The SFFaudio Podcast #496 – NEW RELEASES/RECENT ARRIVALS

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #496 – Jesse, Scott Danielson, and Paul Weimer talk about new books, audiobooks, and audio drama.

Talked about on today’s show:
a full size show, paperbooks, audiobooks newly released, stacking on desks and shelves, books a week, piling up, send me stuff season, a tonne of books being published, everybody needs publicity, organized by publisher, St. Martin’s Press, advanced readers copy, Deep Silence by Jonathan Maberry, Joe Ledger, Julie Davis, mail it to Julie, Julie’s reviews on Goodreads, a prolific reviewer, Maze Master by Kathleen O’Neal Gear, techno-thriller, retro virus, Coldfall Wood by Steven Saville, Henre The Hunter, William Shakespeare, haunting the forest outside of Windsor Castle, how to organize, piles, too many to read, Shaun Duke, Tor.com, three novellas, Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett, The Running Man (by Stephen King), The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark, The Black God’s Drums, The Test by Sylvain Neuvel, The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson, Irene Gallo, H.P. Lovecraft, The Dreamquest Of Unknown Kadath, The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford, a novella, are they listening to my podcast, William Morrow, Ahab’s Return, Or The Last Voyage, the premise of Moby-Dick, The Coode Street Podcast, the best of the year so-far, All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Harper Voyager, Dragonshadow by Elle Katharine White, A Study In Honor by Claire O’Dell, near future SF, civil war, a great cover, 11 hours, a mystery, world-building, a series, Temper by Nicky Drayden, similar to South Africa, twins, 14 hours, evocative of the works of…, annoying Jesse, everything in the kitchen sink, Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, And The Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee, 1,300 newly released audiobooks, when SFFaudio Podcast started, drowning in books both good and bad, moving product, no way to keep up, a podcast listener, Tantor Audio, Blackstone Audio, The Best Of Subterranean edited by William Shaffer, Ursula K. Le Guin’s collected short fiction, The Way Of The Shield by Marshall Ryan Maresca, all-paladin-like, The Silver Scar by Betsy Dornbusch, Boulder, Colorado, post-apocalyptic Earth, The Tomorrow Factory, Pinnacle City, The Rising Moon, The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts, The Things, The Island, Blindsight, Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys, Who?, totally do-able, Planet Stories, March 1953 by William Tenn, Gardner F. Fox, Robert Moore Williams, Ross Rocklynne, Radio Archives, the height of the science fiction magazine era, the plateau, a great way to spend six hours, Archangel by William Gibson and Michael St. John Smith, audio drama, time travel, WWII, alternate future and past, Welcome to Dystopia: 45 Visions of What Lies Ahead edited by Gordon Van Gelder, stories by K.G. Anderson, Richard Bowes, Elizabeth Bourne, Scott Bradfield, J.S. Breukelaar, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Becca Caccavo, Don D’Ammassa, Stephanie Feldman, Eric James Fullilove, Ron Goulart, Eileen Gunn, Leslie Howle, Matthew Hughes, Janis Ian, Michael Kandel, Thomas Kaufsek, Paul La Farge, Yoon Ha Lee, Michael Libling, Heather Lindsley, Lisa Mason, Barry N. Malzberg, David Marusek, Mary Anne Mohanraj, James Morrow, Ruth Nestvold, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Marguerite Reed, Robert Reed, Madeleine E. Robins, Jay Russell, Geoff Ryman, James Sallis, J.M. Sidorova, Brian Francis Slattery, Harry Turtledove, Deepak Unnikrishnan, TS Vale, Leo Vladimirsky, Ray Vukcevich, Ted White, Paul Witcover, N. Lee Wood, Jane Yolen, dystopia, A Choice Of Gods by Clifford D. Simak, a lot of Simak from Audible Studios, the central intelligence of the universe, Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton, John Lee, Tantor Audio, Tamahome, how do you write that much?, Neal Stephenson, this thing called the internet, when does he sleep?, children’s fantasy novels, in 25 years he’s written 15 (BIG) books, short stories too, a prodigious output, The HPLHS adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft stories are on Audible, CDs vs. props, separate props, the deluxe editions, printed ephemera, Tantor.com, Icehenge by Kim Stanley Robinson, the full KSR experience, The Invincible by Stanisław Lem, everybody needs a little Lem, The Cyberiad, Dichronauts by Greg Egan, Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward, Maissa Bessada, with a parasite, changing the laws of physics, not meant for audio, a very Greg Egan trick, review like mad, podcasts, Wooden Overcoats, a comedy on a Channel Island, rival funeral homes, narrated by a mouse, quite delightful, The Monster Hunters, a Marvel Comics audio drama, Wolverine: The Long Hunt, full of ads, is it worth it? tell Jesse, sort of X-Files-y, Serial Box podcast, worth a listen for horror fans,

