading. This story has more to do with Viking and Norse heritage, travels and legends  rather than the Spanish plundering South America. The hook in this book is the weaving of Norse mythology through most of what we today understand as the history of the Americas. Of course there is the clash with ancient cults after the power that the discovery of the treasure that was plundered by the romans from the jews many hundreds of years ago. Tell me again, how did the vikings get into this, you will have to read..

Both the books were very enjoyable reads, didn’t tax me to much and certainly stirred the imagination.

Dave A

Liverpool top end of 2008, start of 2009

Kia ora

Newcastle put to the sword at St James park. One of the best performances of the past couple of years and at last, as well as winning we are also starting to play nice football l. Cant complain about beating Newcastle 1 – 5. Goals by Stevie G (2) Sami (1), Babel and Alonso.

Dave A

Liverpool top at Christmas

Kia ora

Not had a chance (or should I say, made a chance) to post over the past few weeks.  Its a pity really as I have heaps of books or podcasts to put up. I’ll catch up over the next few days. (No work you see).

Its 23:30 on the 28th December here and I am waiting for the Newcastle vs. Liverpool game to start. Win this and we go into 2009 still on top of the EPL. Although Liverpool have dropped alot of points at home with silly draws against teams we should have beated the other teams have dropped points as well so we are still 1 point clear at the top.

The last game was at home vs Bolton and we won it convincingly, playing very well.  Two goals to Keanne, which should take some of the pressure of him. Much of the talk on fan forums is that we will purchase a new stricker in the January transfer window. God knows why!