Tag: audiobook

Billy: Messenger of Powers by Michaelbrent Collings

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Look what popped into my spam folder (addressed to “undisclosed-recipients”):

Looking for a break from studying, research, work, the whole bit?

Would you like to read a book that is as good as – or better than – Harry Potter? Eragon? Twilight? Fablehaven?

How about if it is GUARANTEED… you don’t like it, you don’t pay.

At www.whoisbillyjones.com, that is EXACTLY what you get. BILLY: MESSENGER OF POWERS is the story of a high school student thrust into the world of the Powers – you or I would call them witches – when he discovers that he may be the key to victory in the upcoming war between Dawnwalkers and Darksiders.

I’ve just started listening to this audiobook. So far it is both well narrated and well written! A reference to “patriot missles” in the first chapter makes me think it was written about twenty years ago but that’s not the only thing that’s retro. Sadly, to make the site the Billy-crew seems to have used a frightful mid-1990s website template. The only thing missing from the site is a spinning GIF. It’s got music, sparkly purple mouse trails, a whimsical EULA and a color scheme right out of the heyday of GeoCities. But nowhere amongst all of the goo-gaws can you find the most important feature for a self published audiobook … a podcast feed!

So in the interest of usability I’ve made one (two actually because HuffDuffer has a 20 file max per feed). Here’s the skinny…

Billy: Messenger Of Powers by Michaelbrent CollingsBilly: Messenger Of Powers
By Michaelbrent Collings; Read by Andy Bowyer
32 MP3 Files or HuffDuffer Podcasts – Approx. 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: WhoIsBillyJones.com
Published: 2009
Billy: Messenger Of Powers is the story of a high school student thrust into the world of the Powers – you or I would call them witches – when he discovers that he may be the key to victory in the upcoming war between Dawnwalkers and Darksiders.

HuffDuffer podcast feed (Part I):

http://huffduffer.com/tags/billy%3A_messenger_of_powers_parti/rss

HuffDuffer iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE| (Part I)

HuffDuffer podcast feed (Part II):

http://huffduffer.com/tags/billy%3A_messenger_of_powers_partii/rss

HuffDuffer iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE| (Part II):

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Extract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit To Heaven by Mark Twain

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxI’ve never tried any of the fancy modern pharmaceutical mood elevators. I’ve not yet had the need. I can usually brighten my day by using a carefully measured combination of a tall glass of cool carbonated beverage and a little Mark Twain. Side effects of this treatment may include a desire to brush one’s teeth and a congruently toothy smile.

Here is a recent Mark Twain…

LIBRIVOX - Extract From Captain Stormfield's Visit To Heaven by Mark TwainExtract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit To Heaven
By Mark Twain; Read by Gregg Margarite
2 MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 8, 2009
In the afterlife grizzled sea captain Eli Stormfield finds himself piloting a ship to heaven. Despite a detour and some navigation errors he arrives but finds the transition to heavenly bliss a little disconcerting. – Although first drafted in the late 1870’s this story did not see print until the December 1907 and January 1908 issues of “Harper’s Magazine”. The next year it was made available as a Christmas gift book and represents the last volume Mark Twain published in his lifetime.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3808

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The carbonated beverage of the moment is PC Italian Soda – Blood Orange

[Thanks also to Annise!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Listening For The League's Gentlemen At LibriVoxThis is the 5th in a series of post examining the LibriVox audiobooks that feature characters found in Alan Moore’s League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Unlike the others, this doesn’t only speak to a character, but rather to a fictional material and its inventor. Cavorite and Dr. Cavor both originate in the 1901 novel The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells. It tells the tale of Cavor, and his adventures with this new material. Cavorite can shield any object coated in it from gravity. Thus it flings anything it is attached to into space. In the novel Dr. Cavor and his crew use Cavorite to build a spherical spaceship, which they use to travel to and land on the Moon. Alan Moore has a very different use for Cavorite in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He also gives Dr. Cavor a first name, “Selwyn” – that’s something that Wells himself neglected to do.

