Five Free Favourites #15: The 5 first appearances of SFFaudio Podcast semi-regulars

SFFaudio Online Audio

Five of my favourite podcasts, of our first 100 shows, include the first appearances of SFFaudio Podcast semi-regulars. This list is actually in order of how frequently they were on the podcast in those first hundred episodes.

Five Free Favourites

1. Luke Burrage first came to my attention through his Science Fiction Book Review Podcast. I had listened to his review of Robert J. Sawyer’s Hominids, and we talked about it on SFFaudio Podcast #022. Since then Luke’s been one of our most frequent guests.

The SFFaudio Podcast#028 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Luke Burrage of the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast

Other Luke Burrage podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#034, #035, #051, #064, #065, #073, #076, #084, #097, #098

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2. Gregg Margarite was the first friend I actively solicited over the internet. I just found that every LibriVox audiobook he was narrating was exactly to my tastes.

The SFFaudio Podcast#034 – |MP3|-|POST| – The SFFaudio Podcast #034 – READALONG: The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan

Other Gregg Margarite podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#035, #042, #056, #073, #076, #082, #084, #087, #094, #098

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3. The prolific Julie Davis runs several blogs and podcasts – most of which I follow avidly. I think I first heard her as a narrator on StarShipSofa in 2008, she then began narrating audiobooks for SFFaudio Challenges.

The SFFaudio Podcast #019 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Julie Davis of the Forgotten Classics podcast

Other Julie Davis podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#029, #036, #056, #061, #072, #076, #077

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4. Brian Murphy is one of my all time favourite bloggers. The great writing on his The Silver Key blog, which I extolled in this post back in 2008, drew us to him as a reviewer and in our 17th episode we convinced him spend an hour with us.

The SFFaudio Podcast#017 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Brian Murphy of The Silver Key blog

Other Brian Murphy podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#025, #034, #042,

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5. I first heard of Professor Eric S. Rabkin, a professor of English Language and Literature University of Michigan, back in 2003 when Scott sent me his first lecture series, Science Fiction: The Literature of the Technological Imagination |READ OUR REVIEW| from The Teaching Company. I was blown away. Then, after hearing the second second lecture series, Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works, in 2009, we invited him on to the podcast. Since then Rabkin has metaphorically delivered a series of intellectually concussive blows to our collective consciousnesses. We love to get Eric, as we now call him, on the show.

The SFFaudio Podcast#044 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Professor Eric S. Rabkin of the University Of Michigan

Other Eric S. Rabkin podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#051, #095
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Posted by Jesse Willis

Rings, Swords, and Monsters Reviewed at The Silver Key

SFFaudio Review

Over at The Silver Key, our friend Brian Murphy posted a review of Rings, Swords, and Monsters, a Modern Scholar course taught by Michael D.C. Drout. I’m a big fan of Drout’s – I thoroughly enjoyed this course, and his science fiction course (From Here to Infinity: An Exploration of Science Fiction Literature) as well.

|CLICK HERE| to visit The Silver Key to read what Brian has to say about Rings, Swords, and Monsters. Also: look around a little! He’s been posting incredible stuff about Tolkien over the past couple of months.

(NOTE: Actually, the entire review can be found at The Cimmerian.)

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

The Silver Key blog: Check out an audio book and listen, or I’ll gut you and feed your innards to the dogs!

SFFaudio News

The Silver Key - a place to discuss all things fun and fantasticBrian Murphy always has something interesting to say on his The Silver Key blog. His thoughtful essays on fantasy, movies and books are always fun to read. Recently he posted a cool rumination on what makes his commute a pleasure. I’m posting it below, and in full, because it’s so awesome. But don’t keep that from you visiting his site for more great posts:

My passion for audio books is overflowing right now. Today on my usual semi-torturous hour-long commute to work (each way) I finished Bernard Cornwell’s The Lords of the North. My God, if that wasn’t the most enjoyable commute I’ve had in years, I don’t know what was.

The Lords of the North and the rest of The Saxon Stories are amazingly entertaining tales on their own. But couple them with an amazing voice-over performance by UK actor Tom Sellwood, and, well, you’ve got yourself a hell of a fun car ride. I happened to glance around on Interstate 95 this morning (tearing myself away from the bloody tale of Danes and Saxons battling for control of 9th century England) to glance at the faces of the commuters around me. Some were pinched and angry, but most simply looked distracted or bored. Given what they were likely listening to–the wasteland that is AM/FM radio–I can’t say I blame them.

To hell with radio. Give me a good audio book any day. While the sap in his gas-guzzling SUV next to me had NPR droning away on the dial, I was listening in on the conversation of Uhtred Ragnarson, true Lord of Bebbanburg, and Danish warlord Ragnar Ragnarsson, as they shouted the joys of “Women and War!” while riding on horseback through Northern England circa 881. While the 20-something chick to my front in her Honda was rotting her brain listening to the vapid Destiny’s Child, I was “seeing” the clash of shield walls, bloodied axes and swords, and screaming men. In my mind’s eye I was watching viking longships under sail in the open sea, the bright light of morning gleaming off shield bosses and helmets, and smelling and hearing great feasting halls flowing with ale and bursting with loud song and the poems of skalds.

And best of all this experience is “free” of charge. Audio books are expensive and the only ones I actually own are The Lord of the Rings (unabridged), as read by Rob Inglis. But you don’t have to spend money: I get my audio books from my public library, which is part of a 10-town consortium from which I’m free to interlibrary loan a large number of audio titles. It’s a great use of my tax dollars and I’ve certainly derived a lot of pleasure these last few years on my drive to work. I only wish I had discovered them sooner.

Posted by Jesse Willis