October's November

By: James Loram

Narrated by: James Loram

His name is October. And he is a talented coffee shop musician that can see dark, sickening clouds swirling about the heads of those who are about to commit evil. He helplessly watches as a Clouded One kidnaps Hannah, his first true love, and as he struggles to save her, he discovers the terrifying truth: She's not the one they really wanted.

The story takes place in the community of Belmont Shore in Long Beach, CA, where October is drawn into a world of surprising discoveries and disturbing answers about his cursed sight - discoveries and answers that may lead to the end of October's life.

Song creation, the deep crevices from where songs come from, is explored, within an excellent good vs. evil story in the vein of Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

©2016 James Loram (P)2016 James Loram

Deep and Moving Book, Horror to Humor, Emotional!

First of all, I don’t think it’s fair to leave a review (especially a negative one) after admittedly listening to only 10% of the book! VERY unfair. And the first review is fake and should be removed.

Secondly, this is not an “easy” book, like a Young Adult novel or some Zombie story. It’s fairly complex--it’s challenging and I really liked that about it. For a first time novel, James was quite ambitious by threading at least three different narratives that actually all tie together at the end.

There’s main story, where October meets the girl, loses the girl, then tries to save the girl. Then there’s the background story, which goes into how October gained his ability...I guess that’s kind of part of the main story, too, but there’s enough going on that it’s got it’s own story. Also, the freaky happenings with his mother! That came out of nowhere and I was intrigued by her story too. The creepy guy, Karl, had his own little story, too...

All in all, there’s a lot going on. This is why I feel like this book should have been a lot longer! I feel like he might have thinned it out to please the masses who aren’t used to this level of story complexity. It still doesn’t take away from how much I loved this book.

I absolutely loved the creation of Hannah’s song, She Falls. It was like being in a song writer’s head as he’s creating--so cool! And the fact that at the end of the book, the songs are actually real...Seriously, wow. There’s a closing song called I Will Stay (?) and 2 versions of She Falls.

I liked the narration, but I feel like James’ take on some voices came of a little too caricature-like. Adding in the echoes for the inner-thoughts was a nice touch. (Yes, I GOT that, LOL...past tense for most narration, but present tense when inside their heads). Gave some immediacy to parts of the book. Special effects weren’t overbearing and I would have liked a little more. I’m sure his next book, he’ll get the acting down, ha ha.

Characters were fun to get to know, and like he said in the epilogue, I did kind of love them at the end. I really liked Detective Foster and could see him as a lead character in his own book!

There were a lot of emotional raw moments throughout the book. Many touched me, but some missed the mark, but I will chalk that up to personal bias. I loved Hannah's strength and the twist how even though he's trying to save her, she is the one who really saves him (you'll see!). And the last chapter...the one where Hannah finally hears her song...Oh, man, I have already listened to that one 3 times over! Yep, I love a good cry.

In the end, I really liked this story a lot. Yes, it was a little too heavy on flashbacks, but he never lost me--challenge me! I can keep up! I’ve never listened to an audiobook like this before and I look forward to hearing more from this author.

It was alright

I was given this book for free, and as such take my review with a grain of salt.

The first thing that stood out to me is the additional sound effects. When the characters think, it sounds as though the narrator is speaking through a tin can. I don't like it when there is additional sound effects, but it wasn't too jarring and I did like the way the songs the character played were intermingled with the narrator. It's quite different from just reading the lyrics as if it was a poem.

The story kept me on the edge because you would sometimes get the viewpoint from another character and it doesn't quite match what the first character thought they saw.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I do not think I would listen to it again.

Better Than Expected

Any additional comments?

I was pleasantly surprised by October's November. From the initial description I didn't know how much I would enjoy it, but honestly, I loved it. Listening to James Loram's performance, I was instantly hooked.

The book itself is very much a fully immersive experience, and James Loram has done an incredible job of placing the listener into the mind of a madman, the psyche of a victim, and the desperate struggle of a protagonist to break out of the darkness. His references to classic music, as well as several of his own original compositions make for an engrossing tale interwoven with culture and art.

My one criticism is the fact that many scenes were confusing in their execution and I found myself having to rewind and listen over and over in order to fully comprehend what was happening. Outside of those few hiccups, I absolutely did not want to stop listening to October's November until I reached the end.

A modern tale of the supernatural and the strength inside every human being to rise up and become a hero, October's November is a complex and enjoyable story.

Great Story

Loved it! Great character development. Very engaging with interesting story and characters.

