We missed a great title in our recent New Releases post. Just in from Audio Renaissance is Orson Scott Card’s Children of the Mind, which completes the original 4-volume Ender series, all on unabridged audio! Preceding this book are Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide. Audio Renaissance has page dedicated to the Enderverse on audio – click here to see it.
Dontcha just love new releases? I know we sure do, here’s a tasty batch for May and June. Also, I hope you all know that many of these titles are available in multiple formats (CD, Cassette, MP3, etc.) just follow the links to the publisher websites to see who has what.
Leading the charge this time is Random House Audiobooks with… wait for it… wait for it…
A Scanner Darkly
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Paul Giamatti
8 Compact Discs – 9 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: May 2006
ISBN: 073932392X
Our most requested title (by readers and reviewers alike) . I’m dying to hear how Paul Giamatti will perform it. Expect a review shortly.
Tell Tale Weekly has released a never before adapted audiobook of…
The Valley Of The Spiders
By H. G. Wells; Read by Alexander Wilson
MP3 Download – 29 minutes, 11 seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: TellTaleWeekly.org
Published: May 2006
A SF/Fantasy Pulp Adventure Story from 1903. “Three adventurers face danger, death, and giant spiders, all for the capture love of a woman, in this classic pulp adventure story.” Just $1.00! And be sure to read the nice intro Alex Wilson wrote for it on the TellTaleWeekly site too.
And of course there is no stopping the indefatigable Podiobooks.com, they’ve got a sweet batch of new podcast novels in the offing:
The Immortals
By Tracy Hickman; Read by Tracy and Laura Hickman
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED?]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
It’s 2020, and an attempted cure for AIDS has mutated into a deadlier disease, V-CIDS. The U.S., under martial law, has set up “quarantine centers” in the Southwest. Searching for his gay son, Jon, media mogul Michael Barris smuggles himself into one of centers only to discover that it and the other centers are actually extermination camps. With a strange assortment of allies, including the leader of the camp’s gay barracks, an army officer and a local cowboy, Barris precipitates an inmates’ rebellion that promises the unraveling of the death-camp system and the overthrow of the government that established it.
Discovered Country
By Nora Fleischer
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED?]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
Rosemary Halpern, a mild-mannered librarian from Boston, found herself trapped hundreds of years in the future. A future that faced a new Ice Age. A future where ghouls walked the Earth, ravenous for human flesh.
Sonic Fiction
Edited by Jeffrey Kafer; Read by Jeffrey Kafer
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
An eclectic mix of authors from a range of ages and backgrounds. Featuring works of Science fiction, gritty war tales, murder and intrigue, comedy and farce, this is a book for any fan of short fiction. Let us tell you a story…
Prophecy Of Swords
By M.H. Bonham
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
Nearly a thousand years ago a great warrior named Lachlan sought to unify his people, using the power of the Three Swords of Destiny. Before his victory, Lachlan was killed by his trusted friend, Allarun. Now, Allarun is still in power but haunted by dreams of Lachlan’s death curse: that Lachlan would return to avenge his death. Allarun’s decision is to destroy the very people Lachlan tried to unite.
Brilliance Audio has a lock on lengthy Fantasy titles this quarter – check these out…
Dragon’s Fire
By Todd McCaffrey and Anne McCaffrey; Read by Dick Hill
10 CDs – 12 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781423314561
More lore from the planet called Pern!
Phantom
By Terry Goodkind; Read by Sam Tsoutsouvas
2 MP3-CDs – 23 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781593356873
I don’t know much about Goodkind, anybody heard one of his?
Dragons of the Dwarven Depths: The Lost Chronicles, Vol. I
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; Read by Sandra Burr
13 Compact Discs – 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781423316107
A new Dragonlance book with the old beloved characters! I loved the classic first trilogy as a kid. I wonder if this one will be as good.
Also Blackstone Audiobooks has “returns” to re-releases, remakes and all look promising…
Ceteganda
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Grover Gardner
1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: May 2006
ISBN: 9780786175116
This was previously recorded by the now defunct The Readers Chair – Grover Gardner makes this a remake.
Superman Returns
By Marv Wolfman; Read by Scott Brick
1 MP3-CD -[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: June 2006
ISBN: 0786175729
Looks like a Movie-Tie In.
Animal Farm & 1984
By George Orwell; Read by Richard Brown and Ralph Cosham
1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
PUBLISHER: Blackstone Audiobooks
PUBLISHED: June 2006
ISBN: 0786177144
Released seperately many times and by with many readers before, you can now grab them together. Orwell at his best.
