April & May New Releases

New Releases

Two years after the first book, comes “book 2” of one of the first podcast novels…

Podiobook - Max Quick 2: The Two Travelers by Mark JeffreyMax Quick 2: The Two Travelers
By Mark Jeffrey; Read by Mark Jeffrey
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: April 2008 – ????
Five quiet years have passed in Starland, California since the the time of the Pocket. But when a crazed old man shows up with a warning, Max, Casey, Ian and Sasha suddenly find themselves on the run. Max and Ian go through an Arch back to 1912, where a mysterious Machine is under construction that seems connected to Max’s unremembered secret. Meanwhile, Casey and Sasha follow the old man to the strange town of Arturo Gyp. But there is more afoot than meets the eye: the enemies of Mr. E – the nefarious Archons – are abroad. And when Max is at last eye-to-eye with his secret, he realizes nothing will ever be the same again…

Only available as a commercial MP3 download…

MP3 Audiobook - Little Brother by Cory DoctorowLittle Brother
By Cory Doctorow; Read by Kirby Heyborne
MP3 Download – 11 Hours 54 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio / Listening Library
Published: April 2008
ISBN: 9780739372869
Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works-and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days. When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

Audio comics! Fully dramatized…

AUDIO DRAMA - Justice League of America: ExterminatorsJustice League of America: Exterminators
By Christopher Golden; Performed by a full cast
5 CDs, 1 MP3-CD or WMA Download – Approx. 5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Graphic Audio
Published: May 2008
ISBN: 1599504448
Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. The Flash. Green Lantern. They are the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, fighting endlessly against corruption and injustice. Each of them is a formidable opponent of evil, but banded together their powers are unmatched. Ever ready, they stand united as the — JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA. When a mass outbreak of super-powered individuals threatens the world, the JLA determines that latent metahuman abilities are being triggered by an alien contagion, one that’s spreading throughout Earth as it transforms its hosts into monstrous engines of destruction. Racing to contain the infection, the world’s greatest super heroes link the parasitic plague to an alien invasion from the team’s earliest days and make a horrifying discovery: the JLA itself is responsible for the imminent disaster they now face.

Said to be a “funny, fast-paced science fiction adventure” this is author Michael Reisman’s first book…

Young Adult Audiobook - Simon Bloom: Gravity Keeper by Michael ReismanSimon Bloom: Gravity Keeper
By Michael Reisman; Read by Nicholas Hormann
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: April 22, 2008
ISBN: 9780739363539
Ordinary sixth-grader Simon Bloom has just made the biggest discovery since gravity–and it literally fell into his lap. Or onto his head, anyway. You see, Simon has found the Teacher’s Edition of Physics, a magical reference book containing the very formulas that control the laws that govern the universe! By reciting the formulas out loud, he’s able to do the impossible–like reverse the force of gravity to float weightlessly, and reduce friction to zoom across any surface! But a book that powerful isn’t safe with Simon for long. Before he knows it, he is being pursued by evil forces bent on gaining control of the formulas. And they’ll do anything to retrieve them. Now, Simon and his friends must use their wits and the magic of science in a galactic battle for the book, and the future of the universe.

Another juvenile novel, sounds a bit like The Secret World Of Og

Young Adult Audiobook - Puddlejumpers by Mark Jean and Christopher CarlsonPuddlejumpers
By Mark Jean and Christopher Carlson; Read by Sean Kenin
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: April 22, 2008
ISBN: 9780739363379
Ernie Banks, named for the legendary Chicago Cubs shortstop, is a troubled, thirteen-year-old juvenile delinquent. Abandoned on the doorstep of the Lakeside Home for Boys when he was three years old, his only proof that he once belonged to somebody is a vintage Ernie Banks baseball card, a crystal acorn he wears on a string around his neck, and a strange spiral birthmark on the bottom of his right foot. As a last reprieve before being sent to a juvenile detention facility, Ernie is allowed to spend three weeks on a working farm. When Ernie arrives at the home of Russ Frazier, he learns that the widower’s baby was kidnapped years before. Ernie is determined to solve the case. He teams up with Joey, a local tomboy, to investigate clues that lead them on a dangerous journey into a forbidden world of dark secrets, magic puddles, and the cavernous underground kingdom of the Puddlejumpers–eleven-inch-tall water creatures with whom Ernie has a mysterious connection.

Only rarely are audiobooks embargoed, the last one I remember was a Harry Potter, here’s another, I think we can probably guess why it won’t be showing up on shelves early…

Audiobook - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by James RollinsIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
By James Rollins; Read by L.J. Ganser
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: May 20, 2008
ISBN: 9780739358986
Warning: SPOILERS….
It’s 1957, the atomic age is in full swing, and McCarthy-era paranoia has the nation on edge. But for Indiana Jones, the Cold War really heats up when his latest expedition is crashed by a ruthless squad of Russian soldiers. Commanded by a sword-wielding colonel who’s as sinister as she is stunning, the menacing Reds drag an unwilling Indy along as they brazenly invade American soil, massacre U.S. soldiers, and plunder a top-secret government warehouse. Their objective: a relic even more precious–and powerful–than the mythic Ark, capable of unlocking secrets beyond human comprehension.

Posted by Jesse Willis

All future Star Wars audiobooks to be entirely UNABRIDGED

SFFaudio News

Random House AudioI just got a note from Random House Audio stating:

“All Star Wars titles in the future will be unabridged, thanks to input from our consumers.”

I expect this is going to be one of the final nails in the coffin of abridged audiobooks. Since the inception of SFFaudio we’ve included the “unabridged” or “abridged” notations on all our posts about audiobooks; we hate abridgements. It’d be really something if in a few years we didn’t have to worry about finding ourselves listening to an abridged audiobook accidentally anymore.

Goodbye and good riddance abridged books, you won’t be missed!

Posted by Jesse Willis

The StarShipSofa podcast metamorphs into a Podcast Magazine

SFFaudio Online Audio

Star Ship Sofa Podcast Science Fiction MagazineThe StarShipSofa podcast is metamorphosing into the StarShipSofa – The Audio Science Fiction Magazine, following in the great tradition of magazines like Analog, Asimovs and Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Each week the StarShipSofa will deliver a full package of SF related audio material all free including audio fiction, fact audio essays, flash fiction and poetry, all by leading names in the SF field.

Many many writers have agreed to let StarShipSofa narrate their works including Ben Bova, Joe Haldeman, Alistair Reynolds and M. John Harrison to name a few.

There will be two shows per week, the Wednesday show, also know as “Aural Delights” will contain narrated audio fiction, fact and poetry and the weekend show will be an in depth look into an author’s life and work.

This week saw the first of the metamorphosing with the StarShipSofa’s Aural Delights show. Fiction was provided by Kage Baker’s fantastic story The Likely Lad, there were two poems by Bruce Boston and Laurel Winter, both winners of the Rhysling Award for SF Poetry. Flash fiction came from a very short but very powerful story called Repeating The Past by Peter Watts, author of the SF novel Blindsight.

In the weeks to come Peter Watts will also be delivering a monthly narrated fact article; this part of the show will be called “Reality, Remastered.”

As for the weekend shows, StarShipSofa has her sights upon writers such as John Scalzi, Robert Charles Wilson and Ken Macleod.

It is a great time for SF at the moment and with the many advantages the Internet can bring, StarShipSofa wants to be one of the very first to deliver the full package in audio science fiction.

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:http://www.starshipsofa.com/rss

Posted by Tony C. Smith

Free Comic Book Day THIS SATURDAY (sadly no audio comics included yet)

SFFaudio News

FREE COMIC BOOK DAYIt’s pretty rare we’ll talk about anything that isn’t audio related here on SFFaudio, but when I hear the words “FREE” and “COMICS” side by side, I’m pretty much sold on the concept. Ya, so about that…

This Saturday is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

I’ll be stopping in at my local comic shop (Hourglass Comics, in Port Moody, B.C.) on Saturday, picking up the maximum number of FREE COMICS allowable. If it plays out anything like last few FREE COMIC BOOK DAYs I’ve been to I’ll also be spending a few $$ there on some of those unfree comics too.

Posted by Jesse Willis