I’ve listened to both of these and am working on Earthcore - at the request of Chris C. I think you told him to use a crowbar.

In any case, you’re both twisted. You, more than Chris. Actually, you both need therapy, but I hope neither of you get it, or we’d never have these wonderfully, horribly, (lots and lots of violence) sick stories. Quite frankly, I like you this way (and I’m not at all sure what that says about me).

I hope that you and JC and Mur and everyone else continue blazing your bizarre trips across the creative writing landscape… I haven’t had this much nail-biting fun in quite a while, even though I cringe quite frequently while listening. (Maybe fun isn’t the right word. Morbid fascination, perhaps. I just MUST see what is in that hole next to the pumpkin-sized rock…Whats Perry going to do with those scissors??).

I’d like to see what robots would do under your Tutelage. Something Sick and Evil and Violent, I’m sure. I can’t wait! You’re disgusting! (but I like robots! Please make at least one of them be good, should you ever write about them!)

In case you can’t translate the somewhat backhanded compliments, let me be clear: Keep up the outstanding work, you sicko! This is great stuff! I don’t know what you’re doing full time by now, but I hope its writing!
Best Regards -

Now, what seems like ages later, after hearing enough from the cult of Sigler, I decided to give it a go, again. Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind the first time. I always give books a second try. Boy am I glad I tried again. I love blood and gore. LOVE IT. I blame Asian film for this love of mine. Sigler did not let me down. For some they might have thought the story contained too much gore and the language was not to their liking, but this is exactly what I’m looking for…and Sigler delivered. Sure, I noticed the sound quality and mispronunciations and cringed a little, but was quickly distracted by something shiny and followed along again with the story. I’m a research junkie, so I loved all the details in the story. Some might have been bored with the lengthy, technical descriptions of things, but geek speak turns me on.

I got seriously hooked and am thankful my job allows me to listen to audio books all day. I would have preferred to marathon this in one day, but figured I’d have something to look forward to the next day at work if I waited. I was nearly correct in my guess about who lives and dies. I cheered when a certain annoying person got bound, gagged, and tortured. A note to people who listen at work…don’t suddenly say YES a little too loud when someone you’ve been waiting to get their just desserts! It startles people. Sigler, fantastic story. I look forward to listening to your others.

I liked it, I’d read (or have read to me) more by the author, because he’s good at telling stories.

I was also not impressed with the narration. If the characters were to stay consistent, I would be able to follow who was saying what without all the voices changing. I got to the point where I was cringing when some characters were “speaking.”

Okay, so I’ll try not to end on a bad note. As I stated, the premise was good. I did, after all, hear the story through to the end. I like that the ending was somewhat unexpected (even if a little lame and disappointing). There was certainly no lack of blood and gore, so if you are into that kind of thing, you will certainly enjoy this.

I will offer up kudos to Mr. Sigler for opening the way to using podcasts as a means for story delivery. I’m hoping more authors will follow suit. It may yet revive the lost art of radio plays like “The Shadow Knows.”

As normal Iwill start with the good. This is simply a great book. I have recommended it to a handful of friends and all have enjoyed it. Scott has the ability to write action packed stories with fantastic plots, great characters, and engaging story lines. This is just another dazzling addition to his repertoire. His ability to tell a story is truly superb.

I am not going to gripe about his similes or pronounciations any more than I would complain about my Ferrari not having any trunk space for when I go shopping, for the simple reason that they did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. Besides, I think some people have sufficiently ‘gone to town’ on that aspct. I did find the characters a little stereotyped, a bit like an ‘Arnie’ movie, but I’m quite happy to attribute this to his style of writing.

The reading! Scott Sigler sounds as though he has gargled a mouthful of gravel for breakfast and rinsed out with sand. I’m going to be honest and say that this doesn’t always lend well to female voices. But again, it took me all of five minutes to get over the inital shock of a woman that sounded more like my Uncle Vassel, and put it behind me. I got so much more out of this book from the intensity and excitement of the story, I feel almost apologetic pointing out something which is not an oversight but a physiological characteristc. If I have a criticism, it is that I found small sections of the text superfluous. This could be tightened up just a tad.

An all around great piece of work.

Scott really set the bar in podcasting novels with this book. It has been the benchmark for every novel podcaster since. Fantastic Work.

The grammar was good and I had no problem with it. Scott really brings the characters to life. No character is safe in this book and that’s part of the excitement.

Good luck in conquering the world Scott.

Listen to the book again and count the number of times the word “like” is used. Note some of the unusual similes. For example: at one point the silver bugs swarmed over something “like maggots on a week-old dog’s corpse.” First problem: I have never seen maggots on any kind of corpse. Second problem: Do maggots swarm differently on dog corpses than horse or giraffe corpses? Third problem: Do maggots swarm differently on week-old corpses than on 10-day-old corpses?

A simile should enhance the story for the reader. These get in the way. In fact, I sprained my finger backing up my CD some many times so I could hear the bad similes over and over again. I almost lost control of my car once. Either of those could be the definition of distracting the reader from the story.

I was distracted like a man with a hangnail who wants to rewind his CD so he can hear a bad simile again because he can’t believe his ears as he is going around a 37 degree turn going down hill on a road bordered by a mixture of hemlock and oak trees and he’s late for his final duck flute lesson from a woman who hates him because he keeps complaining about his sprained finger during duck-flute foreplay.

Also, what’s with the language? NSA super spies and scientific geniuses who have such little mastery of the English language and such little control of themselves that they would make a Marine blush? I don’t think so.

It was a good enough story, but I was disappointed with the writing. Horrible. (Note: I did pay for this book.)