Category: Online Audio

The Transit Of Earth by Arthur C. Clarke

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a rather timely re-post, one based on a post prompted back in 2006 by an astronomer at the University of Hawaii. Professor Esther M. Hu, pointed me towards this reading of an Arthur C. Clarke classic, one read by Clarke himself!

Listening to it again today, and thinking about the significance of science and history of such an event, and the related event happening today, I found Clarke’s reading of The Transit Of Earth to be an incredibly moving experience.

CAEDMON - The Transit Of Earth by Arthur C. Clarke

Since then I’ve noticed that there was an introduction written for it too, which appeared in the May 1984 issue of Omni. It’s rather timely, considering that Clarke mentions today’s transit of Venus (which will be the last until 2117):

The Transit Of Earth - illustration by Ludek Pesek

Here is that issue of Omni in the |CBR| format.

And here are the scans: |Page 70|Pages 71 and 72|Page 108|Page 110|Page 112|Page 113|Page 116|

CAEDMON - The Transit Of Earth by Arthur C. ClarkeSFFaudio EssentialThe Transit Of Earth
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Arthur C. Clarke
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Caedmon
Published: 1975
Product #: TC-1566

[via the still awesome Record Brother blog and hugely resourceful Typnet.net]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

I posted last about Philip K. Dick’s shortest short story back in 2010. I’m reposting it because I’ve made a three page |PDF| to go with it (made from it’s first publication, Science Fiction Stories).

The Eyes Have It, is just a simple story about a literal man and the ridiculous alien invasion he imagines. It’s a silly little piece of fluff. A mere lighthearted thought experiment. Just a fun little story of no real account or import. In fact it’s barely …. wait one second … could it … ? …. what if … ? … HEY! That’s that just what they want you to think!!!

LIBRIVOX - The Eyes Have It by Philip K. DickThe Eyes Have It
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 20, 2010
|ETEXT|
A little whimsy, now and then, makes for good balance. Theoretically, you could find this type of humor anywhere. But only a topflight science-fictionist, we thought, could have written this story, in just this way…. First published in 1953 in Science Fiction Stories #1.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Lit2Go: The Philosophy Of Composition by Edgar Allan Poe

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Lit2GoI’ve been looking for an audio copy of this wonderful 5,000 word essay, and I’ve just found it. In this 27 minute long reading of The Philosophy Of Composition Edgar Allan Poe explains the creation of The Raven – showing the necessity of all of the components of the poem – and in the process, explaining what’s wrong with most fiction – Poe argues that most composition (poetry and prose) is typically aiming at the sufficient and not the necessary.

|MP3|

The full text is also HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Escape Pod: Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Am I excited?

You bet.

Jim Warren’s cover illustration for Tor Double #26 excites me:

TOR Double #26 - Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg

The original illustrations, by Virgil Finlay, from the publication in Galaxy excite me:

Galaxy August 1967 page 8 (Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg)

Galaxy August 1967 page 11 - illustration by Virgil Finlay

Galaxy August 1967 page 31 - illustration by Virgil Finlay

Galaxy August 1967 page 41 - illustration by Virgil Finlay

Galaxy August 1967 page 51 - illustration by Virgil Finlay

And this episode of Escape Pod, a novella by Robert Silverberg (!) REALLY, REALLY excites me!

Escape PodEscape Pod #346: Hawksbill Station
By Robert Silverberg; Read by Paul Tevis
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour 46 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: May 24, 2012
First published in Galaxy, August 1967.

[via SFSignal]

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC: Spark #178 (the proto-internet show)

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

CBC Radio - SparkBack in April CBC’s Spark #178 did a show all about the proto-internet.

There’s talk about lots of cool pre-web, pre-internet precursors, but the most interesting among them, for me, was the segment on Pump Up The Volume, a 1990 comedy drama starring Christian Slater. I hadn’t seen the film, but became intrigued by it’s description as being very “internety.” Now, having tracked down a copy and having seen it, I agree, many elements of it will remind you of both blogs and podcasts.

|MP3|

Podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/cbcradiosparkblog

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher (podcast)

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Real Time with Bill Maher PodcastOne of the podcasts I listen to isn’t really a podcast, it’s a TV show. I used to listen to it religiously religulously, but then there were problems with it’s feed and it disappeared out of iTunes completely. Despite it’s spotty record the content itself is worth it. Few television shows produced in the USA seemed little more than “dispatches from the bubble” – too few would acknowledge the massive blindspot that us foreigners can see as glaringly obvious, few others than Real Time with Bill Maher.

So when the feed went kaput in iTunes I turned to torrents – using the websites EZTV.it and ThePirateBay.se to pick up the portable versions of the show itself and the webshow Overtime.

But if you’re not techy enough for that there’s still good news, Real Time with Bill Maher is again available through iTunes as a podcast (at least in Canada and the USA). But, I suspect it isn’t available in other countries so if that’s the case, try this workaround:

To get the show go into the “iTunes Store” section of iTunes and click on the flag at the bottom right of the page. Switch it to Canada or the USA. Then do a search, for “Maher” and it should be your first hit under podcasts. The main show, by the way, is audio only, like CBS’s 60 Minutes podcast.

Posted by Jesse Willis