January 2007 – SFFaudio

Pendant Productions does Superhero Crossover Series: IMPERIUM

Online Audio

Pendant Productions, founded and executive produced by writer/director/actor Jeffrey Bridges has released the first in a nine episode crossover series scattered among their three superhero audio dramas:

“IMPERIUM” incorporates three Pendant shows; Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Batman: The Ace of Detectives and Wonder Woman: Champion of Themyscira in a story spanning three months and nine episodes. The first show in the crossover appears in “issue” 25 of Superman: The Last Son of Krypton…

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (Issue 25 “Onslaught”) – Part 1 of 9 of the “IMPERIUM” Crossover
1 MP3 – Approx. 16 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Podcaster: Pendant Productions – Superman: The Last Son of Krypton
Podcast: January 30th 2007

From the tattered remains of Themyscira to Gotham City and Metropolis, Earth is under attack from a horde of parademons that can’t be stopped! Even the mightiest of heroes must band together and take the fight to the source… Darkseid!

Podcast feed:

http://www.pendantaudio.com/superman-podcast.xml

And be sure to watch out for the subsequent issues:

FEB 14 – Batman 13 (Imperium 2)
FEB 21 – Wonder Woman 13 (Imperium 3)
FEB 28 – Superman 26 (Imperium 4)
MAR 14 – Batman 14 (Imperium 5)
MAR 21 – Wonder Woman 14 (Imperium 6)
MAR 28 – Superman 27 (Imperium 7)
APR 11 – Batman 15 (Imperium 8)
APR 18 – Wonder Woman 15 (Imperium 9)

posted by Jesse Willis

Choose Your Own Adventure On Your iPod

SFFaudio New Releases

Remember all the Choose Your Own Adventure stories from when we were kids? I was completely addicted to them myself. Well, the official site is now offering (for a $9.99 fee) its first adventure in an audio format for the iPod.

The Abominable Snowman is read by series author and founder R. A. Montgomery, and includes color illustrations and sound effects.

Get more information at the Choose Your Own Adventure Shop HERE.

posted by Dani Cutler

Review of The Magic Tree House Collection by Mary Pope Osborne

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

The Magic Tree House Collection
By Mary Pope Osborne; Read by Mary Pope Osborne
5 CDs – 5 Hours 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0807206121
Themes: / Fantasy / Children’s Fantasy / Time Travel / Magic / Dragons / Knights / Pirates / Prehistoric /

This delightful children’s fantasy series features Jack and Annie. They’re siblings that find a tree house full of books. By opening the books the children are transported across time and space. This collection contains the first eight books of this popular kids series. In each book the children find themselves going to a different place. The books contained in this audiobook are:

1. Dinosaurs Before Dark
2. The Knight at Dawn
3. Mummies in the Morning
4. Pirates Past Noon
5. Night of the Ninjas
6. Afternoon on the Amazon
7. Sunset of the Sabertooth
8. Midnight on the Moon

Each book’s setting contains the tropes you’d expect to find. So in Pirates Past Noon, for instance, you have pirates, sailing ships, booty and treasure maps. There are story arc’s that stretches over a number of the books. The first concerns—who is the owner of the Magic Tree House.

Mary Pope Osbourne does a wonderful job of narration. Her pacing is excellent and her voice characterization are right on the mark. She has a gentle, soothing voice that children will love.

If you know or have a young person, of about five to ten years old, that you want to turn on to audiobooks, this audio collection is a perfect introduction. For my eight year old, we used it as part of our bedtime story ritual. I’ve bought the books so we can read along some nights. Other nights we take turns reading the books out loud.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

HARD SF novelette from Asimov’s as a Podcast

Online Audio

Under The Graying Sea is a HARD SF novelette which appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in February, 2006. Here’s the teaser:

Tessa and her partner Loránd are on a maintenance mission: Enter a man-made wormhole. Fortuitously, the two pilots’ bodies have been reinforced to withstand up to 24 gravities each. But a malfunction causes life-threatening injuries to Loránd. Stranded over two light years from Earth and forced to wait for their return window, Tessa keeps herself busy by checking the wormhole anchor, only to discover that multiple and unexpected course adjustments have been made.

