Vault dweller take heed, Destructomundo! is the practical advice podcast for surviving the various scenarios that might end the world. Survialists Adam, Ted, Derek, and James tackle a different scenario for how the world will end each show and give proven advice based on the what the characters on television and film have successfully done to survive the end of the world.


Episode 017 Doppelgangers |MP3|
Episode 016 Mutants |MP3|
Episode 015 Rocks From Space |MP3|
Episode 014 Bunkers |MP3|
Episode 013 Post Apocalypses |MP3|
Episode 012 Dystopia |MP3|
Episode 011a/011b The Fourth Reich |MP3| & |MP3|
Episode 010a/010b Zombie Apocalypse |MP3| & |MP3|
Episode 009 The Antichrist |MP3|
Episode 008 The Last Man On Earth |MP3|
Episode 007 Doom Cults |MP3|
Episode 006 The Big List |MP3|
Episode 005 Science Run Amok |MP3|
Episode 004 Supervillians |MP3|
Episode 003 Aliens Attack! |MP3|
Episode 002 Rise of the Robots |MP3|
Episode 001 Road Warriors |MP3|

Shows come out on a regular basis but the end may be nigh so subscribe while you can - plug this URL into your ruggedized, EMP-proof and solar-powered podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/destructomundo

posted by Jesse 10:01 PM -- (0) comments

 


Instapundit.com's The Glen and Helen Show posted a podcast interview of Vernor Vinge. He talks about his new book (Rainbows End) and his favorite subject, The Singularity. 1:08 PM -- (0) comments

 


WooHoo! Are you ready for this?

That's right, just one week shy of the first anniversary of its launch from the mothership, Escape Pod, the most consistently entertaining fiction podcast in existence has "berthed" a junior podcast! Escape Pod Classic is a reprint podcast bringing you the best of the family friendly stories from the Escape Pod archives. First up is Three Wish Habit by Janni Lee Simner (first podcast May 26th 2005). Be sure to tune your podcatcher into the frequency of this new Epod launchee by use of this URL:

http://feeds.escapepod.org/EscapePodClassic

posted by Jesse 9:18 PM -- (0) comments

 


Author David Lousie Edelman has posted (in MP3 format) the first of seven planned chapters of his forthcoming SF novel Infoquake. It looks like a unique promotion designed to pimp the paperbook release due out this July. But there's a caveat, if you become addicted to the audio you'll be forced to switch to the dead tree edition after chapter seven as it looks like the rest of the novel (everything after the first seven chapters) won't be podcast or turned into an audiobook at all!

If you're still interested you can subscribe to the free feed for the first seven chapters of Infoquake by plugging this url into your podcatcher:

http://www.davidlouisedelman.com/jump225/rss/number1onprimos.xml

posted by Jesse 11:16 AM -- (1) comments

 


Eye For Eye
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki with Margy Stein
3 CDs - 147 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: ReQuest Audiobooks
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1933299517
Themes: / Science Fiction / Society / Morality / Youth / Power /

"If you're a half way decent person you don't go looking to kill people. Even if you can do it without touching them. Even if you can do it as nobody even guesses they were murdered you still got to try not to do it."

Mick Winger is only seventeen - and already he's killed over a dozen people. Not on purpose of course; he never meant to hurt anyone. But when Mick gets angry, people die, even the people he loves the most. Set in the contemporary world, Mick is a godfearing young man with a mysterious power - the ability to kill people just by getting mad at them. He doesn't want to kill people, but sometimes he gets mad and then they die of hideous cancerous tumors - sometimes fast, sometimes slow - depending on how mad he gets. The phenomena is explained by some "bio electrical field" handwaving on Card's part but that isn't the heart of the story. Mick's been an orphan since the day he was born - even as a baby his uncontrollable power killed his caregivers. When he grew old enough to realize the danger he posed to others, he left the orphanage to get a job doing manual labour for a decent father figure. One day Mick finds himself unconciously withdrawing his meager savings and travelling to his birthplace - like a salmon going to spawn - but on the way he meets an older woman who knows his terrible secret. She tells him he doesn't have to go and tries to persuade him to come with her instead. But Mick has other plans. He'll go work for the CIA, make some good of his ability to kill. Of course Mick has forgotten even he has to sleep sometime...

I plain loved this book. Not only is the story told crisply and cleanly, but it also gets one doing some deep thinking. Mick's gift/curse is almost the perfect allegory for gun control. Not even the most rabid NRA members would suggest it's a good idea to give pistols to toddlers, and that's basically Mick's situation. He's been given a weapon that is so a part of him that he can no more stop it than he can stop breathing. His emotions are tied into a hair trigger of killing. Pity even the most loved friend who is standing near when his emotions run hot. Orson Scott Card has tied this all in with what looks like a cross between an Old Testament inbreeding program and a fundamentalist militia.

