Review of Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Look to Windward by Iain BanksLook to Windward
By Iain M. Banks, read by Robert Lister
10 Cassettes – Approx. 14.25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Clipper Audio
Published: 1990
ISBN: 1841971839
Themes: / Science fiction / Aliens / Space Travel / War / Afterlife

Civil war has taken its toll on a planet called Chel, whose furry predator-descended people live in a strict caste-based society with an exacting religion. One of them, a famous composer named Ziller, has disowned his home world to live on a Culture orbital called Masaq’. He lives in crusty happiness among the humans and formerly human machines there, composing, exploring, and attending dinner parties. But word has come of a second Chelgrian, a former soldier and monk named Quilan, who appears determined to persuade him to return to Chel. The Culture are partially responsible for instigating the Chelgrian civil war, and it may be that Quilan has a deeper mission that even he knows nothing about.

This is the compelling lead-in to Iain M. Banks’ novel Look to Windward, but it is far from the whole story. The novel takes us far into the future of humanity, across the astoundingly large artificial surface of Masaq’, down deep voids of space on a series of amusingly named spacecraft, through the bitter civil war on Chel, and even into the belly of a large, atmosphere-containing being and the enormous blimp-like life forms inside it. The range of emotion is similarly grand, beginning with a harrowing descent into the war and its aftermath, segueing into an amusing and confusing dinner party, and setting off into stirring adventure and philosophical discussions of risk, war, love, life and death.

This is an introspective novel, and its most involving aspects unfold almost entirely in dialog. Such dependence on conversation demands an author who can produce interesting, distinct, and consistent voices for the various characters. Iain Banks delivers in spades, and Robert Lister interprets his dialog with near-perfection (the notable exception is Kabe, who sounds like a B-grade Igor). Hearing Ziller’s profane peevishness, Quillan’s calm hopelessness, and even Colonel Hyler’s avuncular old war-horse is like perceiving the characters in extra dimensions. In particular, there is a discussion late in the book between Quillan and Hyler that, while horrifying in topic, is presented with such remarkable tenderness that I found it one of the most outstanding scenes of fiction I’ve ever heard.

Look to Windward is part of a larger series of Culture novels, but don’t let that scare you off. I haven’t read any of the others, and you won’t be required to, either. If you like a thoughtfully-paced interplay of characters and ideas in a futuristic but oddly British setting, then you will love this book. And, like me, you’ll soon be trying to get your hands on more.

Posted by Kurt Dietz

UK Radio Programme Welcome To Mars available as a podcast

Online Audio

Welcome To Mars (1947-1959)Welcome To Mars (1947-1959) is a fascinating collection of non-fiction oddments about the fantastic futuristic world of the fifties. Presenter Ken Hollings in a live twelve-part series reflects on the “fantasy of science” in the early years of the American Century.

“Between 1947 and 1959, the future was written about, discussed and analysed with such confidence that it became a tangible presence. This is a story of weird science, strange events and even stranger beliefs, set in an age when the possibilities for human development seemed almost limitless.”

The show is broadcast live on Wednesdays at 3.30pm GMT on Resonance FM (104.4 FM) in the UK and podcast to the world via XML feed:

http://www.simonsound.co.uk/podcasts/marspodcast.xml

Episodes released so far:

Part 1: 1947: Rebuilding Lemuria |MP3|
Part 2: 1948-49: Flying Saucers over America |MP3|
Part 3: 1950: Cheapness and Splendour |MP3|
Part 4: 1951: Absolute Elsewhere |MP3|
Part 5: 1952: Red Planet |MP3|
Part 6: 1953: Other Tongues, Other Flesh |MP3|
Part 7: 1954: Meet The Monsters |MP3|
Part 8:
Part 9:
Part 10:
Part 11:
Part 12:

posted by Jesse Willis

1967 Radio Drama of a Science Fiction classic available for FREE in MP3

Online Audio

Via BoingBoing.net

“In 1967, WBAI produced a two-hour radio dramatization of Samuel R. Delany’s first short piece [a novellette] of SF, ‘The Star-Pit’, with narration by Delany himself.” That broadcast is now available as 4 FREE Mp3s, all of which are downloadable HERE, along with a fascinating article chronicling the radio drama’s production history. Enjoy!

Benjamen Walker's Theory Of EverythingThe Star Pit
By Samuel R. Delany; Perfomed by a Full Cast
4 MP3 Files – Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: Mind’s Eye Theater / WBAI FM New York
Broadcast: 1967
A tale of loneliness and difference, about grounded workers who service the starships that will travel the galaxy.

