BBC7: The Coma, The Scarifyers, Vostok, Hothouse by Brian Aldiss

Online Audio

BBC 7's The 7th Dimension The upcoming weeks on BBC Radio 7 is mostly made up of repeats. But that aint necessarily all bad. First up, a repeat of its 2006 serialization of The Coma, a novel by Alex Garland. Hopefully you’ll remember him as the screenwriter for the film 28 Days Later and not the god-offal Sunshine. The five part unabridged reading of Coma begins Monday and the five segments air nightly til Friday.

The Coma
By Alex Garland; Read by Tom Goodman-Hill
5 RADIO BROADCASTS – Minutes Approx 150 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday at 6:30pm and 12:30am
“[A] surreal fantasy which delves into the mysterious workings of the subconscious mind.”

Also repeating radio drama on BBC 7: “A thrilling sci fi adventure”…

Vostok
By Bill Murphy; Performed by a full cast
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Friday at 6pm and 12midnight
Three intrepid heroes venture into the depths beneath the Antarctic ice, to the only unexplored lake in the world: Lake Vostok. Cast: Stuart Milligan, Brana Bajic, David Earl and Ingvar Sigurdsson. Produced as a Radio 7 commission by Lawrence Jackson.

Then, there’s one quite a few folks have recommended…

The Scarifyers - The Nazad ConspiracyThe Scarifyers – The Nazad Conspiracy
By Simon Barnard; Performed by a full cast
3 Parts – Approx. 84 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Saturdays at 6pm and midnight
Professor Dunning and Inspector Lionheart face quarrelsome Generals, sinister clowns and Russian demons as they unravel ‘The Nazad Conspiracy’. With Terry Molloy and Nicholas Courtney, The Scarifyers is a Cosmic Hobo Production.

And finally there’s this all new serialization out of Radio Scotland, read by Blake of Blake’s 7 (Gareth Thomas). This one is also special because it is a part of a trial for a limited number of radio series which are being made available with a feature called “series catch-up.” The concept is that the availability window for individual episodes is extended beyond the normal seven days after their broadcast, allowing you the chance to listen to an entire series for up to a week after the final episode is broadcast. It isn’t as convienient as podcasting the show, or even Radio Downloader-ing, but it’s nice to have BBC7 trying out some new things. Check out Hothouse

Hothouse
By Brian Aldiss; Read by Gareth Thomas
5 Parts – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Sundays at 6.30pm and 00.30am
A “1962 cult classic”, set millions of years in the future. Earth is a dense jungle and in this florid and dangerous environment a young boy with a maverick streak tears his tribe apart as he embarks upon a relentless search for knowledge.

posted by Jesse

BBCR4: The Tale Of The Knight, The Witch And The Dragon

SFFaudio Online Audio

A few folks out there have been saying we need more audio drama coverage. In answer to this I thought I’d give more play to more of the AD recommendations that come my way. Today, I draw your attention to one episode of “the best-remembered and most often privately-recorded of all BBC Radio Drama series”Saturday Night Theatre. SNT was broadcast on BBC radio stations from 1943 to 1997. One of the BBC’s flagship radio drama programs, it showcased both adaptations of literature and all-original plays. Most of these recordings are lost (a full listing of SNT broadcasts is available HERE), but through the good graces of fans in the U.K. some of these lost shows are becoming available once again. That’s where this particular play comes in. Bill Hollweg of Broken Sea Audio Productions sez:

“I listened last night and this is BY FAR the best Fantasy AD since LOTR [The Lord Of The Rings] by the BBC- you will be AMAZED at the stereo mix- there’s a scene with a winding stair case in a castle that will knock your socks off

Plus Capt Picard [Patrick Stewart] as a knight the has seen better days is just FANTASTIC! This is not a small kids tale but a great FANTASY!!!

ALL MIXERS should LISTEN TO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

BBC Radio 4The Tale Of The Knight, The Witch And The Dragon
By J.C.W. Brook; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 84 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 (Saturday Night Theatre)
Broadcast: Saturday 8th April 1978
“…a story of the past… the past of the imagination where all things are possible. A tale of power, love, sacrifice and of when the last fingers of myth and legend, sorcery and magic, trailed across the Earth before the world was so. It is a cosy world at peace. Where war is a make-believe and people know their place. A set, defined, established land of order and tranquility where evil only lies in the past… but that past approaches fast.”

Cast:
Patrick Stewart … The Knight, Sir Hugh of Monreth
Peggy Paige … The Witch Kavern
Anthony Newlands … The King
Elizabeth Proud … The Princess Edith
Gavin Campbell … Sir Edmund
Henry Knowles … The Herald
Marcus Campbell … Ian, Sir Hugh’s Page
Sheila Grant … Jane, The Princess’s Gentlewoman
Kate Binchy … Marianne, The Witch’s Daughter
Kenneth Shanley and Jonathan Scott … The King’s Subjects
Timothy Bateson … Scrimp, the Story Teller
Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop … sound effects and score
Directed by Ian Cotterell

Available for download via Mediafire |HERE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 4: The Quest by Jonathan Holloway

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Times - Today's Pick - The Quest (Jane Anderson)BBC Radio 4There’s an upcoming five part “surreal” Fantasy radio drama starting on BBC Radio 4 next week. Be sure to add it to your Radio Downloader subscriptions. It airs during the oddly named “Woman’s Hour Drama” slot. Sez BBC:

This week’s Woman’s Hour Drama presents a surreal, humorous and moving allegorical retelling of Thomas Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur, starring Mark Gatiss as Merlin and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Arthur.

In a 15th-century Britain that resembles the Favellas of Rio, Arthur is Merlin’s protégé; but the magician despairs – human frailty has defeated Utopia.

Arthur’s impregnation of his half sister Morgana haunts Camelot in the person of Mordred, who is his mother’s lover and scourge to his father. The court of the “Round Table” is decadent. Arthur invents the “Grail Quest” to bring purpose to his knights and rebuild his reputation in a tortured land. The knights emerge into a world that hates them. Some are hacked or stoned to death.

Seeking Glastonbury, Galahad stumbles over the Grail while hiding behind the Spar convenience store in Wells. He and the Grail are taken up to an antiseptic Heaven in an elevator, 15 miles high. Mordred raises an army to defeat his brother/father and delivers Arthur’s death blow. The dying Arthur raises Excalibur to throw it into Deptford Creek, but the sword is snatched from his grip by a track-suited teenager. The expiring king, his vision clouding, sees Merlin kicked to death by a gang.

Rooted in Mallory’s 14th-century epic, the narrative focuses on the “Grail Quest” and the dubious personal and state politics that surround it.


BBC Radio 4 - The Quest by Jonathan Holloway
The Quest
By Jonathan Holloway; Performed by a full cast
5 Parts – Approx.75 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Monday August 24th to Friday August 28th August @ 10:45-11:00 (FM only) repeated @ 19:45-20:00.
King Arthur has been mortally wounded, and talks to Merlin as death approaches. Loosely based on the works of Sir Thomas Malory and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Arthur …… Julian Rhind-Tutt
Merlin …… Mark Gatiss
Morgan Le Fay/Agravain …… Jasmine Hyde
Lancelot …… Stephen Noonan
Guinevere …… Eleanor Tremain
Galahad …… Paul Mundell
Percival …… Mark Meadows
Leodegrance …… Paul Mundell
Lot …… David Collins

Directed by Tim Dee.

[Thanks Roy!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #033

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #033 – Jesse and Scott are burning bright this podcast. We’re talking new releases, recent arrivals, and future audiobook releases. We also briefly discuss the 2009 Hugo Awards. Around the middle we talk about BBC radio drama, specifically those based on the writings of Iain M. Banks and Alfred Bester. Feeling tenser? Perhaps you know the answer to this question…

“How can you get away with murder when everyone knows your thoughts?”

Talked about on today’s show:
New Releases, Recent Arrivals, Infinivox, Aliens Rule edited by Alan Kaster, How Music Begins by James Van Pelt, Okanaggan Falls by Carolyn Ives Gilman, Laws Of Survival by Nancy Kress, Full Cast Audio, Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce, Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein, William Dufris, Have Space Suit Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein |READ OUR REVIEW|, Tantor Media, The White Plague by Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, The Road To Dune |READ OUR REVIEW|, Ireland, Whipping Star by Frank Herbert, The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard, Todd McLaren, METAtroplis The Dawn Of Uncivilization |READ OUR REVIEW|, Brilliance Audio, Audible.com, Brilliance Audio is releasing hardcopy DRM free versions of the Audible Frontiers audiobooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Audible Modern Vanguard, Dennis Boutsikaris, A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving, Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz, Keith Szarabajka, Sfsignal.com story on Iain M. Banks’ next novel Transition (podcast or audiobook?), RadioArchive.cc, State Of The Art (BBC Radio Drama) based on the story by Iain M. Banks, BoingBoing story on Geoff Ryman’s novel The Child Garden to be podcast (with music), Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect by Michael Reisman, Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester or Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester, there is no audiobook version of The Stars My Destination, the 1991 BBC Radio Drama version of Alfred Bester’s Tiger Tiger, telepathy, teleportation (jaunting), The Demolished Man would make an amazing audio drama, Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester, the 2009 Hugo award winners, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman |READ OUR REVIEW|, Shoggoths In Bloom by Elizabeth Bear (SSS Aural Delights version), Exhalation by Ted Chiang, The Erdman Nexus by Nancy Kress (is not available in audio), Inside Job by Connie Willis (is), Drive by James Sallis (a novella, is too), Wii Sports Resort, Wii Motion Plus, Bowman, turning off cable TV, X-Box 360, Wii Fit, Netflix, watching soccer/football without TV, Free:The Future Of A Radical Price by Chris Anderson, YouTube Star Wars fan Lego animation vs. Lucas Star Wars on DVD.

Posted by Jesse Willis

KFAI Sound Affects: A Radio Playground schedule

SFFaudio Online Audio

Sound Affects: A Radio PlaygroundJerry Stearns of Great Northern Audio Theatre and the long running radio drama showcase Sound Affects: A Radio Playground, has planned out an compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy audio drama plan for the coming quarter.

Here’s the schedule:

Aug. 16 – Jokes In Space – this year’s Mark Time Radio Show. “Sci-fi sketch comedy from Great Northern Audio Theatre.”

Aug. 23 – Ruby: Tired of the Green Menace – the FIRST Ruby show from ZBS (she’s still called Ruby Tuesday).

Aug. 30 – Earth Abides based on the novel by George Stewart. From the “Escape” series in 1950. “One of the best post-holocaust stories ever.”

Sept. 6, 13, 20 – Anne Manx and the Empress Blair Project – the latest from Radio Repertory Company of America, with Claudia Christian.

Oct. 8 & 11 – The Radio Arcade – an “obscure 4-part series from the 80’s about the special games in the arcade’s back room.”

Sound Affects: A Radio Playground airs Sundays in at 9:30 PM on KFAI, 90.3 FM and 106.7 FM, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Online streaming is available at KFAI.org.

The first episode on the schedule is the 2009 Mark Time Awards show, titled Jokes In Space, it was recorded at Convergence 2009. It is available as an |MP3|. Am I the only one who’d kill for a regular Sound Affects podcast feed?

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Disembodied Man by Larry Maddock FREE @ REB Audio

SFFaudio Online Audio

REB Audio Books, for a limited time, is giving away its MP3 audio dramatization of Larry Maddock’s “romantic SF puzzler” The Disembodied Man. REB’s director of audio production, Bill Mills, sez this is all a part of an “utterly transparent scheme to entice audio book buyers to check out the other titles” from their catlaogue.

To get The Disembodied Man just click |HERE| and add it to your cart. It’ll show up as $0.00. There are some forms to fill out (be sure not to use any special characters like “#” in the address). You’ll also need to create a password, but you won’t be asked for a credit card. If all goes smoothly you’ll be given a user name and a password for this one transaction. Enter them in the space provided and poof – you’ve got your choice of three different bit-rate versions of The Disembodied Man. It’s a fast DRM-free download.

REB Audio - The Disembodied Man by Larry MaddockThe Disembodied Man
By Larry Maddock; Performed by Bill Mills and Roxanne Mills
1 MP3 Download – Approx. 31 Minutes [DRAMATIZED READING]
Publisher: REB Audio Books
Published: April 2009
Listen to a sample |MP3|
Unique SF Romance and Puzzler! From the creator of time traveling secret agent Hannibal Fortune and his sardonic, shape-changing colleague, Webley, comes one of the rarest stories in science fiction history, in an all new audio dramatization. “The Disembodied Man” was published only once, in the legendary sf pulp zine “Imagination” in the early 1950s. Off-beat and humorous like much of Maddock’s work, it is at once a unique tale of an unconventional romance and an intricate puzzler with two O’Henry-like twists, resulting in a delightfully human and touching short story. Who was the disembodied man? How had he gotten that way? Who was the mysterious woman that seemed to watch over him day and night? And could a woman, could any woman, fall in love with “the man who wasn’t there?”

Thanks Bill!

Posted by Jesse Willis