Good Morning... Processes Must Be Improved

By: Ray Jay Perreault

Narrated by: Christopher M. Allport

Length: 59 mins

Publisher's summary

What happens when a man and a computer is put on Saturn's Titan for a year to mine methane? The relationship doesn't always work out the way everyone plans. The relationship should be based on trust, but what if one member of the team isn't doing what the other expects?

©2015 Raymond J. Perreault (P)2016 Raymond J. Perreault

Another Great Short Story

Any additional comments?

I am becoming a Ray Jay Perreault fan! Hoping he begins writing longer stories for me to enjoy. Christopher Allport did a wonderful job of capturing the right tone for the book. I haven't heard many people do computer voices like he can.

This story is along the lines of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the author does a really nice job of drawing you into the story and then leading you through the year these two spend together! I like the way the backstory of both the computer and Robert unfold as the story progresses and the way Tessi manipulates Robert through the entirety of their year. The increasingly invasive way Tessi treats Robert is artful. It left me wishing the story was longer!

I received this audiobook from the author for an honest review.

Good Story

Any additional comments?

I liked this book and thought it was entertaining most of the time. However the robotic voice was rather annoying and took some getting used to. This book is about the action between a miner and a AI who's soul job is to ensure productivity. Without giving away the story they clash often over the way that they should finish the tasks they are assigned to do. I got this book in exchange for a review.

Good Morning TITAN!

Poor Robert is in the dog house with work and is sent off to distant Titan to spend a year of gas collection and maintenance with only an AI computer for company.

Ray Jay Perreault takes a familiar premise and turns it on its head, stirs and shakes and then shreds it into something new. Nicely done.

Christopher M. Allport shows us his wonderful range of characterizations and voices and even a few sound effects.

This audiobook was provided in exchange for an unbiased review.

Short but good

I chose to listen to this book after receiving a free audio copy from the author. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

This audiobook is only about an hour long, but a lot happens in that hour. It’s a good story about how bureaucracy often works. Unfortunately, it can be beyond frustrating.

Robert was stationed at Titan where the company he worked for mines methane. He had to stay there a year, and it was interesting to see how he worked so hard when he first got there, but with no real support, his production was almost gone by the time the year was up.

The AI is a big part of this story. It reminded me a lot of Hal, the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, except this AI said “Robert” all the time (so annoying!) instead of “Dave.” There is a surprise at the end, but no spoilers here.

If you’re looking for a quick read or listen, this would be a good book to get a taste of Ray Jay Perrault’s work. I’m looking forward to listening to more!

Solid Sci-Fi

Ray Jay Perreault now has several stories out and many are available here on Audible. This is a pretty good short read as far as stories go.

However, This audiobook is a perfect example of the difference between reading a book, even a kindle book, and listening to that same book when narrated.

When reading a book, there are visual clues as to how we read and interpret the text. Common things like periods, sentence structure, and paragraphs will change how a subject is communicated.

When listening to an audiobook, we depend on the narrator to provide us those clues as we listen to the story. Any decent narrator is reasonably proficient with these devices. This is not my issue and I don't believe that my issue is truly the narrators fault. Or the authors fault either.

In many stories there are chapter breaks. Some stories have time breaks within chapters and some stories even have complete subject/context changes inside of a chapter. An example would be that a chapter starts out following one person while that person is doing something. A time break means that we are still following the same character, but, that character is now somewhere else doing something else. A noticeable amount of time has passed. On the written page there is often a large break in the text to show this time jump. Later on in the chapter, we may switch to a different character. This is similar to a time jump but also includes a character change as part of the jump. It is also signaled in a similar way on the written page.

The problem that I am having, and happens continuously throughout this book, is that there is no cue to the listener that such an event has occurred. When listening to a story, the only clues to even a paragraph change is is the subject of the paragraph and you have to listen for that . But a paragraph change really does not matter when listening unless a major change has occurred. Like a time jump. Two characters in the middle of a conversation... one falls silent... the other, after a pause, asks whats the matter? This is common with narrators. A simple pause in speaking deals with this pause in the dialog. But what if the next words in the conversation are weeks later? The same two people are speaking. The same questions are being asked. A similar conversation is taking place. But the time has jumped. When listening to the narration there is no difference between this time jump pause and the simple pause in the dialog of the prior conversation. Until the story literally tells us that time has passed we have no idea and this can often cause issues tracking with the story. I often hear no pause at all for chapter breaks, time jumps, character changes, or anything else you can imagine that is commonly shown on the written page that does not translate to the narrated page.

Some stories actually state the chapter breaks. I like this practice because when I hear this I can start looking for what has changed for the new chapter. I understand that it can be jolting in some stories but it is a needed tool for the listener to follow the story as the reader would.

I am thinking we need some tool for these other breaks as well.
I simply must say that there is a problem when the listener can not tell the difference between a period and a time jump let alone a character change or even a chapter break.

Overall, I thought this was an interesting story. I liked the twist at the end. Although I was expecting something was coming for awhile it was not quite what I had imagined. And it was easy to miss. Pay attention or you might miss it.


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

Frustration at the max

This storyline is captivating and you actually beguine to feel the way the main charter is feeling. It grabs you and you understand what he is going through and how frustrating his situation is. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this recording.

Psychological sci fi

2nd book by this author I've listened to. Knowing what his style was like I was prepared for it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Don't expect action adventure and detailed descriptions of far off worlds. Expect to use your mind. Listen to the dialogue of the two characters and the transcriptions of the corporate messages and use your imagination to envision the scene. Wonderfully done. I received this audiobook from the author narrator or publisher for free via audiobookblast in exchange for an unbiased review

This is what Sci-Fi should be!!!

Ray Jay Perreault captured the dystopian essence of working in a system that is so broken that it can only live to exalt itself. Christopher M. Allport's performance was inter-stellar, as he delineated between Robert and the TECI, the computer interface. Looking forward to more from this team.

Enjoyable Short Story

This was a good short sci to story with a nice twist... I won't rehash the plot but the setting and plot were polished and thought out. The ending was satisfying and didn't feel rushed. And there was some sly humor too. The narration of the character voices was good but I'm not a fan of the noises used to introduce a transmission.

Overall, this is a good short story And the narration was good also. Worth a read/listen!

Superb Sci-fi audiobook masterpiece!

What a completely brilliant book this is!

I got this as a free review copy - don't be put off by this; I'm not scared to say if something is horrible (plus I'm really good at hide and seek hide if a disgruntled author or narrator comes to track me down).

The description of the book sums up the contents perfectly so instead I'll focus on the quality and fitness of the audio.

I was pleased to fine the narration is made much more like a minimal audio play such as you might hear on the radio rather than a straight 'reading' of the book's text and is so much the better for it. Dialog that is reaching the mining base from the remote (and eviiiiil) corporate headquarters is recorded with a kind of pseudo static short-wave radio distortion effect to give the sense of it crossing millions of miles and through swathes of radiation to reach the central characters marooned on a remote automated mineral mining operation. Wonderfully done and adds well to the plot line for reasons I will not go into to avoid spoiling the story for you.

I listen to a substantial amount of audiobooks while driving and the great understated drama and increasing tension in the storyline was so well done that I actually sat in my garage (engine off!!) after returning from a short trip so that I could carry on hearing more of what would happen next. That's definitely a sign of a good audiobook for me.

Christopher M. Allport's narration was truly brilliant and combined with the special effects, which are not overdone in any way, was absolutely right for the book.

I love this book - can you tell? :)

I definitely want to hear more from both Ray Jay Perrault and Christopher M Allport.