The World Set Free
By H.G. Wells; Read by Shelly Frasier
1 MP3-CD or 6 CDs - Approx. 6.5 Hrs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2002
ISBN: 1400150108 (MP3-CD); 1400100100(CDs)
/ Science Fiction / Atomic Power / Atomic Bombs / War / Utopia / Politics / Futurism / Prophecy / World State /

“Never before in the history of warfare had there been a continuing explosive; indeed, up to the middle of the twentieth century the only explosives known were combustibles whose explosiveness was due entirely to their instantaneousness; and these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men who used them.”

The Father of Science Fiction first works are still among our classics. With excellent treatments of alien invasion (The War of the Worlds), space travel (First Men in the Moon), proto-genetic manipulation (The Island of Dr. Moreau), and of course time travel (The Time Machine). In his first decade of a writer he had written these classics as well as The Invisible Man, and The Food of the Gods, as many classic short stories.

Wells continued his writing career for another 40 years. Always remaining a popular author. So what happened to all these books he wrote? What happened to this iconoclast of SF? Why were his later works seldom reprinted and so hard to find? In his day, books like Tono-Bungay and Ann Veronica were huge critical and commercial successes. Thanks to Project Gutenberg and other public domain sites, his more obscure works are now obtainable. Much of his later work does not qualify as SF. But there are a number of his novels that deal with prophecies and future utopias and do qualify as SF.

The World Set Free was one of those future visions. Written and published upon the cusp of World War I, the novel proves that Wells had a gift for prophecy, although many of the details played out in a different way. In the novel the World War would not occur till 1956.

The main impetus of the novel is the advent of atomic power, both as a bomb and as a power source. The atomic bomb has many similarities to the actual bombs, including decaying radiation. Wells' portrait of a World War would lead to numerous atomic bombs destroying civilization.

Wells had hoped from the ashes of a World War that nationalism would dissolve and a new world state would evolve. He portrays the World War in a horrific way. For one who saw the war as a way to a new world order, he does not handle the horrors of war with kid gloves.

Wells uses a narrative device that this book is written from a far utopian future. And from this far future perspective, it tells of the dark days of the war and then of the end of countries and the beginning of the world state. The tone is scholarly and leaves the listener/reader distanced from the characters.

I believe Wells started to see himself as an educator to the masses. That through his writing, both fiction and non-fiction, he could change the world. Sounds like a maniacal delusion, but he was an extremely popular writer. He was the equivalent to a rock star in terms of cultural popularity, but with the intellectual clout of an author. Unfortunately this didactic charge, he placed on himself, put storytelling subordinate to the message. Despite these flaws, the novel is filled with many thought provoking ideas.

Shelly Frasier narrates the novel. After an introduction, in which she speaks with an American accent, she switches to an English accent for the text of the novel. After getting use to this change, I found her accent and characterization quite good and she turns in a solid performance.

posted byThe Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show podcast.

Labels: Atomic Bombs, Atomic Power, Futurism, H.G. Wells, politics, Prophecy, review, science fiction, utopia, World State, World War II

7:30 PM -- (0) comments

 


Mr. Ron of the Mister Ron's Basement podcast, inspired by his love of SF and comedy has plenty more fantastic humor fiction in the works. Recently completed is his reading of an obscure 1904 tale that adapts what sounds like an early SETI project finding to fictional effect. Mr. Ron describes it like this: "While the SF aspect of it is a bit primitive, Viele's story manages
to convey a balance of humor, social commentary, and even poetic
illustration at the end." Episodes #705, 706, 707, 708 form all four parts of this reading. Get them by subscribing to the podcast or individually, details follow...

The Girl From Mercury
By Herman Knickerbocker Viele; Read by Ron Evry
4 MP3 - Approx. 57 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Mister Ron's Basement
Podcast: April 2007
Being the Interpretation of Certain Phonic Vibragraphs Recorded by the Long's Peak Wireless Installation, Now for the First Time Made Public Through the Courtesy of Professor Caducious, Ph.D., Sometime Secretary of the Boulder Branch of the Association for the Advancement of Interplanetary Communication.

|Part 1 MP3|Part 2 MP3|Part 3 MP3|Part 4 MP3|

You can subscribe to the podcast, and visit the basement daily, via this feed:

http://slapcast.com/rss/revry/index.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: Herman Knickerbocker Viele, mercury, podcast

5:43 PM -- (0) comments

 


Gresham College in central London, U.K., enrolls no students and grants no degrees - it provides lectures free to the public. Students who attend in person get outstanding lectures by prestigious professors. Students who can't attend in person can watch or listen via Gresham College website! Former professors have included Sir Christopher Wren, the legendary Robert Hooke and more recently Ian Stewart (a mathematician and Science Fiction author). Among the many fascinating lectures archived on the website since 2002 is one by Professor Martin Campbell-Kelly on the subject of the origins of the World Wide Web. Prominent within the lecture is Campbell-Kelly's thoughts on the role of H.G. Wells' book The World Brain (1938). The lecture is available in the RealPlayer format and is entitled "From World Brain To World Wide Web."

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: H.G. Wells, Online Audio

3:15 PM -- (0) comments

 


The Time Traveler Show podcast #17 is all about our author of the month, H.G. Wells! Upfront is the announcement of a new guest-host contest that The Time Traveler is holding. Prizes included, besides the chance to host one of the best podcasts in the podosphere, are SIGNED copies of awesome Charles Stross audiobooks, and an advanced reading copy of Tobias Buckell's newest novel! The meat in this chronological sandwich is a reading of H.G. Well's 1901 short story, The New Accelerator, is read by Bromley native Tim Rowe. Wells too was born and raised in Bromley, a suburb of London, and so that's why I think this reading is likely to be the most faithfully accented Wells story ever attempted. Even better, Rowe has a melodic professional delivery. Check it out...

The New Accelerator
By H.G. Wells; Read by Tim Rowe
1 MP3 File - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Time Traveler Show.com
Podcast: April 2007

Subscribe to the podcast to listen for free:

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

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: H.G. Wells, podcast, science fiction

3:00 PM -- (1) comments

 


We've got some more new arrivals. The Tantor titles took the circuitous route to our door, except for Ascent, which came in today. But, by golly, we're glad to have them!

Second Skin
By Paul J. McAuley; Read by Jared Doreck
1 CD; 64 minutes - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1884612555

From the cover:
The spy fell toward Proteus in a thin transparent bubble of carbon, wearing a paper suit and trussed up in a cradle of smart cabling like an early Christian martyr. Somewhere down there was Ben Lo's wife. But he musn't think of that. If he did...No, he couldn't remember. Something bad, though. This space opera is part of the author's Quiet War series.

Ascent
By Jed Mercurio; Read by Todd McLaren
1 MP3 CD or 6 CDs; Approx. 7.5 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1400153689(MP3 disc); 9781400103683(CDs)

From the back cover:
Fascinated with the secrets still surrounding the Soviet Union's race against the Americans to put a man on the moon, Jed Mercurio proposes a compelling scenario: What if the Americans weren't the first? And with its inscrutable but intriguing hero, Yefgeni Yeremin, a brilliant Soviet cosmonaut, Ascent allows us to imagine what that terrifying journey might have been like.

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. In hypnotic, deceptively spare prose, Mercurio tells a haunting tale that questions the power of ideology and the nature of fate.

The Sky People
By S.M. Stirling; Read by Todd McLaren
1 MP3 CD or 9 CDs; Approx. 10.5 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 140015345X(MP3 disc); 9781400103454(CDs)

Dinosaurs and rockets -- Cool!

From the back cover:
Marc Vitrac was born in Louisiana in the early 1960's, about the time the first interplanetary probes delivered the news that Mars and Venus were teeming with life---even human life. At that point, the "Space Race" became the central preoccupation of the great powers of the world.

Now, in 1988, Marc has been assigned to Jamestown, the US-Commonwealth base on Venus, near the great Venusian city of Kartahown. Set in a countryside swarming with sabertooths and dinosaurs, Jamestown is home to a small band of American and allied scientist-adventurers.

But there are flies in this ointment---and not only the Venusian dragonflies, with their yard-wide wings. The biologists studying Venus's life are puzzled by the way it not only resembles that on Earth, but is virtually identical to it. The EastBloc has its own base at Cosmograd, in the highlands to the south, and relations are frosty. And attractive young geologist Cynthia Whitlock seems impervious to Marc's Cajun charm.

Extravagant and effervescent, The Sky People is alternate-history SF adventure at its best.

Fangland
By John Marks; Read by Ellen Archer and others
2 MP3 CDs or 10 CDs; Approx. 12.5 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 140015359X(MP3 discs); 1400103592(CDs)

From the back cover:
In the annals of business trips gone horribly wrong, Evangeline Harker's journey to Romania on behalf of her employer, the popular television newsmagazine The Hour, deserves pride of place. Sent to Transylvania to scout out a possible story on a notorious Eastern European crime boss named Ion Torgu, she has found the true nature of Torgu's activities to be far more monstrous than anything her young journalist's mind could have imagined. The fact that her employer clearly won't get the segment it was hoping for is soon the very least of her concerns.

The Shadow Killer
By Matthew Scott Hansen; Read by William Dufris
2 MP3 CDs or 12 CDs; Approx. 15 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1400153255(MP3 discs); 9781400103256(CDs)

From the website:
Bigfoot wants revenge! Just as Jaws terrified people right out of the water, The Shadowkiller will keep readers out of the woods...for good.

The legend continues: The Story of Bigfoot is among the most enduring legends of all time. Sightings are reported every day, and scientists such as Jan Goodall have proclaimed their belief that it exists. The Shadowkiller is reminiscent of early Stephen King—a good, old-fashioned ghost story. This scary, funny, gory tale will make even the most hardcore skeptics think twice before going camping.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

Labels: recent arrivals

9:00 PM -- (0) comments

 


The Chief Designer
By Andy Duncan; Read by Jared Doreck
2 CDs - 132 minutes - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1884612547
Themes: / Science Fiction / Alternate History / Space Flight / History / Ghosts / Heroic Journey /

"Tsiolkovsky," he said. "Your memory is excellent, Comrade Korolev." The man who had held the open book before Korolev’s face reversed it and examined it himself. He wore a full-dress officer’s uniform, and two soldiers flanked him. "Exploration of Cosmic Space with Reactive Devices, by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Published 1903.

Though you'd be hard-pressed to spot the fantastic elements this tale is a inspirational and deeply moving for any true Science Fiction fan. I'm not a spiritual person, I think that spirit is bunk and people who believe in spirit are all marks. But in a very deeply emotional sense I can almost understand the need for something like the spiritual when I look up into the deep night. There is nothing more powerful than seeing the immensity of existence and then comparing our thus far pitiful explorations to them. Those persons with the will to embrace the larger goals of space travel, by passing by the little miasma of our insignificant apish little goals, to get a shiny new car, a cell phone or an expensive suit are those worthy of worship. One such man was Sergei Korolev, the "Chief designer" of the secret Soviet space program. This story follows his management of the men who would create the universe's only known spacefaring species from 1957's Sputnik forward into what we can only hope would be a bright future. The story spans from World War II, when Korolev was released from a prison camp to design rockets, to 1997 and the Mir space station.

Andy Duncan is not someone I'd read anything of prior, but his work here is remarkable. If this wasn't supposed to be Alternate History, and it is very subtle if it is even that, I'd have said the story of Koralev's life history was massaged to provide a more ballistic plot. Though Koralev was sent to the Gulag, as depicted in the opening sentences of this novella, the reason for his departure from it didn't happen, in real life, for the reasons stated in the story.

Michael Swanwick called The Chief Designer, "A portrayal ... of the single most positive enterprise of the twentieth century", and he is right, but too limiting, Koralev's genius, along with men like Wernher von Braun was to expand the meaning of humanity from mere animal to demi-god. Before these men, their vision and action, we were just animals with tools and language, afterwards we became creatures capable of refining the metal of the crust of the planet upon which we were born, shaping it into cylinders filled with explosives and sending our representatives to other worlds. The Chief Designer is a portrayal of the single most important enterprise in human history! Koralev is in a very real sense our real life Titan, our very real and historical Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humanity.

The Chief Designer is winner of the 2002 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, the Southeastern Science Fiction Achievement Award, a 2003 Nebula Award finalist and a 2002 Hugo Award finalist. Today we can add SFFaudio Essential to its many achievements.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: alternate history, ghosts, heroic journey, review, science fiction, SFFaudio essential, space flight

8:55 AM -- (0) comments

 


Canadia: 2056 episode 2 is airing across Canada this morning starting at 11:30 am. Check out the Streaming Radio Map for CBC Radio One.

Here's the official CBC Radio hotsheet description:

"Tune in this morning for Episode Two of Canadia 2056, a spacey - in
every sense of the word - new comedy series starring Matt Watts from Steve the First and Steve the Second. It's all about Canada's only publicly-funded spacecraft, the Canadia - sent to help the U-S space armada against an alien threat. This week, the Captain begins to suspect that there's a saboteur aboard his ship - and Anderson plots his escape. Canadia 2056, this morning at 11:30 (noon Newfoundland time) on CBC Radio One."

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: CBC

8:07 AM -- (0) comments

 


The amazingly horror-ific series by the extremely creative folks at Ollin Productions have just started production of Volume Three of their Afterhell series. If you have never heard of Afterhell, you are missing out on an eargasm of multiple proportions. No better way to explain the series than to read it from the source itself:

"This is your gateway to a nightmare world of the ear and the mind.

There, horrors have been set loose on the world. Planet Earth is changing to fulfill a new role in the universe. It is the new Hell. Madness and evil are everywhere. In everyone. In everything.

All over the world, civilization has fallen. Cities burn with lunacy and brimstone. Science can't explain it. Faith can't account for it. The human race is under attack from its own shadows, sins, and deepest fears. The survivors face a surreal existence where only the darkest dreams come true. No one is safe. And everyone is on trial.

Poetic justice and naked cruelty. Personal demons and infernal beasts. It's all here. This is the home of the damned. This is AFTERHELL."

I heard Volume One where else? The Sonic Society during their first season. It caused me to purchase Volume Two, because I couldn't wait for Sonic Society to air it. Being the horror/gore fan that I am, I have never heard anything to make me cringe as much as this series does. It's wonderful!

The best part of this is, Volume Three is going to be released first through a podcast sometime in May! How much better can this get? I'll keep you posted on the details. Here is a promo for Volume Three: LINK

Listen to Afterhell: Dark Descent through the Sonic Society archives:

Part 1

Part 2

You can also find out more about Afterhell and Ollin Productions at
http://www.afterhell.com/

See you in Hell!

posted by Dani Cutler

Labels: horror, podcast

8:32 PM -- (0) comments

 


Aspiring audiobook narrator James Kocher has taken up our challenge! He's planning to record Edmond Hamilton's City At World's End.

Born in 1904 Hamilton was a contemporary of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, and like them sold many stories to Weird Tales magazine. He is also credited with co-creating, with E.E. "Doc" Smith, the Space Opera sub-genre of Science Fiction. In 1946 he married fellow SF author Leigh Brackett. Hamilton not only wrote novels, he also wrote comics too! One of his more memorable being Action Comics #300 (starring Superman). Readers have even remarked on the similarities between that issue and Hamilton's City At World's End.

Now to City At World's End: Just imagine what might happen to a city that is thrown far into a far future...

The pleasant little American city of Middletown is the first target in an atomic war - but instead of blowing Middletown to smithereens, the super-hydrogen bomb blows it right off the map - to somewhere else! First there is the new thin coldness of the air, the blazing corona and dullness of the sun, the visibility of the stars in high daylight. Then comes the inhabitant's terrifying discovery that Middletown is a twentieth-century oasis of paved streets and houses in a desolate brown world without trees, without water, apparently without life, in the unimaginably far-distant future.

Below is the "inspirational art" for James' audiobook...



posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: Edmond Hamilton, SFFaudio Challenge

3:05 PM -- (0) comments

 


Hosts Jack Ward and Shannon Hilchie of The Sonic Society podcast are wrapping up their 2nd Season. And they've got an unmissible collection of programs. Prominent among their offerings are Dream Realm Enterprises' Robotz of the Company series! Also on board is an informative interview with J.C. Hutchins of 7th Son fame, Jack Ward wrings J.C. of quite possibly all of his podcast marketing secrets. But the goodness is not complete without talking about quite arguably the greatest audio drama yet to be podcast...



