Recent Arrival: Steampunk Specs edited by Allan Kaster

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

This came in the day after recording our latest Recent Arrivals podcast, so I thought it deserved mention.  Steampunk Specs releases February 28, 2013 from Infinivox.

Steampunk Specs edited by Allan Kaster

Contents:

Smoke City by Christopher Barzak
A woman comes to terms with the loss of her family to the child labor mills of the city.

Dr. Lash Remembers by Jeffrey Ford
A doctor tries to cope with a strange plague terrorizing the citizens of London.

Machine Maid by Margo Lanagan
A sexually repressed wife gets revenge on her husband through a robot maid.

Arbeitskraft by Nick Mamatas
Friedrich Engels strives to spread class revolution as a labor organizer for factory cyborg matchstick girls.

Ninety Thousand Horses by Sean McMullen
An acclaimed mathematician, with a murky past, is forced to spy for an industrial prior to becoming Britain’s foremost rocket expert during World War II.

Tanglefoot (A Clockwork Century Story) by Cherie Priest
An orphan boy builds an automaton, in an aging scientist’s laboratory, that becomes more than an idle companion.

Clockwork Fairies by Cat Rambo
An English aristocrat courts a woman who would rather spend her time in a laboratory than at a high society ball.

Edison’s Frankenstein by Chris Roberson
At Chicago’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, an Algerian bodyguard crosses paths with a disoriented naked man.

A Serpent in the Gears by Margaret Ronald
A dirigible journeys to an isolated land and discovers people and animals merged with machine parts.

Zeppelin City by Michael Swanwick & Eileen Gunn
Radio Jones finds a way to listen in on the Naked Brains, who rule the world, while Rudy the Red fights against the oppressors.

Unabridged readings by Tom Dheere, Vanessa Hart, and Nancy Linari, for a total of 8.5 hours.

Posted by Jenny Colvin

RA.cc + BBC R4: 15 Minute Drama: Modesty Blaise: A Taste For Death

Aural Noir: Online Audio

A Taste For Death - Fawcett

There’s a terrific radio drama series available via torrent over on RadioArchive.cc.

Broadcast late last year on BBC Radio 4, December 17 – 21, 2012, Modesty Blaise: A Taste For Death is truly lovely listening!

Modesty Blaise

I listened to the entire five part serial two or three times. That’s something I rarely do. Yet even after multiple listens this program has left me wanting more.

Blaise, as voiced by Daphne Alexander, is a confident, mysterious, and thoughtful secret agent. The supporting cast is top shelf, as is the sound design, editing, and music. This show is unmissably great.

In tone it’s probably not what you expect, being more of a cozy version of The Sandbaggers than a feminized James Bond. Not campy, exactly, as it is far too reverent for that.

Indeed, this particular adventure features far more than just 007 style espionage, romance, and action – it features friendship, teamwork, kindness, thoughtfulness, and a light-handed touch.

Best of all the producers aren’t at all above teasing the audience – the very first sounds from episode one are a total tease!

I love it.

Also cool, Modesty Blaise: A Taste For Death seems to be set in the period the novel of the same name was written (1969). Blaise, a child escapee from a WWII era displaced person camp, drives a “Jensen” (in my mind it’s a Jensen Interceptor).

Here’s the description from RA.cc:

She’s glamorous, intelligent, rich and very, very cool. Modesty Blaise has been called the female James Bond but she’s much more interesting than that. With her expertise in martial arts and unusual weapons, the ability to speak several languages and her liking for fast cars, twenty-something Modesty became a female icon long before the likes of Emma Peel, Lara Croft, or Buffy.

In Stef Penney’s brand new radio adaptation of Peter O’Donnell’s novel, Sir Gerald Tarrant, Head of a secret British agency, tempts Modesty out of retirement and into a job involving a young woman with extra sensory powers, an exotic desert location, and a larger than life public school villain, intent on murdering his way to a vast fortune. With its perfect cocktail of glamorous settings, hidden treasure, a twisting turning plot, and characters to root for, A Taste for Death is an action packed treat – and a guilty pleasure.

With an original score by Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory, arranged by Ian Gardiner, and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster.

Cast:
Modesty Blaise ….. Daphne Alexander
Willie Garvin ….. Carl Prekopp
Sir Gerald Tarrant ….. Alun Armstrong
Simon Delicata ….. Sam Dale
Steve Collier ….. Geoffrey Streatfeild
Dinah Pilgrim ….. Samantha Dakin
McWhirter ….. Alex Fearns
Skeet Lowry ….. Jeff Mash
Sir Howard Presteign ….. Nigel Anthony

A Taste For Death by Peter O'Donnell

Produced and Directed by Kate McAll

Modesty Blaise’s comics origin:

And here’s the movie trailer, yikes!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

SFFaudio Review

Gone Girl

Gone Girl
By Gillian Flynn; Read by Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne
Publisher: Random House Audio
Publication Date: June 5, 2012
ISBN: 9780307990402
[UNABRIDGED] – 19 hours

Themes: / thriller / marriage / diary / writers /

Publisher summary:

Marriage can be a real killer.  On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

This audiobook was 19 hours and I finished listening to it in three days. That’s on my 3 mile commute. I just couldn’t stop. I’d make up reasons to listen. This is a very well-written thriller that I can hardly discuss without giving things away. I almost hate myself for liking it because of all the hype, but it really pulls you in and makes you want to know where it is going. I don’t read many thrillers, but this was a good one!

The audiobook is a great way to “read” this, because the chapters are divided between Amy, who has gone missing, through her diary, and Nick, her husband who is a key suspect. The two readers, male and female, really bring the story to life.  I’m used to Kirby Heyborne reading zombie novels, so it was hard to ever think of Nick as good, but the author does that anyway.

Posted by Jenny Colvin

Review of Star Wars: Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn

SFFaudio Review

ScoundrelsStar Wars: Scoundrels
By Timothy Zahn, Read by Marc Thompson
Publisher: Random House Audio
ISBN: 0345511506
[UNABRIDGED] – 13 Discs, 13 Hours 54 Minutes

Themes: / Star Wars / Heist / Ocean’s Eleven / Han Solo /

Publisher Summary:

To make his biggest score, Han’s ready to take even bigger risks.

But even he can’t do this job solo.

 Han Solo should be basking in his moment of glory. After all, the cocky smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon just played a key role in the daring raid that destroyed the Death Star and landed the first serious blow to the Empire in its war against the Rebel Alliance. But after losing the reward his heroics earned him, Han’s got nothing to celebrate. Especially since he’s deep in debt to the ruthless crime lord Jabba the Hutt. There’s a bounty on Han’s head—and if he can’t cough up the credits, he’ll surely pay with his hide. The only thing that can save him is a king’s ransom. Or maybe a gangster’s fortune? That’s what a mysterious stranger is offering in exchange for Han’s less-than-legal help with a riskier-than-usual caper. The payoff will be more than enough for Han to settle up with Jabba—and ensure he never has to haggle with the Hutts again.

All he has to do is infiltrate the ultra-fortified stronghold of a Black Sun crime syndicate underboss and crack the galaxy’s most notoriously impregnable safe. It sounds like a job for miracle workers . . . or madmen. So Han assembles a gallery of rogues who are a little of both—including his indispensable sidekick Chewbacca and the cunning Lando Calrissian. If anyone can dodge, deceive, and defeat heavily armed thugs, killer droids, and Imperial agents alike—and pull off the heist of the century—it’s Solo’s scoundrels. But will their crime really pay, or will it cost them the ultimate price?

I have to start out being a bit misleading. Star Wars audiobooks are simply the best – they combine the intimacy of reading a book with the sound effects and music of the movies. Blasters, lightsabers, R2D2 squeals, and the same compositions as the movies! Then they get amazing voice actors who are pitch-perfect when it comes to the voices of the characters we love. That’s a pretty big role to fill when books are based on movies since we already know how these people sound and anything different…just wouldn’t work.

I have to say Marc Thompson does not let us down. His Lando Calrissian is spot-on even though his Han Solo borders on sounding like Patrick Warburton. You don’t realize how close they actually are until you hear it.

There’s one scene toward the beginning where Thompson voices 11 characters having a discussion and he doesn’t miss a beat. I was astounded, although I had to go back and re-listen because I wasn’t paying attention to what was actually being said, it was way too impressive! But I guess I’m getting ahead of myself.

Star Wars: Scoundrels takes us back (or forward since Old Republic is going on right now) to just after the first movie in the Star Wars franchise, episode IV, Star Wars: A New Hope. If you’re confused now, it’s best to just turn away.

I’m not the most well-read when it comes to Star Wars novels, in fact I’ve only “read” any of them through audio form. But, I do know that it can be a confusing timeline because there are A LOT of Star Wars books. Where do you even start? Luckily, they provide you with a nice timeline at the front of every book showing a listing of the books and the movies. In this case, Scoundrels can be read as long as you’ve watched the original movies.

(It looks like this, but I couldn’t find one with Scoundrels on it. You’ll just have to trust me I guess.)

Another way to put this, if you’re human, you can read Scoundrels at any point. It’s just filler, taking place in between movies, it doesn’t follow any other books, although I’ve heard it does contain characters from other Han Solo-involved books. Again, I show my lack of actual knowledge. Scoundrels is essentially Ocean’s Eleven meets Star Wars. There are even 11 people! Han Solo lost all his reward money and still needs to pay off that darned Jabba the Hutt. He’s approached, after a quick nod to the “who shot first” controversy, and gets a team together to get some money.

Of course, it’s all but impossible because blah blah blah. The scene mentioned above with the 11-person discussion revolves around this in fact. Like I said, Ocean’s Eleven inevitably springs to mind, you can’t help it. This comparison’s been thrown around a lot and while it’s fitting, I think it’s a huge detriment to this book. Here’s why I said I was being misleading, I’ve been very positive about this book up to this point, but there was plenty I didn’t like. You can’t help but think of the comparison, but quickly you start thinking how much better Ocean’s Eleven is. At least that was my experience. It really just wasn’t that great of a heist. It wasn’t terrible, but things just kept getting added on and suddenly the ball starts rolling and I really just didn’t care.

Then there’s just not a whole lot of Han Solo. He’s the person this essentially revolves around, but he doesn’t really play a huge part. On the other hand, Lando was really fun to follow for the first time outside of the movies. But he doesn’t really do a whole lot in the movies either. This was cool to see his easy-under-pressure “gambler” side.

The final complaint I have, which really isn’t a complaint, is that I’ve found I prefer lightsabers in my Star Wars. In fact, this was a new discovery during this read. Han Solo’s great and all, but I really really like jedis and lightsabers I guess. I missed them here. I noted above that Star Wars books have lightsaber sounds, but there wasn’t one sound in this audiobook.

Scoundrels is a fun read and the narrator is incredible even, but on the whole I didn’t love this book. It was entertaining at times, boring at others, and just didn’t live up to expectations. That’s not always the book’s fault, but it ran a line much too close to Ocean’s Eleven that begged for the comparison and missed the mark.

3 out of 5 Stars (Recommended with Reservations)

Note: I have to say this is one of the best covers I’ve seen whether Star Wars or not. It puts a spell on you so you have to read the book just to hold longer.

Review by Bryce L.

SFFaudio + Lovecraft + Lego = H.P. Brickcraft

SFFaudio Online Audio

H.P. Brickcraft

From 1922: The Tomb by H.P. Lovecraft – |MP3|
The Tomb by H.P. Lovecraft

From 1920: The Statement Of Randolph Carter by H.P. Lovecraft – |MP3|
The Statement Of Randolph Carter by H.P. Lovecraft

From 1928: Cool Air by H.P. Lovecraft – |MP3|
Cool Air by H.P. Lovecraft

From 1924: The Hound by H.P. Lovecraft – |MP3|
The Hound by H.P. Lovecraft

From 1926: The Outsider by H.P. LovecraftSFFaudio Podcast – |MP3|
The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft

From 1920: Polaris by H.P. Lovecraft – |MP3|
Polaris by H.P. Lovecraft

Posted by Jesse Willis