Audio Book Review: It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

This vintage (1935) dystopian is still relevant to current events.

It Can't Happen Here
by Sinclair Lewis
Read by Grover Gardner

Run Time 14h 28min
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Genre: Classics, Dystopian, Science Fiction
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.0.

Publisher Description
First published in 1935, when Americans were still largely oblivious to the rise of Hitler in Europe, this prescient novel tells a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy and offers an alarming, eerily timeless look at how fascism could take hold in America.
Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, is dismayed to find that many of the people he knows support presidential candidate Berzelius Windrip. The suspiciously fascist Windrip is offering to save the nation from sex, crime, welfare cheats, and a liberal press. But after Windrip wins the election, dissent soon becomes dangerous for Jessup. Windrip forcibly gains control of Congress and the Supreme Court and, with the aid of his personal paramilitary storm troopers, turns the United States into a totalitarian state.

Review:
Doremus Jessup is a smallish town newspaper editor in New England (Vermont) in the 1930s. He is upset when so many people support presidential candidate Berzeliur Windrip who is offering better than a chicken in every pot. Windrip is offering $5,000.00 per person. After Windrip wins, he removes Supreme Court Justices that don’t support his policies and takes control of Congress too. There is no free money. And there is no free speech either. Very soon any grumbling and news opinions speaking out against the government is being squelched.

Doremus is removed from his position but forced to remain in the office to train a Windrip picked new editor in the ropes of publishing. Of course, it is also a way to keep Doremus quiet.

Slowly members of Doremus family and community are impacted. His son-in-law is murdered for speaking out, leaving his daughter festering for revenge. But many in the community accept the new local government, including the brown shirted military that is present to keep the people in line.

Eventually Doremus is recruited to aid an underground effort to revolt against the fascist policies of Windrip. A handful of locals are printing underground news and distributing it out to other disgruntled communities across the northeast. The group is at risk since there are spies, even from their neighbors. An attempt to escape to Canada falls through and Doremus and his cohorts end up in a local jail /camp for dissenters.

The story includes “sheeple” and minor, individual heroics. It includes commentary on historical forms of government which is informative. I didn’t find the book particularly exciting, but it was interesting. And it is even more interesting that it was written before WWII and the rise of Hitler.

This text from this vintage work is still timely as in today’s world you hear unrealistic promises in campaigns, and you see censorship of free speech even by supposed journalists. It made me wonder how this could happen, but when you see people willing to rely so much on government that they give up freedoms and rights. This story was satire, but today it is scary and distressing. I recommend this classic to readers who are willing to read about how fascism and censorship can be used to change society.

Audio Notes: I have enjoyed Grover Gardner’s narration in many different works. His dry delivery fit well with this story. I’m glad I had the opportunity to listen to this classic.

Source: 7/10/19 Chirp Purchase $3.99. This qualifies for 2022TBR and 2022Audiobook goals.

Audible Book Review: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

This is good vintage sci fi. but strange.

The Stars My Destination
By: Alfred Bester
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
Release date: 12-05-17
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Genre: Hard Sci Fi, Vintage
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.0.

Publisher's Summary
Marooned in outer space after an attack on his ship, Nomad, Gulliver Foyle lives to obsessively pursue the crew of a rescue vessel that had intended to leave him to die.
When it comes to pop culture, Alfred Bester (1913-1987) is something of an unsung hero. He wrote radio scripts, screenplays, and comic books (in which capacity he created the original Green Lantern Oath). But Bester is best known for his science fiction novels, and The Stars My Destination may be his finest creation. With its sly potshotting at corporate skullduggery, The Stars My Destination seems utterly contemporary, and has maintained its status as an underground classic for over 50 years.
©1956 Alfred Bester; copyright renewed 1984 by Alfred Bester; special restored text of this edition copyright 1996 by the Estate of Alfred Bester; Introduction copyright 1996 by Neil Gaiman (P)2017 Tantor.

Review:
Gulliver Foyle is a simple crew member on the ship SS Nomad. The ship becomes marooned in space and Foyle is the only survivor. Struggling to use the remaining oxygen sparingly, Foyle is excited when he sees a rescue ship, the Vulgar, stop when they see his distress signal. But instead of coming to save him, they move on, leaving him to die.

Miraculously Foyle awakens in a space colony where the unique community has tattooed his face with stripes that look like a grotesque tiger. When Foyle realizes there is a chance to escape the asteroid and return to earth (Terra), he rushes forward with an overwhelming obsession to hunt down the crew that left him behind.

Foyle lives in a time when many have learned to jaunte or teleport themselves to locations they can picture in their minds. But no one has successfully jaunted in space and it is believed to be impossible. Foyle turns out to be a talented juanter, using the skill in many of his escapes.

The story follows Foyle as his obsession pushes him to use aliases while he gathers finances, resources and information seeking the crew of the Vulgar. Along the way he makes friends and enemies who assist his efforts, sometimes under threat. At one point Foyle gets very close to the owner of the Vulgar and Foyle finds himself drawn to the man’s unusual daughter who is blind but sees in wavelength spectrum. She ends up having a strange role in Foyle’s story.

The story is a little strange and Foyle isn’t necessarily a likeable protagonist. However, I did enjoy the creative steps and means of escape that Foyle comes up with in his desperate situations. The story was written in the 1950s and shows a wonderful sense of imagination. The story is what I consider ‘hard’ science fiction and it does have some surprises and ironies especially as it nears the ending. I think I may prefer military sci fi with action and characters I can cheer on. Still, I am glad that I read/listened to this classic. I do recommend it to readers who want to share in the history of science fiction.

Audio Notes: Gerard Doyle is an Irish narrator who does a very good job with this piece. He captures Foyle’s normal gutter language and the changes he makes as he pursues his revenge. Doyle also delivers on the intensity of the emotions and his narration enhanced my enjoyment of the story.

November Vintage Sci Fi title. Source: 6/12/18 Audible Daily Deal $2.95. This qualifies for 2020 TBR and 2020Audiobook goals.

Audible Book Review: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

This is an engaging horror story.

I Am Legend
By: Richard Matheson
Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 12-31-06
Language: English
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genre: Horror, Paranormal, Sci Fi, Vintage
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.5.

Publisher's Summary
In I Am Legend, a plague has decimated the world, and those unfortunate enough to survive are transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Robert Neville is the last living man on earth. Every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn. How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?
©1954, 1982 by Richard Matheson (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Review:
Robert Neville is a lone survivor of a plague that turned most survivors to a form of vampire. The authorities took his daughter to the burn pit but he protected his wife as long as he could. When the time came that she died he took her to bury her with dignity – he thought. At least he would be able to visit her grave. But when night came, she arrived at his door to visit him.

The neighbors and strangers prowl his lawn at night seeking his blood; hoping to make him one of them. He struggles with being a true, living survivor, with no one to talk to and only the taunting shouts of the dead outside his barricaded home. During the day Neville tracks the sleeping monsters to their lairs and kills them first with wooden stakes and later by other means he discovers. One night after a drunken rage he decides to study the decease to see if he can find a cure. After all he has hours and days and years…

It has been a long time since Neville has seen a person during the day or heard a voice other than the dead. He is shocked when he finds a woman wondering in a field one day. His ravings frighten her but he ends up dragging her home. Then he begins to wonder if she is another survivor like him.

The character of Neville in the book is not the one I remember from the movie. I suppose it is understandable that Neville would have bouts of craziness – being alone so long and always under night attacks. At times he is a sad character and other times pathetic. I hoped things would improve when he began reading medical journals. Some of the monologues and medical jargon got a bit tedious but it was part of the character development. I especially found the history and myth testing regarding vampires interesting.

This is a Vintage book written in 1954 and it did not have some of the more modern items I think I remember in the movie. I had forgotten enough of the movie to make this worth listening to as part of my TBR. I knew it was horror and I am thinking that the book achieves a different level of sci fi horror than the movie.

I enjoyed the ending dilemma which reveals the meaning of the title. I recommend this to horror fans, fans of a different, dark vampire (no sparkles), and fans of post-apocalyptic. I also recommend it even if you have seen the movie.

Audio Notes: Robertson Dean does an excellent job with the narration. He captures the dark tone of the story and the mania of Neville. I’m glad I listened to this rather than reading.

Source: 11/18/17 Celebrating 20 years of Listeners Membership Perk Free #audible20. This qualifies for 2019TBR and 2019Audiobook goals.

Audio Book Review: Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton

This is an entertaining, quick, vintage sci fi.

Voodoo Planet

Written By: Andre Norton

Narrated By: Mark Nelson

Publisher: LibriVox

Date: January 2011

Duration: 2 hours 47 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction, Vintage

My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; 4.0 Story; 4.0 Narrative

Also available as free Kindle at Amazon.

Summary:

The sequel to Plague Ship, Voodoo Planet finds the Solar Queen banned from trade and starting her supposed quiet two-year stint as an interstellar mail carrier. But instead her crew accepts a visit to the safari planet of Khatka, where they find themselves caught in a battle between the forces of reason and the powers of Khatka's mind-controlling wizard. (Summary by Mark Nelson)

Review:
There are less than a handful of crew on the Solar Queen as it starts a demoted trek from trade to international a mail carrier. Before their route begins, they are visited by a chief ranger seeking help on his home planet Khatka. Khatka is a colony planet inhabited by descendants of people from Africa who escaped from Earth. The people have developed special skills and developed a combined clan effort to promote a successful luxury hunting vacation to the wealthy in the universe. But there appears to be a new problem with poachers and one of the clan families is becoming unstable.

Chief Ranger, Kort Asaki, asks the Captain to come with his Medic Tau to observe and, if needed, intervene to challenge an unstable ‘witch’ doctor. Dale, the Queen’s “general errand boy” is fortunate to get to travel on the unexpected safari.

The investigative team arrives at a game park to be greeted with a frightening display of a hypnotic dance that resembles voodoo rituals (thus the title Voodoo Planet). They set off on a journey over the mountains where teams have gone but never returned. Can they survive the natural dangers, the hallucinations and the threats of human enemies?

This read fine as a stand-alone although it is apparently a sequel. The story is told in third person with a good blend of dialogue and narrative. There is plenty of action and intrigue. I liked the ironic trick that was used to face the magic. I enjoy reading Andre Norton especially when I realize that she is a female author who wrote in 1950s.

Audio Notes: Mark Nelson does a nice job narrating this as a public domain work. Although he doesn't focus on voice characters, he still gives energy to the story. I am glad I listened to this on audio.

Source: 2017 Audiobooks.com Public Domain Vintage free download. This qualifies for 2019TBR, 2019Audiobook and 2019Alphabet Goals.