The use of sound effects and music adds to story and the various situations and activities for the characters.

Ambitious Effort on a Passionate Project

October's November by James Loram is an ambitious undertaking toward creating a fun and interesting listening experience for the audience. However, there are some aspects of this which fall short and could really turn off some listeners from listening to the entire production.

In a nutshell, October, the main character, has the power to see people's violent intentions in the form of a dark cloud over their heads. While playing a gig at a local coffee shop, he meets a girl name Hannah who he immediately connects with. Unfortunately, Hannah is being stalked by a creep named Karl who gets off on drugging women and raping them. October and, his friend and band mate, Tom save Hannah from Karl but he escapes before he could be captured. As October and Hannah's relationship grows and flourishes, Karl regroups and conspires to finish what he started. Along the way, October must content with Detective Foster who believes October knows more than he lets on and another mysterious player in this strange and deadly supernatural horror/mystery.

Overall, the story works because of its simplicity. At it's most simplest form, it's a supernatural love story with some music peppered in to give October a bit more depth than his special powers. October works as a character on so many levels because he adapts to the situation, evolves as the story continues, and in the end, comes out transformed into another person. The same can be said for the majority of the cast as well. The story arcs are all neatly resolved and the pacing throughout keeps the listener entertained and following along through all the twists and turns in the story.

My gripes with the story are that I felt as if I didn't quite understand the origins of the main antagonist despite an explanation. Perhaps this could be blamed on myself missing certain parts of the story due to paying attention to the road or whatever chores I was busy doing while listening, but I still felt as if it wasn't clear enough.

Two other parts of the story which I think could have been done better were the building of the relationship between October and Hannah. They met and then in a matter of what felt like two days had fallen completely and utterly in love. This felt forced and it could have been explained away slightly better with a bit more exposition or delving into the reason for the strangely quick bonding.

The other part of the story which I didn't find appealing was Detective Foster in general as a character. He seemed overly suspicious of October to the point of where it felt as if he was being extremely paranoid and simply picking on him for the sake of just being a jerk. Even knowing the character's thoughts on the situation didn't make it any easier to excuse his jerkiness. While he does come around towards the middle of the novel, he seems to go from overly suspicious to overly inept as he's caught off-guard on several occasions. On top of that, the voice Loram used for the character didn't do it for me but I'll address that in the next part of the review in regards to the performance.

First off, my hat goes off to Loram for writing, narrating, and producing the original music for this audio book. Much respect for an author who narrates their own work. It's cool to have the author give voice to the characters in their works. It radiates a level of authenticity which is sometimes lost when someone else narrates a story.

As far as the voice performance goes, Loram's narration, for the most part, was great. He reads his story clearly and concisely. Each character has their own distinct voice which makes it easier to know who is speaking throughout the book and shows Loram's range. However, the performance takes a serious plunge in the voice of Detective Foster. This character's voice and accent were grating to the ear. Given how much time and attention is given to the Detective, it makes listening to these parts feel like a chore and I couldn't wait for them to end. Otherwise, all of the other character voices Loram used worked well and weren't bothersome at all.

A notable difference between October's November and other audio books is the effects used in the narration. For example, when a character is having a thought, there is an echoing sound effect applied to their voice. Since I wasn't expecting it the 1st time I heard it, it was jarring to hear this and I thought it was a mistake. After a while, I got used to it and didn't mind it so much but some audio book listeners might not be able to get past this. There is also use of music in the book which I've seen mixed opinions about on the internet. Personally, it wasn't a deal breaker for me. The echos took some getting accustomed to hearing but after a while it wasn't even noticeable. The musical parts were few and far between except for the ending chapters where there are some musical performances. They aren't bad but as stated before, some audio book listeners are turned off by this.

Overall, this book was obviously Loram's passion project bringing together the many different elements of story telling, musical performance, and voice narration. Loram takes a risk in offering a different type of audio book experience which will turn off some and appeal to others. If the listener can get past some of the production choices, I'll willing to say they'll have a rewarding experience.

Fun story and immersive listening experience

Intriguing story with a few surprise twists. Very cleverly written. Love the addition of the sound effects, makes things way more immersive. Fun listen, very well narrated. Enjoyed this one!

It's overwrought.

First, if you are uncomfortable with graphic descriptions of rape, you should avoid this book. There is a serial rapist and his methodology is described in detail in more than a few scenes.
------
Ambitious is the word others have used, and I think it applies to the work that went into this project. Loram is the author, narrator, involved in the music as songwriter and performer, and is the publisher. But while admirable in the attempt, these things do not in and of themselves add up to a good work. I feel another adjective might also be applicable, "Overwrought."

Listening to the book became a chore. Eventually, I started cranking up the speed to get through it and settled in at a 2x for the last 3/4ths of the book. In the end, it took me about the same number of real-time days to get through this as it did for me to get through "The Count of Monte Cristo," and that is a 50+ hour long audiobook.

Very little is just stated and the prose can get quite purple. This is compounded in that many of the details are describing the ordinary. They are things we don't need to know, would have intuitively known, and/or aren't interested in knowing. It may be an attempt to make the world feel more real, but there are times when the superfluous details aren't just tedious but actively hurt the story. For example, October, the main character, doesn't remember the names of his uncle and cousins after they clearly left many memorable impressions on him. Suspension of disbelief is a currency I feel Loram doesn't quite know when to spend.

Loram's narration is alright. He's really the first author who narrated his own work that I've listened to where I didn't think it wasn't awful. (Trust me, you don't want to listen to Stephen King try to narrate his own works) Naturally, the fact that he has the ability to do this means the interpretation is exactly as the author intended and that does add to the production. There are some audio issues, pauses that are too long or not long enough, the echoes filter sometimes used when someone is thinking to themselves is distracting, attempts at sound effects that don't quite work. Again, the description I want to go back to is overwrought.

Since the music is kind of unique feature to the story, let's talk about that. The first time you encounter it, you can hardly hear it. There a rambling exposition over it. It might be a song, even the one he is talking about in the exposition, but all that comes through is a few twangy picked guitar strings. Had there been a pause in the narration, so the listener could hear the tune before narrating over it, it might have worked. This is pretty much par for the course when it comes to the music.

Lastly, the song creation that goes on throughout the book: It's an interesting insight into the development of a song. Still, the song which results (which you do get to hear without narration overlaying it if you get the audiobook) while not bad is nothing special. You'll hear variations on the tune and lyrics from any number of local bands in your area. It's a typical mopey love song for acoustic.

So, in the final verdict: It's ok but overwrought. It certainly different, and the novelty of the author filling so many roles and not having it result in total disaster is new for me. It's clear that Loram has invested more of himself into this than many others making the attempt. However, the work done on it went past the point of improving and became detrimental.

I was given a free copy of this work in exchange for an honest review.

What Did I Listen To?!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Has October's November turned you off from other books in this genre?

Yes, forever. This was a horrible idea.

Would you be willing to try another one of James Loram’s performances?

Not even if you paid me money to listen to this crap.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from October's November?

The entire book.

Any additional comments?

This made my ears bleed. I'm a medical professional and this inherently worries me.

Really wanted to like this book but it needs work

So I have to start this out by saying that I didn't listen to the entire book, I tried but couldn't make it past the first two hours and even that was rough. The idea behind this book is awesome, I loved the idea of someone being able to see a cloud of red when something horrible was going to happen. I also really liked the idea of original music being incorporated into the story but I never got to the music part.

On a technical note, the narration was decent and I enjoyed listening to James Loram's voice but the book is full of random echos that really take away from what's going on in the story. There are also incredibly long pauses between each chapter that kept making me think that the recording had somehow shut itself off. Otherwise the narration was great.

Now the story... like I said I wanted to like it, but the cheesiness of it all was incredibly overwhelming. We don't need to know every single characters complete backstory, all the details made it incredibly hard to understand where the story was at (time wise) in October's story and the mundane details seemed incredibly rambling. Example: When October is little he has to go to the doctor, but his regular doctor (who he sees all the time) was gone on holiday break for Thanksgiving. All you have to say is, "Mom took me to the emergency room." Unless a character adds something to the story, it doesn't really need to be included. Being confused about every single uncle and cousin's name was distracting also. And these sorts of things just kept happening in different points through out. Just tell me the story already! Are you in 3rd person? 1st person? What's going on? Is this the past? The present? Why do we keep getting weird flashbacks while Hannah is apparently getting or about to get raped? Why did the lottery keep getting brought up multiple times in every single section? There's foreshadowing and then there's shoving an idea down the readers throat. The story has a lot of potential but desperately needs to be edited, rewritten a bit and shortened. But despite all of that, I am still curious to hear what this author puts out in the future, like I said, the idea was awesome but the story itself needs some help. James Loram seems to have a lot of talent, it just needs some polishing up.