Podcast Fiction from BMW... and it is GOOD!

Put on your seatbelt and prepare for highs, lows and plenty of twists and turns. BMW, in conjunction with Random House, brings you BMW Audio Books, a unique series of specially- commissioned short stories showcasing the work of some of the finest contemporary writing talent. Each gripping audio book is yours to download for free. Listen to them on your MP3 player, your laptop or ideally, in the car. So sit back, hit play and enjoy the ride.

BMW does Audiobooks! That's right, Bavarian Motor Works, the German guys who make cars, have released a batch of excellent podcast short stories. This is a promotion like their BMW Films promotion from a few years back. Solid name authors have been hired to create short stories with a specific model of BMW automobile at the center of the action. I've listened to all four of the released stories and I've liked each, the product placement is blantant and oddly pornographic, it makes you feel dirty, but kind of in a good way.

"Inspired by the success of BMWfilms.com and “The Hire” internet series of short films, BMW-audiobooks.com showcases some of the finest contemporary writing talent today, including Karin Slaughter (Kisscut, Faithless, Indelible), Don Winslow (The Power of the Dog, California Fire and Life), James Flint (The Book of Ash, 52 Ways to Magic America), and Simon Kernick (The Crime Trade, The Murder Exchange). The four debut short stories mix the best in BMW product with contemporary original literature."

Each story runs about an hour and was written exclusively for BMW Audiobooks. They can only be found in audio format, and haven't been released as a hard copy collection as of yet. This is download only folks. Here's the complete skinny...

The stories are:

Cold Cold Heart
By Karin Slaughter; Read by Megan Dodds
1 MP3 File - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: BMW Audiobooks
Podcast: 03/23/2006:
"Best-selling author Karin Slaughter spins the dramatic tale of Pam and her ex-husband Jon, the now famous self-help guru who is also now dying. When on his death bed, Jon reveals deep, dark and painful secrets about his past, Pam exacts the ultimate revenge – for his next life. In this podcast, author Karen Slaughter reveals the real-life inspiration for this dramatic story."


The Debt
By Simon Kernick; Read by Burn Gorman
1 MP3 File - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: BMW Audiobooks
Podcast: 03/23/2006
“The Debt is a gripping tale about a good-hearted former boxer who is caught untangling the troublesome webs of others. In this podcast, author Simon Kernick offers his personal techniques for short story writing, including plot pacing and making every word count."


Master Of The Storm
By James Flint; Read by Forbes Masson
1 MP3 File - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: BMW Audiobooks
Podcast: 02/28/2006
“You” are the central character in James Flint’s Master Of The Storm, a gripping tale of new business success followed by familiar encounters – all too familiar. And just when you think you are out of the storm, you find yourself pulled deeper and deeper into the mystery which seemingly has no exit."

Beautiful Ride
By Don Winslow; Read by Kerry Shale
1 MP3 File - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: BMW Audiobooks
Podcast: 02/28/2006
"Back then he was looking at a fat IPO and a boat. Back then he was rich. Back then he had a condo overlooking the ocean, a wife, and had just bought the BMW Z4 convertible. Cobalt blue, like the ocean on a clean, clear day in early spring. Now what he has left is the car. Ted's a real estate investor in Laguna Beach, California. He's been kicked out by his soon-to-be ex wife, his assets have been frozen by the IRS, he's holding on to his Beemer, but the car company's repo men want it back, and he's living in a tent. He's falling through the cracks of the 'Gold Coast' life, until he turns to money-laundering to get back in the game. Then things get worse..."

Now how to get them, you can download them directly from the BMW-Audiobooks website (but a free registration is required) or you can just do a search on iTunes using the search term "BMW."

posted by Jesse

Review of The Valley Of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Valley Of Fear
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by Tim Aldrich
22 MP3 Files - Approx 6 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: PinkGeekAudio.net
Podcast: 2005
Themes: / Mystery / Sherlock Holmes / Secret Societies / Organized Crime /

The Valley Of Fear is one of the least adapted of the original Sherlock Holmes novels, it has only appeared on screen three times, as opposed to the eighteen adaptations of The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Likely much of the reason for the disparity lies in the structure of The Valley Of Fear, which breaks the traditional narrative mystery to go into a massive backstory that preceded the crime in question, this backstory includes neither Watson nor Holmes and so when adapted it would have the primary characters off-screen for more than half the film!

Looked at as a novel and a mystery on its own The Valley Of Fear works very well. There are in fact two mysteries in it. The first mystery I was able to ratiocinationalize quite satisfactorily but the second which took me by surprise, it was by means of a clever misdirection. The story itself is set in 1888 London and in the USA a few years prior to the extended flashback sequence. In the first half of the novel Holmes and Watson employ their typical inductive detection strategy, then after solving the primary crime we are treated to a lengthy explanation as to how the murder they have solved came to happen in the first place. The second half, was inspired by true events and is quite enjoyable once you get into the change of pace.

Now to the audio production itself. This is an all amateur production, the reader is just a guy, not a professional reader. Tim Aldrich, has no interest in editing, re-reading flubbed lines or even eliminating background noises. You can hear phones ringing, people coughing animals and street noises. That said the recording volume is decent and I never missed a word he spoke (or misspoke). Aldrich only a partial ability to do an English accent. He puts on a deep basso for Watson and uses his more natural speaking voice for Holmes. This is really amateur hour recording. But on the other hand he's enthusiastic and he's doing it at a terrific pace! Tim Aldrich has already recorded A Study in Scarlet, The Adventures of Sherlock, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Last Bow and The Sign of Four! I'm loath to admit this, given I consider myself such an audiophile, but Tim Aldrich can teach a lesson to us all - enthusiasm and genuine drive to voice a story can make up for a whole lot of background noises, flubbed lines and mediocre accenting. I enjoyed the heck out of this FREE novel. Keep up the great work Tim!

posted by Jesse

Review of Chase by Dean Koontz

Chase (The Strange Highways Collection)
By Dean Koontz; Read by Chris Sarandon
4 Cassettes - Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Published: 1995
ISBN: 1570422990
Themes: / Suspense / Psychology / Mystery / NeoNazi / Pedophilia / Noir Fiction /

"Everybody's damaged, some are just damaged too much, far too much. Open wide for me."

Koontz throws almost everything but the kitchen sink at his titular character Benjamin Chase... he's got post-traumatic stress disorder, rampant alchohlism, paranoia, suicidal depression and oh ya, someone threatening to kill him on top of all that. A Vietnam vet, Chase won the congressional medal of honor and was honorably discharged. But he left the military with a strong suggestion of intensive psychological therapy. Possesing a local celebrity he'd rather not have Chase is being treated, but his psychiartrist isn't only concerned with Chase's mental health. Worse, after Chase finds himself atop a notorious lover's lane hangout he rescues a young woman from a close call with a psychopath. When he returns home a myserious voice on the phone threatens him. Balancing all this out is a decent woman who offers Chase a calm he hasn't had in years. Originally written as a short novel back in 1972 Chase was re-written for this collection. I never read the original (written back in 1972 under Koontz' K. R. Dwyer psuedonym) but this version is is a tight and smoothly written. Also included in this set is a short story from 1980s entitled Down In The Darkness. It is the first person story of a seemingly innocuous Latino resturant owner, another Vietnam vet by the way, and the terrible door that leads to his basement. Yup, it is pure Koontz! The two tales run interesting parralells and this is a good match up. If you're a fan of noir endings, these two have got em.

Screen actor, and narrator Chris Sarandon doesn't try to wring all the accents he could out of these two stories, but the story flows well under his narration. Koontz is just as good in small does as he is in large. Crisp writing, clever characterization. This one's worth tracking down.

posted by Jesse