December 2009 – Page 3

Radio Drama Revival: The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle – a SHERLOCK HOLMES audio drama

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Radio Drama Revival has a new Sherlock Holmes podcast audio drama in it’s feed!

Sez host Fred Greenhalgh:

This week we bring back the Quicksilver Radio Theater in a most peculiar of Sherlock Holmes tales set during the Christmas season.

A fat goose, a random mugging, and a precious gem. How do all three relate, and who committed this most unusual crime?

Quicksilver Radio Theatre - The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle One caveat folks: This is an all-American production (Quicksilver is based out of New York). Don’t expect too much in the way of spot-on English accents. ~~Part 2, presumably the concluding portion of the adventure, will likely be in the feed next weekend…~~ PART 2 is HERE!

Radio Drama Revival – Episode #152 In Search Of The Blue Carbuncle
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

And…

Quicksilver Radio Theatre - The Adventure Of The Speckled Band AUDIO DRAMA RDR had another Sherlock Holmes AD back in 2008, created by the same Quicksilver team: The Speckled Band Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RadioDramaRevival

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Ballad of Wilson Cole

SFFaudio Online Audio

Mike Resnick’s Starship series is about to wrap up with the final volume Starship: Flagship. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:

Mike Resnick knows how to make compelling characters and emotionally resonant scenes, the Starship series is really terrific!

I’m not the only one who thinks this. Witness musician John Anealio’s testimony:

The Ballad of Wilson Cole, |MP3| a song about the series and it’s lead hero Wilson Cole…

Sez Anealio:

Here’s an acoustic version of my song: “The Ballad of Wilson Cole“. The song was inspired by Mike Resnick’s “Starship” series of books. The sheet music and lyrics for “The Ballad of Wilson Cole” appear in the appendix of Resnick’s “Starship:Flagship“. The song features five verses; one for each book in the series. Click here to read more about it.

The Ballad of Wilson Cole
by John Anealio

Verse 1
In the time of the Galactic Era
In the year of 1966
Commander Cole had to wrestle control
from the Polonoi running the ship
and despite his four medals of courage
they court marshaled him anyway
the men of his crew came to his rescue
and embarked on their own deep in space

Refrain
Yes they say Wilson Cole was a hero
and the captain of the Teddy R.
He kept up the fight and he did what was right
as he led his fleet through the stars

Verse 2
Then it came to 1967
after the ship’s mutiny
they made a deal with David Copperfield
and they allied with the Valkyrie
And he didn’t make much of a pirate
Wilson was an honest man
he went and retrieved a Tale of Two Cities
and decided that he’d change his plan

Refrain

Verse 3
Then they became mercenaries
the year was 1968
Their destination was Singapore Station
so they met at the Platinum Duke’s Place
Then they met the Teroni Jacovic
who became the ship’s Third Officer
Cole marshaled One Thousand Ships against a lunatic
Csonti retreated then went berserk

Refrain

Verse 4
The Navy murdered First Officer Forrice
at a brothel on Braccio II
Cole went and avenged the death of his best friend
killing the Endless Night and its crew
Then the Navy laid waste to the planet
and Wilson searched for volunteers
He gathered a fleet that would never retreat
as it defended the Inner Frontier

Refrain

Verse 5
And then in 1970
Cole infiltrated Deluros VIII
He aimed his gun at the Admiral just as the sky filled
with enemies set to invade
Wilson Cole led the Theodore Roosevelt
and the ships of the Republican Fleet
The enemy was defeated and the Secretary ceded
Cole’s mission was finally complete

[via SFSignal.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Blackstone Audiobooks Overtstock Sale

SFFaudio News

Blackstone Audiobooks Overstock Sale SFFaudio receives FREE audio media in the mail on a regular basis. They generally arrive unsolicited (though sometimes not) and we take it that their arrival equates with a tacit understanding that we’ll either mention the receipt on the website and/or review the audiobook or audio drama. That’s the extent of our formal relationship with any publisher or retailer. We do not use affiliate links to Amazon, or any other audiobook retailer. This lack of affiliation means that we can never feel pressured into reviewing an audiobook or audio drama more positively (or negatively) than we might otherwise.

Now, with all that said, I think I can speak for most of the folks who work at SFFaudio and say that we are all especially fond of Blackstone Audiobooks.

There are a few reasons for this BA love. Blackstone picks great books to turn into audiobooks, pairing them with terrific narrators, and then releases them in DRM free version. That’s really all what you want from a publisher. But that isn’t the end of it. Every so often they blow-out audiobooks that are cramming their wharehouse space. And that’s why right now they’re offering 237 different audiobooks for just $9.99 each.

That’s a STUNNING DEAL my friends!

And, if you buy two audiobooks (or more) you’ll even get FREE SHIPPING (within the USA). Here are just a few of the many titles they’ve got for sale right now:

