May 2007 – Page 9

Audible.com has an exclusive Orson Scott Card short story Pretty Boy

SFFaudio News

Audible.com, which long ago had much original SFF content, may be gearing up for a renewed push to get more. I have evidence: First there’s James Patrick Kelly’s StoryPod – Volume 1 of which has just wrapped. Second, there’s a new and exclusive Orson Scott Card audiobook on Audible now. These two facts, combined with some other evidence I’m not able to disclose at this time, make me fairly confident that Audible is looking to expand their original SFF content. WOOHOO!

The new Card story is called Pretty Boy. It first appeared in Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show issue #2. Unfortunately it is very expensive through Audible. It sells $17.95 on Audible.com itself and $15.95 on iTunes (Audible has a monopoly on audiobooks in the iTunes store). I can’t imagine other circumstances I’d do this, needless to say audio is the medium we prefer, but for the sake of budgets, you can get the original text version for only $2.50 through Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (and it comes with a bunch of other choice content- including another OSC story in audio AND SFFaudio co-founder Scott Danielson’s excellent short story: Adrift). Here’s the detail on the audio edition…

Pretty Boy
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Scott Brick
1 AA File – 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com
Published: 2007
How do you systematically destroy a child with love? It’s not something that any parent aspires to do, yet a surprising number come perilously close to achieving it. So begins Orson Scott Card’s new story from the Ender Universe, a profound meditation on parents and offspring focusing on the childhood of one of Ender’s Battle School challengers, Bonzo Madrid, and the circumstances that lead him to his unique place in the Game.

posted by Jesse Willis

Dick Dynamo The 5th Dimensional Man Podcast

Online Audio

Dick Dynamo The 5th Dimensional Man is a new, great sounding, all original audio drama podcast featuring a giant cast of kewl weirdos. Shows come out on the 1st of every month. Two months in, two episodes in…

Episode 1: The Organic Nightmare
Episode 2: The 5 Carat Curse

~~Dani Cutler, our very own Audio Addict~~*Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre describes Dick Dynamo like this:

“If you put Matt Helm and Roger Ramjet into the same teleporter and sent them through together, thus melding them into a single, slightly confused but cool being, then poured him into a sci-fi movie with a lot of heaving bosoms and fed everybody in sight as much ‘Captain Crunch’ as they could eat until they were buzzing like a hummingbird… That gives you a vague idea of where this one seems to be heading.”

Subscribe to the podcast feed with this URL:

http://www.dickdynamo.libsyn.com/rss

*Revised Apr 5th 2007

posted by Jesse Willis

Canadia: 2056 episode 3 airing now!

SFFaudio OnlineAudio

Canadia: 2056 episode 3 is airing across Canada this morning starting at 11:30 am in all time zones (except Newfoundland). Listen to CBC Radio One, if you’re in Canada or check out the Streaming Radio Map for the CBC Radio One station in your time zone and time-shift to catch it when its more convenient.

Here’s the official CBC Radio hotsheet description:

“Head for outer space this morning aboard Canadia: 2056, the lone Canadian government spacecraft, sent to support an American space armada fighting hostile aliens. This week, there’s trouble when a nuclear spill aboard the U-S fleet becomes the center of a tug-of-war between the Canadians and the Americans. What complicates matters is that the American elite cleanup force is headed by an ex-member of the Canadia crew who also had a relationship with the captain? That’s Canadia: 2056, this morning at 11:30 (noon NT) on CBC Radio One. “

posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Anthem by Ayn Rand

SFFaudio Online Audio

First published in 1938, Anthem by philosopher/SF author Ayn Rand is one of the world’s most famous novellas! Anthem depicts a dystopian world that will be familiar to those who’ve read George Orwell’s similiarly-themed 1984 (published a full decade later). Both tales are set far in a future in which “equality” is strictly enforced, and individual thought are banned. In the society of Anthem, even individual names are banned with the protagonist known only as “Equality 7-2521.” His story is written as though it was his forbidden diary. You’ll find the full, fascinating, novella available through LibriVox.org…

And here are Virgil Finlay’s illustrations from the June 1953 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries:

Anthem by Ayn Rand - Illustrated by Virgil Finlay

Anthem
By Ayn Rand; Read by Chere Theriot
1 Zipped Folder of MP3 Files – 2 Hours 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox
Completed: May 2nd 2007
“A dystopic SF story taking place at some unspecified future date. Mankind has entered another dark age as a result of what Rand saw as the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur, if at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the word “I” has disappeared from the language). As is common in her work, Rand draws a clear distinction between the “socialist/communal” values of equality and brotherhood and the “productive/capitalist” values of achievement and individuality. The story also parallels Stalinist Russia, which was currently going on at the time as the story was published.”

posted by Jesse Willis

Mark Nelson reads Tom Swift and starts a podcast

SFFaudio Online Audio

Amateur narrator extraordinaire Mark Nelson informs us that his latest auditory effort is already a smash hit, with downloads “off the charts.” Who knew that Tom Swift book would have such audiobook appeal? This 1961 novel comes from the 2nd series, following the adventures of Tom Swift’s son, Tom Swift Jr.. Tom Sr. engages in various kinds of research and still does a bit of inventing, which into science-fiction territory. The adventures from this series extend from the center of the Earth to the bottom of the ocean to the moon and, eventually, the outer solar system; with stops along the way at African antimatter volcanoes, lost New Guinea cities, and various wandering asteroids. You can visit this audibook through LibriVox.org or through Mark Nelson’s new podcast! Details follow…

Tom Swift and The Visitor From Planet X
By Victor Appleton II; Read by Mark Nelson
1 Zipped Folder of MP3 Files – 4 Hours 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox
Completed: April 2007
“Tom Swift Jr. and his associates at Swift Enterprises wait breathlessly for what may well be the most important scientific event in history—the arrival of the visitor from Planet X—a visitor in the form of energy. But there are factions at work determined to snatch the energy, which Tom has named Exman, from the young scientist-inventor’s grasp. First, a series of unexplainable, devastating earthquakes threaten to destroy a good portion of the earth, and Tom suspects the Brungarian rebels who obviously would like to capture Exman and use the space visitor to further their own evil purposes. With the security of Enterprises and Exman at stake, Tom creates two of his greatest inventions—a Quakelizor to counteract the simulated earth tremors, and a container or ‘body’ to house the energy from outer space. If the earthquakes cannot be stopped, the entire world will be threatened by destruction, and the Brungarian forces will conquer the earth. How Tom utilizes all his scientific knowledge to produce swift-action results and outwit the Brungarians makes one of the most exciting Tom Swift adventures to date.”

The SciPodBooks podcast, is the new podcasting arm of amateur audiobook narrating legend Mark Nelson. Each week a new chapter from one of Mark’s audiobooks will be in the feed. You’ll find readings of tales by such SF legends as H. Beam Piper, Andre Norton, Lafcadio Hearne, and William F. Harvey.

Subscriptions to the feed through this URL:

http://rss.mac.com/marknelson2/iWeb/SciPodBooks/SciPodCast/rss.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Paul Melko’s The Walls Of The Universe on Beam Me Up

Online Audio

Beam Me Up, our favorite New England radio show, has wrapped up a reading of Paul Melko‘s Hugo and Nebula award nominated novella The Walls Of The Universe.

Melko says the story is “about a man who finds himself lost in a series of universes, unable to get back to his own.”

The Walls Of The Universe
By Paul Melko; Read by Paul Cole
5 MP3s -[UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Beam Me Up
Podcast: 2007

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

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

posted by Jesse Willis