Mechanical Failure

Epic Failure, Book 1

By: Joe Zieja

Narrated by: Joe Zieja

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

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

Easily one of my top 3 books of all time

This was such a fun book, made even better by the author narrating it. The characters are creative and interesting, The Trilogy was amazing, I really hope the author does more books eventually.

Pretty sure I served with most of these guys...

Classic military buffonary ensues. A refreshing reminder that things will always go horribly, hilariously <expletive> wrong.

Fun fun fun

For a good time and a rump riot, laugh, look no further.

For a deeply philosophical inquiry into the human condition, with highhanded verbiage, look again.

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.

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

Hilarious

Funny take on military life, good military science fiction, funny and well paced, the author is the narrator and was excellent.

Another Space Comedy? Totally Okay With That

Any additional comments?

Good:
-Funny, comedy, humor, hilarious
-Better than Redshirts
-Original and creative characters
-Reminds me of my own office experiences
-Numerous literal laugh out loud moments

Bad:
-Largely forgettable in the scheme of things.
-It's a fluff or palette cleansing book.

Conclusion: I'll definitely continue this series.

I recommend it to anyone who wants a funny space fiction book, so fans of Scalzi's books or Erikson's Willful Child Series.

a great work. both in writing and the audio

the author did a fabtastix job playing the rolls.

well expletive done Joe.. ..well done sir

Fantastic Experience

This book is amazing. Great build up and payoff. Comedy Gold. Awesome Narrator. Highly recommend.

Worth the read!

An awesome story that is brought to life by the author reading his own book. have listened to this book three times and gets better every time. I look forward to the third book of a trilogy coming out. Think "Space Quest" meets Star Trek.