Four exciting titles from Macmillan Audio!
Anathem
By Neal Stephenson; Read by William Dufris, Oliver Wyman, Tavia Gilbert, and Neal Stephenson
28 CDs – 34 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781427205902
Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside “saecular” world by ancient stone and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent¹s walls, yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe.
Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn’t seen since he was “collected.” But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand on the brink of cataclysmic change.
Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros. Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world‹as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.
A multi-cast recording, this program also features a cameo by the author and original music inspired by the story. Composer David Stutz says of the writing process, “I was excited by the creative possibilities opened up by Neal’s imagination. These ideas, realized, are the music that you hear on this audiobook.”
Ender in Exile
By Orson Scott Card; Read by David Birney, Cassandra Campbell, Emily Janice Card, Orson Scott Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, Kirby Heyborne, Don Leslie, Stefan Rudnicki, and Mirron Willis
12 CDs – 14 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781427205124
At the close of Ender’s Game, Andrew Wiggin – called Ender by everyone – is told that he can no longer live on Earth, and he realizes that this is the truth. He has become far more than just a boy who won a game: he is the Savior of Earth, a hero, a military genius whose allegiance is sought by every nation of the newly shattered Earth Hegemony. He is offered the choice of living in isolation on Eros, at one of the Hegemony’s training facilities, but instead the twelve-year-old chooses to leave his home world and begin the long relativistic journey out to the colonies. With him went his sister Valentine, and the core of the artificial intelligence that would become Jane.
The story of those years has never been told… until now.
Heretics of Dune
By Frank Herbert; Read by Simon Vance, Scott Brick, and Katherine Kellgren
15 CDs – 18.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781427203168
On Arrakis, now called Rakis, known to legend as Dune, ten times ten centuries have passed. The planet is becoming desert again. The Lost Ones are returning home from the far reaches of space. The great sandworms are dying, and the Bene Gesserit and the Bene Tleilax struggle to direct the future of Dune. The children of Dune’s children awaken as from a dream, wielding the new power of a heresy called love.
The Path of Daggers: Book 8 of The Wheel of Time
By Robert Jordan; Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer
19 CDs – 23.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781427205087
The phenomenal tale that is mesmerizing a generation of readers now continues!
The Seanchan invasion force is in possession of Ebou Dar. Nynaeve, Elayne, and Aviendha head for Caemlyn and Elayne’s rightful throne, but on the way they discover an enemy much worse than the Seanchan.
In Illian, Rand vows to throw the Seanchan back as he did once before. But signs of madness are appearing among the Asha’man.
In Ghealdan, Perrin faces the intrigues of Whitecloaks, Seanchan invaders, the scattered Shaido Aiel, and the Prophet himself. Perrin’s beloved wife, Faile, may pay with her life, and Perrin himself may have to destroy his soul to save her.
Meanwhile the rebel Aes Sedai under their young Amyrlin, Egwene al’Vere, face an army that intends to keep them away from the White Tower. But Egwene is determined to unseat the usurper Elaida and reunite the Aes Sedai. She does not yet understand the price that others–and she herself–will pay.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
Slipstream
I enjoyed Slipstream. I’ve read other perhaps more original war themed science fiction stories, yet this one, in this case a cleverly conceived audio play, still sticks with me. Probably because it manages to elevate a fairly stock “secret weapons of the Luftwaffe” idea a step or two further with…sheer oomph. Slipstream is ballsy, it takes chances and the performances are good, particularly “Barton”, the mission team leader, the kind of character that you “love to hate”. Really nice production as well, rounding Slipstream out to a solid three out of four stars for me. Maybe three and a half if I’m feeling generous. See what you think.
Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel of C. S. Lewis’ highly regarded “Space Trilogy” (followed by a hands down classic, Perelandra, and the concluding book of the series, That Hideous Strength). It’s basically an old fashioned adventure story that becomes a strange kind of interplanetary epic. One thing to note to first timers, this isn’t rockets, robots and ray guns material. These novels are much weirder, more allegorical, more spiritual and bizarrely alien, revealing the real history and truth behind what we humans think we know about the history of the solar system (and of the workings of the cosmos at large). Good gooey stuff, and Out of the Silent Planet whets the appetite…for goo.
The Day the Earth Stood Still: Selected Stories of Harry Bates
