News, Reviews, and Commentary on all forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror audio. Audiobooks, audio drama, podcasts; we discuss all of it here. Mystery, crime, and noir audio are also fair game.
Young, beautiful and adventurous, Nicola Ferris loves her life as a secretary at the British Embassy on the lush island of Crete. Then, on her day off, she links up with two hiking companions who have inadvertently stumbled upon a scene of blood vengeance. And suddenly the life Nicola adores is in danger of coming to an abrupt, brutal, and terrifying end…
Wikipedia says Stewart is one of the founders of the “romantic suspense subgenre” which blends romance with mystery. She also wrote a bunch of King Arthur/Merlin novels. Chivers Audio (now called BBC Audiobooks) recorded a bunch of unabridged Mary Stewart novels back in the 1980s and 1990s, they’re rather hard to find now and quite collectible.
Going back to the podcast – I always dig Julie’s picks as they’re typically something I’ve never read and at the same time well worth reading. The one drawback, her podcasts tend to make me hungry. Have a listen |MP3|.
Lord Valentine’s Castle (Book 1 in the Majipoor Cycle)
By Robert Silverberg; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
19.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009
The planet Majipoor is shared by humans and several alien races, including four-armed Skandars, three-eyed Liiman, and the native, shape-shifting Metamorphs. All are watched over by the King of Dreams, the labyrinth-dwelling Pontifex, and the priestess of the Isle of Sleep, while the Coronal officially rules from atop Castle Mount.
The Majipoor Cycle begins as young Valentine, a man with no memory, is hired as an apprentice juggler by a group of eccentric performers. While the traveling troupe takes to the road, Valentine’s sleep is disturbed by nightmare visions of warring brothers and difficulties on faraway Castle Mount. In a quest to discover who Valentine really is, his wise and peculiar companions resolve to help him claim the rewards of his birth. But another trial awaits Valentine that will test his belief, resolve, and strength of character.
Here’s a story meme with nearly as many adaptations as The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Unlike Hound, which is generally met with very successful adaptations, this one is a series of failures punctuated by only the occasional success. Practically every Fox network cartoon has done a TV version of it. Even 30 Rock‘s Jack Donaghy [pictured left] had his own twisted version.
Of the serious successes there is of course the popular (and public domain) 1932 film version (which uses the original title), and the excellent Science Fiction film version: Predator.
“You are alone and unarmed in the green hell of a Caribbean jungle. You’re being trailed by a pack of fiercely hungry dogs — and a mad hunter armed for the kill. A mad hunter who believes that you, a human being, are the most dangerous game.
First published in the January 19, 1924 issue of Collier’s Weekly – there have been no fewer than 13 film versions and at least than many more that just plain ripped off the idea completely uncredited. You can check all those out elsewhere. Strangely there is no straight audiobook version, but you can check out some of the audio adaptations here!
Suspense – The Most Dangerous Game
1 |MP3| – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: September 23, 1943
Provider: Archive.org
Orson Welles as Zaroff and Keenan Wynn as Rainsford,
Suspense – The Most Dangerous Game (second version)
1 |MP3| – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: February 1st 1945
Provider: Archive.org
With Joseph Cotten portraying Rainsford.
Escape – The Most Dangerous Game
1 |MP3| – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcaster: October 1, 1947 A big game hunt for the biggest game of all…man! Hans Conried, Irving Ravetch (adaptor), Paul Frees, Richard Connell (writer), William N. Robson (producer), Richard Sanville (director), Cy Feuer (music conceiver, conductor).
A modern audio drama version…
The Most Dangerous Game
Adapted from the story by Richard Connell; Performed by a full cast
1 CD – Approx. 52 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Ziggurat Productions
Published: 2002
ISBN: 188421424x On his way to hunt jaguars in the Brazilian jungle, a professional hunter is marooned on remote island inhabited by a fellow hunter who pursues unusual game.
There’s also the “radio theater with dada/surreal elements” version…
From KBOO, a frightening adaptation that uses “actual sound bits and dialog from a couple of early productions of this story from the 1940s.” The producer of it calls it “incredibly violent, lurid and profane.”
|Download Part 1| |Download Part 2|
And finally…
From TheatreOfTheMind.com, a one actress recreation of the original Suspense script! |MP3| Yikes!
Graceling
By Kristin Cashore; Read by David Baker and a Full Cast
10.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2009
Set in a world where some people are born with a Grace—a unique, sometimes uncanny, gift—this is the story of Katsa, whose Grace, demonstrated at an uncomfortably early age, is for killing. This makes her a perfect tool for her uncle, King Randa But Katsa chafes at the way she is being used—and even more at the injustices she sees around her.
Then she meets Prince Po, who has a Grace to match hers… perhaps.
Featuring FCA favorite Chelsea Mixon as Katsa, and sensational newcomer Zachary Exton as Prince Po, the most fascinating and praised fantasy debut of 2008 now springs to life in a sensational full cast recording.
“The interview everyone clamored for but hadn’t been holding their breath waiting for has come to pass. JMS, The Great Maker, graciously allows Tim and Summer to throw a seemingly endless stream of questions about the origins and creation of Babylon 5, the production and growing pains of the show, and dealing with the vagaries of the industry of Hollywood, the bizarre perfect storm surrounding Crusade on TNT, and more.”
In fact, the interview was so big it’s going to be spread out over two shows. Here’s the first one |MP3|. Subscribe to the podcast to get this particular show, a bunch of the past shows and next week’s show too:
http://www.babylonpodcast.com/?feed=podcast
On Basilisk Station (Book One in the Honor Harrington Series)
By David Weber; Read by Allyson Johnson
15 Hours, 15 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423393382 (CD)
Honor in Trouble:
• Having made him look a fool, she’s been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her.
• Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship’s humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.
• The aborigines of the system’s only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.
• Parliament isn’t sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called “Republic” of Haven is Up To Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn’t work to police the entire star system.
But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They’ve made her mad.
Flinx Transcendent
By Alan Dean Foster; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
16 Hours, 13 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423393153 (CD)
From one of the most brilliant imaginations in science fiction comes Flinx Transcendent, Alan Dean Foster’s thrilling conclusion to the series that began over thirty-five years ago – the epic adventures of Flinx and his flying minidrag companion, Pip.
Flinx is the only one with even the tiniest chance of stopping the evil colossus barreling in to destroy the Humanx Commonwealth (and everything else in the Milky Way). With time running out, Flinx is a man in search of a solution and in search of himself. His efforts take him to the land of his mortal enemies, the bloodthirsty AAnn, where chances are excellent that Flinx’s discovery – and summary execution – will eliminate all his demons and doubts in one masterstroke.
The way Flinx is feeling, that might not be the worst imaginable end. After years of searching for his father, he finally has – and must bear – the truth. And now he must also seek out an ancient sentient weapons platform wandering around somewhere in the galaxy and then communicate with it, a powwow that could very well fry his already frazzled brain. Then there are the oblivion-craving assassins determined to stop Flinx before he can prevent total annihilation.
With a future that rosy, it’s no surprise he’s flirting with disaster. Still, Flinx is no quitter, and he’s got something else going for him – an uncanny ability to improvise and triumph (or at least survive) in impossible situations. He’s certainly been through enough of them, and now he’s going to need every ounce of that know-how, because he’s venturing to places where the laws of physics fear to tread, where no one’s ever been, to do what no one’s ever done, and where his deadliest enemy is so close it’s invisible.
On her latest Forgotten Classics podcast my friend Julie Davis has an excerpt from a 1962 novel by Mary Stewart called The Moon-spinners. 
Here’s a story meme with nearly as 