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #252 – NEW RELEASES/RECENT ARRIVALS

Podcast

TheSFFaudioPodcast600The SFFaudio Podcast #252 – Jesse, Tamahome, and Jenny talk about NEW RELEASES and RECENT ARRIVALS.

Talked about on this episode: Original fiction from Tor.com featuring stories from Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, Charles Stross, and others; The Man Who Sold the Moon short story collection by Robert A. Heinlein; Jesse has fun trying to pronounce “elegiac”; the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDb); “Simon pure” science fictionThe Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov; Heinlein’s short fiction versus his novels; Have Spacesuit Will TravelAnnihilation by Jeff VanderMeer and comparisons to The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury; The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and the merits of the Catching Fire film; the politics of dresses in the Hunger Games universe; Archetype by M.D. Waters; gender in dystopia; listening to audiobooks at 2x speed; The Loon by Michaelbrent Collings; Christopher Golden’s SnowblindPhantoms by Dean Koontz; 30 Days of Night; Marko Kloos’s Terms of Enlistment and Lines of DepartureThe Master of the World by Jules Verne; find out where grits came from; Jules Verne’s science is awful; The Wreck of the Nebula Dream by Veronica Scott; “I’m the king of the world!”; A New Beginning by Craig Brummer; Honor Among Thieves, a Star Wars novel by James S.A. Corey; Tam gets a Star Wars geography lesson; Jenny gets a Star Wars fashion lesson (hint: the guys in white are NOT the good guys); Tam is dressed as Princess Leia; The Gods Themselves, a strange book by Isaac Asimov; Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh; Mystery MenAtopia by Matthew Mather; Influx by Daniel Suarez; The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley; Dawn of Swords by David Dalglish and Robert J. Duperre; The Land Across by Gene Wolfe; ruritanian romance and Bangsian fantasy; don’t call if Kafka-esque; Moon over Parador starring Richard Dreyfuss and Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein; A Darkling Sea by James Cambias (not yet in audio); V-S Day by Allen Steele (Locus review); The Martian by Andy Weir; The Scorpion Game by Daniel Jeffries (no audio, Tam’s Goodreads review); Eldrich Tales: A Miscellany of the Macabre by H.P. Lovecraft on Downpour;  Stories of your Life collection by Ted Chiang now available in audio.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Free Listens Review of Firstborn by Brandon Sanderson

Review

“Firstborn” by Brandon Sanderson

Source: Tor.com (mp3)

Length: 1 hour, 13 minutes

ReaderBrandon Sanderson and Emily Sanderson

The story: If you keep up with fantasy literature, you probably know Brandon Sanderson from his own large fantasy novels, such as the excellent Mistborn, the juvenile fantasy Alcatraz series or as the writer called in from the bullpen to finish the late Robert Jordan’s sprawling Wheel of Time fantasy series. So for Sanderson to be writing space opera science fiction and a short story is two unusual situations at once. He’s so successful, at least in this story, that I wonder why he doesn’t write more short science fiction.

