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.
For those of you who use Twitter, we’ve got two Twitter feeds here at SFFaudio. The first is an automatic feed that provides a link to each post we do. Find that one here: http://twitter.com/sffaudio.
The second is my personal Twitter feed, which I promise to keep audio and book related, at least until the zombie uprising. Find that one here: http://twitter.com/sdanielson.
Enjoy!
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL (1969 – ) A past contributor to SFFaudio, is an American John W. Campbell Award winning author who is currently serving as SFWA secretary. Kowal is also a puppeteer (non-Pierson’s) and has just sold her first novel to Tor books…
Dear Everyone I Know,
I have sold my novel!
Tor books, the largest SF publisher in the world, has bought “Shades of Milk and Honey,” which is my fantasy novel set in Jane Austen’s England. I’m delighted not only by the sale, but because my editor will be Liz Gorinsky who is not only personally charming, but also the editor for some of my favorite authors, like Cherie Priest. Needless to say, I am thrilled and have to tell EVERYONE I know.
I found out on January 30 but have been sitting on the news until we finalized some details. So you can look for my first novel to come out in 2010. So excited!
http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/novel-sold-best-birthday-present-ever/
Yours,
Mary
I asked Mary what the word was on the audiobook version. Here’s what she said:
“the initial idea for this came from a radio serial that I was writing.”
There is also a good possibility of an audiobook.
Cool and congrats!
Posted by Jesse Willis
Here’s a new feature (found in the FEATURES section)…
it’s a visual library of instantly accessible LibriVox audiobooks for iTunes users.
A click on the cover of any audiobook in this new “LibriVox + SFFaudio = Instant iTunes Audiobook” section will instantly launch a FREE podcast audiobook subscription in iTunes and begin downloading the first file of the audiobook pictured.
Here are four samples… Could it be any simpler?
There are more than 40 audiobooks already on the page! Check it out.
Posted by Jesse Willis
Audible is having a short story sale that they’re calling:
There are plenty of reasons to love short stories. They’re an excellent way to try new things, they’re a great deal, and they fit perfectly into any time-crunched schedule.
In honor of the infamous short month, we’re offering you five short stories for just $.99 every week. And, as an added bonus, we’re kicking off the first week with Kurt Vonnegut’s The Kid Nobody Could Handle free!
One of those $0.99 titles this week is Wonder Audio’s Coming Attraction by Fritz Leiber! Yum yum!
Posted by Jesse Willis
Jerry Stearns writes in to remind us that the Mark Time Awards submission deadline is fast approaching.
“The deadline for entering the Mark Time Awards and Ogle Awards competition is approaching: March 1, 2009 is the date for a postmark.
The Mark Time Awards are given each year for the best Science Fiction audio theater production of the year, and the Ogle Awards are for the best Fantasy and Horror audio theater production of the year. This will be the 12th Annual awards, announced at Convergence 2009, July 2 in Bloomington, MN.
Named for the character created by the Firesign Theatre, the awards are a celebration of the most popular genres in audio theater these days. The Ogle awards are named after Charles Ogle, who played the creation of Baron von Frankenstein in Thomas Edison’s 1910 silent film of that name. The winners will receive a plaque, a t-shirt, a letter from David Ossman (Mark Time himself) and the right to shamelessly promote their work holding the award out in front.
Convergence, an annual convention sponsored by MISFITS, the Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy, is pleased to host the awards ceremony, and MISFITS is honored to be a supporter. Winners are invited to attend the convention to accept the award in person as part of the Opening Ceremonies. The convention also hosts a venue for playback of winners for convention attendees.
Five judges will listen, rank the entries, and come to a concensus of the winners by Mid-May. Recent judges have included Philip Proctor (of the Firesign Theatre), Tom Lopez (of ZBS) and Dani Cutler (of SFFaudio and the Society of Audio Addicts). Judging is based on the quality of the writing, performance, sound production, and originality of the whole package. Remember, this is SF & F we’re dealing with, so originality counts. Recreations and adaptations are considered, and judged both on the above criteria and considering the original source material. Audiobooks are NOT what we are looking for, but full cast audio theater.
To enter, go to the Mark Time website, http://www.greatnorthernaudio.com/MarkTime/MarkTime.html, and print out the online form. Send the form, a $25 entry fee, and FIVE copies of your entry (usually an audio or MP3 CD these days) to the address listed there. Postmark must be on or before March 1, 2009. Past winners, and the Mark Time SF Audio Hall of Fame are there as well.
Don’t miss the deadline. Enter now.”
Posted by Jesse Willis
Wow! A nice sale going on over at Audible.com. They’ve collected the first books of 71 series, and are offering them for a fiver.
Some quick recommendations from me: The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer, Voyagers by Ben Bova, and Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Jesse will be pleased to see Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan and Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick on the list.
I’ve been meaning to try out a Patrick O’Brian book, and they’ve got Master and Commander on the list (read by Simon Vance!), which is going in my queue… now.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson