Transmissions From Beyond – podcasting Interzone, Black Static and Crimewave stories

SFFaudio Online Audio

Transmissions From Beyond - the TTA Press podcastLongtime friend of SFFaudio, Paul S. Jenkins, alters us to the existence of the new TTA Press fiction podcast: Transmissions From Beyond. This podcast gets its stories from the pages of three TTA Press magazines:

Interzone (Science Fiction and Fantasy), Black Static (Horror), and Crimewave (Crime and Mystery). Their launch this month includes one story from each magazine! Check em out…

A Handful Of Dust by Ian R. FaulknerA Handful of Dust
By Ian R. Faulkner; Read by John Berlyne
1 |MP3| – Approx. 24 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Transmissions From Beyond
Podcast: August 2nd 2008
From Crimewave #9: Transgressions.


Lady Of The Crows by Tim CassonLady Of The Crows
By Tim Casson; Read by Paul S. Jenkins
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Transmissions From Beyond
Podcast: August 2nd 2008
This story was published in Black Static #1.


The Algorithm by Tim AkersThe Algorithm
By Tim Akers; Read by John Berlyne
1 |MP3| – 53 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Transmissions From Beyond
Podcast: August 2nd 2008
From Interzone #212.

And, upcoming podcasts will include stories from authors: Greg Egan, Marion Arnott and Mercurio D. Rivera. Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://www.transmissionsfrombeyond.com/feed

Posted by Jesse Willis

Aural Noir Review of Dirty Money by Richard Stark

Aural Noir - Review

Back in 2005 SFFaudio spun-off a sister site called AuralNoir.com. But it didn’t take. Those who visited loved it, but too few visited. So, what we’re doing now is posting non-Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror, reviews, news, etc, under special headers like the one above. So welcome to our first such. Stick around, we’ll see how the string plays itself out.


Crime Fiction - Dirty Money by Richard StarkDirty Money
By Richard Stark; Read by Stephen Thorne
Audible Download – 5 Hours 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Provider: Review copy provided by Audible.com
Published: 2008
Themes: / Crime / Heist / Armored Car / Double-cross / Massachusetts /

Master criminal Parker takes another turn for the worse as he tries to recover loot from a heist gone terribly wrong. Parker and two cohorts stole the assets of a bank in transit, but the police heat was so great they could only escape if they left the money behind. Now Parker and his associates plot to reclaim the loot, which they hid in the choir loft of an unused country church. As they implement the plan, people on both sides of the law use the forces at their command to stop Parker and grab the goods for themselves. Though Parker’s new getaway van is an old Ford Econoline with “Holy Redeemer Choir” on its doors, his gang is anything but holy, and Parker will do whatever it takes to redeem his prize, no matter who gets hurt in the process.

Richard Stark is the alternate personality of crime writer Donald E. Westlake. I’m a giant fan of both guys, Westlake seems to write instinctually, sometimes it all comes together sometimes it doesn’t. Dirty Money doesn’t blow my socks off. But, it is the latest installment in Stark’s long running (more than 20) series of novels about the hardened heister known only as “Parker.” What seems to have gone wrong is that Dirty Money is only a small part of the overall-arc of the last three books (the previous being Nobody Runs Forever and Ask The Parrot) – in previous decades all the action would have been crammed into one novel. There is value here, for long time Parker readers, but not enough, and it definitely isn’t the place to start reading the series.

The best place to start with Stark is his first book. In 1962 the world of paperback books was introduced to a novel about a professional thief who could do something all the previous fictional thieves could never seem to do – that is, actually get away with crime. Getting back to Dirty Money though, the plot starts as a continuation of the scene following mere moments after the closing sentence of the previous novel, Ask The Parrot. It seems Parker is still chasing the loot from the armored car heist he pulled off with a few other thugs two novels back (Nobody Runs Forever). In the back-story the crew had had to dump the money in an abandoned church so as to flee the area without carrying incriminating evidence. Now, having escaped the encircling noose, Parker’s putting his neck right back into it, but using his semi-straight common-law wife, Clarie, as his cover. As always, Parker’s not the only man after the swag though – his former partners are on the prowl, as are the cops, both local and federal. Everyone is intent on recovering the dirty money. findin. Like in every Parker tale, nothing goes quite according to plan. The twists and turns in Dirty Money, sadly, are unusually subdued. There are a lot of characters poking their noses into Parker’s business, but none of them seem quite up to the challenge of really making Parker’s life the miserable one we all like to see.

Stephen Thorne, the narrator, doesn’t project the voice of Parker all that well either. Parker seems too sedate, too settled – he’s seems almost comfortable with being a tourist in a Massachusetts autumn. Parker as a “leaf peeper” could almost be comedic, but it doesn’t quite come off that way – it comes off weak. And from what we know of him he aint weak. I still recall the kinetic menace of my favorite Parker narrator – Michael Kramer’s readings of the first dozen or so audiobooks done for Books On Tape projected danger in the most flip of lines – for me he’ll probably always be the voice of Parker. Still, knowing that Stark and Westlake novels are hit and miss affairs, I’ll be back, looking for more adventures should they come.

A note about this edition. Though originally released by BBC Audiobooks America, our review copy of Dirty Money came via Audible.com. Normally we don’t mention prices on SFFaudio, but I’m going to break that code here just for a moment. $10.48 is how much Dirty Money costs from Audible.com. The price for the CD edition on the BBC Audiobooks America website is $64.95. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big issue, I could just borrow a copy from the local library. Unfortunately, there isn’t one CD version of Dirty Money in all of Canada! Audible is definitely the deal here.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC 7 has Blake’s 7

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC 7's The 7th DimensionWait! wait! Don’t miss it! BBC7 is broadcasting the Sci-Fi Channel UK’s audio drama series of Blake’s 7! This was the show we told you about back in May, written by Doctor Who writer Ben Aaronovitch this series is morally complex, deeply noir, and sounding slicker than ever in its now feature length format (it previously aired in 5 minute segments). Go right now and get the first part of the first series before its gone from the site, starting with…

Blake's 7Blake’s 7: Rebel
Episode 1 of 3 – Approx. 1 Hour [AUDIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: December 26th 2007

Get it now, via the “listen again” feature.

Exiled to the notorious prison planet of Cygnus Alpha, the Federation thinks it has seen the last of Roj Blake.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Time Traveler has FREE STORIES by Alfred Bester, James H. Schmidtz and Mack Reynolds!

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Time Traveler Show PodcastOur favorite Time Traveler is back from a forced hiatus (those darned time blisters) but he’s doing us right with the dispensation of three early Christmas gifts! As he himself puts it:

Three big stories for the price of none. Makin’ up for lost time. Read by three excellent narrators.

Now would be the perfect time to subscribe to the The Time Traveler Show podcast via this feed:

http://www.timetravelershow.com/shows/feed.xml

Or if you’re still in the downloading by the digital stone-age route:

The Time Traveler show Podcast #21: An SF TrilogyAn SF Trilogy
By various; Read by various
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Time Traveler Show
Podcast: December 4th 2007

Prone
By Mack Reynolds; Read by Corey Redekop
If Ringworld‘s Teela Brown was on the extreme right of the bell curve of luckiness who was on the extreme left? This story will tell ya.

An Incident on Route 12
By James H. Schmidtz; Read by Mark Nelson
A gangster makes good, with the goods, only to get car trouble along the way.

Will You Wait?
By Alfred Bester; Read by Pat Bottino
Deals with the devil may be hard to get in the modern era, but they’re harder to enforce in the modern business climate.

Subscribe to the Time Traveler Show via this feed:

http://www.timetravelershow.com/shows/feed.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Afterhell Podcast: Bloodbath At The Giallo Hotel

Online Audio

Afterhell Banner

Afterhell PodcastThe Giallo Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, offers fine dining, well appointed rooms, and old fashioned customer service. But while you’re staying there be sure not to ask what the noises coming from the thirteenth floor are. And for the love of God – whatever you do – don’t order the lasagna!

The Giallo Hotel isn’t just lodgings for families on vacation at the NJ seaside, oh-no, it’s also the ghoulish setting for the newest Afterhell Audio Drama:

Bloodbath At The Giallo Hotel

What?!? You haven’t heard of Afterhell series? It’s by the Horror Audio Drama masters at Ollin Productions!

Afterhell is like The Twilight Zone as done by the flesh-craving zombie of Rod Serling:

“This is your gateway to a nightmare world of the ear and the mind. There, horrors have been set loose on the world. Planet Earth is changing to fulfill a new role in the universe. It is the new Hell. Madness and evil are everywhere. In everyone. In everything. All over the world, civilization has fallen. Cities burn with lunacy and brimstone. Science can’t explain it. Faith can’t account for it. The human race is under attack from its own shadows, sins, and deepest fears. The survivors face a surreal existence where only the darkest dreams come true. No one is safe. And everyone is on trial. Poetic justice and naked cruelty. Personal demons and infernal beasts. It’s all here. This is the home of the damned. This is AFTERHELL.”

You can download the first part of Bloodbath At The Giallo Hotel in MP3 format or subscribe to the podcast, experience the Horror for yourself:

http://www.afterhell.com/audio/AHSD.rss

Noircast podcast talks to Billibub Baddings author Tee Morris

SFFaudio Online Audio

Podcast - Noircast SpecialShannon Clute and Richard Edwards’ have a new website that showcases their two terrific noir related podcasts. Noircast.net is the name, and noir movies and books are their game. Their latest joint podcast is the “Noircast Special #2” in which Clute and Edwards talk to Tee Morris about the wildly popular podiobook Billibub Baddings And The Case Of The Singing Sword. Also on the roster in this special are interviews with Kevin Burton Smith of the irreplaceable ThrillingDetective.com website and Seth Harwood hardboiled podcast pioneer of the podiobook novel Jack Wakes Up. Download the whole show |MP3| or visit the website and subscribe to either, or both, of the podcasts.

posted by Jesse Willis