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Review of Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan

SFFaudio Review

Market Forces
By Richard K. Morgan; Read by Simon Vance
13 CDs – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1400101395 (Retail CD), 1400131395 (Library CD), 1400151392 (MP3-CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Dystopia / Economics / Satire /

“Human beings have been fighting wars as long as history recalls. It is in our nature, … last century the peacemakers, the governments of this world, did not end war. They simply managed it, and they managed it badly. They poured money without thought of return into conflicts and guerrilla armies abroad, and then into tortuous peace processes that more often than not left the situation no better. They were partisan, dogmatic, and inefficient. Billions wasted in poorly assessed wars that no sane investor would have looked at twice. Huge, unwieldy national armies and clumsy international alliances in short a huge public sector drain on our economic systems. Hundreds of thousands of young people killed in parts of the world they could not even pronounce properly. Decisions based on political dogma and doctrine alone. Well, this model is no more.”

In an interview with Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column Richard K. Morgan describes the motivaton behind Market Forces – ‘there’s a scene’ he said, ‘in the movie Lethal Weapon‘ a scene in which the suicidal cop Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson) is atop a roof, ironically, trying to talk down an suicidal citizen who claims he’s going to jump. Frustrated at the indecision that grips them both Riggs snaps – he handcuffs the citizen to his own wrist and then asks him “Do you really wan’t to jump? Do you wanna?” – then dragging the citizen with him Riggs jumps off the roof. It’s a scene designed to show the inner demons that haunt Riggs, who is, after all, the “Lethal Weapon” of the film’s title. So what does that have to do with Market Forces? This novel is Richard Morgan’s response to the right-wing think tanks which have for years been constantly murmuring in the media soundbites of “let the market decide,” “government is in the way of business,” “the invisible hand can regulate better.” Morgan’s frustration with these ideologues is answered by dystopian satire, a kind of Wall Street meets Mad Max. This is an England in which the gap between the rich and poor has widened. At the top are an elite, an upper-class of executives, driving armoured cars and carrying firearms in their briefcases. At the bottom are the unemployed, disenfranchized and living in deserted slums without access to public transportation, their only escape is to join the police or Special Air Service, both privatized and in mercenary service of the executive class. The commodited investment houses have morphed into “Conflict Investment” houses. It’s a powerful setting, a critical look at where we are now, as 1984 and Farenheit 451 were critical looks at where we used to be – a place we must still fight from going. In essence Morgan says ‘This is what happens when you look at what we’re doing now and then project ahead. This is what happens if you listen to the right-wing think tanks. This is what happens when you jump.’

As a primer let me explain how “conflict investment” works. You find a country, one torn by civil war or revolution. You decide who, amongst the many factions within that country could win, given the right resources and then you back them. In return for providing the arms, equipment and intelligence to win a “small war” the faction must commit to give you a cut of their country’s gross domesitc product for a quarter century or so. Our viewpoint character, Chris Faulkner, has recently been hired on as a junior associate by one of the top conflict investment firms, Shorn Associates – this happened in large part because of Chris’ reputation for savage road duelling. Meanwhile, Chris’ wife, a mechanic from Sweden, (a country with one of the last socialist governments around) is encouraging him to seek more peaceful pastures by defecting to a struggling international peace movement. With rebels in Guatemala to support and a growing record of auto-duel kills Chris is a hot number, but it increasingly seems like someone is setting him up for a fall. It’s up to Chris to decide whether he’s going to be the person his wife wants him to be or if he’s going to continue on his road to corporate partnership.

I ended up really liking Market Forces. There was a time there when I wasn’t sure, the first third of the novel is quite depressing, Morgan’s world has gone to shit and the people in it smell, and smell bad. Part of my problem was with how the world got to be this way. A corporate world full of scum? I can understand that, but a corprate world full of armed scum? It seemed a bit proposterous. Then it came to me, between discs 4 and 5 I realized, “this is a satire”. Like American Pyshco or that corporate raiders sequence in Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life. Eventually Morgan does give an explanation of how we got from where we are now to the fifty or so years from now setting of Market Forces and that explanation works in a ‘give me an inch and I’ll give you a novel’ sort of way. The real explanation however is that to be the story it needed to be actual market forces really had to play into every human transaction. The brutal reality of competitive of an unregulated capitalism working at full force would likely still be insulated by an old boys network, an oligarchy that said it wanted unrestricted competition, but really just wanted power. In arming and glorifying the auto duels Morgan has made Chris Faulkner confront the reality of the world he is making. Ultimately the decision he faces is as terrible as those made by Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four and Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451. It remains to be seen whether Market Forces will be as enduring as those dystopian novels, but it stands among them, bare face in the portrayal of a brutal tommorow based on the unchecked trends of today.

This is a gloomy book marked by several scenes of jagged action and carnal sex, it is a good thing Tantor Media chose a versatile reader. Narrator Simon Vance used his precise English accents to portray the undertones of resentment many of the characters didn’t even realize they had – it carried me through the gloomy bits to the dramatic conclusion. Tantor issued us another of the ~~library~~ retail bound CD editions, though it had identical packaging to Altered Carbon (recently reviewed) two of the indivudal pages came loose in this one while I was pawing through. UPDATE: The good folks at Tantor have informed me that they actually sent the retail edition to us. The library edition is higher priced and comes in a white box with a metal ring binder (as well as a free lifetime CD replacement guarantee).

In researching for the review I found out that Market Forces is based on an unpublished seedling of a short story, entitled Some Serious Driving. Apparently it was originally submitted to Interzone magazine, they rejected it as full of ‘unlikable characters’ – something the novel has too. In an ideal world I’d have liked to see Some Serious Driving bundled in as an extra, perhaps Tantor Media can gather together all of the Richard K. Morgan unpublished shorts to tide us over until the 5th RKM novel comes out?

One last thing, given my description of the plot you might think Market Forces a standalone novel and indeed it does stand nicely on its own- the thing is I found strong evidence that Market Forces is set in the same universe as that of the Takeshi Kovach novels, the books Richard Morgan is best known for. There’s a number of references to conflict investment in general and the Shorn corporation in particular in Broken Angels, the second Takeshi Kovach novel. Cool huh?

Posted by Jesse Willis

James Patrick Kelly’s latest Asimov’s column covers SF podcasts

SFFaudio News

In case you missed it over there, SF Signal beat us to the punch by reporting that the latest Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine column, “On the Net” by James Patrick Kelly is all about Science Fiction podcasts!

In Jim’s column he explains podcasting, tells us how he made his and talks about all the Science Fiction related podcasts he’s got loaded into his MP3 player. Jim’s podcast subscriptions at the time of the column’s submission included…

Paul Jenkins’ The Rev Up Review

All three of the Michael & Evo Dragon Page podcasts

Michael J. Stackpole’s The Secrets

Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing

Escape Pod <---- Jim's favorite at the time of the column's submission Podiobooks.com

Andy Doan’s Spaceship Radio

The Fantasy Times

You can read the whole column online HERE.

posted by Jesse

NY Times podcasts interview with William Gibson

Online Audio

Our fantabulous SFFaudio reader/contributor Esther has pointed out that the The New York Times has been podcasting their Arts & Leisure Weekend talks and that yesterday they put up a neat MP3 inteview with Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick award winning author William Gibson. The 78 Minute interview was recorded at the New York times January 7th 2006 event. You can suscribe to the Times Talks podcast through iTunes by Clicking HERE.

Or by plugging the following into your podcatcher:

http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/podcasts/timestalks.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Cool new feature on J.C. Hutchins’ 7th Son Podcast

SFFaudio News

J.C. Hutchins‘ of the podcast novel/podiobook 7th Son, Book One: Descent tells us that he’s just added a cool new feature to his his podcast chapter readings. Each new podcast installment will include a “previously on” intro by a celebrity podcaster (or podcasting team). Look for the first chapter with this new feature starting tonight. The first guest introducer? Why it’s Evo Terra of the Farpoint Media podcasts! And in case you missed our preview of the show we’ll remind you that 7th Son, Book One: Descent is a FREE SF thriller intertwining cloning, bio-ethics and memory replication.

You can subscribe to the podcast directly using this XML feed:

http://www.jchutchins.net/7thSonPodcast.xml

Or you can subscribe through the terrific Podiobooks.com service for a more customizable delivery schedule.

posted by Jesse Willis

Author Focus – Dean Koontz

SFFaudio News

Here’s our SFFaudio Profile of Dean R. Koontz. Dean Koontz, he’s definitely an odd one, almost all of his novels are hard to classify – certainly most are full of suspense, but very often there is a fantastic element in there too. The speculative parts are generally grounded in science, and Koontz has in fact written straight Science Fiction, at least early in his career, but the recurring themes of things like talking dogs, in some later novels might make you question if some of his work isn’t just pure fantasy. The recurring topic of sociopathy on the other hand, a theme he returns to again and again makes him almost unique in the field of fantastic fiction writing. Some readers say his writing falls into the “horror” genre though Koontz flatly denies this. Labels aside a few things are very clear; he’s very prolific, intensely popular and definitely, completely and utterly askew from the mainstream. Koontz’s audiobooks tend to be hard to find after their initial release – if you think you might want one, snap it up while you can. If you can find an older audiobook it will tend to be expensive – collector’s don’t give them up easily. So here it is, our best attempt at cataloguing the complete list of Koontz’s audiobooks old and new:

The Husband
By Dean Koontz; Read by Holter Graham
Cassettes or CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 0739332872(CDs),
“‘We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash.’ Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.”

