Galaxy Outlaws: The Complete Black Ocean Mobius Missions, 1-16.5

By: J. S. Morin

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Length: 85 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Meet the galaxy's unluckiest outlaws.

Carl Ramsey is an ex-Earth Navy fighter pilot turned con man. His ship, the Mobius, is home to a ragtag crew of misfits and refugees looking to score a big payday but more often just scratching to pay for fuel. The crew consists of his ex-wife (and pilot), a drunkard, four-handed mechanic, a xeno-predator with the disposition of a 120kg housecat, and the galaxy's most-wanted wizard.

Along the way, the Mobius crew crosses paths with the Black Ocean's vilest scum, from pirate fleets to criminal syndicates, and most law-abiding scum, including Earth Interstellar Enhanced Investigative Organization, ARGO high command, and the Convocation of Wizards.

Time and again, riches lie just out of reach, because for all the talents Carl Ramsey and his crew possess, they've also got an outlaw's greatest weakness: a conscience.

Galaxy Outlaws is a collection of all 16 Black Ocean missions chronicling the adventures of the starship Mobius and her crew, along with six short stories. This series is the perfect cure for the Firefly Season 2 blues. It's what you'd get if The Orville took place on Serenity, or if Star Wars had wizards instead of Jedi.

©2017 J. S. Morin (P)2018 J. S. Morin

Okay story

Any additional comments?

So far I've gone through 20 hours of this audiobook. I hate to disagree with other reviewers, but, this is not "like" Firefly. The ONLY thing it has in common with Firefly is: it's one ship with a bunch of misfit crew stuck together. That's IT. The story is okay, and I always enjoy listening to Mikael Naramore. If you can get past the one sanctimonious religiosity bulls*** character it's... okay.

"The Spiritual Successor to Firefly"

This is destined to become a beloved Sci-Fi classic! The writing is complex, but not convoluted. The characters broaden and deepen and you feel like you were on a real journey with them.

I could write so much, as this is now a personal Top 10, but I will instead just say this:

BUY IT. One credit for the whole series?!? How could you go wrong? This is like getting all of Firefly for one credit, or all of Cowboy Bebop, or Star Wars...Just do it.

Oh, and I've never heard this narrator before. Scott Brick *used* to be my favorite narrator. Now its Narramore.

Magic+Science Mix As Well As Oil+Water

First off, J. S. Morin's writing skills are excellent Mikael Naramore narration was superb. I was also intrigued by the premise that mixing science and magic were essentially opposing forces with magic usage having the additional negative effect of making thing based on physics go haywire when used around it. The author also picked an eclectic bunch of misfits crewing the Mobius which worked well in the beginning episodes of this series but eventually became somewhat stale as the episodes moved on. To Morin's credit, it seemed that he realized this and made adjustments to the crew throughout the series.

Regrettably, most of the episodes proved not to be all that intriguing and fell into somewhat of a repeating formula, even though the circumstances differed. Again, to Morin's credit, it seemed that he sensed this and worked to transition Carl the bumbling grifter to Carl the caring grifter. There were also several areas left dangling like knowing how much of Mort went to the great beyond versus staying behind among others and one section that was never explained; that of how magic came about in the first place.

Note: I also agree with one reviewer that the chapter sound effects were an unwelcome distraction.

James Garner in space

First of all, this is no more Science Fiction than Star Wars is.
Second, it's great. The author explicitly states this is meant to be the spiritual descendent of Firefly/Serenity, and I'd say he accomplished that goal. I'm old enough to see James Garner as Carl, so the old Maverick show is a similar vibe.
Carl's schemes are byzantine, and it's often not clear what is his eccentric genius and what is absurd luck, but the capers are a blast and 90% of the time our toes are hanging over a ledge.
Every character is fully realized and quite distinct, so that attributions are not really needed.
These truly are outlaws, and we ought not to root for them, but I did.
Mikael Naramore helps greatly by having a great range of very distinct, appropriate, and consistent voices, and he clearly takes the trouble to understand the author's intent with each line.
I was looking for hard science fiction when I bought this, and it certainly is nothing of the sort, but my work fell behind as I enjoyed every minute of 83+hours with the crew of the Mobius.

Wonderfully un-serious science fantasy.

I tend to go for very tight storytelling and highly developed world building. Like others have said though, this is a refreshing and fully entertaining 80 hour ride for one measly credit. The writing style and world building lacks that wicked edge you find in truly great fantasy and fiction, but easily makes up for it in just plain fun, sometimes juvenile, and always irreverent storytelling. It took fully half of the first book for me to finally let go of some annoyances and just relax into the characters and plot line, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Don’t expect any actual science here. This is lowbrow space magic pirates all the way and a lot of fun.

Michael Naramore is a voice acting god!

I can't believe how much plot, character, and world development one author can create and how ONE voice actor can make it all come to life so fluidly that it sounds like a whole cast. This series is a masterclass in voice acting and a quality and novel take (enjoy that pun) on both the fantasy and sci-fi genres. After 84 hours of listening, I feel like I'm going to miss the Mobius crew and their misadventures the way you miss your friends from college and the carefree days spent day drinking when you should have been studying

well worth the credit

I can't say how much I enjoyed this. be warned they are not nice peaple

Simply Wonderful

I needed this series of stories, and I couldn't have known just how much. If you pass up the opportunity to ride this romp through a delightful universe, you will never know just how much better your life could have been.

Really too black for me. Too much the bad guys.

First, this is a great value. It was no real problem getting through the 85 hours, other than really getting sick of the negativity on too many occasions.

Basically we are dealing with a bunch of incompetent criminals. On many occasions they blithely eliminate people in the furtherance of their criminal schemes. Some of them have it coming, but in many cases it's just murder. In one case it was just genocide, and unnecessary genocide at that, the enemy was already defeated and the genocide just tidied up the civilization that hosted it.

The alcoholism and drug abuse does nothing for me either. If someone is drinking until they suffer amnesia then they are way far gone. I have never met anyone who actually drank until they couldn't remember what they did. I have been seriously drunk, but on the three occasions I was totally plastered I remember singing as I walked through the original Bedford the first time, running home and being violently sick along the way the second time, and walking to the stables to muck out the horses the third time. Mort gets a pass because it was a kind of self defense, they really were out to get him. So the alcoholism of two of the characters just does nothing for me. There's nothing redeeming about them. Add on the casual murder and you aren't going anywhere good. Conning innocent parties into becoming that sort of criminal? Nothing good there.

The author says that this is the spiritual follow on from Firefly. Nope. It isn't. This is the sort of crew that Firefly would have put down as a service to humanity. In "Our Mrs. Reynolds" this crew would have been the wreckers who killed people to salvage their ship. Jane shot out their windows and blew them into space. Good choice.

The reader is pretty damned good... except English accents. Dude! That is a hackneyed Victorian or Dickensian era London accent that has long passed its sell-by date. Please don't try that in a London pub, you are likely to be carried out on your back if you do.

awesome series

firefly fans will love it, the wizards kick butt great value for 87 hours of entertainment