• Mechanical Failure

  • Epic Failure, Book 1
  • By: Joe Zieja
  • Narrated by: Joe Zieja
  • Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (438 ratings)

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Mechanical Failure  By  cover art

Mechanical Failure

By: Joe Zieja
Narrated by: Joe Zieja
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Publisher's summary

The 200 years' (and counting) peace was a time of tranquility that hasn't been seen since...well, ever. Mankind in the Galactic Age had finally conquered war, so what was left for the military to do but drink and barbecue? That's the kind of military that Sergeant R. Wilson Rogers lived in before he left the fleet to become a smuggler.

But it turns out that smuggling is hard. Like getting-arrested-for-dealing-with-pirates-and-forced-back-into-service kind of hard. It doesn't seem so bad - the military was a perpetual tiki party anyway - but when Rogers returns after only a year away, something has changed. These are soldiers - actual soldiers doing actual soldier things like preparing for a war that Rogers is sure doesn't exist. Rogers vows to put a stop to all this nonsense - even if it means doing actual work.

With an experienced ear for military doublespeak, Joe Zieja has created a remarkable and sarcastic adventure in Mechanical Failure.

©2016 Joseph Zieja (P)2016 Tantor

What listeners say about Mechanical Failure

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    276
  • 4 Stars
    95
  • 3 Stars
    41
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    12
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    77
  • 3 Stars
    33
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    235
  • 4 Stars
    84
  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    11

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

This book helped save my job!

I have hard job, had had enough of the idiots at work. I was going to jump ship . I got this Sunday night ,started in ,and did not want to put it down. I went to work started it back up,and made it through the day! At the end of the shift a co-worker asked what I was laughing about all day. He said I have worked with you for three years , and I have never seen you laugh like that! Get this!

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

took a bit to find it's voice

What did you like best about Mechanical Failure? What did you like least?

The first third of the book was a bit clumsy and I didn't get a good feel for where it was going (not in a good way). However, as it progressed, it started hitting it's beats and ended up worth the ride. I was expecting something along the lines of Red Shirts (John Scalzi) but it headed in more of a Futurama vibe, not in a bad way. I enjoyed the secondary characters, there were some LOL moments. I won't spoil them, but you'll know.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sign me up for book 2 & 3

This is one of the best first novels I've ever "read" of any genre.
The narration has the totally engrossing quality of a story being told (well), rather than one merely being read. The only other author who has had that effect on me was Nathan Lowell.
There's a character in this book who has a similar talent - you want to stop and listen intently to every single word.
[CALL FUNCTION: EXPRESS ADMIRATION AND ENJOYMENT. OUTPUT STRING: I look forward to the other two books in the series (and hopefully more). Seriously. This book is [EXPLETIVE] hilarious and very well written.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not Funny - Atrocious, Awful and lousy.

I listened to the 1st Hour of this book and crap it was so bad I had to stop , I couldn't listen to it anymore.. This book had to be written by a juvenile teenager or someone with a very low IQ.

I just don't get why Anyone would think this book was funny , After a few days "I Tried"
to listen to it again and Damn I couldn't do it , I got through maybe 1 more Hour and I could not take it anymore.. I had to delete it off my phone and computer.

This is an Example of what passes for Humor in this book -

- The Main Character "Wilson Rogers" is talking to a Computer, The computer makes a beeping noise or something and Wilson says "Hold Your Horses!!"
The Computer Responds with - "Affirmative" and Then Says "Error - No Equine to Hold"

No Equine to Hold ? .. How is that Funny ?? Why Would the Computer even say Affirmative and then say No Equine to Hold ? HOW IS THAT FUNNY ?? I don't get it !!!!

But that's typical of this so called book - Every sentence and all of the dialogue between Characters is Trying to be Funny, Forced Humor And It's NOT FUNNY.
It's Literally trying to Force every word to be funny and it's agonizingly horrible.

The 1st hour literally gave me a Migraine, My 2nd attempt at trying to listen to this trash
I felt like I was going to have an aneurysm.

Go on youtube and watch a 10 second repeating looped clip of the 3 stooges slapping each other poking each other in the eye and so on .. It's funny when you first see it
"10 seconds of it" -- But Not over and over for hours on end.

I Hate Giving Bad Reviews, But this dud deserves it and I want my money back !!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

like redshirts or spacequest

always welcome an opportunity to hear a book read by the author! for better or worse, you get exactly the spirit the author was trying to convey. all in all, it was a funny lighthearted book that was a well needed break from all the serious military sci-fi i have been reading. awesome!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

fun to read.

you might consider it cheezy. but definitely fun to read. i spent good time listening to it.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

What did i do? Reviews lie!

Can i get a mulligans. This has to be my worse selection ever! As for the narrator, its like listening to that person who thinks they can sing, but is so off key that you feel sorry for them. Word of advice don’t narrate what you wrote! Just hoping I don’t select the second book in the series by mistake. Its Thanksgiving, now i have to listen to my relatives, which in this case is better than this book. Epilogue: this book is not humorous!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The author narrates space SF - go buy it and laugh

Would you listen to Mechanical Failure again? Why?

In the early days of mass-market audio books on cassette tapes the label trumpeting that the author also narrated the audio version was a sign that even an excellent story could be screwed up, the flow and pace of the story would be complete {Male Bovine Feces}, and not worth handing over your money.

There are some excellent books out there on the market, completely {Expletive} {Expletive} screwed-up in the audio version by a narrator who has no idea what the author means or wants.

This first book in a new series from Joe Zeija is a pleasant surprise, a light SF space based romp, who knows exactly how the story reads in his mind, and has the skills to bring that fun version to the microphone himself.


Actually Joe has various axes to grind about military organizations, and the kinds of personalities that sponge, leech off, cheat colleagues, and generally take the {Expletive} in peacetime, and also how the mad roulette wheel of promotion can also {Expletive} other people's lives, especially when a war starts.


Looking forward to the next in the series

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome book, had me laughing out loud in public.

What about Joe Zieja’s performance did you like?

This is the first self narrated book that I have enjoyed. I would listen to this guy read others books as well. He needs to work on using different voices for different characters but he did a great job overall.

Any additional comments?

I have bought scores of audio books on audible but have never been moved to write a review. This new author deserves it. I will be keeping my eye out for any new stuff that he writes. He has a great sense of humor.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

hilarious and exceedingly difficult to put down .

my god this book made me laugh out loud many many times . I had such a hard time putting it down. usually authors don't make good readers but this performance was quite Good . The story was airy and made to amuse. The characters unique and we'll defined

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3 people found this helpful