Forever Odd
By Dean Koontz; Read byDavid Aaron Baker
7 CDs – Approx. 8.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739315595
Another Odd Thomas novel, Thomas isn’st a sleuth himself but the ghosts he sees helps the police chief of his small town solve crimes.

Odd Thomas
By Dean Koontz; Read by David Aaron Baker
7 Cassetes or 9 CDs – Approx. 10.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0739301764
Interesting fantasy that is visually resplendent and full of fun illiteration.

Velocity
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hayden
8 Cassettes or ? CDs -Approx 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739315552 (Cassettes), 0739307452 (CDs)
Average schmo Bill Wile is surprised to find a strange note on his car one evening. On the note, an apparent maniac threatens the lives of two women. When Bill doesn’t act, one of the two woman is murdered. Then he finds another note from the killer. Now he knows he must act quickly to save innocent lives.

Intensity
By Dean Koontz; Read by Kate Burton
Cassettes or CDs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1995, 2005
ISBN: 0679449167 (Cassettes), 0739323717 (CDs)
Re-issued 10 years after the inital audio release, different cover is avalable on the 1995 edition but the narrator is the same.

Life Expectancy
By Dean Koontz; Read byJohn Bedford Lloyd
10 CDs or 8 Cassettes – Approx. 11.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 0739315536 (CDs), 0739315528 (Cassettes)
Before Joseph Tock dies he predicts that there will be five dark days in his grandson’s life.

Midnight
By Dean Koontz; Read by J. Charles
CDs or Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 1593553277 (CDs), 1593553250 (Cassettes)

Cold Fire
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan
9 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: The Reader’s Chair / Brilliance Audio
Published: 1991 / 2004
ISBN: 0962401013 (Reader’s Chair Cassettes), 1593553390 (Brilliance CDs), 1593553374 (Brilliance Cassettes)
The rights for this were purchased from The Readers Chair after that company was bankrupted. “Reporter Holly Thorne is intrigued by Jim Ironheart, who has saved 12 lives in the past three months. Holly wants to know what kind of power drives him, why terrifying visions of a churning windmill haunt his dreams, and just what he means when he whispers in his sleep that an enemy who will kill everyone is coming.”

Hideaway
By Dean Koontz; Read by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan
9 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3 CD – Approx. 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1593553358
“He was clinically dead after the accident – but was miraculously revived. Now Hatch Harrison and his wife approach each day with a new appreciation for life. But something has come back with Hatch from the other side. A terrible presence that links his mind to a psychotic’s, so that a force of murderous rage courses through him.”

Watchers
By Dean Koontz; Read by J. Charles
10 Cassettes, 13 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance (Bookcassettes)
Published: 1988, 2004
ISBN: 0930435435 (Bookcassettes Cassettes), 1593553315 (CDs), 1593355505 (MP3-CD)
Collectors should take note the Brilliance imprint called “Bookcassettes” (the 1988 release) has two tracks per cassette side, which requires you to isolate one audio track at a time to listen to it. “From a top secret government laboratory come two genetically altered life forms. One is a magnificent dog of astonishing intelligence. The other, a hybrid monster of a brutally violent nature. And both are on the loose… “

Dark Rivers Of The Heart
By Dean Koontz; Read by Anthony Heald
12 Cassettes – 20 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1994
ISBN: 0679436669
A twisted love story. This audiobook includes a bonus interview with Koontz himself!

The Face
By Dean Koontz; Read by Dylan Baker
16 CDs or 12 Cassettes – Approx. 19.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0739307452 (CDs), 0739301748 (Cassettes)
Reality blurs into terrifying fantasy as a group of mere mortals try to stop the superhuman assassin of a Hollywood superstar.

Mr. Murder
By Dean Koontz, Read by Jay O. Sanders
10 cassettes – 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audioworks
Published: 1993
ISBN: 0671881191

One Door Away From Heaven
By Dean Koontz; Read by Anne Twomey
13 Cassettes – Approx. 22 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0736683194
Micky Bellsong befriends a disabled girl named Leilani, and becomes concerned when Leilani’s stepfather, a UFO cultist, believes aliens will cure her. When the family disappears, Micky sets out after them aided by a detective.

