The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination

Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius

By: John Joseph Adams - editor

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Mary Robinette Kowal, Justine Eyre

Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Mad scientists have never had it so tough. In super-hero comics, graphic novels, films, TV series, video games, and even works of what may be fiction, they are besieged by those who stand against them, devoid of sympathy for their irrational, megalomaniacal impulses to rule, destroy, or otherwise dominate the world as we know it.

Dr. Frankenstein was the first truly mad scientist of the modern era. And what did it get him? Destroyed by his own creation. And Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo, a man ahead of his time as well as out of his head - what did he do to deserve persecution? Even Lex Luthor, by all accounts a genius, has been hindered not once, not twice, but so many times that it has taken hundreds of comic books, a few films, and no fewer than 10 full seasons of a television series to keep him properly thwarted.

It’s just not fair. So those of us who are so twisted and sick that we love mad scientists have created this guide. Some of the names have been changed to protect the guilty, but you’ll recognize them. It doesn’t matter, though. This guide is not for you. It’s for them: the underhanded, over-brained paranoiacs who so desperately need our help.What lies behind those unfocused, restless eyes and drooling, wicked grins? Why - and how - do they concoct their nefarious plots? Why are they so set on taking over the world? If you’ve ever asked yourself any of these questions, you’re in luck, because we are exposing their secrets, and aiding and abetting their evil. It all awaits, within. Watch out, world!

©2013 John Joseph Adams (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

HAND DANCING

THIS ONE SURE BLEED, WHAT IT DIDN'T DO WAS MAKE SENSE.
I was very disappointed in this collection, especially since it had so much potential. There were five stories I couldn't even give a star too. That is an unusual number even for Impatient Me. I almost gave up totally after the first five letters, papers, not stories. I was afraid they were all going to be nerdy science paper stuff. Each story starts with a Category such as; UNEXPECTED CRYPTOZOOOGICAL RAMIFICATIONS. This if followed by a rule such as; RULE 789.3 YOU MIGHT LIKE DRUGS, BUT THEY WILL LIKE YOU. This is followed by a source such as S. DAMIAN CHANCELLOR, PHARMACOLOGIST, and that is followed by VIA (the author). Then Adams summarizes the story you are about to hear. I guess he thought the writers were not good enough to get that message across in the story. Some writers went out of there way to be extra nerdy. Grossman used RE: 16 times and McGuire used eleven quotes before each one of her subtitles. RE: that really broke up the flow of what could have been a good story. Many of these are monologues or letters, talking about past events. One of the reviewers mentions one very long story. That was Gabaldon, who writes very long romance, Highland Novels, which are very popular with the fantasy RE: girl population. While most of the other authors wrote 10 to 12 page stories, hers runs over 80 pages. Since the main listeners to this is male, not sure why this was necessary.

YOUR PUNY HUMAN WEAPONS ARE POWERLESS AGAINST ME.
I was glad I hung in there as the two best stories where the last two stories. So, if you make the mistake of wasting a credit on this, even though I am telling you not too, make sure and skip on down to Grady Hendrix's MOFONGO KNOWS, which was funny and most close to what I was expecting when I bought this. Winters, THE FOOD TASTER'S BOY is very thought provoking.

EATER OF EUROPEANS
Rudniciki does the majority of narration. When I hear Rudnicki I always think of my favorite author Orson Scott Card. If the story is good then Rudnicki is great. He reads very slowly, so if the story sucks, as several of these do, then it is torture. I will also repeat what I said about DEAD MAN'S HAND, I would have preferred more narrators.

SCRATCH A SUPER VILLIAN AND HALF THE TIME THERE'S A FAILED ACTOR UNDERNEATH.

Hand-Wringing, Power Mad Evil Geniuses, ASSEMBLE!

Every once in a while it's good...no, essential, that you listen to an audiobook on the lighter side. Just for sanity's, and maybe optimism's, sake. I know I do. And this listen is exactly that every once in a while I need. Something fun. Crazy global domination fun.

This audiobook is an anthology of short stories that revolve around mad scientists and their "brilliant" plans to take over the world. Everyone has met one: You know, that quiet but quirky megalomaniac neighbor or office worker that's just a bit off, that stays up late in the basement creating a trans-atomic mogrification particle beam weapon that they'll power up to blackmail the governments of the world for a bazillion, quadrillion dollars. And after the get the money, they'll still turn the blasted thing on, just to watch it make pretty colors and melt the continents.

Basically, Dr. Evil.

Or Mr. Or Mrs. Or Miss.

This tongue-in-cheek group of stories is a wonderful antithesis of the superhero novels and movies that are on the shelves and screens lately, and it's a great listen. Here's why you'll want this audiobook.

Heroes are totally defined by the strength and power of their arch-enimies. Think about it. Batman and Joker, Superman and Lex Luthor, Iron Man and Mandarin. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. You get the idea.

The villain has the more interesting story. And it PAYS. Darth Vader, for example, gets a heck of a LOT more press than Luke. And novels. And movies. And audiobooks. And sippy cups.

Why, because we love 'em! Every girl wants the bad boy, because of their power and mystique, and every guy wants to be the bad boy to whom that those girls gravitate. Now, we finally get to see what happens on the other side of the crazy tracks.

The stories are about problems and issues that Evil Geniuses face in life as well as their whacked out world domination schemes. How do I tell my wife I'm going to rule the world? Do I wear my mad scientist costume to our next therapy mixer? Now that I've built the perfect weapon to crush the puny mortals of this world, how do I get the blamed thing out of my basement? Will my mom still love me when I stand on the pinnacle of world power by turning everyone to zombies? Should I turn MOM into a zombie too? Now that I've melted Paris, should I go for London next? Hmmm. Conundrums and decisions. It's what these brilliant lunatics do to answer these and other burning questions that make the stories light up.

Again, this is not for the serious-minded listener who doesn't need a break from more somber deep thinking. It's not utter fluff, just a bit lighter than the usual listen. It's loads of fun, and makes for an enjoyable break. There are solid plots, interesting characters, and more than anything, it's intriguing. You start thinking of people you know who just might be one of the these lunatics secretly planning to take over the world. You'll see the other twisted side of the story. And THAT, Audible listener, is my favorite part. Usually, we're limited to a hero's or heroine's perspective. Here, we get to see the darker side. You'll appreciate all the trouble and hard work brilliant mad men (and women) go through to control the world. Global domination is hard work!

So, all you wannabe evil geniuses, wringing your hands, slaving over bunsen burners and home-made nuclear generators....

ASSEMBLE!

And get this audiobook.

Amazingly boring for the subject matter

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not really ..... I think the editor couldn't find enough good stories to put into this collection. Some of the material is boring and some of it is just bad.

What do you think your next listen will be?

The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell

What three words best describe the narrators’s performance?

Can't. Save. Material.

Did The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination inspire you to do anything?

Stop listening.... I couldn't finish it, too slow.

Any additional comments?

I thought this would be an amusing and/or whimsical and/or suspenseful collection of stories. The first few stories fit the bill but the effort to go outside the genre led to stories that didn't fit and one or two that were to tortuously slow and long that they seemed to be nothing but filler.

Boring

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

More focus on stories actually pertaining to Mad Scientists and less filler stories that I'm not sure how they were even associated to the Mad Scientist theme.

Would you ever listen to anything by John Joseph Adams (editor) again?

No

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

A good portion of the stories were not mad scientist related, how do magically time traveling fairies fit into a compilation of mad scientist stories? Or how about the 'mad scientist' who smokes pot and summons the goddess Kali with magic? Or the daughters of mad scientists who sit around reminiscing about their boring origin stories and joining the circus as part of the freak show?

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

There were a couple of entertaining stories, but mostly this was a flop. It was well read by the voice actors, but they could only do so much with the poor quality of material they were given.

Any additional comments?

If you love Mad Scientists don't bother listening, the first monologue that's also the sample is leaps and bounds better than anything else in the book, everything else was a disappointment regardless of having some great author's contributing to this flop.

Boring

What disappointed you about The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination?

I mainly brought it so I could listen to the story by Diana Gabaldon which I have already read in hard back and loved but I don't like the narrator for the audio Americans just can't do a good scots accent. It very nearly put me to sleep. If the space between comes out on audio on its own please change the narrator.

How could the performance have been better?

Narrators with the correct accent would be good.

We interupt this Program...

I picked up this book solely so I could post a review for "We Interrupt this Program" a Lady Astronaut story written and read by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is one of my favorite short stories in one of my favorite series! And, if any of the other stories in this collection take my fancy, well that will be my gravy! And wow did I find the gravy! Daniel H Wilson's story "The Executor" is amazing! And Heather Lindsey's "The Angel of Death has a Business Plan" simply tickled my funny bone too the extreme... Having just recently read "Frankenstein" and "Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (yes, I'm catching up on some the classics that I've managed to miss) I found that "Daughters of a Mad Scientist" by Theadora Goss was a lot of fun... Did I read/finish all the stories? No. One, I actively disliked, and two of the longest stories bored me to tears, whereupon I found a good use for the skip button! 
 All three narrators were fantastic (and I'm really picky about narration... its Got to be Good, or it needs to be gone!)
So, yeah... the collection wasn't perfect for me, but it was absolutely worth it! 

Brilliant!

This is the best collection of stories I've come across for a while. It's full of memorable short stories and one less than memorable, unnecessarily long one.

Mad. Mad I tell you.

If you could sum up The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination in three words, what would they be?

Some great stories.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It's best listened to one story at a time.

Any additional comments?

Some of the stories were wonderful, others? Not so much. But even the less good stories were OK.

Not as good as I hoped

I liked maybe three of the stories and one of the female narrators other then that I found this to be rather disappointing and I really wanted to like this one. Most of the narration felt like someone giving an emotionless report rather then a story teller. As for the stories themselves, I found them dull and pointless and not even the fun kind of pointless. There were a few of stories that were entertaining but over all not it was a let down.

Clever and fun writing and narration is excellant!

Would you listen to The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination again? Why?

Yes. The stories are worth a second listen.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed Mary Robinette Kowal's rather playful narration of Seanan McQuire's Laughter at the Academy. Stefan Rudnicki is fantastic as a narrator with his dialects skills in Homo Perfectus. All of the stories are very good and there is plenty of humor and genius all round.

Which scene was your favorite?

SCGPD, seriously this has to be showing up in behaviorial studies classes as a topic of discussion. Too funny!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Tempting!