SFFaudio Challenger working on The Skylark Of Space by E.E. "Doc" Smith

SFFaudio News

Meta SFFaudio - SFFaudio Contest - Make audiobook win an audiobookMore “Challenge” news…

Mark P. Steele, wrote in to say:

“Hi there. I ran across your challenge late, but decided to try anyway.”

The book Mark P. is interested in is the The Skylark Of Space by E.E. “Doc” Smith. Very cool, say I.

As you well know, Bob, The Skylark of Space is one of the earliest novels of interstellar travel. First published in 1928. It is oft considered the first literary Space Opera.

Frederick Pohl said of it:

“With the exception of the works of H.G. Wells, possibly those of Jules Verne it has inspired more imitators and done more to change the nature of all the Science Fiction written after it than almost any other single work.”

According to Mark P.’s research, BOTH the original 1928 and the later 1958 revision are in the public domain, and Mark P. is planning on recording the 1958 version.

Mark asks: “Is anyone else working on this?”

Well Mark, no, I know of no-one else who is working on that title. So far, we’ve got only three audiobooks in various stages of completeness in “The SFFaudio Challenge”:

CHALLENGERS SO FAR:

-Mark Nelson has COMPLETED & RELEASED (awaiting verification) an unabridged recording of The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose Farmer.

-Steven H. Wilson has has finished the recording of Badge Of Infamy by Lester del Rey
– and we expect a Podiobooks.com release of it relatively soon.

-Mark P. Steele is preparing to record The Skylark Of Space (1958) by E.E. “Doc” Smith.

Would anyone else like to publicly stake a claim from the titles on the challenge list?

Also, it seems Mark P. Steel wouldn’t mind some technical assistance – as he writes…

“The main problem that I have is the static on the recording. I’m using Audacity, and filtered the static, but it sounds somewhat hollow and metallic, thus making me skeptical of the usability,of the recording. My next step is to try and move the mike away from the computer, on the possibility that it’s the fan hum I’m getting.”

Hmmm, I’m tech-challenged myself, but I can offer a custom bit of cover art to get Mr. Steele inspired:

The Skylark Of Space by E.E. Doc Smith

Can anyone else give Mark P. some advice on how to get the static out of his recording?

The Zombie Astronaut XMAS ISSUE has Ellison and Dick

Online Audio

MP3 webzine - Zombie AstronautThe Zombie Astronaut, has a sackfull of crunchably delicious MP3s up for Xmas! Among the many tempting delectables are sweetmeats from the brains of two Science Fiction masters…

Soldier
By Harlan Ellison; Read by John Sharian
Part 1 |MP3| & Part 2 |MP3|

We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
By Philip K. Dick; Read by William Hootkins
Part 1 |MP3| & Part 2 |MP3|

SFFaudio Challenge MET with an unabridged reading of The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose Farmer!

SFFaudio News

Meta SFFaudio - SFFaudio Contest - Make audiobook win an audiobookMORE BIG BIG NEWS!

Mark Nelson, a prolific narrator at LibriVox.org has written in to announce he has already COMPLETED and RELEASED one of the public domain Speculative Fiction novels listed in the SFFaudio ‘make an audiobook, win an audiobook’ challenge!

In an email dated “Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:39:27 -0800” Mark wrote:

“I don’t know if any others took you up already and recorded any of the others on your list, but a complete audiobook of The Green Odyssey has just been published on LibriVox”

Well Mark, at least one other person has recorded one of the public domain novels, but it appears you are the first to both complete and release one which is what is required by the challenge. And The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose Farmer |Manybooks.net| was indeed one of the novels from the challenge!

For those playing along at home… in mid-November I challenged anyone to turn any one of a number of previously unreleased public domain novels into an unabridged single voiced audiobook. As an incentive, I offered a BRAND NEW unabridged commercial audiobook to the first person to complete and release one from the list. It appears Mark has, in fact, done that!

All that is necessary now is the verification – namely me listening to the novel and comparing it to the Maybooks.net text – but by all accounts it certainly appears that Mark has met this challenge! This therefore, almost certainly, means that Mark will be receiving a free audiobook of his choice. Either Galactic Pot Healer by Philip K. Dick, Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein or Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Now, if you are CURRENTLY making, or were PLANNING on making your very own novel based on the challenge, don’t stop now! Let me know which novel you are working on. I’d like to know what you’re doing. And, we might even be able to scrounge up a BRAND NEW professionally narrated audiobook for you too!

In the meantime SFFaudio is proud to present the first (provisionally) completed Speculative Fiction novel in our ‘Make an Audiobook, Win an Audiobook Challenge’:

Librivox Audiobook - The Green Odyssey by Philip Jose FarmerThe Green Odyssey
By Philip Jose Farmer; Read by Mark Nelson
10 MP3s or 10 OGG Vorbis files – 6 Hours 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Published: December 2006
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Alan Green is a space traveler stranded on a barbaric planet who has been taken slave and made a consort to an insipid and smelly queen. His slave-wife, though beautiful and smart, nags him constantly. He’s given up hope of ever returning to Earth when he hears of two astronauts who have been captured in a kingdom on the other side of the planet, and sets out on an action-packed journey on a ship sailing across vast grasslands on rolling pin-like wheels in a desperate scheme to save them and return home.

Click HERE to get it directly from LibriVox!

Congratulations Mark and thanks!

Radio Times magazine is giving away Doctor Who audiobooks for Xmas

SFFaudio News

 Radio TimesPaul S. Jenkins, author of The Plitone Revisionist podiobook and host of The Rev-Up Review podcast writes in to say:

“Radio Times (the best UK weekly TV & radio listings magazine) is giving away a Doctor Who audio CD with each of the next four editions. The first is Part One of The Feast of the Drowned written by Stephen Cole and read by David Tennant, the current Doctor. Part Two will be free with the next edition, followed by The Stone Rose, also in two parts.

And here’s a peek…

Doctor Who: The Feast of the DrownedDoctor Who: The Feast of the Drowned
By Stephen Cole; Read by David Tennant
2 CDs – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audio / Radio Times
Published: December 2006
When a naval cruiser sinks in the North Sea, all aboard are lost. Rose learns that the brother of her friend was among the dead. He appears to them as a ghostly apparition, begging to be saved from the coming feast … the feast of the drowned. As the dead crew haunt loved ones all over London, the Doctor and Rose are drawn into a chilling mystery. What sank the ship, and why? When the cruiser’s wreckage was towed up the Thames, what came with it? The river’s dark waters are hiding an even darker secret, as preparations for the feast near their conclusion …

Doctor Who: The Stone RoseDoctor Who: The Stone Rose*
By Jacqueline Rayner; Read by David Tennant
2 CDs – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audio / Radio Times
Published: January 2007
Mickey is startled to find a statue of Rose in a museum — a statue that is 2,000 years old. The Doctor realises that this means the Tardis will shortly take them to Ancient Rome, but when it does, he and Rose have more on their minds than sculpture. While the Doctor searches for a missing boy, Rose befriends a girl who claims to know
the future — a girl whose predictions are surprisingly accurate. But then the Doctor stumbles on the hideous truth behind the statue of Rose — and Rose learns that you have to be very careful what you wish for …

* please note: art for The Stone Rose will be slightly different in the giveaway edition.

These are a £20.00 value put together! Yet another reason to visit the newstands across the pond.

Thanks so much Paul!

Documentary on The Tunguska Event set to air on Boxing Day

SFFaudio News

Television - The History ChannelBill DeSmedt, author of the SFFaudio Essential podiobook Singularity wrote in to say that there’s a cool documentary set to air on The History
Channel.

Sez Bill: “As if Christmas weren’t apocalyptic enough…”

THE HISTORY CHANNEL:
Tuesday, December 26 10:00 PM
Wednesday, December 27 02:00 AM

At 7:15AM on June 30, 1908, a giant fireball, as bright the Sun, explodes in the Siberian sky with a force a thousand times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. It decimates 1,000 square miles of forest–over half the size of Rhode Island, and was the biggest cosmic disaster in the history of civilization. What caused the apocalyptic fire in the sky? Over a hundred theories surround what is called the Tunguska event, varying from asteroids and comets to black holes and alien spaceships. Most scientists agree the Tunguska event will happen again, and next time, the human toll could be unimaginable. Now, NASA and other organizations race against time to stop the next planet killer before it ignites Armageddon.

Those planning on listening to Singularity, check this out, it’ll give you a primer.

Thanks Bill!

Destructomundo! How Do You Stop It?!!?

Online Audio

Destructomundo PodcastGreetings once again fellow vault-dwellers I have some terrible news.

That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die.

Yes, it is true, Destructomundo!, the podcast panel made up of Adam, Ted, Derek, and James, who would normally bring you advice on how to survive an “end of the world scenario” may have finally met a threat to the world that **GASP** cannot be survived! This due, to the Lovecraftian terror that nobody knows how to pronounce, and his eldritch friends. Cthulhu and his mythos are the latest topic on Destructomundo! Also listed are a cavalcade of slightly less dangerous scenarios…

Episode 024 Cthulhu |MP3|
Episode 023 Louisville Zombie Attack |MP3|
Episode 022 Anarchy |MP3|
Episode 021 Technopause |MP3|
Episode 029 Time Travel |MP3|
Episode 019b Supernatural Evil – Part 2 |MP3|
Episode 019a Supernatural Evil – Part 1 |MP3|
Episode 018 Dystopia |MP3|
Episode 017 Doppelgangers |MP3|
Episode 016 Mutants |MP3|
Episode 015 Rocks From Space |MP3|
Episode 014 Bunkers |MP3|
Episode 013 Post Apocalypses |MP3|
Episode 012 Dystopia |MP3|
Episode 011a/011b The Fourth Reich |MP3| & |MP3|
Episode 010a/010b Zombie Apocalypse |MP3| & |MP3|
Episode 009 The Antichrist |MP3|
Episode 008 The Last Man On Earth |MP3|
Episode 007 Doom Cults |MP3|
Episode 006 The Big List |MP3|
Episode 005 Science Run Amok |MP3|
Episode 004 Supervillians |MP3|
Episode 003 Aliens Attack! |MP3|
Episode 002 Rise of the Robots |MP3|
Episode 001 Road Warriors |MP3|

Be sure to only put these hardened MP3s into your “MIL-SPEC” iPod or MP3 player. Subscribe via this insanity inducing feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/destructomundo

posted by Jesse Willis