January 2009 – Page 2

Recent Arrivals – Blish, Resnick, Metzler, Westlake

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

A Case Of Conscience
By James Blish; Read by Jay Snyder
Audible Download – 7 Hours 55 Muinutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: November 2008
Father Ruiz-Sanchez is a dedicated man – a priest who is also a scientist, and a scientist who is also a human being. He has found no insoluble conflicts in his beliefs or his ethics…until he is sent to Lithia. There he comes upon a race of aliens who are admirable in every way except for their total reliance on cold reason; they are incapable of faith or belief.Confronted with a profound scientific riddle and ethical quandary, Father Ruiz-Sanchez soon finds himself torn between the teachings of his faith, the teachings of his science, and the inner promptings of his humanity. There is only one solution: He must accept an ancient and unforgivable heresy -and risk the futures of both worlds…

Starship: Rebel
By Mike Resnick; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 8 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 16th 2008
The date is 1968 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, dominated by the human race, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. Almost a year has passed since the events of Starship: Mercenary. Captain Wilson Cole now commands a fleet of almost fifty ships, and he has become the single greatest military force on the Inner Frontier. With one exception. The Republic still comes and goes as it pleases, taking what it wants, conscripting men, and extorting taxes, even though the Frontier worlds receive nothing in exchange. And, of course, the government still wants Wilson Cole and the starship Theodore Roosevelt. He has no interest in confronting such an overwhelming force, and constantly steers clear of them. Then an incident occurs that changes everything, and Cole declares war on the Republic. Outnumbered and always outgunned, his fleet is no match for the Republic’s millions of military vessels, even after he forges alliances with the warlords he previously hunted down. It’s a hopeless cause…but that’s just what Wilson Cole and the Teddy R. are best at.

The Book Of Lies
By Brad Meltzer; Read by Scott Brick
10 CDs – Approx. 11.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781600243806
Cain kills Abel in Chapter Four of the Bible. It is the world’s most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.
In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world’s greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain’s murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found. Until now. Today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his family’s greatest secret: his long-lost father, who’s been shot with a gun that traces back to Michell Siegel’s 1932 murder. But before Cal can ask a single question, he and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the anicent markings of Cain. And so begins the chase for the world’s first murder weapon. What does Cain, history’s greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world’s greatest hero? And what do two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common?

BBC Audiobooks America (via Audible.com) - Watch Your Back by Donald E. Westlake Watch Your Back
By Donald E. Westlake; Read by William Dufris
Audible Download – 9 Hours 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: October 2008 (at Audible.com)
Provider: Audible.com
Hapless criminal John Dortmunder returns in another rollicking tale of disorganized crime from Grand Master of Mystery Donald E. Westlake. It’s the score of a lifetime: easy access to a lavish New York City apartment, hordes of valuables, and an absentee owner avoiding the lawyers of his unhappy ex-wives. But before they pull the job, Dortmunder’s crew is startled to find their beloved gin joint, the OJ, in the clutches of the Mafia – who consider it perfect for a little fraud, courtesy of a nice big fire. For tactical and highly superstitious reasons, the fate of the OJ is even more important to the crew than the enormous score. Now, Dortmunder and his gang are determined to split their time, fighting the mob, and robbing the rich simultaneously.

Posted by Jesse Willis

THACO Interviews George R. R. Martin

SFFaudio Online Audio

THACO interviews George R. R. Martin (Wildcards, Song of Ice and Fire). |MP3|

You can subscribe to the feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/THACO

Posted by Charles Tan

Review of Stonefather by Orson Scott Card

SFFaudio Review

Stonefather
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Emily Janice Card
Audible Download – 3 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
Themes: / Fantasy / Magic / Nature / Politics / Youth /

Runnel is nothing special. He was never good at anything nor exceptionally bad at anything, just plain ordinary. He is frequently beat by a just as frequently angry father. He lives in a house with more than a dozen children. “Runnel” is a water name, which he was given out of piety to the god Yegut. Even though he has a water name, the only thing that Runnel is better than the other children at is rock climbing. He can find footholds and crevices where other children can’t.

As Runnel approaches his “man height” the other kids begin playing mean jokes on him. During one of these jokes Runnel finds himself on the top of a mountain all alone looking at a road heading to Mitherhome, the city of water mages. He decides to leave and starts to walk towards Mitherhome which is an island surrounded by a deep gorge in the land. He walks to the town of Hetterfairy, the only way to get to Mitherhome. Here he meets a servant named Lark who becomes his first friend. Runnel persuades her to take him to her masters house where he gets a job and discovers something amazing about himself.

This book is written by Orson Scott Card and is read by his daughter Emily Janice Card. Orson Scott Card is the famous award-winning author of the Ender series, Bean Series, and the Earthfall Series. “Stonefather” is a story set in a series he is writing, an introduction you might say.

Emily Janice Card read this book amazingly. This is the first audio book that I have heard that she has read and I was pretty surprised. She is not the best reader in the world but she is very very good. I could see the same voice in all the characters but this did not distract me from the story.

Card’s clever use of words had me from the beginning as all of his books do. I could tell each character not only from their voice but from their style of words. Some had very similar styles but there was always a little tweak in it that I could see and it made it all the better. I dislike books in which I can not tell who is speaking.

Posted by DanielsonKid (Age 14)

Recent Arrivals from Macmillan Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Lamentation
By Ken Scholes; Read by Scott Brick, William Dufris, Maggi-Meg Reed, and Stefan Rudnicki
12 CDs – 15 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781427206251

Woo hoo! Ken Scholes’ debut novel, in bright shiny audio. Ken Scholes is a remarkable short story writer. For a sample story, check out the mesmerizing “Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk” – it’s Episode 146 of Escape Pod, read by Stephen Eley. That one’s science fiction, this novel is epic fantasy, the first of five volumes. I’m eager to hear it.

An ancient weapon has completely destroyed the city of Windwir. From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising. He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands.

Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city – he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he watched everyone he knew die in an instant.

Soon all the Kingdoms of the Named Lands will be at each others’ throats, as alliances are challenged and hidden plots are uncovered.

This remarkable first novel from an award-winning short fiction writer will take readers away to a new world – an Earth so far in the distant future that our time is not even a memory; a world where magick is commonplace and great areas of the planet are impassable wastes. But human nature hasn’t changed through the ages: War and faith and love still move princes and nations.

Find an audio sample |HERE|.

Bones of the Dragon
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
16 CDs – 18 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781427204318

From a debut epic fantasy novel to the beginning of a new series by the masters:

Skylan Ivorson is a sea-raider of the Vindras, an undefeated champion of the Torgun clan, and eventually the Chief of Chiefs of all Vindras clans, an honor he truly feels he deserves as one who has been blessed by Skoval, the god of war. But sometimes a blessing is a curse in disguise.

Skoval and the other ancient gods are under siege from a new generation of gods who are challenging them for the powers of creation…. and the only way to stop these brash interlopers lies within the mysterious and hidden Five Bones of the Vektan Dragons.

It will be up to the Vindras, the dragon-goddess’s champion, to undertake the quest to recover all Five. The fate of the Old Gods and the Vindras’ people rests on their recovery, for this is not only a quest to save the world—it is also a quest for redemption.

Filled with heroes and heroines young and old (as well as human and non) spanning locales of exotic adventure in a magic-forged world, this is a series that fully illustrates the mastery of world-building and storytelling that has made Weis and Hickman into the bestselling fantasy co-authors of all time.

Find an audio sample |HERE|

Halo: The Cole Protocol
By Tobias Buckell; Read by Jonathan Davis
9 CDs – 10.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781427205285

Despite what you may have heard, listening to a Halo audiobook will NOT make you a better player. I know this from personal experience. Turns out that to play the game well, you have to be able to move AND shoot – at the same time! Impossible, I say! Ah, well. Written by Tobias S. Buckell, read by Jonathan Davis… you simply can’t go wrong here.

In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems.

Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as the Rubble–and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar . . . yet somehow survived.

News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three-man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best—an ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality . . . and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

I Should Be Writing Interviews Scott Sigler

SFFaudio Online Audio

Mur Lafferty of I Should Be Writing interviews Scott Sigler (Contagious). |MP3|

You can subscribe to the podcast at this URL:

http://isbw.murlafferty.com/feed/

Posted by Charles Tan

Mary Robinette Kowal and John Scalzi Readings

SFFaudio Online Audio

Authors Mary Robinette Kowal and John Scalzi had a reading at Borderland Books the other week. Luckily, blogger John Nichols has a recording of the event.

“Nails in my Feet” by Mary Robinette Kowal |Link|

“Trip, Trap, Tripping” by Mary Robinette Kowal |Link|

“Evil Robot Monkey” by Mary Robinette Kowal |Link|

“Denise Jones, Super Booker” by John Scalzi |Link|

“State of Super Villainy” by John Scalzi |Link|

“Missives from Possible Futures #1: Alternate History Search Results” by John Scalzi |Link|

Posted by Charles Tan