Torchwood to have a Radio Drama episode on BBC Radio 4

SFFaudio News

TorchwoodTorchwood, that Doctor Who spin-off currently airing on that technological dinosaur called “tele-vision”, is going to be having a special one-off broadcast exclusive to radio! Yep, a radio show episode of the television show will air exclusively on BBC Radio 4 this summer! The 45 minute episode will be broadcast in Radio 4’s traditional “Afternoon Play” slot and use the same cast as on the TV show. Now that’s what I call progress!

[via io9]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Intimacy with Blogs and Podcasts

SFFaudio Commentary

Meta SFFaudioIf there’s one technological trend that I’ve resisted, it’s the social networking craze. Not that I’m averse to social networking, mind you, it’s just that my poison of choice has been blogging as opposed to, say, Friendster or MySpace or Facebook (yes, I know those sites have blogging capabilities these days).

One of the reasons I like reading blogs is because it actually helps me to get to know the other person. Adding existing friends in other social networking sites is well and good but what happens when you want to extend your social circle? Usually, some people simply add friends of friends or mutual friends but my experience in real life is that sometimes, your friend’s friends don’t mesh well with you (and is one reason why you keep away some of your friends from your other friends). And quite frankly, a photo and a brief bio won’t give you that information. Blogging, on the other hand, does impart that kind of knowledge. I get some insight into your thought process, your personality, your hobbies, your pet peeves–whatever you want to write in your journal as long as there’s something actually written there. This is especially relevant when you’re reading a complete stranger’s blog. I mean sure, there’s some information you can glean from the person’s About Me page, their hobbies, and their links, but at the end of the day, those are superficial details that tell me nothing about the actual person. One’s writing however tends to do so (unless all you’re posting are press releases). And let’s face it, we’ve read and become fans of the blogs of strangers because of their compelling writing or, failing that, personality.

Unfortunately the whole blogging process can also lead to a false sense of intimacy. I mean if I were a voyeur and followed a person’s blog religiously, it feels like I’ve known the person for a long, long time. But until I take that first step of introducing myself and leaving a comment, the connection is simply one way. I may be aware of the blogger but the blogger certainly isn’t aware of me. Or at least me as an individual rather than simply one of their hundreds or thousands of readers.

Moving on to podcasting, I find that podcasting tends to be more intimate on some levels compared to blogging. Sure, you might not get as much personal information in podcasts, but one thing podcasts deliver is an aural experience. The way I write is not necessarily the way I talk in real life. Nor does it convey my speech patterns, my subtle personality quirks, or simply my voice. Those are all elements that we deal with when talking to people in real life and is one factor that may sway us as to whether we like this particular person or not. Podcasts deliver that, especially when there are multiple hosts because they interact with each other and you listen to them in the same way you hear some of your friends chatting. It gives me the illusion that I know the person who’s speaking, even if I’ve never met them or wrote them a letter.

Again, podcasting has that same sense of false intimacy unless one actually gives feedback to the podcasters. If I run into a friend across the street and say hello, they’ll react positively. I do think that if I run into a podcaster across the street, there’s a big temptation to greet him or her. Except unless I communicated with them beforehand (either writing a letter, leaving a message in their voice mail, etc.), most likely the typical reaction will be bafflement (“Do I know you?”). For me, hearing a person’s voice is in certain ways more compelling than simply reading their thoughts and what will probably lead me to such an action.

Having said all that, what matters in the end is your relationship with the other person. You could meet each other all the time in real life and never speak a word online. Similarly, just because you’re familiar with someone on the Internet doesn’t mean you are best buddies. Blogs and podcasts can be great tools or icebreakers (“hey, are you that blogger/podcaster?”) but at the end of the day, is no replacement for human initiative.

Posted by Charles Tan

ABC RN’s Late Night Live talks to Arthur C. Clarke

SFFaudio Online Audio

Late Night LiveThe ABC Radio National show Late Night Live recorded a show with the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke Originally on 3/5/2001. Here’s the official description: “In this program-length conversation, the philosopher, inventor and futurist talks about his life and his work.” – Pfffttt! You’d think calling him a Science Fiction writer was an insult. That’s how the man made his living, that’s how he wanted to be remembered, that’s what he will be remembered for – at least by me. Anyway, here’s the show… |MP3|

[via Ear Ideas]

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – S.M. Stirling, Mary Shelley, Frank Herbert

New Releases

Another in S.M. Stirling’s alternate planet series (a parallel world first introduced in The Sky People), have a listen to the Dragon Page interview/chat with Stirling |MP3|, it too sounds like a cool book, The Sky People earned an SFFaudio Essential designation

Science Fiction Audiobook - In The Courts Of The Crimson Kings by S.M. StirlingIn The Courts Of The Crimson Kings
By S.M. Stirling; Read by Todd McLaren
10 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 13 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
EAN: 9781400106103 (CDs), 9781400156108 (MP3-CD)
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: March 2008
On Mars, early hominids evolved civilization earlier than their earthly cousins, driven by the needs of a harsh world growing still harsher as the initial terraforming ran down. Without coal, oil, or uranium, their technology was forced onto different paths, and the genetic wizardry of the Crimson Dynasty united a world for more than 20,000 years. Now, in a new stand-alone adventure set in this world’s 2000 AD, Jeremy Wainman is an archaeologist who has achieved a lifelong dream: to travel to Mars and explore the dead cities of the Deep Beyond, searching for the secrets of the Kings Beneath the Mountain and the fallen empire they ruled.

Unhyped, unbalyhooed, and probably the last novel that needs to be re-recorded, never the less I think the fact that Simon Vance is narrating makes this a worthy edition…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary ShelleyFrankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus
By Mary Shelley; Read by Simon Vance
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 8 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: February 2008
EAN: 9781400106349 (CD), 9781400156344 (MP3-CD)
Mary Shelley’s tragic story of a scientist who created a monster is perhaps even more compelling today than when it was written nearly two centuries ago. The brilliant Victor Frankenstein fashions a new form of life only to discover, too late, the irreparable damage he has caused.

Here’s the first in a new batch of old, non-Dune, Herbert novels getting their first unabridged releases…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Hellstrom’s Hive by Frank HerbertHellstrom’s Hive
By Frank Herbert; Read by Scott Brick
10 CDs, 1 MP3-CD – 4 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
EAN: 9781400105649 (CDs), 9781400155644 (MP3-CD)
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: March 2008
America is a police state, and it is about to be threatened by the most hellish enemy in the world: insects. First published in Galaxy magazine in 1973 as “Project 40,” Frank Herbert’s vivid imagination and brilliant view of nature and ecology have never been more evident than in this classic of science fiction.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Radio Free Bliss

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Free BlissRadio Free Bliss is the newly-launched podcast by KS Augustin that features interviews with SF&F&H and romance authors on a “reasonably idiosyncratic basis” (2 a month, but when exactly depends on everyone’s schedules). Augustin sez of her latest show, “We discuss Joanna Russ, feminism, speculative fiction, humidity and the Mason-Dixon Line.” and the guest interviewee doing that discussion with her is speculative fiction writer, Sue Lange. Have a listen |MP3| or subscribe to the feed at this URL:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RadioFreeBliss

Posted by Jesse Willis