Tag: fantasy

SFOHA: The Science Fiction Oral History Association

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Science Fiction Oral History AssociationThe Science Fiction Oral History Association, has a new blog (that’s also soon to be a podcast). SFOHA is currently presided over by el presidente Rick Jackson. Rick is a former reviews editor for SFFaudio. The site is just getting started – but it’s a terrific start with several cool convention panels Rick recorded at Penguicon 2009 (a combination Science Fiction and open source software convention) and CONfusion 2009.

Penguicon 2009:

Copywhat Copyrights! Open Source Licensing in Literature |MP3|
Panel: Rick Jackson,

Creating a Wikinomic Online Community |MP3| Panel: Rick Jackson, Sarah Elkins

Legal Issues and Podcasting |MP3|
Panel: Rick Jackson, Steve Eley

Selling Your Soul – Marketing Your Work on a Limited Budget |MP3|
Panel: Rick Jackson, Jim C. Hines

Cyptic CONfusion 2009:

What Turns Great Ideas Into Short Stories Or Novels?
Panelists: Kelley Armstrong, Violette Malan [M], Paul Melko, Catherine Shaffer and Sandee Rodriguez
1 |MP3| – Approx. 46 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Recorded: Saturday January 24, 2009 10am
We all know where ideas come from, don’t we? But what are we supposed to do with them after that? How do we translate those ideas into successful stories and novels? Come and find out!

Did Captain Kirk Own A Wallet?
Panelists: Cory Doctorow, Tobias Buckell [M], Philip Edward Kaldon, Paul Melko and Matthew Stewart-Fulton
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
Recorded: Recorded: Saturday January 24, 2009 11am
Economics and SF how has science fiction has portrayed economics of the future over the years how have things changed, what are some of the enduring themes?

Setting: Haven’t I been here before?
Panelists: Violette Malan [M], Karl Schroeder, Catherine Shaffer, Doselle Young and Jim Frenkel
1 |MP3| – Approx. 46 Minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
Recorded: Recorded: Saturday January 24, 2009 12pm
How important is setting to a reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the story? Is setting the real difference between S and SF? Are we overusing the settings we have, and are there any new ones?

Meet the New Boss: Young Adult SF
Panelists: Cory Doctorow, Kelley Armstrong, Anne Harris [M], Jim Frenkel, Doselle Young, Steven Harper Piziks
1 |MP3| – Approx. 56 Minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
Recorded: Saturday January 24, 2009 1pm
How it is the same and different from adult SF and how it has evolved over the years and where it is going. Will it overtake Paranormal Romance and become the next big thing?

Big Brother Is Watching You!
Panelists: Cory Doctorow, David Rozian, Steve Buchheit, Karl Schroeder [M], Catherine Shaffer
1 |MP3| – Approx. 58 Minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
Recorded: Saturday January 24, 2009 3pm
Personal privacy in the electronic age we now have or will have chips on everything we own including pets, where is this all going? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Podcasting — the future of it
Panelists: Cat Rambo, Matthew Stewart-Fulton, Alexander Bouchard, and Rick Jackson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
Recorded: Sunday January 25, 2009 12pm

Posted by Jesse Willis

Forgotten Classics: The Hiccup Flask by James Powell

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine October 1985First published in the October 1985 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Hiccup Flask is another jewel from the typewriter of James Powell. Now, thanks to the good Julie D. of the Forgotten Classics podcast, we have an excellent audio version of Powell’s wonderful tale.

The plot concerns: An intractable caliph, his incurable hiccups, an untrustworthy alchemist and the Thief of Baghdad.

For your listening pleasure…

The Hiccup Flask by James PowellThe Hiccup Flask
By James Powell; Read by Julie D.
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Forgotten Classics
Podcast: August 22, 2009
A tale of wonder in which we encounter a caliph, a thief, an alchemist, and a hiccup … from the mind of James Powell.

