Edgar Rice Burroughs – Page 19

FREE LISTENS review: A Princess of Mars

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 Seth

Review

Source: Librivox | (14 zipped mp3s)
Length: 7 hr, 26 min
Reader: Mark Nelson
The book: While prospecting for gold in the Wild West, John Carter, formerly of the Confederate Army, is attacked by a band of hostile Apaches. He escapes into a cave, but finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars. On Mars, or as the natives call it, “Barsoom”, he finds several races of intelligent Martians, including the giant six-limbed Tharks and beautiful Dejah Thoris, a princess of the human-like red-skinned Martians.

John Carter’s Barsoom adventures are frankly preposterous, even for Burroughs’ day when people thought there might really be canals on Mars. However, the story has a momentum that propels it too fast to allow the reader to reflect on the inconsistencies of the plot or of the world Burroughs created. The constant cliffhangers and mild titillation gave the book great popularity among several generations of readers, including a number of science fiction writers who cited it as an important early influence. This book is a old-fashioned treat.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Mark Nelson has a deep, strong voice that sounds like an old school news announcer. His cadence is slow and repetitive, but he changes his inflection enough to keep the reading interesting. He does some light voices, not straying too far from his natural voice into campiness. The recording setup he uses has very little background noise and is clear. Nelson is a reader worth seeking out in other books.

Posted by Seth

The SFFaudio Podcast #065

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #065 – Scott and Jesse and Luke Burrage talk about the latest audiobook releases!

Talked about on today’s show:
The Year’s Top Ten Tales Of Science Fiction – Volume 2 edited by Allan Kaster, Infinivox, On The Human Plan by Jay Lake, Tarnsman Of Gor by John Norman, Gorean subculture, The Chronicles Of Counter-Earth, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Boris Vallejo, Brilliance Audio, Dog Blood by David Moody, Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, Hater by David Moody |READ OUR REVIEW|, David J. Williams, editing your novel, Gerard Doyle, Guillermo del Toro, Borders Of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Reader’s Chair, Grover Gardner, Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold |READ OUR REVIEW|, Penguin Audio, The Left Hand Of God by Paul Hoffman, Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfus, A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire, Rosemary And Rue by Seanan McGuire, “urban fantasy warning”, fey vs. fairy, Audio Realms, Double Shadow by Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, Weird Tales, William F. Nolan, Michael Bishop, F. Marion Crawford, Wayne June, The Empty House And Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood, Robert E. Howard, The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, The Things That Are Not There by C.J. Henderson, naming your weapons, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, Gonji: Red Blade From The East by T.C. Rypel, the anti-Marco Polo, Hunt: Through The Cradle Of Fear by Gabriel Hunt, The Hunt For Adventure series, Charles Ardai, Hard Case Crime, manly adventure, Christa Faust, Money Shot by Christa Faust, the Hitchhiker’s Guide series, Nancy Drew, James Reasoner, People Of The Dark: The Weird Works Of Robert E. Howard – Volume 2, CONAN, Queen Of The Black Coast, Castaways by Brian Greene, A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Disney edition (John Carter Of Mars), chain-mail bikini, Chicks In Chainmail, hauberk and coif, Gust Front: Legacy of the Aldenata by John Ringo, the Legacy of the Aldenata series, “military science fiction warning”, Flag In Exile (Book 5 In The Honor Harrington Series) by David Weber, “there is no happily ever after in a series”, Mass Effect, Steam, the wikipedia entry for Elder Race, big dumb objects, xenoarchaology, uplifting as a god replacement, Sid Meier, Babylon 5, Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds, Heechee vs. XeeLee, lamp-shading the foam forehead, GoodReads.com, Smoke by Donald E. Westlake, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, House Of Suns by Alastair Reynolds, Century Rain, Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, Audible.com, Audible Frontiers, Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Oath Of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn, Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, Steve Feldberg, Ubik by Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction And Politics podcast, Lost, Geek Nights podcast, The Darkness That Comes Before, The Lies Of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch |READ OUR REVIEW|, middle grade vs. young adult vs. vampire romance, The Books Of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West, Penguin Audio, Song Of The Dragon by Tracy Hickman, Brilliance Audio, fantasy, Harriet Klausner, Tracy And Laura Hickman’s Eventide, Adventures In Sci-Fi Publishing, Medal Of Honor (pre-order), Dragonlance, 23 Hours by David Wellington, vampires, comics, Classics Illustrated #3: The Count Of Monte Cristo, Epic Illustrated, The Rook, Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction, Behold The Man by Michael Moorcock, Conan: Black Colossus, Garth Ennis’ The Boys, Herogasm, the video review of Herogasm, The Guns Of August by Barbara Tuchman, GraphicAudio, Batman: Inferno by Alex Irvine, “I’m Batman”, Elantris, Writing Excuses, Cory Doctorow, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, Anathem by Neal Stephenson, The Way Of Kings, A Game Of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Luke’s Pick Of The Week: The Writing Excuses Podcast, “stories have to have an end”, Epic Fantasy’s appeal is that it has no end, The Lord Of The Rings vs. A Game Of Thrones, Eric S. Rabkin, I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells, Scott’s Pick Of The Week: GraphicAudio’s Batman: Inferno by Alex Irvine, Jesse’s Pick Of The Week: The Sandbaggers, BFS Entertainment, Ian Mackintosh, James Bond, espionage, Queen & Country by Gregg Rucka,

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #063 – TALK TO: Rick Jackson and William Coon

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #063 – Scott and Jesse talk to Rick Jackson and William Coon about audiobook narration and recording.

Talked about on today’s show:
Eloquent Voice Audiobooks, Wonder Audio, LibriVox.org, WordPress, Elements of SEO (a wordpress theme), The Fabulous Clipjoint by Fredric Brown |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Wench Is Dead by Fredric Brown (available on audible.com), The Defenders and Other Stories by Philip K. Dick, Starman’s Quest and Other Stories by Robert Silverberg, OverDrive.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble, WHSmith, public libraries, Toronto, Anton Chekhov, “life is a passing parade”, Henry James, The Madonna Of The Future, William James, philosophy, Pro Tools, Starman’s Quest by Robert Silverberg, TellTaleWeekly.org, relativistic near-lightspeed travel, Majipoor.com, hard Science Fiction, The Happy Unfortunate, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Defenders by Philip K. Dick, The Skull by Philip K. Dick, time travel, Behold The Man by Michael Moorcock, The Little Movement by Philip K. Dick (which is sadly not public domain) is the inspiration for Toy Story, The Guardian article Philip K. Dick Needed A Co-Author, The Time Traders by Andre Norton, A Princess Of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Bill C-32, copyfight, how to make the economy better=make copyright really clear, the DMCA, Forrest J. Ackerman, The Day The Earth Stood Still by Harry Bates, non compos mentis, A.E. van Vogt, have any EULAs or Terms Of Use contracts ever been enforced?

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Sunday, April 11, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox I feel kind of silly posting this. It’s already on our EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS page. And, I’ve never read it. But the thing about great cover art is it makes you want to read the book. Just look at all the steampunky-looking goodness on this new cover.

Now read the description. With characters named “Deja Thoris of Helium” and “Thuvia, princess of Ptarth” it sounds like they were created in a fever dream of the Sleep Talkin’ Man.

Add it all up and what do you get?

This post!

Thuvia, Maid of Mars
By Edgar Rice Burroughs; Read by Scott Merrill
14 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 5 Hours 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 4, 2009
In this novel the focus shifts from John Carter, Warlord of Mars, and Dejah Thoris of Helium, protagonists of the first three books in the series, to their son, Carthoris, prince of Helium, and Thuvia, princess of Ptarth. Helium and Ptarth are both prominent Barsoomian city state/empires, and both Carthoris and Thuvia were secondary characters in the previous two books.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/thuvia-maid-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

The art of the Queen Of The Black Coast

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

I’ll take just about any excuse to talk about the wondrous BrokenSea Audio Productions audio dramatization of Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast |READ OUR REVIEW|

The complete 7 part series is available via torrent and on Archive.org |HERE|) or right here:

This, my latest excuse, was prompted by a series of images posted over on the ComicTwart blog. Comic Twart is a cool collective of comics artists who post their stunning renderings of a selected character each week. Past character studies have included: John Carter Of Mars, Zorro, The Rocketeer and Dan Dare. Their most recently completed project is Robert E. Howard‘s Belit (the titular Queen Of The Black Coast herself)!

Here one of the amazing images, by Chris Samnee:

BELIT by Chris Samnee (from Robert E. Howard's QUEEN OF THE BLACK COAST)

And here are the rest:

Inspiring huh?

[via the admirable Bish’s Beat blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Dunesteef: A Princess Of Earth by Mike Resnick

Monday, February 15, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Cory Doctorow writes plenty of stories which mine the title and themes of old and famous SF stories. Here’s a similar one from Mike Resnick. It is, as typical with Resnick, emotional, literate and sentimental. Those are words applicable only in the positive sense. The story is narrated by the Dunesteef podcast’s hosts, Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich. They don’t do too bad a job with the reading.

Unfortunately, they have added a lot of bed music, and some ridiculously redundant sound effects. I wish people wouldn’t try to turn an unabridged reading into a half-assed audio drama. The text reads:

“I think I’ll light a fire,” I said. “I haven’t used the damned fireplace all winter. I might as well get my money’s worth.”

“It’s not necessary,” he said. “I’ll be all right.”

“It’s no bother,” I said, opening the screen and tossing a couple of logs onto the grate. “Look around while I’m doing it.”

And the Dunesteef version has all that PLUS the added sound effects of a fireplace screen being pulled open and a crackling fire for the rest of the story. Those sounds are placed in our minds when Mike Resnick writes them and the narrator speaks them. We experience those sounds in our heads by merely having them spoken. Added sound effects are not only not needed they actually harm the storytelling!

DUNESTEEF - A Princess Of Earth by Mike Resnick A Princess Of Earth
By Mike Resnick; Read by Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich
1 |MP3| – Approx. 66 Minutes [UNABRIDGED with sound effects and music]
Podcaster: Dunesteef
Podcast: February 12, 2010
When a man’s wife dies, he is left with little purpose in his life beyond pushing through to the end of each day. Then, in the middle of one of the worst snowstorms of the year, he gets a visitor. A man, stark naked, and freezing out in the snow. What could he possibly be doing here in the man’s backyard in this state? First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, December 2004.

Podcast feed: http://dunesteef.libsyn.com/rss

Posted by Jesse Willis