Paul

Good for a series

Revisado: 10-02-17

The fourth book in this series is good, and there are some unexpected twists that keep it fresh, but there is a lot of "more of the same." Alamein has written himself into a corner since the crew can't reveal there existence to any other aliens. Therefore there is little direct interaction between humans and aliens. My favorite parts about Columbus Day, and Trouble on Paradise were learning about the different cultures and watching them interact. The charecter development is also lagging the Hans is more friendly and Skippy more tolerant.
Another problem is that because the existence of human pirates can't be revealed, all of their missions must succeed flawlessly despite complications. This removes the elament of suspense and strains credulity,. The magic beer can"can and does almost everything. It's the same problem writers face with super man, or ST Tricorders. I hope in the next book the humans get some alien allies, even if they are primitively. Otherwise this 12 book series may not be sustainable. At present, this was a good read and I'm cautiously opptamistic about the next book. Alan son has to expand his universe if he wants us to keep playing in it. Don't let me down!

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Wish it weren't so but it's terrible

Revisado: 05-04-17

I was really hoping this would be good but it was not period. Here are just a few of its main problems. (The only good thing was the music and voice acting quality)
1. Story was long, too complex, and completely unresolved. Yes sometimes cliffhangers can be very good, but this story literally does not resolve, nor explain anything.
2. Direction, there are way too many characters for a simple radio drama. loses track of who is who. This problem is complicated by the way the world storyline is cut into another storyline and then into another story line and then back again as if it were a movie.
3. Obviously written by a foreigner, Though the actors have great skill in good American accents, The fact that the flashlight is referred to as a "torch," a warm day is described as 29 degrees, and "eh" and "yall" are used in the same sentence are really distracting. It terns out the script is translated and they did.a poor job.
4. Way too many obvious 80s references for the Stalgia purposes.
5. Finally though this book almost requires a sequel, they never made a sequel in English.

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Good fun

Revisado: 02-01-17

Good space drama. Complex it interesting universe with very different types of aliens. But The story sometimes gets a little ridiculous with the smart-ass beer can shaped A.I. Created millions of years ago via mysterious race of aliens.

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Funny, fun fairytales

Revisado: 05-15-16

Because this was a collection of stories and Poems somewhere better than others but on the whole this was a great book. The narrator also sometimes seemed better than other times, but in some of the stories he did a masterful job.
Overall this was a delightful and foot are you book full of lots of short reads.

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Better than expected!

Revisado: 02-10-16

This was a very good book. Well written and easy to read and understand, This book is full of complexity. This book tells a tale that is niether a slaughter of innocents by greedy Europeans, nor a story of rugged proto-Americans in a savage new land, nor an idealistic fairytale of peace. This is the story of people with people trying to survive in tough times

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A Potluck Production!

Revisado: 02-06-16

Any additional comments?

This is a good collection of old time radio from a famous broadcaster. However, it is Not Digitally enhanced or edited. This means that some episodes are very staticy, to the point where it is hard to hear the story. The episodes are in completely random order with no a regard for chronology or continuity. Some segments are cut short, while others stretch into dead-air. There are several repeat stories, while other of Welles' famous episodes are left out. Some of the stories are based on timeless classics and some of the stories are very dated. Welles' version of Les Miserables is excellent and there were sever other gems. There is even an interesting, but random, interview between H.G. Wells and Orson Wells in section 6. For me one of the most fascinating broadcasts was Welles' version of Julius Ceaser, where you can hear him berating the cast in the background.
If you are really interested, its worth it, but you can probably find all of these broadcasts and more for free online.

One Final Note: Another Reviewer compiled a list of the shows in this download, but below is my version of that list in the order they appear in the download.


Section 1
“A Tale of Two Cities,” by Charles Dickens
“Abraham Lincoln,” Original Script, by John Drinkwater and Orson Welles
“Around the World in Eighty Days,” By Jules Verne
“A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens
“A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens
“Ah Wilderness,” by Eugene O'Neill
“Algiers,” By John Howard Lwson
“Arrowsmith,” by Sinclair Lewis
“Beau Geste,” by C. Wren

Section 2
“Counseled at Law,” by Elmer Rice
“Dinner at Eight,” by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber
“Dodsworth,” by Sinclair Lewis
“The Escape,” by John Galsworthy
“Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
“I Lost My Girlish Laughter,” by George Kaufman and Jane Allen
“It Happened One Night,” by Samuel Hopkins Adams
“June Moon,” by Ring Lardner & George S Kaufman with Jack Benny

Section 3
“Lilleon,” by Ferenc Molnar
“Lost Herizon,” by James Hilton
“Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” by Clarence Budington Kelland, motion picture screenplay by Robert Riskin
“Mutiny on the Bounty,” by Charles Nordhoff and Norman Hall
“Only Angels Have Wings,” by Howard Hawks, motion picture screenplay by Jules Furthman
“Our Town,” by Thorton Wilder
"Peter Ibbetson," by George du Maurier
“Private Lives,” by Noell Coward

Section 4
“Rabble in Arms,” by Kenneth Roberts
“Rebecca," by Daphne du Maurier
“Showboat,” by Edna Ferber
"The Bad Man," by Porter Emerson Browne
"The Citadel" by A. J. Cronin,
“The Count of Monte Cristo,” By Alexander Dumas
“The Garden of Allah," by Robert Hichens
“The Glass Key,” by Dashiell Hammett

Section 5
“The Green Goddess" by William Archer
“The Hurricane,” by James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff
“The Magnificent Ambersons," by Booth Tarkington
"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Agatha Christie
“The Patriot,” by Pearl Buck
“Theodora Goes Wild,” by Mary McCarthy, screenplay by Sidney Buchman
“American cavalcade: The Things We Have,” by Orson Welles
“Vanity Fair,” by William Makepeace Thackeray
“Vanessa,” by Hugh Walpole

Section 6
“Victoria Regina" by Laurence Housman
“What Every Woman Knows,” by J. M. Barrie
“Wickford Point,” by John P. Marquand
“Count Dracula,” by Bram Stoker
Dialogue between H.G. Wells & Orsen Welles
“Heart of Darkness,” by J. Conrad & Clarence Day
"Hell on Ice" by Edward Ellsberg
“Julius Ceaser”, by William Shakespeare
“Les Miserable,” by Victor Hugo adpted by Orson Welles, part 1

Section 7
“Les Miserable,” by Victor Hugo adpted by Orson Welles, parts 2-7
"A Passenger to Bali" by Ellis St. Joseph
“Thirty-nine Steps,” by John Buchan
“The Affairs of Anatol" by Arthur Schnitzler
“The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas
”Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, from the play by William Gillette

Section 8
“The Man Who Was Thursday,” by G.K. Chesteron
“The Pickwick Papers,” by Charles Dickens
“The War of the Worlds,” by H.G. Wells
Three Stories: “I'm a Fool,” by Sherwood Anderson & “The open window,” by H.H. Monroe aka. Saki & “My Little Boy,” by Carl Eawald
“Seventeen,” by Booth Tarkington
“The Thirty-nine Steps,” by John buchm
“Treasure Island,” by Robert Lewis Stevenson

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esto le resultó útil a 40 personas

Not a story but a great philosophical exploration

Revisado: 09-19-15

This is an epistomological essay dressed up as a mythical story. If you like philosophy or postmodern writing you will love this book but if you're looking for a good story with plot and character development, this isn't for you!
The production value is amazing! The readers are great! The ideas in the book are both compelling and mystifying. But this is not a book for your average audiobook listener. So "Caveat Emptor!"

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Not so good

Revisado: 09-18-15

I knew by the second chapter this book would be mediocre at best, so I sped up the audio, and I am glad I did. It was just flat and predictable. I don't think the Native American stuff was very accurate, and there were lots of clenches and plot holes. (And needless descriptions of butts breasts, and penises. (Some people might like that but it was just too much for my taste.). Lots of stuff left unexplained, and it lacked the literary complexity of Lovecraft, Wade-Wellman, or King. The best part was the narrator and his diversity of voices, but even that wasn't very unique. My recommendation spend your money on something better

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Terrible

Revisado: 08-01-15

The reviews said it was like douglas adams, NOT AT ALL! The characters were all flat and unappealing. The plot was nonsensical, but not in a funny way. Whole chapters seemed to be there just to make the book longer and sillier.
But the narrator was very good we had many different voices. He is the only reason this book got a 2 instead of a 1

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Not the original

Revisado: 07-08-15

I was skeptical when I first saw how short this prequel was compared to Matthesons' original Hell House. (but to be fair there stay was shorter). Then I worried about reading the prequel, because sometimes it's scarier to not know. But the allure was too Great!
As a stand alone, this is a good short story, but compared to its pregenator it falls flat. None of the characters are as deep or complex. In fact the physical appearance of the house gets more detail than the characters and their lives. This is especially true for Bilasco, the demonic ghost. The subtlety and intelligence of the house is lacking. The other major aspect that was missing was what I would call, "background detail." We get a minimal description of the doctors scientific theory of ghosts but that's it! No idea why these particular people were chosen for the expedition. Little idea of their motives for going. Little understanding of their methods and experiments. . They do not even do a full tour of the house in three days. (Never going to the basement garage). And little understanding of what they intend to do with the psychic energy of Hell House.
Finally, and I may be knitt picking, but I don't think return to Hell House matches with Hell House itself. For example Ben Fisher indicates his original group had trouble with both the keys and the generator, which they don't in this story. I don't even think the layout of the house is the same.

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