New Releases – Reynolds, Child, Asimov, Willis

Jesse Willis

New Releases

Here’s a few new releases that have caught my eyes. There’s also a promise of a title to come that I just have to mention: Tantor Media has Scott Lynch’s The Lies Of Locke Lamora in the pipeline for a spring release! Somebody over in Tantor’s acquisitions department must be listening to our podcast!

Tantor Media - Redemption Ark by Alastair ReynoldsRedemption Ark
By Alastair Reynolds; Read by John Lee
24 CDs or 3 MP3-CDs – 29 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: February 2009
ISBN: 9781400109579 (CD), 9781400159574 (MP3-CD)
The sequel to Revelation Space


Random House Audio - Terminal Freeze by Lincoln ChildTerminal Freeze
By Lincoln Child; Read by Scott Brick
9 CDs – 10 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2/24/2009
ISBN: 9780739382028

Four hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle lies Alaska’s Federal Wilderness Zone, one of the most remote places on Earth. But for paleoecologist Evan Marshall and a small group of fellow scientists, an expedition to the Zone represents the opportunity of a lifetime to study the effects of global warming. The expedition changes suddenly, however, with an astonishing find. On a routine exploration of a glacial ice cave, the group discovers an enormous ancient animal encased in solid ice. The media conglomerate sponsoring their research immediately intervenes and arranges the ultimate spectacle—the animal will be cut from the ice, thawed, and revealed live on television. Despite dire warnings of a local Native American village, and the scientific concerns of Marshall and his team, the “docudrama” plows ahead—until the scientists make one more horrifying discovery. The beast is no regular specimen…it may be an ancient killing machine. And they may be wrong in presuming it dead.

BBC Audiobooks America - Pebble In The Sky by Isaac AsimovPebble in the Sky
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Robert Fass
Audible Download, 7 CDs, 1 MP3-CD – 8 Hours 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: January 28, 2009
ISBN: 9780792760504 (cd), 9780792761860 (mp3-cd)
One moment Joseph Schwartz is a happily retired tailor in Chicago, 1949. The next he’s a helpless stranger on Earth during the heyday of the first Galactic Empire. Earth, as he soon learns, is a backwater, just a pebble in the sky, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dare to claim it’s the original home of man. And Earth is poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil – so poor that everyone is sentenced to death at the age of 60. Joseph Schwartz is 62.

BBC Audiobooks America - The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac AsimovThe Stars, Like Dust
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Stephen R. Thorne
6 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 7 Hours 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: 2009?
ISBN: 9780792757863 (cd), 9780792758297 (mp3-cd)
Biron Farrell was young and naïve, but he was growing up fast. A radiation bomb planted in his dorm room changed him from an innocent student at the University of Earth to a marked man, fleeing desperately from an unknown assassin. He soon discovers that, many light-years away, his father has been murdered. Stunned, grief-stricken, and outraged, Biron is determined to uncover the reasons behind his father’s death, and becomes entangled in an intricate saga of rebellion, political intrigue, and espionage. The mystery takes him deep into space where he finds himself in a relentless struggle with the power-mad despots of Tyrann.

Blackstone Audio - Bellwether by Connie WillisBellwether
By Connie Willis; Read by Kate Reading
5 Cassettes, 1 MP3-CD, 5 CDs – Approx. 5.6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: February 2009
ISBN: 9781433246234 (cassette), 9781433246265 (mp3-cd), 9781433246241 (cd)
Sandra Foster studies fads and their meanings for the HiTek corporation. Bennett O’Reilly works with monkey-group behavior and chaos theory for the same company. When the two are thrust together due to a misdelivered package and a run of seemingly bad luck, they find a joint project in a flock of sheep. But a series of setbacks and disappointments arise before they are able to find answers to their questions—with the unintended help of the errant, forgetful, and careless office assistant Flip.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Scott Brick podcast interviewed by Behind The Mike

