June 2007 – Page 6

Star Surgeon by Alan E. Nourse – coming soon… just listen

SFFaudio Online Audio

The sounds of things to come…

The MP3 above was recorded as a special promo by Scott D. Farquhar of Prometheus Radio Theatre. It looks like the plan is to use it on an upcoming LibriVox community podcast. The novel it is promoting is Alan E. Nourse’s Star Surgeon, one of our SFFaudio Challenge titles. Likely, Star Surgeon is just a few hours (or days) away from being officially catalogued, but I couldn’t wait to tell you after I heard this 5 minute promo. And BTW, we’ve already got a peek at the all new cover art for the official release, so we’re recycling our old art for this post, one last time. It’s sounding great, and looking great, thanks ComposerScott!

Star Surgeon by Alan E. Nourse - COMING SOON

posted by Jesse Willis

New Arrivals – Dragonlance and other Brilliance titles

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals

Brilliance Audio has sent us lots of goodies this week.

Dragons Of The Highlord Skies: The Lost Chronicles Volume Two
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; Read by Sandra Burr
13 CD, 16 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423316206

From the popular Dragonlance series. The first volume, Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, was reviewed by SFFaudio.

The Companions are back, and so are their enemies in the second volume of the Lost Chronicles.

Kitiara discovers that a former lover, Tanis Half-elven, and his friends were responsible for the death of Highlord Verminaard. This revelation puts Kit in danger, for Emperor Ariakas hears of the connection and suspects Kit of having arranged the assassination. He orders his witch, the exotic Iolanthe, to spy on Kit, who clinches her own doom by becoming obsessed with finding Tanis, convincing Ariakas that she is indeed a traitor. But Kit is not one to take a sentence of death easily.

Kit’s rival, Laurana, begins her own journey to destiny, as she travels to Icereach with Sturm, Flint, Tasslehoff, and three Solamnic knights led by Sir Derek Crownguard. The knights are on a quest for the fabled dragon orb that will be the salvation of Solamnia. What none of them know is that they are all being led into a deadly trap laid for them by the winternorn, the dark elf wizard Feal-Thas.

But it is Kitiara who faces the greatest challenge. To save herself, she vows to Takhisis that she will spend the night in Dargaard Keep, the dread castle of the death knight, Lord Soth. As she and Skie fly to challenge the death knight, Kit is well aware that in three hundred years, not one person who has ever faced Lord Soth has survived the ordeal.

Seeker: Book One of the Noble Warriors
By William Nicholson; Read by Michael Page
9 CD, 10 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423318354

A young adult novel that sounds promising. We received Jango: Book Two a couple weeks ago, and Brilliance was kind enough to send us this one!

On the rocky island of Anacrea, in a garden within the great castle-monastery called the Nom, lives the All and Only, the god who made all things. He is protected by an elite band of fighter monks. These are the Nomana, the Noble Warriors.Seeker, who lives on the island, is now sixteen, at last old enough to follow his brother into the ranks of the Nomana.

Far away, Morning Star, also just sixteen, is leaving home to achieve her lifelong wish to join the Nomana.

And when a beautiful, violent river bandit known as the Wildman finds himself helpless before two Nomana, he, too, is determined to become a Noble Warrior.

But these are dangerous times. Secret enemies have sworn to destroy Anacrea, and in the imperial city of Radiance, where human sacrifices are thrown to their deaths every evening, elaborate plans to attack the Nom are in place. Soon, in a shocking turn of events, Seeker, Morning Star, and the Wildman are caught up in a bloody and harrowing race to save the god of the Nomana – and themselves – from destruction.

And a couple titles for the young converts. These next two say 7+ for recommended age. They’re part of the Strange Matter series.

Toy Trouble
By Engle and Barnes; Multicast recording
2 CD, 2 hrs – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423308386

Karen Sanders loves toys. An avid toy collector, she’s always looking for strange and unusual playthings. Her room is practically a toy museum, from treasured rarities in collector’s cases to shoeboxes full of battered pieces and parts.

Karen’s friends tell her about a new store that just opened in Fairfield! A new toy store. She can’t believe it! Wasting no time, she and her friends rush to the opening of . . . Kepler’s Toys and Collectibles.

The selection is wonderful but Karen and her friends wonder why they are the only customers there when it first opens. Maybe it’s the strangeness of the shopkeeper, Mr. Kepler, that frightens people away. To their amazement, they find most every toy they ever wanted, each buying armloads, so many they can barely carry them home.

Soon they discover their toy-friends have a life all their own.And the name of their game is . . . trouble.

Plant People
By Engle and Barnes; Multicast recording
2 CD, 2 hrs – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423308508

Something strange is moving into the house behind Rachel Pearson’s – and only she knows it.

While exploring the vacant house, Rachel comes across some weird looking plants. They are large, green shells that have blossomed. . . letting whatever was inside them out.

Then, two months later, the Smith family moves into the empty house. They’re very odd people. Not only do Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their two weird children, Jane and Richard, look unsettling, they act strange as well. Jane seems to have a taste for bugs, while Richard disappears late at night with a shovel in hand, only to return early the next morning. It’s made Rachel very suspicious.

But soon that suspicion turns to fear when strange things happen to those who come into contact with the Smiths. Kids get sick. Parents disappear. And plants come to life.

Now no one’s left to believe Rachel, except for the Smiths. . .

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

Lecture: Joe Haldeman on "The Craft of Science Fiction"

SFFaudio Online Audio

	iTunes U, is a new section in the iTunes store offering the content of higher education institutions. Lectures and seminars dominate, some video, some audio. A few of the cooler ones that have caught our eyes are up already. The last set is a collection from Seattle Pacific University (a “Christian university of the liberal arts, sciences and professions”) as such these are lectures that look at their subject decidedly Christian POV. For those of you who don’t use iTunes we’ve also tracked down the original sources when we could find them. Either way, listen online or pop into the iTunes store and get U some education!
	“The Craft of Science Fiction” By Joe Haldeman iTunes U download or 1 RealAudio file – 1 Hour 47 Minutes – [LECTURE] University: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Released: Nov. 2006 A lecture by MIT professor (and Science Fiction legend) Joe Haldeman.
	“Nano-Ethics through the writing of Science Fiction” By Rosalyn W. Berne PhD. iTunes U download or 1 MP3 – 54 Minutes – [LECTURE] University: Arizona State University Released: May 2007 Berne is Associate Professor at the University of Virginia.
	4 Tolkien Lectures By John G. West, Janet Blumberg, Peter Kreeft & Joseph Pearce iTunes U downloads & 1 Mp3 – Approx. 3 Hours 16 Minutes [LECTURES] University: Seattle Pacific University Released: 2001 Lectures included: Tolkien 1 of 4: “The Lord Of The Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization” by John G. West Tolkien 2 of 4: “Literary Background of The Lord Of The Rings” by Janet Blumberg Tolkien 3 of 4: “Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights from The Lord Of The Rings about Evil” by Peter Kreeft \|MP3\| Tolkien 4 of 4: “Tolkein, Man and Myth”* by Joseph Pearce * Please note, Tolkien’s name is spelled wrong in the 4th lecture’s title, be sure to enter the title as it appear above in the iTunes search.

posted by Jesse Willis

Deuce Audio / Audible.com / iTunes Audiobooks

SFFaudio News

Scott D. Danielson, along with myself, is an SFFaudio founder. He’s now working as a reviewer, and as our “Web Kzin.” But his SFFaudio cred doesn’t end there. He’s also a long time Audiofile magazine reviewer, an Audie Awards judge, was a long-time columnist for SFsite and is a professional Science Fiction author. He’s also been running a little audiobook company and he’s just posted a story of interest about it to his personal blog…

Scott writes:

“I’m in the final stages of preparing audio for submission to Audible.com. My company, Deuce Audio, will soon have stuff for sale on Audible and iTunes, just as was planned when I started the darned thing almost three years ago. More on that sometime in the future, I’m sure. I haven’t even told the authors that these will be on there because I’ve told them that before and it didn’t happen. This time, the contract is signed, and the stories will be out there soon. So I’m closer, but I won’t believe it until I actually download one.”

There are other folks in similar situations to Scott and his Deuce Audio, other companies with Science Fiction and Fantasy and Horror audiobooks that are making deals to get their content onto Audible.com (and therefore iTunes too). We’ll try to let you know as they make their announcements. The future never sounded so good!

