Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl

Author: Tim Pratt

Narrator: Marguerite E. Croft

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-13-13

Publisher: Tropism Press

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In this debut novel, acclaimed short-story author Tim Pratt delivers an exciting heroine with a hidden talent - and a secret duty. Witty and suspenseful, here is a contemporary love song to the West that was won and the myths that shape us.

As night manager of Santa Cruz's quirkiest coffeehouse, Marzi McCarty makes a mean espresso, but her first love is making comics. Her claim to fame: The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, a cowpunk neo-western yarn. Striding through an urban frontier peopled by Marzi's wild imagination, Rangergirl doles out her own brand of justice. But lately Marzi's imagination seems to be altering her reality. She's seeing the world through Rangergirl's eyes - literally - complete with her deadly nemesis, the Outlaw.

It all started when Marzi opened a hidden door in the coffeehouse storage room. There, imprisoned among the supplies, she saw the face of something unknown - and dangerous. And she unwittingly became its guard. But some primal darkness must've escaped, because Marzi hasn't been the same since. And neither have her customers, who are acting downright apocalyptic.

Now it's up to Marzi to stop this supervillainous superforce that's swagger edits way into her world. For Marzi, it's the showdown of her life. For Rangergirl, it's just another day....

Members Reviews:

Terrible Audio Quality

The background hiss on this book makes it very hard to listen to. What I got of the story was enough to be compelling, but I guess I will have to get this in a different form to enjoy it.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Stellar Ranger

Subtitle: Stellar Ranger, Book 1

Author: Steve Perry

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-10-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

When a brilliant and evil lunatic plans to take over the universe, Cinch Carston, a solitary ranger who rides the galactic frontier, confronts the villain on a desert planet called Roget.

Members Reviews:

Perry fan

I have almost all available STEVE Perry Books love them all including this one. Hope for F/U Matador books of children of the Matadors and even a bridge book of what happened after Musashi Flex

The Ranger's last ride?

Stellar Ranger, Lone Star, (1995) by Steve Perry is the first of what I thought was going to be his next series after the Mattadora series, but alas, I can't find a sequel. I have, however found a prequel.

Stellar Ranger is about an aging Stellar Ranger, Rudyard "Cinch" Carson on an assignment to the frontier planet of Mtizito where he finds a crooked governor trying to take advantage of a native sentient group that few think are sentient.

The book is full of action, typical of Perry, but you'll have to read it yourself to see if the good guys win or not.

All in all an enjoyable read. I just wish Perry would write a sequel. Maybe ,even, a whole series.

Gunner April,2007

Great read

I remember reading this book back in 1996, and got hooked. Since that time, I have kept an eye open for a sequel that never appeared. I think it could have easily been written into several more books. The ideal of a cowboy space ranger is very appealing.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Kelly Country

Author: A. Bertram Chandler

Narrator: David Franklin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-07-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

An If-Of-History Novel

The United States won its independence in 1776, and the world has never been the same since. What if Australia had followed suit? How would our world have been different? Thats the theme that fascinated A. Bertram Chandler who saw, in the famous Ned Kelly, the possibility of an Australian Washington.

For Ned Kelly was not just a lawless bushranger. He was a man of unusual imagination who created his own armor, gathered a band of Irish rebels, and took arms against the frontier law of old Australia. Now, by time machine and calculated interference, a certain 20th Century John Grimes goes back and alters history. Kelly survives!

Members Reviews:

Time Travel, and how one event can change the fate of nations

Ned Kelly was a bushranger, and Australian Outlaw who was hanged in 1880 after the failed ambush of a train. But he was a man with imagination... when he was captured he was wearing armor which stopped most of the bullets aimed at him. He sent a political manifesto to express his aims to the Australian government, a manifesto dangerous enough to be suppressed at the time. And he was in an Australia where widespread dissatisfaction with the order of things was rampant. What if things had worked out differently?

An American scientist is asked to apply a technique he has invented for probing "ancestrial consciousness" to a sci-fi writer (Grimes) whose ancestor was at the ill-fated train ambush, so that he can write an article on ned Kelly for an Australian magazine Ned Kelly is famous in Australia in the same way the Jesse James is in the United States. But when he goes back in time and is seeing things through the eyes of his Great-Great Grandfather it turns out that he can influence him slightly, enough to make sure that a schoolmaster does not warn the train in time to prevent the ambush. When Grimes returns the present he knows is changed. Kelly's descendents have become "hereditary presidents" and Australia is in the throes of a political and military crisis. And he must continue to go back in time for the sake of the latest Ned Kelly, to write a true history of the way Austrlia became a "free republic," with the help of his ancestor and Ned Kelly the First.

