Technically Flawed

Black Ocean #4.7

by J.S. Morin

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Adventure, Fiction, Short Stories, Aliens

29 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2015

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

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now we learn how the Mobius' resident tech support crewmember found his place. This one takes a bit more interesting approach as it's basically a casting call of various tech heads looking to join onto the ship and all being rejected for various amusing reasons (including their own unfortunate and untimely deaths).

[Dale Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The skills of Carl Ramsay are many and varied...Flying Ace...War Hero...Con Man!!! But, while his hacking and tech skills are adequate to most normal situations, the Mobius doesn't usually find itself into most NORMAL situations. The problem is, while FILLING the on board Tech position doesn't take much effort, KEEPING that Tech, on the other hand...not so easy!!! Death...Betrayal...New Life Choices!!! These are just some of the travails that Carl and crew face simply trying to make a living. But...as with every thing that the Black Ocean Outlaws turn their hands to...they find a way.

Jeff Morin has created a world that has taken on a life of its own. With the three current series...BLACK OCEAN OUTLAWS, ASTRAL PRIME, and MERCY FOR HIRE...he has spun a "GALAXY" of tales and adventures that fans old and new simply can't get enough of. If you like science fiction, here it is. Humor in your stories? This is for you. Adventure...Magic...Military Space Action...and on...and on!!!

And THIS was a short story. The novels themselves are even more fun.

[Derek Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit funny, but really just a rundown of all the technical guys they have had on the ship and all the bad things that happened to them .. Or well ..what happened to them.. I could have easily seen this as injection into the story to tell a story or two to pass time during a standard book.. But I can also see how just laying them out one after another could be appealing to just get those stories told.

[Frank Carver · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do you hire a new crewmate if you are outside the law?

This short book (roughly 9,000 words) is another one of JS Morin’s short books which sit in between the main books in his various Black Ocean series. Each of these short stories gives a glimpse at what the main series characters get up to between the tumultuous events of the main series. This one explores the difficulty of finding and hiring a good team member.

In style this book reads like the kind of “audition montage” that you often see in team movies - the bit where the core team members interview possible new additions, but they all have some quirk or incompatibility. You get a scene like this in heist movies, in singing and dancing movies and sometimes in sports movies. We get to spend varying amounts of time with possible new tech crewmates, but one way or another they never end up staying very long.

I found it to be a pleasant enough interlude from the main series, but not up to the standard of some of these side stories, perhaps because it didn’t offer much about the existing crew. All I gained from the book was a bit of description of some characters I am unlikely to ever encounter again. Fun, but a bit hollow.

[Fred Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

What can I say? I found part of the title appropriate for this novella. "Flawed". Oh, well. That was only an hour of life and reading. Now onto a closer-to-full-length novel with book 05, "Alien Racer". Not sure if I will complete the entire series in one shot OR split it into two components. Sometimes you can get tired of the same ol' same ol'. I have at least 2 long series I am doing such with.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew the Mobius had gone through quite a few techs, but this story gives the details on all of the techs and why they didn't work out, up until Tanny's cousin Charlie, who is going to join the crew next. I loved getting the details, it was pretty humorous until poor Joshua, and even that was pretty funny to everyone but Joshua.

[Adam K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short story about the crew of the Mobius trying to find a tech person to join their crew. They go through a few different people with varying degrees of success. It's sort of the story of how Chip ended up joining their crew, but it is more like a quick little world-building story with interesting information about different places and things going on in the universe.

[Robyn Blaber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moving along in the Black Ocean series we learn that being the tech support guy in the crew of our heroes is a little like being the drummer in Spinal Tap. It's funny, but if you've seen the Spinal Tap movie you can't shake the similarity.

[Richard Eyres · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story about some of the techs for the crew.

[Brian Layman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What did happen to those other techs? Now you will know.

[Roo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, interesting but not that interesting

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another short story, this time telling the stories of all the techs to have served with the Mobius crew. This is not a position you want to fill!!!

[Jeni Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, 2 stars.
Honestly, this short story seems pointless. It's a good look into the crew building, but honestly just felt like a waste of time to read.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10 (Good)

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A good techie is hard to find.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to hear the stories about the tech problem they've referenced in the other books. :)

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The crew has a bad record with techs. This is the record of what happened to each of them.

[Lucas Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of those three short stories (4.5, 4.6, 4.7) this was the best! Pretty dang funny.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I just didn't care as much about this one since the techie died in the opening scene of the first book.