CBC Radio One: Writers And Company – Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

CBC Radio One - Writers And CompanyOn March 31st CBC Radio One’s Writers And Company aired an interview, conducted in November 2000, with Arthur C. Clarke. I somehow missed this episode in the podcast feed (sorry folks). Unfortunately it is no longer in the podcast feed either. Fortunately it is still online. Have a listen |MP3|!

This may be the very best of the many Arthur C. Clarke interviews out there. Clarke talks his youth, Science Fiction, science, Astounding magazine, Meccano, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, Eric Frank Russel, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and tons more. Kudos to the CBC and Eleanor Wachtel, as other people have noted, she’ truly is “the best arts interviewer in the business.”

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC7 re-airing: Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7BBC 7 is re-aring their specially commissioned readings of Arthur C. Clarke stories (and one Isaac Asimov one) in their 7th Dimension time-slot next week. Check these out when they air, or tune in via the “listen again” service after they air…

Before Eden
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Tim Pigott-Smith
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
This space adventure set on Venus highlights the weight of responsibility which rests on explorers entering uncharted territories.

BBC 7 Unabridged reading Summertime On Icarus by Arthur C. ClarkeSummertime On Icarus
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Tim Pigott-Smith
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Tuesday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
When an astronaut wakes up after an accident he finds himself on the asteroid, Icarus, which orbits close to the sun. Dawn is only moments away and it is about to get very hot. There is nowhere to hide and his communication is down – will he escape before the first rays of the sun find him?

BBC Radio 7 - All The Time In The World by Arthur C. ClarkeAll The Time In The World
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Nicholas Boulton
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Wednesday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
“A clever tale about some alien art thieves who arrive to plunder Earth.”



BBC Radio 7 - The Parasite by Arthur C. ClarkeThe Parasite
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Nicholas Boulton
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Thursday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
“A chilling tale about a man who starts having dreams of a monstrous creature from the future.”

And finally, Friday sees the re-broadcast of Isaac Asimov’s classic short story…

The Last Question by Isaac AsimovThe Last Question
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Henry Goodman
Radio Broadcast – Approx 25 minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC 7 / 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Friday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
Asimov’s classic “man versus machine” short story. In the not too distant future, technology has advanced to the point where global affairs are managed by a huge computer called Multivac which supposedly can provide the answers to all questions… such as… “Can entropy be reversed?”

Posted by Jesse Willis

Free Audiobooks for a Summer Roadtrip

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Free Listens BlogAccording to the Triple-A, over 31 million Americans will travel by road this Memorial Day weekend. If you’re one of those, you might want to bring along an audiobook or two to keep you company on the Interstate. Long drives are a great time to take in an audiobook, but also require a specific type of book. The plot has to be exciting enough to hold your interest on boring stretches of the Interstate, but simple enough that you can still pay attention to the traffic. Since you’ll be spending most of your money on gas, you might want to save your vacation budget by going with a free downloadable audiobook. I’ve come up with 5 recommendations for free road trip Science Fiction and Fantasy audiobooks:

* Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell – This novel, published by Podiobooks, tells the story of Ishmael, a new crewmember on a space freighter. The story and gentle didactic tone reminded me of classic adolescent science fiction like Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein.

* Trunk & Disorderly by Charles Stross – Stross reads his own work here in a novellette made available by Subterrannean Press. The story is a hilarious re-imagining of the Wooster and Jeeves stories by P.G. Wodehouse, but set in a futuristic universe. Not recommended for children.

* The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle – In probably the greatest Sherlock Holmes novel, Holmes and Watson confront a demonic hellhound threatening the life of their client. John Telfer performs a marvelous array of British accents in this excellent recording. Project Gutenberg provides two duplicate copies of the files: one at 11 kHz and a higher-quality version at 22 kHz.

* The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum – Even if you or your children have the movie memorized, the original book is worth a listen. J. Hall narrates the book in this LibriVox offering with a pleasant American accent that would be at home on NPR.

* Red Panda Adventures by Decoder Ring Theatre – Okay, so this one’s not technically an audiobook. The folks at Decoder Ring Theater produce an excellent show in old-time radio style about the adventures of a pair of wisecracking masked heroes. Download several episodes to fit the length of your trip.

Posted by Seth (Listener of the Free Listens blog)

New Radio Theatre by HPL Historical Society

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

HPLHS - H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror - audio dramaThe H.P.Lovecraft Historical Society (HPLHS) has posted an announcement that they are producing the Dunwich Horror as an audio drama:

“An all-new 1930s-style radio adaptation, complete with the kind of excellent bonus features you’ve come to expect from HPLHS! It’s coming. Really. Soon.”

This will be a follow up to their adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness (which was one of the prizes in the 2nd Annuall SFFaudio Challenge). There is not much more info yet but we’ll keep you apprised.

[Vielen dank Carsten]

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – The Green Millennium by Fritz Leiber

Time Traveler

New Releases

The Green Millennium by Fritz LeiberThe Green Millennium
By Fritz Leiber; Read by William Coon
6.5 hrs. – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Availiable at Audible and iTunes

Give a free listen to the first chapter.