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Children of Men by P.D. James

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

The Children Of Men
By P.D. James; Performed by John Franklyn-Robbins
9 CDs – 10.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 1993
ISBN: 1419323431
Themes: / Science Fiction / Infertility / Dystopia / Sociology / Politics / Terrorism / England /

“O’ merciful God and heavenly Father, who hast taught us in thy holy Word that thou dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men, look with pity, we beseech thee, upon the sorrows of thy servant for whom our prayers are desired. In thy wisdom thou hast seen fit to visit him with trouble, and to bring distress upon him. Remember him O Lord in mercy; sanctify thy fatherly correction to him; endue his soul with patience under his affliction, and with resignation to thy blessed will; comfort him with a sense of thy goodness; lift up thy countenance upon him, and give him peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

-English Book of Common Prayer

Set in 2021, The Children Of Men posits a future in which not a single human child has been born for more than two decades. In the year Omega, the last year for babies, there began a frantic search for the inexplicable cause of human infertility. Twenty years later they’ve all but given up. The “Omegas,” as the youngest generation are being called, are spoiled, egotistical and violent. The middle-aged who’ve appear to have lost their purpose are all either visiting the state sponsored sex-shops or raising animal proxies as their children (kitten baptisms is all the rage in London these days). The elderly teetering on the edge of a social system increasingly disinterested in them are encouraged to suicide at the slightest hint of infirmity. Leading Britain through this crisis is the long time “Warden” of England, a man named Xan Lyppiatt. Xan is an all-but-dictator who has the confidence of the people. Xan’s cousin is Theo Faron, an Oxford history professor who lives under a cloud of self-recrimination for the death of his son. Into Theo’s life comes a woman named Julian, who on behalf of herself and her underground movement wants Theo to take a message to the Warden. Sadly, the message falls upon deaf ears and Theo expects never to see Julian again. But he does when in an unprecedented revelation Theo is given conclusive proof that the impossible has happened, Julian is pregnant.

The Children Of Men is a ponderous and elegant rumination on topics rarely tackled in Science Fiction. Though P.D. James does nothing to conclusively indicate an overt idea behind the novel’s premise, we can’t help but wonder. Is this fact of the infertility and the fact of a pregnant woman not a contradiction? Are we to conclude this was a freak mammalian parthenogenesis? What else could cause such a pregnancy? James undercuts this line of argument with one plot point and with another she reinforces it. But it wasn’t just the living men who are infertile. Oh no, for what are we to make of the fact that in James’ future even the healthy sperm, frozen well before the “Omega Year,” has been rendered impotent? Clearly the lone pregnancy, as it is laid out, bears some resemblances to the biblical story of the Virgin Mary. But James downplays it. Perhaps we are to conclude both from the books title that the infertility crisis is something akin to a modern day world-wide-flood event. Should we be wondering if the society in The Children Of Men is being punished for something? If we are to take this what-if and run with it, we must then ask what the famous Scottish skeptic-philosopher David Hume demanded, and wonder if uniformity has been violated? Irregardless, the questions themselves are valuable, and the environment in which the are asked is possibly unique and certainly interesting. For some, The Children Of Men‘s ending may make them see it as a hopeful novel, but I believe the ending is more in the tradition of what you see is in it is what you bring to it. For the deliberately childless, what changes? Perhaps nothing, perhaps something.

Narrator John Franklyn-Robbins is asked to shift between first and third-person narration. He does so, with characterization all but non-existent. This is what old-school audiobook aficionados like to call a “straight” reading. His accent is the prime attraction, and casts the entire novel is a completely different direction than the 2006 film version. Listeners should persevere through the slow start as they will be well rewarded later on. Recorded Books does not showcase it’s original art on its website so the arrival of the actual audiobook is always a surprise. This one’s got their older style line art which I’ve always appreciated.

Posted by Jesse Willis

TSFPN.com RIP

SFFaudio News

The long languishing, imprecisely labeled and oldest of specialized Science Fiction and Fantasy podcast directories, TSFPN.com (T.he S.ci-F.i P.odcast N.etwork) has finally and officially died. It started strong, inflated rapidly, changed its name and goals, and then, like a monkey in a banana factory, keeled over comatose and laid still. On May 29th 2007 the official announcement was made. The site’s forums are still available, HERE, but are sparsely populated.

One of the forces behind the site was SF & Fantasy author Michael A. Stackpole. Stackpole had recently taken a prominent podcasting role on the premier new SF books podcast: Dragon Page Cover-To-Cover.

Still running are competitors SciFiPods.com (a branch of PodcastPickle.com) and our own SFFaudio Online Audio page.

posted by Jesse Willis