Under The Graying Sea
By Jonathan Sherwood; Read by Mur Lafferty
3 MP3s – Approx. 72 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Jonathan Sherwood’s Gramophiction
Podcast: January 2007

Download the complete novelette directly, PART 1 |MP3| PART 2 |MP3| PART 3 |MP3|, or if you’d prefer to get the podcast, plug this feed into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/JonathanSherwoodsGramophiction

If you like the story, you can vote for it on Asimov’s 2006 survey which runs until February 1st 2007.

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Stonehenge Gate by Jack Williamson

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

The Stonehenge Gate
By Jack Williamson; Read by Harlan Ellison
7 CDs – 8.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9780786146550 (Cassette), 9780786174119 (MP3-CD), 9780786167784 (CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Stargate / Journey / Slavery / Evolution / Aliens /

Click here for audio sample.

This is Jack Williamson’s last book, at least it’s the last book published in his lifetime. The man has had a long career, a very long career. Jack’s first story was published in the fairly new Amazing Stories in 1928. Jack has been able to adapt his fiction to the changing and maturing literature that we call Science Fiction, again and again.

One admirable quality of Jack’s work that remained consistent over the nine decades in which he wrote, was his ability to tell a good yarn. His stories can always hold your attention, and he never forgot to have a beginning, middle and an end. This may sound like a trait that all writers should have, but it is really not the case. This always kept Jack’s works above the average SF writer.

In The Stonehenge Gate, we have four poker buddies that find a gateway into other worlds. The four characters are academics who are excavating a site under the sands of the Sahara. Will is an English Professor who narrates the story. Ram is an African professor who has a strange birthmark that mimics the shape of the Stonehenge Gate that they find. Stranger still is that the birthmark seems to be hereditary.

They soon pass into many new worlds throughout this novel. The majority of the novel takes place in a world inhabited by a preindustrial society with institutionalized black slavery. The characters have to grapple with functioning in this world while supporting abolishinest causes. There’s a dark quality to this part of the journey that has more than a passing nod to Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness.

Harlan Ellison’s narration is spectacular. This is likely the only audiobook that is written by one SF Grand Master and read by another. Of course, there aren’t any SF Grandmaster’s that have also won an Audie award like Harlan has. Harlan throws himself into his acting. He’s energized and seems to be convincingly living the parts he’s portraying to a greater degree than can be said of most voice actors.

How does this book stack up against the rest of the Williamson cannon? I don’t believe this is one of Jack’s best books nor one of his lesser efforts. Placing it somewhere in the middle. But in the case of Jack, that’s a pretty damn good book.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

Radio station KFAI axes Modern Audio Drama

SFFaudio News

Roy, our U.K. correspondent writes in to lament the imminent cancellation of Jerry Stearns’ Sound Affects: A Radio Playground from Minneapolis/St. Paul station KFAI‘s schedule.

I couldn’t believe it so I went and checked myself. HORROR of horrors Roy is right, there is a small note on Jerry Stearns’ website noting that Sound Affects is set to be terminated in March 2007.

It seems that KFAI has decided that “there is no audience for audio theatre”!!!

Programs aired on Sound Affects just in the past year have included:

–Anne Manx On Amazonia which we called “…funny, action-packed, and touching.”

–The Red Panda Adventures which we said was “…a super-fun diversion delivered in delicious half-hour doses. “

–The Adventures Of Red Cloud which we described as “very entertaining.”

-The Parsec Award nominated Falcon Banner series.

–The Last Harbinger which we said was “setting the highest of standards for fantastic audio drama.”

Roy writes “This is rather sad and alarming. I keep a close eye on this website as it is one of the best sources for ‘New Time’ SF/Fantasy productions and often comes up with things that I have not found elsewhere. It will be greatly missed.”

If you too are Sound Affects listener, and think that they are making a mistake, send the station’s Program Director, Dan Richmond, an email and let him know your feelings on the subject! He can be reached at: [email protected]

posted by Jesse Willis