audiobook – Page 121

LibriVox: The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick

Tuesday, May 4, 2010Monday, May 3, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

There’s a new FREE audiobook version of Philip K. Dick’s 1953 novella The Variable Man available from LibriVox and superstar narrator Gregg Margarite!

Here’s the teaser:

“He fixed things—clocks, refrigerators, vidsenders and destinies. But he had no business in the future, where the calculators could not handle him. He was Earth’s only hope—and its sure failure!”

Here are four different covers from various paperbook incarnations of this time travel tale…

The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick - Covers

And here’s the audiobook…

The Variable Man
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
3 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 3, 2010
Predictability has come a long way. The computers of the future can tell you if you’re going to win a war before you fire a shot. Unfortunately they’re predicting perpetual standoff between the Terran and Centaurian Empires. What they need is something unpredictable, what they get is Thomas Cole, a man from the past accidentally dragged forward in time. Will he fit their calculations, or is he the random variable that can break the stalemate? From Space Science Fiction September 1953.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3|

Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/rss/4275

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Betty M. and Diana Majlinger]

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBC Radio’s The Mystery Project: Midnight Cab by James W. Nichol

Wednesday, April 28, 2010Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Jesse Willis

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Midnight Cab

The 1990s was full of mystery in Canada. Weekday broadcasts on CBC Radio featured more than a dozen detectives in fully dramatized mysteries. This was a result of The Mystery Project. Perhaps the most listened to series under this banner was Midnight Cab, a half-hour mystery show about a 19 year old Toronto cab driver named Walker Devereaux. Here’s what Thrilling Detective has to say about Midnight Cab:

One of the best series airing as part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s The Mystery Project is Midnight Cab, which was aired in three runs of 13 episodes, 9 episodes, and 13 episodes (making a total of 35 episodes for the series).

…

The show starred David Ferry as WALKER DEVEREAUX, a young man, rather gullible and naive, from Bear River (north of Lake Superior) who comes to Toronto in order to become an author and winds up driving a cab on the midnight shift. From the start, he keeps running into problems (such as that body that someone left in the trunk of his cab), and he solves the mysteries with the help of his girlfriend, wheelchair-bound Krista Papadopoulos (who dispatches cabs), Alfonso Piatelli (his boss), and Metro Police Inspector Wilfred Kiss (a friendly homicide cop). Each episode is fairly self-contained, but the series builds on its past episodes as well, so we see Walker’s developing relationship with Krista, his coming to terms with the big city, etc.

Here’s the entire run…

Season 1:

Season 1 – Episode 01 – The Mystery Of The Blue-Eyed Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: November 14, 1992
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: March 1997
ISBN: 0886469295
Provider: Radio Mensa
On his way to pick up his first fare, Walker finds a body in the trunk of his car.

Season 1 – Episode 02 – The Mystery Of 22 Crier Drive
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: November 21, 1992
Provider: Radio Mensa
Walker Devereaux, a 19-year-old aspiring writer, takes a job driving a cab. Lovable and intelligent by naïve, he stumbles on a succession of mysteries while working the graveyard shift. Unfortunately he is an amateur detective who can’t stop stumbling into trouble on Toronto’s dark side.

Season 1 – Episode 03 – The Mystery Of The Horse-Faced Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: November 28, 1992
Provider: Radio Mensa
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: December 1999
ISBN: 0886469856
A street freak gives Devereaux a present that stirs up Alphonso’s past. Where is he hiding out?

Season 1 – Episode 04 – The Mystery Of The Motherless Child
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: December 5, 1992
Provider: Radio Mensa
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: December 1999
ISBN: 0886469856
Julie Swenson comes to Toronto in search of her birth mother, but feels strange about her when they meet. Walker wants to help Julie, but it always seems to be too late.

Season 1 – Episode 05 – The Mystery Of The Falling Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: December 12, 1992
Provider: Radio Mensa
Walker Devereaux, a 19-year-old aspiring writer, takes a job driving a cab. Lovable and intelligent but naïve, he stumbles on a succession of mysteries while working the graveyard shift. Unfortunately he is an amateur detective who can’t stop stumbling into trouble on Toronto’s dark side.

Season 1 – Episode 06 – The Mystery Of The Face In The Window
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: December 19, 1992
Provider: Radio Mensa
A strange note appears in the glass donation ball of a mall Santa Claus. Cabbie Walker Devereaux, caught up by more than the spirit of the season, searches for the child who wrote the message and uncovers a much larger mystery.

Season 1 – Episode 07 – The Mystery Of The Child Holding A Dove
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: December 26, 1992
Provider: Radio Mensa
A beaten woman stays over at Devereaux’s. She’s evasive because of an art theft and murder.

Season 1 – Episode 08 – The Mystery Of The Outdoorsman
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 2, 1993
Provider: Radio Mensa
Back in Big River, a chance meeting leads to the truth about Devereaux’s father’s death.

Season 1 – Episode 09 – The Mystery Of The Screaming Woman
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 9, 1993
Provider: Radio Mensa

Season 1 – Episode 10 – The Mystery Of The Drowning Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 16, 1993
Provider: Radio Mensa

Season 1 – Episode 11 – The Mystery Of The Friendless Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 23, 1993
Provider: Radio Mensa

Season 1 – Episode 12 – The Mystery Of The Vanishing Cab
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 30, 1993
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 1 – Episode 13 – The Mystery Of The Great Escape
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 6, 1993
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 2:

Season 2 – Episode 01 – The Mystery Of The Silver Rings
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: December 8, 1993
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 2 – Episode 02 – The Mystery Of The Great Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: December 15, 1993
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: January 2000
ISBN: 0886469945
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 2 – Episode 03 – The Mystery Of The Locked Room
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 5, 1994
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: January 2000
ISBN: 0886469945
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 2 – Episode 04 – The Mystery Of The Screaming Kettle
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 12, 1994
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 2 – Episode 05 – The Mystery Of The Lost Child
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 19, 1994
Released: 2009
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com
This time a passenger takes Devereaux for a ride – into murder. A brutal kidnapping went wrong years ago, so two screwups try again on a bone-chilling night in Toronto.

Season 2 – Episode 06 – The Mystery Of The Family Portrait
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3|- Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 26, 1994
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 2 – Episode 07 – The Mystery Of The Red-Headed Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 2, 1994
Released: 2009
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com
Devereaux’s best friend hooks up with a woman on the run. Can he uncover her dirty, deadly secrets fast enough to stop a killer?

Season 2 – Episode 08 – The Mystery Of The Perfect Daughter
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 12, 1994
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: December 1999
ISBN: 155204629X
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 2 – Episode 09 – The Mystery Of The Unsolicited Manuscript
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 19, 1994
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: December 1999
ISBN: 155204629X
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3:

Season 3 – Episode 01 – The Mystery Of The White-Eyed Cat
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 6, 1996
Publisher: DH Audio / Paperback Audio
Published: July 2000
ISBN: 1552046443
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 02 – The Mystery Of The Unfit Mother
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 13, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 03 – The Mystery Of The Secret Letters
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 20, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 04 – The Mystery Of The Long Lost Brother
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: January 27, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 05 – The Mystery Of The Back Door Key
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 3, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 06 – The Mystery Of The Hidden Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 10, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 07 – The Mystery Of The Olde Tyme Piano
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 17, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 08 – The Mystery Of The Angry Son
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: February 24, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 09 – The Mystery Of The Desperate Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: March 2, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 10 – The Mystery Of The Woman in Black
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: March 9, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 11 – The Mystery Of The Wounded Poem
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: March 16, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 12 – The Mystery Of The Laughing Clock
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: March 23, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Season 3 – Episode 13 – The Mystery Of The Soft-Hearted Man
By James W. Nichol; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: March 30, 1996
Provider: EnteringTheMindsEye.com

Midnight Cab, the novel:

Midnight Cab
By James W. Nichol; Read by Scott Brick
9 CDs, 8 Cassettes or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 11.7 hrs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: February 2005
ISBN: 9780786179923 (cd), 0786130121 (cassette), 0786182016 (mp3-cd)
In what serves as a sort of prequel to the series, Walker arrives in Toronto, intent on tracking down the parents who abandoned him. At the cab company where he works, Walker befriends the night dispatcher, Krista, a pretty, brave young woman. Wheelchair bound but resourceful, she helps him crack the code of his parents’ identity. But the quest to discover his mother’s whereabouts swiftly becomes perilous as Walker finds himself within the deadly grasp of Bobby, a young sociopath who has matured from early cruelty to murderous pleasure.

[via Radio Mensa and EnteringTheMindsEye.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. CBC is still sitting on J. Michael Straczynski’s only radio drama series!

Tantor Media: FREE AUDIOBOOK: The Merry Adventures Of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Tantor Media, one of the best sources for professional narrations of public domain audiobooks and modern copyrighted audiobooks alike, is offering a FREE MP3 download of The Merry Adventures Of Robin Hood to registrants. Sez Tantor:

The free download is for personal use only and is not for commercial distribution. Limit one download per customer. Limited time only.

Click HERE to get it, you’ll have to be registered (no credit card required) and signed in. I had quite a bit of trouble getting and staying signed in, and getting the downloads. This may be due to a high server demand or some other issue. I eventually downloaded each MP3 file individually rather than the zipped folder. One other point to note, the final file, listed as “Epilogue” is actually mis-linked, and should be downloaded via this URL:

http://www.tantor.com/download.asp?BookStem=1705_RobinHood&File=022-RobinHood.mp3

Narrator Simon Vance makes all the trouble I had worthwhile.

The Merry Adventures Of Robin Hood
By Howard Pyle; Read by Simon Vance
22 Zipped MP3 Files – Approx. 9 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: April 26, 2010
In Merry England, in the time of old when good King Henry the Second ruled the land, there lived within the green glades of Sherwood Forest near Nottingham Town a famous outlaw whose name was Robin Hood. No archer ever lived that could speed a gray goose shaft with such skill and cunning as his, nor were there ever such yeomen as the sevenscore merry men that roamed with him through the greenwood shades. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor, and in so doing became an undying symbol of virtue. But most important, Robin Hood and his band of merry men offer young audiences more than enough adventure and thrills to keep them listening intently. Filled with action, villains, and surprises, who could resist the arrows flying, danger lurking, and medieval intrigue?

Posted by Jesse Willis

Aural Noir Review of Dimiter by William Peter Blatty

Tuesday, April 27, 2010Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Julie

Aural Noir: Review

Dimiter
By William Peter Blatty; Read by William Peter Blatty
8 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2010
Themes: / Thriller / Religion / Christianity / Espionage /

In 1973 a nameless prisoner is being tortured in an Albanian prison, where “grace and hope had never touched.” Colonel Vlora, known as “The Interrogator,” is frustrated and mystified by a man they have come to call The Prisoner because they cannot even make him speak. Is he an American spy, Paul Dimiter, known as the “agent from hell?” The solution to this stalemate while expected on one level is a complete surprise on another. This turns out to be emblematic of William Blatty’s book. Part 1 is an appropriate foretaste of this complex, suspenseful, and fast paced thriller.

The scene shifts to Jerusalem where we meet Moses Mayo, a neurologist, who is investigating a series of seemingly natural deaths that are nevertheless linked. He also is plagued by a gruesome murder, reports of apparitions and mysterious miraculous healings. We also meet Mayo’s life-long friend, Peter Meral, an Arab Christian, who is a police detective. Among other things, Meral is investigating a strange car explosion and the mysterious disappearance of the men involved, a CIA cover-up, and a body found at the Tomb of Christ.

The body count climbs and complications arise from the interweaving of all the events. This sounds somewhat like a standard thriller, however, it is anything but. We know the deaths are real but what about the reported miracles? Is everything really connected and, if so, what could possibly be the logical link? The solution is not only surprising but also provides an extremely moving moment of redemption.

Dimiter‘s suspense keeps the listener fascinated while also raising it above the ordinary by not being afraid to have characters who care about spiritual searching, loss, redemption, and love. The spiritual element will make this work especially interesting to those who are drawn to themes that investigate good versus evil. This is not an element that should surprise those who remember that Blatty is the author of the justly famous horror novel The Exorcist. Although this novel is strictly in the thriller vein, I must admit that I did find the torture scenes rather horrific and did fast forward through a few of them.

The author narrates his work and does such an effective job that I often forgot I was not listening to a professional voice talent. The only downfall was that during fast-paced scenes with more than two male characters, such as CIA interrogations, there was not enough differentiation between all the voices to make it easy to tell when dialogue shifted from one person to another. This was not a huge problem but it did require me to back up a couple of times until I figured out the tempo. Otherwise, William Blatty’s reading was a sheer pleasure, especially in voicing his more eccentric characters who he brought to life in a most vivid fashion.

Highly recommended.

Posted by Julie D.

Review of Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross

Monday, April 26, 2010Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Review

Saturn’s Children
By Charles Stross; Read by Bianca Amato
11 CDs – Approx. 13 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781440750113, 9781440750106
Themes: / Science Fiction / Androids / Robots / Sex / Slavery / Identity / Venus / Mars / Mercury / Eris /

The Hugo Award-winning author of numerous best-sellers, Charles Stross crafts tales that push the limits of the genre. In Saturn’s Children, Freya is an obsolete android concubine in a society where humans haven’t existed for hundreds of years. A rigid caste system keeps the Aristos, a vindictive group of humanoids, well in control of the lower, slave-chipped classes. So when Freya offends one particularly nasty Aristo, she’s forced to take a dangerous courier job off-planet.

This novel’s title comes from the myth that Saturn (the Roman god of agriculture and harvest), ate his children at birth for fear of them usurping him. Its an apt starting point for a tale about robots More interesting is that Saturn’s Children opens with a reading of Asimov’s three laws of robotics…

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

…and then informs us that there are no humans left alive. There is, however, a whole solar system full of robots, all willing and able to obey all three laws. So what happened to all those humans? The novel is the answer to that question.

Saturn’s Children is told from the point of view of Freya Nakamichi-47 a gynoid (that’s a female android). She was activated (born) long after the last human had died. Freya, despite never having met one, still longs for her lost love (any human). Indeed, even the mere thought a human being makes her sexually excited. This is because, as a self described grande horizontale, Freya’s destiny was to be a sexual companion to any human that owned her. Now, without a master, she finds work where and when she can. But after a nasty run-in with an Aristo, a wealthy robot that owns other robots (called Arbiters), Freya will take any work that gets her off planet. Soon she’s employed by Jeeves, a masculine android who is more like her in shape and purpose than most robots. Freya’s first assignment is to transport a bio-engineered package across the solar system. But the pink police (a kind of anti biological proliferation organization), and another, more shadowy, organization are determined to stop her. Along the way Freya visits Cinnabar (a city on rails) that’s perpetually in Mercury’s shadow, drawing power from the temperature difference between Mercury’s light and dark sides), has sex with a rocket ship and grows some new hair.

Freya does a whole lot more than that too. She has a lot more sex for one. But beyond the sex there is some more fully cerebral stimulation going on in Saturn’s Children. The idea of a post-human solar system is an interesting one, and Stross plays with it quite effectively. This is a theme that I think hasn’t been done often enough in SF. The closest novel, in scope, if not in tone, is perhaps Clifford D. Simak’s City (in which intelligent dogs and robots have inherited a humanless Earth). This humanless solar system is, as I mentioned, quite vividly explored, with floating cities (like Bespin’s Cloud City) on Venus, waste heated bio-labs on the frozen dwarf planet of Eris, and a truly frightening description of what’s happened to poor old Earth. Stross has quite a lot of fun playing with the world he’s created here, naming a city Heinleingrad, naming a robot butler character after P.G. Wodehouse’s famous “gentleman’s personal gentleman.” It all mostly works with Saturn’s Children seeming to take most of its inspiration though from Heinlein’s novel Friday. Both novels feature artificial female persons as secret couriers, both tell their own stories, both secrete their smuggled cargos in their abdomens. Later on in Saturn’s Children there is some playing with the ideas promulgated in Heinlein’s 1970 novel I Will Fear No Evil. And, identity, in a world where brain data, and brain states, are easily and quickly copyable, isn’t as simple as it is with us meatbags. On the whole I enjoyed Saturn’s Children and found it full of interestingness. It was as most novels are these days, too long, and in need of a critical editor. The worst sin here is that the ending is rather weak, and features an afterword that leaves open the possibility of a sequel or seven.

Narrator Bianca Amato, a South African accented “ALIEN OF EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY” (according to her resume), mispronounces a couple of the more obscure words but the general gist of her reading is highly competent. It helps a whole lot that Freya’s story is told in first person. I’m not sure what the present tense adds to the narrative other than being a little noticeable and not particularly harmful. Also, as I mentioned in a recent podcast, the Recorded Books cover art is boring, whereas the Ace Books paperbook edition is fabulous!

Check out the dust jacket from the paperbook edition:

Saturn's Children by Charles Stross - The PAPERBOOK's Dustjacket

Posted by Jesse Willis

Escape: The Killer Mine based on the novel by Hammond Innes

Friday, April 23, 2010Monday, April 26, 2010 Jesse Willis

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Check out this striking image:

The Killer Mine by Hammond Innes

It’s part of one of the many covers from The Killer Mine by Hammond Innes. Intriguing isn’t it? Here are three more:

The Killer Mine by Hammond Innes

I’ve got a small stack of Hammond Innes paperbacks that I haven’t read. I inherited them from my grandmother and had been looking for an excuse to read one. Now I’ve found one!

In a post over on the Escape-Suspense blog proprietress Christine A. Miller wrote:

Escape’s “The Killer Mine” was adapted from the 1947 novel by English author Hammond Innes (1913-1998). For radio, the story was shortened considerably, and as a result, the high tension of the novel and some of the characters, are missing. If you like this episode, then do yourself a favor and read the book.

The Killer Mine The story is set in England, three years after the end of World War II. Jim Pryce, a miner by trade, but a deserter from the British army, has just returned to England from Italy. He has made his way to the Cornish coast in the hopes of securing a “no questions asked” mining job through his friend, Dave Tanner.

When Jim finds Dave, his friend is in trouble with the law for liquor-running. Nevertheless, Dave follows through on his promise and sends him over to talk to Captain Manack, the owner of a local mine. When he does, Jim discovers that Captain Manack doesn’t want to work the old tin mine for profit, he wants Jim to blow a hole through the top of an undersea shaft and flood it. That way, they can create an underwater entrance for illegal liquor to be unloaded into the mine. Will Jim take the job?

Escape – The Killer Mine
Based on the novel by Hammond Innes; Adapted by Antony Ellis; Performed by a full cast
1 ~~|MP3|~~ |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: February 11, 1951
Provider: ~~Archive.org~~ Archive.org
“Smuggled illegally into his native land after many years’ absence, army deserter Jim Pryce finds himself deposited on a Cornish beach. Little does he suspect, setting out along the road to Penzance, that he is about to walk straight into a mine disaster, and into a story involving his own history.” Starring: John Dehner, Eileen Erskine, Tony Barrett, Ray Lawrence, Wilms Herbert, Jay Novello, and Lou Krugman.

There is also, if you look hard enough, an out of print unabridged audiobook editon out there.

The Killer Mine
By Hammond Innes; Read by Stephen Thorne
6 Cassettes – Approx. 8 Hours 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Chivers Audio
Published: 1992
ISBN: 0816132119
On the run, a deserter from the army, Jim Pryce returns to Cornwall. But the familiar places of his childhood are not the welcoming villages they once were. And when the ruthless modern-day smugglers who operate along the deserted coast need his mining expertise, Pryce has no choice but to aid them. The crumbling mine which is his workplace becomes a nightmare killing ground when his usefulness is over. For the smugglers are quite prepared to kill to keep their secrets. And death is the ultimate silence…

[via Escape-Suspense.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis