August 2008 – Page 2

Just Added to our AUTHOR PAGES: Robert E. Howard

SFFaudio News

Speaking of CONAN, and his creator Robert E. Howard. I’ve just now added an entry on our We’ve been adding to our AUTHOR PAGES for the inventor of Sword & Sorcery. It lists all the commercial releases that we know about, too few (and none by Conan Properties International so far), all of the public domain audiobooks released through LibriVox, a few other podcast releases (woo hoo) and a couple of old audio dramas released on LP. There are a few holes in the listing – but we’re gonna be filling them. In the meantime, go visit our nearly complete ROBERT E. HOWARD author page, which will list everything audio related to the man’s writings.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BSAP’s CONAN audio dramas and audiobooks threatened by a big corporate monster

SFFaudio News

The Queen Of The Black Coast by Robert E. Howard On the 22nd August 2008 Broken Sea Audio Productions, and its chief bottle-washer Paul Mannering, received a cease and desist letter from a law firm representing Conan Properties International LLC (aka Paradox Entertainment).

Sez Paul:

The letter claims that BSAP is selling audio books of Robert E. Howard’s work. BrokenSea have responded by confirming that we do not sell any material, and no income is received by us for making these audio files available to the public. Our production of both audio books and audio drama’s of Robert E. Howard’s work is based entirely on work that is in the public domain (www.gutenberg.org.au)

Out of respect for tangible brands, such as the “Conan” title we are changing the title and logo of our Conan audio drama to “Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Sagas.” We expect this change to be in place by Thursday 28th August.

Here is the |PDF| of Conan Properties International’s CEASE AND DESIST letter sent to Broken Sea.

Here are my $0.02…

For a man who killed himself 72 years ago, with no children and no spouse to inherit his estate (nearly all of which is in the public domain) it’s amazing how ~~spurious~~ vigorous Robert E. Howard’s defense of his lapsed copyright is.

I chalk it up to either the nefarious forces of Stygian evil, or the Black Seers of Yimsha. Either way, R.E.H. has been zombified, and forced to say things – or rather has had his lawyers say things that aren’t true. Time for some barbarians to overthrow the forces of civilization (by ignoring the intended effects of cease and desist chill).

SFFaudio will still be calling spades shovels and Conan stories Conan stories. Long live Broken Sea Audio Productions, long live BSAP’s CONAN!

UPDATE: The ever vigilant Quasar Dragon has a posted a post on this issue check it out HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

More Agony Column Recordings

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Agony Column has a couple of recordings:

Joe R. Lansdale interview |MP3|

Michael Blumlein interview |MP3|

Michael Shea, Michael Blumlein panel |MP3|

You can subscribe to the feed at this URL: http://trashotron.com/agony/indexes/tac_podcast.xml

Posted by Charles Tan

Fast Forward TV Interviews Naomi Novik

SFFaudio Online Audio

Fast Forward TV has an interview with Naomi Novik (Victory of Eagles). MP3 |lo| |high|

You can subscribe to the feed at this URL:http://fast-forward.tv/blog/?feed=rss2

Posted by Charles Tan

BBC7 presents: Down and Safe (Blake’s 7)

SFFaudio Online Audio

Down and Safe: A Celebration of Blake’s 7
Presented by fan Mitch Benn.
Airdate: August 25, 2008 (aired 3 times).

Holy moly, I was busy and away and almost missed this excellent radio retrospective of Blake’s 7. (Fortunately for all of us, it is still available to listen to -see below.) Clocking in at three hours, Down and Safe covers the whole shebang, from the groundbreaking and influential late 70’s television series to the latest version reimagined and presented as audio drama, with clips and snippets and informed commentary and…

…And, speaking of audio drama, well, check out the BBC7 blurb: The BBC 7 bank holiday rebellion starts with the history and rebirth of a sci-fi classic, with episodes including The Syndleton Experiment (1999), Liberator (2007) and When Vila Met Gan (2008).

Yep, you heard right. Three complete full cast audio plays -they form the bulk of the show; three different and very entertaining takes on the Blake’s 7 universe that you shouldn’t miss (unless you have a very good excuse like, say, hives). So, space science fiction luvvers everywhere, be sure to check out Down and Safe here, here, here (RealPlayer required) or here (webpage – RealPlayer required) through Sunday, August 31!

Posted by RC of RTSF

Maria Lectrix podcast: Pandemic by J.F. Bone

SFFaudio Online Audio

Maureen O’Brien of the Maria Lectrix podcast has recording a new/old short story. Pandemic by J.F. Bone was first published in Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction magazine’s February 1962 issue. It’s the tale of a young pathologist, and his indispensable nurse, working to stop a terrible new pandemic. Among its charms is a bit of Andromeda Strain style storytelling, some very politically incorrect science (facts are often politically incorrect) and even a bit of hospital romance. But don’t worry, this is still more of a House episode than a Grey’s Anatomy episode.

Pandemic
By J.F. Bone; Read by Maureen O’Brien
2 MP3s – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Maria Lectrix
Podcast: August 2008
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Personally the only thing I don’t like about Maureen’s reading are her inserted “coughs” which I’ll admit are story appropriate, but which are not strictly in the text itself – and therefore verboten. I know, I’m a stickler.

Posted by Jesse Willis