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; read by Ben Kingsley
THE AENEID by Virgil; read by Frederick Davidson
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll; read by Michael York
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London; read by Ethan Hawke
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT by Mark Twain; read by Carl Reiner
FRANKENSTEIN, OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS by Mary Shelley; read by Simon Templeman, Anthony Heald, and Stefan Rudnicki
I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson; read by Robertson Dean |READ OUR REVIEW|
IT’S SUPERMAN! by Tom De Haven; read by Scott Brick
KING KONG by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper; novelization by Delos W. Lovelace; read by Stefan Rudnicki |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE MARTIAN CHILD by David Gerrold; read by Scott Brick
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde; read by Simon Vance
THE PRESTIGE by Christopher Priest; read by Simon Vance
THE PRINCE by Niccoló Machiavelli; read by Patrick Cullen
ROCKET SHIP GALILEO by Robert A Heinlein; read by Spider Robinson |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE SPARTANS by Paul Cartledge; read by John Lee
SWEENEY TODD AND THE STRING OF PEARLS by Yuri Rasovsky; Performed by a full cast
TALES OF BEATRIX POTTER by Beatrix Potter; read by Nadia May
TARZAN OF THE APES by Edgar Rice Burroughs; read by Ben Kingsley
THE TEN-CENT PLAGUE by David Hajdu; read by Stefan Rudnicki
THERMOPYLAE by Paul Cartledge; read by John Lee
THE TIME MACHINE by H.G. Wells; read by Ben Kingsley
THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka; read by Geoffrey Howard
UTOPIA by Sir Thomas More; read by James Adams
V FOR VENDETTA by Steve Moore; read by Simon Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS by H. G. Wells; read by Christopher Hurt
WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip Gourevitch; read by Jeff Cummings
WHERE’S MY JETPACK? by Daniel H. Wilson; read by Stefan Rudnicki |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE by Don Winslow; read by Dennis Boutsikaris
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO NARNIA by Jonathan Rogers; read by Brian Emerson

Posted by Jesse Willis

StarShipSofa Goes Dickens for the Robinsons!

SFFaudio News

The British podcast StarShipSofa is rallying the science fiction/fantasy community around Spider and Jeanne Robinson this Holiday Season with a special book offer.

The online audio magazine has released an original three-episode novella by multiple Bram Stoker Award nominee Lawrence Santoro. StarShipSofa visitors and subscribers alike can hear Santoro reading “Lord Dickens’ Declaration” for free. They may also elect to purchase an ebook of the 23,000 word novella with art by American illustrator Skeet Scienski.

All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Robinsons to support them during Jeanne’s battle with cancer.

Diagnosed with a rare biliary cancer, the treatments have eaten away at the Robinson’s finances as doctors aggressively fight the to keep the disease from spreading.

Santoro suspended work on another writing project to write and record “Lord Dickens…”. “Over the years, Spider and Jeanne’s work has been a constant on my home shelf and in my memory,” he said. “Giving them a couple months work is small payback. Keep dancing, Jeanne!”

This “Lord Dickens…” ebook will be available for purchase only through December 31st. Priced at 2.99 GBP (about $5 US), the purchaser has an option to donate more in increments of 10, 20, 50, & 100 Pounds.

Said, StarShipSofa editor Tony C. Smith, “Any fan of the Robinson’s can attest to their strength, but we hope that through this time of strife, the science fiction and fantasy community can help them survive through the worst. Thank you for standing with them in their time of need.”

Posted by Tony C. Smith

Naxos Audiobooks: 3 FREE Sherlock Holmes short stories

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Naxos Audiobooks, in partnership with AudioFile Magazine, is offering three unabridged Sherlock Holmes short stories FREE for download until December 29th, 2009! The first of these had already been made available, but the other two are definitely new to my collection (and SFFaudio). Narrator David Timson has a really terrific voice for Sherlock Holmes narration. Have a listen to Timson talk about Doyle and Holmes |MP3|. He’ll make you want to get the rest of the Sherlock Holmes short stories and the four Sherlock Holmes novels he narrated for Naxos.

The Adventure of Silver Blaze
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 60 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
One of the most famous images of Sherlock Holmes, Sidney Paget’s drawing of Holmes, complete with Deerstalker and Inverness cape, leaning eagerly forward to a an attentive Watson in a railway carriage as they hurtle towards their next adventure comes from ‘The Silver Blaze.’

The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
In Stock-Broker’s Clerk, the intrepid pair travel by train to Birmingham, and it is nostalgic to think that despite it being 1889, when Holmes and Watson alighted at New Street station they would have been greeted by cobbled streets, eighteenth-century houses and a town still largely undeveloped.

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 71 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
Trains feature consistently throughout the canon, incidentally and as a main component of the story as in ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. It is popular amongst railway enthusiasts, as a significant part of the investigation takes place among the subterranean tunnels of the London Underground system.

[via AudioFile]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Billy: Messenger of Powers by Michaelbrent Collings

SFFaudio Online Audio

Look what popped into my spam folder (addressed to “undisclosed-recipients”):

Looking for a break from studying, research, work, the whole bit?

Would you like to read a book that is as good as – or better than – Harry Potter? Eragon? Twilight? Fablehaven?

How about if it is GUARANTEED… you don’t like it, you don’t pay.

At www.whoisbillyjones.com, that is EXACTLY what you get. BILLY: MESSENGER OF POWERS is the story of a high school student thrust into the world of the Powers – you or I would call them witches – when he discovers that he may be the key to victory in the upcoming war between Dawnwalkers and Darksiders.

I’ve just started listening to this audiobook. So far it is both well narrated and well written! A reference to “patriot missles” in the first chapter makes me think it was written about twenty years ago but that’s not the only thing that’s retro. Sadly, to make the site the Billy-crew seems to have used a frightful mid-1990s website template. The only thing missing from the site is a spinning GIF. It’s got music, sparkly purple mouse trails, a whimsical EULA and a color scheme right out of the heyday of GeoCities. But nowhere amongst all of the goo-gaws can you find the most important feature for a self published audiobook … a podcast feed!

So in the interest of usability I’ve made one (two actually because HuffDuffer has a 20 file max per feed). Here’s the skinny…

Billy: Messenger Of Powers
By Michaelbrent Collings; Read by Andy Bowyer
32 MP3 Files or HuffDuffer Podcasts – Approx. 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: WhoIsBillyJones.com
Published: 2009
Billy: Messenger Of Powers is the story of a high school student thrust into the world of the Powers – you or I would call them witches – when he discovers that he may be the key to victory in the upcoming war between Dawnwalkers and Darksiders.