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.
Here’s a new FREE LibriVox H. Beam Piper audiobook, it took a little while for the podcast feed to appear but its all ready for listening now…
The Edge Of The Knife
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Julio Martini 6 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 12, 2009 The Terro-Human Future History is Piper’s detailed account of the next 6000 years of human history. 1942, the year the first fission reactor was constructed, is defined as the year 1 A.E. (Atomic Era). In 1973, a nuclear war devastates the planet, eventually laying the groundwork for the emergence of a Terran Federation, once humanity goes into space and develops antigravity technology. The story “The Edge of the Knife” (collected in Empire) occurs slightly before the war, and involves a man who sees flashes of the future. It links many key elements of Piper’s series.
“I signed up like a good consumer to Audible, I have 2 monthly unused credits paid for and finally I see something I want. But I cannot buy ‘The Steel Remains‘ [Richard K. Morgan’s new novel] even though I am in Canada.
Hmm, maybe I should just download it now and then buy it later…
Kinda got scared of the ‘Gay Porn’ label by some reviews on Audible, probably fundies, but nobody made a big deal about it on Amazon so I think it is not a issue. Who knows maybe gay porn isn’t that bad anyway.”
What’s weird is even after figuring out what Steen was talking about it still sounds like American protectionism to me. Don’t we have a free trade agreement?
UPDATE:
The |PDF| sell sheet for The Steel Remains says Tantor has “North American” rights.
Star Wars: Millennium Falcon
By James Luceno, Read by Marc Thompson
8 CDs – 10 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9780739377130
Themes: / Star Wars / Science Fiction / Fantasy / Religion / Space Travel / Adventure / Hardware /
Marc Thompson does the reading here, after a very long stretch of excellent Star Wars narration by Jonathan Davis. The series is in good hands. Marc Thompson is a bit of a impressionist, able to invoke Harrison Ford’s Han Solo merely by the tone and meter of his voice. Most of the time it works great, but every now and then I got a clear view of David Puddy in my head (Elaine’s boyfriend from Seinfeld, played by Patrick Warburton). Who knew that Ford’s and Warburton’s voices were so near each other? These times are few, though, and Marc Thompson is a narrator I’d listen to any time.
Star Wars: Millenium Falcon spans a lot of history. The famous ship has been around, and James Luceno takes us on a tour of its busy life. Han Solo and Leia are married, for those who haven’t been keeping up, and have grandkids (yes, a LOT has happened), one of which is named Allana. One day she asked Han about the history of the ship, which prodded him into looking more into it.
In the meantime, a previous owner of the ship (before Lando) has been in stasis for quite a few years. He wakes up and immediately goes after something he left on the ship. Eventually, their paths cross.
This is an entertaining adventure that ties together the whole Star Wars saga through the history of the Millenium Falcon. It’s extremely well done, and lots of fun for a fan like me.
After listening to this audiobook, I was curious – did the Millennium Falcon make an appearance in Episodes I, II, or III? The answer is yes, but only briefly:
With the release of Chapterhouse Dune this month, Macmillan Audio has completed the entire original Dune Chronicles, all recorded with full casts. Macmillan’s full list of audio Dune titles (including those by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson) can be found |HERE|, complete with audio samples!
Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 1)
By Frank Herbert, Performed by Full Cast
18 CDs – 22 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Dune Messiah (Dune Chronicles, Book 2)
By Frank Herbert, Performed by Full Cast
7 CDs – 9 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 3)
By Frank Herbert, Performed by Full Cast
14 CDs – 17 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
God Emperor of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 4)
By Frank Herbert, Performed by Full Cast
13 CDs – 16 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 5)
By Frank Herbert, Performed by Full Cast
15 CDs – 18.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Chapterhouse Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 6)
By Frank Herbert, Performed by Full Cast
13 CDs – 16.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
The Edge Of The Knife
