Category: Online Audio

Naxos Audiobooks: essays from A UNIVERSE OF BOOKS

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Naxos AudiobooksNaxos Audiobooks produces quite a few abridged novels. I’m not a fan of that. But I am a fan about pretty much everything else they do – including the fact that they pick excellent narrators and research their subject, books, extremely well.

Take for example these AMAZING essays that Naxos has commissioned. All come from a book called:

A Universe of Books: Readings in World Literature by Peter Whitfield

They are both highly informative and brilliantly written. Have a listen for yourself…

Bram Stoker’s Dracula |MP3|

Dante’s Divine Comedy |MP3|

Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe |MP3|

Homer’s Odyssey |MP3|

James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson |MP3|

The rest of the essays, on books (not yet) under discussion here on SFFaudio.com, can be found HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Naxos Audiobooks: Silver Blaze by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Jesse Willis

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Naxos AudiobooksI was absolutely knocked off my feet by this terrific video featuring audiobook narrator David Timson talking about, and narrating, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

The video was created for Naxos Audiobooks, which specializes in bringing public domain texts to audio.


And, you can get one short story read by this talented fellow for free!

Naxos Audiobooks - Silver Blaze by Sir Arthur Conan DoyleSilver Blaze (aka The Adventure Of The Silver Blaze)
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 59 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
One of the most popular of the stories, Silver Blaze focuses on the disappearance of the eponymous race horse named, a famous winner, on the eve of an important race and on the apparent murder of its trainer, John Straker. The tale is distinguished by its atmospheric Dartmoor setting, and late Victorian sporting milieu. It also features some of Conan Doyle’s most effective plotting, hinging on the famed “curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”

[via Mary Burkey’s Audiobooker blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Naxos Audiobooks: The Signalman by Charles Dickens

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Naxos AudiobooksNaxos Audiobooks is offering…

“A free classic short story download every week until Hallowe’en!”

These stories will come from a 2007 audiobook short story collection called Classic Ghost Stories, all are read “with relish” by Stephen Critchlow.

First up is…

Naxos Audiobooks - The Signal Man by Charles Dickens The Signal Man (from Classic Ghost Stories)
By Charles Dickens; Read by Stephen Critchlow
1 |MP3| – Approx. 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: October 2007
“These stories are designed to engender a chill in the listener which is not just due to the season. Stephen Critchlow, a characterful actor, is a collector of ghost stories and relishes putting across those slightly odd moments when things don’t just seem to follow the normal process. Charles Dickens was chilling enough in his novels – one only has to remember the entry of Magwitch in Great Expectations! – but as a writer set deeply in the Victorian era and unashamedly a lover of the melodramatic, it comes as no surprise that one of the greatest classics of the genre was The Signalman.”

[via Mary Burkey’s Audiobooker blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

BSAP: OTR Swag Cast

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

BrokenSea Audio Presents: OTR Swag CastEver since the most famous radio drama broadcast in U.S. history (The War Of The Worlds, October 30, 1938) the month of October has been an important one for audio drama. Indeed, the most recent few podcasts of BrokenSea Audio’s OTR Swag Cast illustrate my point nicely. Bill Hollweg, the host, is a connoisseur of OTR. And this is his podcast devoted to it. The idea behind the “Swag Cast” is to “digitally restore shows from the golden age of radio.” And so, with each episode, he picks, cleans-up and podcasts some old time radio shows (along with assorted interviews). The most recent few programs feature some rather rare Alfred Hitchcock and Vincent Price interviews and dramatizations. Give it a listen! You’ll find a “jack the ripper” style drama, with an ending that should never be replicated, a drama about Vincent Price starring Vincent Price and interviews in which you’ll learn about both men and their love of audio!

Podcast feed:

http://brokensea.com/otr/?feed=podcast

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Charles Ardai interview about Hard Case Crime

Jesse Willis

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Hard Case CrimeSpeaking of Ardai and new book lines, here’s an older interview from NPR member station WHYY. Terry Gross interviewed Charles Ardai for her show Fresh Air back on May 5, 2008. In the interview Ardai details his inspirations (including his stories from the holocaust, William Blake and Lawrence Block) for his novel Songs Of Innocence, and the rest of the Hard Case Crime series. Near the end of the interview Ardai discusses the then upcoming 50th book in the HCC series (called Fifty-To-One) – which is a recursive novel about an editor named “Charles” who starts a paperback book line called “Hard Case Crime” – it takes the titles of the first 50 books in the HCC series and uses them as chapter titles to inform the novel’s plot. So cool!


Posted by Jesse Willis

Charles Ardai interview about Gabriel Hunt

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Gabriel HuntThe Greensboro, NC newspaper News & Record has a series of short audio clips from an interview with Charles Ardai, he’s the creator of the Hard Case Crime series. In these clips he talks about the inspiration for this new book series Gabriel Hunt.

By the way, four of the books are out right now with more to come over the months ahead. And there’s still no word on any audiobook versions. That’s gotta change.

Here’s the series premise from the HuntForAdventure.com website:

“From the towers of Manhattan to the jungles of South America, from the sands of the Sahara to the frozen crags of Antarctica, one man finds adventure everywhere he goes: GABRIEL HUNT.

Backed by the resources of the $100 million Hunt Foundation and armed with his trusty Colt revolver, Gabriel Hunt has always been ready for anything—but is he prepared for the adventures that lie in wait for him?

And…are you?”

[via the Bish’s Beat blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis