Light On Light Through is the podcast of SF author Paul Levinson. On his latest show he talks to fellow SF author Robert J. Sawyer about the Sawyer’s new TV series FlashForward (based on the novel). Levinson and Sawyer seem genuinely excited about this new TV series.
Have a listen |MP3| or subscribe to the podcast:
Here’s the ABC TV promo video:
And here’s a sample from from the Blackstone Audio audiobook |MP3| (courtesy of Audible.com).
Posted by Jesse Willis
BBC Radio 7 has just started a new 5 part series, a “new commission” called Brian Aldiss Presents. The idea is that for five weekends “the UK’s master of the genre” will personally select and introduce a Science Fiction short story for our listening pleasure.
Great idea sez me!
Aldiss’ first selection is already theoretically available for listening over on the BBC website (using the BBC iPlayer):
… is definitely subscribable via Radio Downloader…
…and will likely be showing up on RadioArchive.cc in mere moments.
And that selection is…
Brian Aldiss Presents – Imposter
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Peter Marinker
1 Broadcast – Approx. 15 Minutes [ABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Saturday September 19th, 2009 @ 6.30pm and 00.30am
Spence Olham is confronted by a colleague and accused of being an android impostor designed to sabotage Earth’s defences. The impostor’s ship was damaged and has crashed just outside the city. The android is supposed to detonate a planet destroying bomb on the utterance of a deadly code phrase. Olham must escape and prove his innocence, providing he is actually Spence Olham. First published in Astounding magazine’s June 1953 issue.
Update:
BBC iPlayer users can listen by clicking the “lower quality version.” This production has some sound effects/music.
Posted by Jesse Willis
The science fiction podcast magazine StarShipSofa Aural Delights rang in a new Golden Age of Science Fiction by making publishing history.
Celebrating the show’s 100th episode, show host and editor Tony C. Smith unveiled StarShipSofa Stories Volume 1, an anthology of some of the finest stories featured on the show.
The book was released simultaneously in print-on-demand paperback (deluxe and standard versions) and a free downloadable ebook. This is absolutely the first anthology to present writers of this calibre without big publisher backing – from Science Fiction Grand Master Michael Moorcock to Hugo winner Elizabeth Bear and Nebula winner Jeffrey Ford to the SF writer who’s just bagged the £1,000,000 ten book deal Alastair Reynolds (that’s almost $2,000,000 in the USA), trust me you have never seen an anthology like this one before.
Speaking of seeing, that’s something you’ve got to do with this book. Don’t take my word for it – download the free ebook or flip through the pages for yourself at this super-cool online widget. This volume is an homage to the “tatty old paperbacks” of science fiction past, recapturing the visual wonder of the 1950’s pulp paperbacks that we all love so well. Original artwork sets off each story, rendered by top artists published by the likes of 2000AD and Neil Gaiman. Sprinkled liberally throughout are original vintage images and magazine adverts from the 1950’s. An homage to classic science fiction and a daring experiment in the publishing revolution, this is nostalgia nouveau and tomorrow today all in one package.
A great anthology and a bold exploration of the latest in publishing technology, everyone wins with StarShipSofa Stories Volume 1. New and established writers are reaching out to new audiences, sales and donations are being generated to support the show, and a remarkable world-wide community of science fiction fans is growing. Everyone is a winner! There is no doubt that StarShipSofa is leading the way for podcasts into a new and brighter future.
Posted by Tony C. Smith
Someone in the RadioArchive.cc forums asked for, and received, a re-seeding of Chillers – Four Tales of Terror. If there’s an anthology that showcases the power of radio drama, this is it! Chillers was an utterly fantastic 4 episode series of stories adapted by Mike Walker. All four plays were based on excellent Science Fiction and Horror tales. The series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between January 24th 2002 and February 14th 2002. Here are the details.
Chillers – Four Tales of Terror
Dramatized by Mike Walker; Performed by full casts
4 x 30 Minute Programs – Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Jan. – Feb. 2002
“Who Goes There?”
Based on story by John W. Campbell; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Penned under the name Don A. Stuart, the novelette that this play was based on was first published in the August 1938 issue of Astounding Stories.
An alien being is found frozen in the ice of Antarctica. When it is thawed, it awakens, to become a threat to the small base camp. In fact, it’s a threat to all life on earth, as it can change shape and absorb the life and bodies of every living thing it comes in contact with.
“I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream”
Based on story by Harlan Ellison; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
The Hugo Award winning short story this play was based on first appeared in the March 1968 issue of Worlds Of If.
This is a tale of five people kept alive by AM, a computer that came alive, waged war and won against mankind. It’s hatred of mankind is so profound, that it kept these five alive only to torture them.
“Delta Sly Honey”
Based on story by Lucius Shepard; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
First appeared in a 1987 anthology entitled In the Field of Fire, which was a collection of SF and Fantasy stories dealing with Vietnam.
Taking place in the Vietnam War era, this is the story of a Southern country boy who exorcises his demons making late night broadcasts to phantom military units. Then, one answers.
“Corona”
Based on story by Samuel R. Delany; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
First published in Fantasy And Science Fiction Magazine‘s October, 1967 issue.
This is the story of an injured man and a girl who seeks death to free her from the pain that comes from her telepathic ability. Their common bond is a pop musician who offers peace to both.
Visit RadioArchive.cc |HERE| to download the torrent.
Posted by Jesse Willis
As you can see by my stack of Elmore Leonard audiobooks, gathered from my shelves, Dutch Treat: The Audiobooks of Elmore Leonard is just the kind of podcast I’m looking for. It’s on a highly specific subject, one that couldn’t really exist in any other format. The unnamed host takes clips from each Elmore Leonard audiobook (abridged and unabridged) to showcase Leonard’s terrific dialogue in the hands of some of the top narrators in the audiobook business. It was great to hear Grover Gardner, Joe Mantegna, Robert Forster chewing up Leonard’s dialogue once again. The only real detraction I see, in this super-fun podcast, is the highly unnecessary “strong language” warning.
It’s Elmore Fucking Leonard for fuck’s sake!
Actually there’s not a gratuity of swearing in these audiobooks, which makes the warning doubly annoying. Might as well say: “Elmore Leonard is a fiction writer, none of the events in these novels have actually happened.”
[sigh]
Okay, enough of my whining, have a listen.
Here’s the podcast feed:
http://dutchtreat.libsyn.com/rss
Posted by Jesse Willis
Steve Feldberg, the spearhead behind the thrust that is Audible Frontiers, writes in to say:
“I wanted to draw your attention to our production of Paolo Bacigalupi’s THE WINDUP GIRL, which just went in the store this week.
Every review of this book is a rave – and it’s being called one of the best if not THE best SF books of the year.
Our production is especially great since it’s narrated by Jonathan Davis; you might recall that his narration of Robert J. Sawyer’s CALCULATING GOD won the 2009 Audie Award for Sci-Fi.
This one’s definitely worth a listen.”
Cool! Davis is also the narrator for the praiseworthy “Starship” series by Mike Resnick!
The Windup Girl
By Paolo Bacigalupi; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – Approx. [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 15, 2009
Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen’s Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko…Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism’s genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.
The novel’s title seemed familiar, so I looked on my bookshelf and spotted Infinivox’s The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (it’s also available via Audible.com).
[Thanks Steve!]
Posted by Jesse Willis