Big Big Space: The Complete Series
By Roger Gregg; Performed by a full cast
3 CD's - 3 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Crazy Dog Audio Theatre
Published: 2001
ISBN: 689232069827
Themes: / Science Fiction / Comedy / Audio Drama /

Included in this 3 CD set are three hilarious one-hour audio dramas in 6 episodes - The Cabaret of Forbidden Celestial Delights, Big Jim Chancer and the Space Pirates, and The Zombies of Dr. Krell. The shows were originally broadcast on Ireland's RTE Radio 1.

The cast of characters includes the crew of the starship Amadan: Captain Roslyn Sane, First Officer Hoax Minstrel, Counselor Disco Trojan, and Robot RomManDroid. The scripts have a lot of fun at the expense of the genre, and at the mainstays of Star Trek especially. Captain Roslyn Sane sounds and acts much like Trek's Captain Janeway, and David Murray is brilliant as First Officer Hoax Minstrel - I swear he's performing the part as "William Shatner as Captain Kirk" with hilarious results. The crew experiences adventures, dealing with teenage fractal quarks, evil accountants, and demanding extras, and poking witty, merciless fun at science fiction along the way.

All three shows were recorded live - live cast, live music, live effects, and live audience - which harkens back to the golden age of radio comedy. The shows are thoroughly entertaining and very funny. The live audience obviously enjoyed themselves, and so did I.

Don't take my word for it! Listen to one of the episodes ("Who's Afraid of Rotwang Krell") at the Crazy Dog website.

The set is also available from ZBS.

posted by Scott D. Danielson

Labels: audio drama, comedy, Crazy Dog Audio Theatre, science fiction

11:53 AM --

 


The finalists for this year's Audie Awards were announced on Feb. 23rd. Here are some genre-related nominees:

The finalists for the SCIENCE FICTION award are:

The Callahan Chronicles
Written by: Spider Robinson
Read by: Barrett Whitener
Blackstone Audiobooks

Darwin's Children
Written by: Greg Bear
Read by: Scott Brick
Books on Tape, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Dune: The Machine Crusade
Written by: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Read by: Scott Brick
Audio Renaissance, A Division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC, and Books on Tape, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Monstrous Regiment
Written by: Terry Pratchett
Read by: Stephen Briggs
Harper Audio

Still Life With Crows
Written by: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Read by: Rene Auberjonois
Time Warner AudioBooks

Among the nominees for CHILDREN'S TITLES FOR AGES 8+ is:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Written by: J. K. Rowling
Read by: Jim Dale
Listening Library

Phoenix also shows up in the PACKAGE DESIGN category, and as a nomination for Jim Dale for SOLO NARRATION - MALE. George Guidall is up for the same award for Don Quixote from Recorded Books, and Campbell Scott for Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake.

And in the AUDIO DRAMA category:

The Chronicles of Narnia
Written by: C. S. Lewis
Performed by a Full Cast
Focus on the Family

which also appears in the PACKAGE DESIGN and ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION categories.

See all the nominees at the Audio Publisher's Association website. The winners will be selected on June 4 at the Audie Awards, a black-tie event at the Harold Washington Public Library Center in Chicago.
10:09 AM -- (0) comments

 


I spent Thursday at Life, the Universe, and Everything XXII, the 22nd annual science fiction symposium held at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. While there, I got to see a live broadcast of the weekly science fiction talk show I-SCI-FI.

I-SCI-FI is broadcast live on Thursday nights from 7-9pm Mountain time. I liken the listening experience to meeting up with some good friends once a week and talking science fiction. The show's main focus is media (television and movies), but they also include interviews with science fiction and fantasy authors.

Shown in the picture is the I-SCI-FI crew: from left to right is engineer Brady, HariKarrie, Captain T'Rex, and Jedi Joe.

On Thursday, I-SCI-FI interviewed Sam Longoria, the media Guest of Honor at the symposium. They then interviewed fantasy author Victoria Strauss via telephone about her new book, The Burning Land. Last, they played an interview with Star Wars novelist Timothy Zahn, which had been recorded a week earlier at a local Barnes and Noble. In between, they had a trivia contest both for the live audience and the online audience. It was great fun. Be sure to try them out!

NOTE: While you listen to I-SCI-FI live, visit the chat room! If I'm in there, my username is MrScott.
2:06 PM -- (0) comments

 



Airing on BBC7's The 7th Dimension:

"Gimmicks Three" and "Light Verse"

To be broadcast: Sun 22 Feb, 18:30 - 19:00 GMT 30 mins
William Roberts reads two witty tales by sci-fi storyteller Isaac Asimov. Hell dimensions, time travel and robots are on the menu. [Rptd Monday 12.30am]
10:46 AM -- (0) comments

 



Roger Gregg of Crazy Dog Audio Theatre has recently posted two fabulous interviews:

First up is an interview of Dirk Maggs, audio theatre producer. He's produced many audio plays and has won awards for An American Werewolf in London (I have GOT to find a copy of that one) and Superman: Doomsday and Beyond. Some of the topics discussed: audio theatre scripts, audio theatre actors, and the production process. Dirk's latest show is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Tertiary Phase, which will broadcast soon on BBC Radio 4. The interview has many pictures from that production.

