New Releases – Allen Steele and Jack Campbell

New Releases

From a mysterious new imprint called “Audible Frontiers” (that I’ll try to find out more about) check out these new Audible.com exclusive titles including some Allen Steele novellas yum yum!

First, a Hugo Award winning novella from 1998…

…Where Angels Fear to Tread by Allen Steele…Where Angels Fear to Tread
By Allen Steele; Read by Marc Vietor
Audible Download – 2 Hours 56 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: March 2008
When two chrononauts from the 24th century travel back in time, they inadvertently disrupt the ill-fated voyage of the Hindenburg, causing it to land successfully. Now, lost in a parallel universe, their mistake will be felt by every single human being.
This title also features BONUS AUDIO: Author Allen Steele explains what convinced him to write this Hugo Award-winning novella, despite vowing never to touch the subject of time travel.

And, a Hugo Award winning novella from 1996…

The Death of Captain Future by Allen SteeleThe Death of Captain Future
By Allen Steele; Read by Marc Vietor
Audible Download – 2 Hours 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: March 2008
Union laborer Rohr Furland begrudgingly takes a job on a space freighter piloted by Captain Future, an immature and slightly crazed captain with an obsession for early 20th-century science-fiction novels. When they receive a distress call from a nearby space station, Furland and the first officer blend the dangers of reality into the captain’s fantasy world. This title also features BONUS AUDIO: Author Allen Steele talks about his love of pulp fiction, and its direct influence on this Hugo Award-winning novella.

And, here’s a Hugo Award Nominated novel from 2002…

Stealing Alabama by Allen SteeleStealing Alabama
By Allen Steele; Read by Marc Vietor
Audible Download – 3 Hours 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: March 2008
The second American Revolution has propelled the Southern-controlled United Republic of America into power, its oppressive laws enforced by the National Reform Program’s re-education camps. The citizens are suffering from a militaristic tyranny and federal extortion at the expense of an ambitious space program designed to propagate the galaxy with model citizens of the Republic. But a silent underground faction plans to commandeer a ship and make a great escape to the stars. This title also features BONUS AUDIO: Author Allen Steele explains how he drew from U.S. history to write this Hugo-nominated novella.

Next, set one-hundred-plus years into an interstellar war between two different human cultures, the protagonist of this series is discovered floating in a hibernation/escape pod one-hundred years after he made a heroic ‘last stand’ against the enemy fleet at a famous battle. In the present, he’s a renowned hero to his side and his name and actions are used to justify poor tactics and decisions. Awakened just during a secret mission that turns out to be an enemy trap, he’s suddenly dropped into the fleet commander’s chair and expected to live up to a legend that has grown to impossible levels… That sounds very cool!

Dauntless (The Lost Fleet - Book 1) by Jack CampbellDauntless (The Lost Fleet – Book 1)
By Jack Campbell; Read by Christian Rummel
Audible Download – 9 Hours 59 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: March 2008
The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century, and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who has emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he has been heroically idealized beyond belief. Captain John “Black Jack” Geary’s legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild. Revered for his heroic “last stand” in the early days of the war, he was presumed dead. But a century later, Geary miraculously returns from survival hibernation and reluctantly takes command of the Alliance fleet as it faces annihilation by the Syndics. Appalled by the hero-worship around him, Geary is nevertheless a man who will do his duty. And he knows that bringing the stolen Syndic hypernet key safely home is the Alliance’s one chance to win the war. But to do that, Geary will have to live up to the impossibly heroic “Black Jack” legend. BONUS AUDIO: Author Jack Campbell explains how the legend of King Arthur, the Greek historian Xenophon, and other writings influenced the Lost Fleet series.

Fearless (The Lost Fleet - Book 2) by Jack CampbellFearless (The Lost Fleet – Book 2)
By Jack Campbell; Read by Christian Rummel
Audible Download – 9 Hours 51 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: March 2008
Outnumbered by the superior forces and firepower of the Syndicate Worlds, the Alliance fleet continues its dangerous retreat across the enemy star system. Led by the legendary Captain John “Black Jack” Geary, who returned to the fleet after a hundred-year suspended animation, the Alliance is desperately trying to return home with its captured prize: the key to the Syndic hypernet, and the key to victory. Geary is convinced that the Syndics are planning to ambush the fleet and finish it off once and for all. Realizing the fleet’s best (and only) chance is to do the unexpected, Geary takes the offensive and orders the fleet to the Sancere system. There, a multitude of possible routes home give the Alliance fleet a better chance of avoiding their pursuers – and an attack on the Sancere shipbuilding facilities could decimate the Syndic war effort. Weary from endless combat, the officers and crew of the Alliance fleet can’t see the sense in charging deeper into enemy territory – prompting a mutiny that divides them and leaves Geary with higher odds against him than ever before. BONUS AUDIO: Author Jack Campbell describes how he brought real-world physics to the Lost Fleet series.

Courageous (The Lost Fleet - Book 3) by Jack CampbellCourageous (The Lost Fleet – Book 3)
By Jack Campbell; Read by Christian Rummel
Audible Download – 9 Hours 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: March 2008
The Alliance has been fighting a losing battle against the Syndicate Worlds for over a century. Now, Captain John “Black Jack” Geary, who returned to the fleet after a hundred-year suspended animation, must keep the Alliance one step ahead of its merciless foe. After a series of deadly engagements, the Alliance fleet is severely damaged and its arsenal is running low. Forced to halt in the Baldur Star System to raid the Syndic mines for raw materials, Geary is anxious to get moving again. But what should the fleet’s next move be? The Syndics are starting to catch on to Geary’s tactics, and as the Alliance ships jump from system to system, it’s getting harder to keep one step ahead. What’s more, Geary has started to piece fragments of intelligence together into a highly disturbing picture: the Syndics have been keeping the existence of another potential player in the war a secret – and this unknown power may have the means to annihilate the human race. BONUS AUDIO: Author Jack Campbell explains how his own background in the military shaped the Lost Fleet series.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – John Scalzi, Murray Leinster, Robert Sheckley, H. Beam Piper

New Releases

Audible has just posted a new title from WonderAudio.com (WOOHOO!)… And it’s a two for one – two classic tales from the Dean of Science Fiction – Murray Leinster.

‘Sam, This Is You’ and ‘The Other Now’ by Murray Leinster“Sam, This Is You” and “The Other Now”
By Murray Leinster; Read by Mac Kelly
Audible Download – 65 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio / Audible
Published: March 2008
“Sam, This Is You” is a humorous look at Sam, a telephone lineman and inventor. Sam’s invented a device to talk to himself back in time. Unfortunately, Sam’s main interest is courting Rosie, and his love life is being sabotaged by his worst enemy – his future self. “The Other Now” is a poignant love story. When Jimmy Patterson loses his beloved wife, Jane, in a car accident, he believes he begins to get messages from her. Can their love be enough to reunite them?

The next release, a three story collection, includes a terrific tale by Robert Sheckley. I’ve even used The Monsters in the classroom, it showcases one of the very deeply central ideas of Science Fiction in a incisive and funny POV shift – the other two, I look forward to as well as they offer the same, tales told from the alien perspective…

A Is For AlienA is For Alien
By Robert Sheckley, Miriam Allen DeFord & Evelyn E. Smith; Read by Pat Bottino, Sam Mowry & Candace Platt
Audible Download – 67 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio / Audible
Published: March 2008
In these three tales, you’ll experience stories from an alien perspective:
In “The Apotheosis of Ki“, by Miriam Allen DeFord, Ki, a primitive savage, encounters a spaceman. Can the two cultures communicate? In “Captain’s Mate“, by Evelyn E. Smith, we hear the tribulations of a crustacean-like alien who is captain of an all-human crew. The trouble begins as the ship drops out of hyperspace. They’re stranded a million miles from anywhere and the captain is acting strangely, even by her own standards. What passes for a moral is turned upside down in “Monsters“, by Robert Sheckley. Different rules of morality create havoc when a spaceship full of humans lands.

Equally as exciting is the follow up to John Scalzi’s SFFaudio essentially designated Old Man’s War

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.

