@TonyPope - Much like you needing to obtain the omnibuses in printed form, I wonder if that tangible need we have is a generational thing... i.e. future generations raised strictly in a world of digital ownership will have no such desire to own material formats. That desire will not even exist perhaps.
But I digress. Thanks for your kind words!
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The listening journey continued on (Disc 1-2): Unabridged short story collections on audio CDs have been known, on occassion, to be compiled
out of order when compared to its printed format from which it spawned. I suspect it's done to efficiently use disc space, as well as to prevent spoken stories (whenever possible) from being spread across multiple discs, minimizing the reader from changing a CD mid-story and experiencing a jarring interruption.
Now it's early yet, but so far, the order of short stories in this Audio Book CD Set seem to mirror the order established in its novel from where it was read. After a very promising start with the short story "Devil Dogs", the deeper journey into Predator lore continued with
Stonewall's Last Stand by Jeremy Robinson.
As the new story began, I noticed a troublesome trend. As the story title was read, followed by a crediting of its author, the name of whom who was doing the reading was left unannounced. Yes, as before with "Devil Dogs", this mysterious voice actor remained in complete anonymity. With a whopping 16 voices credited for these recordings, it would certainly be nice to match the name with its reader for each story. (That sorely needed
yet non-existent directory rears its ugly head yet again.)
Fortunately, none of this affects enjoying these stories and "Stonewall's Last Stand" does not disappoint. It takes place in darkness, a humid night during the American Civil War where a Predator seems to have been drawn to the heat, and the bloodshed between the North and the South. This tale was riveting, and an excellent change of pace from the previous tale told in the coldness of space. The story conjures up quite the visual, which can be maximized more than a novel can, if you dare listen to this one in the dark. While the voices the reader conjures up tend to be either a precise hit or a distracting miss, he handles the accent of the protagonist, a southern Confederate General, extremely well.
The only problem I have with this story is...
Spoiler
...taking fictional liberties with real-life historical figures. While the author doesn't go anywhere near as egregiously far as turning Abraham Lincoln into a Vampire Killer, to end the story with a non-fictional declaration that why the real-life General "Stonewall" Jackson's own confederate soldiers shot him "remains a mystery" is sort of a misrepresentation.. at least in the why (versus the how). That dark night General Jackson was a victim of friendly fire, mistaken as an enemy "Yankee", shot in the arm, had it amputated, but died a week later of pneumonia.
Instead of massaging history to accomodate an encounter with a Predator, I would have preferred to see the author use a fictional General ultimately erased from the history books, and this encounter was the reason why.
Regardless, with two stories down, this Audio Book so far has been quite a delight! Now, be warned, as this excitement level in this story starts ratcheting up, you'll be abruptly asked to change to Disc 2, so have that second CD ready!
Marching on...
Stonewall's Last Stand: {Disc-1,2}
Story: B+ (8.5/10)
Reading Performance: C+ (7.5/10)
Audio Quality: A+ (10/10)
