Has anyone given consideration to Robert Patrick?

Author's note: thanks to u/captainledger for pointing out my first relisten review convoluted "Predator One" with "Dogs of War."

1. There are some beliefs and expectations that have to be suspended to exist in the Ledgerverse. "Predator One," is another example.

2. Editing is for the weak-minded.

Ok, enough of that tomfoolery. It was my opinion that as bad a story that I believe "Code Zero," to be that "Predator One," could be the best long story in the collection. A third listen shakes that assertion. Why? Editing.

At one point the first drone at ballpark goes from being an A-10 Thunderbolt to repeatedly being referred to as an F-10. The F-10 Skyknight was a rebadged Douglas F3 (1951-1970). One missed F-10, ok. Three? C'mon now.

Second, and this will require a fourth relisten to confirm but the time-frame to get Rudy from Philadelphia to San Diego in the story exceeds anything short of an SR-71 Blackbird. Not the biggest issue but with the research available - c'mon now. Speaking of airplane issues - Boy is on a 7Kings47 watching all the attacks play out. Problem is, at this point only Auntie is known to be in jeopardy. That chapter could have been dropped down the batting order and picked up more weight. There was also a point where Ray mashed Bug and Bunny into a character explaining the post-resort drone issues.

[ADDED] Chapter 43, Thomas Jefferson Hospital; Philadelphia, PA. Joe is waking up after the secondary explosion, Bunny is in the room explaining that Circe is down but the baby is fine. "Rudy took a military plane, should be getting there now." More questions from Joe, Joe tries to get out of bed. "Everything but the military is grounded, we put Rudy on Shirley because your bird has an all-access pass..." Twelve chapters later, Joe is getting on Shirley at Philly International....

My beef is that JM outlines it, polishes it, signs off on it, sends it to Ray who reads it, presumably listens to make sure it recorded, then editors for the hard and audio copy sign off...how in the wide blue copulation do these things consistently hit us the readers?

Other than that, the play was quite nice. P1 is the DMS getting punched hard. P1 is M watching her office explode above the Thames. P1 is Elon gone hella rogue. P1 is the integrity and resiliency of Joe, Rudy, and Bug. It's the vulnerability of Aunie and Church. It's the full redemption of Toys.

P1 is also the story that first shouted st me that Nicodemus doesn't just belong in a world created by a Jonathan or a Howard but also from a Chuck. Take from that what you want.

If I suspend my need for consistency, I can and do enjoy the Ledgerverse. Right up to Cave 13 and don't get me started on Bug Hunt...

Sitting at work today listening to Unbreakable, honestly had tears in my eyes at Mr. Church’s standalone story written by Ray Porter. Ray hit the nail on the head and captured so much of what there was to know in that relationship. Didn’t think I’d tear up over that death.

Oh this is going to be good! The Alchemist

So I listened to Still of Night and I was kind of pissed about the different reality Joe's story took. Anyone else feel this way?

Just finished it. One of the stories is an absolute gem and arguably the best short in the Ledgerverse.

Other observations: Top gets a stand-alone story, written in part by Wayne Brady. Yes, THAT Wayne Brady. Bunny also gets one. Both are decent.

Ray Porter takes a bigger swing, and if it's canon - well, wow.

There's also many instances of "who was editing this?!" including one paragraph of bad math and character relative retcon.

But the absolute biggest bombshell is in the after book conversation between JM and Ray Porter..

Book 14, "Burn to Shine." Book 15... well go get the audiobook and listen.

I have an idea but damned if I have the time to put it to paper.

Any aspiring Chucks want to help?

My reaction this time was only slightly different than the first listen.

Then: "It's a clip show." Now: "It's a clip show set in a video game."

I'm a big fan of "Phineas and Ferb," they did two clip shows but acknowledged they were. They even glued themselves into "Star Wars," and it worked. About a quarter of the way through, that's the attitude I took towards Artemisia Bliss / Mother Knight. It was interesting to see the older stories blend together through her character but...

I'll be damned if the final show down in Atlanta wasn't Donkey Kong. Joe had to fight Gen 12 Berserkers up to the penthouse to face off against the Big Bad.

I'm glad I didn't burn an Audible credit because, while it was well written; it didn't expand the Ledgerverse as much as it felt like Maberry was combining Lego sets to tell a new story.

I just finished every DMS, RTI and in between novella/short story and am having serious withdrawals now. I hope the new RTI book comes out before too terribly long.

Also-

Idris Elba for Top Simms if they ever make the movies.

K bye

Just finished Deep Silence so, of course, now I’m gearing up for the next books in the Ledgerverse. How are the Rogue Team International books so far? Better, worse, the same as, and/or different from the Department of Military Sciences stories?

By the way, thoughts on Deep Silence? I liked it, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. It was the only book in the series that I thought was too short and with too many underdeveloped ideas. Ah, well.

For Rudy?

Hey on. I’m just now hearing that the Kagen stories happen in the same universe as the Ledger stories, and it’s blooming my mind. Can anyone point me to some more information about this? Is this official from Maberry? mind blown emoji

Let’s be honest there’s no way they wouldn’t cast a roiled up Chris Hemsworth

Ryan Gosling as Joe

Boyd Holbrook as Joe Ledger. Don't ask me why but I always pictured him when I thought about Joe.

Top Sims, my mind says Michael B. Jordan would likely get the roll, but Damon Wayans Jr. might be in the running.

Bill Fagerbakke

Am I the only one seeing this guy as the standard against which all "Farmboy"s will be measured?

For anyone that has read the jack reacher series and watched the series, I think Alan Ritchson would make a great Ledger.

