The Sheriff of Yrnameer by Michael Rubens

This book released last year is one that I was sure that I'd love. As a fantasy geek growing up, I gravitated towards the books that were slightly humorous. Those were in fairly short supply, but there were a few here and there.

I never really got into the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, though. My brother, Bill, bought the second book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, because of the title and while it was funny, because we hadn't read the first book, we were kind of lost.

Years later, I've listened to the first three books of the series and I really enjoyed them. They were funny, witty and thought-provoking.

It's inevitable that people will compare The Sheriff of Yrnameer to the Hitchhikers' series.

It's set in a futuristic space where oddball alien characters exist around every corner. Where jaywalking will get you a lecture, a quiz and then a ticket. Where kicking up dust will produce an advertisement. Where computers that gain awareness are deprogrammed if they answer wrong to the question: "Do you like humans?" until one computer finally answers "Yes".

The book involves the exploits of Cole, a poor criminal, who is trying to get out of town to avoid his brain becoming a bounty hunter's incubator for the hunter's alien spawn. Along the way, he has to overcome getting beaten up multiple times, losing his girlfriend, stealing a very famous ship, outrunning the bounty hunter, avoiding zombies and someone becoming the sheriff of Yrnameer, the last untouched planet in the galaxy.

I thought it was a very well done audio book, too. The narrator does a fine job with the various voices. Plus, there are vocal effects galore to simulate the many song jingles, radio voices and various alien sounds in the book.

Converting Star Wars for my WD Media Player

I'm converting my three Star Wars movies to put on my Western Digital Media Player, which is an awesome little box that we watch every day. It has a lot of our favorite movies and shows on it already, but I have to redo a lot of them because my first attempts with a different program were mediocre.

Currently, I'm converting Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I'm going to name them Star Wars 1 - A New Hope, Star Wars 2 - Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars 3 - Return of the Jedi.

"But Bob!", you might say, "Star Wars 1-3 are for the prequels!"

To that I say, "Feh! When I saw them they were 1 through 3. Why should I have to change because the suckfests called the prequels showed up to tear out my heart and stomp all over it? They can be 0.1 through 0.3 for all I care."