The Sonic Society: Pulpy, Mysterious, Funny

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Sonic SocietySeason 3 of The Sonic Society, is well under way, their latest, and possibly greatest episode to date! Have a listen |MP3|.

This ep showcases Broken Sea‘s pulpy adventure series Jake Sampson: Monster Hunter. Scripting for JS: MH is well researched, and very fun. The two episodes included are from the second story arc entitled Jake Sampson And The Tears Of Ra. It is a supernatural tale primarily set in 1920s Egypt. Personally I could do without the footsteps in echoing corridors but other than that this is a highly recommended listen.

Also included in this show is the third episode of the increasingly mysterious audio drama from New Zealand. The show is called Claibourne Claybourne, it feels like a Kiwi version of Twin Peaks. It is quite slick. but I can’t seem to find a website or much information about the program on the web though. Anybody know more about Claibourne? Claybourne‘s own podcast can be found HERE, where it has already concluded with Episode 96!*

Also on tap in this show is the funniest listen ever heard on The Sonic Society, a skit from “wacko parody/absurdist/topical/musical/slapstick radio sketch comedy project” called Wasted Tape. It has nothing to do with Science Fiction, Fantasy, or even Horror but I think you’ll dig it anyway. The subject of the WT players’ jocularity: An all male cast of The Vagina Monologues.

And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to The Sonic Society’s podcast feed:

http://sonic.libsyn.com/rss

*Thanks Roy!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Aftermath by Ben Bova

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

The Aftermath by Ben BovaThe Aftermath: Book Four of The Asteroid Wars
By Ben Bova; Read by Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, Stephen Hoye, and Stefan Rudnicki
10 CDs – 12 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Renaissance
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1427201064
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Travel / Asteroid Belt / Politics / War / Survival /

I really enjoy Ben Bova’s vision of humanity’s future in space. That vision is contained in all of his Grand Tour books, and the Asteroid Wars books are part of that larger series. The Aftermath is the fourth, and possibly the last, Asteroid Wars novel. Bova’s future is well considered, and that’s part of the fun of reading his books. To get artificial gravity, a part of the ship needs to spin. Resources are limited. Problems arise – frustrating ones, like when you’ve climbed a ladder to do a job and realize that you’ve forgotten the tool you need to do that job. Only in space, you can’t climb down and get that tool. You have to figure something else.

The Zacharias family finds this out the hard way, because the four of them, who run a merchant vessel as a family business, find themselves ready to dock at what turns out to be a military target during the Asteroid War. When they discover their mistake, Victor Zacharias, the father, leaves the ship in a pod in an attempt to lure attackers away, and the rest of the family gets out of there, but not before their ship is damaged, and not before committing to a trajectory that will keep them away from civilization for years.

Victor then finds himself on the attacked habitat in a state of near-slavery while his family does what it can to stabilize their ship and ride out the years in solitude. The story focuses on both of those situations – Victor’s, who never really loses hope, and the family’s, who struggle. In this way, Bova gives us a story of peripheral damage in war.

The audiobook is read by multiple narrators, switching as the point of view of the story shifts. All of the narrators are top-notch, and the style works well with the book. I was particularly enamored with the opening of the book, as the family is introduced, then tossed into peril. Bova’s characters are well-drawn, and the narrators took full advantage in their effective story-telling.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals

Scott D.

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Melting Stones by Tamora PierceFull Cast Audio releases an audiobook original! Yup, Melting Stones isn’t available in any format other than this audiobook. In fact, the novel was created “with specific voices in mind”, and directed for audio by Pierce herself. The novel’s description from the website:

This time the focus is on Evvy, the young stone mage Briar and Rosethorn befriended in Street Magic. She’s accompanied Rosethorn to Starns Island, where Rosethorn is to investigate a plant die-off. What they find is vastly worse, and leads Evvy into a wild adventure that features some of Tammy’s most fantastic characters ever.

Dreamsongs Volume 1 by George R.R. MartinFrom Random House, we’ve got Dreamsongs, the first of three volumes of audio containing a whole bunch of George R.R. Martin’s short fiction, arranged in sections corresponding to periods of his career. Each section is introduced by Martin himself, in his own voice, and the stories are read by an all-star cast of narrators. Definitely a must-have. I’m not sure why the powers behind great audio like this won’t list a Table of Contents anywhere on the inside or the outside of the packaging. It must be the same reasoning that prevents them for including maps in epic fantasy audiobooks.

L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol. 23And here’s an Audible exclusive audiobook – L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol 23. These new writers must be thrilled to have an audiobook made of their work – and one of high quality to boot, judging from the list of narrators. The Writers of the Future is on it’s 23rd volume, and is still going strong. This audiobook is an unabridged reading of all the stories included in the print version. And Audible didn’t forget the Illustrators of the Future, either – after you purchase the audiobook, download the illustrations for the stories in PDF format. Bravo, Audible!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

ABC RN to air Who Wrote Frankenstein?

Jesse Willis

Online Audio

ABC Radio NationalABC Radio National’s The Book Show has a timely documentary in their schedule for next Friday! It’s called Who Wrote Frankenstein? and here’s the description:

Was Mary Shelley too young and uneducated to have written Frankenstein? There is a debate raging about the author attribution of this classic and John Lauritsen says it was actually Percy Shelley. But, Germaine Greer says it’s precisely because it’s badly written that there should be no question of Mary Shelley being the author. Who’s right and how do they know?

Tune in to ABC Radio National’s The Book Show on October 26th @ 10:00am in Australia (repeated at midnight). This may also be available through The Book Show‘s podcast the day after it airs.

You can subscribe to the podcast using this feed:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/bsw.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

You say you want Brade Runna?

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

“A new life awaits you in the Off-World Colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. Lets go to the Colonies!”

A line not from the book. But worthy to get you into the spirit of the thing nonetheless. Look for this title on audiobook shelves late next month!

Random House Audio - Blade Runner by Philip K. DickBlade Runner (Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?)
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Scott Brick
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: November 27, 2007
ISBN: 9780739342756
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard’s assignmet–find them and then…”retire” them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn’t want to be found!

posted by Jesse Willis

Reminder to SFFaudio Readers

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News


Meta SFFaudioThis post is a little reminder. We have a new RSS feed. Last Sunday we switched SFFaudio’s architecture over to WordPress, this technical change required us to use a new RSS feed (and drop the old one). Old subscribers will need to resubscribe using the new feed. New subscribers are of course welcome too! The new feed is:

http://www.sffaudio.com/?feed=rss2

posted by Jesse Willis