Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tumbling with the Gearheart.

Okay last week I said this week was gonna be Tumbler vs The Gearheart so here it goes.
First off I want to Say to Brand Gamblin the author of Tumbler, and to Alex White the Author of The Gearheart. You guys suck... I got interrupted in my listening this weekend for minor family issues and spent the entire weekend itching to get back to both stories.

Let us get the Links out of the Way

Brand and Tumbler on Twitter - @BrandG @TumblerNovel

Tumbler Novel on the Web - http://brandg.myip.org/Tumbler/

Tumbler on Podiobooks.com - http://www.podiobooks.com/title/tumbler

Alex and the Gearheart on Twitter - @ALRUFF @TheGearheart

The Gear Heart on the web - http://www.thegearheart.com/

The Gearheart on Podiobooks.com - http://www.podiobooks.com/title/the-gearheart


I had just caught up with another Podcast Novel that one of my twitter buddies wrote that several more of my twitter buddies had suggested in previous weeks. There were two others that I wanted to listen to - Brand with his Tumbler Novel, and Alex with The Gearheart. So I asked the tribe for their opinion which one next? Then it became a funny me first contest between Alex and Brand. Finally I decided to do it the old fashioned way I flipped my Two Face coin. It came up bad heads so then I realized I never said who was going to be which side and when I asked which was the ugliest they fell silent.... So instead I had to go side by side listen to a couple of one then the other....

It made for a very difficult time because both are damned good, had I gotten in from eh beginning my ass wouldn't have had this issue because I'd only have on episode at a time.

Both are excellent stories. As far as which one is better, that would be like comparing apples and forks.

Tumbler is a gripping tale of a young woman trying to make it on her own in space after she's lost everything. Compare that to The Gearheart and what seems to be a pulpy steam punky 1930's alternate earth featuring Spys slinging spells along side the bullets. Both are fucking excellent. Both are addcting.

As far as a winner is concerned, I think that goes to me and anyone else that listens to these great shows.


Tumbler Brief review - Great story it's a fairly short run of 11 current episodes with one more to come. No chatter you get pure story wrapped in a standard intro / outro read by SV Allie. But you get some good story. Fans of Nathan Lowell and his Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series will more than likely like this series as well. No epic space battles, no weird ass aliens coming to wipe out humanity. Just the story of a young person coming to grips with losing everything. Libby is a very plucky young woman that is entertaining to listen to. She has some real growth during the story. I get a nice western vibe out the whole deal though that might be from the mining. It's a very compelling story that draws you in and definitely makes a commute slide by like nothing at all. Seriously almost 3 hour commute slipped by like it was 30 minutes. I really need to start thinking of a rating system here but I'd really have to say that (no pun intended since it is set in space) Brand Gamblin is a rising star and I really can't wait to see what he puts out next. Great job bro and thank you very much for sharing this with us.

The Gearheart Brief review - (Incomplete I'm only on ep 16 of 27 and I'm not sure how many there will be in the Novel) Now if you're looking for adventure and excitement and lets face it since we're not Jedi it's cool to crave these things, you can find a lot of that here in Alex White's The Gearheart. Alex is the Host, the Writer and the performer of the male voices with his wife Renee picking up the voices of the female characters. Nice use of accents, vocal talent and effects to separate the characters from each other. It's a group of Occult spies trying to prevent the destruction of the world. Interesting take on Steam Punk and magic. This is my first major foray into the world of steam punk other than trying to play a few RPGs and a couple of Else Worlds DC Comics based on steam punk in my 20s. I have to say as a genre it was one that I tended to shy away from because I never really grasped it. Well I didn't have to grasp it The Gearheart grasped me and is refusing to let go. Secret Societies, Clockwork Robots powered my magic infused with the what seems to be the souls of people, and real freaky assassins. This sounds like it should be a cartoon geared (no pun intended)prime time or even the big screen. Hell of a story, can't wait to finish catching up and to hear the rest of it.

Both Alex and Brand are good guys, they're fun and funny to chat with on Twitter. Brand actually inspired me for NaNoWriMo with a tweet that I think he was just goofing with me on but I took a different spin. These are two very talented Podcasters and authors. They are more than worth your time to listen to. They are more than worth your time to get to know and chat with on twitter.

Good Luck Gentlemen and I'll be listening.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent post and synopsis. And you are right. Those of us who listen to both are definitely the winners.

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