Not much new Spec Fic over at the venerable Recorded Books, but this one caught our eye…
Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean
By Justin Somper; Read by John Curless
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books, LLC
Published: May 2006
ISBN: 1428110836
Lots of interesting new releases out this month…
V for Vendetta
By Steve Moore; Read by Simon Vance
Available in Cassette, CD and MP3-CD editions
Click HERE to listen to an MP3 sample.
First King Kong now this, Blackstone Audiobooks is offering another unabridged Movie Tie-In audiobook…
Callahan’s Legacy
by Spider Robinson; Read by Spider Robinson
Available in Cassette, CD and MP3-CD editions
Click HERE to listen to an MP3 sample.
It looks like the powers that be at Blackstone have allowed Spider Robinson to read another of his novels. Woohoo! I sure hope they get the rights to his upcoming collaboration with Heinlein too…
CBC Audio has released it’s fun 2004 summer Science Fiction humor miniseries…
Steve, The First
By Matt Watts; FULL CAST
2 CDs – [RADIO DRAMA]
Product ID: ERART00166
The show has a cool cast: Don McKellar, Mark McKinney and Matt Watts to name a few. I heard it when it aired originally on CBC Radio One.
And hey look, they decided to release Steve the Second too:
Steve, The Second
By Matt Watts; FULL CAST
2 CDs – [RADIO DRAMA]
Product ID: ERART00167
This is very neat, finally CBC is starting to release some of it commerically viable titles. I missed this one. I thought I’d missed it for good.
Podiobooks.com is releasing so many titles its hard to keep up, here’s the latest batch:
Doctor Janeway’s Plague
By John Farrell
A science-fiction thriller about an astronomer who discovers that a cosmic ray source may be responsible for an ancient plague. Perhaps this is comparable to Scott Sigler’s latest novel?
Nina Kimberly The Merciless
By Christiana Ellis
A fantasy novel about a teenage barbarian princess who’s not going to let anyone else control her. Look out world she’s got a sword and knows how to use it!
Singularity
By Bill DeSmedt
A Science Fiction novel that takes as its premise that the real life cataclysmic Siberian explosion of 1908 was caused, not by a meteor or a comet, but instead by a microscopic black hole. Sounds intruiging!
Pirate Jack
By Alessandro Cima
A modern young man sets off on an adventure through time to find pirate treasure and bring it home and save the family boat business. Previously available from CandlelightStories.com. A fun adventure novel that’s perfect for children too.
Recorded Books has a few new SF&F books we’d like to hear too:
A Brief History of the Dead
By Kevin Brockmeier; Read by Richard Poe
Available in both the CD and cassette formats – 8.75 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Listen to an excerpt in the RealAudio format HERE.
All residents of the City have recently died, and they will remain in the City only as long as someone still living on Earth remembers them. On Earth, the population has been devastated by a terrible pandemic. Laura Byrd, isolated at an Antarctic research station is the only person to have survived the pandemic. But she’s running out of time, supplies —and worst of all her memories are fading.
Hot new player Tantor Media has released a title I’ve been really looking forward to:
Woken Furies
By Richard K. Morgan; Read by William Dufris
Available in CD, and MP3-CD editions – [UNABRIDGED]
The third Takeshi Kovacs novel. Returning to his homeworld Harlan’s World, Kovacs meets his eternal companions – betrayal, mystery, and revenge. Dufris is an SFFaudio favorite narrator so this should be an especially delicious treat!
Brad Lansky and the Alien Engineer, a Protophonic audio adventure, Audio Drama
Visit Protophonic.net for audio samples of this retro SF audio drama.
How to Survive a Robot Uprising by Daniel H. Wilson, read by Stefan Rudnicki, Blackstone Audio, Unabridged
This one looks like a lot of fun…
Mystic Quest by Tracy and Laura Hickman, read by Lloyd James, Blackstone Audio, Unabridged
The second book in the Hickmans’ Bronze Canticle epic fantasy trilogy.
Star Wars: Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn, read by Jonathan Davis, Random House, Abridged
Another Star Wars title from the guy who started it all back in the early 1990’s with Heir to the Empire.
Titan by Ben Bova, read by various, Audio Renaissance, Unabridged
A novel from Bova’s Hard SF Grand Tour is always welcome!
2006 starts with some fine titles:
Anne Manx on Amazonia, audio drama from Radio Repertory Company of America, starring Claudia Christian, Pat Tallman, and Barbara Harris
This audio drama is excellent entertainment – a comic book for your ears!
Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries by Jeffrey A. Carver, read by Jonathan Davis, Audio Renaissance, Abridged
In the tradition of Star Trek and Star Wars audiobooks, here’s the first audiobook from the best current show on television.
The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein, read by Patrick Lawlor, Blackstone Audio, Unabridged
Click here to listen to a sample.
Another classic Heinlein novel from Blackstone Audio!
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Quandary Phase by Douglas Adams, performed by BBC Radio, Audio Partners
The penultimate Hitchhiker’s radio show.
H.P. Lovecraft Collection – Volume 3 by H.P. Lovecraft, Audio Realms
More Lovecraft from Audio Realms! This one contains “The Horror at Red Hook”, “The Statement of Randolph Carter”, “The Outsider”, and “Herbert West Reanimator”. The first Lovecraft collection from Audio Realms landed on our SFFaudio Essential List.
The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson, read by Yuri Rasovsky, Blackstone Audio, Unabridged
Click here to listen to a sample.
A classic novel by Richard Matheson read by the mighty Yuri Rasovsky.
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock, Audio Realms
The second of the original Elric saga from Audio Realms. If quality is half of the first one (Click here for the SFFaudio review of Elric of Melnibone) then this is a must-have.
Star Wars: The Dark Nest III: The Swarm War by Troy Denning, read by Jonathan Davis, Random House Audio, Abridged
The latest in the long-running Star Wars audio series.
Tales of Terror by Edgar Allan Poe, read by various readers, Blackstone Audio, Unabridged
Click here to listen to a sample.
Contains some of Poe’s greats – “The Tell Tale Heart”, “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and others.
A Century of Science Fiction, an unabridged narrated history of science fiction film and television, Request Audiobooks
This looks interesting… from the description: “Here are the details of some of the most well known science fiction films and television series ever created: A Trip To The Moon, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The War of The Worlds, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Star Wars, Star Trek, and many more. Listen to the recapitulations of sci-fi voyages from the men and women who realized these fantasies. With interviews and sound bites from their films, William Shatner, Samuel L. Jackson, Stephen Spielberg, and Kevin Costner, along with Liam Neeson, Denzel Washington, Raquel Welch, Orson Welles, just to name a few, speak of their excursions into strange, new worlds…”
Eye for Eye by Orson Scott Card, read by Stefan Rudnicki, Unabridged, Request Audiobooks
Here’s an audio version of Orson Scott Card’s Hugo Award-winning novella Eye for Eye.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, read by Christopher Hurt, Unabridged, Blackstone Audio
Ray Bradbury’s classic novel about a fireman whose job it is to burn books. Click here for an audio sample.
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin, read by John Lee, Unabridged, Random House Audio
Book 4 in the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series by George R.R. Martin. Been waiting for this one… It’s also available at Books on Tape in library binding. Yay! Listen to excerpt one — Listen to excerpt two.
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells, read by Jonathan Kent, Unabridged, Tantor Media
A classic H.G. Wells novel from Tantor Media, the fine folks who brought us Edgar Rice Burroughs on audio.
King Kong by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper, read by Stefan Rudnicki, Unabridged, Blackstone Audio
This is a novelization of the original King Kong script, and includes commentary by Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, Orson Scott Card, Harlan Ellison, Larry Niven, Catherine Asaro, Jack Williamson, and Marc Zicree. Click here for an audio sample.
March Upcountry by David Weber and John Ringo, read by Stefan Rudnicki, Unabridged, Blackstone Audio
A novel by two masters of military SF – click here for an audio sample.
Master of Dragons by Margaret Weis, read by Suzanne Toren, Unabridged, Audio Renaissance
This is the third novel in a trilogy written by Margaret Weis, who is half of the Weis-Hickman team that wrote many popular epic fantasy novels in the Dragonlance series. Click here for an audio sample.
Run for the Stars by Harlan Ellison, read by the Author, Unabridged, Request Audiobooks
A new (to audio) story by Harlan Ellison. That alone makes it a must-have!
Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno, read by Jonathan Davis, Abridged, Random House Audio
Star Wars! I continue to be impressed with the richness of the Star Wars line of audio novels. Jonathan Davis is the perfect reader, and the production quality is first rate.
The Unnameable: Four Tales by H.P. Lovecraft by H.P. Lovecraft, Read by David Cade, with music by Paolo Barzini, Unabridged, Tales of Orpheus
Contains: “The Book”, “The Music of Erich Zann”, “The Cats of Ulthar”, and “The Unnameable”
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, read by Maxwell Caulfield, Unabridged, Request Audiobooks
The original War of the Worlds novel.
And from Escape Pod in the past month:
“The Death Trap of Dr. Nefario” by Benjamin Rosenbaum, read by Chris Miller with Stephen Eley
“The Great Old Pumpkin” by John Aegard, read by Stephen Eley
“Iron Bars and the Glass Jaw” by Jeffrey R. DeRego, read by Jonathan Sullivan
“The Ludes” by Lisa M. Bradley, read by Stephen Eley
“Mount Dragon” by Vera Nazarian, read by Stephen Eley
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