This whole situation reminded me of a phrase Robert A. Heinlein once coined: "An armed society is a polite society."* This concept has been much trumpted by the firearms lobby and Eye For Eye shows just what it would mean if it were practiced. If everyone was like Mick Winger, a community of the armed would also be a community of fear, where even constructive criticism is to be avoided at all costs lest someone take offense. Love thy neighbor doesn't extend very well when thy neighbor demands the freedom to own nuclear weapons.

In this age of seemingly endless series, thousand page fantasy epics, and general fiction sprawl, it is wonderfully refreshing to listen to a short novel or novella. Request Audiobooks, a brand new player in the audiobook market, has dipped into Science Fiction and Fantasy's glorious past for some wonderous tales that don't require a forklift to enjoy. Eye For Eye was first published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Mar 1987 issue, and in 1988 it won the Hugo Award for best novella. Then in November 1990 it was paired as half of the Tor Double Novel #27 with another novella by Lloyd Biggle Jr. (The Tor Doubles are for my money the very best modern treeware series published). For more than ten years this terrific tale sat out of print. Then ReQuest Audiobooks stepped up. And boy did they ever! ReQuest presents the novella in all its glory, and then some. They tapped master narrator Stefan Rudnicki to read it. Rudnicki who's sonorant basso has performed more Orson Scott Card audiobooks than any other voice on Earth is perfect for the job. Then, they went to Orson Scott Card himself and had him write an original afterword just for the audiobook. To finish it all off, they commisioned some truly eye-catching art. This is my very favorite kind of audiobook. A short novel with an intriguing premise, bristling with driven characters, read by a talented narrator, and sporting a bonus feature. With a USA price point of just $14.95 for three CDs this is like a slice of audio heaven.

*-The quotation comes from the novel Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein

posted by Jesse 2:10 PM -- (0) comments

 


Willamette Radio Workshop returns to the The Sonic Society to close out their wildly successful inaugural season with the award winning production of Archibald Macleish's "The Fall of the City". A verse drama originally commissioned for the Columbia Workshop (the inspiration for WRW) in 1937. You won't believe it's only 30 minutes long.

A note for The Sonic Society regulars, WRW doesn't have podcast rights for "Fall of the City", so the final Society podcast will have a Texas Radio Theater episode.

More details are available on Willamette Radio Workshop's website.

posted by Scott 6:12 PM -- (0) comments

 


Look to Windward
By Iain M. Banks, read by Robert Lister
10 Cassettes – Approx. 14.25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Clipper Audio
Published: 1990
ISBN: 1841971839
Themes: / Science fiction / Aliens / Space Travel / War / Afterlife

Civil war has taken its toll on a planet called Chel, whose furry predator-descended people live in a strict caste-based society with an exacting religion. One of them, a famous composer named Ziller, has disowned his home world to live on a Culture orbital called Masaq’. He lives in crusty happiness among the humans and formerly human machines there, composing, exploring, and attending dinner parties. But word has come of a second Chelgrian, a former soldier and monk named Quilan, who appears determined to persuade him to return to Chel. The Culture are partially responsible for instigating the Chelgrian civil war, and it may be that Quilan has a deeper mission that even he knows nothing about.

This is the compelling lead-in to Iain M. Banks’ novel Look to Windward, but it is far from the whole story. The novel takes us far into the future of humanity, across the astoundingly large artificial surface of Masaq’, down deep voids of space on a series of amusingly named spacecraft, through the bitter civil war on Chel, and even into the belly of a large, atmosphere-containing being and the enormous blimp-like life forms inside it. The range of emotion is similarly grand, beginning with a harrowing descent into the war and its aftermath, segueing into an amusing and confusing dinner party, and setting off into stirring adventure and philosophical discussions of risk, war, love, life and death.

This is an introspective novel, and its most involving aspects unfold almost entirely in dialog. Such dependence on conversation demands an author who can produce interesting, distinct, and consistent voices for the various characters. Iain Banks delivers in spades, and Robert Lister interprets his dialog with near-perfection (the notable exception is Kabe, who sounds like a B-grade Igor). Hearing Ziller’s profane peevishness, Quillan’s calm hopelessness, and even Colonel Hyler’s avuncular old war-horse is like perceiving the characters in extra dimensions. In particular, there is a discussion late in the book between Quillan and Hyler that, while horrifying in topic, is presented with such remarkable tenderness that I found it one of the most outstanding scenes of fiction I’ve ever heard.

Look to Windward is part of a larger series of Culture novels, but don’t let that scare you off. I haven’t read any of the others, and you won’t be required to, either. If you like a thoughtfully-paced interplay of characters and ideas in a futuristic but oddly British setting, then you will love this book. And, like me, you’ll soon be trying to get your hands on more.

posted by Kurt 6:03 AM -- (0) comments

 


Welcome To Mars (1947-1959) is a fascinating collection of non-fiction oddments about the fantastic futuristic world of the fifties. Presenter Ken Hollings in a live twelve-part series reflects on the "fantasy of science" in the early years of the American Century.

"Between 1947 and 1959, the future was written about, discussed and analysed with such confidence that it became a tangible presence. This is a story of weird science, strange events and even stranger beliefs, set in an age when the possibilities for human development seemed almost limitless."

