• Junk

  • By: Les Bohem
  • Narrated by: John Waters
  • Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
  • 3.3 out of 5 stars (15,627 ratings)

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Junk  By  cover art

Junk

By: Les Bohem
Narrated by: John Waters
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Publisher's summary

In present day Los Angeles, the alien takeover has begun—but there’s no spaceship and no little green men. Rather, an epic conspiracy is slowly coming to fruition. Thousands of years ago, beings infiltrated our society, bred with humans, then died—leaving an untraceable, inexplicable anomaly in our DNA. Now that genetic code has activated, and chaos has erupted.

But private investigator Tom Lombard has his own chaos to face. His personal life is falling apart, and he just found his latest “missing person” dead in a dumpster. Suddenly he’s being chased by a woman with silver hair and two black-eyed goons with unnatural abilities. And what’s with all these people in masks—and the crazy girl ranting on the internet about the end of the world? Is humanity’s only hope a weird band of eccentrics and one down-on-his-luck, disgraced ex-cop badly in need of a win?

In this wild, souped-up apocalyptic vision of Les Bohem—the acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning writer of the Steven Spielberg miniseries, Taken—the reckoning begins, culminating in something truly unexpected. And who better to give voice to the wickedly weird world of Junk than transgressive art icon John Waters, whose simultaneously relaxed and dynamic delivery gives this Audible Original a cool, cinematic feel.

This title contains explicit language and depictions of physical and sexual violence that may be upsetting to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

©2018 Leslie Bohem (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.

Go Behind the Scenes with John Waters

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Publisher's summary

In present day Los Angeles, the alien takeover has begun—but there’s no spaceship and no little green men. Rather, an epic conspiracy is slowly coming to fruition. Thousands of years ago, beings infiltrated our society, bred with humans, then died—leaving an untraceable, inexplicable anomaly in our DNA. Now that genetic code has activated, and chaos has erupted.

But private investigator Tom Lombard has his own chaos to face. His personal life is falling apart, and he just found his latest “missing person” dead in a dumpster. Suddenly he’s being chased by a woman with silver hair and two black-eyed goons with unnatural abilities. And what’s with all these people in masks—and the crazy girl ranting on the internet about the end of the world? Is humanity’s only hope a weird band of eccentrics and one down-on-his-luck, disgraced ex-cop badly in need of a win?

In this wild, souped-up apocalyptic vision of Les Bohem—the acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning writer of the Steven Spielberg miniseries, Taken—the reckoning begins, culminating in something truly unexpected. And who better to give voice to the wickedly weird world of Junk than transgressive art icon John Waters, whose simultaneously relaxed and dynamic delivery gives this Audible Original a cool, cinematic feel.

This title contains explicit language and depictions of physical and sexual violence that may be upsetting to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

©2018 Leslie Bohem (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.

Our favorite moments from Junk

Junk
Suitcase in the driveway, that couldn’t be good
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Junk
He’d never seen a tattoo like it
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Junk
Her eyes were crystals of black
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Junk
About a third of the population was gone
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  • Junk
  • Suitcase in the driveway, that couldn’t be good
  • Junk
  • He’d never seen a tattoo like it
  • Junk
  • Her eyes were crystals of black
  • Junk
  • About a third of the population was gone
John Waters

About the Performer

Titan of trash and auteur of the absurd John Waters has written and directed 16 movies, including Pink Flamingos, Polyester, Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom, and A Dirty Shame. In addition to his film work, he is an author of eight books and a photographer whose work has been shown in galleries all over the world. Waters also serves on the Board of Directors for the Maryland Film Festival and has been a key participant in the Provincetown International Film Festival since it began in 1999—the same year Waters was honored as the first recipient of PIFF’s Filmmaker on the Edge award. In 2014, Film Society of Lincoln Center honored his 50 years in filmmaking with a 10-day celebration and the following year Waters was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. He’d shortly thereafter be awarded a second doctorate from the Maryland Institute College of Arts. His contribution to cinema is so celebrated the British Film Institute honored his oeuvre with a program called The Complete Films of John Waters…Every Goddam One of Them in 2015. The same year the French Minister of Culture bestowed upon him the rank of Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters. In February, 2017, he was honored with the Writers Guild of America, East’s Ian McLellan Hunter Award, lauding his iconic body of work as a writer in motion pictures.

Les Bohem

About the Author

Les Bohem was part of the great Los Angeles music scare of the early 1980s. His band, Gleaming Spires, had a cultish hit with their single, Are You Ready For the Sex Girls. At the same time, he was holding down a day job as the bass player with the legendary band, Sparks. After this burgeoning career in rock and roll stopped burgeoning, Les started writing. He has written a lot of movies and TV shows including Twenty Bucks, Daylight, Dante’s Peak, The Alamo, and the mini-series, Taken, which he wrote and executive produced with Steven Spielberg and for which he won an Emmy award. He has had songs recorded by Emmylou Harris, Randy Travis, Freddy Fender, Steve Gillette, Johnette Napolitano, and Alvin (of the Chipmunks). His first solo album, Moved to Duarte, was released last year to rave reviews and absolutely no sales or downloads.

Photo by Bonnie Perkinson

What listeners say about Junk

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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    3,799
  • 4 Stars
    3,985
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    3,370
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    1,583
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Story
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  • 3 Stars
    3,023
  • 2 Stars
    1,875
  • 1 Stars
    2,471

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

Appropriately Named

I am a voracious consumer of Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels and can usually find something redeeming in most books. The only positive aspect to this book, was good narration. The story was pure “Junk.” One-dimensional characters; a pathetic story; thin plot ...

It reads like a 6th-graders first attempt at writing a story. Something that should have been in short-story format; but expanded by unending useless extensions. I’m shocked that I actually bothered to listen to the entire book. If it hadn’t been a free download, I’d have returned it for credit.

Do yourself a favor and make a different selection.

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9 people found this helpful

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

Good story, John Waters not so much

I enjoyed this story, very provocative idea. I really enjoy John Waters acting, but feel his voicing a story almost monotone at times.

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6 people found this helpful

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

Dark, Disturbing and Disjointed

Very interesting premise and a lot of colorful characters with many subplots. Took some concentration to stay focused on what was being done to who when. A challenging listen, but it pulls together in the end. Super for Sci-Fi and horror fans, but not an easy listen.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed it by the end!

The beginning of the book had me confused. I understood it was an introduction of characters, but it jumped around and it was hard to follow. I did enjoy it by the end.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Too dark of a world

I couldn't finish this book. The characters and the community they were in we're all despicable. I personally don't need to read about that.

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

What. a. Drag.

I feel like there was so much damn potential with this story. Aliens hiding within the very genome of the human race, just waiting to be activated. And once activated, holy crap, the idea of such a quick and efficient takeover. I mean, you're either part of the new world order, or you're not. But this book seemed to have been written by a 13-year-old who'd just discovered cursing for the first time. No real development of the protagonist, a lot of room for improvement of the antagonist, and a plot that just....never developed from the first round of writing. Real big disappointment.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Unpleasant story with unappealing characters

Unpleasant story with unappealing characters. Performed competently but often it wasn't clear who was saying what or which characters were now the focus. I only got about 2 hours into it before turning it off

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Weird narrative

The story was very original. The narrator was not a good match. I liked the authors take on a new world after an epidemic.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Soon to be a motion picture.

Just not sure about the overall story, I could see it coming well ahead. there were parts where I was picturing it all in my head like a movie. Hmm, a movie... easy connection.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

when your leftist commie author goes on a rant.

I didn't have high hopes for this book, but as expected it was the whole we are destroying our planet and consumerism is sooooo bad and then they throw in a complete mix of every conspiracy theory ever along with the idea of alien invasions of the far past with witches being the good guys and an even mix of all religions being the answer... along with the idea copied from attack of the killer tomatoes 2 .... and this is what you get. it's a screed in sci-fi form. with the evil fantasies of the author given full reign by the bad guys...

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