Currency of Souls

By: Kealan Patrick Burke

Narrated by: Rich Miller

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to Eddie's Tavern, the only functioning waterhole in a near-dead town. Among the people you'll meet tonight are: Tom, Milestone's haunted lawman, who walks in the shadow of death; Gracie, the barmaid, a wannabe actress, doomed to spend her hours tending bar in a purgatory of her father's making; Flo, the town seductress, who may or may not have murdered her husband; Cobb, a nudist awaiting an apology from the commune who cast him out; Wintry, the mute giant, whose story is told only in cryptic messages scribbled beneath newspaper headlines; Kyle, the kid who keeps a loaded gun beneath the table; and Cadaver, who looks like a corpse but smells real nice and occupies his time counting stacks of pennies.

And then there's Reverend Hill, who will be in at eleven, regular as clockwork, to tell them who's going to die and who's going to drive. Welcome to Eddie's, where tonight, for the first time in three years, nothing will go according to plan.

©2007 Kealan Patrick Burke (P)2018 David N. Wilson

Castle Rock, Twin Peaks...and now Milestone

This story is INSANE.

Welcome to the weird, surreal town of Milestone, where no one is who they appear to be and where all Hell (- or is it Purgatory?- ) is about to break loose.

You'll meet a whole cast of bizarre, eerie, ghostly, eccentric, freaky, outlandish characters. Their stories are so strange, wild and convoluted you'll start to wonder if you've walked inside someone's acid trip.

The narrator is absolutely perfect for the story. He somehow manages to bring to life this psychedelic, demented world and makes every character seem real and relatable.

I'm not sure what genre to classify this as. It's an odd mix of horror, fantasy, dystopia, western gothic and ghost story. Whatever it is, it's definitely unique and the author's talent is on full display.

WHOA! NOW THAT'S INTERESTING!

Now this is unique! Very weird, but "weird is as weird does." Really enjoyed it! I've about heard, seen and read it all, so nothing surprises me anymore, but I thought this was really cool and different. Interesting characters for sure, and the story was out there but in a good way. Eddie's Tavern is something else! I definitely recommend it :) Great story and great narration!! :) You may be going WTF sometimes, but hey that's just a part of life ;)
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

a bit strange but engaging

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was so weird, but so good. It is vividly written and oddly engaging. The narration was really great. It fit the tone of the story and added to the feel of book. Although it is kind of disjointed in places and a strange tale, this was a very entertaining listen. Worth checking out if you like that sort of thing.

Currency of souls

This was a good read.The story is similar to many.There is a small town where the living co exist with the nearly dead...or something likre that.All meet up at Eddies bar,even if it burnt down yesterday,it's up and running now.It is a screwy tale of family ,witchcraft and whiskey.Rich Miller is a fine narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Nightmare of Damnation or Purgatory?

Few horror authors write as eloquently and thoughtfully as Kealan Patrick Burke, a Bram Stoker Award-winning author who carefully chooses each word that makes it onto the page for maximum impact. Textually, Currency of Souls is a fine example of Burke’s methodical deliberation, and narrator Rich Miller delivers a reading that is aurally arresting right from the get-go.

Currency of Souls is a bit of a genre mish-mash. Tonally, it feels like a modern-day western with it bar-room setting, the Sheriff, and a handful of misfits populating the near-dead town of Milestone, but there’s enough violence and death to put it solidly in the horror genre, as well as a few fantasy elements and plenty of tragedy to boot. Milestone, however, is more than your average run-down locale, and each of the barflies carries the weight of their secret sins like an albatross. This is a town of damnation, and it may or may not be Purgatory or at least some facet of it, and each of the drinkers are constantly being manipulated by darker forces to murder one another. To say much more, though, would be a crime.

Burke keeps the story moving along with plenty of twists and turns, betrayals, and double- and triple-crosses. None of the cast are quite who they appear at first blush, and Burke slowly reveals their true faces and natures in due course. The story itself is weighted in symbolism and degrees of complexity. Simply put, there is a lot going on throughout the entirety of this book. Listeners should expect to not only pay close attention to all the things being said but especially to what is left unsaid. I suspect Currency of Souls is a title that only grows more rewarding with multiple listens, and that future rereads will reveal additional previously unseen facets.

Rich Miller has a deep, brassy voice that immediately captures the atmosphere and tone of Burke’s work, perfectly in tune with the western genre elements present here. I was immediately lost in this man’s reading, lulled in by the strong, yet comforting rhythms of his narration. There’s a kind-of Sam Elliot vibe to Miller’s presentation, which I certainly dug, and the recording is crystal-clear enough that I could practically smell the smoke and whiskey stink of Eddie’s Tavern.

Currency of Souls is a bit like a good whiskey, in fact. The writing is smooth and read by Miller it leaves a pleasantly warm feeling deep in your chest, but the story itself is a complex and full-bodied spirit, possessing various layers of richness. Its narrative threads are knotty and tangled, and it takes some work to unravel before you can fully appreciate it. It’s the type of story you want to let linger a bit before you take another sip and see what else is there to discover.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.
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Weird!

'Currency of Souls' seemed to get weirder and weirder as it went along. Not in the 'oh this is horror' way but in the 'what the actual heck is going on' way. It was highly specific and fairly unique, I'll definitely give it that. But it was a bit convoluted in a way that left me a somewhat confused throughout. I think perhaps Burke was trying to be tricky with his plot and instead ended up with a bewildering story. It's not a bad tale, it's an interesting idea, it was just executed bizarrely for me. I can't recommend this one to my friends, as there are just better horror stories out there. Rich Miller does give a good performance, however!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

3.5 rounded up

Not my favourite but still pretty good
It was hard to follow sometimes but the narration was excellent
If you liked this I highly recommend his other audiobook kin

I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

Strangeness abounds....

I have to say that this is one of the strangest books that I have ever read. I love horror stories and thought going into this one that would it would be creepy and it was. The town of Milestone has a place called Eddie's Tavern that seems to be frequented by a handful of very weird characters. As the story progresses, the reader realizes that most of these folks are probably murderers (or worse).

The author, Kealan Patrick Burke, is a great writer and I think that is what kept me listening. Overall, the story was just a little too disjointed for me to be able to keep up with what was happening. Maybe that's because it was because I was listening instead of reading the words on a page, but I found myself getting lost sometimes.

Also, I tend to have to like at least one character before I really become invested in a story. In this case, I didn't like any of them. I kept waiting for one of the characters to make me want them to survive whatever is happening, but I never did come to care.

I was reminded of several other books in the horror genre, but it was also unique. The narrator, Rich Miller, does a fantastic job and was another reason that I kept at the book. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author and hope that others might be a little less confusing. The author is talented and really draws the reader/listener in with his descriptions and dialogues.

I was given the chance to listen to this book by the narrator/publisher/author and chose to review it.

A good story

I found this story interesting. I had a hard time stopping listening. The story line had me guessing through a lot of the book about what was going to happen next. I would highly recommend this book. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Strangely Weird

The book was interesting especially the characters in the town, but has to admit was not his best one as complex but still enjoyed it. My favorite was of course Tom the lawman and found the ending was a little weird and not expected. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.