Black Ocean: Mirth & Mayhem: Complete Collection

Mirth & Mayhem #1-16

by J.S. Morin, Mikael Naramore (Narrator)

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

Genres: Audiobook

91 pages, Audiobook

First published December 13, 2023

About the author

I am a creator of worlds and a destroyer of words. As a fantasy writer, my works range from traditional epics to futuristic fantasy with starships. I have worked as an unpaid Little League pitcher, a cashier, a student library aide, a factory grunt, a cubicle drone, and an engineer--there is some overlap in the last two.

Through it all, though, I was always a storyteller. Eventually I started writing books based on the stray stories in my head, and people kept telling me to write more of them. Now, that's all I do for a living.

I enjoy strategy, worldbuilding, and the fantasy author's privilege to make up words. I am a gamer, a joker, and a thinker of sideways thoughts. But I don't dance, can't sing, and my best artistic efforts fall short of your average notebook doodle. When you read my books, you are seeing me at my best.

My ultimate goal is to be both clever and right at the same time. I have it on good authority that I have yet to achieve it.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great set of prequel adventures to the Galaxy Outlaws collection. If you want the full emotional ride, be sure to read those first, then come back to this one. It was fun to see favorite characters earlier in their lives, and events that had been hinted at get fleshed out.

[Zach Melusen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my least favorite collection in the three collection series of 16 missions. It’s still good and totally worth reading, but listening to this one leads into the others so well and a lot of backstory is here too.

[Jason Krieg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series!