Crazy Dog Audio Theater's Infidel, bills itself as an "historical drama" - and it is that most assuredly. But it is also a very personal tale of the events of the 5th Crusade (1217-1221 ad) as seen from the perspective of Sir Hugh of Beauvais and his brother Sir Philip, two poor knights. They've enlisted themselves in a righteous campaign to free the holy lands from their occupation by heathen scum - and in so doing, they prove this isn't just an historical drama. What nobody mentions is that while the events themselves are very real, and therefore don't at first seem appropriate for SFFaudio discussion, the true genre of this stunning work is that of Horror! You'll hear it for yourself in the final few minutes of part four of Infidel. I urge you to partake, not only is the production level on Infidel out of this world, so too is the writing. The complete podcast of all four parts of the complete drama are available now:

Infidel
By Roger Gregg; Performed by a Full Cast
4 MP3s - [RADIO DRAMA]
Podcaster: The Sonic Society
Podcast: April 2007
Sonic Society #62 (Infidel part 1 of 4) |MP3|
Sonic Society #63 (Infidel part 2 of 4) |MP3|
Sonic Society #64 (Infidel part 3 of 4) |MP3|
Sonic Society #65 (Infidel part 4 of 4) |MP3|

Hard-copies of the 2 Disc CD set of Infidel are available through ZBS.

Subscribe to The Sonic Society's podcast feed:

http://sonic.libsyn.com/rss

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: horror, interview, Online Audio, podcast, robots

8:10 AM -- (0) comments

 


It isn't often that we direct you towards video, SFFaudio is above that de rigeur tripe, but this vid just might be worth a look. X-Minus One fan Jason Pichonsky has animated a trailer of several X-Minus One stories!

There was an odd byproduct of seeing the video - it was strange enough to see someone else's visualizations of familiar stories that we're designed to be heard - the images are compelling but I kept trying to navigate away from the site - and when I did, to my repeated astonishment, the images disappeared from my mind every time! It is almost as if a video, once seen, drives out imagination. Check it out for yourself, we aren't hosting the original YouTube video, but you can view it HERE.

via [Zombie Astronaut]

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: X-Minus One

12:06 PM -- (0) comments

 


Standing tall and proud in the history Fantasy fiction is George MacDonald's much loved The Princess And The Goblin. First published in 1872, the story of Princess Irene, her myserious grandmother, her unbelieving nurse, and her loyal friend Curdie weaves magic and monsters together into a delightfull Victorian children's novel. The influence of The Princess And The Goblin upon subsequent fantasy fiction can be felt in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. All thanks for this, the first known unabridged FREE reading of this classic, go to narrator Lizzie Driver. Thanks Lizzie!

The Princess And The Goblin
By George MacDonald; Read by Lizzie Driver
18 Zipped MP3 Files - Approx. 5 Hours 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2007
The Princess and the Goblin is an enthralling fantasy tale written by George MacDonald. Her nurse Lootie raises the princess Irene in a house on a mountain, it is here that she meets her mysterious great-great-grandmother, and her friend the minor boy Curdie. Things are peaceful for Irene until the hideous race of goblins that live beneath the mountain start planning something big.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: fantasy, George MacDonald, LibriVox, Online Audio

11:00 AM -- (0) comments

 


The Prestige
By Christopher Priest; Read by Simon Vance
10 CDs - 12 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 0786168412
Themes: / Science Fiction / Magic / Magicians / 19th Century / Electricity / World Fantasy Award /

It's difficult to say how long it's been since I've been so enthralled with an audiobook as I was with this unabridged version of the World Fantasy Award-winning The Prestige. In very few words, the production was excellent. Simon Vance narrated, and since the story is primarily told through journal entries of the two main characters, he was basically called upon to portray these two dark, intricate magicians. He unreservedly succeeded - his performance was stellar. Because of his subtle care, the surprises of the novel were enhanced by his reading. And there are many surprises.

The main characters are late 19th century stage magicians (or "prestidigitators", as they call themselves) named Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier. They perform in London, but at the height of each magician's popularity, they tour America and Europe. But not together. No, these two guys are mortal enemies, out to better the other by whatever means necessary. Each one in turn performs a trick on stage that seems impossible to the other, and their personal quests are rooted in finding out how the other does it, and then to perform it better.

The novel is filled with fascinating detail about these magicians and their tricks. But even more interesting are the journals themselves. It becomes quickly apparent that the journal writers are not reliable. Christopher Priest was masterful in the way he made sure that the journal writers were speaking squarely from their own point of view, which was not always technically true; rather, like journal writers everywhere, they would write something about their own motives that justified events to themselves. The result is an intricate web that is slowly unraveled throughout the book. It's an audiobook that merits a second listen; knowing what I know now, having finished, a second listen would reveal the breadcrumbs I missed along the way. I suspect I left several on the trail.

Also prominent is Priest's portrayal of life in the 19th century. The values, the language, and the daily life of the characters all feel accurate, though I am no 19th century historian. The world's reaction to the advent of electricity is a fascinating example. I couldn't help but to think of modern parallels with the advent of the internet.

At first glance, this novel is fantasy. It even won the World Fantasy Award in 1996. But is this a fantasy novel? It really isn't. Yes, there are magicians here, but they are stage magicians. As such, their tricks have perfectly reasonable explanations. Each of the main characters do specific remarkable things, but the reasons given for the way these things work are not magical, but scientific. More, I will not say, because this is a novel to be discovered for yourself, not to be read about. After I finished the book, I watched the recent film version. Be assured that there are enough major differences that a listen to this book will be a different (though similar) and very worthwhile experience - worthwhile enough to be the latest addition to SFFaudio's Essential List.

Audio Sample: LINK

Labels: 19th century, electricity, magic, magicians, science fiction, SFFaudio essential, World Fantasy Award

7:01 AM -- (0) comments

 


Mr. Ron of the Mister Ron's Basement podcast, is one of most experienced podcasters in all of podcasting. He has produced more than 700 shows in more than two years! His is a daily podcast of funny stuff from the public domain. Not much of it has been SFF audio related, but there is an H.G. Wells story from way back in his archives. Here's how Mr. Ron describes his contribution to our H.G. Wells Month...

Episode #175 of Mister Ron's Basement is H. G. Wells' 1899 story, The Man Who Could Work Miracles, which Wells himself rewrote as a screenplay for the wonderful 1936 Movie of the same name starring Roland Young. The musical intro and outro is also special - selections from a 1912 recording of 'I'm The Guy' penned by legendary cartoonist Rube Goldberg.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles
By H.G. Wells; Read by Ron Evry
1 MP3 - Approx. 37 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Mister Ron's Basement
Podcast: October 2005
A man who vigorously asserts the impossibility of miracles, suddenly discovers that he can perform them! After being thrown out of a bar for what is thought to be a trick, he tests his powers, they work! Worried, he seeks advice from the local clergyman with hilarious results.

You can subscribe to the podcast, and visit the basement daily, via this feed:

http://slapcast.com/rss/revry/index.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: H.G. Wells, podcast

2:35 PM -- (0) comments

 

"The purpose of Exploring Dystopia is not to kill time, play with web editors, stimulate the ego, build a virtual monument or something like that. The raison d'être of Exploring Dystopia is simply to promote dystopian fiction, thus stimulating people to think for themselves."

And that's just what you'll find on the Exploring Dystopia website. It is a super-detailed, highly engaging exploration of the seamier side of utopia. You'll find endless resources at the site, but I found myself enthralled by one particular section:


This section is solely comprised of a 1300 word essay entitled "Voices In The Night: An Introduction To Dystopias In Radio Drama." The essay is written by Jeff Dickson, the master behind The OTR Plot Spot. You'll find it a terrific study of both the history and the power of dystopian fiction in the Radio Drama form. Go check it out!

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: commentary, dystopia, radio drama

11:37 PM -- (0) comments

 


BBC Radio 7 has an new project Saturday, a reading of C.L. Moore's classic Shambleau! The story was produced by Gemma Jenkins as a commission for the 7th Dimension. This is the most famous of Moore's famous pulp adventure Northwest Smith stories. Shambleau was Moore’s first professional sale, it first appeared in the November, 1933 issue of Weird Tales and the sale netted her a cool $100.00. The hero of the story is Northwest Smith, a spaceship pilot and smuggler, who'll remind you of both Indiana Jones and Han Solo both. Smith lives in a future in which humanity has colonized the solar system. The relationship of the planetary primitives, on these planets, to the earth colonists, is analogous to the situation between the Native Indians of the Americas or the Aboriginies of Australia to European colonials. Smith is a ruthless, self-serving, and cynical anti-hero with a core of goodness. "Shambleau" mixes themes of sexuality and addiction during Smith's encounter with a strange female alien. Details follow...

Shambleau
By C.L. Moore; Read by; Read by Elizabeth McGovern
3 Radio Broadcasts - Approx. 90 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC 7 / 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Saturday April 21st, 28th and May 5th at 6.30pm and 12.30am
"An adventure set on Mars, bounty-hunter Northwest Smith lands himself in trouble when he comes to the aid of a beautiful young woman who is being attacked by an angry mob."

NOTE: Those outside the UK can get all of the above using the BBC7 Listen Again service for up to 6 days following the broadcasts.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: 7th Dimension, BBC, C.L. Moore

6:30 PM -- (0) comments

 


BBC World Service's African Performance contest for 2006 was won by a Kenyan teacher and columnist John Rugoiyo Gichuki. His 2006 entry, Eternal Forever, is Science Fiction! This guy won for 2004 as well (though that one wasn't an SF play as far as I can tell). Hopefully there will be more Speculative Fiction entries for the 2007 contest. The good news, you can listen to the 2006 winner and the runner ups (none else are SF) HERE. Details on Eternal Forever itself follow...

Eternal Forever
By John Rugoiyo Gichuki; Performed by a FULL CAST
1 REALAUDIO File - Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
BROADCASTER: BBC World Service
BROADCAST: April 2006
Set in the year 2410, in the United States of Africa, it is the tale of Kwabena whose wife and son have mysteriously disappeared. His desperate search to find them brings him into contact with a scientist, Dr. Chishedi, who has helped to create a top secret parallel world into which his family have been transported. Kwabena is given the opportunity to join them in this unknown world, but it's a big decision to make as it will change his life forever.

Via [JMX and his Silent Universe]

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: BBC

6:13 PM -- (0) comments

 


Canadia: 2056 episode 1 has already aired in Eastern Canada. It is, at the time of this post, airing in Central Canada and will begin airing in Alberta and British Columbia very shortly. If you haven't already heard it, there's still an opportunity. Click on over to the Streaming Radio Map for CBC Radio One. Click on an Alberta feed or a British Columbia feed to catch the last two original episode airings.