For more James Powell stories in the paperbook format check out his recently released collection A Pocket Full Of Noses.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBCR4: The Tale Of The Knight, The Witch And The Dragon

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

A few folks out there have been saying we need more audio drama coverage. In answer to this I thought I’d give more play to more of the AD recommendations that come my way. Today, I draw your attention to one episode of “the best-remembered and most often privately-recorded of all BBC Radio Drama series” – Saturday Night Theatre. SNT was broadcast on BBC radio stations from 1943 to 1997. One of the BBC’s flagship radio drama programs, it showcased both adaptations of literature and all-original plays. Most of these recordings are lost (a full listing of SNT broadcasts is available HERE), but through the good graces of fans in the U.K. some of these lost shows are becoming available once again. That’s where this particular play comes in. Bill Hollweg of Broken Sea Audio Productions sez:

“I listened last night and this is BY FAR the best Fantasy AD since LOTR [The Lord Of The Rings] by the BBC- you will be AMAZED at the stereo mix- there’s a scene with a winding stair case in a castle that will knock your socks off

Plus Capt Picard [Patrick Stewart] as a knight the has seen better days is just FANTASTIC! This is not a small kids tale but a great FANTASY!!!

ALL MIXERS should LISTEN TO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

BBC Radio 4The Tale Of The Knight, The Witch And The Dragon
By J.C.W. Brook; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 84 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 (Saturday Night Theatre)
Broadcast: Saturday 8th April 1978
“…a story of the past… the past of the imagination where all things are possible. A tale of power, love, sacrifice and of when the last fingers of myth and legend, sorcery and magic, trailed across the Earth before the world was so. It is a cosy world at peace. Where war is a make-believe and people know their place. A set, defined, established land of order and tranquility where evil only lies in the past… but that past approaches fast.”

Cast:
Patrick Stewart … The Knight, Sir Hugh of Monreth
Peggy Paige … The Witch Kavern
Anthony Newlands … The King
Elizabeth Proud … The Princess Edith
Gavin Campbell … Sir Edmund
Henry Knowles … The Herald
Marcus Campbell … Ian, Sir Hugh’s Page
Sheila Grant … Jane, The Princess’s Gentlewoman
Kate Binchy … Marianne, The Witch’s Daughter
Kenneth Shanley and Jonathan Scott … The King’s Subjects
Timothy Bateson … Scrimp, the Story Teller
Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop … sound effects and score
Directed by Ian Cotterell

Available for download via Mediafire |HERE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Lost Gods by Drew Beatty

Julie

SFFaudio Review

Fantasy Audiobook - Lost Gods by Drew BeattyLost Gods
By Drew Beatty; Read by Drew Beatty
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: 2008
Themes: / Fantasy / Gods / Con Men /

Kweku Anansi is just another down-on-his luck con man who preys on the more fortunate during the day and goes home to his loving wife at night. That seems rather a comedown for the African trickster god, which is his real identity. However, Anansi is close to one of the “lost gods” whose powers are fading as the number of people who believe in him grow fewer with time. He meets up with another con man who has a good idea for a big haul when they are confronted by a group of gods who would do anything to be worshipped again. When they offer him the chance to regain his lost power and worshippers Anansi must make a choice between the mortal world which includes his wife and that of the gods.

I always enjoy stories about Anansi whether the authentic folk tales or the modernized use of the character such as is found in Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. This is a smaller tale than Gaiman’s but still well told. We like Anansi from the beginning and pull for him along the winding path his adventures take. Author Drew Beatty does a good job of reading the book, slightly changing his voice to portray characters so that one can really visualize them well. The only problem I came across was that the last three chapters had unedited duplications where the author had reread for proper wording or emphasis.If these are fixed then the story will be much smoother.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly, especially Beatty’s inclusion of the trickster gods from pantheons of both current and long gone religions around the world. If you enjoy modernized tales of gods among us, of the urban fantasy oeuvre, this this will be your cup of tea as well.

Posted by Julie D.

BBC Radio 4: The Quest by Jonathan Holloway

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Times - Today's Pick - The Quest (Jane Anderson)BBC Radio 4There’s an upcoming five part “surreal” Fantasy radio drama starting on BBC Radio 4 next week. Be sure to add it to your Radio Downloader subscriptions. It airs during the oddly named “Woman’s Hour Drama” slot. Sez BBC:

This week’s Woman’s Hour Drama presents a surreal, humorous and moving allegorical retelling of Thomas Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur, starring Mark Gatiss as Merlin and Julian Rhind-Tutt as Arthur.

In a 15th-century Britain that resembles the Favellas of Rio, Arthur is Merlin’s protégé; but the magician despairs – human frailty has defeated Utopia.

Arthur’s impregnation of his half sister Morgana haunts Camelot in the person of Mordred, who is his mother’s lover and scourge to his father. The court of the “Round Table” is decadent. Arthur invents the “Grail Quest” to bring purpose to his knights and rebuild his reputation in a tortured land. The knights emerge into a world that hates them. Some are hacked or stoned to death.

Seeking Glastonbury, Galahad stumbles over the Grail while hiding behind the Spar convenience store in Wells. He and the Grail are taken up to an antiseptic Heaven in an elevator, 15 miles high. Mordred raises an army to defeat his brother/father and delivers Arthur’s death blow. The dying Arthur raises Excalibur to throw it into Deptford Creek, but the sword is snatched from his grip by a track-suited teenager. The expiring king, his vision clouding, sees Merlin kicked to death by a gang.

Rooted in Mallory’s 14th-century epic, the narrative focuses on the “Grail Quest” and the dubious personal and state politics that surround it.


BBC Radio 4 - The Quest by Jonathan HollowayThe Quest
By Jonathan Holloway; Performed by a full cast
5 Parts – Approx.75 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Monday August 24th to Friday August 28th August @ 10:45-11:00 (FM only) repeated @ 19:45-20:00.
King Arthur has been mortally wounded, and talks to Merlin as death approaches. Loosely based on the works of Sir Thomas Malory and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Arthur …… Julian Rhind-Tutt
Merlin …… Mark Gatiss
Morgan Le Fay/Agravain …… Jasmine Hyde
Lancelot …… Stephen Noonan
Guinevere …… Eleanor Tremain
Galahad …… Paul Mundell
Percival …… Mark Meadows
Leodegrance …… Paul Mundell
Lot …… David Collins

Directed by Tim Dee.

[Thanks Roy!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri FREE @ Christian Audio

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

ChristianAudio.com, specializing in Christian audiobooks, offers a free audiobook monthly. This month there’s a classic Fantasy title that will be sure to please literary Christians, pagans and heathens (like me). Here’s a sample |MP3|.

The Divine Comedy: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso by Dante AlighieriThe Divine Comedy: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso
By Dante Alighieri; Read by Pam Ward
11 MP3 Files or 11 M4B Files – Approx. 13 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Hovel Audio / Christian Audio Classics
Published: May 2009
Dante Alighieri’s poetic masterpiece is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise-the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation. One of the greatest works in literature, Dantes story-poem is an allegory that represents mankind as it exposes itself, by its merits or demerits, to the rewards or the punishments of justice. A single listening will reveal Dantes visual imagination and uncanny power to make the spiritual visible. Translated by John Ciardi.

To get this audiobook:

1. You’ll need to create an account on the site (this requires filling in a bunch of blanks but does not demand you enter a credit card)

2. Add the audiobook to your cart

3. Enter the coupon code “AUG2009” (minus the quotation marks) when prompted

4. Select either MP3s, M4Bs or WMAs (I suggest you choose MP3, it is the most compatible format – even if you’re using an iPod you should still get MP3 as you can always convert the 11 files into one big M4B using the free software called MP3 to iPod Audio Book Converter)

Posted by Jesse Willis