Month: October 2012

New Releases: Catacombs by John Farris

New Releases

Our friend David Stifel, of the Fantastic Worlds Of Edgar Rice Burroughs, has a new audiobook up on Audible.com. Sez David:

“Originally published in 1980, it’s a wonderful 17 hour epic that I’d best describe as a really fine Tom Clancy style geopolitical thriller, with a Chariots of the Gods type foundation.”

It apparently has a “huge international set of very colorful characters, a really fun plot and really good writing!” And of course with David doing the narration it should sound terrific. As for the plot, it seems reminiscent of Scott Sigler’s first novel, Earthcore, but Catacombs was written earlier. It might make a nice comparison.

Crossroads Press - Catacombs by John FarrisCatacombs
By John Farris; Read by David Stifel
Audible Download – Approx. 16 Hours 51 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: September 27, 2012
Deep within the volcanic rock of Mt. Kilamanjaro lie the Catacombs, the enormous hidden burial caves of a vanished African society more sophisticated and technologically advanced than ours. A civilization that has left the formula for present-day domination by a world power etched into blood-red diamonds – the rarest gemstones known. When a prestigious archaeological expedition discovers the valuable ‘bloodstones’, the stage is set for a duel between agents of superpowers and powerful Africans that will be fought to the death deep within the caverns of the ancient ‘Lords of the Storm’.

Here’s the paperback cover put out by Dell books in the 1908s:
DELL - Catacombs by John Farris

Posted by Jesse Willis

“Parker” movie is based on Flashfire by Richard Stark

Aural Noir: News

My buddy Trent, of the Violent World Of Parker blog, has been closely following the developments surrounding the latest Donald E. Westlake (aka Richard Stark) related film. Here’s the trailer for Parker:

Trent points out, in his post, that the movie’s plot looks like it closely follows that of Flashfire, one of the better books from near the end of the long running series. Now Flashfire was released by Books On Tape in 2001, but it is now available on Audible.com HERE. If you listen to the sample there you can compare it to the trailer.

In a Midwestern city, Parker calmly tosses a firebomb through a plate-glass window, while some newfound partners in crime take down a nearby bank. Making their getaway in the confusion, the bank robbers tell him two things: that this heist was only seed money for a much gaudier one, and that Parker has to loan them his share of the take. Now Parker is rampaging through the American South, taking on a new identity as he goes, and planning his own assault on his former partners’ next target, a spectacular jewelry heist in Palm Beach. But Parker didn’t count on one unfortunate detail. A very bad and very stupid man knows his true identity, and wants him dead.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Lightspeed: The Way Of Cross And Dragon by George R.R. Martin

SFFaudio Online Audio

Does it matter if what you believe is factual?

George R.R. Martin has an answer here in his very thoughtful piece of SF. The Way Of Cross And Dragon, which was recently audiobooked by Lightspeed, explores the concepts of heresy, blasphemy, faith and metaphor.

Omni, June 1979 - illustration by Bob Venosa - The Way Of Cross And Dragon by George R.R. Martin

Lightspeed MagazineLightspeed – The Way Of Cross And Dragon
By George R.R. Martin; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Lightspeed
Podcast: June 2012
First published in Omni, June 1979.

|ETEXT|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Diary Of A Madman by Guy de Maupassant

SFFaudio Online Audio

You think me mad, but how mad can I be?

I have read The Diary Of A Madman and yet you, who so monomaniacally have not, have not!

Barely a short story, more a fragment, The Diary Of A Madman by Guy de Maupassant is a tale arguably more influential, and insightful, than any written since the start of the twenty-first century.

So how come I’m betting you still haven’t not read it?

Maybe it’s because you, living in the world that you do, value the new more than the old.

“The bestseller” is a social phenomenon, not a gauge of quality.

And that’s why you haven’t read it, and why you think me mad.

But I ask you, with all this laid before you …. which of us is truly the madman?

LibriVoxThe Diary Of A Madman
By Guy de Maupassant; Read by Tom Hackett
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 11, 2009
First published in 1885.

LibriVoxThe Diary Of A Madman
By Guy de Maupassant; Read by Alan Davis Drake
1 |MP3| – Approx. 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 31, 2008
First published in 1885.

Here’s a |PDF|.

Posted by Jesse Willis