November 2007 – Page 3

National Review Online: Conan and George R.R. Martin

SFFaudio Online Audio

The National Review Online, the web-version of the National Review magazine, has an audio program called Between The Covers (not to be confused with the CBC Radio One book reading program of the same name). Available now, for online listening in the Flash audio format (SWF) are:

Paul M. Sammon on Conan: The Phenomenon:

“John J. Miller asks Paul M. Sammon, author of Conan: The Phenomenon, just why Conan is still a phenomenon after so very long. Sammon responds that these stories, which date back to the 1930s, ‘featured vivid storytelling, compelling characters, exotic locales, horrible creatures, delectable damsels; and all of this was wrapped up in propulsive prose and a consistent worldview.'” |SWF|

George R.R. Martin on Dreamsongs:

“George R.R. Martin, author of Dreamsongs (Vols. I and II), has been called the ‘American Tolkien.’ But he tells John J. Miller that science fiction, horror fiction, and fantasy were all his first loves, and that he his written in each of these genres. ‘It was all ‘weird stuff’ as my father liked to call it; imaginative literature as opposed to realistic literature — just different flavors thereof.'” |SWF|

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases

New Releases Science Fiction Audiobook - Escape Route by Peter F. Hamilton Escape Route
By Peter F. Hamilton; Read by Jared Doreck
– 2 hours and 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: 2007
The starship Lady Macbeth encounters a long-abandoned alien spacecraft, with its escape route still intact – but leading where? If the crew claims salvage rights, the technology inside could make them wealthy enough to buy planets. But first they need to make sure it’s as empty as it seems.
Listen to an |MP3| sample.

This one is a follow up to the “Infinite Crisis” series from DC Comics…

52 – Part 1 (of 2)
By Greg Cox; Based on the DC Comics series; Performed by a full cast
6 CDs, 1 MP3-CD, or WMA Download – Approx. 6 hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Graphic Audio
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 1599503689
A year without Superman. A year without Batman. A year without Wonder Woman. But not a year without heroes… Earth’s most revered heroes have vanished. In their absence, the cities of Metropolis and Gotham have fallen prey to the machinations of super-villains and the criminal activities of Intergang. Booster Gold, a hero from the future, has stepped into Superman’s boots only to find them too big to fill, especially when rival hero Supernova arrives on the scene. Recruited by the mysterious crime fighter known as the Question, detective Renee Montoya investigates an even more mysterious vigilante prowling the streets: Batwoman. These and other veteran and rookie heroes around the world must unite against a vast conspiracy of evil about to usurp control of the Earth once and for all… (Part 1 of 2)

The first book in the Doc Smith’s “Skylark” series…

The Skylark Of Space
By E.E. Doc Smith; Read by Reed McColm
Audible Download, CDs, Tapes or MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books In Motion
Published: November 2007
ISBN: various
The Skylark of Space is the first and one of the best space operas ever written. Breezy dialogue, romantic intrigue, fallible heroes, and complicated villains infuse humanity and believability into a conflict of galactic proportions.

Two Neil Gaiman titles that somehow flew-in under the radar…

Interworld
By Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves; Read by Christopher Evan Welch
CDs – 5 Hours 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: June 2007
ISBN: 0061254606
“Nationally best–selling, award–winning author Neil Gaiman teams up with Emmy Award–winning screenwriter Michael Reaves for an exciting science fiction tale of teenagers saving many universes from evil. Fourteen–year–old Joey Harker always had a terrible sense of direction–one day he gets lost in his own town and finds himself in another version, where there’s a family and a school almost like his. When an older version of himself tracks Joey down, Joey learns that he’s a Walker–one who can travel between dimensions–and that an army of different versions of himself is battling the two evils that want to conquer all the worlds. Joey finds himself in a battle against the forces of magic and science that could destroy him–and all the others like him.”

M Is For Magic
By Neil Gaiman; Read by Neil Gaiman
CDs – 5 Hours 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: June 2007
ISBN: 0061254592
“Stories to delight, enchant, and surprise you. Bestselling author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman here presents a breathtaking collection of tales that may chill or amuse readers—but always embrace the unexpected. Collection includes: The Case Of The Four And Twenty Blackbirds, Troll Bridge, Don’t Ask Jack, How To Sell The Ponti Bridge, October In The Chair, Chivalry, The Price, How To Talk To Girls At Parties, Sunbird, The Witch’s Headstone, Instructions.”

This one, from infrequent SFF provider Highbridge Audio, has one of the best titles ever…

Soon I Will Be Invincible
By Austin Grossman; Read by Coleen Marlo and Paul Boehmer
CDs – 10 Hours 18 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Published: June 2007
ISBN: 1598870963
Listen to an |MP3| sample.
Doctor Impossible—evil genius, mad scientist, diabolical time-traveler, wannabe world dominator—has just broken out of prison�again. He�s tried to take over the world in every conceivable way: doomsday devices (nuclear, thermonuclear, nanotechnological), armies (robot, insect, dinosaur, fungus, fish), mass mind control, even a corporate conquest (Impossible Industries LLC). Each time, he has been foiled. This time, it’s going to be different.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Yorker Fiction Podcast: Jorge Luis Borges’s The Gospel According to Mark

SFFaudio Online Audio

At first blush this Borges story may not appear SFFaudio related, it certainly isn’t Science Fiction or Fantasy, it isn’t set in the future, doesn’t have any magic or legendary creatures – but I’m firmly in the camp that it is still relevant to us – we cover horror too you know. But still, this isn’t the “boogeyman-under-the-bed-with-a-sweetmeats-fetish” horror – it’s moral horror, the “oh the humanity” horror – the kind of horror that fills both Kurtz and Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness. Listen up folks because The Gospel According To Mark (first published in The New Yorker on October 23, 1971) is read by travel writer extraordinare Paul Theroux! And be sure to listen for Theroux’s ruminations, with The New Yorker’s fiction editor Deborah Treisman, on Borges and the tale itself – it’s found at the end of the story…

The Gospel According To Mark
By Jorge Luis Borges; Read by Paul Theroux
1 |MP3| Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Fiction (a New yorker Podcast)
Podcast: October 15th 2007
Espinosa, a medical student, discovers that traditional religious ideals overcome the morality of human beings.

You can subscribe to the podcast via this url:

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rss/feeds/fiction_podcast.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Copyfighting (and Hugo Winning) Science Fiction from Spider Robinson: Melancholy Elephants

OnlineAudio

The Spider On The Web podcast, has a terrific Hugo winning story from 1982! This is a story made for BoingBoing.net, its creative commons licensed, a Heinleinesque Science Fiction tale in which a shadowy killer meets with a corrupt senator who’s been paid to back a proposed copyright extension bill. As Robinson sez “Copyright is a hot-button topic these days. Does information want to be free…or just reasonably priced?” Find out the answer, in this FREE tale. Spider Robinson is amazing, as writer and narrator both!

Melancholy Elephants
By Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcast: Spider On The Web
Podcaster: November 17th 2007
“She sat zazen, concentrating on not concentrating, until it was time to prepare for the appointment. Sitting seemed to produce the usual serenity, put everything in perspective. Her hand did not tremble as she applied her make-up; tranquil features looked back at her from the mirror. She was mildly surprised, in fact, at just how calm she was, until she got out of the hotel elevator at the garage level and the mugger made his play. She killed him instead of disabling him. Which was obviously not a measured, balanced action–the official fuss and paperwork could make her late. Annoyed at herself, she stuffed the corpse under a shiny new Westinghouse roadable whose owner she knew to be in Luna, and continued on to her own car. This would have to be squared later, and it would cost. No help for it–she fought to regain at least the semblance of tranquility as her car emerged from the garage and turned north. Nothing must interfere with this meeting, or with her role in it.”

Grab the podcast feed here:

http://www.spiderrobinson.com/iTunes_feed.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 001

OnlineAudio

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 001
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3s – 5.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007
“Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories originally published between 1931 and 1963, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.”

Get the individual stories:

1 . The 4D Doodler
By Graph Waldeyer; Read by Elanor
1 |MP3| – Approx 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First published in the July 1941 issue of Comet magazine

2. Bread Overhead*
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Mark F. Smith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
*There is also a variant reading of the same story by another LibriVox reader HERE.

3. Image Of The Gods
By Alan E. Nourse; Read by Jodi Krangle
1 |MP3| – Approx. 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First published in Orbit magazine’s September 1954 issue.

4. Martian V. F. W.
By G. L. Vandenburg; Read by Qhali
1 |MP3| – Approx. 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
From Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1959.

5. One Shot
By James Blish; Read by Reynard T. Fox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 33 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
“You can do a great deal if you have enough data, and enough time to compute on it, by logical methods. But given the situation that neither data nor time is adequate, and an answer must be produced… what do you do?”

6.
Out Around Rigel
By Robert H. Wilson; Read by Anton
1 |MP3| – Approx. 43 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
“An astounding chronicle of two Lunarians’ conquest of time and interstellar space.”

7. Pygmalion’s Spectacles
By Stanley G. Weinbaum; Read by Chrystal Layton
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

8. The Repairman*
By Harry Harrison; Read by Anton
1 |MP3| – 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
*There is another reading of this tale HERE.

9. Toy Shop
By Harry Harrison; Read by Cori Samuel
1 |MP3| -12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

10.
Warning From The Stars
By Ron Cocking; Read by Rowdy Delany
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
The box read: TO BE OPENED ONLY BY: Dr. Richard Forster, Assistant Director, Air Force Special Research Center, Petersport, Md. CAUTION: Open not later than 24 hours after receipt. DO NOT OPEN in atmosphere less than equivalent of 65,000 feet
above M.S.L.

Or get the whole collection via the unique podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-001-by-various.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Subterranean Press’ Fall 2007 mag has Promises To Keep by Charles de Lint

SFFaudio Online Audio

Subterranean Press, which produces the “Subterranean Online” magazine, the Fall 2007 issue includes another free audiobook! Colour me impressed. This isn’t the first time the prestige paperbook press has released free audio versions of their wares. There was Wax by Elizabeth Bear, Rude Mechanicals by Kage Baker and The Sagan Diaries John Scalzi. I’m just wondering when full fledged audiobook lineup will appear in the Subterranean catalogue.

Promises To Keep
By Charles de Lint; Read by Yanni Kuznia
7 MP3s – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Published: Fall 2007

Posted by Jesse Willis