Audible.com PRESS RELEASE details: More CLASSIC SFF is coming

SFFaudio News

Audible FrontiersMere days after we brought you the stories of Audible’s new big Science Fiction and Fantasy audiobook push, we received an official press release with plenty of details you’ll dig! Here are the new facts:

“…We [Audible.com] are also making a concerted effort to bring all-time classics to the listening audience. The Hugo-winning THE BIG TIME by Fritz Leiber is already in the store. Roger Zelazny’s LORD OF LIGHT and THIS IMMORTAL are currently in production. So, too, is Fritz Leiber’s entire LANKHMAR series, featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. And there are more classics to come.”

And this…

“Very soon, we’ll be introducing the first set of titles we’re producing in partnership with HarperCollins’ Eos line: the ACORNA’S CHILDREN series by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough; STAR STRIKE, the first book in Ian Douglas’ INHERITANCE trilogy; BAD MONKEYS by Matt Ruff, and HUNTER’S RUN by George RR Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham.

Also, via our ongoing partnership with Harlequin, we’ve been producing more and more fantasy & paranormal romance titles, by Maria V. Snyder, C. E. Murphy, and others.”

And there’s still more:

“In the near future, we’ll also be bringing a number of great series into audio by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, David Eddings, Dave Duncan, and more.”

Further…

“Also each month, we’ll have an exclusive guest essay by a leading SF&F writer. This column will also serve to highlight a list of titles available at Audible. It will also give us an opportunity to promote titles by the guest columnist. Our lead-off columnist is Ben Bova. In the coming months, our Guest Editors will include Robert J. Sawyer, Kevin J. Anderson, and more.”

And that’s the long and the short of the new information. A lot of people hate DRM with a passion of a burning sun (I’m one of them), and so hearing that so many choice titles are going to be made available exclusively on Audible (which is totally into DRM) is a mixed blessing. The good news is that most every, if not every title on Audible.com is able to be burned to CD.

Clear your schedules folks, we’ve got lots of listening to do!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Andre Norton’s Star Born gets reviewed….

SFFaudio News

Star Born by Andre NortonIt ain’t our review (conflict of interest and all) but check out this, the first review of Star Born on Audible.com by a long-time audiobook listener…

“4/5 Stars
Reviewer: Michael, from Kannapolis , NC, USA Date: April 05, 2008
This is classic Norton in top form. The narration is well done and read. Norton authored some of the best sci fi of the era. Ranking up there with Robert Heinlein, Asimov, EE Doc Smith other great masters of sci fi. Star Born was a favorite for me growing up I must have read it 1000 times and the audio listen really brought the book to life for me. You wont regret this addition to your library! The Time Series is probably nortons top work altho its hard to find any Norton work thats ever been close to bad.”

Posted by Jesse Willis

Audible’s new imprint: Audible Frontiers

SFFaudio News

Audible FrontiersAudible Frontiers is a new imprint (announced today but delivering titles for about two weeks now) from Audible.com. These are Audible.com exclusive titles, produced for audible by audible. Each title in the collection appears to include “Bonus Audio” which is typically a short commentary by the author about the audiobook in question. There are precisely 30 titles available today. Many are series novels, but many are novellas, most have accolades, and nearly all of them are BRAND NEW to audio.

There are plenty of titles in that 30 that I’m looking forward to hearing. We’ll have a full new releases post on them all soon.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Audio Column – “Orson Scott Card Selects” – First subject – Star Born by Andre Norton

SFFaudio Online Audio
Orson Scott Card Selects (presented by Audible.com)
Orson Scott Card Selects is a new feature audio column on Audible.com in which the future Grandmaster of Science Fiction selects “classic sci-fi and fantasy” that he thinks you’ll really like. His first selection is … Wonder Audio’s version of Star Born by Andre Norton! WOOT!

Check the site out HERE. Or have a listen |MP3| to Card talk about why he loves Star Born!

Orson Scott Card Selects #1 - Star Born by Andre Norton

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals – Jay Lake, John Scalzi, Isaac Asimov

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Ya, it is strange to call them it with digital copies, but here’s a batch of “recent arrivals” from Audible.com (all are Audible exclusive titles)…

Mainspring by Jay LakeMainspring
By Jay Lake; Read by William Dufris
Audible Download – Approx. 13.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: macmillan audio / audible.com
Published: December 2007
The mainspring of the Earth is running down, and disaster to the planet will ensue if it’s not rewound. To do the job the Archangel Gabriel approaches a young clockmaker’s apprentice and explains the problem. He can’t be that surprised, in a clockwork solar system, where the planets move in a vast system of gears around the lamp of the Sun – how could he be. This is a universe where the hand of the Creator is visible to anyone who simply looks up into the sky and sees the track of the heavens, the wheels of the Moon, and the great Equitorial gears of the Earth itself.

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Ghost Brigades by John ScalziThe Ghost Brigades
By John Scalzi; Read by William Dufris
Audible Download – 10 Hours 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio / Audible.com
Published: March 2008
The Ghost Brigades are the Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces, elite troops created from the DNA of the dead and turned into the perfect soldiers for the CDF’s toughest operations. They’re young, they’re fast and strong, and they’re totally without normal human qualms. For the universe is a dangerous place for humanity – and it’s about to become far more dangerous. Three races that humans have clashed with before have allied to halt our expansion into space. Their linchpin: the turncoat military scientist Charles Boutin, who knows the CDF’s biggest military secrets. To prevail, the CDF most find out why Boutin did what he did.

ESL AUDIOBOOK - I, Robot for Learners of English by Isaac Asimov‘I, Robot’ for Learners of English
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Tricia Reilly
Audible Format -2 Hours 31 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com / Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
Published: March 2008
Isaac Asimov’s classic collection of stories about a society where humans and robots live and work together on Earth and in outer space is both disturbing and prophetic. –The Macmillan Readers series is one of the most popular and respected series of readers for learners of English. Macmillan Readers are simplified retellings of an original work. They are created by highly experienced ELT writers.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – Science Fiction from Recorded Books on Audible.com

SFFaudio News

Audible.comAudible.com has just added “a slew of Hugo/Nebula winning and otherwise classic sci-fi titles from Recorded Books.” None of these has been available previously in digital audio – and most have been difficult to find in physical CD (as Recorded Books has been a staunch supporter of the cassette format). Available now from Audible are..

The Terminal Experiment
By Robert J. Sawyer [READ OUR REVIEW]

To Say Nothing of the Dog
By Connie Willis [READ OUR REVIEW]

Blue Mars
By Kim Stanley Robinson

Green Mars
By Kim Stanley Robinson

Doomsday Book
By Connie Willis [READ OUR REVIEW]

Sundiver: The Uplift Saga, Book 1
By David Brin

Startide Rising: The Uplift Saga, Book 2
By David Brin [READ OUR REVIEW]

The Uplift War: The Uplift Saga, Book 3
By David Brin

The Forever War
By Joe Haldeman [READ OUR REVIEW]

Forever Peace
By Joe Haldeman

Timescape
By Gregory Benford [READ OUR REVIEW]

To Your Scattered Bodies Go: Riverworld Saga, Book 1
By Philip Jose Farmer

And, Audible also sez that Red Mars [READ OUR REVIEW] (notably absent from the list above) is “coming – soon, we hope….!”

Posted by Jesse Willis