John Arbuthnot's Page

As I have been perusing the catalog looking for the cabbages, I find myself in the awkward position of finding more good than bad. The unfortunate by-product of this discovery is a lack of time to fully explore the stinkers. One solution would be to award roses in lieu of cabbages for those titles. Alas, while I might enjoy that approach, I believe my value to the community is in uncovering those titles which could most improve the Podiobook catalog if they were deleted from it. Of cours… Continue

This week's planting is dedicated to David Lee Summers' Pirates of Sufiro. Where to begin? The shabby audio quality? The dreadful narration? The reader's inability to actually maintain consistency in the character's voices? The background music? The cliched plot? Start with the first impressions: The Audio Quality - Unlike the other stories to which I have awarded cabbage clusters, there are few obvious gaffes -- lack of "po… Continue

Johnathan Fesmire's fantasy work contains some wonderful writing and an adequate narration style. Unfortunately, it is largely lost behind the quality of the audio file itself. Fesmire's fanciful -- if slightly derivative (*cough* LadyHawke *cough*) -- idea of "duals" is, indeed, charming and he does an excellent job of developing this idea. The narration and pacing are quite good. I enjoyed this story, but found the sound of his breath on the microphone to be distracting in the extreme. The fi… Continue

As I wander the pathways through the extensive catalog from top to bottom by genre, it occurs to me that listeners may have suggestions for my consideration. I have two titles in progress at the moment, in case one of them improves sufficiently to be removed from the running, but that does not preclude my accepting private nominations for Stinker de la Semaine. If you have any titles which you believe may benefit from my critique, please recommend them to my attention via direct message… Continue

For my first cabbage award, I've chosen a title that might have some redeeming value. This humorously titled work by the redundant nom de plume Blackbird Crow Raven has some potential but likewise has at least two fatal flaws. First, the audio quality is execrable. If it were totally unlistenable, it might be an improvement. The quality of the sound is almost good enough to hear, but badly distorted by scratchiness and a heaviness in my left ear. Fortunately for Raven, this painful quali… Continue