The show is broadcast live on Wednesdays at 3.30pm GMT on Resonance FM (104.4 FM) in the UK and podcast to the world via XML feed:

http://www.simonsound.co.uk/podcasts/marspodcast.xml

Episodes released so far:

Part 1: 1947: Rebuilding Lemuria |MP3|
Part 2: 1948-49: Flying Saucers over America |MP3|
Part 3: 1950: Cheapness and Splendour |MP3|
Part 4: 1951: Absolute Elsewhere |MP3|
Part 5: 1952: Red Planet |MP3|
Part 6: 1953: Other Tongues, Other Flesh |MP3|
Part 7: 1954: Meet The Monsters |MP3|
Part 8:
Part 9:
Part 10:
Part 11:
Part 12:

posted by Jesse 11:22 AM -- (1) comments

 


Via BoingBoing.net...

"In 1967, WBAI produced a two-hour radio dramatization of Samuel R. Delany's first short piece [a novellette] of SF, 'The Star-Pit', with narration by Delany himself." That broadcast is now available as 4 FREE Mp3s, all of which are downloadable HERE, along with a fascinating article chronicling the radio drama's production history. Enjoy!

The Star Pit
By Samuel R. Delany; Perfomed by a Full Cast
4 MP3 Files - Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: Mind's Eye Theater / WBAI FM New York
Broadcast: 1967
A tale of loneliness and difference, about grounded workers who service the starships that will travel the galaxy.



All four parts:

Part One (24.3 MB)
Part Two (23.7 MB)
Part Three (22.8 MB)
Part Four (25.9 MB)

Performers: Samuel R. Delany, Baird Searles, Randa Haynes, Walter Harris, Jerry Matts, Joan Tanner and Phoebe Wray.
Produced by Baird Searles
Production Assistant Neal Conan
Directed by Daniel Landau
Music and Sound Effects by Susan Schweers
Technical Direction by David Rabkin and Ed Woodward

posted by Jesse 1:51 PM -- (0) comments

 


Science Fiction Soundbook
By Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein
Read By Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner
4 hours - 4 Cassettes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Caedmon
Published: 1977
Themes: / Science Fiction / Mars / Edgar Allan Poe / Computers / Mathematics / Sociology / Space Travel /

This out-of-print Caedmon set was a wonderful find (thanks, Esther!) because it contains two cassettes (four stories) that are amongst the earliest science fiction audio I ever heard. The stories are "The Green Hills of Earth" and "Gentlemen, Be Seated" by Robert A. Heinlein, and "There Come Soft Rains" and "Usher II" by Ray Bradbury, all read by Leonard Nimoy. Also included here is "The Psychohistorians" by Isaac Asimov and "Mimsy Are the Borogroves" by Henry Kuttner, both read by William Shatner. The audio was originally published in 1977.

I found Leonard Nimoy's readings to be excellent. In Bradbury's "Usher II", he delivers a passionate speech about the evils of book burning with perfection. In "Gentlemen, Be Seated" and "The Green Hills of Earth" he portrays working class spacemen with complete success.

William Shatner, though, was disappointing. I've heard him read some Star Trek titles, and felt his delivery was pretty good, but here, on both cassettes, he reads as if he needs to be across town in fifteen minutes. He zips through the text, sometimes fast enough to affect my comprehension.

The stories are all bona-fide 5-star classics:

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury, read by Leonard Nimoy
This famous story is about a house. That's it, just a house. An automatic, programmed house that keeps running and running... but where are its inhabitants? Bradbury manages to tell a very human tale without any actual people.

"Usher II" by Ray Bradbury, read by Leonard Nimoy
A fantastic story, passionately read, about a man who builds Poe's House of Usher on Mars. Because of the social climate on Earth, it would be illegal to build such a fantastic structure, because stories of fantasy are simply no longer allowed. If you agree with that policy, this fellow would be happy to show you around, and he does get that opportunity. As I mentioned earlier, a highlight is a speech on censorship that was an obvious precursor to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

"The Psychohistorians" by Isaac Asimov, read by William Shatner
This is the first novelette in the first book of Asimov's Foundation trilogy. In it, you meet Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick in an introduction to some of the key elements of the Foundation story, including the Empire in decline and the mathematics of psychohistory. However, I did have difficulty get into Shatner's narration.

"The Green Hills of Earth" by Robert A. Heinlein, read by Leonard Nimoy
Rhysling is a Spacer who lost his eyesight in a reactor pile accident. Now, he's a famous bard, and this is his story. The story is an excellent portrayal of what spaceflight might be like from the working stiff's point of view, once flight becomes common. At least from the perspective of a science fiction writer in 1948. No NASA engineers here.

"Gentlemen, Be Seated" by Robert A. Heinlein, read by Leonard Nimoy
This story is similar to "Green Hills" in that the characters are working class spacemen. One agrees to take a reporter through some new buildings on the moon (yes, he does get overtime pay for it), but an accident occurs during the tour. Another story from the late 1940's, which is the part of Heinlein's long career that I enjoy most.

