A Time and a Place

By: Joe Mahoney

Narrated by: Joe Mahoney

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Barnabus’ nephew is behaving oddly.

Calling upon Doctor Humphrey for assistance has not been particularly helpful because the good doctor’s diagnosis of demonic possession is clearly preposterous. Even the demon currently ensconced on the front-room couch agrees it’s preposterous. But then, how else to explain the portal to another world through which his nephew and Humphrey have just now disappeared?

Barnabus knows their only chance of rescue is for Barnabus J. Wildebear himself to step up and go through that portal.

Thus begins an existential romp across space and time, trampling on Barnabus’ assumptions about causality, free will, identity, good, and evil. Can Barnabus save his nephew - and incidentally, all of humanity?

©2017 Joe Mahoney (P)2018 Joe Mahoney

Critic reviews

"Mahoney’s work is great for those who like their speculative fiction thoughtful, eloquent, and messy." (Publisher’s Weekly)

A time and a place

A fast-paced sci-fi novel It follows Wildebear through a series of strange and deadly episodes, all in an effort to save his nephew Ridley.

An Incredible Journey with Barnabas J. Wildebear!

After being immersed in this audiobook and the plethora of worlds and adventures that Barnabas J. Wildebeast a school teacher on his summer break gets embroiled in an adventure so fantastic it can’t help but carry you along for the ride. What a ride this audio was when Barnabas comes  home to find out that nephew who he has looked after for the last couple of years due to his sister’s death. Ridley has been recruited by a jinn to fight in a war on another world.
This is the start of an adventure so spectacular and imaginative Joe Mahoney sends the reader on such incredible journeys  you don’t want to go home, even if there are some that are weird .
Joe Mahoney also the narrator, I have to say with a voice like that I would listen to anything he narrated. I loved this mesmerising audiobook with its non stop action and adventure.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Joe Mahoney. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

A Time and a Place

What a story! A mans nephew/ward has sudden changes in his behaviour.Upon investigation,we find a books influence might be to blame.This was so well written and intriguing,I did not want to put it down! Joe Mahoney was also a fine narrator.Looking forward to more from him. I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Excellent Story!

I received this audio book for free in exchange for my honest review. The author did a fantastic job with both the writing and the narration on this exciting story.

A Savage Tuckerization and Fun Listen!

Full disclosure: Joe Mahoney is a friend of mine and we host a podcast together, so I may be a little biased.

But let’s start with how I decided to consume this novel. As I know Joe pretty well, I figured I would hear his voice while I read the book, so I opted to listen to the audiobook version, which is excellent.

This was a terrible mistake.

You see, one of the characters is named Gordon Rainer. So what, you say? If I had been reading that name, on paper or on my e-reader, I don’t think it would have been problem. But every single time I heard Joe say “Rainer” in his read, I had to resist the urge to reply.

“Why do you keep saying my name, Joe. Why?”

Have I been thoroughly tuckerized by Joe? I suspect so.

What is tuckerized?

Tuckerization “is the act of using a person’s name (and sometimes other characteristics) in an original story as an in-joke.” [Wikipedia]

Can I provide you with textual examples of how Joe has so mercilessly tuckerized me? No. Again, purchasing this novel in audio form has proved to be a tragic error.

However, I do remember several references to Rainer’s thinning hair and some other physical features that arguably apply. That would be the aforementioned “other characteristics.” Where I definitely differ from the character is that I do not have a pencil-thin mustache, and I promise, dear reader, I never will. I also don’t have a British accent. (At least, not a thoroughly convincing one.) Finally, I do not lead a group of intrepid humans attempting to defend Earth from alien invasion. Though on this front, it’s possible Joe captured my true, heroic nature. Perhaps I am being narcissistic, and just hanging too much on a name.

But there are so many names Joe could have chosen. I mean, the main character’s name is Barnabus J. Wildebear, which displays a certain creative – if not deranged – flair, so why choose a name so close to mine for the leader of the Casa Terra?

Maybe I should just be flattered by this whole thing.

Maybe.

Should you read A Time and A Place?

Anyway, you’re probably wondering how any of this is going to help you decide whether you should read Joe’s book, or not. If you’re reading this on my website, then I suspect it will intrigue you. Who is this audacious author, tuckerizing my beloved Mark A. Rayner for possibly nefarious reasons? If you’re reading this on Audible, Amazon, Goodreads, etc., the next paragraph is for you.

What I love about this book is that it’s an intelligent and amusing take of the time travel genre. The aforementioned Wildebear goes on an expansive and compelling journey through space, time, and importantly, his own family history. It’s more complicated than he ever thought. As I do IRL, I really enjoy Joe’s dry wit and sly sense of humor. The book is at turns philosophical, literary and often, really gross. (Wildebear experiences a variety of goos, gucks, and gunks in his adventures.)

So, am I really upset by my Tuckerization? Absolutely! I’m mock outraged!

Ugertha the demon alien!

It was the demon Ugertha that drew me in. S/he is a complex character with murky motives. Barnabus must save his nephew, Ridley. He has no idea how he will do it nor what it will cost him. For the first half of the book, my attention was firmly held. There’s these sentient cat-like aliens, the T’Klee, and the evil & dangerous Necronians, who have many tentacles. Barnabus will find allies and enemies around every corner.

The second half of the book got a bit muddled for me. I felt I needed a diagram to keep track of it all. There’s some mind-muddling going on so I was never sure how much of what was simply in Barnabus’s head and how much was happening real time. Plus, there’s the time travel bit. So we have multiple copies of some characters interacting with all of it.

The T’Klee were my favorite bit. I love the idea of large cats with opposable thumbs, their own language & culture, and having to fight the technologically advanced Necronians. Also Swipe was a clever young T’Klee caught up in a bad situation. I was rooting for her the entire time even though I knew things would never be all rainbows and butterflies for her again.

There were few female characters. Besides Swipe, there’s Barnabus’s dead sister (who provides emotional fuel for him and Ridley to get stuff done), and then the scientist Sara (who is always described by her awesome looks first and second and her mental abilities third). Perhaps we can count Ugertha as a female character, but she’s really a mix of all the people she’s absorbed over the years. It would have been nice to have a bit more from the ladies.

The ending rallies a bit. I was still confused about Ugertha who I think becomes known as Jacques… but then there’s also Jack, right? These seem to be all the same ‘demon’ (or alien) at different points in time. But I’m not sure, which is it what bothered me. I want to be sure about such things by the end of a book. Speaking of that ending, it gets rather sentimental and strives for deep thoughts. I found it a little sappy. I wanted a more definitive ending, perhaps following a rousing action scene. All together, it has some fun ideas, a few great scenes, and the T’Klee are most memorable. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Joe Mahoney has narrated his own story. He does a decent job but needs a little polishing all around. He had distinct character voices for all the characters (yay!). There were a few mouth noises here and there. The pacing was just a touch slow but the narration was also clear. The female voices were pretty good though sometimes they could have used a little more femininity. 3.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Joe Mahoney. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Not my cup of tea

I received this free for an honest review from the author or narrator. I'm sorry to say I honestly couldn't get my head around the story. I didn't make sense to me.