AUG 2016
AUDIO BOOK REVIEWS
by Jonathan Lowe
 |
Back
in the “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”
days, the spy game was about hidden messages and microdots
that spies carried across borders at personal peril,
hoping not to be intercepted at airports. Today spies
sit in offices or at various Starbucks, staring at computer
screens. They hack into sensitive servers, download
files in seconds, and then send them on wild electronic
routes across the global internet. Or they put spyware
on computers and wait for the info to be emailed back
to them. In CYBER SPIES by Gordon Corera,
the history of spycraft is examined, with particular
attention given to Russia, the UK, and China, but also
the NSA and characters like Edward Snowden. It’s
not just military secrets that are targeted. Cyber big
business crime is viral, as global technology in the
U.S. and elsewhere is targeted for attack. Narrator
Gildart Jackson has a deep English voice with a commanding
yet pleasant tone to it, perfect for listening in the
car or on an iPhone or iPod where there might be background
noise. You will learn many things you may not have gleaned
even by reading the NY Times, and certainly not by watching
network news. Such as the personality of the NSA director,
how the Cold War evolution of spycraft has gone from
hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions in cost
in a new arms (technology) race, and how the Chinese
have become the biggest users of the internet with the
most spies (including state-friendly tech companies
working 24/7 to acquire both business and military advantage
via espionage.) Many countries, particularly non-democratic
ones, limit the internet, blocking out entire sectors
of news and information, even as they hack dissidents
or regime critics. So besides being a means for people
to obtain information, the internet is also a tool to
suppress citizens and to attack neighbors. Reminds me
of the Star Trek episode in which two civilizations
war with each other via computer, and those “hit”
electronically must report to disintegration stations.
The consequences of spying and information theft likewise
includes victims. Spock would have found the audiobook
“fascinating,” before a raised eyebrow indicated
that humans never seem to learn from war as the Vulcans
did. |
|
 |
Speaking of Star Trek, Harlan Ellison’s new audiobook
THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER contains
the original script of that award winning "best
ever episode" teleplay performed by a full cast,
plus commentary from both writers and actors (like DeForest
Kelley, who is on Harlan’s side.) It was not the
script that aired. The audiobook is 8 hours in length,
and explains how Harlan was lied about by both Roddenberry
and Shatner, (and lied to, as well.) Did he singlehandedly
save Star Trek from cancellation at the beginning of
the first season? Would Star Trek even exist today without
Harlan? A case is made. The script of City as aired
won a Hugo award, but is still inferior to the original.
Ellison gives proof of what he says, (and besides this,
having seen the movie version of "A Boy and His
Dog" compared to the story version by Ellison,
I have to believe him. The ending to Dog was "crap"
compared to the infinitely more literate and meaningful
ending to the story version, which Hollywood hacks turned
into a joke.) Star Trek was originally conceived by
Roddenberry as an ambitious and original series, with
daring and imaginative concepts to be written by legends
of science fiction, but has since devolved into one
liner-replete situation comedies and SFX eye candy,
no more “real” science fiction than was
Lost in Space. With today's war on science, and our
ignorance about science, it is not surprising that pop
culture has "dumbed down" Hollywood, and that
directors like JJ Abrams rarely hire great writers but
write the scripts themselves, opting for actors barely
out of their teens to play "seasoned veteran"
commanders. (Target audience: teens to mid 20s.) Or
as Roger Ebert once told me before he died, "We
live in desperate times. They don't write movies for
adults anymore." Follow the money, and the Coke
ads. (Sorry, Beyond fans. Harlan says the same thing
in his audiobook, and he is the most award-winning SF
writer still alive. “If I’m such a bum like
they say,” he says, “why did they keep coming
back to me again and again for ideas about Star Trek
movie scripts?”) |
|
 |
The
rise of hate politics may be to blame for many of the
lone wolf attacks in America and abroad, a topic explored
in THE MYSTERY OF THE LONE WOLF KILLER by Unni
Turrettini. Roughly two-thirds of attacks are
now described as “lone wolf,” and this is
unfortunate for a number of reasons. Solo killers can
easily hide, are difficult if not impossible to track
or predict (as shown in the book “The Black Swan”),
and their motives are legion (not just ISIS.) Given
that fame is our culture’s #1 goal (with the viral
rise of the Selfie), what faster way to instant fame
than by killing people, knowing that the media will
be all over it? If someone is dying of cancer, or depressed
and angry, plus they are a sociopath (one in 25 are,
read “The Sociopath Next Door”), suicide
by cop may be appealing, radicalized or not. Psychologists
often say that when suicides are publicized, the suicide
rate goes up. Same is true of terrorist copycats. The
more hype you see, the more of the same you will get.
Network news is in competition for eyeballs, and must
give us more of what we want, whether that be viral
cat videos or explosions, in order to sell more junk
food and the prescription drugs needed to treat eating
junk food. (Watch any half hour news show, and you will
see sensational news first, followed by drug ads with
shorter segments to commercial break, “When we
come back,” ending with an upbeat feel good piece
to preserve viewership.) Every time, every network.
Same stories, too. You have to read or listen to books
to find out the WHY. “The Spiral Notebook”
is another I recommend, along with my own political
bomber novel “Postmarked for Death,” which
gets into the twisted mind of a terrorist (and was endorsed
by Clive Cussler as “mystery at its best.”
Now for the publisher’s notes on Unni’s
audiobook: July 22, 2011 was the darkest day in Norway’s
history since Nazi Germany’s invasion. It was
one hundred eighty-nine minutes of terror—from
the moment the bomb exploded outside a government building
until Anders Behring Breivik was apprehended by the
police at Utoya Island. Breivik murdered seventy-seven
people, most of them teenagers and young adults, and
wounded hundreds more. Breivik is a ‘lone wolf
killer,’ often overlooked until they commit their
crime. Breivik is also unique as he is the only ‘lone
wolf’ killer in recent history to still be alive
and in captivity. Unparalleled research and a unique
international perspective. The Mystery of the Lone Wolf
Killer examines the massacre itself and why this lone-killer
phenomenon is increasing worldwide. Based on true events.
Unni Turrettini was born in northern Norway and grew
up in Drammen, a city near Oslo, approximately twenty
minutes from where Breivik was raised. As a foreign
exchange student, she graduated from high school in
Kansas City, Kansas, and she has law degrees from Norway,
France, and the United States. She currently lives with
her family in Geneva, Switzerland, and is at work on
a second book, a behind-the-scenes examination of the
Nobel Peace Prize. Narrator Pete Cross holds a BA in
Theatre from the University of Toledo and an MFA in
Acting from the California Institute of the Arts. Stage
experience includes Alexander in Every Good Boy Deserves
Favor, at Carnegie Hall. He has also acted in film,
and served on faculty at Cal Arts and with Aquila Morong
Studio in Hollywood. Pete has coached for film and theatrical
productions, and continues to work with private clients
all over the world. |
|
|
Also
new in fiction is the unusual suspense DARK
MATTER by Blake Crouch, narrated by Jon Lindstrom;
KILLER LOOK by Linda Fairstein, a
romantic suspense by the great Barbara Rosenblat (whom
I know, and have interviewed); HEROES OF THE
FRONTIER by Dave Eggers, an usual family
story read by Rebecca Lowman; and THE ANGEL’S
SHARE by J.R. Ward, a high society novel
read by Alexander Cendese. |
|
|