“Firstborn” is set in a galactic empire where space navies do battle with rebel forces, complete with space fighters dogfights. Dennison Crestmar, a young nobleman in the Imperial Navy, is struggling as an unsuccessful officer who is constantly compared to his older brother, the famed admiral Varion Crestmar, who has never lost a battle. The setting, plot, and characters seem ripe for a series of clichés, but somehow Sanderson crafts these parts into an engaging and inventive story.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Sanderson, as he freely admits, is not a professional voice actor. He doesn’t have the richness of sound that the pros have and the recording quality has a bit of hiss. Yet, Sanderson is a very good amateur reader. He is expressive and seems to be enjoying reading his own work. When his wife checks in to read some of the middle portion of the story, she does an equally fine job. Although he does a good job here, I don’t think I’d like to see Sanderson narrate those fantasy novels he’s best known for; those things are long and I’d rather have him writing sequels than reading!

posted by Seth

The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy will interview Dan Carlin

SFFaudio News

Tor.com Podcasts - The Geek's Guide To The GalaxyDamn and blast both David Barr Kirtley and John Joseph Adams!

These two rogues are the hosts of The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy podcast. I have had good reason to curse them publicly. Their podcast is both a terrific listen week after week, and is often horning in on SFFaudio’s territory (by talking about audiobooks). I’ve held my tongue until this latest incident. These two hoseheads, Kirtley and Adams, have now gone too far! They’ve poached Dan Carlin as their guest for next week’s podcast.

This is a scandalous thievery. We posted our plan to get Carlin a full 4 Hours and 44 minutes before they did!

And so while I cannot possibly condone their unwarranted guest poaching, I cannot also, in good conscience, deny their podcast’s high quality. Thus it is with disgust I must hold my nose and recommend you subscribe to The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy podcast.

But also let it be know, across the internet, that The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy is formally ON NOTICE as of right now. You’d better not wander into any dark alleys Kirtley/Adams.

Podcast feed: http://www.tor.com/rss/category/geeksguide

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky

SFFaudio Review

Yet another story in SFFaudio’s 7th Anniversary Exposition of Excellent Stories! Step right up…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel SwirskyEros, Philia, Agape
By Rachel Swirsky; Read by Rachel Swirsky
1 Hour 12 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tor.com (Tor Story Podcast #013)
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Love / Robots / Divorce / Children / Relationships /

Adriana shrugged. “They’re all beautiful, right?”

“We’ll need specifications.”

“I don’t have specifications.”

The salesman frowned anxiously. He shifted his weight as if it could help him regain his metaphorical footing. Adriana took pity. She dug through her purse.

“There,” she said, placing a snapshot of her father on one of the display tables. “Make it look nothing like him.”

I’ve been really lucky this month. I’ve listened to thirteen stories, and they’ve all been winners. This one may be the best of the lot!

Adriana goes through with the purchase in that scene above – she buys herself a robot husband named Lucian. She then has a baby named Rose. Though Rose has none of Lucian’s DNA (he has none to give, of course), this is a family. The decision to purchase a robot whose body is made to order and whose personality can be molded to fit does not prevent relationship problems, though. It introduces different ones.

You can probably tell from just that short section that Adriana is a character with a lot of internal conflict. I immediately cared about her, and Lucian, and little Rose. This is a wonderful story that I’ll be reading again.

You can grab the story |HERE|

Or subscribe to the Tor Story Podcast at this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TorDotStories

Enjoy!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy interviews Steve Eley

SFFaudio Online Audio

Tor.comTor.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast has an fun interview with Steve Eley—editor of Escape Pod. After the interview wraps the hosts, John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley, talk about audiobooks in a form not at all unlike SFFaudio’s own long running SFFaudio Podcast. Luckily for Messrs. Adams and Kirtley they give right and proper props to SFFaudio.com – and thus avoid a sternly worded email from SFFaudio’s crack legal department (crack as in “excelling in skill or achievement” rather than on crack).

Have a listen |MP3|

Podcast Feed: http://www.tor.com/rss/category/geeksguide

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis