Highway To Mars: Odile Thomas and Jim Moon discuss Children Of The Stones

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Highway To MarsA recent Highway To Mars podcast features Odile Thomas (of the Sending A Wave podcast) and Mr Jim Moon (of the Hypnobobs podcast) discussing the 1976 TV serial Children Of The Stones.

The brief official description asks this question:

Is it an updated version of The Prisoner or an early version of Lost or in a class of it’s own?

You could also describe Children Of The Stones as kid’s version of The Wicker Man (except with the whole village doing goofballs) or as a very good episode of Jon Pertwee era Doctor Who (except starring Rog Blake) – but really, however you describe it, Children Of The Stones is a great combination of intelligent storytelling and intelligent characters in a very cool mysterious plot involving all the sort of stuff smart people are into. And thus its a great show for smart kids and smart adults alike.

|MP3|

Children Of The Stones

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: Tantor Media: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Here’s another classic SF novel we’ll be discussing on an upcoming podcast. Read by the irreplaceable Grover Gardner!

Tantor Media - We by Yevgeny ZamyatinWe
By Yevgeny Zamyatin; Translated by Clarence Brown; Read by Grover Gardner
MP3 Download – Approx. 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: March 2011
Set in the twenty-sixth century A.D., Yevgeny Zamyatin’s masterpiece describes life under the regimented totalitarian society of OneState, ruled over by the all-powerful “Benefactor.” Recognized as the inspiration for George Orwell’s 1984, We is the archetype of the modern dystopia, or anti-Utopia: a great prose poem detailing the fate that might befall us all if we surrender our individual selves to some collective dream of technology and fail in the vigilance that is the price of freedom. Clarence Brown’s brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years’ suppression.

Sample |MP3|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Polaris by H.P. Lovecraft

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Polaris by H.P. Lovecraft

Polaris offers many of the features you’ll find in other H.P. Lovecraft short stories. There’s the repeated language – something that turns up at the beginning of the story will echo at the end, like in The Statement Of Randolph Carter. There’s the atavism, and atavistic guilt you see in stories like The Rats In The Walls. There’s the background of racism, as in The Temple or Cool Air. But what sets this story apart is Lovecraft’s love of astronomy. Many stellar bodies get distinctive shout outs in Polaris. And the fact that the main character spends all his free time staring out at the night sky is reflective, or perhaps refractive, of Lovecraft’s own desire to become an astronomer.

And also like many of his other stories, Polaris had its origins in a dream. Here’s a snippet from the Wikipedia entry for Polaris, quoting a Lovecraft letter:

“Several nights ago I had a strange dream of a strange city–a city of many palaces and gilded domes, lying in a hollow betwixt ranges of grey, horrible hills…. I was, as I said, aware of this city visually. I was in it and around it. But certainly I had no corporeal existence.”

LibriVoxPolaris
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by jpontoli
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 19, 2008
First published in The Philosopher, December 1920.

LibriVoxPolaris
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Clay Beauchamp
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10.5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 6, 2012
First published in The Philosopher, December 1920.

And here’s a |PDF| made from the publication in Weird Tales.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Of Withered Apples by Philip K. Dick

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Philip K. Dick's Of Withered Apples

We’re planning a podcast discussion of this solid Philip K. Dick fantasy short story. Julie Davis agreed to read it for us and here it is. Thanks Julie!

Of Withered Apples by Philip K. DickOf Withered Apples
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Julie Davis
1 |MP3| – Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Provider: Julie Davis
Provided: August 27, 2012
A young farm wife goes off scrumping, but her husband and father-in-law stay home. First published in Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy, July 1954.

And here’s the |PDF| version.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Thank You: AdSense $$ for September and October 2012

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Google AdSense Cheque - September/October 2012

Thank YouClicking around on the web actually makes physical stuff happen, at least when the clicks are in the right place. Every couple of months now there’s a piece of paper that arrives in the mail. I figure it’s because some thoughtful person, or cat, pressed on a mouse.

SFFaudio’s income for the months of September and October 2012 was $156.77.

We thank you for your support.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Of Withered Apples by Philip K. Dick is PUBLIC DOMAIN

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Of Withered Apples by Philip K. Dick is PUBLIC DOMAIN.

First published in Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy. This short story was not previously known to be public domain due to a falsification on a copyright renewal. Observe the relevant page from the renewal:

RE190631-Page-2back

As you can see it shows that Of Withered Apples was supposed to have been first published in volume 1, issue 33, of Uncanny Tales (July 1955).

So, I tracked down a copy of that comic book and am providing photographic evidence that it was not published in that issue.

Normally in these cases I would simply show the copyright page and/or the table of contents page. But as comics of that era often didn’t credit writers, and most also didn’t offer a table of contents page, this is impossible.

Instead, I have had the entire issue photographed, cover to cover, to show that Of Withered Apples was:

A. Not published in that issue.

B. Was not published in that issue uncredited.

Here is the proof |PDF|.

And please note, that while the issue does contain a textual story, it is not, most certainly not, Of Withered Apples.

Of Withered Apples was published a year earlier, in Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy, July 1954. Here is the table of contents show that:

Cosmos Science Fiction And Fantasy, July 1954 table of contents (includes Of Withered Apples by Philip K. Dick)

And finally, here is a |PDF| made from that publication.

[Thanks Julie!]

Posted by Jesse Willis