Canadia: 2056 airs this Friday at 11:30 AM (Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern) on CBC Radio One.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: CBC

9:35 AM -- (3) comments

 


Paul Cole of the Beam Me Up radio show/podcast, has recorded a special H.G. Wells month short story, just for us (and all his podcast subscribers). This special reading won't be going on the air at WRFR but it's already in the feed for the show's podcast right now. Here's how Paul describes the story:

Here is a classic treat for listeners who enjoy the classic Science Fiction of the masters. In this podcast only version of Beam Me Up - we have on tap, The Crystal Egg written by Herbert George Wells. The story tells of a shop owner, named Mr. Cave, who finds a strange crystal egg that serves as a window into the planet Mars. The story was written the same year in which Wells was serializing The War of the Worlds in Pearson's Magazine, a year before it was published as a novel. Because of the vaguely similar descriptions of the Martians and their machines, "The Crystal Egg" is often considered a prequel to The War of the Worlds, though there is no clear foreshadowing of the events that transpire in the novel.

The Crystal Egg
By H.G. Wells; Read by Paul Cole
1 MP3 - 51 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Beam Me Up
Podcast: April 19th 2007

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

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

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: H.G. Wells, podcast

10:00 PM -- (0) comments

 


How dedicated am I to interesting you in listening to CBC Radio One's new audio drama series Canadia: 2056?

VERY! And I'll prove it...

I've got a snippet of the Q interview with Matt Watts (writer/star) of the show.

Download the |MP3|, but after listening to the clip be sure to tune in to hear the entire interview. It's on TODAY! Check your time zone HERE for when exactly. Canada on CBC Radio 1.

Tune in tomorrow for... the first episode of Canadia: 2056 airs this Friday at 11:30 AM on CBC Radio One.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: CBC, comedy, interview, radio drama, science fiction

10:55 AM -- (0) comments

 


The 92nd Street Y in New York City has a podcast! To honor the passing of Kurt Vonnegut they've released special podcast of Vonnegut's first public reading from Breakfast Of Champions. This funny passage was recorded three years before it was published, on May 4, 1970 at the 92nd Street Y.

Download |MP3| 11 Minutes 42 Seconds

To subscribe to the 92nd Street Y podcast, plug this feed into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/92YPodcasts

But that's not the end of this post, oh no, we've got more timely Kurt Vonnegut talk...

Rare audio in which Philip K. Dick sends Vonnegut to the proctologist over his novel Breakfast Of Champions.

"Disgusting and an abomination, I think the book is an incredible drying up of the liquid sap of life in the veins of a person ... like a dead tree. That's what I think, I really do. I also love Vonnegut."

Download |MP3| 5 Minutes 30 Seconds

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: Kurt Vonnegut, podcast

10:10 AM -- (0) comments

 


SF author William Shunn has spun off a lean and mean fiction version of his regular podcast. The debut tale is his Hugo nominated novella Inclination available in three parts on Shunn's cleverly titled ScienceFicShunn podcast. Here are the details...

Inclination
By William Shunn; Read by William Shunn
3 MP3s - Approx. 2 Hours 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Science Fic Shunn Podcast
Podcast: April 2007

Get all three parts:
|Part 1 MP3|Part 2 MP3|Part 3 MP3|

Or subscribe to podcast via this feed:

http://www.shunn.net/shunn.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: podcast, science fiction, William Shunn

8:28 AM -- (0) comments

 


CBC producer Joe Mahoney has posted what looks like the official art for the Canadia: 2056! Also, Matt Watts, the writer/lead actor in the show will be interviewed on Q CBC Radio One's new arts and culture radio show around 3:00 PM Toronto time Thursday April 19th 2007. Even better have a listen to the three promos up on Matt Watts' blog!

And though I risk sounding like the Roman senator Cato, I must remind you once again that... the first episode of Canadia: 2056 airs this Friday at 11:30 AM on CBC Radio One.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: CBC, comedy, radio drama, science fiction

10:53 PM -- (0) comments

 


The Zombie Astronaut has a rare LP recording of Burgess Meredith reading two Ray Bradbury stories: There Will Come Soft Rains and Marionettes Inc.! Meredith is the one man from everyone's favorite Twilight Zone episode: Time Enough At Last...

The Zombie Astronaut writes: "In my humble opinion, this version of There Will Come Soft Rains is the best audio version I've heard yet"

Burgess Meredith Reads Ray Bradbury
By Ray Bradbury; Read by Burgess Meredith
1 LP (2 MP3s) - Approx. 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Lively Arts
Published: 1962
Product # LA 30004
Stories:
There Will Come Soft Rains |MP3|
Marionettes Inc. |MP3|

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: Ray Bradbury

10:15 PM -- (0) comments

 


Woohoo! I got a preview of the first three episodes of CBC Radio One's new Comedy Science Fiction radio drama series Canadia 2056. This show is absolutely hilarious! Its a satirical look at Canada/US politics, the Canadian inferiority complexes, American obliviousness, universal bureaucracy, internet culture, Star Trek, CBC inside jokes, plenty of toilet humor (literally) and Iraq, Iraq, Iraq!

The viewpoint character, Midshipman Max Anderson, is an American (or at least as American as a Canadian stereotype of an American can be). He's been saddled with the responsibility of being the USA's liaison aboard the only Canadian ship in an otherwise all American invasion fleet headed towards an alien planet. It seems the planet "Ipampilash" refused to allow some galactic inspectors to land on their planet so the United States and its loyal friends in the Great White North declared war!

You can hear the first episode on Friday! Tune in...

April 20, 2007, 11:30 a.m on CBC Radio One (in Canada) and streaming online - worldwide.

Episode 1: Getting the replacement parts to leave Earth orbit is harder than getting episodes of the hot TV series Foxy Chalet ("the best Canadian show the American's ever made").

Episode 2: The stressed out crew of the Canadia has broken the speed of light barrier to catch up with the American fleet. Safe and secure, they're now high on stress pills and low on brains. There's a sequence between a homesick Midshipman and his ex-girlfriend that laugh is out loud funny.

Episode 3: A month into deep space and Midshipman Anderson has passport problems. The rest of the crew is also embroiled in a fight for supremacy with another maintenance ship - who gets to clean up the spill? He also learns a thing or two about the Canadian delicacy known as "poutine."

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: CBC, comedy, radio drama, science fiction

6:34 PM -- (4) comments

 


Do you like Doctor Who? If you do I'd bet Tom Baker's portrayal of the Doctor is your favorite incarnation. Yep, he's mine too. Do you also like vampires? You do? Me too! We have so much in common... which is why I think you'd like to see what the folks at The Secret Cavern Of Read Along Treasures have just posted up. Indeed, it is a rare UK release of an old Doctor Who audiobook...


Doctor Who: State Of Decay
By Terrance Dicks; Read by Tom Baker
2 MP3s (1 Cassette) - Approx. 55 minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Pickwick Talking Books
Published: 1981 (Out Of Print)
Product #: PTB 607
|Part 1 MP3| Part 2 MP3|
Trapped in an alternative universe the Doctor lands on a sinister planet ruled by an unholy trio of tyrants. Aided by Romana and the faithful K-9, the doctor must discover the dreadful secret of the dark tower and face the awakening horror that lies beneath it.

posted by Jesse Willis 9:27 AM -- (0) comments

 


Audible.com has a FREE downloadable interview with the recently deceased Kurt Vonnegut. You have to be an audible member to get it though. In the interview Vonnegut talks with his long-time attorney and agent, Donald Farber, about his classic novel Slaughterhouse Five (first published in 1969). Vonnegut died at the age of 84 on April 11, 2007. Click on over to get it HERE.

Interview With Kurt Vonnegut
10 Minutes - [INTERVIEW]
Subject Kurt Vonnegut; Interviewer Donald Farber
Publisher: Harper Audio / Audible.com
Published: 2007
Length: 10 min.


posted by Jesse Willis 9:58 PM -- (0) comments

 


The Sci Phi Show podcast, back from a short hiatus, has an interview with SF author Kim Stanley Robinson! Cool huh? Jason, the show's host also tells me we can expect to see interviews with Cory Doctorow and Orson Scott Card soon too! Download the show direct |MP3| or subscribe to the show via the podcast feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSciPhiShow

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: Kim Stanley Robinson, philosophy, podcast, science fiction

9:48 PM -- (0) comments

 


The Zombie Astronaut has again posted up two adaptations of the same script, this time its Fritz Leiber's classic short story A Pail Of Air.

Alfred and Effie live on an Earth that has been knocked off it's orbit and is drifting without the warmth and light of the Sun. The last radio station went off the air a year before their son, Bud was born. They survive in an apartment building, slowly burning what coal they can find to keep warm and keep the air from freezing. Then one day when Bud went out to get a pail of frozen air, he saw a light moving through the building across the way...

WNBC X-Minus One |MP3|
WMUK Special Projects Future Tense |MP3|

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: disaster, Fritz Leiber, radio drama, science fiction

10:01 PM -- (0) comments

 


Mark Nelson, that fevered SF fan from San Jose, California has just committed another narration! This time it is Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton, that's the sequel to his already narrated Plague Ship! This guy's amazing. Three Cheers for Mark Nelson...

Hip Hip Huzzah! Hip Hip Huzzah! Hip Hip Huzzah!


Voodoo Planet
By Andre Norton; Read by Mark Nelson
8 Zipped MP3s - 2 Hours 46 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2007
The sequel to Plague Ship, Voodoo Planet finds the Solar Queen banned from trade and starting her supposed quiet two-year stint as an interstellar mail carrier. But instead her crew accepts a visit to the safari planet of Khatka, where they find themselves caught in a battle between the forces of reason and the powers of Khatka’s mind-controlling wizard.

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: Andre Norton, LibriVox, science fiction

1:00 AM -- (2) comments

 


Broken Sea Audio is posting new shows like mad, with a stunning collection of all-original programs coming out day after day, but they also have a new companion show to their homage to their Planet Of The Apes audio drama, Logan's Run ! It isn't just a book and an SF movie anymore, now its an audio drama too!

Get the first part: Logans Run Chapter 1: Carousel |MP3|

Sometime in the 23rd century...the survivors of war, overpopulation and pollution are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the forgotten world outside. Here, in a seemingly perfect world, mankind lives only for pleasure. There's just one catch: Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of Carousel.

Paste the following link in to your favorite podcatcher to subscribe to the show:

http://www.brokensea.com/logan/loganfeed.xml

posted by Jesse Willis 12:19 AM -- (0) comments

 


The Time Traveler will be materializing on April 21st 2007 at PenguiCon in Troy, MI where he will be recording an interview with SF author Tobias Buckell. Buckell will also be reading a story for the show! Can't wait? Hop in the time machine! Or, pass the time by listening to the latest TTS, which contains an early Kurt Vonnegut story: 2BR02B.

To read the complete show notes for podcast #16 click HERE or download the show in the MP3 format directly by clicking HERE.

2BR02B
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by William Coelius
1 MP3 - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Time Traveler Show
Podcast: April 14th 2007
In the not so distant future an over-populated planet requires that every birth be balanced by a death. When Edward K. Whelig, Jr.'s wife births triplets he needs to find three people willing to enter a local suicide booth and give him the receipt...

To keep the shows automatically downloading, subscribe to The Time Traveler Show podcast feed:

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

posted by Jesse Willis

Labels: Kurt Vonnegut, podcast, science fiction

11:01 PM -- (0) comments

 


Escape Pod issue #101 features another excellent Mike Resnick story, with this one being a Hugo winner you can't go wrong. To make it even more impressive the tale is performed by Steven Burley and Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre fame - you won't want to miss it! The story, The 43 Antarean Dynasties was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine's December 1997 issue.


EP101: The 43 Antarean Dynasties
By Mike Resnick; Read by Steven Burley and Gregg Taylor
1 MP3 File - [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: April 12th 2006
A proud tourist guide, shows the ancient sights of his alien world to a family from Earth.

Also of note is the recent announcement that Escape Pod will spinoff yet another weekly fiction podcast this summer! This as yet unnamed show will feature all FANTASY stories, allowing Escape Pod to specialize in all Science Fiction! There's a thread on the Escape Pod discussion forums that details all the contest rules and regs but here's the main stuff briefly:

The Rules:
* E-mail your name ideas to contest@escapepod.org.
* An eligible name must have the .org domain available.
* Maximum one entry per person per day.
* The contest ends at midnight PST on April 15, 2007 (hey that's tomorrow!!!!)

The Prize:
A new 2 GB iPod Nano with every Escape Pod episode preloaded on it! COOL!

posted by Jesse Willis 9:21 AM -- (0) comments

 


We've got some new arrivals that took a circuitous route to our door.

The Will of the Empress
By Tamora Pierce; Read by Full Cast
14 CDs, Approx. 15.5 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781933322391

From the website:
Tamora Pierce returns to the world of Circle of Magic for this smashing novel that brings the four young mages back together as teens. Suspense! Court intrigue! Romance! Fights! All the things that you love about Tammy’s books are here in abundance.

March Upcountry: Book 1 of the Prince Roger Series
By David Weber and John Ringo; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
2 MP3CDs, 14 CDs, or 12 cassettes; Approx. 17.5 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0786178523(MP3 discs); 078617577X(CDs), 0786137932 (cassettes)

“The dynamic duo of Weber and Ringo continue Prince Roger McClintock's adventures, which are coming to constitute a military SF classic.”—Booklist

From the back cover:
The royal brat is in trouble.

Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man. So why wouldn’t anyone at Court trust him? It wasn’t surprising that he became spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?

But that was before his mother the empress packed him off to a backwater planet, a saboteur tried to blow up his ship, and he found himself shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, with jungles full of damnbeasts, killerpillars, carnivorous plants, and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the planet, capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, commandeer a starship, and then go home.

March to the Stars: Book 3 of the Prince Roger Series
By David Weber and John Ringo; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
2 MP3CDs or 14 CDs; Approx. 17.5 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 9780786172603(MP3 discs); 9780786163410(CDs)

From the back cover:
Since his attempted assassination, which marooned him with his bodyguards on the hostile planet Marduk with its unending series of adventures, Prince Roger McClintock has evolved from a spoiled, petulant heir into a true leader of humans and aliens alike.

Road of the Patriarch
By R.A. Salvatore; Read by David Colacci
11 CDs; Approx. 13 hrs - [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781423316404

From the back cover:
THE ASSASSIN -- A cold and emotionless killer for whom every soul has a price, even his own, embarks on a path to find out just how high that price can be.

THE MERCENARY -- A dark elf of limitless guile dares to challenge a king, and carve for himself a place in the inhospitable World Above.

ILNEZHARATA and TAZMIKELL -- A are ancient dragons of great power, accustomed to easily manipulating the humans around them. But not all humans are so easily led. When they pushed Entreri and Jarlaxle into the heart of the Bloodstone Lands, not even they could have imagined the strength of the human assassin’s resolve, or the limitless expanse of the drow mercenary’s ambition.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show 1:10 PM -- (0) comments

 


Thought Audio's mission is to pump more thought provoking spoken word into daily life. Mission accomplished! They've got classics, non-fiction and a bit of Specualtive Fiction too! Among their plenteous resources are complete readings of Jack London's Call Of The Wild, Anthem by Ayn Rand and a short story by H.G. Wells The Magic Shop...



The Magic Shop
By H.G. Wells; Read by Michael Scott
5 MP3 Files - Approx 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: ThoughtAudio.com
Published: 2006

MP3s:|Part 1 |Part 2 |Part 3|Part 4|Part 5|

This is a charming tale from H.G. Wells about a young boy named Gip who visits a magic shop for his birthday with his father. But this is not just any magic shop – the shopkeeper insists that this is a genuine magic shop. The story is an entertaining adventure as Gip, like any young boy of his age, experiences the pure enjoyment of true magic while his skeptical father grapples with having to draw the line between slight of hand and genuine magic.

posted by Jesse Willis 10:47 AM -- (0) comments

 


Adventures in Scifi Publishing has a nice two-part interview with Science Fiction author Robert J. Sawyer. Host Shaun Farrell talked to Rob about his new novel Rollbac