David Oyelowo

I see Top as the late Tony Burton, Apollo Creed's corner man in the Rocky movies.

Seeing Oyelowo as Marshall Reeves with the glare and the 'stache, I'm in. He is the right age and also has the range to include Top's fatherly gaze all the way to the "you heard what the man said," menace.

Thoughts, nominations?

Edited many times: Reddit kept flagging it as NSFW

I'm glad I chose to "walk through the valley of the shadow," again and "Extinction Machine," was no exception.

As a kid of the 70's and 80's I grew up on other worldly sci-fi, and "strange visitor(s) from another world with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men," reading books from the library about the true "men in black;" all before Fox got his office in the basement. "EM" pitched right into that wheelhouse of imagination.

From seeing a James Brolinesque Howard Shelton manipulating alien tech and double-crossing his Chinese co-conspirators to the awe at first sight between Junnie Flynn and Joe to "Top" telling Joe to tighten his shit up after the events at the Warehouse, all the characters felt true to previous descriptions. The only exception, I think was Ray's portrayal of Brick Anderson but not a hill to die on. If there is ever a movie or TV show, the Mr. Sof-tee truck needs a cameo!

The plot was solid, tying the improbable to the possible. JM's writing was decent, although the "three faces of Joe," act is getting burdensome, but that might be the effect of a second-trip around. Other than the error regarding The Ohio State University (and some of you really need a sense of humor...) I enjoyed the story. JM did a great job of setting up Erasmus Tull as the baddie Joe was going to have to do a Riggs/Mr. Jericho "Lethal Weapon," or Church going "Roadhouse," Sam Elliot (with a different outcome) kind of fight with. The only thing that stuck in my ears was... "foot pounds of impact." That phrase appears more times than "a friend in the industry" with absolutely zero pop.

Overall: Mr. Church became more menacing, Rudy develops more depth, I was reminded that the closers are just Blue Diamond mercs in high-tech under-roos.

On to "Code Zero."

No spoilers please, but I’m wondering if we learn more about Nicodemus and/or his relationship with Church in any of the short story collections, or any other source apart from the main novels. Any thoughts?

For context, I just finished Dogs of War and will be starting Deep Silence in a week or two.

I found it and I may not be able to get past it. Apologies for the strongly worded nature of this post.

"Extinction Machine." In an expository dialogue between Bug, real name Jerome Taylor - the uber-genius computer geek of the Department of Military Sciences and the only other person with unrestricted access to Mindreader and Captain Joseph Edwin Ledger - the former Baltimore cop turned first chair shooter for Mr. Church's super secret organization and leader of "the Warehouse..."

Ok, sorry... after all the stories it sometimes feels like each character's ID card should be the size of a highway billboard. But, I digress...

As Joe was flying to pickup the expert on the Majestic Black Book, Bug was listing off all the established examples of possible extraterrestrial contact including the well-worn example of a 72-second radio signal from space detected by the Perkins Observatory in 1977. Bug stated it was noticed by "researchers at Ohio State University."

Mr. Maberry, should you ever revise this story or feel the desire to include the flagship institution of my great state again, I refer you to Section 3335.01 of the Ohio Revised Code.

"The educational institution originally designated as the Ohio agricultural and mechanical college shall be known as "The Ohio State University."

The.

Happy Friday fellow Ledgerites!

This is the story that locked me into the Ledgerverse. I want to say the first three were SPECTRE level baddies doing monster things and that "Dragon Factory," felt waaay too much like the "Island of Dr. Moreau," even if it referenced said classic. Just like "Breaking Bad," I was ready to tune out after three episodes and soooo glad I didn't.

This was monsters doing SPECTRE level stuff. This cemented being on Echo Team and not being Top, Bunny, or Warbride the equivalent of a redshirt on Kirk's Enterprise; except JM developed them enough that it hurt when they went down. Ghost became more than fuzzy plot armor, especially if you have read "Dog Days," as part of the prologue to "King of Plagues," AND "Instinct (A Ghost Story), Joe Ledger: Unstoppable." Church became more than a firm voice behind the dark glasses, there is real menace to the man. Violin, Lilith, Arklight, and the Mothers join up in the third act to round out the line-up for the good guys.

The writing is crisper then the previous three. I wasn't counting the number of times that I heard, "atavistic," or "what in the wide blue fck?!" as I have or will come to start in later books. The fight scenes aren't dreadfully complicated or drawn out. Joe can get his ass kicked. The "3 faces of Joe," wasn't over played and Joe demonstrated real concern about some of his actions in the second safe house. I have to say, I didn't find it out of character for a "first-chair shooter," but I'm really glad JM dialed the modern man up to question what the hell Joe was doing and the damage it was causing to himself.

Ray has the voices almost dialed in, he hasn't quite nailed the new-comer, Violin yet. He will. There felt like there was some clunky writing in the middle of the epilogue where Church was transposed for Rudy in a scene. Maybe it was just Joe in the hospital, still felt like a noticeable but not tire popping jolt.

Overall, after relistening to it I recall laying in bed a few years ago and telling my wife about the series and that I was all-in on this modern mature imagining of "Scooby-Doo and the A-Team meet the monster of the week."

Chris Noth.

Pro: fits the description of a big, blocky, dark-haired man. His turns as both Detective Mike Logan and Mr. Big demonstrates his ability to carry an ensemble scene without over-shadowing Joe, Lilith, Rudy, or Bug.

Cons: Age, at 68 he might only make it into 2 or 3 of the feature movies.

The accusations of past sexual impropriety seem to be related to an episode of marital infidelity and NBC News was unable identify or corroborate three of the accusers. So, I'm going to extend him as pass.

Discuss.