From The Corner Of His Eye
By Dean Koontz; Read by Stephen Lang
13 Cassettes or 18cds – Approx. 22 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2000
ISBN: 0553502697, 0736690018 (cassettes), 0736694846 (CDs)
The lives of three strangers become intertwined in a story of heart-stopping suspense and high adventure. An AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award Winner.

The Taking
By Dean Koontz; Read by Ariadne Meyers and Ari Meyer
5 Cassettes – Approx. 9.5 Hours -[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 073931212X
Not his best work. A California couple realizes that an alien race is colonizing the world.

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein – Book One – Prodigal Son
By Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by John Bedford Lloyd
? Cassettes – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739317040
Abridged, seek out the Books On Tape edition instead.

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein – Book One – Prodigal Son
By Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Scott Brick
7 Cassettes or 9 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0739317040
“The first in a mesmerizing four-book original series, PRODIGAL SON is a brilliant re-imagining and updating of the classic Frankenstein story that only Dean Koontz could conceive. Two hundred years old, the “monster,” Deucalion, is a monster no more. Literate and intelligent, he arrives in modern-day New Orleans, where he will join forces with a street-smart police detective and her partner on the trail of a macabre serial killer…a serial killer spawned, Deucalion will discover, by his own creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, now Victor Helios. Now Deucalion will find that there are many others like him…that they live among us at every strata of society…and that his nemesis, Victor Frankenstein, has survived the centuries as well…and dreams of seeding the earth with his creations.”

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein – Book Two – City Of Night
By Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman; Read by John Bedford Lloyd
5 Cassettes or 7 CDs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 073931713X, 0739317148
For the second instalment, Random House and Books On Tape collaborated in releasing just one unabridged edition (Random House now owns Books On Tape).

The Bad Place
By Dean Koontz; Read by Carol Cowan and Michael Hanson
10 Cassettes, 13 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 1593553404
“Married detectives Julie and Bobby Dakota, agree to help frightened amnesiac Frank Pollard figure out what he does when he’s asleep. Not only can Frank not remember his past, but he wakes up mornings to find mysterious bags of large-denomination bills by his bed. In due course, Frank and the Dakotas join forces against murderer Candy Pollard and his weird sisters, who want to kill Frank–evidently the sole human in the monstrous family. Candy extends psychic feelers toward potential victims, emanations that are sensed by Julie’s younger brother Thomas. A Down’s syndrome child, Thomas is telepathically gifted and able to warn Bobby of the demons who threaten Julie. Horror follows horror with each crime perpetrated by Candy & Co. as they come ever closer to the Dakotas and other prey.”

False Memory
By Dean Koontz, Narrated by Stephen Lang
12 Cassettes – Approx. 21.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1999
ISBN: 0553479024
Four patients of the same therapist develop crippling fears, revealing the terrifying ability of the mind to torment and destroy.

By The Light Of The Moon
By Dean Koontz; Read by Stephen Lang
12 Cassettes- Approx. 13.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2002
ISBN: 0553502719
Two brothers and their traveling companion race to puzzle out a vicious violation committed against them, only steps ahead of deadly pursuers.

Sole Survivor
By Dean Koontz; Read by David Birney
8 Cassettes – 12 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Publication Date: 1997
ISBN: 067945277X

Ticktock: A novel
By Dean Koontz; Read by B.D. Wong
Cassettes –
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1997
ISBN: 0679452672

Seize The Night
By Dean Koontz; Read by Keith Szarabajka
10 Cassettes – 12 Hours[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0553479016
Christopher Snow, and take a trip to the eerie world of Moonlight Bay. Moonlight Bay, California. A safe, secluded small town that is at its most picturesque in the gentle nighttimes that inspired its name. Now, somewhere in the night, children are disappearing. From their homes. From the streets.

Icebound
By Dean Koontz, Read by John Glover
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0679439358

Fear Nothing
By Dean Koontz; Read by Keith Szarabajka
10 Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0553479008

Strange Highways (The Strange Highways Collection)
By Dean Koontz; Read by James Spader
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner Audio
Published: 1995
ISBN: 1570422877
One of at least two in an akwardly titled series of short story collections issued by Time Warner Audio. Strange Highways is the title story of this collection of Koontz’s short stories. Joey Shannon, an alcoholic whose life has been going nowhere for 20 years, returns to his hometown for the funeral of his father. As he leaves town, he gets a mysterious second chance to relive the night in 1975 when his life began its downward spiral: to both literally and figuratively take the road that he didn’t originally take.

Chase and Down In The Darkness (The Strange Highways Collection)
By Dean Koontz; Read by Chris Sarandon
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner Audio
Published: 1995
ISBN: 1570422990
One of at least two in an akwardly titled series of short fiction collections.

The Paper Doorway : Funny Verse and Nothing Worse
By Dean Koontz Read by John Ritter
Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Childrens Audio
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0694525758
A children’s book from a man with no children. Why not?

Shadowfires
By Dean R. Koontz; Read by Jonathon Maroz
11 Cassettes or 13 CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 1994
ISBN: 5553829550 (Cassettes)
Rachel Leben’s violently possessive ex-husband was killed in a freak auto accident, but his hideously mangled body has disappeared from the morgue. Now someone, or something, is watching her. Stalking her. And, although no one will believe her, Rachel knows who it is. His walking corpse a grotesque mockery of life. His brilliant, warped mind once again “alive” and seething with jealous rage. He seeks an unspeakable revenge from beyond her worst nightmare, stalking her with a murderous lust that will not die.

Servants Of Twilight
By Dean R. Koontz; Read by Jonathon Maroz
9 Cassettes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape Inc.
Published: 1993
ISBN: 555710643X
Originally published as a PBO under Koontz’s Leigh Nichols pseudonym Books On Tape released under his real name. “Single parent Christine Scavello and her young son Joey find themselves confronted by a madwoman, Grace Spivey, who fancies she discerns the Antichrist in Joey’s cherubic visage. Spivey is the charismatic leader of a religious cult whose fanatic members do her every bidding, including murdering the little boy, and everyone who stands in their way. After the police fail to provide adequate protection, Christine turns to private detective Charlie Harrison, whose business and home are soon firebombed by the cultists, and two of his men murdered, even as he finds that he is falling in love with Christine.”

Stalkers
By Dean R. Koontz and Robert R. McCammon; Read by ???
[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dove Audio
Published: 1992
ISBN: 1558004904
Very rare! A collection of nineteen original tales by “today’s masters of terror” includes one novella by Koontz entitled Trapped.

Santa’s Twin
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jay O. Sanders
1 Cassette – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: 1996
ISBN: 0694517712
Perhaps this is comparable to Donald Westlake’s Nackles?

Dragon Tears
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jay O. Sanders
8 Cassettes or 11 CDs – Approx. 13 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audioworks / Simon & Shuster Audio
Published: 1993, 2003
ISBN: 0671865854 (cassettes), 0743529049 (CDs)
Reissued ten years after the initial unabridged publication. “The story of two Southern California police detectives who track down a demonic serial killer with paranormal abilities.”

Demon Seed
By Dean Koontz; Read by Jeff Harding
4 Cassettes or 5 CDs – 5 Hours 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Isis Soundings
Published: 2000
ISBN: 075310914X (Cassettes), 0753122685 (CDs)
The audiobook was released in the UK. “Created in the Prometheus Project, he is officially called Adam Two – the first self-aware machine intelligence, designed to be a servant to mankind. No-one knows that he is able to escape the confines of his physical form, and his box in the laboratory. Until he gains entry to the house of Susan Harris, and closes it off against the world. There he plans to show Susan the future. Their future. With her, he intends to create a ‘child’.”

There’s also one podcast featuring an interview with Koontz about his novel Life Expectancy. You can grab that mp3 HERE.

posted by Jesse

New media darling Matthew Wayne Selznick has wra…

SFFaudio News

New media darling Matthew Wayne Selznick has wrapped up his unabridged podcast of Brave Men Run. At the very end of episode 17 he announced a couple of very cool things. First Brave Men Run will be available for purchase as an audiobook, an MP3-CD available through Lulu.com! Historians take note, this is the first commerical hard copy release of any podcast novel! Second, Matt also let slip that his NEW novel, a book called Light Of The Outsider will be coming out later this year again through Lulu.

Finding this out we just had to go straight to the source for more info, here’s what we found out:

Matt has plans on podcasting Light of the Outsider too! Light of the Outsider is set in what Matt calls his “Shaper’s World milieu” — it’s a fantasy genre novel “a totally original world” – if its anywhere as good as Brave Men Run we shall all be very happy campers indeed.

Matt’s got plenty of other irons in the fire right now too, but perhaps the biggest scoop we can actually tell you about is the title of the next Sovereign Era novel, it will be called Pilgrimage. We’re so excited!

You too can keep up with all the latest Matt Selznick News by subscribing to Matt’s email list. And if you didn’t have a chance to hear Brave Men Run it isn’t too late run on over to Podiobooks.com and grab a subscription! You won’t be sorry.

posted by Jesse Willis