Well-written and easy to follow, even if you aren't that familiar with Australian history. Definitely worth getting if you can find it.

Not really a John Grimes story...

I bought this because it's promoted as a "John Grimes" novel. Unfortunately, it's only somewhat connected to that character. Despite that, I enjoyed the book. I had heard of the name Ned Kelly, but didn't know where from. A interesting twist on the time travel concept.

It's just not that exciting

I imagine the book would be more interesting if I were Austrilian, but as time travel story it's just okay. There isn't alot of drama. You're really worried about the timeline. The tension doesn't really build until the very end of the book.

Not my idea of science fiction

I almost couldn't finish this book but persevered. I found the story got lost in facts making it a choppy read. The ending was the best.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Beyond the Dark

Subtitle: The Dark Trilogy, Book 3

Author: Patrick D'Orazio

Narrator: Jim Cooper

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-30-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The dead have risen, and their hunger for the flesh of the living is insatiable.

It has been six weeks since the virus engulfed the world. Everyone who was infected died, and then rose again. Governments collapsed, armies fell, and civilizations turned to dust as the human race tore itself to pieces. The living are in danger of becoming extinct.

Jeff Blaine has witnessed the annihilation of his family and everything that mattered to him. When he steps outside his home for the first time since the world died, he meets Megan, George, and Jason, three other survivors who force him to accept that there may still be a reason to fight and live to see another day. It doesnt take long for the quartet to stumble into a trap set by a group led by the charismatic Michael. While he promises a safe haven from the undead behind the walls of his makeshift fortress, the loyalty he and his cronies demand may be too high a price for Jeff and the others to pay.

Daylight is fading for humanity.

When a routine supply run to a nearby town turns deadly and the ghouls walking the street track the living back to their hideout, the mettle of the meager band of survivors will be tested as they are forced to face the onslaught of the undead. Even as they flee, and their world falls deeper into despair, Jeff and the others must find a way to defeat not only the undead, but the hatred that threatens to cripple their souls. Because the only way anyone will survive is if they can find their way beyond the dark.

Editorial Reviews:

Jim Cooper performs the final, disturbing, and emotionally-charged installment of Patrick DOrazios Dark Trilogy with a growl befitting the bleak, post-apocalyptic world in which Jeff Blaine and his few fellow survivors find themselves. In a time and place where everything that can go wrong has, nothing goes as planned, beginning with the supply run that reveals the groups hideout, provoking an onslaught of the undead. Caught between two gruesome fates, Blaine and the others face the zombie who wish to gnaw them from the outside while struggling with the hatred that threatens to consume them from within.

Members Reviews:

great ending to the series

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes. the story is short, but full of hold onto your seat action. i couldn't stop listening. i wanted to see how the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks they got outta there!

Any additional comments?

book 3 picks up where book 2 ended- with the group of survivors fleeing the hoard of zombies in an rv. if you listened to book 2 and are hesitant to download book 3, DON'T BE!

book 3 is non-stop action from beginning to end. i won't give away what happens, but there was a satisfying ending for all of the characters, especially george.

so if you made it through book 2, book 3 is worth its price. it's full of fleeing, fighting, chilling scenes of characters dying, settling old scores, and re-uniting with loved ones. oh yeah! and lots of zombies. no character is safe! i like authors who have the gravitas to off a character.

my main caveat is i really wish the author had combined all 3 books into one 1 book, but that's my 2 cents.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Joe Devlin: And The New Star Fighter

Subtitle: Space Academy Series, Book 1

Author: James R. Thomas

Narrator: Max Miller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-16-13

Publisher: James Richard Thomas

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

From the right side of Nelson's Star Fighter there was an eruption of cannon fire. A Tourian War vessel had him in its sights. A dozen rounds hit the fuel tanks on Nelson's left wing and smoke started to come from the engine.

Joe Devlin has started his first year at the Space Academy and nothing has gone his way. His father's heroics in the Tri-Sun War are legendary and Joe has plans to follow in his father's footsteps to be a Star Fighter. While his father is deployed to the war, can Joe measure up to the task at hand? With the town in smoke, Joe better find out if he can fix what he messed up before his father discovers his secret.

