
Mur Lafferty of I Should Be Writing 2.0 interviews Benjamin Rosenbaum (The Ant King and Other Stories). |MP3|
You can subscribe to the podcast at this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/IShouldBeWriting
Posted by Charles Tan
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.

Mur Lafferty of I Should Be Writing 2.0 interviews Benjamin Rosenbaum (The Ant King and Other Stories). |MP3|
You can subscribe to the podcast at this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/IShouldBeWriting
Posted by Charles Tan

Here are three epic fantasies, hot off the press from Brilliance Audio!
Dragonheart (Pern)
By Todd McCaffrey; Read by Emily Durante
17 CDs – 20 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423373261
Foundation
By Mercedes Lackey; Read by Nick Podehl
9 CDs – 10 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423307570
Wizard’s First Rule
By Terry Goodkind; Read by Jim Bond
7 CDs – 8 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423321637
Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Three of the finest writers ever, from Blackstone Audio!
The Halloween Tree
By Ray Bradbury; Performed by a full cast
2 CDs – 2 hours – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433232145
The Ships of Earth (Homecoming, Book 3)
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
10 CDs – 12 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433218866
Valis
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Tom Weiner
7 CDs – 8 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433253782
Posted by Scott D. Danielson

It’s been a while since we did a new release update, though we’ve been announcing quite a few on The SFFaudio Podcast. Here are a few, expect more to follow soon.
Swallowing Darkness
By Laurell K. Hamilton; Read by Claudia Black
10 CDs – 11 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: November 4th, 2008
ISBN: 9780739370445
Brisingr
By Christopher Paolini; Read by Gerard Doyle
23 CDs – Approx. 27 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Published: September 20th, 2008
ISBN: 0739368044
Red Planet
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by William Dufris and a full cast
6 CDs- 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: October 2008
ISBN: 9781934180518
Jim Marlowe’s Martian pet, Willis, seems like nothing more than an adorable ball of fur with an astonishing ability to mimic the human voice. But when Jim takes the creature to academy and runs afoul of a militantly rigid headmaster, his devotion to his pet launches the young man on a death-defying trek across Mars. Accompanied by his buddy, Frank, Jim must battle the dangers of a hostile planet. But it is not only the boys’ lives that are at stake: They have discovered explosive information about a threat to the survival of the entire colony—information that may mean life or death for their families. An irresistible mix of thrilling adventure, crackling dialogue, and brilliant speculation, deftly seasoned with politics, philosophy, and a touch of the mystic, Red Planet is classic Heinlein. Note: This recording uses the author’s preferred text, restoring many cuts made by the original editor.
Guest Law
By John C. Wright; Read by Tom Dheere
1 CD – 52 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: October 2008
ISBN: 9781884612831
There be pirates in the vast void of space! Does not the poet say: “Beware the strangeness of the stranger. Unknown things bring unknown danger?” The noble ship Procrustes was silent as a ghost. Warships can be silent if they are slow; only their missiles need speed. And so it was silently, slowly, that the Procrustes approached the stranger’s cold vessel.
Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #010 – In what may be our smurfiest show ever we’ve dropped the usual format for an exclusive interview with Bill Hollweg from BrokenSea Audio Productions. It’s a Texas sized show in which we get Bill to spill the beans on upcoming BSAP projects like the retro-Battlestar Galactica, an all new Mad Max adventure and the audio drama version of Escape From New York!
We also hear about:
Me gushing over the ongoing 7 part BSAP miniseries of Conan: Queen Of The Black Coast, then I compare BSAP’s Jake Sampson: Monster Hunter to Tales Of The Gold Monkey and Bill compares it to Temple Of The Vampire, listen for the description of Beta Flight (you’re thinking Alpha Flight‘s cheaper cousin right?), Body Slam Alley (No one expects a wrestling audio drama!), newcomer 19 Nocturne Boulevard, Maudelayne featuring J.R.R. Tolkien, and plenty more!
Posted by Jesse Willis

If I Were You
By L. Ron Hubbard; Read by various
2 CDs – 2 Hours 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Published: 2008
ISBN: 1592122906
Themes: / Fantasy / Consciousness Transference / Magic /
Circus dwarf Little Tom Little is the king of midgets, loved by crowds and carnival folk alike. Only he doesn’t just want to be a bigger circus star, he wants to be just like the circus’ tall and imposing leader. Trouble begins the moment that a set of ancient books containing the secret of switching bodies finds its way into Tom Little’s tiny hands. When he magically trades his small frame with that of the circus chief, finds himself in a giant-sized heap of trouble—his craving for height has landed him smack in the center ring surrounded by forty savage cats!
If I Were You (Approx. 95 Minutes) – Nancy Cartwright, best known as Bart on The Simpsons, voices Little Tom Little, the little person who has big dreams. Tom Little wants to become the circus ringmaster. So, when the resident circus magician is at death’s door and offers to teach Tom the ancient art of consciousness transference Tom jumps at the chance. Of course the having is not always as good as the wanting as things soon go awry for the tallest little person in the circus. A little drawn out, this tale was first published in a 1940 pulp magazine called Four Novels. It’s plot goes basically where you’d think it’d go. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it, but it doesn’t capture your imagination the way maybe you’d like.
The Last Drop (Approx. 32 Minutes) – This is a fast paced cartoonist fantasy in the tradition of Bugs Bunny, The Food Of The Gods and The Incredible Shrinking Man. A bartender receives a mysterious syrup in the mail from his brother in Borneo. After a little experimentation he discovers that it has the power to change the size of whoever consumes it. The Last Drop is cute, completely ludicrous, and fairly entertaining. As with the other Galaxy Press Hubbard collections, The Last Drop uses multiple actors, voice and sound effects – it’s not an adaptation, but easily could be adapted into a Pixar or Warner Brothers style cartoon. Normally I’d criticize the use of all these enhancements, but with the cartoonish nature of the story, these enhancements don’t spoil the storytelling as badly as they do in other more straight tales. One thing that is rather annoying though, the audio track doesn’t acknowledge the co-authorship of The Last Drop. There is, however, a small print notification on the bottom of the packaging. And, it’s significant. This is the only story that Hubbard collaborated on during his lifetime. The Last Drop was co-authored by L. Sprague de Camp.
The two CDs are handsomely packaged in a cardboard sleeve along with a booklet featuring a brief biography of Hubbard’s career and influences, and an essay by Kevin J. Anderson about the pulp era. The Anderson essay is rife with enthusiasm for the pulps. The author of the Hubbard biographical essay isn’t named, but is nevertheless informative and includes more than a dozen photographs. Curiously, the author of the bio detours for a quick attack at western author Max Brand, when talking about Hubbard’s western stories. This is the same booklet as appears in The Great Secret collection.
Posted by Jesse Willis