News, Reviews, and Commentary on all forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror audio. Audiobooks, audio drama, podcasts; we discuss all of it here. Mystery, crime, and noir audio are also fair game.
Here’s an interesting article from MSNBC which states that the audio version of the new Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will go on sale on July 16, the same day as the hardcover release, with a record first run of 635,000 copies! That’s an astounding number. A lot of people are getting their first taste of audiobooks through Rowling’s titles.
Jim Dale narrates the unabridged novel, as he did all of the previous novels. This one will run 19 hours and will be released by Listening Library.
It’s also interesting to note that in the UK, the Harry Potter audiobooks are performed by Stephen Fry. A quick check of Amazon.co.uk shows that this book will be, also. I haven’t heard Fry’s narration yet, but would like to (hint, hint, nudge nudge, say no more).
The latest Vox: SF for Your Ears column was posted today on SFSite. It contains everything I know about podcasting – thanks again to Jesse for bringing me up to speed.
The Consciousness Plague By Paul Levinson, Read by Mark Shanahan ISBN: 1593160380 Abridged Listen and Live Audio Scott: This is an 8 hour abridgement… Amazon shows that the book is 340 pages long, so it’s almost all here.
Dead as a Doornail A Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery By Charlaine Harris, Read by Johanna Parker ISBN: 1419337300 Recorded Books
Empire of the East By Fred Saberhagen, Read by Raymond Todd Unabridged ISBN: 078134976 Blackstone Audio Scott: This one’s on my TBR shelf… Saberhagen is a writer I haven’t read (or heard).
The Historian By Elizabeth Kostova, Read by Rosalyn Landor and Jim Ward Unabridged ISBN: 1594830363 Time Warner Audiobooks
Pendragon Book 3: The Never War By D.J. MacHale, Read by William Dufris ISBN: 1597372510 Brilliance Audio
Pendragon Book 4: The Reality Bug By D.J. MacHale, Read by William Dufris ISBN 1597372596 Brilliance Audio
Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues By Mark Eddy Smith, Read by Simon Vance Unabridged ISBN: 0786178299 Blackstone Audio Scott: This one caught my eye – it’s a kind of “Life Lessons from Lord of the Rings”
Velocity By Dean Koontz, Read by Michael Hayden Unabridged ISBN: 0739315552 Random House Audio
The Vor Game By Lois McMaster Bujold, Read by Grover Gardner Unabridged ISBN: 0786177330 Blackstone Audio Scott: Blackstone will be releasing several of Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels – this is the first!
Wee Free Men By Terry Pratchett, Read by Stephen Briggs ISBN: 0060785985 Harper Audio
In the podcasting world, here’s some of the titles that have been published:
Escape Pod “In His Footsteps” by Paul E. Martens, Read by Stephen Eley “Oasis” by Greg van Eekhout, Read by Stephen Eley “Snow Day” by Jennifer Pelland, Read by Deborah Green “Strange Girlfriend” by Scott Janssens, Read by Stephen Eley
Podiobooks continues their serials of Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana by Tee Morris & Lisa Lee, The Pocket and the Pendant by Mark Jeffrey, and Earthcore by Scott Sigler.
Other new developments – Timberwolf Press is now offering some of their titles for sale at Paperback Digital, which has also branched out into eBooks.
If you’d like to be included in future New Releases posts on SFFAudio, please click here to e-mail Scott.
The Audie Awards were presented this weekend in New York City. Neil Gaiman was emcee – the press release called him “one of the top ten living post-modern writers”. Find the press release at the Audio Publisher’s Assocation website.
In the Science Fiction category, the winner was Blackstone Audio’sLost Boys by Orson Scott Card, read by Stefan Rudnicki. Bravo!
Other genre winners: Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, read by Rene Auberjonois (Time Warner Audiobooks) won in the Abridged Fiction category. I haven’t heard this title, but Auberjonois is one heck of a good narrator.
Jim Dale’s performance of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (Listening Library) won in the Classics category, and his narration of Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Brilliance Audio) won in the Children’s Titles for Ages 8+ category. A new Jim Dale-performed Harry Potter title is scheduled for release on July 16th and is eagerly awaited in my house.
C.S. Lewis’ Narnia tales showed up twice on the list; once in the Inspirational/Faith-Based Fiction category, and again in the Package Design category. (Both titles were published by HarperCollins.)
Our friends over at Full Cast Audio won an award in the Audio Drama category for Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja. Well deserved! They blur the line between Audio Drama and Audiobooks with their Full Cast unabridged readings – check them out!
The Audiobook of the Year? Bill Clinton’s My Life, published by Random House.
On the Random House Audio – Star Wars website, you can watch a 5-minute video on the making of Star Wars audiobooks. Jonathan Davis, a narrator I’ve enjoyed many times, appears.
We’re hard at work building a new online audio page that will include up-to-date links to streaming genre-related audio sources, including podcasts. We’ll get that up as soon as possible, and are completely open to suggestions and/or items to include on that page – click here to e-mail me, or here for Jesse.
In my ear is an unabridged version of Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks. This is my first Culture novel, and so far (about 10% in) I’m really liking it. I noticed that Banks’ latest Culture novel, The Algebraist, is available in England in unabridged format only. I’m curious – are there a lot of abridgements produced in England?
On or about June 15, you’ll see the return of our popular monthly “New Releases” post. I’ll gather those posts on an archive page as well.