From the pages of Astounding Science Fiction (February and March 1955 issues), Podiobooks.com and Nathan Lowell comes the latest title in The Second Annual SFFaudio Challenge

Science Fiction podiobook - Time Crime by H. Beam PiperTime Crime
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Nathan Lowell
Podiobook – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: March 2008
“The Paratime Police had a real headache this time! Tracing one man in a population of millions is easy—compared to finding one gang hiding out on one of billions of probability lines! This story from 1955 has rocket ships, time travel, slaves, post-hypnotic suggestions, drugged citizens, and a complete disregard for human rights. And those are the good guys. As a look back in time at “classic” science fiction, it’s an interesting snapshot of a time when tobacco was common, sexism was unconscious, and female characters were a long way from Lara Croft.”

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases

New Releases

Here’s an Audible.com/iTunes exclusive that bends the Fantasy genre to the “extreme”…

Deep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies by Polly FrostDeep Inside: Extreme Erotic Fantasies
By Polly Frost; Read by Allison Frasier, Maggie Hoffman, Brian Mendes
Audible Download – 7 Hours 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com / Macmillan Audio
Published: February 2008
“A dominatrix with a discipline problem. A nervous virgin tempted by an unearthly sacrifice. Lust-crazed Viagra addicts. A sexual psychic who can foresee other people’s erotic adventures. And a street cop hooked on alien ecstasy…. The sensual men and women in this sizzling collection are all in search of the ultimate sexual high. No plain old vanilla sex here; driven by insatiable desires, they push their bodies and souls to the limits, exploring the outer limits of eroticism. From arcane sexual rituals to the heights of Hollywood decadence, Deep Inside breaks every taboo as it takes you inside the throbbing flesh and twisted urges of the kinky, the depraved, and the supernatural. Turn down the lights and enter a new realm of exotic and forbidden pleasures.”

This would be “book eight” of the “Legacy of the Force” series…

Star Wars Legacy Of The Force RevelationStar Wars – Legacy Of The Force – Revelation
By Karen Traviss; Read by Mark Thompson
5 CDs – 6 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: February 2008
ISBN: 9780739324011
In his new mantle as Sith Lord, Jacen Solo’s dark powers reach a peak as he continues to crush opposition across the warring galaxy and bring his dream of a new order closer to fruition. But those who once fought at his side now turn against him, and as his unexpected enemies rally to the Confederation, Ben Skywalker discovers the full and terrible truth of how his mother died.

Announced as exclusive to iTunes UK this “Pre-Release Audiobook” would be lovely if it was released wider…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Matter by Iain M. BanksMatter – A Culture Novel
By Iain M. Banks; Read by Toby Longworth
Audible Download – Approx. 18 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Hachette Audio UK / audible.co.uk
Published: February 2008
There was nobody of her own kind within several thousand light years of where Djan Seriy Anaplian sat. However, news from her home world of Sursamen would still reach her.

“A vivid, funny and utterly original debut novel that’s deeply charming” – and it sounds like a Neil Gaiman novel crossed with the TV show Big Brother

Fantasy Audiobook - Gods Behaving Badly by Marie PhillipsGods Behaving Badly
By Marie Phillips; Read by Tom Sellwood
5 CDs – 6 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 1600240720
Being a Greek god is not all it once was. Yes, the twelve gods of Olympus are alive and well in the twenty-first century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse-and none too happy about it. And they’ve had to get day jobs: Artemis as a dog-walker, Apollo as a TV psychic, Aphrodite as a phone sex operator, Dionysus as a DJ. Even more disturbingly, their powers are waning, and even turning mortals into trees-a favorite pastime of Apollo’s-is sapping their vital reserves of strength.

Macmillan Audio has a whole subsite devoted to their Dune audiobooks…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Dune Messiah by Frank HerbertDune Messiah
By Frank Herbert; Scott Brick and others
7 CDs – 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillain Audio / BBC Audiobooks America
Published: October 2007
ISBN: 1427202362
This sequel to Dune explores new developments on the desert planet Arrakis, with its intricate social order and its strange threatening environment. Dune Messiah picks up the story of the man known as Maud’dib, heir to a power unimaginable, bringing to fruition an ambition of unparalleled scale: the centuries-old scheme to create a superbeing who reigns not in the heavens but among men. But the question is: Do all paths of glory lead to the grave?

“magical realism dusted with a bit of erotica” – and the cover is titillating…

Nawashi Nawashi
By Graydancer; Read by Graydancer
Podcast Novel / Podiobook -[UNABRIDGED?]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: February 2008 – ????
Nawashi is an erotic urban fantasy, the story of a man who discovers that underneath the world of kink and BDSM lies a global conflict of magical forces. Drawn into it, he struggles to develop his own powers and skill to protect his family from the forces which now consider him a threat.

Nominated for an Audie award…

Fantasy Audiobook - Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ravens Of Avalon by Diana L. PaxsonMarion Zimmer Bradley’s Ravens Of Avalon
By Diana L. Paxson; Read by Lorna Raver
CDs – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: August 2007
ISBN: 140013496X
Diana L. Paxson expands Marion Zimmer Bradley”s beloved and bestselling Avalon series in a dramatic new installment. Marion Zimmer Bradley”s Ravens of Avalon, the prequel to The Forest House, tells the story of the Roman conquest of Britain and the origin of the Forest House that preceded the return to Avalon.

A 1997 Lethem novel, that sounds like it’d fit nicely on a shelf next to Connie Willis’

Science Fiction Audiobook - As She Climbed Across The Table by Jonathan LethemAs She Climbed Across The Table
By Jonathan Lethem; Read by David Aaron Baker
CDs – 5.75 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books on Tape / Random House Audio
Published: September 2007
ISBN: 0739357255
Philip is in love with Alice. As the novel opens, he is beginning to lose her. Not to another man, as he fears, but to, literally, nothing. Alice is a physicist, and a team at the University where both she and Philip work has created a hole, a vacuum, a doorway of nothingness inside the laboratory. They call it “Lack.” Alice becomes obsessed with Lack, as Philip is obsessed by Alice.

Lethem’s 1998 novel, according to wikipedia, is meant to evoke the classic western film The Searchers (1956)…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Girl In Landscape by Jonathan LethemGirl In Landscape
By Jonathan Lethem; Read by David Aaron Baker
CDs – 6.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books on Tape / Random House Audio
Published: September 2007
ISBN: 0739357247
At the age of 13, Pella Marsh emigrates with her family to the Planet of the Archbuilders. These enigmatic aborigines have names like Lonely Dumptruck and and Hiding Kneel–and a civilization that baffles and frightens their human visitors.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Audible.com’s Weekly Free Listen: Could Be Worse by James Patrick Kelly

SFFaudio Online Audio

Audible.com’s Weekly Free Listen

Could Be Worse is an audio exclusive, available for FREE via audible.com. A never-before-published story it is written and narrated by Hugo and Nebula Award-winning SF author James Patrick Kelly. If you like it be sure to check out StoryPod 3.0 his latest batch of 13 stories! You’ll hear the classic Hugo Award-winning novelette, 10 to the 16th to 1; The Best Christmas Ever, a Hugo nominee; Itsy Bitsy Spider, nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula; and more. You can get it in the DRM’d audible AAC format, listen online or download the MP3…

Storypod 3.0 “Could Be Worse” by James Patrick KellyCould Be Worse
By James Patrick Kelly; Read by James Patrick Kelly
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Waiting in a doctor’s office sure can suck the life out of you. Unless…

Posted by Jesse Willis

Robert J. Sawyer @ audible.com

SFFaudio News

Audible.comSeven Robert J. Sawyer novels are going to be released exclusively through audible.com. Sawyer writes:

“I’ve been a very satisfied Audible.com customer since March 2001, and so I’m particularly delighted to report that Audible.com has jut bought audio-book rights to seven of my novels.”

The titles are: Calculating God, Hominids, Humans, Hybrids, Wake, Watch and Wonder. The last three there haven’t been released in print form yet.

No word on when they’ll all be released or who’ll be narrating them yet. The narrator definitely won’t be RJS though.

It’s kind of too bad they didn’t contract for his first novel (and my favorite RJS book) Golden Fleece, it’s a Hard-SF murder mystery set aboard an interstellar ship powered by a Bussard-ramjet.

Posted by Jesse Willis