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.
Orson Scott Card’s latest aural essay is up on Audible.com. Card talks about Ursula K. Le Guin’s first novel Roccanon’s World and the Blackstone Audio audiobook of it that’s narrated by Stefan Rudnicki!
Go check it out, or just grab the |MP3| and listen immediately.
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #023 – Jesse and Scott are joined by Rick Jackson (aka The Time Traveler) and talk to him about his podcast (The Time Traveler Show) and audiobook company (Wonder Audio).
Talked about on today’s show:
The Time Traveler Show podcast, Scott Brick, William Dufris, Mark Douglas Nelson, Sam Mowry, Arthur C. Clarke, Stefan Rudnicki, Wonder Audio, Mac Kelly, Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley, Audible.com/wonderaudio, ebook, Frank Herbert, Alfred Bester, Pat Bottino, The Cimmerian blog, Pride And Prejudice And Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Chronicle Books, Macmillan Audio, fantasy, Lamentation by Ken Scholes, multiple narrators, Full Cast Audio, Elmore Leonard, Jim Dale, Stephen Fry, Harry Potter, Graphic Audio, Anathem by Neal Stephenson, The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (ISIS Audio ISBN: 1856955435), Phantoms by Dean Koontz, Mel Blanc, Billy West, Tara Platt, Yuri Lowenthal, Bill Hollweg, the public domain status of Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, The Weapon Shops Of Isher by A.E. van Vogt, William Coon, The Quest For Saint Aquin by Anthony Boucher, They Bite by Anthony Boucher, William F. Temple, A Sheckley Trilogy, Worlds Of Wonder edited by Robert Silverberg, The Monsters by Robert Sheckley, A Is For Alien, The Science Fiction Oral History Association, Lloyd Biggle Jr., SFOHA needs volunteers, Worldcon 2009, Macmillan Audio, Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell (read by Jonathan Davis), science fiction, aliens, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow |READ OUR REVIEW|, infodumping, Scott Westerfeld, Uglies, Pretties, Extras, A Case Of Conscience by James Blish |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce, The Star by Arthur C. Clarke, The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Penguincon, Penguincon podcast, Spider Robinson, Stephen Eley, Day Million and We Purchased People by Frederik Pohl, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), science as “arrogance control”, transhumanism.
Posted by Jesse Willis
StarShipSofa presents:
The Sofanaut Awards
Well, this is it folks… the numbers have been counted and the winners are:
Well, before that, can I just say a big thank you to one and all who have help/contributed/listened/complained/smiled and cried over the first 52 shows of StarShipSofa’s Aural Delights. Thank you. And a big thanks to Mark Bormann
So the winners are:
Best Flash Fiction: Spider Robinson – “In The Olden Days”
Best Main Fiction: Ted Chiang – “The Merchant & the Alchemists Gate”
Best Poetry Contributor: Laurel Winter
Best Fact Article Contributor: Amy H Sturgis
Best Narrator: Spider Robinson
Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:
http://www.starshipsofa.com/rss
Posted by Tony C. Smith
ABC Radio National, Australia’s public radio broadcaster will be airing (but sadly not podcasting) a story from the paperbook Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 2 collection (2006). It airs at 08:30 in the SUNDAY STORY slot.
Watch
By Stephen Dedman; Read by Matthew O’Sullivan
1 Broadcast – [ABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: ABC Radio National
Broadcast: February 1st 2009
A modern retelling of King Lear with a supernatural twist.
Posted by Jesse Willis
I’ve listened to this production a couple of times and it’s terrific.
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
By Terry Pratchett; Performed by a full cast
90 Minutes – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Sat. Jan 31 at 12pm and 1am GMT
Stays online for 6 days thereafter
A talking cat and rat’s scam falls apart. Terry Pratchett’s inspired twist on the Pied Piper story. Starring David Tennant.
Posted by RC of Radio Tales of the Strange and Fantastic
The Dolphins of Pern
By Anne McCaffrey; Read by Mel Foster
9 CD’s – 11 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423357421
When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize Pern’s oceans while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster struck. The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as human colonists’ dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten.
Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern prepare to complete the momentus task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T’lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, make contact with the legendary “shipfish.” And as the dragonriders grapple with the end of an era, T’lion, Readis, and the dolphins face the start of a new one: reviving the bond between land- and ocean-dwellers – and resurrecting the dreams of the first colonists of Pern.
DoOon Mode
By Piers Anthony; Read by Natalie Ross
11 CD’s – 14 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423376941
Beyond the world we know there is a multiverse of Modes where many strange realities interlock in an infinitely intricate pattern, and a perverse and deranged Emperor plays a deadly multidimensional game with human pawns as his slaves.
Now in DoOon Mode, Piers Anthony delivers the breathtaking climax to this awesome saga. Fearing the heroine Coleen’s dawning power, the depraved Emperor Ddwng dispatches a terrible Mind Monster to assault her soul and bend her to his will. To protect herself, and those she loves, Coleen must journey back through many worlds to her own home on Earth, face her deepest and darkest fears, and draw the strength for a final confrontation to save the multiverse from tyranny and domination.
Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts
By Laura Benedict; Read by Emily Durante
9 CD’s – 11 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423334408
Growing up, Roxanne, Del, and Alice tested the limits of their friendship with cruel, and often dangerous, games – but they always knew they would be bound together forever. Now, Alice’s marriage is over, and her husband is having a child with another woman. Roxanne, an artist consumed by her work, is losing touch with her friends – and perhaps with reality. And Del is desperate to be a perfect wife and adoring stepmother, but her friends see that her careful facade is crumbling.
The instrument of their destruction is a single enigmatic man – Varick. He seems to be a lonely woman’s dream come true, but where has he come from? And what does he want? As he seduces the women in turn, their lives become unrecognizable to them. Varick’s secret lies buried in their shared past. One simple, childish act has brought them, all these years later, to a place where not only their lives but also their souls are at risk. For once upon a time, the three of them agreed to tell a lie – one that ruined the life of a young priest. Defrocked, destitute, and ruined, he hoped with the whole of his shattered heart that he would get revenge. And in that hope he shook hands with the one who promised it. The devil himself. Now they all must live with the consequences.
Dark and provocative, Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts will keep listeners in its terrifying grip long after the chilling conclusion.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson