The SFFaudio Podcast #103 – TOPIC: Food in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #103 – Scott, Jesse, Eric S. Rabkin and Luke Burrage talk about FOOD in Science Fiction and Fantasy. It is rather unpleasantly like being drunk.

Talked about on today’s show:
Luke’s got a twelve hour hunger, fairy tales, Fantasy, food sharing is coming to know the alien, what food is served in a Canadian restaurant?, Kwakiutl vs. Kwakwaka’wakw, pemmican, voyageurs, THE YELLOW PERIL podcast (The SFFaudio Podcast #051), Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein’s creation was a vegetarian, Paradise Lost, Genesis, Cain vs. Abel, Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, the three stages of eating: veggies -> meat -> people, aliens, crazy vs. odd, inedia (fasting), breatharianism, Scott Pilgrim, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, inspired by spirits, Neuromancer, communion, puns, Foods of the Gods: Eating And The Eaten In Fantasy And Science Fiction (Proceedings Of The J. Lloyd Eaton Conference On Science Fiction And Fantasy Lite) edited by Eric S. Rabkin, Gary Westfahl and George Edgar Slusser, more puns, The Futurological Congress by Stanisław Lem, consuming books, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Michael Kandel, The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells, evolution and food, food in pill form, Tang, Firefly, Science Fiction: prediction of the future vs. sign of the future, jetpacks, capsulized food is symbolic, lembas is super-power bread, energy drinks, food as a representation of our relationships with our bodies, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, yet more puns, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, food and pretty dresses, baking and bread have deep roots, Voyage To The Moon by Cyrano de Bergerac, no one ever sees a baker eating, food imagery, the centrality of bread in SFF only matches that of religion, the bread yes – the blood no, Osiris, Egypt, Greece, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe, List of races and species in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the babel fish, “it’s not the babel worm”, fish as a symbol, Pythagoras, professor smackdown, Tower Of Babel, food and sexuality, urban romance, Eat Prey Love, “man does not live by bread alone” vs. “forbidden fruit”, bread as technology, breadfruit, the garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge vs. the tree of immortality vs. the rubber tree, Trantor, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Coruscant, Star Wars, Sam Parkhill, The Off Season by Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles, the best hot dog stand on Mars, The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, the national food of America is the hot dog, the hot dog is the symbol of America, Manhattan, “hot dog stands all the way down”, meat paste, man as food, To Serve Man by Damon Knight, Alien, The Logic Of Fantasy by John Huntington, cannibalism, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut, The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch, The Screwfly Solution by James Triptree Jr., Beyond Lies The Wub by Philip K. Dick, further punning, vat grown meat, breeding animals to be less intelligent, a very meaty topic, Caviar by Theodore Sturgeon, vegetarianism, Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton, Luke is on the wrong side of meat history, being as unnatural as possible is what makes us human, a continuing journey towards humanity (marching on our stomachs?), social animals, mothers make food for you – witches make food of you, choosing not to eat meat vs. choosing to be monogamous, dolphin eating habits (are they porpoiseful eaters?), eating dolphin is out of line (for Luke), exploring the possibilities of empathy, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, empathy vs. compassion, Technovelgy.com’s entry on food, an overly inclusive notion of what constitutes invention, CBC Spark, visiscreens and visiplates, Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback, Minding Tomorrow by Luke Burrage, Technovelgy needs more wiki, Wikipedia is endlessly useful, automated restaurant, The Food Of The Gods by H.G. Wells, food has functions beyond just sustaining our bodies, George Birdseye, Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, coffee, sharing meals via Skype.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: Print ads for Radio Drama

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Commentary

Meta SFFaudioOne of the goals that I set myself with SFFaudio was to always add a picture to a post. That’s a tough job sometimes. Like right now for instance – I’m working on a post about CBS Radio Workshop. Because it was a radio show, rather than a TV show, there are no screengrabs to be found. I could make something up, of course, and have done so – more often than I’d like – but the ideal would be to find something to ground that art. I want it for whatever logo or typeface they included mostly because there would be more historicity to it than whatever I can slap together. Somebody in the CBS Radio Workshop publicity department, for instance, probably did up some print advertising at some point. That art would be in a magazine or newspaper somewhere – but finding that magazine or newspaper can be pretty tough. This is ever my problem.

These days, when I do a Google Image search for whatever it is I’m looking for, I too often find myself looking at some art that I made. To solve this problem I plan on archiving some of the finds I make – for my own future reference (and for anyone else too). In doing this publicly I am asking for your help.

Does anybody have a scan of an advertisement for the CBS Radio Workshop?

Here’s my fist contribution (from the Spring 1957 issue of Space Science Fiction) three full page advertisements for:

“The Fine Art Of Eating” with Vincent Price

“Sportopics” with Russ Hodges

“The Windup” featuring Private Eye, Ed Noon with Chester Morris

“American Agent” with Lee Bowman

“Our Heritage” with Westbrook Van Voorhis

“Gag Bag” with Peter Donald

“The Frightened” with Boris Karloff

“Your Economy” with T.H. Mitchell, L.L. B., PH.D.

“This Age Of Ours” with Quentin Reynolds

Space Science Fiction Spring 1957 Inside Front Cover

Space Science Fiction Spring 1957 Inside Rear Cover

Space Science Fiction Spring 1957 Outside Rear Cover

X Minus One ad from the April 1956 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction:
X Minus One ad from the April 1956 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction

Here’s an X Minus One advertizement that appeared in Galaxy magazine’s May 1956 issue:

X Minus One AD from Galaxy magazine's May 1956 issue

Here’s an X Minus One advertizement that appeared in Galaxy magazine’s February 1958 issue:

X Minus One AD from Galaxy Science Fiction's February 1958 issue

Here’s an ad, perhaps the very first, for X Minus One that appeared in the September 1955 issue of Astounding:

X Minus One advertizement from Astounding September 1955

Here’s an ad for X Minus One that appeared in the September 1955 issue of Astounding:

X Minus One ad from Astounding October 1955

Here’s an ad for X Minus One that appeared in the November 1955 issue of Astounding:

X Minus One ad from the November 1955 issue of Astounding Science Fiction

An X Minus One advertizement from Astounding’s January 1956 issue:

X Minus One ad from the January 1956 issue of Astounding

X Minus One is “BACK ON THE AIR” – from Galaxy, August 1957:

X Minus One - "BACK ON THE AIR" - an ad from Galaxy, August 1957

Here’s an ad for The Shadow radio show that appeared in the January 1954 issue of Astounding:

Ad for The Shadow radio show (on the Mutual Network) from the January 1954 issue of Astounding

Ad for The Shadow from Astounding August 1952:
Ad for The Shadow from Astounding August 1952

An ad for The Shadow from Astounding January 1952:

The Shadow ad from Astounding January 1952

Ad for The Shadow radio show from Astounding January 1953:

Ad for The Shadow radio show from Astounding January 1953

Here’s a familiar looking ad (it uses art recycled from The Shadow) for Nick Carter, Master Detective on the Mutual Network:

Nick Carter Master Detective ad from Astounding April 1955

Stay Tuned For Terror – illustration by Dolgov from Weird Tales, September 1945:

Stay Tuned For Terror - illustration by Dolgov from Weird Tales, September 1945

Dimension X ad from Astounding Science Fiction’s August 1951 issue:

Dimension X ad from Astounding SF's August 1951 issue

Dimension X ad from from Astounding July 1951:
Ad for Dimension X from Astounding July 1951

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases: Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Jesse Willis

New Releases

I talked to Ben Aaronovitch about his paperbook novel, Rivers Of London, back in SFFaudio Podcast #086. The audiobook, exclusive to Audible, is now available!

Rivers Of London by Ben AaronovitchRivers of London
By Ben Aaronovitch; Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Audible Download – Approx. 9 Hours 58 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group Limited
Published: April 8, 2011
Provider: Audible.com
Sample |MP3|
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit – we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to – and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly valuable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I’m a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden… and there’s something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair. The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it’s falling to me to bring order out of chaos – or die trying.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster
First published in the June 12, 1920 issue of Argosy, The Mad Planet was eventually to become one third of Murray Leinster’s fix-up novel The Forgotten Planet. But there were plenty of standalone republications too. It was, for instance, in the November 1926 issue of Amazing Stories – where it was published with this introduction by Hugo Gernsback:
The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster

It ran with this art (by Frank R. Paul):

The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster

Super Science and Fantastic Stories, December 1944:

The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster

Fantastic Novels Magazine, November 1948:

The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster

And now available as a LibriVox audiobook:

LIBRIVOX - The Mad Planet by Murray LeinsterThe Mad Planet
By Murray Leinster; Read by Roger Melin
4 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 46 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 6, 2011
|ETEXT|
It is 30,000 years following dramatically changed climate conditions on earth which had let massive amounts of carbon dioxide belch from the interior of the planet into the atmosphere. Over the millenia this would have quite devastating effects on life as it had once been known. Much of the human and animal population would not survive the climate change, and indeed those few humans who did survive knew nothing of all which their predecessors had learned and built. Indeed, they knew not even of their existence. On the other hand insects and fungi would flourish over time. And so those few remaining humans were unknowingly at the very beginning of the building of a tribal society, which at the time of the story of Burl simply meant food and survival. And so it was Burl who chose to travel beyond his small tribal community in an effort to hunt for something new and different to hopefully impress Saya, the young female of his tribe to whom he felt a peculiar attraction. The Mad Planet is Burl’s adventure.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/rss/5338

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Betty M. and Barry Eads]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Get Caught Listening Contest – Win Cash

Scott D.

SFFaudio News

The Audio Publisher’s Association is running a contest!

Create an original video promoting audiobooks – expressing your vision in 3 minutes or less – and you could win up to $5000 in cold hard cash! We’re looking for a video to go viral showing audiobooks to be fun and engaging, that may use the “Get Caught Listening” approach – and we’ll use it to promote our audiobooks industry. Our judges will select 10 finalists from all entries received by May 15, 2011, then the top 3 Fan Favorites will win: $5000 cash prize, $2500 cash prize, $1000 cash prize. More prizes are available, too!

Start thinking and filming, and get your entry in by May 15!

For more info:
Contest page
Official Rules PDF
Entry Form

Good luck!

LIBRIVOX: The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

The March 1938 issue of Weird Tales features a single illustration, by Virgil Finlay, of one stanza of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner.

“Like one that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.”

Weird Tales, March 1938 - The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

I love the fedora!

LIBRIVOX - The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Read by Kristin Luoma
1 |MP3| – Approx. 31 Minutes [POETRY]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: 2006
For killing an albatross, the mariner and his crew are punished with drought and death. Amidst a series of supernatural events, the mariner’s life alone is spared and he repents, but he must wander the earth and tell his tale with the lesson that “all things great and small” are important.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-by-samuel-taylor-coleridge.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis