News, Reviews, and Commentary on all forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror audio. Audiobooks, audio drama, podcasts; we discuss all of it here. Mystery, crime, and noir audio are also fair game.
Alternate World Recordings was a record company releasing spoken word vinyl LP albums and cassettes, featuring SFF authors reading (or interpreting) mostly their own works. Here’s a magazine ad from a mag published in late 1977 (Unearth, Winter 1978):
Posted by Jesse Willis
Posted on March 1 at The Fix: Short Fiction Review is the latest Rocket Science column, which covers 1960 – 1961.
Audio versions of Hugo winners from those years:
1960:
Short Fiction: “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
I couldn’t find an audio version of the novelette version, but the novel version (which later won a Nebula Award) is available from Recorded Books.
Novel: Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
There are two versions of this – one from Blackstone Audio and one from Recorded Books. See Jesse’s review of both of them for the full scoop.
1961:
Short Fiction: “The Longest Voyage” by Poul Anderson
This one was included in a Dercum Press collection called No Truce with Kings. |SFFaudio Review|.
Novel: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Amazon lists an out-of-print version from Books on Tape, and Wisconsin Public Radio produced a 13 part audio drama for NPR, which you may be able to find.
1962:
Short Fiction: The “Hothouse” series by Brian W. Aldiss
I couldn’t find this one on audio.
Novel: Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Blackstone Audio has an unabridged production, read by Christopher Hurt.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
Listen to the GrandMasters of Science Fiction via online audio
Ever wonder what your favorite Science Fiction authors sound like? We can help. Here’s a complete list of the Science Fiction Writers Of America GrandMasters sorted by the year of their induction and the online audioclips and interviews that we know about.
PLEASE NOTE: File types vary ( .mp3 .m3u .ram .wav ).
Robert A. Heinlein (1974)
Stranger in a Strange Land – Time Enough for Love
“Robert Heinlein Day” – “eggs in one basket”
“colonies beyond Earth” – “through the universe”
Jack Williamson (1975)
-An interview from the Fast-Forward archives
Clifford D. Simak (1976) – None known
L. Sprague de Camp (1978) – None known
Fritz Leiber (1981) – None known
Andre Norton (1983) – None known
Arthur C. Clarke (1985) – None known
Isaac Asimov (1986)
-Asimov interviewed by Terry Gross 1986
-A Wired for Books interview from 1987
Ray Bradbury (1988)
-A Wired for Books interview from 1992
-A Wired for Books interview from 1993
Lester Del Rey (1990) – None known
Frederik Pohl (1992) – None known
Damon Knight (1994) – None known
A.E. van Vogt (1995) – None known
Jack Vance (1996) – None known
Poul Anderson (1997) – None known
Hal Clement (1998)
-An Hour 25 online interview
Brian W. Aldiss (1999)
-A Wired for Books interview from 1984
–A Wired for Books interview from 1986
Philip José Farmer (2000) – None known
Ursula K. Le Guin (2002)
-Three Hour 25 Interviews: Sep 2000 – Oct 2001 – Aug 2003
Robert Silverberg (2003) – None known
Posted by Jesse Willis
The official website of SF writer Brian W. Aldiss has recently been redesigned, and it now contains a page with some audio discussions and interviews, and an audiobooks page which lists audio versions of his novels. I was surprised to see only two listed!
Posted by Scott D. Danielson