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Behind The Mike - The Radio Show About … Whatever!Popular audiobook narrator Scott Brick was podcast-interviewed by the people at Behind The Mike – The Radio Show About … Whatever! – the lengthy intro babble is incredibly inane and boring [skip it], but the actual interview, which runs between the 16:20 mark and the 58:04 mark is very interesting. Brick talks about his beginnings in the business, how he approaches narration, his love of radio drama, abridgements, and some of the many audiobooks he’s narrated. Have a listen |MP3|.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 3, 4, 7 – Wells, Clarke, Banks + MORE

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 7 - BBC7BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and BBC Radio 7 are joining forces to launch a new season of SFF audio (hey thanks BBC). These dates and times could change (think of it as a long-term weather forecast), but here’s the schedule for present…

BBC Radio 3 – Sunday 22nd February 20:00-21:40 The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (Stars Robert Glenister)

BBC Radio 4 – Sunday 1st March 15:00 Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (Stars Richard Dillane)

BBC Radio 4 – Monday 9th March 14:15 Cry Babies by Kim Newman (Stars Alex Jennings)

BBC Radio 4 – Wednesday 11th March 14:15 Homesick by Anita Sullivan (Stars Maxine Peake)

BBC Radio 4 – Friday 13th March 14:15 Mayflies by Mike Maddox (Stars Derek Jacobi)

Were not sure that this is a complete list, these details are from the latest issue of Radio Times. No title is specifically listed for BBC7, though Iain M. Banks is also mentioned as a writer who’ll be included.

[Thanks Roy!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

StarShipSofa

Tony

SFFaudio Online Audio

Star Ship Sofa Podcast Science Fiction Magazine

Listen here to the full Aural Delights No 64 Ted Kosmatka mp3 show!

Editorial: The Good the Bad and the Ugly by Tony C. Smith 02:00

Poetry: Her Opals by Samantha Henderson 12:30

Flash Fiction: Where Credit Is Due by Edward M. Lerner 14:39

Fact: Science News by JJ Campanella 24:20

Main Fiction: The Art of Alchemy by Ted Kosmatka 40:22

Fact: Kim Stanley Robinson by English Assassin 01:34:00

Narrators: David Lamb, Annette Bowman, Dale Manley

http://www.starshipsofa.com/rss

Posted by Tony C. Smith

Twitter

Scott D.

SFFaudio News

For those of you who use Twitter, we’ve got two Twitter feeds here at SFFaudio. The first is an automatic feed that provides a link to each post we do. Find that one here: http://twitter.com/sffaudio.

The second is my personal Twitter feed, which I promise to keep audio and book related, at least until the zombie uprising. Find that one here: http://twitter.com/sdanielson.

Enjoy!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobooks - Voodoo Planet by Andre NortonVoodoo Planet
By Andre Norton; Read by Chuck McKibben
3 CDs – 3 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781897304372
Themes: / Science Fiction / Adventure / Space Travel / Africa /

Voodoo Planet is the tale of three crew members from The Solar Queen spaceship who are invited to go on a hunting safari on a Khatka, a planet colonized by people from Africa. Dane, Medic Tau, and Captain Jellico soon run up against Lumbrilo, a local witch doctor, who has strong reasons for not wanting outsiders to explore the jungle. After their flitter crashes in the wild, the spacemen and their local hosts soon become the targets of bizarre attacks from wildlife as they try to make their way back to civilization. Tau has studied magic on many different worlds and a battle of wills emerges as he must counter the attacks and provide the edge to overcome their enemy.

This is a short and simple tale of adventure, it is best enjoyed at face value – a sampling of classic science fiction. It makes foe an exciting story as one waits to see what Lumbrilo will next launch against the heroes. Andre Norton is a legendary author in science fiction and fantasy, but this is one of her earlier and lesser works. That does not mean that one should ignore the book, but simply that one should not expect a master work.

The narration of the story is fine with slight shading added to various characters’ voices to provide both personality and help the listener differentiate when a conversation is occurring. However, the editing is not very careful. There were several occasions when a sentence or two was repeated as the narrator corrected a misstep. Failing to catch a duplication is common enough in free podcasts but when one is paying for an audiobook it is inexcusable. One hopes that the editors will more carefully proof the other books from this publisher.

Overall, well done and recommended.

Posted by Julie D.