audiobook – Page 169

New Releases – AUDIBLE Piles it on with Robert J. Sawyer, Harry Turtledove, Fritz Leiber, Mike Resnick, John Scalzi AND LOTS MORE!

Friday, April 25, 2008Sunday, September 5, 2010 Jesse Willis

New Releases

Here are a few of the new Audible Frontiers titles that are rapidly populating the Science Fiction and Fantasy section of Audible.com. First up, Robert J. Sawyer’s much acclaimed ‘Anthropological / Alternate Universe’ trilogy…

Hominids: The Neanderthal Parallax, Book 1
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 11 Hours and 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Neanderthals have developed a radically different civilization on a parallel Earth. A Neanderthal physicist, Ponter Boddit, accidentally passes from his universe into a Canadian underground research facility. Fortunately, a team of human scientists, including expert paleo-anthropologist Mary Vaughan, promptly identifies and warmly receives Ponter. Solving the language problem and much else is a mini-computer, called a Companion, implanted in the brain of every Neanderthal. A computerized guardian spirit, however, doesn’t eliminate cross-cultural confusion; permanent male-female sexuality, rape, and overpopulation are all alien to Ponter. Nor can it help his housemate and fellow scientist back in his world, Adikor Huld, when the authorities charge Adikor with his murder. BONUS AUDIO: Author Robert J. Sawyer explains why Ponter Boddit is his favorite among all the characters he’s created.

Humans: The Neanderthal Parallax, Book 2
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 11 Hours 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Neanderthal physicist Ponder Boddit brings Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan back to his world to explore the near-utopian civilization of the Neanderthals. Boddit serves as a Candide figure, the naive visitor whose ignorance about our society makes him a perfect tool to analyze human tendencies toward violence, over-population, and environmental degradation. The Neanderthals have developed a highly artistic, ethical, and scientific culture without ever inventing farming – they’re still hunters and gatherers – and this allows the author to make some interesting and generally unrecognized points about the downside of the discovery of agriculture. BONUS AUDIO: Author Robert J. Sawyer explains why one particular chapter of Humans is his very favorite.

Hybrids: The Neanderthal Parallax, Book 3
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 11 Hours and 53 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Scientists (and lovers) Mary Vaughan, who is human, and Ponter Boddit, who is Neanderthal, embark on the harrowing adventure of conceiving a child together. To overcome the genetic barbed wire of mismatched chromosomes, they must use banned technology obtainable only from a Neanderthal scientist living in the northern wilderness.
BONUS AUDIO: Author Robert J. Sawyer reveals the “secret history” of The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy.

I read this novel in paperbook format, it’s a very interesting exploration of both intelligent design and creationism. It’s like a visit to a natural history museum with Robert J. Sawyer…

Calculating God
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 12 Hours and 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: 2008
An alien walks into a museum and asks if he can see a paleontologist. But the arachnid ET hasn’t come aboard a rowboat with the Pope and Stephen Hawking (although His Holiness does request an audience later). Landing at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the spacefarer, Hollus, asks to compare notes on mass extinctions with resident dino-scientist Thomas Jericho. A shocked Jericho finds that not only does life exist on other planets, but that every civilization in the galaxy has experienced extinction events at precisely the same time. Armed with that disconcerting information (and a little help from a grand unifying theory), the alien informs Jericho, almost dismissively, that the primary goal of modern science is to discover why God has behaved as he has and to determine his methods. BONUS AUDIO: Author Robert J. Sawyer explains how the creationism vs. evolution debate informed the writing of Calculating God.

A Hugo Award nominee that I haven’t heard much about…

Forty, Counting Down & Twenty-One, Counting Up
By Harry Turtledove; Read by Victor Bevine
Audible Download – 4 Hours and 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Harry Turtledove, the master of alternate history, turns to time travel in these two related novellas that range from fantastic to oddly familiar to eerily prescient.
Computer genius Justin Kloster travels to the past to stop himself from making a terrible mistake. But all actions have their consequences. Then, in Twenty-One, Counting Up, Kloster’s college life and romantic dreams are rudely interrupted when the 40-year-old Justin arrives from the future to save him from himself.

I distinctly remember reading this story in a paper SF magazine when it was first published. It’s a memorable Mediterranean adventure and a Hugo Award Winner!

Down in the Bottomlands
By Harry Turtledove; Read by Victor Bevine
Audible Download – 4 Hours 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
In the Hereditary Tyranny of Tartesh, what was once a vast sea basin is now a dried-out, unforgiving desert. When the kingdom’s enemies try to shake down the Barrier Mountains and let the ocean in, Trench Park tour guide Radnal vez Krobir must stop them or be destroyed along with everything he holds dear.

Winner of the Nebula and Hugo Awards for best novella, Mike Resnick, recommendation enough…

Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge
By Mike Resnick; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 2 Hours 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Thousands of years after mankind has become extinct, a party of alien archaeologists try to learn the mysteries of mankind as they excavate in a gorge on Earth. This Hugo and Nebula Award winning novella by Mike Resnick is a gripping exploration of human origins and motivations.

This should be very cool, and Audible Frontiers is adding more from this series…

Starship: Mutiny, Book 1
By Mike Resnick; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 7 Hours and 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
The date is 1966 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now, and the Republic, created by the human race – but not yet dominated by it – finds itself in an all-out war. They stand against the Teroni Federation, an alliance of races that resent Man’s growing military and economic power. The main battles are taking place in the Spiral Arm and toward the Core. But far out on the Rim, the Theodore Roosevelt is one of three ships charged with protecting the Phoenix Cluster – a group of 73 inhabited worlds. Old, battered, some of its weapon systems outmoded, the Teddy R. is a ship that would have been decommissioned years ago if weren’t for the war. Its crew is composed of retreads, discipline cases, and a few raw recruits. But a new officer has been transferred to the Teddy R. His name is Wilson Cole, and he comes with a reputation for heroics and disobedience. Will the galaxy ever be the same?

Recipe for happiness: Give it a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1958, wait 50 years, make audiobook…

The Big Time
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Suzanne Toren
Audible Download – 4 Hours and 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Have you ever worried about your memory, because it doesn’t seem to recall exactly the same past from one day to the next? Have you ever thought that the whole universe might be a crazy, mixed-up dream? If you have, then you’ve had hints of the Change War.It’s been going on for a billion years, and it will last another billion or so. Up and down the timeline, the two sides, “Spiders” and “Snakes”, battle endlessly to change the future and the past. Our lives and our memories are their battleground. And in the midst of the war is the Place, outside space and time, where Greta Forzane and the other Entertainers provide solace and R&R for tired time warriors.

A single voiced narration (there is a FREE VERSION with multiple serial narrators)….

The Sagan Diary
By John Scalzi; Read by Stephanie Wolfe
Audible Download – 1 Hours and 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Jane Sagan: Soldier. Killer. Lover. Dreamer. In John Scalzi’s best-selling Old Man’s War series of science-fiction novels, we see this warrior woman as the other characters see her: silent and strong, from the outside. But now The Sagan Diary shows us Sagan from another point of view – her own. As she prepares to leave military life and join her new husband and adopted daughter on a colony world, Sagan reflects on her life, in her own words – recalling friends, battles, and experiences; illustrating all the violence and wonder of her times; trying to fit “an entire life into this compressed space”. For fans of Scalzi’s works, it’s an intimate and surprising glimpse into one of his most popular characters. As read by Stephanie Wolfe, it’s unlike any other science-fiction story you’ll hear this year.

A new Tanith Lee novella, published in print last fall, now audiboook’d…

Indigara
By Tanith Lee; Read by Amy Palant
Audible Download – 3 hours and 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Group USA and Audible.com
Published: April 2008
Jet and her robot dog, Otis, have been taken to their planet’s film capital, Ollywood, and are soon catapulted into the unplumbed underworld that lurks below the studios and lots. Here lies the beautiful and sinister otherwhere of Indigara, which has spontaneously generated from the sets, costumes, models, and actual celluloid of rejected pilot fantasy and SF movies that never got made into series. Even while girl and dog try to survive the dangers and terrors below, their Indigaran mirror images have replaced them, and are running amok in the real world above.

Hey rook! Is a Gojirra auriobrook!

Tim, Defender of the Earth
By Sam Enthoven; Read by Bryan Kennedy
Audible Download – 8 Hours and 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Group USA and Audible
Published: April 2008
TIM, aka Tyrannosaurus: Improved Model, is the product of a top-secret government military experiment, and he couldn’t be more loveable. Sure, he’s an enormous monster to most, but at heart he’s just a big, awkward, 13-year-old who realizes he could be all that stands between the earth and total destruction. (Take that, Godzilla.) Now TIM must form an unlikely alliance with 15-year-olds Chris and Anna in order to save humanity from the greatest threat it has ever known: Anna’s father, the brilliant and demented Professor Mallahide, and his growing tide of vicious, all-consuming nanobots. Will TIM prevail and save the British Isles and the world from evil? We’ll all have to hold hands, read, and believe – in TIM, Defender of the Earth!

A sequel to Shadowmancer, now all we need is the original (oh HERE it is)…

The Shadowmancer Returns
By G.P. Taylor; Read by Bryan Kennedy
Audible Download – 9 Hours and 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Group USA and Audible.com
Published: April 2008
Kate and Thomas have barely escaped the evil sorcerer Demurral, and are sailing to London to make a fresh start. But someone knows they are coming, and is lying in wait to lure them into the darkest heart of the city. Meanwhile, Raphah, who has had a narrow escape of his own, sets out on a terrifying journey to find his friends, all the time haunted by a shadowy beast. Eventually, the friends’ paths meet on a cursed street, hidden from the world – a place where fates are decided and old enemies seek revenge. They thought it was over…but can evil ever be destroyed?

Spies, humor, and magic and a cool title….

The Man With The Golden Torc
By Simon R. Green; Read by Stuart Blinder
Audible Download – 17 Hours and 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Meet Shaman Bond, aka Eddie Drood, scion of the ancient Drood family. He is devoted to protecting humanity from the forces of darkness. Protected by the secret weapon received at birth by all members of the Drood family – a magical gold torc (i.e., a neck ring) that turns into a suit of nearly impervious golden armor – Eddie faces arcane dangers with healthy doses of wry self-confidence and sarcasm. Then the family matriarch sends him on a mission that turns out to be a deadly setup. Declared a rogue, Eddie teams up with short-tempered witch Molly Metcalf to find out why he’s been betrayed.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

Thursday, April 24, 2008Sunday, February 5, 2012 Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Fool Moon: Book Two of the Dresden Files
By Jim Butcher; Read by James Marsters
1 MP3 Disc or 8 CDs – Approx. 10.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Buzzy Multimedia
Published: 2003
ISBN: 9780965725583
Themes: / Fantasy / Mystery / Magic / Private Detective / Wizard / Noir /

The fantastically grey world of Wizard Harry Dresden is back in this, the second book of the series. Harry Dresden is still a private investigator who has special supernatural powers that people who believe in him would call being a Wizard. Those who do not believe in such things might call him a fake. This coupled with the fact that Dresden still has the ability to get himself in to the deepest and darkest of trouble makes for a equally fun and entertaining read.

Fool Moon takes place less than a year after the climax of Storm Front (Dresden, Book 1). As the title suggests, Fool Moon spends much of its time dealing with supernatural creatures of the night known to us as Werewolves. And as it turns out there is a lot I did not know about werewolves. There are many different ways to become one and there are many different versions of them as well. So, even if you are not an expert in werewolves, don’t worry, because neither is our hero, Mr. Dresden.

For two months, when the moon is full, certain people have been dying horribly gruesome deaths and Dresden finally gets a call from his friend and main source of income, Detective Murphy. She’s the head of the city’s special investigations and leans on Harry whenever the mystery has a twinge of the unexplainable. When Dresden gets the call from her, he jumps at the chance to pay the bills and put some food on the table. The moon is full for four nights and that’s all the time they have to solve the murders. As they start to connect the pieces to the puzzle, they both begin to realize that they are not prepared for what is about to happen.

The details and story are dark and horrifying. Dresden is the consummate intuitive detective, acting on things that he isn’t quite sure about, but just has a solid hunch or gut feeling. His sage-like wisdom often leads him in the right direction, but also leaves him asking the question, “Now what?” These intuitions are what I like best about Harry. His wizardry is more than just using magic. It’s more like an innate ability to look at any given situation from a different perspective.

It always gets him in to trouble, not because he is wrong, but because he is right about so many things. You might find yourself pitying the poor wizard as he follows his nose and heart in to trouble. He gets beaten to a pulp more than once and I was wondering how much more could he take? Trust me, Harry Dresden gets pushed to the physical and mental limits in this story and the depths he visits, both magically and psychologically, are sure to get your heart pumping. The thought “don’t go there” crept in to my mind more than once. The Harry Dresden “hat tricks” will put a smile on your face and keep you asking for more.

I like the way Dresden is written, always telling the tale in a first person. It sucks you in to Dresden’s brain. It’s from his perspective, which isn’t always correct. But, you’re in it with him. Dresden often makes decisions based on his point of view or the facts that he has at the time, like we all do and some times. It’s just not every day that we are all making life or death decisions on how to best defeat a violent, man eating beast, like Harry does in this book.

The first person narrative is perfect for the audio book outlet. In fact, it’s almost as if these words were meant to be spoken out loud. The text is not too proper and not too relaxed either. Just right. The book is narrated stunningly well, once again by James Marsters, AKA Spike of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He’s able to capture the essence of the character, moment by moment. He immortalizes the wit, sarcasm, and underdogedness of Dresden in a single paragraph, all while sounding incredibly relaxed. It’s just another telling of a story straight from the guy it happened to.

Fool Moon is not unlike the previous production of Storm Front. In some places the audio production is flawed. There are periodical flubs by the reader, things that could be easily edited out of the soundtrack to bring the quality of the production in to the same level as the writing and performing. You can also hear the faint sounds of page turns and other pesky undesirables that only pull you out of the story that Jim Butcher and James Marsters are working so hard to keep you sucked in to. I have spoken about this before and will resist the urge to go on another tirade about the virtues of audible storytelling and the need for quality to assure the listener’s total absorption in to the world that they are listening to. So, I will only say that it is a little upsetting, because these are simple problems that even podcasters, such as J.C Hutchins and Scott Sigler, with their homegrown recordings have figured out how to avoid. Why not the professionals at Buzzy?

But, all criticism aside, if you are a fan of audio books and a fan of Harry Dresden, the flaws and inconsistencies in this production of Jim Butcher’s wonderful concoction Fool Moon are few and far between. The world he has created grows richer and deeper with every word. The story starts strong on page one and continues on full force until the end. That’s said of Harry Dresden, as well. He is growing as a person and a wizard and I am looking forward to listening to the next installment of the Dresden books. And with eight more of them published, including the newly released Small Favor, I am sure to have many, many more hours of Dresden to spark my imagination and to keep me wishing I had some of those tricks up my sleeve.

Posted by Michael Bekemeyer of the Scatterpod podcast.

Audible’s new imprint: Audible Frontiers

Tuesday, April 22, 2008Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Audible 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

Tuesday, April 22, 2008Friday, October 10, 2008 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

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!

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Silver Key blog: Check out an audio book and listen, or I’ll gut you and feed your innards to the dogs!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008Saturday, November 26, 2011 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Brian Murphy always has something interesting to say on his The Silver Key blog. His thoughtful essays on fantasy, movies and books are always fun to read. Recently he posted a cool rumination on what makes his commute a pleasure. I’m posting it below, and in full, because it’s so awesome. But don’t keep that from you visiting his site for more great posts:

My passion for audio books is overflowing right now. Today on my usual semi-torturous hour-long commute to work (each way) I finished Bernard Cornwell’s The Lords of the North. My God, if that wasn’t the most enjoyable commute I’ve had in years, I don’t know what was.

The Lords of the North and the rest of The Saxon Stories are amazingly entertaining tales on their own. But couple them with an amazing voice-over performance by UK actor Tom Sellwood, and, well, you’ve got yourself a hell of a fun car ride. I happened to glance around on Interstate 95 this morning (tearing myself away from the bloody tale of Danes and Saxons battling for control of 9th century England) to glance at the faces of the commuters around me. Some were pinched and angry, but most simply looked distracted or bored. Given what they were likely listening to–the wasteland that is AM/FM radio–I can’t say I blame them.

To hell with radio. Give me a good audio book any day. While the sap in his gas-guzzling SUV next to me had NPR droning away on the dial, I was listening in on the conversation of Uhtred Ragnarson, true Lord of Bebbanburg, and Danish warlord Ragnar Ragnarsson, as they shouted the joys of “Women and War!” while riding on horseback through Northern England circa 881. While the 20-something chick to my front in her Honda was rotting her brain listening to the vapid Destiny’s Child, I was “seeing” the clash of shield walls, bloodied axes and swords, and screaming men. In my mind’s eye I was watching viking longships under sail in the open sea, the bright light of morning gleaming off shield bosses and helmets, and smelling and hearing great feasting halls flowing with ale and bursting with loud song and the poems of skalds.

And best of all this experience is “free” of charge. Audio books are expensive and the only ones I actually own are The Lord of the Rings (unabridged), as read by Rob Inglis. But you don’t have to spend money: I get my audio books from my public library, which is part of a 10-town consortium from which I’m free to interlibrary loan a large number of audio titles. It’s a great use of my tax dollars and I’ve certainly derived a lot of pleasure these last few years on my drive to work. I only wish I had discovered them sooner.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Bibliophile Stalker asks: Who are your favorite narrators?

Monday, April 21, 2008Monday, April 21, 2008 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Charles Tan, of Bibliophile Stalker (and SFFaudio) is asking a cool question over on his blog… sez Charles:

I just finished with my SFFaudio duties and while I don’t really listen to audiobooks or fiction podcasts, I’m always looking for people overlooked in the industry and in this case, it’s people reading the stories in audiobooks and podcasts (in the sense that they’re not as popular as authors or editors unless they’re celebrities in the first place or the authors themselves).

So my question is, who are your favorite readers? Stephen Eley? Mur Lafferty? Or the author of the piece?

Personally, I’ve got a whole lot of favorites – to name just a few:

-the gravitas of George Guidall
-the Englishness of Simon Vance
-the joviality of William Dufris
-the sexy Samantha Eggar (oh how I miss her)
-the gravel voiced compassion of Bruce Weitz

There are newcomers too – gotta love that Mark Douglas Nelson (formerly Mark Nelson). But if you pinned me down to just one, I think I’d have to say my favorite narrator is Pat Bottino – he’s got this quavering immediacy that’s almost otherworldly. There are lots more too. I do like author read books, William Gibson’s reading of Neuromancer is awesomeness, but all-in-all I think I prefer the professional actors (especially the stage trained ones). So who’s on your list?

Posted by Jesse Willis