Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem Complete Collection

Missions 1-16

By: J.S. Morin

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Better a lifetime on the edge of disaster than an honest day's work.

Chuck Ramsey is a traveling con man fronting as a comedian. After a gig on Earth, he picks Mordecai The Brown, a hitchhiking wizard on the run from his own kind. Chuck's ship, the Radio City, is a Winnebego of the stars, serving as both home and transport as he schemes and scams across the galaxy with his family. The pair form an unlikely bond, and "Mort" becomes a part of that family. The Ramseys, wizard in tow, embark on a journey of criminal hijinks, magical mayhem, and evasion of consequences for both.

They cross paths with wizard-hunters and smuggling kingpins, sheriffs from backwater border planets and underworld syndicates. Between Chuck's silver tongue and Mort's mystical mastery, they manage to get in and out of trouble on planets large and small. Money comes and goes, with the biggest score always the one yet to come. Danger sniffs at their trail wherever they go, but somehow, they find a way to keep going.

Chuck and Mort make many friends in their travels.

They make even more enemies.

And along the way, the two of them inadvertently help raise a boy to become one of the galaxy's unsung heroes.

Mirth & Mayhem is the full book collection of all 16 missions chronicling the adventures of the starship Radio City and the Ramsey family's adventures with houseguest/refugee Mort, along with six short stories.

The series follows a mismatched duo of itinerant comedian and outlaw wizard as they roam the galaxy trying to eke out a living and stay ahead of the consequences of their actions.

Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem looks back at an earlier era in the Black Ocean universe, and returning readers will get to see how some of their favorite characters came to be. Fans of morally gray heroes and slick-talking conmen will love this series.

©2023 J.S. Morin (P)2026 J.S. Morin

Good listen

Great prequel tieing the characters back to their origin. You could almost start with this series

You can’t go wrong

You can’t go wrong with JS Morin books. Especially with Mikael Naramore reading it with such great character depth. It’s like a movie in your head.

My favorite book series of all time.

The Black Ocean earned becoming my favorite series I’ve ever read/listened to. The writing is phenomenal, I have no idea how J.S. Morin creates such a long interconnected flow of characters, motivations, goals, and outcomes for so long.
Every one of the series was fantastic. Mirth and Mayhem was the one I thought I wouldn’t like based on the it being centered on Carl’s parents but having read mercy for hire and astral prime and becoming addicted to the great story telling and universe. I couldnt resist giving it a try. And it was so worth it. The way everything was described from different characters points of views was perfect. I loved hating the parent and getting explanations for so many things. I love the way magic works in this universe.
I love Mort and Michelle and Brad and everyone they hang out with, I loved the ending tying everything together.
What a great author and an equally great narrator, Mikael Naramore brought something more than life to these characters. Each character is more than just a voice or accent, he brought a soul to not just the characters but their thoughts and actions.
His inflections, pauses, shouts, laughs, screams, delivery, accents, even female voices sounded great and his performance really made the already compelling story and cast come to life.

I can’t wait for the next series, passage of time, to fully come out, I hope mikael reprises his narration because all of these series have been incredible.
I’m going to binge the twinborne chronicles in the meantime.

Another fantastic look at the life in the black ocean

I loved this story arc. So much character growth and development watching the Ramsay kids grow up. Definitely a great place to start your journey through the black ocean, but it also functions well as a prequel to the other books.

No continuity

This series could've been so good, but of course not. Brad is such a good criminal and scam artist, but as we know Carl is not. Mort and Chuck are still good friends in Mobuis but their friendship ends rather bitterly in this. The Mike storyline was not needed, both Chuck and his wife didn't seem like bad parents in the beginning but of course as the story went on they just became horrible parents. Same with Chuck in here Don hates him in mobuis Don loves him. This author needs help keeping his story straight.