New Releases – Wonder Audio, Leiber and Weinbaum
Did you know you can get either of these titles, as well as any other Wonder Audio title for free? Just sign up at Audible.com/WonderAudio
The Night of the Long Knives
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
3hr, 37 min.- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2009
A Deathlander’s life is a rough one. Atomic radiation, murder and sex preoccupies the sparse inhabitants of what used to be a great portion of America’s West. Kill or be killed is the law of this sickened land. Multicolored radioactive dusts floats in the atmosphere of this nuclear desert.
When Ray Baker meets a woman on his sojourn, he doesn’t know if he wants to kill her or sleep with her. Ray doesn’t understand his urge to murder. But he feels it like all the other Deathlanders. Just as he knows the girl feels it. Laying down their arsenal of weapons will leave them both vulnerable. The cost of a moment of intimacy may lead to the last moments of their lives. And what to do when the act is over, and both their minds turn back to murder.
Parasite Planet: The Ham & Pat Stories
By Stanley G. Weinbaum; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
3hr, 47 min.- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2009
The short and meteoric career of Stanley G. Weinbaum produced many instantly hailed classics. None had the breadth of wonder, and adventure with philosophic insight as the trilogy of stories that feature Ham Hammond and Patricia Burlingame.
Parasite Planet begins with Ham Hammond trekking across the surface of Venus. The environment is parasitic, filled with bizarre alien life forms like the lasso throwing Jack Ketch Trees and the doughpots, a mindless omnivorous ball of animate cells that devour all living things in their path. When Ham meets the contentious Patricia Burlingame, they have to march across Venus to safety. It’s not clear what is going to kill them first, Venus’s hostile environment or each other.
In The Lotus Eaters, Ham and Pat are on a special scientific expedition to the dark-side of Venus. They discover a strange warm-blooded plant. The most disconcerting thing about the plant is when it begins speaking English and waxing philosophically.
The Planet of Doubt brings the duo to Uranus on another special scientific expedition. The cloudy shrouded terrain strikes terror into the heart of Ham as tries to find the lost Pat who he hopes is still be alive!
Posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show
Galaxy News Radio: The Adventures Of Daring Dashwood!
The latest dispatch from the Zombie Astronaut includes crystal clear recordings of The Adventures Of Herbert “Daring” Dashwood. This is the “radio drama” found within Fallout 3! Enjoy…
Episode 1 Escape From Paradise Falls |MP3|
Episode 2 Super Mutant Mayhem |MP3|
Episode 3 In The Black Widows Web |MP3|
Episode 4 Between Rockopolis And A Hard Place |MP3|
Thanks ZA!
Posted by Jesse Willis
A serialized novel, blog and podcast: The Hole by Aaron Ross Powell
Aaron Ross Powell is blogging and podcasting his post-apocalyptic novel. Aaron sez:
“The book grew out of an idea I had while reading Under the Banner of Heaven, a book about Mormon history. So I suppose it’s, in a sense, a Mormon apocalypse story. I originally intended it as a long-ish short story, but it grew on me until I figured it’d work best as a novel. Doing it in blog posts was mostly meant as a motivational tool. I’d written half of another novel some time ago, but I had a difficult time making myself actually sit down and write. Writing online, in the open, meant that I’d have an audience waiting for each new piece, making me kind of obligated to produce. And that’s worked terrifically. The response has been far larger and enthusiastic than I could’ve ever expected, so I imagine I’ll keep with this method after The Hole’s finished and I start on my next novel.”
After hearing that I asked Aaron about the connection between his other website Symbolic Order (a non-fiction site) and The Hole. Here’s what he said:
“I’d never thought much about the connection between the two, though I suppose it’s there. Symbolic Order was launched in 2000, I believe, with my good friend, Trevor Burrus — who’s now a fellow student of mine at the University of Denver’s law school. It was mainly meant to serve as an outlet for our non-fiction writings and essays, and so the topics addressed have drifted over time as our interests change. Recently, this has meant a lot of religious articles, since both Trevor and I are fascinated by the topic. This interest lead me to grab Krakauer’s book [Under The Banner Of Heaven] when I saw it on the CD rack at the library. I listened to it and was hooked on Mormonism, primarily because of the opportunity that particular faith yields to study a major religion’s formation at a time when the events were substantially documented — as clearly isn’t the case with standard Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. I kind of just had a “what if…” idea while reading one of the accounts of Joseph Smith’s finding/forging of the Book of Mormon and decided to run with it. That’s actually the part of the novel I’m most concerned about: I think the idea is pretty neat and I’m excited to get those plot points exposed, but I’m going to have to work hard to make it believable. I’m optimistic, but we’ll have to see. — At the broader level, from a non-believer’s perspective, religion is science fiction and it is fantasy. A god leads his chosen people on bloody battles throughout the realm. A merchant discovers pseudo-magical powers and becomes a great monarch. The secret history of America is exposed in ancient and hidden texts. The only difference is that, with religion, people believe it. That’s why I think of someone like Smith as a fantasist in the same vein as, say, Lovecraft. They’re imagining mythos and exploring their implications. Except that Smith ended up with millions of followers who think his vision will lead them to immortal bliss. It’s an odd relation, literary fantasy and religion, and one I haven’t thought much about. Now that you’ve drawn it to my attention, I’ll have to do so. Maybe my next piece of Symbolic Order…”
Right now, only the first five parts, of the existing fifty-two blogged ones, have been podcast. They are extremely short, but powerful, and remind me of the opening chapter of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.
Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheHoleAudiobook
Posted by Jesse Willis
Review of Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks
Armageddon’s Children
By Terry Brooks; Read by Dick Hill
12 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1423322568
Themes: / Fantasy/ Post-Apocalyptic / Demons / Elves / Quest /
The first entry in Terry Brooks’ new Genesis of Shannara trilogy, Armageddon’s Children starts things off brilliantly. It is immediately engrossing, capturing the listener’s attention from the first minute clear through its cliffhanger ending. Set on an Earth where civilization has been mostly destroyed by war, diseases, and by demonic entities it is a world inhabited by mutants, demons, elves and humans, all hiding from an inevitable end. Post-apocalyptic fantasy is an odd sub-genre but Brooks pulls it off well, mostly combining the feel of post-apocalyptic science fiction with the trappings of fantasy.
Like many stories of this size, there is more than one main character. Armageddon’s Children has four: Logan Tom, a Knight of the Word is the foremost protagonist. Here has been given a mission to find a mysterious “gypsy morph” and lead it and a few human survivors to salvation. Logan, like most of the characters, must overcome self-doubt and accomplish his mission if humanity is to be saved. Another character, Angel Perez, another knight is sent with a tatterdemalion to find, and help save the elves. Hawk, a street urchin leads a small group of children. Kirisin, an Elf, is chosen to tend the Ellcrys, a sentient tree from the original Shannara series. The fates of all these characters are all intertwined and each must succeed in their respective quest if humanity and elfkind are to survive the looming destruction of the Earth.
Dick Hill, the narrator, is one of the better readers I’ve heard. Though the novel builds upon characters and ideas from earlier books in Brooks’ series, it stands on its own quite well. I haven’t heard or read many of them, yet I never felt as I were missing anything while I was listening to Armageddon’s Children. Indeed, the only complaint I have about the audiobook is a very minor one. This is a marketing problem. It is annoying that “Shannara” is not mentioned anywhere on the cover of the audiobook, despite the fact that it is the third largest word on the paperback version’s cover. Simply put I loved the audiobook of Armageddon’s Children and I can’t wait for the next in the series to be released.
Posted by David Tackett
CBC has Steve The First and Steve The Second airing daily!
Lots of CBC stories and news today, and though much of it is frustrating lots of it good too. First up the best news of all:
CBC Radio One has ordered an entire 2nd season of Canadia 2056! This announcement comes straight from Matt Watts himself. That’s right everybody, we’re gonna get 15 more episodes of pure Science Fiction Comedy Radio Drama gold! But that’s a long way away yet. First up is news that may effect your schedule for tomorrow morning ….
CBC Radio One will be re-broadcasting Steve The First and Steve The Second radio dramas, these were the two shows penned by Canadia 2056 scribe Matt Watts. The fun begins tomorrow, Monday, July 23rd and ends August 1st. The shows will air for 30 minutes on weekdays, at 11:30 a.m. in all time zones (except Newfoundland where it will begin at Noon).
Here’s the official description:
From the ashes of a post-apocalyptic world rose a slacker named Steve The First He balanced the world and brought civility back to civilization. He blew up in the process. Twenty-Five years later, dark times have returned; a military organization named the Dark Alliance is hell-bent on Provincial domination. They are one city shy of their goal, Orontonto. The city is holding up, but it is time to bring out their secret weapon. The son of Steve: Steve The Second.
There’s also Wikipedia entries on both shows: Steve I and Steve II.
Listeners worldwide can listen to the re-broadcast via the streaming radio service of CBC Radio One – you can find that RIGHT HERE.
Lastly, in accordance with the precedent set by Roman statesman Cato The Elder and his policy of ending every speech in the senate with “ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.” ["...and of course Carthage must be destroyed."] In that I’m making it my policy to end every CBC related post with:
“…and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.”
So…. great guns everybody, lots of good listening begins tomorrow, and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.
Campaigns
Propaganda
Feeds
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Huffduffer- William Tenn speaking at PulpCon 35
- CBC Radio One documentary on Aphasia
- The Guardian Books Podcast: Looking ahead in science fiction
- Wired For Books interview with H.F. Saint
- Bugs In the Arroyo by Steven Gould
- Hour Of The Wolf - interview with John Joseph Adams
- Free University – How to Make The Perfect Cup Of Coffee
- Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show On Earth
- Christmas is Coming: The History of the Christmas Tree
- Happiness around the World: the paradox of happy peasants and miserable millionaires