Tim Dodge makes his debut on the site, releasing his thriller, Acts of Desperation, as a free serialized audiobook:
Ray Davis is newly divorced, going nowhere at a dead-end job in a warehouse, and has almost worked off the debts his ex-wife rang up. Then his underinsured brother’s need for a liver transplant forces Ray to come up with a lot of money, fast. When he attempts to recover the profit he made with an old business partner, Ray discovers that the partner is dead and his investment has fallen into the hands of a drug dealer. The dealer has used the cash to buy a large supply of cocaine; he and his gun are not inclined to return the proceeds. Ray enlists a crude private eye to help him get it back, and he falls in love with Jenna, a beautiful waitress. His struggle to recover the money soon takes him deep into a swamp of crime, drugs, murder and revenge. Caught in a war between rival dealers, he comes to realize that the stakes have risen beyond the woman he loves or the money he needs to save his brother. He’s fighting for his life.
ACTS OF DESPERATION is the new thriller from Tim Dodge. It combines crime, action, adventure, romance and humor into a roller coaster ride of a story.
We’ve released the first seven episodes in the default feed. More coming. Or get a customized feed just for you, and space them out one at a time on a schedule you control. Either way, it’s free!
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on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm and is filed under New Books, Praise.
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September 10th, 2009 at 3:27 am
Podibooks.com has taught me patience and fortitude when it comes to sifting through stories. It has also given me a good measure of appreciation on just how difficult it is not only to write something, but to make an audio production.
I have consequently swapped my once harsh tones of criticism for more tempered one’s of encouragement as I think they better serve to aid improvement.
Just about everyone deserves a free star just for having the commitment to get something published on this site and bare it to the world for evaluation. There are some very established authors that release there work here. Some consistently produce great pieces of work on a regular basis, and add a lot of meat to the bones of site content. But everyone gets a fair shot here, and that’s why it’s always great to come across good work from a first timer and someone with promise. I think Tim Dodge is just such an author.
Ever had a meal, driven a car, played a game which had its fair share of faults but you still enjoyed it immensely regardless? For me this is one such production. It’s a great little tale, one that I’m sure, for the most part, will entertain considerably. It is by no means a masterpiece; elements of the story line, the prose, the character development, the plot, the story progression, could all do with a little, and sometimes a lot more work, but this is still a very enjoyable story. I think (and this is just my opinion) that with fiction in general, the ability to tell a good tale is as essential as good technical writing capability, probably more so. The later can be learned and practiced while the former I think relies more heavily on talent. I think Tim Dodge has the talent and hopefully the rest will come as his ability improves. Yes I know this isn’t much of a review, more of a random musing, but today I don’t feel like picking stories to death and besides, this is his first book (I looked it up on his website http://www.timdodgestories.com) so I’ll give some leeway.
What I will pick on the few relatively minor issues which ‘I think’ could and should have been fixed before release. These are primarily with the audio production. I can’t count the number of releases I’ve ditched after two minutes because the slap-dash ‘Johnny-have-a-go’ poor recording quality made them ‘unlistenable’ (I can’t believe that is not a real word, damn well should be!). No such problems exist with this production as Tim Dodge has done a reasonably good job here. His reading of the passages is ok and recording quality is good. But, he stumbles in just a handful places and these could have so easily been fixed to produce a ‘clean’ piece of work I have to wonder why it wasn’t done. Anyone who is not a professional… or seasoned amateur will know how difficult it is to narrate a story, so I give credit to this attempt as it isn’t half bad by a long shot. A little practice and experience and I expect Tim Dodge will become a fairly accomplished orator, but till then I think editing (sound in this instance) needs to be his prime concern as this is what will strengthen the recording production most. I had no problems with the files which are all a nice length between 20 and 40 minutes, apart from the final chapter which is slightly longer, other than that, all is well.
Overall, a good piece of work that gets my recommendation. I definitely want to see more from Tim Dodge.
September 14th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Jim, thank you for your comments. I’m glad you enjoyed the story, and I appreciate your feedback on the production.
October 12th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Tim, previous comments considered, I am really enjoying your audiobook. I’m up to chapter 8 as I write this.
I’m really looking forward to your next book!
Cheers from Korea,
Thomas
October 15th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Thomas, I’m thrilled to have a listener in Korea, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the book. I’ll have a new one on Podiobooks later this fall. Thanks for listening!
February 20th, 2011 at 9:14 am
I really enjoyed this story, just as I did Mr. Dodge’s pervious one. It’s a slightly different genre, but it’s still great writing and great narratiotion.
The only complaint I have is that sometimes the background music in the later episodes drowned out the reading.
All in all a five star story!
February 20th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Dariclone,
Thank you so much for listening. I’m glad you enjoyed the story and the narration. I appreciate your comment about the background music. This is something I need to pay a little more attention to in the future.
Thanks again,
Tim
March 29th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Hi There
Just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed your story. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Tania (Brisbane, Australia)
April 2nd, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Tania,
Thank you so much for listening and for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Tim