Tech, Lies, and Wizardry

A Space Opera Fantasy Short Story (Black Ocean, Book 0)

By: J. S. Morin

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Length: 49 mins

Publisher's summary

It started as a simple heist.

It went to hell from there.

On a space station orbiting a pale blue sun, a package changes hands. Data too sensitive to transmit will be exposed for one brief moment. The client is paying a crazy sum - if the job is clean.

That’s not going to happen.

Instead, the galaxy’s unluckiest crew of outlaws will have to put all their resources into salvaging what they can from the job.

Even if it’s only avoiding blame for the fallout.

Tech, Lies, and Wizardry is a sampling of the hijinks you’ll find in the 26th-century’s greatest outlaw space opera, Black Ocean.

Throw a copy in your cargo hold now.

©2014 J.S. Morin (P)2015 J.S. Morin

Short, but to the point

What did you love best about Tech, Lies, and Wizardry?

I liked the feel of the world. It is pulling the worlds of Sci-Fi and Fantasy together a bit more, almost like Dresden files in space. Only... there is a bit more space feel that magic feel... well.. in this short story anyway.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I could only have asked for more.

What does Mikael Naramore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Easy to listen to vocals and does a good job distinguishing character voices.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Maybe just the title.. it captures it all right there..

Any additional comments?

Good fun.. and VERY quick listen. Already hoping to meet again with these characters.

Enjoyable, short story!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this story to a friend whose looking for something good but short and simple.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I didn't have a favorite character because I felt the story was too short to fully define characteristics of any individual person.

What about Mikael Naramore’s performance did you like?

He had good infliction of each individual character.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nothing extreme.

I need more

I need of these guys I love to hear a series on morph alone please. please

buy the whole series already

If you're reading this review or listening to this book, just go ahead and get the Black Ocean Mobius series and get to listening!

if you have listened to the rest of this story line, this is fairly predictable.

I like the concept and the narration but wouldn't have invested myself in it at all if I hadn't already spent time working my way through the series.

good prequel, but hard to get into

Would you try another book from J. S. Morin and/or Mikael Naramore?

probably not. I didn't care the for the story and the magic and sci fi was strange

What was one of the most memorable moments of Tech, Lies, and Wizardry?

the use of magic was interesting and how it interacted with technology

How did the narrator detract from the book?

the only detraction was there wasn't enough distinction from the female characters... they all sounded the same and so did some of the male characters.

Could you see Tech, Lies, and Wizardry being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no

Any additional comments?

didn't care for the foul language either

A good prelude to the Black Ocean series

Would you consider the audio edition of Tech, Lies, and Wizardry to be better than the print version?

Equal to the print version but well worth it if you prefer audio books.

What other book might you compare Tech, Lies, and Wizardry to and why?

Dragonstar RPG

Have you listened to any of Mikael Naramore’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never heard other books by Mikael before

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Great prelude to the Black Ocean series

Prologue to the Black Ocean omnibus

Quick teaser to introduce the crew and set the tone for the series.

If you buy this on sale, I suppose it would help you decide whether to get the 80hr Black Ocean omnibus. Frankly, getting the omnibus for 1 credit should be enticement enough. This series is similar to Firefly, but a bit pulpier… and with wizard Mort, humanoid cat & chimp aliens, and a giant sentient dog named Kubu. These are great, entertaining bargains, even if they are less fulfilling than the Firefly series (which currently offers one or two of its books free on Audible Plus).

Nice lil snack

I'm currently reading Mission 6 of Black Ocean when I heard about the prequel Tech, Lies and Wizardry. Could only obtain it through Audible so I quickly scooped it up and listened to the 50 minute story.
It was a little flat comparitively but seeing as it was a quick prequel and still well written I gave it four stars. Not much character development but nice to see where Chip came into the crew and all in all it was enjoyable for $2.75 or something like that.

Engaging but too short, even for a short story...

First off, I am usually pretty critical of narrators, but this one does a great job. He has a good range of voices, allowing you to identify the character purely by voice.

The writing is good, but I definitely felt like we skipped over the climax and actually including the scenes would have made for a longer and better book.

The price... If I compare length to price on comparable audio books, the price is steep. At less than an hour, a comparable 10 hr book would be over $40.

Conclusions: I think it is a good teaser to get you to read the other books, but I'm not sure that the content delivers on the investment. Hopefully the series has a better page/time to dollar ratio.