Members Reviews:

Absolutely fun, but short, story

A story about a cadet in a major "starfighter' academy. It is less than 2 hours long, but very enjoyable.

Nepotism at its finest!

While this book is geared towards younger readers, I feel it sends the wrong message. That message being you can shirk your responsibilities, brake the rules, endanger otehr people and still get what you want as long as your daddy is a war hero.

Our hero Joe Devlin joins the academy, wanting to follow in his father's footsteps as a Star Fighter pilot. Early on in the book he is told he can either become an Aircrew Cadet or a Navigation Cadet. He argues, with a full Commander. As a favor because of who his father is, Joe is told the reason he cannot become an Star Fighter Cadet, namely that his performance in the career examinations were not sufficient to qualify him for a position as a Star Fighter Cadet.

Instead of accepting this with some level of maturity, Joe sulks and fails to apply himself to his course work as a Navigation Cadet. You can imagine what happens during his first real simulator practice with the boy who he doesn't like and who is a Star Fighter Cadet. Upset at his poor performance, Joe sneaks in after hours to prove that his performance would have been better if he'd been the Star Fighter pilot. He's caught of course but instead of being expelled as the rules state he would, he's given detention.

This sets the pattern for the rest of the book. Joe sulks, decides he has to do something to prove that he should be a Star Fighter Cadet, screws up but then is given a pass. While this happens in the real world, it's not a positive message for kids. Yeah I get that this is supposed to be an adventure but Hero's should be decent and hardworking and nto lean on their dad's heroic reputation to get what they feel they deserve simply because they are the son of the hero.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Bitter Pill

Author: A. Bertram Chandler

Narrator: David Marantz

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-08-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A Taut Story of Terrifying Credibility

The Bitter Pill is a novel of the near future as seen from 1974, extrapolating contemporary political and sociological trends to develop with frightening plausibility to growing importance of youth as a political power. To Paul Clayton, obscure shipping clerk, his forty-fifth birthday was not an occasion for celebration. It meant the achievement of status of Senior Citizen, and with it several dubious privileges - not least of which was voluntary euthanasia, facilitated by the government issue suicide pill. Those who changed their minds, once they had broken the capsule containing the lethal pill, faced the prospect of forced labor camps in the Australian desert of the penal colony on Mars, where convicts toiled to make more space fit for Earths over-spilling populations.

Under the supervision of the corrupt and brutal Mars Corps, Clayton crosses paths again with others he once knew on distant Earth. They find themselves caught up on a maelstrom of terror and political intrigue.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Frontier of the Dark

Author: A Bertram Chandler

Narrator: Raphael Corkhill

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-01-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A Space Fantasy Filled with Horror

The Mannschenn Drive was the gateway to the stars, but it had one unfortunate site effect Traveling faster than light, mankind reverted to the bestial form of his own legendary nightmare: the werewolf. And space only feed the creatures theyd become. The lycanthropic horror that the full moon once called forth from the soul's depths, now no longer howls at the moon but soars far beyond it.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Mindblast

Subtitle: Space Cops, Book 1

Author: Diane Duane, Peter Morwood

Narrator: Christopher Prince

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-28-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Officer Lon Salonikis discovered the dark secret behind the Hyperprocess - a conspiracy of mind-altering proportions buried in the deviant quarter Freedom II. And now Salonikis has been terminated.

Only Solar Patrol Rangers Evan Glyndower and Joss O'Bannion are fearless enough to venture downlevel - courting certain death to unmask their former partner's assassin...and to learn the terrible price of the ultimate ecstasy.

Members Reviews:

GOOD START TO A NEW SERIES!

I like the plot which is set in a futuristic world. The two main characters are interesting and the action kept a good pace throughout the story. The different voices and nuances were quite distinct so it was easy to follow .a lot of police procedurals kept the interest going. I would definitely continue this series. I hope there will be more than three which are currently available.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Through the Eye of a Needle

Author: Hal Clement

Narrator: John Nelson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-26-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Time was running out for Bob Kinnaird. Without much warning, the Hunter - the green protoplasmic alien that lived inside him and cured all his ills - had suddenly become his destroyer. Day by day Bob grew weaker and weaker, and only specialists from the Hunter's distant world would know what was wrong with him and, more importantly, how to save him. But the only way searchers from his planet could find him was to locate his missing spaceshipa spaceship that had crashed beneath the ocean years before, its location still very much a mystery. Once again leading an investigation against time - as he had done so many years before - the Hunter knew he had to find comrades and find them fastbefore someone murdered his best friend.

Members Reviews:

Good, Bad and Ugly

I read Needle many years ago, probably in the 60's (it was published in 1950, when I was five). More recently I read this sequel, and just now I've reread it. I see there is one review of it, five stars, and I have to disagree. Needle was pretty interesting, and the sequel is not too bad either, though like most sequels, it's not as good as the original. However, both novels are severely flawed. Basically, this seems to be an alternate universe with an alternate race of humans who have no emotions, like the Vulcans in the original Star Trek series, and speak and think like hyper-rational machines.

(mild spoilers)

The science, fine, and mildly interesting. Not very believable in an absolute sense, but it's pretty easy to suspend disbelief. The detective aspects, OK, pretty good; better in the original than the sequel. But the way people act and talk!!!!! Basically no one ever bats an eye when they find out about these alien parasites-- "well, symbionts", but even the good guys among them frequently enter people and spy on them without their knowledge or consent. (btw, Clement accidentally coined the term "symbiote" in the first book. He's sorry, but the damage is done). The protagonist Bob, in the original, accepts his symbiont, when he finds about him, without complaint, accepts having a passenger looking through his eyes, listening through his ears, and monitoring all his bodily functions 24/7/365, for years. He's not mad, or apparently even upset, when he finds out that his symbiont, Hunter, has made him extremely and probably fatally sick. His friends and family allow Hunter to go into them, too, and no one makes a peep. And everyone talks in exactly the same hyperintellectual way. When Bob, his mother, his father, the doctor, and the Betty and Veronica who are contending for his affections get together in a circle and discuss strategy, it might as well be one person talking out loud. Well, that's Hal Clement for you. He's all about the science, and does really cool world-building and aliens, but his characters are always like this. But you wouldn't put it up with it from anyone else; it's a serious flaw in all his books, and especially glaring here.

Also, Hunter, the intrepid interstellar detective, who flew his own spacecraft here from his home planet, knows nothing about the stellar density of this part of the Galaxy, how his ship works, or even how fast it goes!!

It gets much worse.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The March Hare Network

Subtitle: The Wonderland Gambit, Book 2

Author: Jack L. Chalker

Narrator: Andy Caploe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-14-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Time after time, life after life, Cory Maddox was being incarnated into worlds he found both familiar and strangely different. And only in this latest incarnation did Cory bring along knowledge, skills, and memories of his previous existence - memories of cold betrayal that promised nothing he saw or felt could be trusted. Nor could he trust his companions who, like himself, kept moving from life to life trying to escape the endless cycle. But it was only with the help of those companions that Cory could develop the technological means to peer beyond the veil of reality - to the shadowy figures whom he was sure were manipulating reality... if what he was experiencing actually was reality.

Time was running out. His memories gave him an advantage over the others, but he would have to act quickly and surely if he were to discover the truth - before truth itself could no longer be trusted....

Members Reviews:

Where's the end of the book?

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The last three pages of the book are missing from the recording. Admittedly, not a lot of lost detail, but when you go "What the heck?" it's not you. I pulled out my paper copy to check.

Not a reason to skip the book though. It's a great yarn, and the rollercoaster setup of the first book is in full swing - and hold your horses for the next one. This book does NOT stand alone - you need to hear the whole three-volume novel.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The March Hare Network?

How do you react when it turns out that you aren't who you thought you were? And then it turns out you aren't who you found out you were? And everyone else knew it? And then they were wrong?

But I'd give up my hair for god-like powers, too.

Have you listened to any of Andy Caploes other performances before? How does this one compare?

Very well. He's still weak on voices, but since this series is told in the first person and he gets that voice right, it works pretty well. He seems more comfortable in this series than in some others I've heard. He simply can't voice women, though. Got any books set in a monastery he can read?

Could you see The March Hare Network being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It would be nearly impossible to do - though it would be a great story if they could. People keep getting their bodies changed, their genders swapped, their height and weight and hair color (or lack thereof) changed - and later, even their species. If they could do this with state of the art digital animation it could be staggering. Until then, yikes, unless you can find great actors all of whom have look-alike brothers and sisters.