Clicking around on the web actually makes physical stuff happen, at least when the clicks are in the right place. Every couple of months now there’s a piece of paper that arrives in the mail. I figure it’s because some thoughtful person, or cat, pressed on a mouse.
SFFaudio’s income for the months of September and October 2012 was $156.77.
We thank you for your support.
Posted by Jesse Willis
Of Withered Apples by Philip K. Dick is PUBLIC DOMAIN.
First published in Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy. This short story was not previously known to be public domain due to a falsification on a copyright renewal. Observe the relevant page from the renewal:
As you can see it shows that Of Withered Apples was supposed to have been first published in volume 1, issue 33, of Uncanny Tales (July 1955).
So, I tracked down a copy of that comic book and am providing photographic evidence that it was not published in that issue.
Normally in these cases I would simply show the copyright page and/or the table of contents page. But as comics of that era often didn’t credit writers, and most also didn’t offer a table of contents page, this is impossible.
Instead, I have had the entire issue photographed, cover to cover, to show that Of Withered Apples was:
A. Not published in that issue.
B. Was not published in that issue uncredited.
Here is the proof |PDF|.
And please note, that while the issue does contain a textual story, it is not, most certainly not, Of Withered Apples.
Of Withered Apples was published a year earlier, in Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy, July 1954. Here is the table of contents show that:
And finally, here is a |PDF| made from that publication.
[Thanks Julie!]
Posted by Jesse Willis
In his latest Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, #173, Luke Burrage reviews the new audiobook of The Simulacra, one of the many previously unrecorded PKD novels from Brilliance Audio.
It’s a comedic and relevant SF novel. The plot makes very little sense, but the themes and ideas are terrific. It skewers and examines various forms of crazy – from the American political system (and a kind of proto Occupy movement), to a rampant pharmacological industry, to the perils of psychotherapy. Add in musical contest TV shows, artificial people, and the planet Mars and you get a kind of crazy nuts book that only Dick can pull off.
And Luke, in turn, must abandon his usual format to try to make sense of the thing.
The podcast is here |MP3| and you can subscribe to Luke’s podcast via this feed:
http://www.sfbrp.com/?feed=podcast
Posted by Jesse Willis
I’m not sure exactly how I came across this broadcast recording. But I’m very glad I did. It’s as part of a collection called The Golden Apples Of The Sun – a five part half hour of radio drama series adapting Ray Bradbury stories. This episode, episode 2, includes a pair of stories.
The first, The Flying Machine, is a short “fantasy” set in a mythical China. The story was familiar somehow so I looked it up and realized it was in an issue of Playboy that I have. I have appended the beautiful accompanying illustration (by Franz Altschuler).
In the same broadcast was an iconic tale of an obsessive compulsive murderer. Called, The Fruit At The Bottom Of The Bowl, it was first published as Touch And Go! in a mag called Detective Book (November 1948). Unfortunately, I don’t have a beautiful scan of the first publication of that. Instead, I have a terrible scan (see below).
But, my new friend John Feaster, who I found through LibriVox, mentioned an adaptation of it in the EC Comics comic called Crime SuspenStories (#17). And that I do have a nice picture of.
The Golden Apples Of The Sun – The Flying Machine
Adapted from the story by Ray Bradbury; Adapted by Lawrence Gilbert; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 5
Broadcast: January 30, 1991
Source: Archive.org
Producer Peter Hutchings.
Cast:
Paul Maxwell
Don Fellows
Ed Bishop
Paul Downing
And The Fruit At The Bottom Of The Bowl was adapted to TV for The Ray Bradbury Theater. And it stars Michael Ironside and Robert Vaughn!
Posted by Jesse Willis