Off the Bookshelf: JUNKYARD CATS, by Faith Hunter

 

Audiobook, Audible exclusive

Narrated by Khristine Hvam

Shining Smith series, Book 1

Gritty futuristic tale of survival, with a slow drip of one chilling revelation after another, coalescing in a picture of a gut-churning near-future. And doubts about whether our heroine is still human.

Shining is living in hiding, presumed dead, running a junkyard and protecting a man she rescued from slavery. The United States is a shattered mess, just like the environment, where West Virginia has been turned into a desert, and motorcycle gangs are mobile armed forces, or terrorists, feeding off the mangled carcass of the country. No indication which side won in the war, which hovers on the verge of re-igniting.

An enforcer for her father's former motorcycle warrior group shows up, following a signal triggered by an invasion of the junkyard. Shining plays a dangerous game trying to convince him she isn't herself, she's just a clueless receptionist, tending the junkyard while her boss is away. Little by little, looking through Shining's eyes, listeners learn about the danger she has faced, the threats to her life she has overcome, the alien technology that has merged with and taken over both machines and people's bodies, and just how un-helpless and un-defenseless she really is. When agents of an enemy gang approach the junkyard, she is forced to work with the enforcer to stay alive. And the junkyard cats of the title are revealed as far more than cats, and far more capable of fighting to defend their territory than they should be.

Scary, but I couldn't stop listening.

Off the Bookshelf: RIVALS! FRENEMIES WHO CHANGED THE WORLD, by Scott McCormick

 

Audible exclusive, Audible original

Narrated by Prentice Onayemi, Samantha Turret, Khristine Hvam, Gabriel Vaughan, Josh Hurley

This is the side of history you don't get in school. The rivalries between political leaders, academics, and royals -- basically people who were smart and should have known better -- but let their pride and hurt feelings and childish natures get in the way. Or they didn't stand up to political and other types of pressures, and did what was expedient, and nobody had the intelligence or tact or maturity to apologize! Dinosaur bone collectors and scientists, Founding Fathers, British Royal Family drama.

This reminds me of Fractured Flickers, a show my brother loves, produced by the same creative insane geniuses who gave us Rocky and Bullwinkle, taking silent movies, adding sound effects, dubbing in dialog that was most definitely not part of the original script, and then creating a new story entirely. Totally silly and fractured.

This is basically fractured history -- showing the cracks and the crackpots and the stupidity of real people, and bringing the larger-than-life characters down to size. Bravo! I hope there are more like this out there. Fun!