Review of Brad Lansky and the Lazy Eight

SFFaudio Review

Brad Lansky and the Lazy Eight
1 hour 40 minutes – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Protophonic
Published: 2023

Get those headphones ready because a new installment of the Brad Lansky series is out, and that’s great news! Brad Lansky and the Lazy Eight is another aural feast in the Brad Lansky series, and is a great follow-up to Brad Lansky and the Result War.

I’ve reviewed a few of the episodes of the series, but can’t help prattling on again about the unique aural experience that these productions deliver. The episodes are immersive, atmospheric, and rich. I find myself listening multiple times, letting the sound evoke images in my mind. The listener’s imagination is a full participant in these shows. Use a good pair of headphones!

J.D. Venne, the author of the episode, considers this proposition: “If you were in a simulation, and you only had basic tools at your disposal, how could you go about proving it?” I can’t think of a better medium to explore this question than the Brad Lansky universe.

For those that haven’t listened before, the Lansky universe is rich with interplantary space travel, AI ships, and augmented humans. In this episode, we find Lansky (played by Dieter Zimmerman) in prison on Titan, while Scotti and Brinn realize that they can no longer sense his existence. The Supreme Court issues a warrant for Lansky due to previous events. The plot unfolds from there.

So this installment is great news indeed. And it looks like more good news, as Protophonic is promising more to come!

You can find audio samples |HERE|

posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Not from Space, 20th Anniversary Edition

SFFaudio Review

Cerberus Rex audio dramaNot from Space: 20th Anniversary Edition
Written and Produced by Jeffrey Michael Bays
Performed by a full cast
1 hour 45 minutes – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Borgus

We join Earth on May 5, 2000. It’s a time of economic prosperity, technicnological renaissance. And everyone is focused on… themselves.

Back in 2003, I reviewed a wonderful audio production called “Not from Space” by Jeffrey Michael Bays at Borgus. I called it then a “brilliant piece of satire” and am even more enthusiastic about this 20th anniversary edition, which improves on the pioneering audio that came before in many ways, including some new voices and high-quality audio throughout.

Many things have changed in the real world in the last 20 years, and “Not from Space” has proven to be downright prophetic in its spot-on satire. The listener is treated at the opening with talk radio that has cranked advertising to a ludicrous level. The speed at which the station can take a news story, slap a title on it, and wrap it in urgent audio is as disheartening as it is true on our actual news sources. Banter between callers and the encouraging hosts is also something I’ve heard plenty.

The setting of the audio is the year 2000. The news station covers a speech given by Bill Gates, who at the time was still running the Microsoft Corporation. Into the mix comes the owner of the corporation that owns the radio station, Jim Thomas, who takes over host duties after a thrilling on-air firing of the regular host. From there a science fiction story unfolds that owes a hat-tip to Orson Welles. The rich audio leads to a satisfying ending that left me contemplating greed and corporate power.

In short, Not from Space is even more relevant today than it was on its release in 2003, and this updated version sounds even better. It’s terrific satirical science fiction that will have you laughing at times and leave you shaking your head at the state of things at others. This is engaging, high quality audio that’s well worth your attention.

Some places you can find Not from Space!
Spotify
Apple
Amazon

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Brad Lansky and the Result War

SFFaudio Review
 
Brad Lansky and the Rogue Era
2 hour 8 minutes – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Protophonic
Published: 2017
Themes: / Audio Drama / Science Fiction / artificial intelligence / biological life / augmented humans / artificial life / rogue planets /

Ah, it’s pleasant to hear another installment of the Brad Lansky series. This is the seventh, and is preceded by Brad Lansky and the Rogue Era in which a rogue planet passes so close to the Earth that it knocks the Earth out of its familiar orbit. Long hard winters followed by short searing summers make living on the Earth difficult. The orbit is chaotic and GAIA, with its vast computational ability, is called upon to figure out the future of Earth’s orbit. How long with the Earth be habitable?

As for Brad Lansky (the “tech-tainted human”), Alex John, and their AI-enabled ship (the Full Advantage) the story begins with them seeking Brinn, who is somewhere on the Earth. The story is hard science fiction, and the scientific ideas come at you in dense waves.

The Brad Lansky audio dramas have a distinctive and enjoyable style that is continued in this installment. The most prominent feature is how much these audio dramas leave to the listener’s imagination. Often a scene trails off into a piece of music that creates space for emotion or action from a scene to fill one’s mind. I must emphasize the need to use some good headphones to get the most from any Protophonic production. And I also urge you to give yourself to it. Put the phone on “Do Not Disturb” and let yourself be taken away by it.

It’s a marvelous experience.

Find some samples of the Brad Lansky productions – |HERE|

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Cerberus Rex

SFFaudio Review

Cerberus Rex audio dramaCerberus Rex
Written and Directed by Jason Hardcastle
Performed by a full cast
90 Minutes – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: www.sci-fi.com

Ana: What’s in the well?

Langstrom: A mystery of physics.

Ana: Awesome.

I agree with Ana. That mystery of physics was awesome. And so was this whole production. Thanks to excellent voice actors, superior sound, and an entertaining script, Cerberus Rex was a pleasure to hear.

Cerberus Rex is “an hour-and-a-half long science fiction audio adventure”. Dr. Anabela Correia, a professor of astrophysics, is the main character. She receives a request to visit Well Station, which is a research facility working on that “mystery of physics” in an underground cave. Ana visits the phenomenon, and things get dangerous very quickly.

The acting, like I said, is excellent. The entire cast was great, but special kudos to Natali de Assis who played Ana. I was right there with her the whole time.

The sound, again like I said, was superior. This is a cut above ordinary audio drama. This production fully achieved the “movie in your head” description that audio drama often gets. The sound allowed this drama to pull off something particularly interesting and powerful.

