StarShipSofa

SFFaudio Online Audio

Star Ship Sofa Podcast Science Fiction Magazine

Listen to the full show here: StarShipSofa Aural Delights No 54 Joan D Vinge mp3

Editorial: Tony C Smith 02:10

Poetry: Light Across An Impossible Lake by Mark Rich 09:00

Flash Fiction: Hard Rain by Matthew Sanborn Smith 17:30

Fact: Arthur Gordon by Amy H Sturgis 16:30

The Sofanauts Awards: by Mark Bormann 30:15

Main Fiction: A View From A Height by Joan D Vinge 34:00

Narrators: Kate Baker, Julio Flavio, Diane Severson

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://www.starshipsofa.com/rss

Posted by Tony C. Smith

Review of Starship: Pirate by Mike Resnick

SFFaudio Review

Starship: Pirate, Book 2 by Mike ResnickStarship: Pirate, Book 2
By Mike Resnick; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 8 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Opera / Galactic Civilization / Aliens / Piracy / Crime / Military SF /

Seeking to find a new life for themselves, Cole and comrades remake the Teddy R. as a pirate ship and set sail for the lawless Inner Frontier. There, powerful warlords, cut-throat pirates, and struggling colonies compete for survival in a game where you rarely get a second chance to learn the rules. But military discipline is poor preparation for a life of pillaging and plundering, and Cole’s principles limit his targets. Seeking an education on the nature of piracy, Cole hunts more knowledgeable players: the beautiful but deadly Valkyrie, the enigmatic alien fence David Copperfield, and the fearsome alien pirate known as the Hammerhead Shark.

Avast! All hands take heed of this fine awdio-booke! It be a speedy chaser to Starship: Mutiny – and who among ye haven’t read that yet? The scurvy lot who han’t yet, ought! Those who ha, read on.

Writer of the booke be one named Resnick, he be an experienced one, charting a course that leads to high adventure and much profite. There be little ballast for this be a fast journey. But I forewarn thee, there be parts where you’ll feel clapped in irons (unable to stop listening).

The keel of this story be straight and true. Though to be fair there was one leak into the bilge (a repeated line missed in the editing). Skippering the narration of this yarn be a yank of some experience. Jonathan Davis, he who tole the story of the Teddy R. and crew from the first booke (Starship: Mutiny), returns to bedevil the shores of many star systems again. Me spyglass reports that he be crewing the next booke, Starship: Mercenary as well. That be a good thing. Behind this yarn be Audible Frontiers. A new publisher of some new repute. And their stocks look unto being a great treasure trove of riches – fit nigh for many a plundering (mind ye though there be DRM). Better, and fitter, just sign your X and get an account. It be a wise move me hearties.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 007

SFFaudio Online Audio

Despite the title, this is the 8th Short Science Fiction Collection from LibriVox. The accounting is wonky because #007 was preceded by #008 by a month or so (#008 was completed first). New narrators in this volume include David N. Castle, Bryden Jones, Alex Clarke and Corey M. Snow. Some of these tales are rehashes of previously incarnated recordings, but with new narrators (its time to stop re-recording Kurt Vonnegut’s 2 B R 0 2 B Librivoxers). Still, most of the ten stories are new to audio. Of most significance to me personally is the release of Ralph William’s Cat and Mouse, as read by Betsie Bush. This is a story from our 3rd Annual SFFaudio Challenge! Betsie is the first to complete an audiobook from the 3rd Challenge (she took just 3 weeks to file her claim and finish) and will soon be enjoying her pick from among the prizes. Thanks Betsie! Thanks Librivoxers!

LibriVox Short Science Fiction Stories Collection #007Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 007
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 05, 2008
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science and technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.

Stories included:

LibriVox - 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 2 B R 0 2 B
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Alex Clarke
1 |MP3| – Approx. 18 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Previous FREE MP3 versions of this story are HERE, HERE, and HERE.

… After A Few Words …
By Randall Garrett; Read by Corey M. Snow
1 |MP3| – Approx. 18 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A previously recorded version exists HERE. Described as “a 1960’s virtual reality” by Brian Edwards on the LibriVox Forums.

The Beast of Space
By F.E. Hardart; Read by Bryden Jones
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First published in the July 1941 issue of Comet magazine. A tale of the prospectors of the starways.

The Bell Tone
By Edmund H. Leftwich; Read by Alex Clarke
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First published in the July 1941 issue of Comet magazine. It is no use. It’s too late. The earth—I must dig—alone.
*This story has been recorded by Miette for her podcast too |MP3|!

LibriVox Science Fiction Audiobook - Cat And Mouse by Ralph WilliamsCat And Mouse
By Ralph Williams; Read by Betsie Bush
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour 3 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 5th 2008
This was the cover story for the Astounding Science Fiction issue for June 1959. Set in Alaska, and being a most unusual Science Fiction story – it’s about hunting!

Cry From A Far Planet
By Tom Godwin; Read by Bryden Jones
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First appeared in the September 1958 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories. The problem of separating the friends from the enemies was a major one in the conquest of space as many a dead spacer could have testified. A tough job when you could see an alien and judge appearances; far tougher when they were only whispers on the wind.

Droozle
By Frank Banta; Read by Mooseboy Alfonzo
1 |MP3| – Approx. 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Taken from the pages of Galaxy magazine’s December 1962 issue. Droozle was probably the greatest writer in the world—any world!

LibriVox short story - An Incident On Route 12 by James H. SchmitzAn Incident on Route 12
By James H. Schmitz; Read by James Christopher
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 5th 2008
Previous iterations are found HERE and HERE.



The Man Who Hated Mars
By Randall Garrett; Read by David N. Castle
1 |MP3| – Approx 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First published in the September 1956 issue of Amazing Stories. To escape from Mars, all Clayton had to do was the impossible. Break out of a crack-proof exile camp—get onto a ship that couldn’t be boarded—smash through an impenetrable wall of steel. Perhaps he could do all these things, but he discovered that Mars did evil things to men; that he wasn’t even Clayton any more.

The Mightiest Man
By Patrick Fahy; Read by David N. Castle
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
From the pages of Worlds of If magazine (November 1961). “He had betrayed mankind, but he was not afraid of the consequences—ever!”

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-007.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman

SFFaudio Review

Fantasy Audiobook - Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper by Michael ReismanSimon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper
By Michael Reisman; Read by Nicholas Hormann
6 CDs – 7 hours, 22 minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9780739363539
Themes: / Science Fiction / YA / Physics / School /

Ordinary sixth-grader Simon Bloom has just made the biggest discovery since gravity–and it literally fell into his lap.

This is just an ordinary universe with one little twist. There is something called the Council of Knowledge that controls everything in the universe — how it runs, events that happen, and things like this. One part of this group is the Council of Sciences, and part of that is the Order of Physics. A man named Ralphagon Wintrofly (or Ralph Winters, as other people call him) is the keeper of this group and very special book called the Teachers Edition of Physics. The group meets every week in a forest near Simon Bloom’s hometown, but this forest is hidden from people who aren’t in the Council of Knowledge.

Simon Bloom was never special in any way, just an ordinary kid at school who had average grades and no friends. He spent his time daydreaming, and hoping that something would happen to his life. He got his wish. He met another sixth-grader at his school (Owen) and they find themselves in a patch of woods on the way home from school one day. Simon accidentally calls the Teachers Edition of Physics to him, and now it calls him “Keeper”.

The book contains formulas for controlling the field of physics. Certain people want this book and it isn’t safe for long. Simon has to face the horrific Seerbetta who has formulas of her own. Simon and his friends must find a way to defeat her and figure out what the Teachers Edition of Physics is for.

Nicholas Hormann is the narrator of this story. He has a great talent for creating voices. The characters voices that he provided this story put an emphasis on their specific character. The females in this story sound a bit more male than female but it did not make it so I couldn’t understand who the character was.

I recommend this book to kids 11+. This is a great book to listen to for its mild intensity and its surprising scenes. I was surprised at what happened next and was always ready for more.

Posted by DanielsonKid, Age 14

FREE LISTENS Review: Anthem by Ayn Rand

SFFaudio Review

Free Listens BlogAnthem
By Ayn Rand
Source: Thought Audio
Length: 2 hr, 12 min
Reader: Michael Scott

The book:Set in the future following a catastrophic war, the society portrayed in Anthem is collectivism taken to the extreme. Individuality has been nearly wiped out. The first person singular is outlawed and forgotten, replacing “I” with “we”. People do not not have names, but designations containing a societal quality combined with a number. Equality 7-2521 is a man who feels the pull of individualism and is punished for it. When in the course of his duties, he discovers an old tunnel from before the wars, he gains a chance to break free.

Rand’s portray of this society has much in common with works produced during the rise of communism, such as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World. Unlike these other examples of the sub-genre, I found Rand’s dystopia lacking in realism and therefore less compelling. Anthem‘s society is a city all on its own without any sense of a larger world other than an ill-defined wilderness. Surely other pockets of humanity would have survived even the most horrific war and become a rival society to out-compete the anti-technology society portrayed here.

The other main problem that I have with the book is that the danger it forecasts in collectivism is no longer the pressing spectre it was to Rand, who had lived in Stalinist Russia. In the present, we are more in danger of the opposite, a world of complete individuals with no sense of brotherhood or the collective good. Just as science in Anthem is impossible because no one can become any greater than others, science in a world where every technique or discovery is patented and jealously guarded is equally impossible. Likewise art is equally difficult when the artist or writer is not allowed to be different as when anything mildly derivative runs the danger of a copyright lawsuit. For this reason, I see Anthem not as a story for our time, but as a historical document of the fear that collective society once held.

Rating: 7/10

The Reader: Scott has a deep, announcer-sounding voice that is very pleasant for listening. This stentorian voice, however, is one of the drawbacks as well. Scott speaks with such confidence and power that it is sometimes discordant with the position of the protagonist, who has been trained to see himself as just like everyone else. The steady patterns of his cadence and the radio-quality voice are great assets to make the words very understandable, so only true purists need worry about the incongruity of the voice. Some edits are audible through digital artifacts, but otherwise the audio is professionally produced with very little background noise.

Note: Thought Audio’s books have sometimes been free and other times behind a pay wall. If you would like this book, but find you cannot download it, try the always-free LibriVox version.

Posted by Seth