In the Service of Samurai
I love the smell of algae-draped Samurai in the morning. We present In the Service of Samurai, by Gloria Oliver.
The choice: Serve the undead or become one of them.
Toshi never expected the strange visitor who one evening stepped foot inside
his master’s shop. A samurai smelling of the sea, dripping on the ground,
algae strung from his armor. For the first time in his life, he discovers
that monsters do roam the earth. And this one has been specifically looking
for him.Dragged from his home and all he has ever known, Toshi must now use his
acquired skills in foreign maps to help the creatures who have taken him.
Yet at every turn there are problems. There are even those seeking to
terminate his very life, not wanting his new master to succeed in his
assigned task. And when they do find it, Toshi discovers his new master’s
enemies have prepared for their eventual arrival, leaving him the only one
capable of recovering what has been lost. Can he do what even the undead
cannot? Or will he fail and be forced to wonder the world as one of them?
July 7th, 2006 at 7:32 am
You have a grammer (or spelling, depending on how you look at it) error in the blurb for “in Service of Samurai”… The last sentence says “…and be forced to wonder the world…” That should be “…and be forced to wander the world…”. Wonder vs. wander… Thanks!
July 7th, 2006 at 8:37 am
Thanks, Michael. It has been corrected.
July 8th, 2006 at 3:06 am
Ahem…..”grammar”
;-P
July 9th, 2006 at 12:14 am
Mea culpa Mea Culpa. Thanks for the catch guys!!! Appreciate the help!
July 17th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
5 stars for narration quality? based on the first episode i’d give 3 or maybe 4 stars, but not 5. does narratiuon get better in the later episodes?
July 20th, 2006 at 11:32 am
can anyone download episode 3? all i get is an error message. something like “URL not found on this server”. what’s going on?
July 21st, 2006 at 1:32 pm
CAN ANY ONE HELP AND LET ME KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON
WHEN I SUBSCRIBED TO THIS BOOK I GOT EPISODES
1 AND 2 AT FIRST BUT NOW GET ERROR ON EPISODES 1- 5
BUT NOT ON 6-8 CAN SOME ONE HELP AND LET ME KNOW WHAT I CAN
DO TO FIX THIS
July 21st, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Thank you for your notes, Alfred and MH. It appears that an odd capitilaztion scheme was in place, causing several of the files to be missing. It has since been corrected. You may need to unsubscribe and then resubscribe to cause the correct epsiodes to download.
Sorry for the inconvenience. And Alfred, I hope you get that issue with your CAPSLOCK key fixed.
E.
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:39 am
Just testing things…
July 31st, 2006 at 7:12 am
Hello,
Just started listening to this book and I am loving it, right up until about 23minutes and 26-30secounds in Episode 1. The audio is cut off. I tried downloading the episode again, and also listening to the feed directly from the site, but they are all the same.
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:05 am
I have the same problem as Craig. And i too loved the story so far.
August 9th, 2006 at 6:05 am
File has been fixed! Yay! Thanks for your patience!
October 8th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Great story so far. The narration quality is pretty good too. I cant wait for more episodes.
November 9th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
When episode 16 downloaded, i only got 4 seconds of audio. What went wrong and how do i get the full episode? I feel like i have missed a very important part of the story and i love listening to this book.
November 12th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Hm, just check my original file and it looks to be working okay. This file is large at 42 minutes. Perhaps you can try downloading it again? Let us know if you still have problems!
January 12th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Great story Gloria. Thanks for giving it to podiobooks! Can’t wait to find out what happens next!
January 13th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Thanks, Eric. Glad you’re enjoying it. Only 3 more episodes to go!
January 15th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I have really enjoyed this pod book. I have been listening mostly to Old time radio shows lately, and only recently discovered Podiobooks. And although this book does not have the special sound effects that I’ve grown accustomed too, it really speaks alot to the quality of the writing that this kind of thing is not needed. I love this era of Japanese history. The story’s beginning with the meeting of Toshi and the Samurais is one of the better and creepy intro chapters to any book I’ve read. Thank you also for keeping the cliche’ “ghost pirate” stuff out of this as well. Great story Gloria, I’ll be sad to read the ending.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:57 am
Wow! Thanks, David! Really appreciate the comments! Hope you enjoy the ending as much as the beginning.