LibriVox - The First Men In The Moon by H.G. WellsThe First Men In The Moon
By H.G. Wells; Read by Mark F. Smith
Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 8 Hours 3 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 6, 2007
Britain won the Moon Race! Decades before Neal Armstrong took his “giant leap for mankind” two intrepid adventurers from Lympne, England, journeyed there using not a rocket, but an antigravity coating. Mr. Bedford, who narrates the tale, tells of how he fell in with eccentric inventor Mr. Cavor, grew to believe in his researches, helped him build a sphere for traveling in space, and then partnered with him in an expedition to the Moon. What they found was fantastic! There was not only air and water, but the Moon was honeycombed with caverns and tunnels in which lived an advanced civilization of insect-like beings. While Bedford is frightened by them and bolts home, Cavor stays and is treated with great respect. So why didn’t Armstrong and later astronauts find the evidence of all this? Well, according to broadcasts by Cavor over the newly-discovered radio technology, he told the Selenites too much about mankind, and apparently, they removed the welcome mat!

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-first-men-in-the-moon-by-hg-wells.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Allan’s Wife by H. Rider Haggard

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxYou can make a good case for the sexism in old books. Just look at the Book of Genesis: Lot’s Wife. Noah’s Wife. These are the ladies so oppressed that they didn’t even deserve names. However, I think we can attribute what looks like the exact came same kind of sexism in titling Allan’s Wife more to marketing than anything else. This is, after all, the third novel in the Allan Quatermain series. And it’s not actually very much about his wife, at least at the start. It tells more tales of Quatermain’s time in South Africa, his observations about two dueling witchdoctors (they use their magic to control lighting), his father’s death, and eventually the fate of his wife. For the record Allan Quatermain’s wife (of the title) is named “Stella Carson.” Come to think of it, some clever writer could probably do a whole series of YA books called The Adventures Of Allanah Quatermain (perhaps a secret grandaughter?). Until then…

LibriVox - Allan's Wife by H. Rider HaggardAllan’s Wife
By H. Rider Haggard; Read by Elaine Tweddle
15 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 2009

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3718

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to mim@can and James Christopher]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Security by Poul Anderson

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxNew from LibriVox.org, and featuring the voice talent of Gregg Margarite is:

Security by Poul Anderson

This isn’t the first recording of this 1953 Science Fiction novelette. Maureeen O’Brien (of the Maria Lectrix podcast) recorded a version previously. It, along with a whole bunch more Poul Anderson audio, can be found on our POUL ANDERSON page!

LibriVox - Security by Poul AndersonSecurity
By Poul Anderson; Read by Gregg Margarite
2 MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Puiblished: December 4, 2009
Security, tells the story of a compartmentalized government physicist ordered by secret police to complete experiments aimed at developing a new weapon. He is brought to a hidden space station and put in charge of the project but there are many questions. In a world of spies watching spies it’s sometimes hard to know what’s patriotic. First published in Space Science Fiction February 1953.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3798

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Special thanks also to Betty M. and James Christopher @ LibriVox]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Wyrms by Orson Scott Card

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Wyrms by Orson Scott CardWyrms
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Emily Janice Card
9 CDs – 11.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433218542

Themes: / Science Fiction / Diplomacy / Slavery /

“Wyrms” by Orson Scott Card was first published in 1987. I read the book then and loved it. I loved the world, the characters and the STORY.

It got lost as it was published between two Hugo and Nebula Award winning novels, Ender’s Game and Speaker For The Dead. It didn’t deserve it.

It’s been over 20 years since I read the novel, and I have never completely forgotten the book, or its impact. When I got the audiobook, read by Card’s daughter, Emily, I was thrilled to have the chance to experience it again.

Can the book be as good as I remembered? I wondered. But not for long. Before I had finished two chapters, I was hooked. Again.

Patience is the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the space captain who first came to Imaculata. She’s the daughter of the rightful heir to the kingdom, the Heptarch. But she and her father serve the current ruler as diplomats. And slaves.

Her entire life, her father has protected her from her destiny. But, when he dies, she’s must run for her life, and face a destiny that has been prophesied for generations. A destiny that that will save the world – or destroy it.

I highly recommend this book. The story is compelling and well paced, the characters complex, and the world believable.

The audiobook is well done, except that I had a problem differentiating one or two of the lesser voices. As my only complaint, it’s pretty minor. I enjoyed Emily Card’s interpretation of Patience and the other main characters.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a definite 9. Get the audiobook. Get the paperback. While you’re at it, get the 6-volume comic books by Jake Black. You’ll thank me for it later.

Posted by Charlene C. Harmon