The Bureau

Volume 1

By: Kim Fielding

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

This collection contains the first three Bureau novellas:

Corruption

Once a proud demon of the night sky who carried nightmares to humans, Tenrael has spent decades in captivity as the star attraction of a traveling carnival. He exists in miserable servitude to men who plunk down ten dollars to fulfill their dark desires.

Charles Grimes is half human, half...something else. For 15 years he’s worked for the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, ridding the country of dangerous monsters. When his boss sends him to Kansas to chase a rumor about a captive demon, Charles figures it’s just another assignment. Until he meets Tenrael.

Clay White

Someone - or something - is murdering young men in San Francisco. Clay White has been fired from the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, but he’s determined to track down the killer. When he comes across a vampire named Marek, Clay assumes he’s caught the perp. But the encounter with Marek turns out to be more complicated than Clay expected, and it forces him to deal with his own troubled past and murky psyche.

As Clay discovers, sometimes the truth doesn't come easy - and the monsters are not who we expect.

Creature

Alone in a cell and lacking memories of his past, John has no idea who - or what - he is. Alone on the streets of 1950s Los Angeles, Harry has far too many memories of his painful past and feels simply resignation in facing his empty future.

When Harry is given a chance to achieve his only dream - to become an agent with the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs - all he has to do is prove his worth. Yet nothing has ever come easy for him.

Now he must offer himself and John as bait, enticing a man who wants to conquer death. But first he and John must learn what distinguishes a monster from a man - and what a monster truly wants.

©2018 Kim Fielding (P)2018 Kim Fielding

Really good!

I really liked this one, good storys that bind together and perfekt charachters.
Joel Leslie did an amazing job to keep track of all the voices, and I grow to love his work more and more!
Only thing I didnt like was that chapter
22-23, 26-27, 29-30 and 31-32 was all duplets. I dont care much if it happens once but 4 times was enough to make me annoyed since I basically listened to those parts when I was driving.
Other than that, get this book, it was a great!

A fantastic raw fantasy tales that touch your soul

Knowing Joel Leslie and Kim Fielding as talented narrator and author, respectively, this book promised to be a good one. I was poorly prepared for the whirlwind of emotions and intense rawness these three stories brought. At first I was sure that the first one is my favorite but by the end I knew that CREATURE was the one. I found a great deal of symbolism in this story, John was such an interesting relatable character. He was so gentle and sensitive, lyrical and with a beautiful view of the world around him.
Each story had it's own mystery, including the elusive time frame the story takes place at. This made the stories timeless in a way, with only small clues as to the year it takes place at. The Bureau is a fascinating, frightening agency and each story shows another view of it and the supernatural world fielding created.
In all three stories, the question of what is human is the main focus for the heroes, some human and some maybe not so much. Each story is well written, the characters well rounded ans intriguing. The connection between the stories is there but they are stand alones, each showing a new angle, creatures and range of emotions.
Joel Leslie brings a wide range of accents, tones of voice and emotion in his performance that infuse each character with life. He tackles daemons, vampires and cruel ignorant humans with the skill and finesse I have learned to associate with his performances.
There could not have been a better narrator to bring life the rich world Fielding created.

Wonderful though bit of a tech issue in last story

Love the stories, as always Kim Fielding builds a fantastic world and Joel Leslie does an awesome job bringing it all to life. However, the doubling of the chapters at the end is a bit of an issue. Though that is only a minor irritation. I’m looking forward to more tales of The Bureau!!

Excellent collection of stories!

I read each of these stories as they came out and loved them... now the audio version makes them even better!

Corruption is the first of the three books, and does take place first in the timeline. This one introduces us to the Bureau of Tran Species Affairs, the organization created to deal with the monsters in the world... Charles Grimes, who is not quite human himself, is sent by his boss Townsend, to kill a demon. What he finds is Tenreal, a demon who has been captured, sold, and tortured by humans for years. Instead of killing him, Charles..... well, you'll just have to read it!

Clay White may be the second book, but it's the last one in the timeline. Clay is no longer an agent with the Bureau, but after so many years he can't stop trying to save people. He's poking around in a club in San Francisco trying to locate what is killing young gay men. He meets Marek, an ancient vampire who helps him... in more ways than one! Clay gets some help from another source that I won't mention due to spoilers.

Then we have Creature, the final book in the collection, but the middle book in the timeline. And my favorite of the three! Harry has left his home looking for a better life in Los Angeles, and had hopes of becoming an agent for the Bureau, but as Townsend tells him, he's too soft. When he is at the end of his rope, Townsend offers him a chance to become an agent afterall. His mission is to attract the attention of a man who has been attempting to raise the dead and make a creature of sorts. Townsend sends Harry to Portland with a creature the Bureau has been storing for an unknown number of years. That creature turns out to be John... John changes over the few days the two are together, turning from an emaciated collection of bones and skin, to an intelligent, curious, caring partner for the lonely Harry. Harry is able to find Swann, the bad guy and.... you'll have to read it to find out what happens to Harry and John!

I went through an emotional rollercoaster ride with these books... I was disturbed and horrified to see what humans can do, both the Tenreal and John. I was distressed for Charles, Clay, and Harry, who while different, have a common bond of loneliness. Actually Tenreal, Marek, and John share that bond now that I think about it. All of these beings, human and otherwise, are all a mess! Then there was the happiness I felt at the end of each story. Without giving too much away, I will say that each story does have a good ending.

I was also interested in Townsend. He appears to be human, an obnoxious, smoking, drinking human, but he's been around a long time. What is he? We don't really know!

Kim Fielding is one of my favorite authors, and these three stories are excellent. While they do tie in together, they are clearly individual plots. Each has a beginning, middle, and happy ending, with background to the characters, a little sex, emotions, darkness, light, and bonding between the characters.

Then we have the narration.... Hello! It's Joel Leslie so it's perfection. His voices are amazing, each fit the character, in accent and intonation. Especially John, as he changes, so does his voice. Joel Leslie is able to put so much emotion and passion in his voice in every book he narrates, from college age men, to Australian ranchers, to British billionaires, to demons, vampires, and lonely humans. His passion for his craft is evident in every book he narrates.

I have both read and listened to these stories and can tell you they are wonderful, in whichever format you prefer!

When men fall in love with monsters

Dark love stories of monsters and men. The last story, Creature, was the best of the three and is worth grabbing this book for that one alone.

The narrator is very good at making very different voices. You’ll never get confused as to who is speaking.

Most Enjoyable Read

Kim Fielding is a classic storyteller, and these tales are among her best. Having read the three works separately in the past, it's only in enjoying them together in one volume to do I see the recurrent themes of redemption and good versus evil. I think my personal favorite is Kim's re-imagined Frankenstein. Talented narrator Joel Leslie brings his particular brand of magic to each character, making The Bureau: Volume I a book I'll go back to again and again.

A hot & trippy triptych of noir monster tales

Since this audiobook is a triptych of three previously released novellas It's probably appropriate to feature three mini-plot reviews:

Corruption - Though the year is never made clear, this tale has a bleak, 1940's “noir” feel that is evocative of the HBO series Carnivàle. Charles Grimes's is a demon hunter. As a Demi-angel his wings never seemed to really work, and at 18 he'd had them surgically removed. Other parts of his biology are tougher to conceal. A non smoking, abstemious, vegan because of his biology, Charles is tasked with finding and eliminating a demon reported to be on display at a traveling carny in Kansas. What he finds is a group of hucksters profiting by pedaling the right to “punish” & debase perhaps the most appealing creature Charles has ever encountered. Can Charles really destroy a creature who is so alluring and has been through so much hell already? Though the most graphic of the BDSM is described at a remove, the tangential action alone is hot enough to make this a one-handed read.

Clay White - In this modern era San Francisco based tale, burly Clay has been fired from the bureau but still feels he must stop a killing spree in San Francisco. When officials from the Bureau refuse to help him catch the killer, he turns to the aid of another ex-Bureau operative for backup. But can a demi-angel and his demon partner aid a disgraced, and all too human, bureau operative, with the aid of a surprisingly supportive vampire, take on a Silicon Valley monster charming enough to make the Bureau uninterested in stopping him? It was very satisfying to catch up with the couple we met in book one and to meet yet another “agent” with a taste for a supernaturally sexy denizen of the underworld. Though the sexual content in this tale is slightly more subdued than in the first tale, it's still... to slightly paraphrase Sam Spade “the stuff of wet dreams.”

Creature - in this early 50s era tale, Harry Low applied to join the Bureau but they weren't interested. Months after their refusal, when given this second-chance “trial assignment,” Harry has to question the nature of just what (and who) are the real monsters. The “monster” in this tale is a captive, possibly innocent, though we and the “monster” have no knowledge of what came before. Initially repulsive and hideous, as the creature is treated humanely, it becomes more human. Though never afforded much decency or love himself, Harry seems incapable of treating the creature inhumanely and that compassion soon begins to affect them both. This is the longest and perhaps the sweetest of the tales and at spots it's a tear-jerker. Consequently the graphic sex here is more limited than in either of the other two tales but the story will probably remain with me longer.


Oscar Wilde said 'Each Man kills the thing he loves.” And the cynical, outcast heroes in these tales are all killers. What they have in common is their down at the heels competence, and their “little left to lose” outlooks. What makes these stories compelling is the empathy that the reader gains when parts of each tale are told from the “monster's” point of view. While this format demands the reader consider... “just what makes a monster?” That ethical dilemma doesn't get in the way of the hot sexual nature of these tales. If hot action,and the allure of the “forbidden” appeals to you; and if you're open to reading of captivity, punishment, bondage, and pain mixed with pleasure, then this is a book for you. If you liked the movies Chinatown and the Maltese Falcon and if you're also a sucker for underdogs & tales of redemption, so much the better.

Narrator Joel Leslie projects a gruff, resigned, world weary quality to his voice that works amazingly well with the tales and characters he's presenting. His resignation alone, evokes much of the noir aspect of these tales, before the events even fully unfold. After hearing this, I'm even more curious to hear more of the wide variety of tales he's lent voice to.

How do you define a monster?

If you like your romance with a little paranormal thrown in, this is a great collection if short stories.
Each story stands on it's own and Kim Fielding has a knack for writing the best and worst of "humanity".
Joel Leslie's performance brings a unique voice and life to each of the characters.
I do wish the stories were longer and there were more in this series though.
I will happily listen to this book again. Each story kept me engaged, the characters are interesting and their stories raw and emotional.

What a ride!

This is a great collection of stories and Joel Leslie does an amazing job of bringing them to life. I was captivated from page one and that didn't let up until the end.

Well crafted trio of stories, excellent narration!

This is a collection of stories that introduce the Bureau of Tran Species Affairs. The stories are a little dark, somewhat film noir-ish, but interesting. I read and enjoyed Creature, (my favourite of the 3), as a standalone, so when I saw that Joel Leslie was narrating the trio of stories, I was more than happy to experience the collection. The stories connect, but are definitely self-contained standalones.
What can I say about *'a Joel Leslie performance' that hasn't been said before? He brings life, character and a wealth of acting experience to the stories he narrates; so much so, that one becomes personally invested in the characters. In this case, he made me want to take Tenrael (Corruption) home to care for. And John (Creature), you could almost 'see' how he bloomed under Harry's care - I could feel the affection and emotion he felt for Harry and life (such as it was) in general.
Joel Leslie, simply put, is a pleasure to listen to.
*Mr Leslie should trademark that phrase, btw :)