Thanks again!
January 29th, 2007 at 6:10 am
I’ll admit that for the first few chapters, I wasn’t sure I was going to finish this story. The narration was a little weak, and the story didn’t grab me right away. Luckily I stuck with it, and after the first few chapters I was swept up in the tale. The narration has become a lot more confident, and once the story really took shape it became interesting and exciting.
If you’re checking this book out for the first time, give it a few episodes even if it doesn’t grab you from the start. I did, and now I’m almost sad to see it end.
January 29th, 2007 at 7:15 am
This story really gets going as Toshi delves deeper into his quest. I really enjoy the bits of traditional Japanese culture that are incorporated throughout the story. I’ll be sad to see it end.
January 30th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Unlike some podiobooks, this one got better and better as it went. Great job & great story! (I actually liked some of this mispronunciations along the way - it gave it more of an ‘authentic?’ feel).
Best of luck finding other markets for this engaging work (my teenage kids have started to listen to it and 5 chapters in they are starting to really like it!).
January 31st, 2007 at 10:40 pm
This was a very fun read that had me chomping at the bit for the next episode each time one was completed. Excellent way of weaving Japanese ancient culture with the story and spot-on accuracy with how ship navigation is done. I actually teared a little at the end.
February 3rd, 2007 at 5:51 pm
THANKS ALL!!! Appreciate it!!!!
February 5th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Great book, Gloria. Hope you’ll do more, the world was beautifully woven. I loved the bittersweet ending at the end, and loved the interwoven Japanese history bits throughout.
February 11th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Thanks, Vee! Do plan to do my second novel called “Vassal of El” as well for podiobooks. Had hoped to get started already but have been having equipment issues.
If you want a glimpse of what it is about, feel free to take a look at www.gloriaoliver.com/vassal.html Hope to get everything fixed and going in the next month or so. Wish me luck! lol
February 13th, 2007 at 5:22 am
Loved the book. Cried at the end.
I plan to buy the paperback to add to my “real” book collection. I also can’t wait to read your other novel!
February 14th, 2007 at 5:54 am
Thanks so much, Dana! Woot!
March 2nd, 2007 at 12:36 am
One of the best books I’ve listened to. Really, really well done. I cried at the end too–can’t remember doing that before. And I was at work at the time. Ack! I got the book to read to my kids. I’m very glad I gave this book a try.
March 13th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
*blush* thanks, Kris! Glad you enjoyed. Thanks for getting the hard copy! Really appreciate the support!!!!
August 27th, 2007 at 8:11 am
Listened to it during the summer travels. Despite a few technical difficulties on our end, we enjoyed it!
(Note to self: Burn as CD rather than MP3 next time and avoid the multi-device conversion process; and print out chapter summaries to avoid “Which chapter were we on?”)
Couple of technical points:
Predictable chapter lengths would be nice. Knowing whether to sit in the car for the next few minutes till it finishes, or wait till the next drive, would help. (List time in the printed chapter summaries?)
Volume a bit erratic. Constant for each chapter, but we had to play with the volume between the intros and the meat. (We also had to play with it as the traffic changed.)
Your voice rose at the end of sentences quite a bit in one section; that usually denotes a question rather than a statement, and can be disconcerting to the listener. Not sure if it was temporary or I got used to it.
We enjoyed the story. Nice glimpses into Japanese life. The kids heard the last few chapters (their own movie had stopped) and also enjoyed it. Koshi grabbed my sympathy right away, and held it. I’d like to see more of all of the characters. (Well, not the bad guys.) Just loved the night he spent in the courtyard. I suspect Geisha training includes some self-defense.
Here’s hoping you have the next one ready for our Christmas driving!
Cricket / Sandy
December 28th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
one of the first podiobooks I downloaded…that was a while ago (june I think..)
I can’t believe I didn’t write a comment on this! It was excellant! It kept me on the edge of my seat, the plot, the characters everything was just amazing!
I loved the courtyard scene best!
looking forward to more p.books from you…? (-hopeful glance-)
April 5th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Thanks, Cricket, appreciate the comments. I’m a total n00b so hopefully if/when I can scrape the time to do one of my other books it will be better. The fact that mine are print books first and I was doing them in the same chapter sequence as the print probably didn’t help.
Thanks so much Zainab! Really appreciate you coming back to comment! Do hope to make some of my other titles into Podiobooks, just have to find the time! 2007 was nuts and 2008 doesn’t look to be doing better time wise. Whee!
April 6th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Demon samurai, ninja, a journey across feudal Japan and a life or death quest to restore the honor of a wrongly dishonored clan. Sounds like a can’t miss formula for excitement and adventure, right? Unfortunately, this story suffers from some serious flaws that prevent it from becoming the great novel that it could be. There are entire chapters without any action that neither progress the story nor build its characters and should be cut entirely. The author painstaking tries to build suspense in multiple chapters yet the final confrontation is anticlimactic at best as the author resolves the entire conflict with a wave of a magic wand (or tea kettle). Yet, the worst offense is that the story begins as a supernatural thriller but the resolution is completely mundane and leaves us wondering why even bother with the supernatural in the first place. How did the Samurai end up as the undead? Did I miss a chapter with that explanation? I thank the author for presenting her work in this forum, but would suggest it needs some re-writing to make it reach its potential.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:32 am
While this story wasn’t exactly what I was expecting (a samurai story made me think it would have more action) I can’t say I was disappointed. I really liked the development of the main characters (Toshi and Miko) and thought it was well done. I really came to like them. I also found myself drawn into the story and the world. I really enjoy when a story takes a traditionally evil creature (undead) and makes me care about them.
My complaints are minor. Since I listen to these on headphones, I could really notice the low bit rate of the mp3s. While not a deal-breaker, it would be nice to have them a bit cleaner without the audio artifacts. Story-wise, I would have liked some of the supporting characters to be developed a bit more, especially Asaka-sama. I just felt like I really didn’t know him.
Overall, I found this a fun and entertaining story and I certainly recommend it. Thanks Gloria for making it available and for allowing me to enjoy your world.
June 13th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I have just finished this podiobook and was left with many questions. I listened to the last two chapters twice as I thought I had missed something. What happened? I really enjoyed the story and the adventure it produced. The way the story progressed made me care about the charactors and I looked forward to the next chapter. But the last chapter should have answered my questions - like how they became the undead, where they went after the honor was regained and why was the honor regained. What was done to acheive this? I was also upset that Yoshi never had some kind of closure with the undead. The story also ended stating that all of Yoshi’s questions would be answered and that is what I was looking for.
Is there a sequel that will finish the story? Or did I miss a chapter or two? Are there more than 40 chapters? By the way I feel that with the intro and exit lines of each chapter some of the shorter (2 to 4 minute) chapters should have been combined with just a small interlude of the drum music (10 to 15 seconds) in between to separate the changes in story line which may have brought the chapter total to around 30.
All in all I did like the book but hated the ending.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:22 am
Hi, Angeleyes. NOt sure what to tell you. You are the first person ever to question the ending. As to how they became undead, it was exlained that it occured through Asaka’s will. Since this is a Fantasy Japan where monsters exist for real, the energies are there for these types of things to happen. As to how they regained their honor? They did so by completing their mission. Through Toshi, they were able to find the kettle and bring it (and the hidden item) to Asano.
Hope I was able to answer your questions.
As for the short chapters…this was my very first attempt with anything to do with MP3’s and I had no idea how to do this. That the stuff came out halfway decent is a miracle in itself.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:01 am
hate that havent get this one sooner have passed it up many times. cant tell you how much i love this book. it has to be one of the best pod books ive heard to date. thank you
November 12th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Thanks, Bugler! Better late than never.
Glad you enjoyed it! Makes the whole effort worthwhile. Thanks!!!!