Second, an interview of Paul Deeley, the sound engineer on the Hitchhiker production. Deeley has worked closely with Dirk Maggs on a number of projects. Gregg interviews Deeley on the technical aspects of production - again, there are many cool pictures throughout, taken while recording Hitchhiker's Guide.

Both of these interviews are full of great information about audio theatre. Check out all the other Crazy Dog interviews here.

More on Roger Gregg soon - in the pipeline is his hilarious Big Big Space production, available from ZBS. 4:54 PM -- (0) comments

 


Captain's Blood
By William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens; Read by William Shatner
2 Cassettes or 3 CD's - 3 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0743533593 (Cassette), 0743533607 (CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Star Trek / Romulans / Genetic engineering /

Ever since The Return, the audio of which I consider one of the best Star Trek experiences out there (it would have made an excellent movie), I've eagerly listened to all of the Shatner Star Trek novels. The novels are both good and bad. The bad? I tired of the "Captain Kirk, you're the only one who can do this..." line, with all its variations, back in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The good? All of Star Trek is woven into these stories. In this novel, for example, characters from the Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager play roles in the plot, and attention is paid to the history of those shows.

The story takes place soon after the events in the Star Trek: Nemesis film. James T. Kirk is alive and well due to events that occur in earlier Shatner Star Trek novels. He is retired and has a 5 year-old son who is a mixture of many races - also due to events in earlier novels. The story opens with the apparent death of Ambassador Spock during a public peace rally on Romulus. News of this gets to the Federation, who contacts Kirk and asks him to go to Romulus to find out what happened. Inexplicably, he brings his 5 year-old on the dangerous mission. The plot reveals what really happened to Mr. Spock, as well as some secrets regarding Kirk's son.

Shatner's reading is very Kirk-like, and sound and music are used throughout to excellent effect. The Star Trek audiobooks have a consistently high production quality.

This story, though, just misses. It seems forced, unimportant, and at times just plain implausible. The ending is open for another novel - maybe that one will approach the high standard set by The Return.

Click here for more on Star Trek audio!

posted by Scott D. Danielson

Labels: genetic engineering, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, science fiction, Star Trek, William Shatner

12:44 PM -- (0) comments

 


A Game of Thrones
By George R.R. Martin; Read by Roy Dotrice
19 Cassettes - 34 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 0739308688
Themes: / Fantasy / Medieval setting / Power struggle / Dragons /

A Game of Thrones is the first of six projected volumes of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. It was published in 1997, where it joined a host of other fat fantasy series, including Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. With many fully realized characters and subplots that don't fail to surprise, Martin's series stands tall above the rest in the genre. This particular volume won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (1997) and was nominated for the Best Novel Nebula Award.

I was very much looking forward to the audio version of this novel, and followed some of the discussion on George R.R. Martin's website concerning it. He apparently rejected an offer to make a 9-hour abridged version of the book, which he felt would be more of a summary than a novel. He was right - this unabridged version is 34 hours long, and I for one am delighted that he waited.

A Game of Thrones is not fantasy in the style of Tolkien. In fact, it has much more in common with Herbert's Dune than Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The book is a chess game played by various Houses in a quest for power in a land called Westeros. The setting is medieval, with kings, knights, lords, and ladies. At the beginning of the novel, we're introduced to House Stark, led by Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell. He and his family live in a castle in the northern country, and are reminded often that winter is coming... in more ways than one. Eddard's wife is Catelyn, formerly of House Tully, and their children are Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. Eddard also fathered a bastard named Jon Snow - his mother is a mystery to all but Eddard.

The struggle around which everything revolves is between House Stark and House Lannister. Cersei, the king's wife, is of that house, as is Jaime, her twin brother, and Tyrion, a dwarf. Every one of the characters mentioned play important roles in the story, and because they are so realistically portrayed, they are not difficult to tell apart, nor are they hard to remember as they love, fight, promise, and betray.

What makes this novel fantasy? Magic plays a very small role in the story. The characters in this novel are all grey, unlike the black and white good/evil of typical fantasy characters. But there is a growing supernatural threat in the north, introduced in the Prologue. And there is also Danerys Targaryen, of the house that held the throne years before the events in this novel, who is coming of age... and Targaryens are known for their dragons.

George R.R. Martin's writing style is very easy to follow, and translates beautifully to the spoken word. Roy Dotrice does an excellent job. In my opinion, his performance is on par with Jim Dale's reading of the Harry Potter novels. Many, many characters present themselves here, just as in the Potter novels, yet Dotrice, like Dale, manages to keep them all separated and gives them all distinct mannerisms and voices that keep the story flowing. I caught a few mispronunciations in the book, all names where Dotrice gets caught up in the moment and calls Prince Joffrey "Jeffrey", for example, or pronounces the name "Varys" two different ways. This did cause me pause, but it happened only a few times in the 34 hour performance.

This was one of my favorite novels before I listened to this audiobook. Martin has created a realistic world peopled with authentic characters that are not difficult to care about. The book runs me through a huge range of emotions as the complex plot runs its course. This audiobook enhanced the experience - listening to Dotrice's performance was like reading it again for the first time.

posted by Scott D. Danielson

Labels: dragons, epic fantasy, fantasy, George R.R. Martin, medieval, power struggle

4:48 PM --

 


KUSP radio broadcasting out of Santa Cruz, California has a plethora of science fiction and fantasy author audio interviews available.

Interviewed by Rick Kleffel:

Alastair Reynolds - His webpage - Interview

Chuck Palahniuk - His webpage - Interview 1 - Interview 2

Jonathan Carroll - His webpage - Interview

Robert Jordan - His webpage - Interview

Carter Scholz - Interview

Cory Doctorow - His webpage - Interview

Alan Dutschman - His webpage - Interview

Ira Sher - Interview

Margaret Weis - Her webpage - Interview

Christopher Moore - His webpage - Interview

Douglas Coupland - His webpage - Interview

Dan Simmons - His webpage - Interview

Terry Goodkind - His webpage - Interview

Mary Roach - Interview

James Barclay - His webpage - Interview

Charles de Lint - His webpage - Interview

Terry Pratchett - His webpage - Interview

John Shirley - His webpage - Interview

5:28 PM -- (0) comments

 


No Truce With Kings
By Poul Anderson; Read by Tom Teti
4 Cassettes - 4 Hours 40 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dercum Press Audio [ActiveBooks #ABS02]
Published: September 1987 - OUT OF PRINT
ISBN: 1556562675
Themes: / Science Fiction / Exploration / Sea Voyage / Civil War / Military / Galactic Civilization / Telepathy /

DERCUM ACTIVE BOOKS
Dercum's Active Books are a contemporary approach to classic literature. This collection, when complete, will number over sixteen volumes and will be one of the most comprehensive anthologies of science fiction and fantasy stories ever produced. Book Notes are and exclusive feature of all Dercum Fantasy Listening Cassettes. At key points in our stories, musical accents are added for your listening pleasure.

Though it doesn't state it in the title, this audiobook actually contains two tales by Poul Anderson, the 1961 Hugo winning novelette "The Longest Voyage" and the 1964 Hugo winning novella "No Truce With Kings". "The Longest Voyage" follows a junior officer on board the ship of a latter day Magellan. But this global circumnavigation is on a faraway planet, populated by humans who have lost their ancient technologies. As their society has rebuilt itself it builds new caravels that can take them farther and farther afield. But the new civilizations they discover on a distant shore hold a secret to both their past and their future.

"No Truce with Kings" is set in a post-apocalyptic United States, a feudal future made up of small nations constantly at war with each other. As the battles and intrigues unfold, hidden societies and shadowy organizations begin to show that their wars do not go unnoticed.

"The Longest Voyage" was enjoyable, it reminded me of Robert J. Sawyer's Farseer, minus the talking dinosaurs. "No Truce With Kings" was well conceived, a cross between Mad Max and Jeremiah, but the execution was less than I had hoped for. Still and all, I enjoyed both stories and it was a very good listen.

This audiobook is a curious mix of excellence and shoddiness. The stories are certainly very worthy of adaptation, the reader Tom Teti is decent if not spectacular, providing only a minimal performance. But the packaging is just plain bad, missing digits in the ISBN, the reader's name would be unknown except that the packaging has come unglued and revealed it beneath one of the two cassette holders (a place where no one would ever possibly see it!). They also ignored a title, no mention of the inclusion of "The Longest Voyage" appears except on the cassettes themselves and in small font on the back of the package. The jacket design is almost non-existent giving us only some generic clipart. In addition, the genre is labeled fantasy when both stories are actually science fiction. On the other hand the recording and the sound production is truly excellent! Including as always with Dercum Active Book titles the haunting Dercum Audio music, which starts to play before the story and which re-appears when a story ends or when a tape flip is coming up. It is a truly excellent theme music for science fiction or fantasy audio production and one which I am always pleased to hear. But the best part, the very best part of this audiobook is the added introduction which is so very appropriate and so well written, introducing the stories and the author, really enhancing the experience. Overall I'm very glad to have finally found a copy of this out of print and obscure audiobook, but I can't say its perfect, I have to wonder if some of the reasons for the fall of Dercum Audio have anything to do with their lack of follow through? To get such a great property, to execute the recording so well, to produce it with such forethought and then to package it in an unattractive and poorly designed package... its a real tale of what might have been.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: civil war, collection, exploration, galactic civilization, military, Poul Anderson, science fiction, sea voyage, telepathy

6:21 AM -- (0) comments