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THE UMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES by
the aforementioned "Walter Witty"
is a comedy based on the premise that sports
is, in fact, religion. How anyone can debate this is
beyond me (ie. Witty.) Hasn't the phrase "it's
more than just a game" been repeated more than
just a million times by grown men in designer suits
preaching to grown men with their faces painted orange--and
with spiked hair--just before cutting to a commercial
for fizzy sugar water? Roger Goodell, the "Supreme
High Commissioner of the NFL Dioceces," might have
tried to prevent the release of this book (if not Kim
and Rodman), had they hacked the manuscript. Comedic
diary entries, stories, and a Lossary of Terms form
the content brought to hilarious life by ESPN producer
and voice actor Barry Abrams. He's the perfect choice
to elicit the listener's empathy in dealing with (and
overcoming) sports obsessions, too. Why "Witty?"
That's homage to Walter Mitty, who dreams of an adventurous
life away from the dugout or gridiron. Why "Umpire?"
That's homage to the fabled "Emperor" whom
no one has had the "balls" to say is naked...for
fear of losing their head in the arena games. (Until
now, that is. Under a pseudonym. Like Salman Rushdie.)
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GENOCIDE OF ONE by Kazuaki
Takano was translated by Philip Gabriel,
and is read by Jon Kaezevich. What
attracted me to this suspense with SF leanings was the
plot. A band of four mercenaries is hired by the President's
black ops security team to kill some Pygmies in the
Congo whose strange new virus may pose a threat to mankind.
They are also instructed to kill a new kind of creature
that may be in their midst, and which they (the mercenaries)
will know (on sight) has never been seen before. Furthermore,
this one unique creature may be a child. Is the threat
really a virus? One of the men wonders. Don't want to
ruin it for you, but suffice it to say humanity is about
to change and evolve into a new species, due to a genetic
accident...and those in power don't want anything to
change. (Not just Roger Goodell.) Having also written
a novella about the possibility of mankind evolving
(Transcendence 2: The Nexus Ultimatum), I am sure you
can see my attraction to this story, but whether you
will love it depends on if you can enjoy provocative
fiction in addition to variations on the typical (ie.
serial killers, war stories, coming of age, zombies,
boy meets girl, etc.). There is discussion of anthopology,
sociology, morality, pharmacology, and even ESP and
computer hacking in the mix, here. A subplot involves
the saving of a mercenary's son. The narrator is excellent,
although perhaps his interpreted female voices need
work. There may also be some padding of the text, but
none of this is a greater flaw to me, at least, than
rewriting what others have already done, or not engaging
the mind of the listener (in addition to one's more
visceral imagination.) Good versus evil is the theme,
and that is certainly not new. But widening the view
in order to contemplate man as violent, evolving animal,
fighting his own destiny, is not usually tackled in
pop fiction. With an able and listenable narrator on
board, only diehard sports fans (with little time for
science) might be bored by this. But those folks are
probably not reading this review because there's a game
on.
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