The script by Jason Hardcastle was also well done. It was particularly suited for audio drama. The comedy in the script worked and acknowledged some of the influences on the story. The tense moments, and there are plenty of those, were done with just the right touch.

This audio drama is available in a few different ways at www.sci-fi.com, including FREE. I highly recommend, though, that you pay $1.99 (yes, that’s right, only 2 bucks) for the high quality audio version. 90 minutes of pure audio goodness for 2 bucks.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories

Audiobook Review

The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction StoriesThe Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories
Edited by Allan Kaster; Read by Tom Dheere, Nancy Linari, and Henrietta Meire
9.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: 2017

Lately I’ve been craving good Hard Science Fiction tales. You know the kind… Stories in which the science plays a significant role in the plot. Stories in which the “science” in “science fiction” is more than just a setting.

My craving was satisfied by this terrific audio anthology edited by Allan Kaster and read by Tom Dheere, Nancy Linari, and Henrietta Meire. These stories, taken from those published in 2016 in various venues, use your imagination to ask real questions about our universe. The narrators are quite good, confidently throwing science around like they know what these characters are talking about.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be looking forward to next year’s anthology. This is my kind of science fiction.

CONTENTS:
Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu
Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee by Alastair Reynolds
Number Nine Moon by Alex Irvine
Chasing Ivory by Ted Kosmatka
Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was by Paul McAuley
Of the Beast in the Belly by C.W. Johnson
RedKing by Craig DeLancey
Vortex by Gregory Benford
The Visitor from Taured by Ian R. MacLeod
The Seventh Gamer by Gwyneth Jones
Fieldwork by Shariann Lewitt

For those that like quick story synopses, here is Infinivox’s description of the anthology:
An unabridged audio collection spotlighting the “best of the best” hard science fiction stories published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Vortex,” by Gregory Benford, astronauts find a once thriving microbial lifeform that carpets the caves of Mars dying off. A code monkey tracks down the vain creator of a pernicious software virus that people jack cerebrally in “RedKing,” by Craig DeLancey. In “Number Nine Moon,” by Alex Irvine, illicit scavengers on Mars are on a rescue mission to save themselves after one of their team members dies. A young girl’s thirst for vengeance becomes a struggle for survival when she is swallowed by a gigantic sea creature on an alien planet in “Of the Beast in the Belly,” by C.W. Johnson. In “The Seventh Gamer,” by Gwyneth Jones, a writer immerses herself into a MMORPG community to search for characters being played by real aliens from other worlds. A woman armed with a rifle stalks a herd of cloned wooly mammoths in British Columbia in “Chasing Ivory,” by Ted Kosmatka. In “Fieldwork,” by Shariann Lewitt, a volcanologist struggles with her research on Europa where both her mother and grandmother suffered dire consequences. A daughter pays homage to her mother with mega-engineering projects to deal with climate change over eons in “Seven Birthdays,” by Ken Liu. In “The Visitor from Taured,” by Ian R. MacLeod, a cosmologist in the near future is obsessed with proving his theory of multiverses. The citizens of a small town on a “Jackaroo” planet object to a corporation placing a radio telescope near local alien artifacts in “Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was,” by Paul McAuley. And finally, in “Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee,” by Alastair Reynolds, a graduate student defends her dissertation on a solar anomaly that threatens humanity.

My favorite stories in the collection were Ken Liu’s “Seven Birthdays” and “The Visitor from Taured” by Ian R. MacLeod. I enjoyed all of the stories, though.
Every one.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Year’s Top Short SF Novels 6

SFFaudio Review

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 6The Year’s Top Short SF Novels 6
Edited by Allan Kaster; Narrated by Tom Dheere and Nancy Linari
16 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Publication Date: December 2016
Themes: / Science Fiction / Novellas / The Moon / Time / Clones / Starships /

The Year’s Top Short SF Novels 6, edited by Allan Kaster, is an audio anthology containing five science fiction novellas from 2015. It’s a diverse, entertaining, and thought-provoking collection, and very well narrated!

Inhuman Garbage by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
I’ve enjoyed Rusch’s Disappeared series since the first novella was published (The Retrieval Artist, 2000). I haven’t the time to keep up with all the novels Rusch has written in the series since but every one I have read has been excellent, including this short one. In a warehouse in a city on the Moon in Rusch’s robust future world, a body has been discovered in a recycling crate. Detective Noelle DeRicci is called in on the case. The story is a perfect blend of SF and mystery fiction.

What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear by Bao Shu (translated by Ken Liu)
This was an interesting thought experiment. We humans live our lives in a linear fashion, cause preceding effect after effect after effect. The story attempts to portray people living linearly, but in reverse. We see history passing backwards as characters live their lives. Interesting.

The New Mother by Eugene Fischer
Imagine a disease with an effect that allows women to reproduce without men. Offspring are clones, since the genetic material has only one source. Men are no longer part of the process. The idea of men becoming extinct brings past stories to mind, like James Tiptree Jr’s “The Screwfly Solution”. The New Mother is a story that leaves the listener with a lot to think about.

Gypsy by Carter Scholz
I was fascinated by this story about a group of people that decide to take it upon themselves to build a ship, get aboard, and launch to Alpha Centauri. The story is told by various characters who wake up from their long sleeps to do various tasks. How did such a group pull this off? And how far can the group get? Well-written, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls by Aliette de Bodard
There is a lot going on in this novella, the longest in the collection. A rich and interesting culture. Mindships, where minds are installed in and control ships. Uploaded minds of previous emperors that serve as advisors to the current emperor. Terrific. Just a beautiful story.

This anthology is also available as an ebook.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson