Sir Walter Scott Prize

Scott D.

SFFaudio News

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter ScottA neat story from The Guardian this morning:

He is seen as the father of the historical novel, so it’s perhaps only fitting that a new literary prize honouring the genre is to be launched in the name of Sir Walter Scott.

The £25,000 award is being set up by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, whose ancestors were closely linked to Scott. They hope the award will help to “properly honour” the author’s “immense achievements”, and “place as one of the world’s most influential novelists”.

Find the whole story |HERE|.

I recall an attempted read of Ivanhoe when I was but a wee man. A quick search for some Sir Walter Scott audio shows that Librivox is on the case.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrival: Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin

Scott D.

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook - Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le GuinPlanet of Exile
By Ursula K. Le Guin; Read by Stephen Hoye and Carrington MacDuffie
4 CDs – 4.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2010
ISBN: 9781441717368

The planet Werel is entering its fifteen-year-long winter. The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on Werel for ten years, and this lonely and dwindling human settlement is beginning to feel the strain. The humanoid hilfs are a nomadic people who only settle down for the cruel cold spell. They fear the Earthmen, regard them as witches, and call them the farborns. Although both populations share a common genetic heritage in the Hainish people, the differences are believed to be significant enough to prevent interbreeding. The relationship between the two groups has long been tense and characterized by limited interaction. But hilfs and farborns also share common enemies: the hordes of ravaging barbarians called gaals and the eerie preying snow ghouls. Will they join forces or be annihilated?

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Comics: Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast as adapted by Petri Hiltunen

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Has your hard drive got room for 19.92 MB of pure awesome? If so be sure to download this AMAZING 46 page comic book adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast as illustrated by Petri Hiltunen.

It is available in the .CBR format (which is readable using a piece of software called CDisplay).

Queen Of The Black Coast |CBR|

Like the terrific, but quashed, BrokenSea Productions audio drama adaptation before it (which is still available via torrent and on Archive.org |HERE|) this will probably make the Conan Properties/Paradox Entertainment goons lament their ghoulishly spurious claims on all things Robert E. Howard.

Most of Robert E. Howard’s fiction is public domain, including Queen Of The Black Coast. This awesome adaptation shows exactly why it should be. Great art is made by artists building upon the art of the past, not by ghoulishly hoarding licensees.

The Cover:
Queen Of The Black Coast -Adapted by Petri Hiltunen

Page 1:
Queen Of The Black Coast -Adapted by Petri Hiltunen

[Thank CROM!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Asimov’s March 2010: On The Net: THE PRICE OF FREE Pt.1

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Asimov's Science Fiction - March 2010James Patrick Kelly, SF author, has been a columnist for Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine for “ten plus years.” His “On The Net” column is about Science Fiction on the internet. You know it’s a good column when it mentions SFFaudio (check out the February 2006 issue). His latest column, in the March 2010 issue of Asimov’s, is titled:

On the Net: THE PRICE OF FREE [ Part I ] by James Patrick Kelly

For it Kelly took inspiration for it from an audiobook we told you about back in September (you can get Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson for FREE). Kelly points out, with links, the many of the ways that a radical price, $0.00, is being used on the internet.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrival: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat

Scott D.

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Fantasy Audiobook - Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne JonellEmmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat
By Lynne Jonell; Read by Lynne Jonell and The Full Cast Family
6 CDs – 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2010
ISBN: 9781934180686

From the good folks at Full Cast Audio:

Emmy was a good girl – too good, perhaps. The rat, whose cage sat on the counter next to Emmy’s desk, was not so good. On the other hand, he was the only one in Emmy’s class who would talk to her. The rest of the kids barely knew she existed. Even her teacher didn’t seem to know she was there! Only her nanny, the lovely-but-sinister Miss Barmy, really pays her much attention. And Emmy would rather she wouldn’t . . .

Why does the rat talk to Emmy and no one else? Why do Emmy’s schoolmates barely notice she exists? And what is Miss Barmy really after?

Teasing out the answers to these questions will plunge Emmy into a wild adventure where everything she holds dear – including her parents’ lives! – is at risk.

This delightful and hilarious book garnered four starred reviews – and has an all star cast! Not only did we bring in author Lynne Jonell to narrate, father and daughter team Tate and Tim Green (yes, the same Tim Green who is the bestselling author of FOOTBALL HERO) play Emmy and the Rat. We had a blast recording this one, and it’s guaranteed listening fun.

“Listening fun”, indeed! ALL of Full Cast Audio’s titles are fun – give them a try!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson