November 2006 – SFFaudio

FULL CAST AUDIO tells us to expect Tamora Pierce, Shannon Hale, Robert A. Heinlein and Kenneth Opel AUDIOBOOKS!

Daniel Bostick, producer director and actor at Full Cast Audio tells us…

“The following recordings are coming down the pipline in the next few of months:

THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS by Tamora Pierce (December 2006)
PRINCESS ACADEMY by Shannon Hale (January 2007)
THE STAR BEAST by Robert A. Heinlein (1st quarter 2007)

For trivia fans: Fantasy Author Tamora Pierce and her husband Timothy Liebe will play cameo voice roles in PRINCESS ACADEMY.

Breaking news: We are in the casting stage of SKYBREAKER, Kenneth Oppel’s sequel to AIRBORN [SFFaudio Review Forthcoming]. It will record in February 07 for release later in the year.

We’re also considering participation in the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial in Kansas City next summer.”

Cool stuff.

posted by Jesse Willis

Haruki Murakami Podcasts

Japanese fantasist Haruki Murakami won the 2006 World Fantasy Award for his novel, Kafka on the Shore. Listen to a 20-minute podcast about Murakami’s works from that link, then follow up with a listen to an AudioFile podcast with Q & A about the audio version of Kafka on the Shore. The first 6 minutes of the 28-minute linked podcast give the publisher’s remarks about the audio production of this work, followed by the AudioFile review.

Then subscribe to hear the “Wind Up Bird Podcast” from Naxos audiobooks via this feed:

http://www.naxosaudiobooks.com/rss-xml/naxosaudiobooks.xml

or just download the MP3 directly. NAXOS is starting to sell its audiobooks as direct download mp3 files without DRM, and with accompanying PDF files of the CD inserts. Check out their new Download Shop for a few free examples, and for Murakami’s A Wild Sheep Chase. You can also subscribe to get streaming access to their entire spoken word library.

Posted by Moriond

iAmplify has FREE Neil Gaiman interviews as a podcast

Online Audio

iAmplify is an odd website that I find a bit obtuse. Maybe it is a cult of some kind? Here’s how they describe themselves:

“iAmplify uses short-form audio and video content platform to bring our expert Amplifiers together with the people who want to learn from them. Our amplifiers are people you know you can trust; they’re brand personalities who provide us with diverse content about subjects like health, wellness, and education. We’re a leading provider of online innovative mobile audio and video programming in industries like fitness and personal growth. Our headquarters, manned by seasoned visionaries in both the technology and lifestyle markets, are located in New York and Los Angeles.”

Hardly enlightening. But, even if it is a cult, you may want to join them as they have a couple of FREE podcasts of Neil Gaiman interviews. Click on their FREE DOWNLOADS section and scroll down until you see Gaiman’s name. There are two interviews there. The cult part, a sign-up is required but it should be free.

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 3 documents the life of H.P. Lovecraft

Online Audio

BBC Radio 3 will be featuring a must listen documentary this Sunday in the “Sunday Feature” slot…

Weird Tales – The Strange Life Of H P Lovecraft
Radio Broadcast – Approx. 45 Minutes [DOCUMENTARY]
BROADCASTER: BBC Radio 3
BROADCAST: Sunday December 3rd 2006 @ 21:30 – 22:15 (UK TIME)

“Geoff Ward examines the strange life and terrifying world of the man hailed as America’s greatest horror writer since Poe. During his life Lovecraft’s work was confined to lurid pulp magazines and he died in penury in 1937. Today, however, his writings are considered modern classics and published in prestigious editions. Among the writers considering his legacy are Neil Gaiman, S.T. Joshi, Kelly Link, Peter Straub and China Mieville.”

This should be available via the ‘Listen Again‘ feature for 7 days after the broadcast too. This is exciting isn’t it?

Many thanks to Roy, or intrepid UK sleuth, for this exquisite find.

posted by Jesse Willis

Slice Of SciFi chosen SCI-FI Channel "Site Of The Week"

SFFaudio News

Slice of SciFi , the most popular of all the Farpoint Media podcasts (it also airs on XM Satellite in the USA) has been chosen as SCI FI Weekly‘s Site of the Week! Congrats to Michael, Summer, Evo, Joe, Sam and the rest of the Slice crew. It was about time – so say we all.

Personally I’m going to be listening to shows #83 and #84 today, featuring interviews with Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) from Battlestar Galactica, and FilmFax magazine editor Michael Stein! If you haven’t already subscribed, now is the time.

You too can subscribe, via this feed:

http://sliceofscifi.com/podcast.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: Electronic Mailing Lists

SFFaudio Commentary

Keeping apprised of what audio exists out there is very difficult. One technique I use is to join Science Fiction and Fantasy email mailing lists. It is very easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of postings but if people are interested there are some workarounds – use digests, RSS feeds or just vist the archives on occasion. Collected below are some electronic mailing lists I’ve come across…

Yahoo! Groups electronic mailing lists. Group messages can be posted and read by e-mail. Members can choose whether to receive individual e-mails or daily digest e-mails. Some Groups are simply announcement lists, to which only the Group moderators can post, while others are discussion lists. New users are required to register for membership and typically can’t join groups without moderator approval. There are thousands and thousands of groups. Perhaps you know of some that we should add to the list below?

OldRadioShowsOnMP3
Members: 3472
Category: Old Time Radio
Founded: 1999

This group talks about OTR (Old Time Radio) and modern radio theater. Their official line is “talk about MP3 players, Podcasts, web sites to download shows and MP3 trading. Old time radio shows, actors, radios and media to store OTR on. Also any newer radio drama is OK too.”

Pendant
Members: 255
Category: Old Time Radio
Founded: 2004

Pendant Productions is a fan-based audio group that produces full-cast serial audio dramas. Signing up will keep you up to date with all the productions and it is also useful for people interested in their casting calls too!

ModernAudioDrama
Members: 197
Category: Programs
Founded: 2001

“A discussion of the production of Modern Audio Drama” which while not being exclusively Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror related, tends to have a lot of all three. Many audio drama podcasters use this one.

SciFiRadio
Members: 95
Category: Radio
Founded: 2004

This is a group dedicated to finding, collecting, and enjoying Science Fiction radio shows. Covering OTR and NTR both. Also useful is their extensive files section which includes an up to date website resource.

SFFaudio
Members: 35
Category: Science Fiction and Fantasy
Founded: 2003

Hey that’s us! SFFaudio is a group established to discuss Science Fiction and Fantasy on audio. Audiobooks, podcasts, audio drama, radio… anything you listen to that is Speculative Fiction related is fair game. We’re fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy who enjoy the audio experience. This group has been pretty quiet, but is happy to accept new members.

Google Groups works very similarly to Yahoo! Groups, but has the nice addition of an RSS feed. Also neat is the ability to access Usenet newsgroups dating back to 1981!

NinaKimberlyTheMerciless
Members: 58
Category: Arts & Entertainment
Created: 2006

Christiana Ellis runs this group, she’s the author of the podiobook from which the group take its name. A very nice example of a narrow-focused mailing list and discussion group.

Do you know of some electronic mailing lists that contain significant SFFaudio related postings? If so please let me know!

posted by Jesse Willis