November 2006 – Page 2

Another Editor Comes Forth…

SFFaudio News

You know, when you admit you have an addiction, in a normal universe it means you can start to take the steps to beat it. I’m finding an audio addiction works a little differently in my universe. It all began with a simple blog yammering on about what I love- audio cinema. Now it covers not only audio cinema, but podcasting, as well as audio hardware and software. Before you can say “psy-jack”, I’m contributing to my absolute favorite audio cinema show Sonic Society with a podcast review, writing stories for Podcast Pickle News, and even contributing on SFFaudio now and then with a review. All of this in addition to my very own podcast, Truth Seekers. So when Jesse approached me about becoming a contributing editor, I fell off my chair, half-laughing hysterically, half-crying.
I’m sure you will understand that I read with great glee Rick’s introduction as a contributing editor, thinking to myself, “Ha-ha! He found another sucker! I’m off the hook!”

Then I got the flowers. And the chocolate. And the big-ass star on my door.

In all seriousness, I’m honored and very excited to be a member of such a great team, and a truly outstanding website. I hope that as a fellow contributing editor I continue to do y’all proud! Please feel free to send any science-fiction or fantasy audio and suggestions my way at [email protected]. This is an addiction I’d rather continue to feed than conquer.

Okay, okay… honestly? It only took chocolate. However, that star looks really nice on my door…

posted by Dani Cutler

Pseudopod podcasts a Kevin J. Anderson story

SFFaudio Online Audio

Pseudopod has claimed its first name author with the podcast of Kevin J. Anderson‘s Redmond’s Private Screening. This story was originally published in the April 2001 issue of Realms Of Fantasy. After listening to it, before sleeping last night, it gave me nightmare! Count that as a recommendation.

It’s the nickelodeon era of early Hollywood, and amoral creeps like Redmond have already taken over the film business. And then as now, people will do anything to get their face in the movies. Redmond is approached by a Japanese family with a lucrative proposition: the chance to film an actual hara-kiri suicide by samurai sword. The greedy director unwisely ignores the conventional Japanese belief that “anyone who dies violently is certain to haunt those who caused him to suffer.” When Redmond screens his snuff film, he and the seedy audience are treated to a bit of bonus footage.

EP074: Redmond’s Private Screening
By Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Scott Sigler
1 MP3 File – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Pseudopod
Podcast: November 24th 2006

posted by Jesse Willis

Author Focus: Mike Resnick

SFFaudio Commentary

The prolific Mike Resnick is one of the winningest Science Fiction writers in history. He is also as a long-time participant in Science Fiction fandom. Like many of his peers, in the 1960s and 70s Resnick wrote sleaze sex paperbacks under pseudonyms. His most praised work so far has been his Kirinyaga cycle, which was inspired by his many visits to Africa. His daughter, Laura Resnick, is also an award-winning SF author. Unfortunately for us Mike Resnick still only has has a small percentage of his fiction available on audio. Here’s as much as we’ve been able to find:

Audiobooks:

One Perfect Morning With Jackals & Kirinyaga (Tales of Kirinyaga #1)
By Mike Resnick; Read by Pat Bottino
1 Cassette – 83 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: 1997
ISBN: 1884612237
[READ THE SFFaudio REVIEW]

For I Have Touched the Sky (Tales of Kirinyaga #2)
By Mike Resnick ; Read by Pat Bottino
1 cassette – 71 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: 1997
ISBN: 1884612253
Once before, the Kikuyu tried to become something that they were not, and they became not city-dwelling Kikuyu, or bad Kikuyu, but an entirely new tribe called Kenyans. Those who came to Kirinyaga came here to preserve the old ways – and if women start reading, some of them will become discontented, and they will leave, and then one day there will be no more Kikuyu left.

Sci-Fi Audio – The Hugo Nominees 2002
Edited by Jeremy Bloom; Read by Various
2 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Frequency Audio Magazine / SciFiAudio.com
Published: 2001
ISBN:
This collection includes Resnick’s Old MacDonald Had A Farm and is read by Hour 25 Online host Warren James. The bio-engineered “butterballs” were saving the Earth’s impoverished billions from starvation. Even vegetarians couldn’t object to that, right? These animals exist only to be eaten… But when a reporter visits the factory farm where the butterballs are grown, he finds that things aren’t quite as simple as they seem.

Escape Pod #055 Down Memory Lane
By Mike Resnick; Read by Alex Wilson
1 MP3 File – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: May 26th 2006
Escape Pod editor Steve Eley picked this story along with 3 other Hugo nominated short stories for podcast in the Spring of 2006. The podcast of this story has lead to a successful movie rights purchase for Resnick.

Escape Pod #073 Barnaby In Exile
By Mike Resnick; Read by Paul Fischer
1 MP3 File – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: September 28th 2006
Editor Steve Eley picked this melancholic tale for podcast. The story is reminiscent of Pat Murphy‘s classic Rachel In Love.

Kirinyaga: A Fable of Utopia
By Mike Resnick; Read by Paul Michael Garcia
8 CDs or 1 MP3 CD – 10 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9780786167906 (CD), 9780786174218 (MP3-CD)
[SFFaudio REVIEW FORTHCOMING]

Birthright: The Book Of Man
By Mike Resnick; Read by Adams Morgan
11 CDs or 1 MP3 CD – Approx. 13 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 0786192941 (CD), 0786190531 (MP3-CD)
“Birthright: The Book of Man is a brilliant novel of science fiction that carefully constructs a blueprint of mankind’s history—social, political, economic, scientific, and religious—for the next 18,000 years.”

We Could Do Worse: A Millennial Collection of Alternate Histories
Edited by Martin Greenberg; Read by various narrators
4 Cassettes – 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dove Audio
Published: 1999
ISBN: 0787119024
Includes as story called Over There by Mike Resnick, read by William Windom
[SFFaudio REVIEW FORTHCOMING]

Interviews with Mike Resnick:

Recorded at Chi-Con 2000 |MP3|
Recorded at ConJose 2002 |MP3|
Recorded at WindyCon 2006 |MP3|

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Time Traveler becomes CONTRIBUTING EDITOR for SFFaudio

SFFaudio News

The Time Traveler Stop the Time Machine! I’m getting off. That could be taken more than one way, but we won’t go there (vibrations and all that).

Jesse Willis has asked me to join SFFaudio.com as a contributing editor. Obviously he thinks since I’m a time traveler, I’m a master of time. Also obviously, he’s insane. Because after I told him I had a day job, a family with little ones, a podcast TimeTravelerShow.com, a business WonderAudio.com, and already a reviewer for SFFaudio.com, he still wanted me on board. Since time travel obviously addles the mind, I said in my dopiest voice “Okay!” Jesse suggested to try it on a trial basis to the first of the year. But unless the time patrol catches up to me, I’ll be around for a lot longer. Since Scott Danielson, co-creator of SFFaudio decided to depart this site, and Jesse hasn’t learned how to clone himself, yet; I’m here to step up and lend a hand.

Actually, I’m thrilled! This has been my home on the net for awhile now, and it just gets better and better, don’t you think? My first task as an editor is the receiver of review materials. Yes, I get to get the audiobooks to distribute to our legion of reviewers (well several anyways). If you have materials to be reviewed please contact me at [email protected]. Jesse and I are discussing some really exciting future content for this site. We hope you check back often, encourage you to use the RSS news feed, and find the best listens in Science Fiction and Fantasy audio.

Oh yeah! Since the time patrol is breathing down my back, I’ve created a shtick that I’m just as chronologically challenged as the rest of you. Some of you might think this as a shtick within a shtick, which is like a time paradox wrapped in an enigma. Anyways, under this new alias, you can call me Rick.

posted by The Time Traveler (aka Rick)

Update on StarShipSofa – in case you missed our first rave.

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Starship Sofa podcast, the UK’s answer to The Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas, and hosts, Tony and Ciaran, have nearly caught up to the Ninjas in terms of show output. Starship Sofa just posted their 18th show, and the Ninjas are at show #21. In terms of awesomeness, they are neck and neck. Check out this list of shows!

Shows so far:

Show # 1: Classic Author: Alfred Bester |MP3|
Show # 2: Classic Author: John Brunner |MP3|
Show # 3: Classic Author: Algis Budrys |MP3|
Show # 4: Classic Author: Cordwainer Smith |MP3|
Show # 5: Classic Author: Stanislaw Lem |MP3|
Show # 6: Classic Film: Dark Star |MP3|
Show # 7: Classic Author: Philip K. Dick (Part 1) |MP3|
Show # 8: Classic Author: Philip K. Dick (Part 2) |MP3|
Show # 9: Classic Author: Philip K. Dick (Part 3) |MP3|
Show # 10: Classic Film: Capricorn One |MP3|
Show # 11: Classic Author: Henry Kuttner |MP3|
Show # 12: Classic Author: Robert Silverberg |MP3|
Show # 13: Classic Author: Joe Haldeman |MP3|
Show # 14: Classic Author: L. Ron Hubbard |MP3|
Show # 15: Classic Author: Harlan Ellison |MP3|
Show # 16: Classic Author: Douglas Adams (Part 1) |MP3|
Show # 17: Classic Author: Douglas Adams (Part 2) |MP3|
Show # 18: Classic Author: Robert Sheckley |MP3|

To subscribe to the podcast plug this feed into your podcatcher:

http://starshipsofa.libsyn.com/rss

posted by Jesse Willis

ITV Podcast interviews J.G. Ballard

SFFaudio Online Audio / Podcast

There is a fascinating interview with J.G. Ballard available from The South Bank Show. This is a show produced by ITV, the U.K.’s Independent Television Network. The programme is hosted by the always erudite Melvyn Bragg whom you may already know from his other podcast BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time.

Together, Bragg and Ballard’s discuss the creation of fiction, Ballards experiences as a medical student, his childhood growing up in a Japanese concetration camp and the particular importance of Science Fiction.

Ballard also talks about the influence of surrealism in his early novels, which all deal with natural catastrophes: The Drowned World, The Crystal World, The Drought.

Subscribe to the show via this feed:

http://download.itv.com/southbankshow/podcast.xml

posted by Jesse Willis