BBC7 features: Vonnegut, and Secret Weapons of WWII

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC 7's The 7th DimensionRemembrance Day PoppyAs November 11th is Remembrance Day here in Canada I thought it ok to include a war history (almost alternate history) radio drama from BBC7. The play is set in Alberta on Lake Patricia (near Lake Louise). In the middle of the lake under the clear water lies the metal frame of Habakkuk, a ship for which a secret is about to be revealed. Everyone should listen for the fascinating true story of professor Geoffrey Pyke in…

Habakkuk of Ice
By Steve Walker; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]*
Broadcaster: BBC7
Broadcast: Thursday November 15th @ 11am and 5am
“There is a cold clear lake in Northern Alberta called Patricia. Take one of the two rowboats that lie beside the lake. Row out into the middle of the lake. Lean over the side. Open your eyes in the clear water and before your eyeballs freeze you will see the twisted metal skeletal remains that supported the body of Habbakuk, a battleship made of ice.”
*Incidentally you can read the script for the play HERE.

Next up is a “fast moving science fiction drama” by the team behind Cold Blood

The Voice of God
By Simon Bovey; Performed by a full cast
5 Broadcasts – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday to Friday at 6pm and midnight
When a series of earthquakes rock Australia, seismologist, Sam Rideout and her outback guide Joshua Patamerri track the epicentre to a top secret facility researching the use of infrasound as a weapon. Following the mysterious death of the team’s seismologist, Sam and Joshua are asked to help.

Less interesting to myself (I’m not a super fan) is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut fiction including…

Report On The Barnhouse Effect
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Stuart Milligan
1 Broadcast – 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Sunday at 6:30pm and 12:30am
Professor Barnhouse discovers a way of channelling his mind to control the forces of nature. He sees his skill as a marvellous opportunity to secure world peace. However, the American government has other ideas.

Slaughterhouse 5
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Robert Jezek
4 Broadcasts – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday to Thursday at 6:30pm and 12:30am
Billy Pilgrim, is a boy soldier, an innocent abroad armed only with a pencil stub. He’s so traumatised by the experience of witnessing the decimation of Dresden by Allied bombing in February 1945 that he becomes unstuck in time, even to the extent that he experiences alien abduction.

Thanasphere
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Kerry Shale
1 Broadcast – 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Friday at 6:30pm and 12:30am
A military space mission is taken over by the voices of the dead, calling back to earth. How will the generals and scientist in charge cope with this sudden confrontation with mortality?

Posted by Jesse Willis

The First Men in the Moon

SFFaudio Online Audio

One of the great early space adventure stories, Wells’ novel is, like the rest of his SF, a timeless classic that still evokes a sense of wonder. Now thanks to LibriVox, there is now a free, unabridged audiobook available. Having very recently read an e-book of the story, I was hesitant about listening but was quickly drawn in again and had finished the first chapter before I knew it. This is a well read version of a wonderful classic.

menmoon.jpgThe First Men in the Moon
By H. G. Wells; Read by Mark F. Smith.
26 MP3 Files – 8 Hour 03 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 6th 2007

Britain won the Moon Race! Decades before Neal Armstrong took his “giant leap for mankind” two intrepid adventurers from Lympne, England, journeyed there using not a rocket, but an antigravity coating.Mr. Bedford, who narrates the tale, tells of how he fell in with eccentric inventor Mr. Cavor, grew to believe in his researches, helped him build a sphere for traveling in space, and then partnered with him in an expedition to the Moon.

What they found was fantastic! There was not only air and water, but the Moon was honeycombed with caverns and tunnels in which lived an advanced civilization of insect-like beings. While Bedford is frightened by them and bolts home, Cavor stays and is treated with great respect.

So why didn’t Armstrong and later astronauts find the evidence of all this? Well, according to broadcasts by Cavor over the newly-discovered radio technology, he told the Selenites too much about mankind, and apparently, they removed the welcome mat! (Summary by Mark)

Complete Audiobook [zip], individual MP3s here.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-first-men-in-the-moon-by-hg-wells.xml

Posted by Dave Tackett.

Look Into The Sun by James Patrick Kelly is COMPLETE

Online Audio

James Patrick Kelly's Free Reads podcastA free audiobook download of the Creative Commons 3.0 licensed novel Look Into The Sun by James Patrick Kelly, first published in dead tree form back in 1989, is now complete. This is Kelly’s second long form book recorded for his Free Reads podcast. The first was the Nebula Ward winning Burn (also available). Jim sez:

“After a brief vacation, I look forward to posting more of my work on Free Reads. I am an audiobook aficionado, and it is my ambition to have one of the most extensive libraries of Creative Commons podcasts of any professional science fiction writer.”

We’re looking forward to it Jim!

Science Fiction Audiobook - Look Into The Sun by James Patrick KellyLook Into The Sun
By James Patrick Kelly; Read by James Patrick Kelly
34 MP3s – Approx. 11 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Podcast: James Patrick Kelly’s FREE READS
Podcast: March – November 2007
A disillusioned architect reluctantly accepts an offer from the alien Chani to travel to their world and undertake his most important commission–the construction of a monument to their “immortal” priestess.

Get all 34 parts of this novel by subscribing to the podcast via this feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/freereads

Posted by Jesse Willis

Librivoxateers talk about Science Fiction and its impact on their lives (and narrations)

OnlineAudio

LibriVoxCori hosts the latest LibriVox community podcast wich talks about science fiction and talks to science fiction narrators. Mark Nelson, Kaffen (AKA Mark F. Smith), AntonEpp, wondermidget (AKA Chrystal Layton), Starlite (AKA Esther), thistlechick (AKA Betsty) and Jazbees all talk about their fondness for reading and narrating Science Fiction. Have a listen |MP3|. You wont find a more friendly community of vocal SF aficionados.

To subscribe to the LibriVox community podcast plug this url into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast

Posted by Jesse Willis

New from Librivox: The Return by H. Beam Piper & John J. McGuire

SFFaudio Online Audio

We love LibriVox and all of their amazing volunteers! Today’s specific love goes out to the shadowy admins that make it possible and to Reynard T. Fox for narrating this 1960 novella! Hip hip huzzah!

Here’s the teaser:

“The isolated little group they found were doing fine— but their religion was most strange—and yet quite logical!”

LibriVox audiobook - Science Fiction Mystery - The Return by H. Beam Piper & John J. McGuireThe Return
By H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire; Read by Reynard T. Fox
2 MP3 Files – 1 Hour 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 4th 2007
Two-hundred years after a global nuclear war, two explorers from a research outpost, that largely survived the cataclysm, discover a settlement of humans who have managed to maintain their civilization despite ferocious cannibal neighbours, the Scowrers. However, the explorers must turn detective in order to understand the mystery of their hosts philosophy and religion.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-return.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

KAMN, Ringworld. Nuff said.

OnlineAudio

The Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas podcast
Episode #34 |MP3| of the Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas podcast is all about Larry Niven’s RINGWORLD! David, Brian and Summer discuss the Hugo and Nebula Award winning 1970 novel. The talk also ranges out into the spinoff Man-Kzin Wars novels, and the newest novel set in Known Space, Fleet of Worlds. Subscribe to the podcast with this feed:

http://www.kickassmysticninjas.com/shows/feed/

Posted by Jesse Willis