Coming soon? March 2007, maybe? The first episode may be a free download? And a podcast? And you're thinking of a Logan's Run show too?



You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

posted by Jesse Willis
12:44 PM -- (1) comments

 


Guardians Of The West (Book #1 of the Malloreon)
By David Eddings; Read by Cameron Beierle
14 CDs , 1 MP3 CD or Cassettes- Aprox. 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books in Motion
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1596072377 (MP3-CD), 1596072369 (CDs), 1596072350 (Cassettes)
Themes: / Fantasy / Magic / War / Magical Creatures / Wizards / Gods /

Guardians Of The West is the first book in a five book series called the The Malloreon. There's a previous five volume series, The Belgariad, that takes place in this same fantasy setting. In fact, Guardians Of The West picks up shortly after The Belgariad's ending. I had never read The Belgariad series, so I had to play catch-up listening to this title.

After a prologue that was obviously written as a refresher to those who had read the previous series, the story gets underway. The tale unfolds slowly enough. The large cast of characters are easy to get to know and are varied and interesting in themselves. There is Errand, a naive child with special gifts. Polgara, who is a motherly near-immortal. And her father, Belgrath, a boozing, womanizer, a real Falstaffian character until things get serious.

The novel's central characters switches to the young king, Garion, who we find to be having trouble with his new spirited queen, Ce'Nedra. The plot really begins to move when there are hints of a new dark power known only as Zandramas. The pacing remains leisure through the first half of the novel. After the climatic ending to the first series, I suppose Eddings needed to maneuver and reintroduce the cast to his readers and create a new major conflict. This could have been frustrating if wasn't for Eddings' gift for dialog and characterization.

This book needed a talented voice actor to carry off the large and varied cast. Sprawling fantasy novels may be the most challenging genre for an actor to convey. Cameron Beierle does it all with unequivocal panache. His very intonations carry enough characterization that Eddings' descriptions of characters become redundant. He uses many accents that seem entirely appropriate to the characters. Like Harry Potter's narrator, Jim Dale, he has a seemingly endless repertoire of voices. I'd go so far as to call Cameron Beierle the American Jim Dale.

If you haven't read or listened to Eddings' Belgariad series, I'm sure that's the place to start. The first book in the series is called Pawn of Prophecy and it along with all the books in the two series are available from Books In Motion. And all narrated by Cameron Beierle!

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show 12:06 PM -- (0) comments

 


Just over a year ago I posted a story about how SF had an influence in the real world. I offered the proof of Courtney Brown Ph.D, he's an Emory University prof who had offered a Political Science course entitled Science Fiction and Politics (Political Science 190) and that he'd been making the lectures available as a podcast. Well I'm here today to say that Science Fiction STILL HAS an influence in the real world. And further to that I offer the exact same proof. New year, new semester new Science Fiction and Politics (Political Science 190) course!

The spring 2007 semester has already started, but just like last year there's still no cost to audit.

Here's the course's schedule:

Weeks 1 & 2
Theme: Empires I
Featured Author: Isaac Asimov - Foundation, and Foundation And Empire

Week 3
Theme: Empires II
Featured Author: Isaac Asimov - Second Foundation

Week 4
Theme: Information control and the circumvention of revolution
Featured Author: Aldous Huxley

Week 5
Theme: The struggle between collectivism and individualism
Featured Author: Usula K. Le Guin

Week 6
Theme: Genetic engineering and liberty
Featured Author: David Brin

Week 7
Theme: Genetic engineering and evolution
Featured Author: Greg Bear

Week 8
Theme: Children soldiers, genocide, and morality
Featured Author: Orson Scott Card

Week 9
Theme: War and exploitation
Featured Author: Joe Haldeman

Week 10
Theme: Blockades and their circumvention, forced group isolation
Featured Author: Wilson

Week 11
Theme: Ethics in the context of desperation, manipulation, warfare
Featured Author: Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves

Week 12
Theme: Mass manipulation and control, corporatist balkanization of government, cyberpunk
Featured Author: William Gibson

Week 13
Theme: Review

You can subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://www.courtneybrown.com/classes/scifi/mp3/cb_SciFiPoliticsClass1.xml

posted by Jesse Willis
2:42 PM -- (1) comments

 


The Green Hornet Podcast is a podcasting of the 1930s to 1950s George W. Trendle superhero series. The premise of The Green Hornet was he was a newspaper publisher by day and vigilante by night. The Green Hornet fought crime with his high-powered car, the Black Beauty, utilized a gun that fired knockout gas instead of bullets and made good use of his fists. He was assisted by his Filipino valet, Kato. Kato would drive the Black Beauty, keep watch out for the police and crooks and even sometimes lend a helping fist. The show's 16-year run ended on December 5, 1952. Below is just smattering of broadcasts from that time rearranged from the podcast feed to be in chronological order...

|MP3| Murder Across The Board - 07/05/1941
|MP3| Charity Takes It On The Chin - 02/21/1942
|MP3| Invasion Plans For Victory - 05/19/1942
|MP3| A Slip Of The Lips - 05/23/1942
|MP3| Murder Trips A Rat - 09/12/1942
|MP3| Torpedo On Wheels - 11/14/1942
|MP3| Sabotage Finds A Name - 11/21/1942
|MP3| Superhighway Robbery - 11/22/1942
|MP3| Stuffed Panda - 10/04/1945
|MP3| Ballots And Bluff - 11/01/1945
|MP3| Gas Station Protection Racket - 11/29/1945
|MP3| George Havens Secret - 01/22/1946
|MP3| Escape For Revenge - 01/29/1946
|MP3| Woman In The Case - 02/12/1946
|MP3| Underwater Adventure - 09/24/1946
|MP3| A Matter Of Evidence - 01/20/1948
|MP3| Hit And Run - 01/27/1948
|MP3| Face In The Television - 02/10/1949
|MP3| Devil's Playground - 12/06/1950
|MP3| Pretenders To The Throne - 12/03/1952

Or for those using podcatchers, copy and paste the following link into your aggregator's subscription field:

http://www.botar.us/greenhornet.xml

posted by Jesse Willis 2:35 PM -- (1) comments

 


Conan The Barbarian
Based on the Motion Picture directed by John Milius; Performed by a FULL CAST
33 1/3 RPM LP - Approx. 43 minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Power Records
Published: 1982 (Out Of Print)
Product #: 1134
Themes: / Fantasy / Revenge / Battle / Mythology / Gods / Snakes /

“I was born on the battlefield! The first sounds I
heard were the screams of dying men!”

It took almost a half of century for Robert E. Howard’s legendary thief, warrior, barbarian and eventual King to debut on the silver screen. In the fifty or so years prior to the 1982 theatrical release of Conan The Barbarian, and against all odds, Conan had clutched fate by its throat and demanded success in practically every media it was translated into. Novels, magazines, newspaper syndication and comics, they were all conquered by this sword-wielding barbarian. These conquest continually garnished him a growing legion of loyal followers. So by Conan’s God Crom, it only made sense for Hollywood to be this fantasy character’s next path to tread under his sandaled feet.

Ridley Scott... Oliver Stone… Many talented directors attempted to bring “Conan The Barbarian” to theaters before writer/director John Milius’ inspired script finally got it right and brought the project to fruition. John’s vision, which some critics called “horribly violent” and “sexist”, captured the true lifeblood and essence of the Hyborian Age and all its brutality and sinister ways. Directed on location in Spain for Universal Pictures, it starred world renowned bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan of Cimmeria and Shakespearean actor James Earl Jones as the dreaded snake cult leader Thulsa Doom.

As always, making a motion picture about any character with a large fanbase creates controversy, and Conan The Barbarian was no different. Many fans questioned most of the inexperienced cast and their acting ability. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a world champion bodybuilder. Valeria, played by Sandahl Bergman, was a professional dancer. Even the director’s surfing partner took on the role of Subotai. Overwhelmingly, other than James Earl Jones, the cast was perceived as great lot of physical specimens rather than accomplished actors. Confusion also lingered among purists regarding Milius’ choice to retell Conan’s origin, which somewhat contrasted with the purist understanding of the barbarian’s earlier years. But other fans defended the retelling, arguing that creator Robert E. Howard never truly fleshed out Conan’s childhood, only briefly touched upon it. Moreover, they were quite pleased that Milius honored the legacy of Conan by sampling script ideas from many of Conan’s original tales like “The Tower of the Elephant” and “The Thing in the Crypt”.

Whichever side fans took, most couldn’t help not to revel in the sure beauty of the film... especially its Fantasy panting-like cinematography, awe inspiring original score and its seriousness in tone (something sorely missing in the later and utterly inferior sequel.) So, like all forms of media before it, the film Conan The Barbarian was a success and is now considered a classic among fans of the sword & sorcery genre. Conan was once again triumphant.

That same year, Power Records released the story of "Conan The Barbarian" which was surprisingly good among movie adaptation albums of its time. Known more for creating stories for adolescents, it was really quite astonishing to see Power Records adapt a “R” rated film, gloriously filled with masses of graphic violence, explicit nudity and even an orgy! The adaptation did exclude the “worst” parts of the film of course, but most mothers I know would balk upon their children listening to lines like “The last image I saw was my parent’s heads on a pair of Vanir pikes!” This adaptation was obviously made for young adults.

A whole new cast of actors were used, and the actors chosen for Conan, Subotai and The Wizard were an excellent choice. Conan is more intelligent than he appeared in the film, in the vein of the original Robert E. Howard writings. Actually, the original film script called for Conan to have more dialogue and narrate his own story rather than Mako's 'The Wizard' doing the chronicling. But due to Schwarzenegger's thick accent, much of Conan's lines were trimmed down and/or removed in trade of Arnold's powerful visual presence, which is where a problem lies. I actually had trouble appreciating this adaptation at first. Being a great fan of the film, I had the original actor’s voices and their dialogue (or Conan’s lack thereof) imprinted in my mind so deeply, it was hard to listen with a fresh perspective. Challenging yourself to give it a second "go around" is where the reward lies!

Conan narrating his tale is not the only difference between the adaptation and the actual film. Though fans of the film will be pleased to know that practically all of the story differences you hear were actually in the original John Milius script, before they were edited for various creative and/or monetary reasons. Some differences are subtle, like Thulsa Doom’s high priests are named Yaro and Rexor (rather than the familiar Rexor and Thorgrim). Others are larger events, like when Conan and Subotai enter the cities of Zamora looking to plunder the riches of the snake tower. While traveling through the filthy city of Shadizar, the script & adaptation details an extra scene of Conan and Subotai witnessing a snake cult procession moving through the streets. This is where Conan first hears the cursed chant of his nemesis Thulsa Doom since his parent slaying so long ago. He also gets his first glance of the haunting Princess he would later steal for King Osric, as she calls out to Conan from her platform, commanding him to "throw down his sword" in the name of Set. It’s a great scene.

My only gripe with the record adaptation is I wish it featured the film’s original score. While the orchestration Power Records uses is vast and surprisingly well done, it’s hard to stand against the classic work of composer Basil Poledouris. Though, with their excellent cast and matching production values, this can be easily overlooked. Especially when listening to the “new” dialog and scenes ultimately left on the cutting room floor. As a fan of all things Conan and especially the films, it creates quite a thrill and leaves you slightly imagining… what might have been.

posted by Akim Bischoff 11:42 AM -- (2) comments

 


Sci-Fi Scoundrels podcast tends heavily towards TV Sci-Fi, but every so often they give their opinions on books. Hosted by the self styled "bad boys" of Sci-Fi the podcast is done very conversationally. Some people claim it is "irreverent" and full of "keen insights." Myself, I've found this roundtable podcast potty-mouthed, low brow and marginally entertaining. Its more for the slow pitch podcast fan who likes swearing for swearing's sake and also likes Sci-Fi. Check out one of the podcasts to see if this is for you. I'd recommend trying the Ender's Game show. In that one the Scoundrels bring the goods to the table, critiquing how the elementary age kids of that novel aren't speaking very realistically. That one is very meta show - but a careful listen will show these guys aren't quite as dopey as they at first sound.

Sci-Fi Scoundrels - Episode 38 - Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451|MP3|.

Sci-Fi Scoundrels - Episode 51 - Vernor Vinge's Marooned In Real Time |MP3|.

Sci-Fi Scoundrels - Episode 53 - Orson Scott Card's Ender’s Game |MP3|.

Subscribe to the scoundrels via this feed:

http://scifiscoundrels.com/?feed=rss2&category_name=podcasts

posted by Jesse Willis 11:40 AM -- (0) comments

 


Geek Cred is a podcast that is focused on geek topics like computers and technology, science, Science Fiction, video games, and more. The bi-weekly show features interviews, trivia, commentary. The host, Steve Riekeberg, is a 19-year-old who started his road to geek-acceptance via a handed down 286 processor at the age of 9.

According to the Urban Dictionary the definition of "Geek Cred" is: "Similar to street cred, but applicable to geeks. Geek cred is allocated by displaying knowledge of different aspects of geek culture such as Star Wars, anime, comic books, etc." The show has so far interviewed two Science Fiction podcasters...

J. Marcus Xavier is the guest on the first podcast. JMX talked about the creation of his Silent Universe podcast drama series as well as the origins of his name, his favorite podcasts and his most loved books. The last of which got JMX to declare:

"Starship Troopers could never hope to hold a candle up to Ender's Game."

Shocking! Someone should stand up for Heinlein's seminal Science Fiction novel and take JMX down. Or at least challenge him to a game of Killer Bunnies or something.

Show #2 has host Steve talking to J.C. Hutchins, author of the podcast novel trilogy 7th Son. In the interview Hutchins explains how he wrote the trilogy that he's currently halfway through podcasting. Apparently creating all those different clone voices for his series characters is a lot of fun.

You can subscribe to the Geek Cred podcast and get the whole series via this link:

http://www.geekcred.net/feed.xml

posted by Jesse Willis 2:56 PM -- (4) comments

 


BBC7's The Seventh Dimension has a specially commissioned anthology show starting on Monday. Blood Lines is a "dark and gripping collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror readings that showcases new and emerging short story writers." To launch the series, a brand new story will lead off the series, written especially for BBC 7's The 7th Dimension by award-winning author, Susanna Clarke! During this series' two week run, you can listen for "intriguing conversations with mythical beasts; haunting tales of lost souls; dystopian visions of a future that’s just around the corner and demonic goings-on in internet chat rooms." Blood Lines is being broadcast on BBC7 in the 7th Dimension slot between Monday 26th February – Friday 9th March, 2007 at 18:30 (repeated at 12:30am).
Programmes become available online from the first date of transmission. And should be available via the "Listen Again" service for 6 days following each broadcast. Here are the episode details:

WEEK ONE:

The Dweller In High Places
By Susanna Clarke; Read by Georgina Hagen
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: February 26th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Across the water, the Napoleonic Wars rage but a young girl discovers a danger much closer to home when she encounters a mysterious visitor from Ancient Greece who has taken up residence in the attic of her London boarding school.

Ghost In The Mechanic
By Sarah Dobbs; Read by Clare Lawrence
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: February 27th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
A tragic accident atop Cherrybrook Hill leaves car-mechanic, Mickey-Joe, devastated. Unable to face up to his guilt he retreats into a world of rituals and habits as a way of keeping his emotions in check. When his dog dies during a dust storm, the memories come flooding back and Mickey-Joe finally goes to meet the ghost that calls out to him from the top of Cherrybrook Hill.

ID
By Phil Emery; Read by Sam Dale
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: February 28th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Terror grips a man as he regains consciousness and discovers he’s lost his identity card. He’s lying in a deserted alleyway in the middle of a city with no memory of who he is. His only clue is a name and address on a scrap of paper in his pocket. He sets out to find this person, all the time, consumed by a fear that unless he tracks down his card, his very life is in danger.

Conviction
By Kate Scott; Read by Anthony Glennon
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 1st 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
The UK in the near future. The population is divided into the privileged that live in a sanitised “perfect” environment and the workers who live in polluted shanty towns, performing the menial jobs that sustain the lifestyles of the privileged. A runner, uneasy about his so-called “perfect” existence, likes to escape from his world and each day run through these off-limit shanty towns. When, on his run, he encounters a young boy scarred from polluted water, he’s forced to confront what is wrong with his way of life.

Expecting
By Catherine Mant; Read by Emma Noakes
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 2nd 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend, a young woman moves into a semi-derelict Georgian house in Whitechapel to housesit for friends. She starts hearing running feet and a baby crying and becomes obsessed with finding out whether in the past, a baby has died in the house. All she can think about is finding a way to stop the crying. Out of desperation, she triggers off a series of events that puts her own baby at risk.


WEEK TWO

Cthul-You
By Damien G. Walter; Read by Adam Sims
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 5th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
An occultist signs up to the website “Cthul-You” in the hope of meeting like-minded people. This is a demonic version of “My Space” where instead of attracting fellow humans, the desired outcome is to attract demons. Just who exactly is “Mark” who answers this lonely occultist’s call and what plans does he have for his new devotee?

The Quick and The Dead
By Nick Moulton; Read by Christine Kavanagh
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 6th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
The setting is Victorian London and a scientist has just discovered how to keep death at bay. The dead are brought to the Asylum of The Deceased where they are resurrected. An illicit romance begins to blossom between one of the new inmates and a young doctor. The plight of being brought back to life and forced to live in limbo is explored in all its complexity.

Elegy Underground
By Fiona McFarlane; Read by Bethan Walker
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 7th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
Angels arrive on Earth with an important message to impart, only to find that no-one knows who they are and what they represent. The world is greatly changed and humankind’s collective memory is failing. Death is no longer officially recognised, forcing it to go underground – travelling cemeteries arrive in the middle of the night to take away the dead and a thriving market in illegal elegy smuggling has emerged. Lachrimae Bird, circus performer and chief elegy writer, is the only one to remember angels and she wonders why they have chosen to make their presence felt now.

A Lasting Impression
By Alexandra Bayliss; Read by Rachel Bavidge
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 8th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
In a last ditched attempt to save their relationship a young woman persuades her boyfriend to come on holiday with her to Canada. Things get off to a bad start – they have a terrible row as soon as they book into the hotel. He storms off and she is left to contemplate her disastrous love life. Suddenly the ghostly apparition of a woman with half a face missing appears in the room. She has a chilling message for the young tourist.

Father’s Day
By Ian Dudley; Read by Jasmine Callan
1 Broadcast - [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7's The Seventh Dimension
Broadcast: March 9th 2007 @ 18:30 and repeated at 12:30am (UK time)
The UK in the near future. This is a forbidding place where individuality is frowned upon and in extreme cases punished. Following the death of her mother, a young woman becomes estranged from her father. He unquestioningly embraces the new world order, whereas she remains stubbornly defiant, only just living on the right side of the law. He even undergoes a medical procedure to cut her out of his life. The daughter comes home one night to be greeted by a sinister official calling himself “Truth”. It would seem any hope of reconciliation between father and daughter is fading fast.

posted by Tony Smith from StarShipSofa
9:23 AM -- (0) comments

 


Maria Lectrix is a prolific podcast by Maureen O'Brien. Maureen is always narrating multiple audiobooks at the same time, and recently she's added another public domain Science Fiction novel to her already rich feed. The original publication date for this one was 1921, but most people who know it will remember it from the 1965 Ace double novel release.

The Devolutionist by Homer Eon Flint is the third in a series of four Dr. Kinney stories by Flint, but stands well on its own. The novel also gives you a brief précis of the first two Dr. Knney adventures, in case you're still worried about starting in the middle of a series. The story uses a scientific telepathy device to carry it's four protagonists to faraway places. Completion of the audiobook is a ways away yet but we've got companionable art to pique your interest...



After Maureen completes the novel we'll post a link to where you can find it all. But you don't have to wait, if you'd like to follow along while the chapters release you can subscribe by plugging this feed into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/MariaLectrixAudiobookClub/

posted by Jesse Willis 1:40 PM -- (0) comments

 


eBay seller "jerryweist" has a very impressive auction of vintage Science Fiction vinyl LPs up as a lot. He's estimated that the collection of seventeen mid-1970s to early-1980s SF records will sell for between $100 and $200, but right now it has only been bid up to $40.09. If you love vintage Science Fiction audio, you should definitely have a peek before the auction ends:

-Heretics Of Dune - Chapters I and II
By Frank Herbert; Read by Frank Herbert
1984 (unopened)

-The Truths Of Dune "Fear Is The Mind Killer"
By Frank Herbert; Read by Frank Herbert
1979 (unopened)

-Dune: The Banquet Scene
By Frank Herbert; Read by Frank Herbert
1977

-Sandworms Of Dune
By Frank Herbert; Read by Frank Herbert
1978

-The Battles Of Dune
By Frank Herbert; Read by Frank Herbert
1979

-The Dragonriders Of Pern: The White Dragon
By Anne McCaffery
1978 (unopened)

-Robert E. Howard
1975

-Burgess Meredith Reads Ray Bradbury

-Robert Silverberg Reads To See The Invisible Man and Passengers
1979

-The Mayors from Foundation
by ISAAC ASIMOV
1977 (unopened)

-Isaac Asimov - Nightfall
1976 (unopened)

-Yonder: Seven Tales of the Space Age
By Poul Anderson
1980 (unopened)

-Survival Ship and The Shrine Of Temptation
By Judith Merril 1978 (unopened)

-Mimsey Were The Borogoves
By Henry Kuttner; Read by William Shatner
1976

-Gwilan's Harp and Intercom
By Ursula K. Le Guin
1977

-City
By Clifford D. Simak
1980

-Dying Inside
By Robert Silverberg
1979

Check out these scans:





posted by Jesse Willis 10:13 AM -- (0) comments

 


In what appears likely to be another series of interviews that will make another podiobook someday The Sci Phi Show podcast is following up from its "Philosophy of Science" show from last week by speaking to SFFaudio Essential winning author Bill DeSmedt. Host Jason Rennie talks with Bill about The Vurdalak Conjecture and how it plays a role in his novel, Singularity. Tied into this interview, Jason tells me, you can look for what should be a fascinating interview with physicist Lee Smolin in a couple of days. The two interviews will compliment each other as Smolin is probably going to be talking about The Trouble with Physics, his non-fiction book which is critical of string theory. I love it when a confluence of Science and Science Fiction meets in one podcast. You can download the Bill DeSmedt interview show |MP3| or subscribe to the podcast and get the whole series via this link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSciPhiShow

posted by Jesse Willis 9:31 AM -- (0) comments

 


Beam Me Up, the podcast / radio show based out of Rockland, ME will have a special treat tomorrow. Show #41 will have a reading of Jack McDevitt's Henry James, This One's For You, a short story which made the short list for 2006 Nebula awards. As host Paul Cole sez "its a damn good story."

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://beameup.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

posted by Jesse Willis 1:08 PM -- (0) comments

 


Three new titles from three different publishers.

Vortex Blaster
By E.E. "Doc" Smith; Read by Reed McColm
1 MP3 Disc or 6 CDs, Approx. 7.5 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books in Motion
Published: 2007
ISBN: 159607793X (MP3 disc); 1596077921 (CDs)

From the back cover:
One man against the basic energy of the universe, unleashed in ravening fury that was “Storm” Cloud. Unique was the only way to describe him, yet alone in his single-handed battle. The appalling destructiveness of a loose atomic vortex could be cancelled out only by destroying the vortex itself. While not even the most massive and modern of electronic computers could figure out how to destroy a loose vortex, “Storm” Cloud could and did.

To Galactic Civilization, the loose vortices were just one menace among many. It was “Storm's” unique brain, itself a computer with fantastic powers that enabled him to select and direct a duodecaplylatomate bomb with exactly the right energy to snuff each vortex out of existence. The day a runaway vortex exploded in his home was the day “Storm” Cloud became the Vortex Blaster!


Fledgling
By Octavia E. Butler; Read by Tracey Leigh
10 CDs, Appox. 12.5 hours - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9780792746713

From the back cover:
Fledgling, the late Octavia E. Butler's final novel, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly un-human needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: she is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted--and still wants--to destroy her and those she cares for, and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.


Rocket Ship Galileo
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Spider Robinson
5 CDs, 4 Cassettes or 1 MP3 disc - 5.5 hrs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9780786162765 (CDs); 9780786147892 (cassettes); 9780786172092(MP3 disc)

From the back cover:
Ross Jenkins, Art Mueller, and Morris Abrams are not your average high-schools students. While other kids are cruising around in their cars or playing ball, this trio, known as the Galileo Club, is experimenting with rocket fuels, preparing for their future education at technical colleges.

Art’s uncle, the nuclear physicist Dr. Donald Cargraves, offers them the opportunity of a lifetime: to construct and crew a rocket that will take them to the moon. Cargraves believes their combined ingenuity and enthusiasm can actually make this dream come true. But there are those who don’t share their dream and who will stop at nothing to keep their rocket grounded.

The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show podcast. 7:09 PM -- (2) comments

 


Mark Nelson, has written in to announce that LibriVox's first Horror Anthology audiobook is complete! The impressive collection features public domain Horror stories by William F. Harvey, Charles Dickens, Edwin Lester Arnold, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Hans Anderson and H.P. Lovecraft. Of the 10 stories there are four are by H.P. Lovecraft! Narration of the ten tales is by 6 different narrators. Stories vary in length from 7 minutes to over an hour.

Horror Story Collection 001
Various authors; Various narrators
1 Zipped File of MP3s - Approx. 4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 20th 2007

Individual stories:

The Beast With Five Fingers
By William F. Harvey; Read by Mark Nelson
1 |MP3| -Approx. 1 Hour 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Captain Murder (From The Uncommercial Traveller, Chapter 15, Nurse’s Tales)
By Charles Dickens; Read by Beth Peat
1 |MP3| - Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Doom That Came To Sarnath
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by: Glen Hallstrom
1 |MP3| Approx. 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

A Dreadful Night
By Edwin Lester Arnold; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| - Approx. 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Japanned Box
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by "mrbush77"
1 |MP3| - Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Mark Of The Beast
By Rudyard Kipling; Read by: William Coon
1 |MP3| - Approx. 31 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Mother And The Dead Child
By Hans Anderson; Read by "mrbush77"
1 |MP3| - Approx. 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Nyarlathotep
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by "actualwolf"
1 |MP3| - Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Terrible Old Man
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Glen Hallstrom
1 |MP3| - Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Tomb
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Glen Hallstrom
1 |MP3| - Approx. 26 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

posted by Jesse Willis 10:08 AM -- (0) comments

 


On the main PODCAST page of iTunes you'll notice that there is a temporarily featured "Sci-Fi Lovers" section. It is a listing of 16 podcasts, with what I think is a pretty nice selection of the top podcast. I'm pleased to see that the bias is definitely towards literary "Sci-Fi" with only 5 shows being television or movie related.



Listed are many SFFaudio Favorites including:

James Patrick Kelly's FREE READS, Escape Pod, Scott Sigler's The Rookie, Slice Of Sci-Fi, J.C. Hutchins' 7th Son - Book One - Descent, The Dragon Page: Cover To Cover, The Babylon Podcast, The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas, a Darker Projects anthology series Dark Matter, The Secret World Chronicle, and StarShipSofa.

Shamefully and notably absent is The Time Traveler Show podcast!

posted by Jesse Willis 10:34 AM -- (5) comments

 




iTunes has added a whopping 91 Star Wars audiobooks to its audiobook store.

posted by Jesse Willis 10:30 AM -- (1) comments

 


War is Peace! Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is Strength! Big brother is watching listening. Yep we're talking propaganda, the fabrication of "truth", the outlawing of dissent, the distortion of reality, endless war... and of course thought crime. No we're not talking about the goings on on 2007, were talking about the 1949 NBC University Theater's adaptation of George Orwell's 1984. This production originally aired on August 27, 1949 but is available today for your listening enjoyment is the very first adaptation of 1984 and it stars David Niven!

1984
Based on the novel by George Orwell; FULL CAST
1 MP3 - 54 Minutes 15 Seconds - [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: NBC Radio
Broadcast: August 27, 1949

[via Indymedia UK]

posted by Jesse Willis 10:02 AM -- (0) comments

 

Memory
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Grover Gardner
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: March 2007






Red Prophet (#2 In The Alvin Maker Series)
By Orson Scott Card; Read by various readers
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: March 2007






Where's My Jetpack?
By Daniel H. Wilson; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: April 2007






Variable Star
By Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: May 2007





The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
By Jack Finney; Read by Kristoffer Tabori
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: May 2007






posted by Jesse Willis 2:18 PM -- (1) comments

 


The Time Traveler Show podcast #13 is out today. Along with the customary unabridged classic Science Fiction story (this one by none other than Fritz Leiber) the also show includes snippets from The Time Traveler's recent visit to the ConFusion 2007 Science Fiction convention. While there TT recorded panels consisting of: John Scalzi, Karl Schroeder, Steven Harper Piziks, Toby Buckell, Tor editor Jim Frenkel, Elizabeth Moon, Howard Waldrop, Karl Schroeder, and Jim C. Hines!

You can also listen to the complete files for each panel on The Time Traveler's site.

The Night He Cried
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Clarissa der Nederlanden
1 MP3 - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Time Traveler Show
Podcast: February 19th 2007

Attentive listeners should recognize the narrator of this story as Flying Squirrel from The Red Panda Adventures Audio Drama podcast!

To read the complete show notes for podcast #13 click HERE or download the show MP3 directly by clicking HERE. Alternatively, automatically downloading can be ensured by plugging this podcast feed into your podcatcher:

http://www.timetravelershow.com/shows/feed.xml

posted by Jesse Willis 1:06 PM -- (0) comments

 


Tantor Audio has some very exciting Speculative Fiction titles on the horizon! First up, there is a simultaneous release of a new Harry Turtledove Alternate History novel, quite far out is the new Richard K. Morgan audiobook (o0f which we have absolutely no plot info) AND best of all there are THREE Isaac Asimov Mystery/Science Fiction classics coming! There are even more titles too!!!


Beyond the Gap
By Harry Turtledove; Read by William Dufris
12 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs - Approx 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: February 2007 (?)
ISBN: 1400103827 (CD), 1400153824 (MP3-CD)
"In this promising first of a new saga, alternate-history maven Turtledove (Ruled Britannia) depicts a Bronze Age society in transition. A growing gap in the glacier that has formed the Raumsdalian Empire's northern border for millennia allows Count Hamnet Thyssen and Trasamund the jarl, of the nomadic Northern Bizogot, to become the empire's Lewis and Clark. They and their entourage, which inconveniently includes Hamnet's unfaithful ex-wife, Gudrid, depart the empire's capital city, Nidaris, to explore what lies beyond the glacier and search for the fabled Golden Shrine. On the way, a formidable and attractive (if unbathed) Bizogot shaman, Liv, joins the expedition—and Hamnet under the animal hides. If the Raumsdalians and Bizogots don't always get along, their culture clash is nothing compared to the threat they face on the other side of the glacier: the Rulers, a tribe of imperious, mammoth-riding warriors. A vivid setting and strong characterization bode well for future installments."

Ascent
By Jed Mercurio; Read by Todd McLaren
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD - 8 Hours 30 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: March 2007
ISBN: 1400103681 (CD), 1400153689 (MP3-CD)
Yeremin, a Soviet MiG pilot, rises from the privation of a Stalingrad orphanage to the heights of the cosmonaut corps. During the Korean War, as a member of an elite squadron, he shoots down the most American fighter jets—a feat that should make him a national hero, but because the Soviets’ involvement in the war is secret, Yeremin’s victories go unreported. When he is recalled from obscurity to join the race to the Moon, he realizes it is his chance for immortality.

Caves Of Steel
By Isaac Asimov; Read by William Dufris
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD - 8 hrs 30 min [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: May 2007 (?)
ISBN: 1400104211 (CD), 1400154219 (MP3-CD)
A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimov's Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together. Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer. The relationship between Baley and his Spacer superiors, who mistrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the "R" stood for robot---and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!

The Society Of S
By Susan Hubbard; Read by Joyce Bean
8 Audio CDs or 1 MP3-CD - 10 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: May 2007 (?)
ISBN: 1400104262 (CDs), 140015426X (MP3-CD)
Ariella Montero is seeking the true identities of her mother and father---and of herself. She's been taught literature, philosophy, science, and history, but she knows almost nothing about the real world and its complexities. Her world is one wherein ghosts and vampires commune with humans; where Edgar Allan Poe and Jack Kerouac are role models; where every time a puzzle seems solved, its last piece changes the entire picture.

The Naked Sun
By Isaac Asimov; Read by William Dufris
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD - 8 hrs 30 min [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: June 2007 (?)
ISBN: 140010422X (CD), 1400154227 (MP3-CD)
A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants. To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations. The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection. Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on. Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities: Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots---unthinkable under the laws of Robotics---or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!

The Robots Of Dawn
By Isaac Asimov; Read by William Dufris
13 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs - 15 hrs 30 min [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: July 2007 (?)
ISBN: 1400104238 (CD), 1400154235 (MP3-CD)
A puzzling case of roboticide sends New York Detective Elijah Baley on an intense search for a murderer. Armed with his own instincts, his quirky logic, and the immutable Three Laws of Robotics, Baley is determined to solve the case. But can anything prepare a simple Earthman for the psychological complexities of a world where a beautiful woman can easily have fallen in love with an all-too-human robot?

Thirteen
By Richard K. Morgan; Read by Simon Vance
22 CDs or 3 MP3-CDs -Approx. 27 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: July 2007 (?)
ISBN: 1400104319 (CDs), 1400154316 (MP3-CDs)

posted by Jesse Willis 12:33 PM -- (0) comments

 


Robert A. Graff, a truck driver from Rochester, NY, has accepted our challenge! Bob wrote in to claim A Strange Manuscript Found In A Copper Cylinder by James De Mille, which is of course, one of the titles from our first SFFaudio Make An Audiobook Challenge! Bob is aiming to complete the novel by November 1st, 2007 - that works out to about one chapter per week. As Bob puts it:

"I've always been a fan of the more baroque-style SF/horror authors such as Verne, Wells, Bellamy, and Poe. I really enjoy the style of writing and especially the dialogue - far enough in the past that it expresses a romantic era now gone but not old enough that it degenerates into Beowulf."

A Strange Manuscript Found In A Copper Cylinder was originally serialized in Harper's Weekly in 1888. The publication was posthumous for its author De Mille, who was variously a professor of classics, rhetoric and history at Canadian universities. De Mille was the son of a United Empire Loyalists and has the distinction of being Canada's first Science Fiction author. The novel itself has been much admired as a Swiftian satire. The setting for A Strange Manuscript Found In A Copper Cylinder is that of an Antarctic "lost world" inhabited by pre-historic creatures and an insidious death cult. Some have compared it to Edgar Allan Poe's Narrative of Gordon Pym others to H. Rider Haggard's She and King Solomon's Mines or even to Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. The title and locale were likely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's Ms. Found in a Bottle.

The main story of the novel is the narrative of the adventures of Adam More (keep that last name in mind), a British sailor shipwrecked on the homeward voyage from Tasmania. After More passes through a subterranean tunnel of volcanic origin, he finds himself in a lost world of prehistoric animals, plants and people, all sustained by a natural volcanic heat despite the long Antarctic night (which may remind you of Marvel comic's Ka-Zar and his "Savage Land"). A secondary plot about the persons who find the manuscript of the title, written by More, and forms the frame for the main narrative. In his strange volcanic world, More finds a highly developed human society comparable to Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Erewhon by Samuel Butler and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The copper cylinder's manuscript describes a society that has reversed the values of Victorian life: wealth is scorned and poverty is revered, death and darkness are preferred to life and light. Rather than accumulating wealth, the natives seek to divest themselves of it as quickly as possible.

Expect to see the wondrous 19th century novel, the only one of this vintage from our Challenge, coming to the LibriVox catalogue by November 2007:

posted by Jesse Willis 11:38 AM -- (0) comments

 


Newcomer ElectricStory.com (through Fictionwise.com) has a Hugo and Nebula award winning story for just $0.99...

Bears Discover Fire
By Terry Bisson; Read by Alec Rowell
1 MP3 Download - 27 Minutes 35 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Fictionwise.com / ElectricStory.com
Published: February 2007
- Listen to an MP3 sample -
The title pretty much says it. Whether because of climate change or some even more mysterious cause, bears have discovered fire. This affords the Southern-gentleman narrator new opportunities to teach his nephew about life, death, and how, more than ever, "it's best not to alarm bears." This audiobook comes bundled with an afterword read by Bisson himself at RustyCon 2007.

The New Moon's Arms
By Nalo Hopkinson; Read by Gin Hammond
8 CDs - 10 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: February 2007
ISBN: 0792747356
- Listen to an MP3 sample -
What's in a name? A lot, according to Caribbean-born Chastity, who has adopted the more fitting moniker Calamity. Now in her fifties, true to her name, Calamity is confronting two big life transitions: Her beloved father has just died, and she is starting menopause, a physical shift that has rekindled her special gift for finding lost things. Suddenly she is getting hot flashes that seem to forge objects out of thin air. Only this time, the lost item that has washed up on the shore is not her old toy truck or her hairbrush, but a 4-year-old boy.

posted by Jesse Willis 8:50 PM -- (0) comments

 


MarkAble
Portable media bookmarking software
OS Environment: Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
Manufacturer: iPodsoft
Version: 1.6.0

MarkAble is designed for audiobook listeners who own an Apple iPod, or who use iTunes to listen to such books. Or podcast listeners wanting to be able to combine and bookmark their saved files. Audiobook files bought from the iTunes Music Store or from Audible.com are ‘bookmarking’ - that is, the iPod (or iTunes) remembers the point of the book where you were up to, and resumes from there when you start listening again. This, of course, is vital. However, there are many other sources of audiobooks. Such books may be in a variety of different formats such as MP3 files, or audio CDs or tapes you may have bought. MarkAble makes it easy to merge a large number of tracks or individual files into a few files which will bookmark on your iPod.

So I ask you… all SFFaudio surfers out there, what do you use to bookmark your audiobooks?

Me? I’m a MarkAble man, but I would like to know what everyone else uses for the good of the audio community. So what is MarkAble, I hear you ask?

Well, it’s a little bit of nifty software that allows you to bookmark all your audiobook files so iTunes , and more importantly your iPod, can remember them automatically. I was informed about this piece of software from one of our listeners over at the StarShipSofa podcast. The cost, a mere $15. Well worth the investment to rid oneself of the irritating problem of finding your last position on something so mammoth as Neil Gaiman’s American Gods or Haldeman’s Forever War.

So I ask you… for the good of the community… is there something better out there and if there is – we need to know about it. Please post your comment’s below.

posted by Tony Smith from StarShipSofa 7:04 PM -- (1) comments

 


CBC Radio One audio dramatist Joe Mahoney reports on his blog:

"Canadia, the Science Fiction/Comedy pilot I produced with Matt Watts, has been picked up for ten episodes."

WOOHOO!

It appears that two pilots were made for the show, the second starring Matt Watts (Steve, The First and Steve, The Second) and Donnelly Rhodes (Battlestar Galactica) was the clincher for CBC Radio execs.

Joe sez producing duties on Canadia will be helmed by CBC veteran Greg DeClute. Mahoney will be story editor and series advisor on the show. Joe writes: "I’ve had long talks with both Greg and Matt about how this is going to work and I’ve concluded that the three of us working together should be able to come up with something phenomenal — or at the very least not half bad." If Canadia's quality lives up to that of the extremely popular, non-genre, audio drama Afganada, that is currently airing on CBC Radio One, Canadia will be a appointment radio. Canadia begins airing next month! March 2007!

One should also remember this is pretty cool time at CBC Radio One, if you recall from some stories we posted last year, the mother corp still has the J. Michael Strazcynski series The Adventures Of Apocalypse Al in the can. Hopefully it will be airing by the summer or concurrently with Canadia. We'll keep you posted as more details about SF on CBC Radio One as it comes in.

posted by Jesse Willis 9:35 PM -- (0) comments

 


Escape Pod has podcast another vintage (1972) Silverberg novelette. This one is called {Now + n, Now - n}. Another story as old as me!

EP086: {Now + n, Now - n}
By Robert Silverberg; Read by Stephen Eley
1 MP3 File - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: February 15th 2007

Silverberg himself says of his novelette:

"A man with the telepathic ability to communicate with himself through time uses his power to play the stock market. Everything goes fine until a woman with a power of her own shows up. The title of this story is printed differently in every publication where I've seen it. Sometimes it's in brackets, sometimes not. In the story, plain parentheses are used."

posted by Jesse Willis 12:30 AM -- (0) comments

 


In Our Time is a BBC Radio 4 podcast covering the "big ideas" of our age. Coincidentally, they happen to have Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness as their topic for this week! If you'd like to download the show |MP3|, here's the description.

"Written in 1899 by Joseph Conrad, Heart Of Darkness is a fascinating fin de siecle critique of colonialism and man's greed. Conrad draws on his own adventures for the plot. The story's main narrator is Marlow, a merchant seaman who pilots a steamship upriver in what is largely assumed to be the Belgian Congo. He finds the scramble for Africa well underway, with Europeans desperately competing to make their fortunes from ivory. Marlow's journey takes him into the interior of this mysterious silent continent. After a dangerous passage he finally arrives at the company's most remote trading station. It is reigned over by Kurtz, a white man who seems to have become a kind of God figure to the local people. Marlow is fascinated by him, preferring his messianic ravings to the petty treachery and mercenarism of the other white traders. On the journey back, Kurtz dies, whispering 'the horror, the horror'. The interpretation of these words has perplexed readers ever since and the book has prompted a diverse range of readings from the psychoanalytical, that sees the novella as a metaphor for the journey into the subconscious, to feminist readings that examine how Conrad excludes female characters and focuses on the male consciousness. Conrad wrote; 'My task is, above all, to make you see'. So did he intend this novella to provoke a discussion of the immorality and rapacity at the centre of colonialism? Was he questioning the hero's welcome given to those famous explorers who came back from 'civilising' Africa, as they saw it? Or was he, as the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe put it, 'guilty of preposterous and perverse arrogance in reducing Africa to the role of props for the break-up of one petty European mind?'"

Contributors to this week's show include: Susan Jones, Fellow and Tutor in English at St Hilda's College, Oxford. Robert Hampson, Professor of Modern Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London and Laurence Davies, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in English at Glasgow University and Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire."

Scholarlly inclined listeners can subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/radio4/inourtime/rss.xml

posted by Jesse Willis 11:11 PM -- (0) comments

 


Robert J. Sawyer's first novel in his Quintaglio ascension series, Far Seer, is under scrutiny by The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas this week. The novel is set on an alien planet populated by intelligent dinosaur-like creatures. The "far seer" of the title refers to a telescope and the story parallels the events surrounding Galileo's discovery of the moons of Jupiter. This is a terrific Science Fiction tale about the practice of science. But don't take my word for it, listen to the ninjas including the recently returned Joe Murphy (AKA Randy Innuendo). Download the |MP3| or subscribe to the show and get KAMN automatically delivered to your MP3 player:

http://www.kickassmysticninjas.com/shows/feed/

posted by Jesse Willis 1:59 PM -- (0) comments

 


I'm sure it could be argued, and maybe even successfully, that Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness doesn't qualify as Horror. But I'll be damned if I'll be the one to make that argument! First published in 1902, this novella explores morality and human nature in "darkest" Africa and comes to a deeply noirish conclusion, one I can only describe as true-horror. As a co-production between LoudLit.org and LiteralSystems.org this is quite a fine sounding audiobook, reading duties are split between Tom Franks, providing the narration and David Kirkwood, who performs the story within the story. Check it out and let me know if you agree with me that Heart Of Darkness is Horror.

Heart Of Darkness
By Joseph Conrad; Read by Tom Franks and David Kirkwood
10 MP3 Files - Approx. 4 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcast: LoudLit.org
Podcast: February 2007

Subscribe to the podcast:

http://heartofdarkness.loudlit.org/podcasts/heartofdarkness/itunesfeed.rss

Or download all ten sections of the novella directly:

Section I, Part 1 |MP3|
Section I, Part 2 |MP3|
Section I, Part 3 |MP3|
Section I, Part 4 |MP3|
Section II, Part 1 |MP3|
Section II, Part 2 |MP3|
Section II, Part 3 |MP3|
Section III, Part 1 |MP3|
Section III, Part 2 |MP3|
Section III, Part 3 |MP3|

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: horror, Joseph Conrad

1:42 PM -- (0) comments

 


Hour Of The Wolf, is a two-hour live radio program on WBAI (99.5 FM) in New York presenting Science Fiction and Fantasy. Each program promises either a reading, radio drama or interview, often the entry will be quite mixed. The long running program also sometimes features live call-ins. Hour Of The Wolf has for a long time had a rudimentary website, but actual listening to the broadcast is made rather difficult by its lack of radio syndication, lack of a podcast and unwieldy hours of broadcast (5am to 7am on Sunday mornings). You can however with a bit of finesse use the WBAI archive, to catch recent shows. I've managed to navigate some of the playlist archives and found a few gems I think everyone will appreciate...

September 9th 2006 - Guest and SF author Barry N. Malzberg talks about James Triptree Jr.! |MP3|

August 26th 2006 - An ARTC Radio Drama entitled Hour Of The Wolf and a radio dramatization of James Triptree Jr.'s "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?". |MP3|

August 5th 2006 - The guest is Julie Philips author of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. |MP3|

With no RSS feed or podcast we'll just have to keep checking the website to see what new, or old, shows catch our interest.

posted by Jesse Willis 1:38 PM -- (3) comments

 


You only have only two weeks left to get your entries in for the Mark Time and Ogle Awards - the deadline is March 1st. As you all know, the Mark Time is presented every year to acknowledge the best Sci-Fi audio in the universe, and the Ogle is presented for best Fantasy audio. Last year's winners included Colonial Radio's awesome production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Check out all of last year's winners, and get your entries in today!

via [Audio Addicts]

Also important, our very own SFFaudio editor, Danielle Cutler, has been added to this year judicial panel for both the Mark Time and Ogle Awards. Smart thinking that, Dani is our resident audio drama expert!

posted by Jesse Willis 8:29 PM -- (1) comments

 


GenderTalk is the leading worldwide weekly radio program that about transgenderism. Each week GenderTalk presents news and information that aims to challenge traditional views of gender. No, we haven't changed focus, instead there is a particular GenderTalk episode that has an interview with Science Fiction author Samuel R. Delany about his novel Dhalgren!

Samuel Delaney, author of "Dhalgren", an apocalyptic tale which received rave reviews on its release in 1975, which went on to become one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time, and which is being reissued today. He has received two Hugo and four Nebula awards for his Science Fiction writing, which presents groundbreakingly diverse gender, sexual and racial imagery. Delaney is well known as the first 'out' gay African American science fiction writer, and we spoke with him about diversity themes in his work and in the world of science fiction. Delaney currently teaches creative writing at Temple University.

You can download the entire show |MP3| but to get to the interview scroll ahead to the 64 minute mark.

For more Delany goodness be sure and check out the recent episode of Starship Sofa too |MP3|!

posted by Jesse Willis 12:32 PM -- (0) comments