Tor appears to be going all-out in its promotion of the 12th installment of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, The Gathering Storm, co-written by Brandon Sanderson. In partnership with Macmillan Audio, Tor.com has made the novel’s second chapter, “The Nature of Pain” narrated by Kate Reading, available for online listening.
The Gathering Storm, Chapter Two, “The Nature of Pain”
Registration on Tor.com is required, but it’s fast and free to sign up. The novel’s Prologue, “What the Storm Means”, is also available at Audible for a low price, and the first chapter, “Tears from Steel”, is readable–sadly no audio–at Tor.com. The Gathering Storm will be released on 27 October.
Posted by Seth Wilson
The newest release over on LibriVox is a solo reading of an 1888 SF novel. It should be of interest to our regular SFF literati and pretty much anyone else interested in things going on in 20th century history and modern American politics. Edward Bellamy’s novel, Looking Backward: 2000-1887, describes: unregulated stock markets, the use (and abuse) of credit cards, the rise of big box stores like Costco, socialism, and music downloading. In fact, Bellamy’s novel reflects certain aspects of our world rather uncannily! In particular: the present of the United States of America and the past of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 