From the Hugo and Nebula Grandmaster author, Fritz Leiber.

Phil Gish has always felt like a luck-forsaken little guy who never got a break. But he awakes one morning to overwhelming optimism and hope. The thing that brings him joy is the sudden appearance of a green cat that has jumped through the window of his tiny bachelor apartment. He decides to adopt the cat and names it Lucky. But Lucky has other plans, and the cat disappears from Phil’s place as quickly as it jumped in.

Phil’s journey to retrieve Lucky takes him directly into the paths of some of the most eccentric characters to ever populate a novel, from a female masked wrestler to a psychoanalyst on the take and his seemingly psychotic daughter, Mitzie.

Poor Phil’s problems are only beginning. He starts to have special feelings for Mitzie, and the green cat becomes a sought-after prize by the mob and the government.

An offbeat story written as if someone had dropped a Marx Brothers movie into a Philip K. Dick novel.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

Recent Arrivals – Dick, Heinlein, Card, Bujold, Robinson

Time Traveler

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals

We’ve got five new arrivals from Blackstone with the top names in the business–again!

dr_bloodmoney150.jpgDr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Tom Weiner
7 CD, 8.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433245503

Philip Dick’s post-nuclear-holocaust masterpiece presents a mesmerizing vision of a world transformed, where technology has reverted back to the nineteenth century, animals have developed speech and language, and humans must deal with both physical mutations and the psychological repercussions of the disaster they have caused. The book is filled with a host of Dick’s most memorable characters: Hoppy Harrington, a deformed mutant with telekinetic powers; Walt Dangerfield, a selfless disc jockey stranded in a satellite circling the globe; Dr. Bluthgeld, the megalomaniac physicist largely responsible for the decimated state of the world; and Stuart McConchie and Bonnie Keller, two unremarkable people bent the survival of goodness in a world devastated by evil. Epic and alluring, Dr. Bloodmoney brilliantly depicts Dick’s undying hope in humanity.

SF audiobook - Memory of Earth by Orson Scott CardThe Memory of Earth; Homecoming Vol. 1
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
9 CD, 10.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433218705

High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet, to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats. To protect them, most of all, from themselves.The Oversoul has done its job well. There is no war on Harmony. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is no technology that could lead to weapons of war. By control of the data banks, and subtle interference in the very thoughts of the people, the artificial intelligence has fulfilled its mission.But now there is a problem. In orbit, the Oversoul realizes that it has lost access to some of its memory banks, and some of its power systems are failing. And on the planet, men are beginning to think about power, wealth, and conquest.

SF Audiobook - Stardance by Spider and Jeanne RobinsonStardance
By Spider & Jeanne Robinson: Read by Spider Robinson
7 CD, 8 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433244827

Shara Drummond was a gifted dancer and a brilliant choreographer, but she could not pursue her dream of dancing on Earth. So she went to space, creating a new art form in three dimensions. And when the aliens arrived, there was only one way to prove that the human race deserved not just to survive, but to reach the stars. The only hope was Shara, with her stardance.

The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Stardance series pioneered the concept of zero gravity dance, which even sparked the interest of NASA and shortlisted co-author Jeanne Robinson for a seat on a space shuttle to become the first actual freefall dancer in space. Though the Challenger explosion cancelled that dream, now Jeanne is being given a second chance to choreograph dance in space…on film. See Stardance Home Page for more.

SF audiobook - Friday by Robert A. HeinleinFriday
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Hillary Huber
11 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433246502
Engineered from the finest genes and trained to be a secret courier in a future world, Friday operates over a near-future Earth, where chaos reigns. North America has become Balkanized into dozens of independent states, sharing only a bizarrely vulgarized culture. Now, Friday finds herself on shuttlecock assignment at the seemingly whimsical behest of her secret employer, known to her only as “Boss”. Traveling from one to another of the new states of America’s disunion, she is confronted with a series of professional as well as personal crises that put her to the test.

SF audiobook - Passage: The Sharing Knife part 3 by Lois McMaster Bujould TNThe Sharing Knife, Passage, Vol. 3
By Lois McMaster Bujould; Read by Bernadette Dunne
12 CD, 15 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433234910

Filled with magic, heroism, and all-too-human characters, Bujold’s Sharing Knife saga is both a gripping adventure and a poignant romance. In this third volume, Fawn, the young farm girl, and Dag, the seasoned soldier-sorcerer, set off to find fresh solutions to the perilous split between their peoples and encounter new hazards both human and uncanny.

The farmers and riverfolk have long distrusted the power of the mysterious and aloof Lakewalkers, even though they depend on them for protection from the evil malices. The proud Lakewalkers, meanwhile, have exiled Dag after learning of his marriage to Fawn, the first outsider to be bound to a Lakewalker in their magical way. But as Dag’s natural Lakewalker ability to manipulate “ground energy” begins to develop in dangerous directions, he and Fawn realize that big changes are ahead.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show