All four parts:

Part One (24.3 MB)
Part Two (23.7 MB)
Part Three (22.8 MB)
Part Four (25.9 MB)

Performers: Samuel R. Delany, Baird Searles, Randa Haynes, Walter Harris, Jerry Matts, Joan Tanner and Phoebe Wray.
Produced by Baird Searles
Production Assistant Neal Conan
Directed by Daniel Landau
Music and Sound Effects by Susan Schweers
Technical Direction by David Rabkin and Ed Woodward

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Caedmon’s Science Fiction Soundbook

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Caedmon Science Fiction SoundbookScience Fiction Soundbook
By Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein
Read By Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner
4 hours – 4 Cassettes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Caedmon
Published: 1977
Themes: / Science Fiction / Mars / Edgar Allan Poe / Computers / Mathematics / Sociology / Space Travel /

This out-of-print Caedmon set was a wonderful find (thanks, Esther!) because it contains two cassettes (four stories) that are amongst the earliest science fiction audio I ever heard. The stories are “The Green Hills of Earth” and “Gentlemen, Be Seated” by Robert A. Heinlein, and “There Come Soft Rains” and “Usher II” by Ray Bradbury, all read by Leonard Nimoy. Also included here is “The Psychohistorians” by Isaac Asimov and “Mimsy Are the Borogroves” by Henry Kuttner, both read by William Shatner. The audio was originally published in 1977.

I found Leonard Nimoy’s readings to be excellent. In Bradbury’s “Usher II”, he delivers a passionate speech about the evils of book burning with perfection. In “Gentlemen, Be Seated” and “The Green Hills of Earth” he portrays working class spacemen with complete success.

William Shatner, though, was disappointing. I’ve heard him read some Star Trek titles, and felt his delivery was pretty good, but here, on both cassettes, he reads as if he needs to be across town in fifteen minutes. He zips through the text, sometimes fast enough to affect my comprehension.

The stories are all bona-fide 5-star classics:

“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury, read by Leonard Nimoy
This famous story is about a house. That’s it, just a house. An automatic, programmed house that keeps running and running… but where are its inhabitants? Bradbury manages to tell a very human tale without any actual people.

“Usher II” by Ray Bradbury, read by Leonard Nimoy
A fantastic story, passionately read, about a man who builds Poe’s House of Usher on Mars. Because of the social climate on Earth, it would be illegal to build such a fantastic structure, because stories of fantasy are simply no longer allowed. If you agree with that policy, this fellow would be happy to show you around, and he does get that opportunity. As I mentioned earlier, a highlight is a speech on censorship that was an obvious precursor to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

“The Psychohistorians” by Isaac Asimov, read by William Shatner
This is the first novelette in the first book of Asimov’s Foundation trilogy. In it, you meet Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick in an introduction to some of the key elements of the Foundation story, including the Empire in decline and the mathematics of psychohistory. However, I did have difficulty get into Shatner’s narration.

“The Green Hills of Earth” by Robert A. Heinlein, read by Leonard Nimoy
Rhysling is a Spacer who lost his eyesight in a reactor pile accident. Now, he’s a famous bard, and this is his story. The story is an excellent portrayal of what spaceflight might be like from the working stiff’s point of view, once flight becomes common. At least from the perspective of a science fiction writer in 1948. No NASA engineers here.

“Gentlemen, Be Seated” by Robert A. Heinlein, read by Leonard Nimoy
This story is similar to “Green Hills” in that the characters are working class spacemen. One agrees to take a reporter through some new buildings on the moon (yes, he does get overtime pay for it), but an accident occurs during the tour. Another story from the late 1940’s, which is the part of Heinlein’s long career that I enjoy most.

“Mimsy Were the Borogroves” by Henry Kuttner, read by William Shatner
This story fared better under Shatner’s cadence than did “The Psychohistorians”. I was captured by it within 5 minutes or so of concentrated listening, and Kuttner’s story held my attention even when Shatner didn’t. The story involves some toys that were sent back in time by a far-future scientist with too much time on his hands. The toys are found by some kids, who play with them, and are changed by them. The story plays with the ideas of how people think – how kids think, how adults think, and how it could possibly be different. I found it a well-written and entertaining exploration of these ideas. Great science fiction.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

The First Podcast Novel To Go Hard Copy Audiobook

SFFaudio News

As mentioned recently, Brave Men Run author Matthew Wayne Selznick has turned his first podcast novel into an audiobook and here it is, available to be purchased!

The Brave Men Run Audio CollectionThe Brave Men Run Audio Collection
By Matthew Wayne Selznick; Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick
1 MP3-CD – Approx 6.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Matthew Selznick / Lulu.com
Published: 2006
This special collection features the entire text of Brave Men Run, read by the author, and the very special audio-only short story, Brenhurst’s Tale – Another View of ‘Brave Men Run’ that originally was heard on the Brave Men Run Podcast. “Brenhurst’s Tale” is not available in print or e-book, and will only be available in audio formats for at least the next five years! This is the same reading as heard in the podcast, but without the introductions, “outros,” and other non-story material.

MP3 documentary on Stanislaw Lem

Online Audio

Benjamen Walker's Theory Of EverythingBenjamen Walker‘s Theory Of Everything, which we first mentioned back when Ben did a show on Philip K. Dick, has made a similar eclectic audio mini audio document about recently deceased SF author Stanislaw Lem. In the piece both Ben and his friend Bill Marx mourn the death of the influential author and reminisce, in part “about how if Lem didn’t get the Nobel prize for literature before he died [they] would have to go to Stockholm and fuck shit up”. You can download the MP3 about Lem HERE.

And by the way, the original PKD documentlet is available HERE too (it was the very first T.O.E. show).

posted by Jesse Willis