"Mimsy Were the Borogroves" by Henry Kuttner, read by William Shatner
This story fared better under Shatner's cadence than did "The Psychohistorians". I was captured by it within 5 minutes or so of concentrated listening, and Kuttner's story held my attention even when Shatner didn't. The story involves some toys that were sent back in time by a far-future scientist with too much time on his hands. The toys are found by some kids, who play with them, and are changed by them. The story plays with the ideas of how people think - how kids think, how adults think, and how it could possibly be different. I found it a well-written and entertaining exploration of these ideas. Great science fiction.

posted by Scott 5:28 AM -- (0) comments

 


As mentioned recently, Brave Men Run author Matthew Wayne Selznick has turned his first podcast novel into an audiobook and here it is, available to be purchased!

The Brave Men Run Audio Collection
By Matthew Wayne Selznick; Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick
1 MP3-CD - Approx 6.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Matthew Selznick / Lulu.com
Published: 2006
This special collection features the entire text of Brave Men Run, read by the author, and the very special audio-only short story, Brenhurst's Tale - Another View of 'Brave Men Run' that originally was heard on the Brave Men Run Podcast. "Brenhurst's Tale" is not available in print or e-book, and will only be available in audio formats for at least the next five years! This is the same reading as heard in the podcast, but without the introductions, "outros," and other non-story material.

posted by Jesse 10:19 AM -- (0) comments

 


Benjamen Walker's Theory Of Everything, which we first mentioned back when Ben did a show on Philip K. Dick, has made a similar eclectic audio mini audio document about recently deceased SF author Stanislaw Lem. In the peice both Ben and his friend Bill Marx mourn the death of the influential author and reminice, in part "about how if Lem didn't get the Nobel prize for literature before he died [they] would have to go to Stolkholm and fuck shit up". You can download the MP3 about Lem HERE.

And by the way, the original PKD documentlet is available HERE too (it was the very first T.O.E. show).

posted by Jesse 6:56 PM -- (0) comments

 


More BBC Radio 7 audio of interest starts this weekend...

Thanasphere
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Kerry Shale
Approx 30 Minutes
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday April 10th at 6pm and 12am UK TIME.
An astronaut encounters dead souls in space.

Also ahead on BBC 7, starting Monday the four dramatizations of The Chronicles of Narnia broadcast at Christmas will be rebroadcast over Easter holidays. Actors include David Suchet and Paul Scofield.

The Magician's Nephew
By C.S. Lewis; Performed by a FULL CAST
3 Part Dramatization - Approx 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7
Broadcast: Monday April 10th to Wednesday April 12th at 10am, 9pm and 2am UK TIME.
Young Digory and his friend Polly are persuaded to help a sinister magician with an experiment, that goes awry when they are sent to a mystical world inhabited by an evil Queen.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
By C.S. Lewis; Performed by a FULL CAST
3 Part Dramatization - Approx 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7
Broadcast: Thursday 13th, Friday 14th and Monday the 17th at 10am, 9pm and 2am UK TIME.
Four children are transported to Narnia where they meet talking animals and an evil white witch.

Presumably the subsequent two adaptations in the series will start airing on Tuesday the 18th.

NOTE: Those outside the UK can use the BBC7 Listen Again service to catch it for 6 days following the broadcasts.

posted by Jesse 10:28 AM -- (0) comments

 


Market Forces
By Richard K. Morgan; Read by Simon Vance
13 CDs - 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1400101395 (Retail CD), 1400131395 (Library CD), 1400151392 (MP3-CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Dystopia /Economics /Satire /

"Human beings have been fighting wars as long as history recalls. It is in our nature, ... last century the peacemakers, the governments of this world, did not end war. They simply managed it, and they managed it badly. They poured money without thought of return into conflicts and guerrilla armies abroad, and then into tortuous peace processes that more often than not left the situation no better. They were partisan, dogmatic, and inefficient. Billions wasted in poorly assessed wars that no sane investor would have looked at twice. Huge, unwieldy national armies and clumsy international alliances in short a huge public sector drain on our economic systems. Hundreds of thousands of young people killed in parts of the world they could not even pronounce properly. Decisions based on political dogma and doctrine alone. Well, this model is no more."

In an interview with Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column Richard K. Morgan describes the motivaton behind Market Forces - 'there's a scene' he said, 'in the movie Lethal Weapon' a scene in which the suicidal cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) is atop a roof, ironically, trying to talk down an suicidal citizen who claims he's going to jump. Frustrated at the indecision that grips them both Riggs snaps - he handcuffs the citizen to his own wrist and then asks him "Do you really wan't to jump? Do you wanna?" - then dragging the citizen with him Riggs jumps off the roof. It's a scene designed to show the inner demons that haunt Riggs, who is, after all, the "Lethal Weapon" of the film's title. So what does that have to do with Market Forces? This novel is Richard Morgan's response to the right-wing think tanks which have for years been constantly murmuring in the media soundbites of "let the market decide," "government is in the way of business," "the invisible hand can regulate better." Morgan's frustration with these ideologues is answered by dystopian satire, a kind of Wall Street meets Mad Max. This is an England in which the gap between the rich and poor has widened. At the top are an elite, an upper-class of executives, driving armoured cars and carrying firearms in their briefcases. At the bottom are the unemployed, disenfranchized and living in deserted slums without access to public transportation, their only escape is to join the police or Special Air Service, both privatized and in mercenary service of the executive class. The commodited investment houses have morphed into "Conflict Investment" houses. It's a powerful setting, a critical look at where we are now, as 1984 and Farenheit 451 were critical looks at where we used to be - a place we must still fight from going. In essence Morgan says 'This is what happens when you look at what we're doing now and then project ahead. This is what happens if you listen to the right-wing think tanks. This is what happens when you jump.'

As a primer let me explain how "conflict investment" works. You find a country, one torn by civil war or revolution. You decide who, amongst the many factions within that country could win, given the right resources and then you back them. In return for providing the arms, equipment and intelligence to win a "small war" the faction must commit to give you a cut of their country's gross domesitc product for a quarter century or so. Our viewpoint character, Chris Faulkner, has recently been hired on as a junior associate by one of the top conflict investment firms, Shorn Associates - this happened in large part because of Chris' reputation for savage road duelling. Meanwhile, Chris' wife, a mechanic from Sweden, (a country with one of the last socialist governments around) is encouraging him to seek more peaceful pastures by defecting to a struggling international peace movement. With rebels in Guatemala to support and a growing record of auto-duel kills Chris is a hot number, but it increasingly seems like someone is setting him up for a fall. It's up to Chris to decide whether he's going to be the person his wife wants him to be or if he's going to continue on his road to corporate partnership.

I ended up really liking Market Forces. There was a time there when I wasn't sure, the first third of the novel is quite depressing, Morgan's world has gone to shit and the people in it smell, and smell bad. Part of my problem was with how the world got to be this way. A corporate world full of scum? I can understand that, but a corprate world full of armed scum? It seemed a bit proposterous. Then it came to me, between discs 4 and 5 I realized, "this is a satire". Like American Pyshco or that corporate raiders sequence in Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life. Eventually Morgan does give an explanation of how we got from where we are now to the fifty or so years from now setting of Market Forces and that explanation works in a 'give me an inch and I'll give you a novel' sort of way. The real explanation however is that to be the story it needed to be actual market forces really had to play into every human transaction. The brutal reality of competitive of an unregulated capitalism working at full force would likely still be insulated by an old boys network, an oligarchy that said it wanted unrestricted competition, but really just wanted power. In arming and glorifying the auto duels Morgan has made Chris Faulkner confront the reality of the world he is making. Ultimately the decision he faces is as terrible as those made by Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four and Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451. It remains to be seen whether Market Forces will be as enduring as those dystopian novels, but it stands among them, bare face in the portrayal of a brutal tommorow based on the unchecked trends of today.

This is a gloomy book marked by several scenes of jagged action and carnal sex, it is a good thing Tantor Media chose a versatile reader. Narrator Simon Vance used his precise English accents to portray the undertones of resentment many of the characters didn't even realize they had - it carried me through the gloomy bits to the dramatic conclusion. Tantor issued us another of the library retail bound CD editions, though it had identical packaging to Altered Carbon (recently reviewed) two of the indivudal pages came loose in this one while I was pawing through. UPDATE: The good folks at Tantor have informed me that they actually sent the retail edition to us. The library edition is higher priced and comes in a white box with a metal ring binder (as well as a free lifetime CD replacement guarantee).

In researching for the review I found out that Market Forces is based on an unpublished seedling of a short story, entitled Some Serious Driving. Apparently it was originally submitted to Interzone magazine, they rejected it as full of 'unlikable characters' - something the novel has too. In an ideal world I'd have liked to see Some Serious Driving bundled in as an extra, perhaps Tantor Media can gather together all of the Richard K. Morgan unpublished shorts to tide us over until the 5th RKM novel comes out?

One last thing, given my description of the plot you might think Market Forces a standalone novel and indeed it does stand nicely on its own- the thing is I found strong evidence that Market Forces is set in the same universe as that of the Takeshi Kovach novels, the books Richard Morgan is best known for. There's a number of references to conflict investment in general and the Shorn corporation in particular in Broken Angels, the second Takeshi Kovach novel. Cool huh?

posted by Jesse 11:14 AM -- (0) comments

 


In case you missed it over there, SF Signal beat us to the punch by reporting that the latest Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine column, "On the Net" by James Patrick Kelly is all about science fiction podcasts!

In Jim's column he explains podcasting, tells us how he made his and talks about all the Science Fiction related podcasts he's got loaded into his MP3 player. Jim's podcast subscriptions at the time of the column's submission included...

Paul Jenkin's The Rev Up Review

All three of the Michael & Evo Dragon Page podcasts

Michael J. Stackpole's The Secrets

Mur Lafferty's I Should Be Writing

Escape Pod <---- Jim's favorite at the time of the column's submission Podiobooks.com

Andy Doan's Spaceship Radio

The Fantasy Times

You can read the whole column online HERE.

posted by Jesse 8:04 PM -- (0) comments

 


Our fantabulous SFFaudio reader/contributor Esther has pointed out that the The New York Times has been podcasting their Arts & Leisure Weekend talks and that yesterday they put up a neat MP3 inteview with Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick award winning author William Gibson. The 78 Minute interview was recorded at the New York times January 7th 2006 event. You can suscribe to the Times Talks podcast through iTunes by Clicking HERE.

Or by plugging the following into your podcatcher:

http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/podcasts/timestalks.xml

posted by Jesse 12:59 PM -- (0) comments

 


J.C. Hutchins' of the podcast novel/podiobook 7th Son, Book One: Descent tells us that he's just added a cool new feature to his his podcast chapter readings. Each new podcast instalment will include a "previously on" intro by a celebrity podcaster (or podcasting team). Look for the first chapter with this new feature starting tonight. The first guest introducer? Why it's Evo Terra of the Farpoint Media podcasts! And in case you missed our preview of the show we'll remind you that 7th Son, Book One: Descent is a FREE SF thriller intertwining cloning, bio-ethics and memory replication.

You can subscirbe to the podcast directly using this XML feed:

http://www.jchutchins.net/7thSonPodcast.xml

Or you can subscribe through the terrific Podiobooks.com service for a more customizable delivery schedule.

posted by Jesse 12:37 PM -- (0) comments

 


Here's our SFFaudio Profile of Dean R. Koontz. Dean Koontz, he's definitely an odd one, almost all of his novels are hard to classify - certainly most are full of suspense, but very often there is a fantastic element in there too. The speculative parts are generally grounded in science, and Koontz has in fact written straight Science Fiction, at least early in his career, but the recurring themes of things like talking dogs, in some later novels might make you question if some of his work isn't just pure fantasy. The recurring topic of sociopathy on the other hand, a theme he returns to again and again makes him almost unique in the field of fantastic fiction writing. Some readers say his writing falls into the "horror" genre though Koontz flatly denies this. Labels aside a few things are very clear; he's very prolific, intensely popular and definitely, completely and utterly askew from the mainstream. Koontz's audiobooks tend to be hard to find after their initial release - if you think you might want one, snap it up while you can. If you can find an older audiobook it will tend to be expensive - collector's don't give them up easily. So here it is, our best attempt at cataloguing the complete list of Koontz's audiobooks old and new:

The Husband
By Dean Koontz; Read by Holter Graham
Cassettes or CDs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 0739332872(CDs),
"'We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash.' Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare."

Forever Odd
By Dean Koontz; Read byDavid Aaron Baker
7 CDs - Approx. 8.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739315595
Another Odd Thomas novel, Thomas isn'st a sleuth himself but the ghosts he sees helps the police chief of his small town solve crimes.



Odd Thomas
By Dean Koontz; Read by David Aaron Baker
7 Cassetes or 9 CDs - Approx. 10.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0739301764
Interesting fantasy that is visually resplendent and full of fun illiteration.



Velocity
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hayden
8 Cassettes or ? CDs -Approx 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739315552 (Cassettes), 0739307452 (CDs)
Average schmo Bill Wile is surprised to find a strange note on his car one evening. On the note, an apparent maniac threatens the lives of two women. When Bill doesn’t act, one of the two woman is murdered. Then he finds another note from the killer. Now he knows he must act quickly to save innocent lives.


Intensity
By Dean Koontz; Read by Kate Burton
Cassettes or CDs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1995, 2005
ISBN: 0679449167 (Cassettes), 0739323717 (CDs)
Re-issued 10 years after the inital audio release, different cover is avalable on the 1995 edition but the narrator is the same.



Life Expectancy
By Dean Koontz; Read byJohn Bedford Lloyd
10 CDs or 8 Cassettes - Approx. 11.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 0739315536 (CDs), 0739315528 (Cassettes)
Before Joseph Tock dies he predicts that there will be five dark days in his grandson's life.



Midnight
By Dean Koontz; Read by J. Charles
CDs or Cassettes - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 1593553277 (CDs), 1593553250 (Cassettes)





Cold Fire
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan
9 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3-CD - 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: The Reader's Chair / Brilliance Audio
Published: 1991 / 2004
ISBN: 0962401013 (Reader's Chair Cassettes), 1593553390 (Brilliance CDs), 1593553374 (Brilliance Cassettes)
The rights for this were purchased from The Readers Chair after that company was bankrupted. "Reporter Holly Thorne is intrigued by Jim Ironheart, who has saved 12 lives in the past three months. Holly wants to know what kind of power drives him, why terrifying visions of a churning windmill haunt his dreams, and just what he means when he whispers in his sleep that an enemy who will kill everyone is coming."

Hideaway
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan
9 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3 CD - Approx. 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1593553358
"He was clinically dead after the accident - but was miraculously revived. Now Hatch Harrison and his wife approach each day with a new appreciation for life. But something has come back with Hatch from the other side. A terrible presence that links his mind to a psychotic's, so that a force of murderous rage courses through him."

Watchers
By Dean Koontz; Read by J. Charles
10 Cassettes, 13 CDs or 1 MP3-CD - Approx. 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance (Bookcassettes)
Published: 1988, 2004
ISBN: 0930435435 (Bookcassettes Cassettes), 1593553315 (CDs), 1593355505 (MP3-CD)
Collectors should take note the Brilliance imprint called "Bookcassettes" (the 1988 release) has two tracks per cassette side, which requires you to isolate one audio track at a time to listen to it. "From a top secret government laboratory come two genetically altered life forms. One is a magnificent dog of astonishing intelligence. The other, a hybrid monster of a brutally violent nature. And both are on the loose... "

Dark Rivers Of The Heart
By Dean Koontz; Read by Anthony Heald
12 Cassettes - 20 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1994
ISBN: 0679436669
A twisted love story. This audiobook includes a bonus interview with Koontz himself!




The Face
By Dean Koontz; Read by Dylan Baker
16 CDs or 12 Cassettes - Approx. 19.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0739307452 (CDs), 0739301748 (Cassettes)
Reality blurs into terrifying fantasy as a group of mere mortals try to stop the superhuman assassin of a Hollywood superstar.



Mr. Murder
By Dean Koontz, Read by Jay O. Sanders
10 cassettes - 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audioworks
Published: 1993
ISBN: 0671881191






One Door Away From Heaven
By Dean Koontz; Read by Anne Twomey
13 Cassettes - Approx. 22 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0736683194
Micky Bellsong befriends a disabled girl named Leilani, and becomes concerned when Leilani's stepfather, a UFO cultist, believes aliens will cure her. When the family disappears, Micky sets out after them aided by a detective.

From The Corner Of His Eye
By Dean Koontz; Read by Stephen Lang
13 Cassettes or 18cds - Approx. 22 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2000
ISBN: 0553502697, 0736690018 (cassettes), 0736694846 (CDs)
The lives of three strangers become intertwined in a story of heart-stopping suspense and high adventure. An AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award Winner.



The Taking
By Dean Koontz; Read by Ariadne Meyers and Ari Meyer
5 Cassettes - Approx. 9.5 Hours -[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 073931212X
Not his best work. A California couple realizes that an alien race is colonizing the world.





Dean Koontz's Frankenstein - Book One - Prodigal Son
By Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by John Bedford Lloyd
? Cassettes - [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739317040
Abridged, seek out the Books On Tape edition instead.




Dean Koontz's Frankenstein - Book One - Prodigal Son
By Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Scott Brick
7 Cassettes or 9 CDs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739317040
"The first in a mesmerizing four-book original series, PRODIGAL SON is a brilliant re-imagining and updating of the classic Frankenstein story that only Dean Koontz could conceive. Two hundred years old, the "monster," Deucalion, is a monster no more. Literate and intelligent, he arrives in modern-day New Orleans, where he will join forces with a street-smart police detective and her partner on the trail of a macabre serial killer...a serial killer spawned, Deucalion will discover, by his own creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, now Victor Helios. Now Deucalion will find that there are many others like him...that they live among us at every strata of society...and that his nemesis, Victor Frankenstein, has survived the centuries as well...and dreams of seeding the earth with his creations."

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein - Book Two - City Of Night
By Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman; Read by John Bedford Lloyd
5 Cassettes or 7 CDs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 073931713X, 0739317148
For the second instalment, Random House and Books On Tape collaborated in releasing just one unabridged edition (Random House now owns Books On Tape).



The Bad Place
By Dean Koontz; Read by Carol Cowan and Michael Hanson
10 Cassettes, 13 CDs or 1 MP3-CD - 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 1593553404
"Married detectives Julie and Bobby Dakota, agree to help frightened amnesiac Frank Pollard figure out what he does when he's asleep. Not only can Frank not remember his past, but he wakes up mornings to find mysterious bags of large-denomination bills by his bed. In due course, Frank and the Dakotas join forces against murderer Candy Pollard and his weird sisters, who want to kill Frank--evidently the sole human in the monstrous family. Candy extends psychic feelers toward potential victims, emanations that are sensed by Julie's younger brother Thomas. A Down's syndrome child, Thomas is telepathically gifted and able to warn Bobby of the demons who threaten Julie. Horror follows horror with each crime perpetrated by Candy & Co. as they come ever closer to the Dakotas and other prey."

False Memory
By Dean Koontz, Narrated by Stephen Lang
12 Cassettes - Approx. 21.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1999
ISBN: 0553479024
Four patients of the same therapist develop crippling fears, revealing the terrifying ability of the mind to torment and destroy.



By The Light Of The Moon
By Dean Koontz; Read by Stephen Lang
12 Cassettes- Approx. 13.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2002
ISBN: 0553502719
Two brothers and their traveling companion race to puzzle out a vicious violation committed against them, only steps ahead of deadly pursuers.



Sole Survivor
By Dean Koontz; Read by David Birney
8 Cassettes - 12 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Publication Date: 1997
ISBN: 067945277X






Ticktock: A novel
By Dean Koontz; Read by B.D. Wong
Cassettes -
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1997
ISBN: 0679452672






Seize The Night
By Dean Koontz; Read by Keith Szarabajka
10 Cassettes - 12 Hours[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0553479016
Christopher Snow, and take a trip to the eerie world of Moonlight Bay. Moonlight Bay, California. A safe, secluded small town that is at its most picturesque in the gentle nighttimes that inspired its name. Now, somewhere in the night, children are disappearing. From their homes. From the streets.


Icebound
By Dean Koontz, Read by John Glover
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0679439358







Fear Nothing
By Dean Koontz; Read by Keith Szarabajka
10 Cassettes - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0553479008






Strange Highways (The Strange Highways Collection)
By Dean Koontz; Read by James Spader
4 Cassettes - Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner Audio
Published: 1995
ISBN: 1570422877
One of at least two in an akwardly titled series of short story collections issued by Time Warner Audio. Strange Highways is the title story of this collection of Koontz's short stories. Joey Shannon, an alcoholic whose life has been going nowhere for 20 years, returns to his hometown for the funeral of his father. As he leaves town, he gets a mysterious second chance to relive the night in 1975 when his life began its downward spiral: to both literally and figuratively take the road that he didn't originally take.

Chase and Down In The Darkness (The Strange Highways Collection)
By Dean Koontz; Read by Chris Sarandon
4 Cassettes - Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner Audio
Published: 1995
ISBN: 1570422990
One of at least two in an akwardly titled series of short fiction collections.



The Paper Doorway : Funny Verse and Nothing Worse
By Dean Koontz Read by John Ritter
Cassettes - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Childrens Audio
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0694525758
A children's book from a man with no children. Why not?





Shadowfires
By Dean R. Koontz; Read by Jonathon Maroz
11 Cassettes or 13 CDs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 1994
ISBN: 5553829550 (Cassettes)
Rachel Leben’s violently possessive ex-husband was killed in a freak auto accident, but his hideously mangled body has disappeared from the morgue. Now someone, or something, is watching her. Stalking her. And, although no one will believe her, Rachel knows who it is. His walking corpse a grotesque mockery of life. His brilliant, warped mind once again “alive” and seething with jealous rage. He seeks an unspeakable revenge from beyond her worst nightmare, stalking her with a murderous lust that will not die.


Servants Of Twilight
By Dean R. Koontz; Read by
Cassettes - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 1993
ISBN: 555710643X
Originally published as a PBO under Koontz's Leigh Nichols pseudonym Books On Tape released under his real name. "Single parent Christine Scavello and her young son Joey find themselves confronted by a madwoman, Grace Spivey, who fancies she discerns the Antichrist in Joey's cherubic visage. Spivey is the charismatic leader of a religious cult whose fanatic members do her every bidding, including murdering the little boy, and everyone who stands in their way. After the police fail to provide adequate protection, Christine turns to private detective Charlie Harrison, whose business and home are soon firebombed by the cultists, and two of his men murdered, even as he finds that he is falling in love with Christine."

Stalkers
By Dean R. Koontz and Robert R. McCammon; Read by ???
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dove Audio
Published: 1992
ISBN: 1558004904
Very rare! A collection of nineteen original tales by "today's masters of terror" includes one novella by Koontz entitled Trapped.


Santa's Twin
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jay O. Sanders
1 Cassette - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: 1996
ISBN: 0694517712
Perhaps this is comparable to Donald Westlake's Nackles?




Dragon Tears
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jay O. Sanders
8 Cassettes or 11 CDs - Approx. 13 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audioworks / Simon & Shuster Audio
Published: 1993, 2003
ISBN: 0671865854 (cassettes), 0743529049 (CDs)
Reissued ten years after the initial unabridged publication. "The story of two Southern California police detectives who track down a demonic serial killer with paranormal abilities."


Demon Seed
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jeff Harding
4 Cassettes or 5 CDs - 5 Hours 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Isis Soundings
Published: 2000
ISBN: 075310914X (Cassettes), 0753122685 (CDs)
The audiobook was released in the UK. "Created in the Prometheus Project, he is officially called Adam Two - the first self-aware machine intelligence, designed to be a servant to mankind. No-one knows that he is able to escape the confines of his physical form, and his box in the laboratory. Until he gains entry to the house of Susan Harris, and closes it off against the world. There he plans to show Susan the future. Their future. With her, he intends to create a 'child'."

There's also one podcast featuring an interview with Koontz about his novel Life Expectancy. You can grab that mp3 HERE.

posted by Jesse 10:39 AM -- (0) comments