Audible.com is offering a selected free audiobook to any new customer without the usual requirement that you enter a credit card number. I think that is a first for Audible.com!
There are free versions of…
METAtropolis by Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Karl Schroeder |READ OUR REVIEW|
Elliot Miller, one of the participants in last year’s SFFaudio Challenge has completed his audiobook project! Elliot recorded one of the funnest, and funniest SF novels of the 1950s:
The Pirates Of Ersatz by Murray Leinster!
I’m loving this novel’s playful storytelling, I find it very reminiscent of The Space Merchants.
First published in three successive 1959 issues of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. It was later republished as half of an Ace double novel under the title The Pirates Of Zan.
The Pirates Of Ersatz
By Murray Leinster; Read by Elliott Miller 12 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 6 Hours 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 19, 2009 Bron is the offspring of infamous space pirates but instead of following in the family footsteps he decides to become an electronic engineer. Unfortunately, every time he tries to get out, something pulls him back in. This is a tongue-in-cheek space adventure along the lines of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. It was originally published in the FEB-APR issues of Astounding Science Fiction in 1959.
“Just wanted to let you know about the radio play recently made of my short story, The Resident Member. It’s a steampunky sort of humorous Victorian ghost story.”
Indeed, good show old boy! My heartiest congratulations. Hear hear and wot-ho.
Though… I will point out that the Something Wicked gentlemen have a podcast feed that’s even less substantial than the poltergeist in your story. Being as I am a gentleman myself I shall add it to my personal HuffDuffer feed. That way those for whom a podcast feed is desirous can place it in their podcatcher properly.
The Resident Member
Based on a story by Paul Marlowe; adapted by Digby Young; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Something Wicked Presents…
Published: November 20, 2009 …Poltergeists, death, and romance interrupt a quiet dinner at the Etheric Explorers Club… On any given day, the intrepid members of the Etheric Explorers Club can be found frustrating prophesies, wrestling with ancient evils, and generally striding boldly down the dark alleys of life, in order to fill in those portions of man’s map of reality that are, perhaps, better left blank. As with any club, though, there are always members who stay behind so as not to miss a second helping of pudding. This is their story. First published in Something Wicked Issue 7.
Stars:
Gideon Emery
Joe Vaz
Digby Young
Damon Berry
Christa Schamberger Young
StarShipSofa’s Aural Delights podcast features terrific fiction, funny poems and fantastic scholarly research in nearly every episode. Once a month the podcast features a segment by James J. Campanella. Besides being an excellent audiobook narrator, he’s a university professor (of Biology and Molecular Biology) and a genuine Ph’D scientist. His segment is called “Science News Update.” In each episode Campanella talks about the latest research that’s hitting the journals, explains the cool implications of each, and he answers listeners questions. In a recent show, for example, Campanella discussed a cool experiment that demonstrates a previously unknown taste receptor – we can taste the flavour of carbonation! More on that later.
But, it’s something else in the most recent two segments (the October and November 2009 shows) that I really want to draw your attention to. See Jim answered one of my questions. I’d been wondering about the ‘BPA and plastics threat’ that I’d be hearing about (from my mom).
In his answer to my query Campanella discussed the endocrine disruptor Bisphenol A (BPA), and its distribution in the human ecosystem.
It seems that BPA does pose a threat, a kind of bodily pollution that threatens to ‘impurify our precious bodily fluids!’ Or as Jim put it in his email to me:
“This stuff just scares the hell out of me– all I can think of is that book and movie The Children Of Men.”
Yikes! Is it truly possible that in all the H1N1 hysteria that a more insidious threat can be found in the likes of household plastics and store receipts?
Campanella thinks so. He refers, in the November show, to some research conducted by Bruce Lanphear, a Health Sciences Professor at Simon Fraser University (my old school).
Because of this research Canada has banned plastics containing BPA from use in baby products. But there’s not yet been a ban imposed on BPA lined cash register receipts or number 7 (and some number 3) recyclable plastics. Other plastics, containing other non-Bishpenol A plastics may or may not pose a risk. But given the known leech-rate of glass containers (virtually nil) I’d be willing to stick with glass were it available for reasonable prices (which it mostly isn’t, damn it).
Campanella also reports that not only are some plastics embedded with this dangerous endocrine disruptor but that a larger threat may be looming in the form of the receipt I got when I bought all that plastic crap! Sez Campanella:
‘carbonless copy paper credit card and store receipts have a reported average of 50-100mg of free BPA. That is receipts using this bisphenol A technology have a loose coating of unbound BPA ready for uptake on the fingers or even possibly through direct skin absorption!’
So, mom, I guess you were right? Except that it’s not so much the plastics now that I’m worried about!
Listen to the October |MP3| and November |MP3| Science News Update shows.
My friend Luke Burrage, of the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, has placed a candid conversation that we had into his podcast feed! I’m shocked. Shocked!
How dare he do such a thing?!?
Admittedly, he did ask my permission (and did receive it) but still … the effrontery is absolutely unbelievable.
Have a listen for yourself: SFBRP #072.5 – Luke and Jesse in Conversation |MP3|
This is the 4th in a series of post examining the LibriVox audiobooks that feature characters found in Alan Moore’s The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moore suffused his pastiche of superhero superteams by stuffing his original narrative with dozens of literary characters. Here is another of the freely available audiobooks (at LibriVox.org) that features one of the main characters: Captain Nemo, the antagonist behind the mysterious ocean appearances of a giant sea monster, is the hero/villain of Jules Verne’s planetary spanning Science Fiction novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
By Jules Verne; Translated by F.P. Walter; Read by various 47 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 16 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 10, 2007
Captain Nemo, The Nautilus, and the mysterious depths of the ocean. Unforgettable. Come join an adventure that will roam among coral and pearls, sharks and giant squid, with wonders of biology and engineering that will thrust us from the Antarctic to Atlantis. Whether voyaging a yarn of the glorious unknown, a tale of the darkness that grips the heart of men, or a reinterpretation of Homer’s Odyssey, we’ll all enjoy the fantastic trip. Seasickness optional.
Audible.com is offering a selected free audiobook to any new customer without the usual requirement that you enter a credit card number. I think that is a first for Audible.com!
Elliot Miller, one of the participants in 
This is the 4th in a series of post examining the LibriVox audiobooks that feature characters found in Alan Moore’s The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moore suffused his pastiche of superhero superteams by stuffing his original narrative with dozens of literary characters. Here is another of the freely available audiobooks (at LibriVox.org) that features one of the main characters: Captain Nemo, the antagonist behind the mysterious ocean appearances of a giant sea monster, is the hero/villain of Jules Verne’s planetary spanning Science Fiction novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.